I Will Follow You Into the Dark

CHAPTER 64

Hope this helps a bit.............



Meredith woke to the gentle touch of fingertips on her cheek.

"Hey, beautiful," Derek said, smiling at her adoringly.

"Hey," she said, suddenly becoming aware of more than just his presence.

"Where? What happened?" she asked worriedly.

He took her hand—the one on the arm not bound by a freshly applied cast. "You were in an accident."

"Accident? Oh, God! Steve. Is Steve OK?"

"He's in surgery. The car hit his side, so his injuries were worse. That's all I've been able to learn."

"Help him. Go and help him, Derek."

"I can't."

"What?! Oh, no. I know he was rude sometimes, but you can't.......you've got to..."

"Shhhh," he said softly. "I can't. Some cardio specialist saw me hug Trent and found out who I was. He's banned me from Steve's room, his chart, his OR. Not that I mind being here with you," he said smiling, "but apparently I'll need your permission to get any more information."

"Bring me the forms. Please," Meredith said desperately. "I need you to see how he is."

"OK."

"Thanks, Derek."

"Hey. How did you get permission to be here?" she asked.

"I might have bent a rule or two.......told them you had requested me," he said with a sheepish grin on his faace.

"Oh," she said, smiling, "You just read my mind,"

"Sure. Yeah. Anything you need. I'm so glad you didn't die today," he said.

"Where are the kids?"

"I had Trent take the girls home. If it's OK with you, I could go stay with them tonight."

"Would you?"

"Of course. You trust me with them, right? You know they'll eat healthy," he said as he grinned at her.

"Yeah," she said, smiling back at him. "Thanks."

"I'll go get the forms so that I can go check on Steve."

"OK," Meredith said as she broke down and sobbed. He rushed back to her side.

"Shhhh," Derek said as he worked his magic to comfort her. "He'll be OK. Now you need to stop crying or I won't be able to leave your side. And you need your rest. You broke your arm and a few ribs. You had a slight concussion. You'll be fine, but you need to rest."

Meredith looked as if she'd be unable to pull herself together. Derek looked deeply into her eyes, "You need to be strong to help Steve, OK?"

"OK," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"That's my girl," he said, squeezing her hand and leaving to get the paperwork.

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Meredith had dozed back off again as Derek sat there stroking her hand. As he watched her sleep peacefully, he thought back about his arrival at the hospital.

Immediately upon his arrival, Derek had located Meredith and rushed to her room. After only a moment to stare at her and make certain that she was actually breathing, the doctor in him took over. He read her chart, checked her vitals, and tried desperately to think of anything they might have missed. Seeing that she was well cared for and appeared to have nothing seriously threatening wrong with her, he finally took a deep breath.

He stood there looking down at the woman he loved as much as he ever had and smiled. Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger longer than he would have were she awake. "I love you so much," he whispered, knowing that she was out cold.

Their private, love-filled, albeit one-sided visit was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing his throat. "Who are you?" the man asked.

"Dr. Derek Shepherd," Derek said flatly.

"Why are you in my patient's room?" the man asked.

"Your patient? I met Dr. Geiger already. She said she was in charge of Meredith's case. Who are you?" Derek threw back at him.

"Dr. Decker. I'm a close friend of the family."

Derek smirked a bit, "Oh yeah, you're the surgeon on Steve's case."

"You avoided my question," the man said, clearly determined to assert some sort of control over the situation, "what are you doing in here?"

Derek turned his attention back to Meredith, "On a consult," he said, ignoring this man who was beginning to infuriate him.

"Who requested it?" the man just would not let it lie.

"Dr. Parker did," Derek said, his eyes never leaving Meredith.

"Wait. Shepherd? You're Trent's father, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Steve wouldn't want you here."

"Well I'll talk to him about that when he's ready. Aren't you his doctor?"

"Yes."

"Well then I'm sure he'd prefer that you prep for his surgery instead of standing here annoying his wife's doctor."

"Arrogant a**."

"That makes two of us, doesn't it? Good night, doctor."

The man left in an angry state.

***********


Derek strode into the OR and found Steve's chart. Dr. Decker barked, "Get out of my OR!"

"Sorry," Derek said calmly as he peered over the table, "just checking on my patient."

"Your patient?"

"Dr. Meredith Parker asked me to check on her husband, do a consult. I see that you stopped the bleeding. What's next?"

"Steve would not want you in here."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Steve's a good guy, and he would want Meredith's wishes granted. So tell me what you're doing here, and I'll go tell her about it."

Sighing but eager to get rid of him, Dr. Decker explained that one of Steve's broken ribs had damaged his heart. His left lung was also injured, and surgeons were working to repair his badly damaged left arm.

"So his prognosis is good given the severity of the accident?" Derek asked in a clipped tone sure to annoy the surgeon.

"Yes."

"Fine. Thank you, Dr. Decker. I'll go inform his wife."

Derek walked into Meredith's room. She was asleep. She was so beautiful that his heart just skipped a few beats. All he wanted was to crawl into her bed and hold her. So he closed his eyes and imagined doing so.

"Hey," she said as she saw him standing there with his eyes closed and a sad smile on his face.

"Hey," he said, giving her that look that always made her melt.

"Is he OK?" she asked.

"Yeah," Derek said, "Dr. Decker said his prognosis is good. It's serious, but at the moment it doesn't appear life threatening."

"Oh.........that's wonderful," Meredith said, smiling gratefully at him. "Decker huh? Roger's an arrogant a**."

"Yeah, I've had the pleasure."

She smiled at him in a way that melted away the years and the separation at least momentarily, "And you showed him your arrogant a** side, too, huh?"

"Maybe," he said, grinning sheepishly.

That smile of hers brightened in a way that was always his undoing. He smiled back and sighed a bit. Then he said, "If you're OK, I'll just go check on Trent and the girls."

"Thanks so much, Derek."

"Call me if you need anything, OK?"

"I will."



***********



Derek told the kids their parents were doing fine and literally crashed in Trent's room. He was more exhausted than he had realized after the long night of worry and an equally long and exhausting day of checking on Meredith and Steve.


*****


The next morning, he made pancakes for the kids. He even splurged and put their initials in them with chocolate chips—quite a ride on the wild side for the healthy chef.

"Hey, Derek," Jenna asked, "Will you stay here again tonight? We could play games or something."

"That sounds like fun. I'm great at Boggle. Do you have Boggle?"

"Ariella's the resident Boggle champ," Trent said grinning and elbowing his other sister.

"It's a date," Derek said before leaving for the hospital.