A Fight to Remember

The Wife in the Waiting Room Pt. 1

Derek

Mountains. I saw mountains through the large window that overlooked the Rockies. I'd only just arrived in Seattle, and this was the first time I truly noticed the snow-capped peaks shining at me, and somehow I was in another time... "Mere-I," I stopped, causing Meredith to stop too, her sneakers squeaking as she put on the brakes.

Something about this spot, this moment...

Something about her.

"Have you even noticed that I went through a trauma too?" Her voice echoed in my head.

My head ached and pulsed. It started on the drive here, although it had been a dull throb when I woke up, I didn't think anything of it until now. It hadn't felt this bad since I'd been in the hospital a couple of months ago when I'd been pistol-whipped.

I stared at her, my jumbled thoughts trying to form something coherent. It was just now that I realized what kind of woman I married.

"What?" Meredith asked softly, her green eyes seeing into mine, seeing my love for her imprinted in my irises, expressed in my gaze and absorbing it.

Just moments ago, she gathered herself together and told her entire family and the doctors what to do. Bossy. These last few hours... she took me on, her amnesiac husband, and Zola's whole situation, while still dealing with the fact that, she could lose herself at any moment.

"You amaze me," I said, feeling the pain in my head lessen as I focused on her face. How in the world had I found this woman? "You've- you've been holding everyone together. I-," I shook my head, because now my words felt like an echo. Déjà vu. Had I said this before? In another lifetime? I leaned over and pecked her on the temple, my nostrils catching the faint scent of lavender. The pain in my temple throbbed again, but I blinked through it. "I love you," I forced out. Suddenly, the mountains and the large U.S flag in the background tilted away, and the world went topsy turvy before there was black.

Derek!

Xxx

Meredith:

Derek slumped into me, and I struggled for balance to catch his larger frame. "Derek!" What just happened? My muscles strained as I lowered him to the ground. Kneeling, I leaned over him and cupped his cheeks, feeling his clammy skin under my fingertips. "Derek! Wake up!" But he remained motionless. "Derek!

"No," I called, shaking him, "You don't get to die, Derek, please..." Because I needed him. More than ever, I needed him. His safety. His friendship... his-

"Oh, mercy me!" A booming voice exclaimed over me. A weight lifted off my shoulders, I looked up into large brown disbelieving eyes.

I used to be a doctor, I should know what to do... but I blanked, all I saw was my husband, pale and lifeless on the floor. "Bailey, he had a headache, we were fine and then he just- I-," When there was no response I looked up at her, my former boss, my colleague, my friend. The freaking Chief of Surgery, "Don't just stand there!" I snapped.

Shock and confusion etched on her features. Her mouth opened, closed, opened, "I-I-I'm dreaming, I'm hallucinating..." she swallowed. "Grey-."

I didn't have time for her stuttering. "It's him! It's Derek! He came back... he came back for us... but-," Please, I begged her silently. I needed her to get a grip. There wasn't time.

It took her a second, her eyes flashing at me, and back at Derek and then at the sky. "Oh...Jesus..."

"Bailey?" I panted, my hand on Derek's chest to reassure me with the slight rise and fall from his breathing that he was still alive.