Broken things can get fixed

Surgery

The next day Nick still hadn't left Meredith's side just as he had promised. And they had talked. A lot. They had practically talked the whole night. He had let her tell him everything she had wanted to tell him, literally everything she had had on her mind. He needed her to feel safe around him again, to trust him, so that he had listened to her and comforted her in every kind of way she had needed it.

She had told him about her thoughts and fears and everything else she had wanted to talk about for the past month and he had just been there for her. And somehow just being able to talk about all that had happened help her cope with it in a way she couldn't have coped with it if she would have told it a therapist. So, it had made her feel a lot better that Nick had just offered her to tell him about everything and she loved that about him. She loved about him that she could be herself around him, that she could be honest around him, that she could tell him everything that was on her mind, even after they had been apart for a whole month and after what had happened to her.

But today she would have another surgery, the last one hopefully, but it was still a big one. The metal poles that were currently fixating the bones in her legs would be removed today and from then she would only have to wear this stupid cast for six more weeks. Hopefully she would be able to start walking again soon after they would remove the cast. But first the surgery.

"Are you ready?" Nick asked, still stroking Meredith's left hand while she was weakly fidgeting with his fingers. "Not really." She said anxiously, staring up at the ceiling. Nick was sitting beside her on the couch while she was propped up on a few pillows. "But I want to get it done because afterwards it's just recovery. Six weeks until the cast will come off and then I hope after a lot of PT I might get back some function in my left hand." She added, smiling sadly as she looked down at her hand.

And as he did the same he saw her trying to close her hand around one of his fingers, what didn't work really well. Actually it didn't work at all. She could barely bring two fingers to touch each other what made a knot form in his stomach. He still felt guilty about what had happened especially since in some kind of way he could have prevented it. But he hadn't. He had let her down. He hadn't had her back. But she had forgiven him. She had told him that it was enough that he was here now and that he had promised that he wouldn't ever leave again.

Very gently he laid his free hand around hers and helped her close it around his finger. "Does it hurt?" he asked concerned, not wanting to cause her any pain. "Not really, it just feels- weird. As if I can't really control it." She mumbled defeatedly.

Suddenly the door opened and both Link and Amelia walked through the door. "Morning Meredith, we're going to start with the narcotics now." Link said, smiling at Meredith. "You've been enlightened about the whole procedure right?" he added after a few seconds. "Mhm." Meredith gave back, nodding her head anxiously. "Everything is going to be okay." Nick said, stroking her hair gently what somehow made her feel extremely safe and protected. Him just being here already made her feel a lot better. He was her safe place. And she loved that feeling he made her feel. This safe, warm and loving feeling that ensured her that he was right and that everything would be okay in the end.

"Then we'll get started shall we?"

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Almost eight hours later the surgery was over. Nick had taken a shower in the hotel he had been staying at before getting some food since he hadn't eaten anything today. After he was done eating he quickly drove back to the hospital and sat down in the waiting area where he had spent the rest of the day, hoping that Meredith's surgery would soon be over and that everything would work out well. Hopefully she would soon be able to walk again since it wasn't debatable that she would need PT but since the outcome of the surgery still wasn't sure and how it would affect her further recovery.

He was half asleep, his head leaning sidewards against the wall as suddenly Amelia shook his shoulder. "Nick?" she said, waking him up. He quickly stood up, looking from Amelia to Link and trying to read their expressions. "H-how did it go? Is Meredith okay?" he asked, praying that they wouldn't tell him that something had gone wrong.

"Everything went fine, Meredith is okay and she'll wake up soon. We removed the metal poles from her leg and put a cast around it. She'll still need a lot of PT to be able to get back full function of her leg since a few nerves were damaged slightly but it isn't as bad as with her hand so it'll go a lot faster and I can guarantee you that she'll be soon walking again." Amelia explained, smiling sadly at Nick as she told him the news.

"Okay good, that's at least something. Thank you Amelia and Link, thank you." Nick said, quickly wiping his eyes before hugging both of them. "Is she in her room?" he then asked, wiping his eyes again since he didn't want to start crying in front of them. "Yes, I'll come check on her later you can go see her if you want." Amelia said.

"Good, thank you." Nick said while smiling at the one more time before jogging past them down the hallway and into the elevator. Pressing the button to get onto the second floor he impatiently waited as another few surgeons stepped into the elevator as well.

He reached her room just two minutes later and as he saw her small, fragile form on the big hospital bed he couldn't prevent a few tears from rolling down his cheeks. After sanitising his hands he slowly sat down on the chair beside her bed, carefully taking her weak, left hand into his own, massaging it gently. Her right leg was now tightly wrapped into a new cast, the metal poles were gone. Her leg was propped up onto a few pillows and therefor not covered by the blanket. He noticed that her foot was exposed and probably cold so that he stood up and walked over to the closet, getting her a pair of thick wool socks and putting them on both her feet before sitting back down on the chair.

He smile as he went back to observing her beautiful face which was completely relaxed as she was asleep. She was so breathtakingly beautiful, the most perfect little person on this planet. He noticed her shifting a little before she slowly opened her eyes, looking around sleepily. Groaning a little she closed her eyes again. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked her, smiling brightly as she opened her eyes again and looked up at him. "M'kay. Tired." She mumbled as her heavy eyelids fell shut. "Cuddle." She whispered sleepily, failing to move a little on the bed to make room for him. Nick quickly took off his shoes, his smile even bigger now that he laid down on the bed next to her, pulling her into his arms. "Get some rest Meri, I'll stay with you the whole time." He said, pressing a small kiss onto her forehead as she snuggled herself deeper into his embrace and he then soon drifted off himself. 

Sorry for making you wait so long =)