Seven Thousand Hours

Chapter 25| The Night

After the events of last night, they'd both just gone back into work to tackle the Halloween rush. And for all Meredith loved her job and loved working with Derek, that night she wish she'd never gone back in. She wished her and Derek had stayed in the trailer, it would have saved him all the heartbreak she wanted to protect him from, and would lead to the worst month of his life...

Meredith walked into the emergency department where she was met by Lexie and Amelia. Derek had quickly joined them too. "Okay, I'm glad you're both here now, it means I can go home" Amelia laughed as she handed Derek all the patient files. "Lexie is staying and has her patients. Most tonight are just superficial, a lot of kids with head laceration from running too fast for the candy" Derek flicked through the files as she talked. It seemed busy, but all the cases were minor and could be left in the hands of interns and younger residents.

After Amelia had left and he'd organised the neuro department with their cases for the night shift, Derek had gone back to his office to sign off some patients and file their records. He'd locked the door, not wanting to be disturbed. He hadn't slept properly since his DC trip, there was so much to do for his trial but it was looking like it was all for nothing. Patients were dying and the trial was failing, he didn't believe he deserved that sleep. But his body couldn't hold on anymore. That massage Meredith had given him had him drugged into a sleep the second he sat at his desk chair. Just a 5 minute nap...

Meanwhile Meredith stayed down in the ER, overseeing all the residents. Derek had left her in charge, giving her a little confidence boost that she was more than capable of managing this.

"So I've cleared 4 beds but we've got 6 coming in, what do I do?" Lexie looked to her sister. Meredith frowned as she looked at the upcoming cases and devised a plan. "Create a suture bay and get some chairs out. We don't have the bed space for just sutures. I want an intern and 2 residents running it" Meredith said as she looked at her sister. "You sound just like an attending" Lexie laughed. "I know right" Meredith smiled before she was being called over to the nurses desk.

"Dr Grey, we've got a mother of a patient on the phone that wants to speak to someone in charge, I assume that's you?" Nurse Tyler asked her as he held the phone to his chest. Everything was under control at the moment so Meredith nodded, taking on the responsibility, leaving Derek to his work.

Meredith took the phone and introduced herself, only to be met with the screams of a broken mother. It took many minutes to decipher what she was saying, but Meredith's heart dropped when she heard what she was saying.

"Okay I need Dr Robbins, Dr Stevens and Dr Karev, now!" She shouted at the nurses desk. Lexie came running over. "What do you need, Mer?" Lexie asked as she tried to help. Meredith paused and looked at her sister. "I need you to call Amelia, and Nelson, and get them in here to cover this department. I need to go get Derek" she said. "Why, what's happening?" She asked as the ones paged also came rushing over. Meredith sighed as she walked quickly, the others followed.

"Between us 5, and this stays between us 5, we've got a ruptured aneurysm coming in now" Meredith said as she kept walking up to the roof of the hospital where the helipad was. "What's the big deal, just page Shep to to deal with it?" Alex laughed nonchalantly as he began to walk away.

"I can't get Derek, because it's Derek's kid!" Meredith shouted down the empty hall at Alex. He suddenly stopped and rushed back over. "He has a kid?" he asked. Meredith just nodded, they didn't need to know much more.

"Okay everyone, let's stay calm." Arizona said. "Um- Amelia has turned off her pager and won't answer any calls" Lexie said quietly. "There's only Robbins and Shep on tonight for attendings." Izzie confirmed as they all looked at each other nervously.

Think, Meredith, think.

"Page Owen Hunt to cover the pit. Page every resident you know and get them into the ER and working on people. You 4 stabilise his kid when they land and I will meet you in OR 5 in 15 minutes, okay? I'll figure out a plan but I need to get Derek" Meredith said before she ran in the opposite direction.

Meredith ran straight down to his office and tried to open to door but it was locked. Most likely he'd locked it if he left but she still hammered on the door anyway. There was no response and she had no time to lose so she ran off instead in search of him.

But he was still in there...

Searching high and low of the hospital, she couldn't find him anywhere. His pages weren't returned and she had no idea where he was. Come on, Derek.

Meredith began to pace in the residents office. Where the fuck is he?! The sinking feeling that she's was alone began to set in when she saw his trailer was empty. She stood outside in the parking lot, watching as the helicopter began to land.

You've got to do this, Meri. She heard in the back of her mind. It was him telling her. Wherever he was, she knew it was with good reason, and for once in her life she wasn't doubting her abilities. She didn't know why she was freaking out anyway, Derek couldn't operate on his own kid. But she felt an obligation as his best friend to be the one to tell him.

She ran back inside and up to the surgical floor where she was met with the team she'd organised. "We need our best today. This kids needs the best. Amelia isn't answering, Derek's missing and Nelson is apparently on a date with his wife and won't leave. Fucking Shepherd gets me in this situation every damn time but I'm the next best thing he has" Meredith said as she looked to her friends for help. She didn't want to do this, but she knew it was the only option.

"Have you done this surgery before?" Arizona asked her gently. She believed in Meredith, everyone had come to know what a great neurosurgeon she'd become, but she was also still a resident, and so much more was at stake given it was his kid, her best friends kid.

"Derek's been taking a step back, doing crosswords in the OR whilst I do the surgery. H-he did this yesterday. I- I clipped and aneurysm yesterday...yes I can do this." Meredith said as she tried to boost herself with all the positive things he'd said to her.

They all nodded. "Let's do this then" Alex said before they all began scrubbing in. Meredith walked out into the hallway where she knew the distraught mother was. "Where's Derek!" She screamed at her. Meredith looked to the man comforting her. She recognised him. "You must be Mark" she said with a soft smile. He nodded. "And you must be Addison" Meredith looked to the redhead with a little less enthusiasm.

"Dereks not allowed to perform surgery on family and our two other attendings are out. We've got a team of senior residents in there and a paediatric surgeon. And I'll be leading the surgery in shadow of Dr Shepherd, okay?" Meredith tried to comfort Addison but she knew it was pointless.

"You're a foetus!" Mark called out as Meredith walked into the scrub room. Meredith stopped and looked back, "I'm the best thing her son has right now. I know what I'm doing" she said though gritted teeth before leaving to scrub in.

As she scrubbed, she was faced with her reflection in the glass. No more than ordinary. Waste of a human. Lousy surgeon. NO! Talented, caring, sometimes even better than Derek.

She smiled to herself, she knew she had this. And if she didn't have this, then at least she went down trying .

And that was enough.

(Just a random side note: I'm writing a few chapters ahead and it's a smut chapter but I need ideas because I don't want it to be boring so please suggest ideas!!)