Seven Thousand Hours

Chapter 56| The final hour

"Hey! Amy! Have you seen Meri?" Derek asked as he jogged alongside his sister in the hallway. "She was in your office last time I saw her" Amelia frowned at him. "What's wrong?" She asked him when she noticed his strained expression. "We've got a surgery, her last surgery, and I've been looking for her for an hour. She won't answer may page and Richard is breathing down my neck about it. And I-" he sighed, emotion catching in his throat. "Its the last hour of the 7000 hours and I kind of want to be there for it" he sighed. "I'll try page her and I'll ask Lexie. Don't worry, she'll be here somewhere" Amelia smiled before her and Derek parted ways.

About 20 minutes had passed and Derek was pacing the scrub room before the doors eventually opened and Meredith came running in. "Where were you?" Derek quickly hugged her before he noticed that she was trembling. "Hey what's wrong?" He asked frantically as he noticed her pale complexion and bloodshot eyes. "Meri-" he asked again before pulling her close again, giving her all the comfort she could possibly need. "I-" she began to tremble more as a heavy weight set on her chest, constricting her breathing. "I- I- can't breathe" she began to sob as she clutched his scrub in desperation.

He held her tight and calmed her down. It had been months since she'd had a panic attack so he wondered what had got her in this state.

"I'm going to be sick" she whispered before she grabbed the trash-can and vomited into it. He rubbed her back gently and held her hair back before she stood up. "Here, have some water" Derek said as he handed her his bottle of water. She took a big gulp as he brought a cold flannel to her burning cheeks. "That feels good" she sighed breathlessly, taking a few more sips of water.

"Do you want to talk?" He gently stoked her back in circular motions as he placed the flannel on the side. She nodded as she leaned against the counter, picking at her fingers, trying to find the best way to tell him. "What has you so upset, Sweetheart?" He asked quietly as he kissed the side of her head.

She shook her head. "Not upset" she looked as him as tears began to fall from her eyes. He brought his hand to her cheek, gently wiping the tear with his thumb.

"I'm pregnant"

She said suddenly. There, I've said it. He raised his brows in surprise. "What?"he asked for her to repeat it again. "I'm pregnant. I just took a test and-" she rambled before he pulled her body close to his, squeezing her tight. "You're pregnant?!" He gasped as he pulled away to look at her face. She nodded, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Oh my-" he started but he cut himself off. "Are you okay? Are you anxious? Or what that morning sickness or hot flushes?" He bombarded her with questions, making her giggle. "Derek!" She shook him. "It's okay, I'm fine. It was anxiety. I'm so scared and excited and all of this is happening on my last day. I just-" she pondered for a moment.

"I wanted to tell you another way but I just saw you here and it seemed like the perfect time and I'm just really overwhelmed because what if I miscarry because that's what happened the last time we were in D.C and-" she began to nervously ramble again before she cut her off with a kiss. "Don't worry about it" he reassured her.

"We're going to take this one step at a time, okay? Firstly, what made you think you were pregnant?" Derek smiled at her as he handed her a resident scrub cap. She laughed a little to herself. "I've just not been feeling normal the last few weeks. It makes sense thinking it was stress. You know how I've been, so tired and sleepy. I seriously just thought it was stress but-" she began to blush. "But what?" Derek asked. "When we had sex the other night- don't get me wrong it's always so good- but it felt different? Stronger? I just thought to myself to check my cycle and things weren't adding up. Then I remembered that champagne making me feel sick and so I bought a test this morning and it's positive" Meredith smiled as she pulled the test out her pocket and handed it to Derek. He smiled, tears forming in his eyes.