I'm tired

Part 1

„Nick? I need your help." Richard said as he finally found him standing at the nurse station on the third floor. "Dr. Webber, what can I help you with." Nick replied, a little concerned by how the older man's voice sounded.

"It's Meredith." He gave back, his tone even more serious than a few seconds ago. Meredith? What had happened? Was she okay? Was she hurt? But they were broken up so although he was worried because he definitely still loved her more than anything, he didn't know what to say. "What about her?" he said, trying to sound casual. And he somehow managed to appear calm on the outside but on the inside, he was freaking out already.

"You need to come to Boston with me, I don't know what to do anymore." Richard continued, looking at Nick with hope in his eyes. "Richard, Meredith and I aren't together anymore so- whatever it is that's bothering her is none of my business." Nick said. He knew that it would be better if he would stay out of this. It had cost him an entirety to get over her and he knew that if he would see her, her beautiful face and hear her wonderful voice everything would start all over again. And they would come together again, they would tell each other that they were in love and then- and then they would drift apart. Because he was in Seattle and she was in Boston. Just like before. They weren't supposed to be together.

"Nick. Meredith needs you." Richard said again, practically begging him. "I highly doubt that. Did- did she say that she needs me?" Nick asked a little confused, looking at Dr. Webber puzzled but silently hoping that he would say yes. "No, she- she's having a really hard time and I'm worried about her."

Meredith was having a hard time? She had her own lab, she was working at a highly respected hospital doing research on Alzheimer's and was probably paid three times as much as he was. "Please come with me Nick. I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't really important."

"Okay fine." Nick finally gave in. He knew that Richard was practically Meredith's father and he seemed to be actually really concerned about her so that he at least needed to make sure that everything was okay. And after seeing her, maybe talking to her and getting his heart broken again he would head back here with the reassurance that Meredith was doing great and this had only been a trick to get them back together. But by how Richard had looked at him told him that Meredith might actually not be that fine. And he would never ever let something happen to her. She had broken his heart more than once but he would never want to live with the fact that she had needed him and he hadn't been there for her.

____________

After a five-hour flight and a quick shower at the hotel Nick and Richard arrived at the hospital. "You still don't want to tell me what exactly the problem is? Why I just took a five-hour flight across the country?" Nick asked as he walked next to Richard through the hallways towards Meredith's lab. "You'll see when we get there." He replied, not saying anything anymore until they stopped in front of the lab with Meredith's name on it.

As Nick looked through the glass that surrounded the laboratory he saw her. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by dozens of papers and files, her laptop, and multiple binders. She seemed to be wearing a legging and her Dartmouth shirt- things that would be considered pyjamas. Usually she always wore pretty fancy clothes to work. Something seemed off. Nick turned his head to look at Richard who just nodded towards the door of the room.

As he followed Richard through the door he could now hear that she was whispering something but she was talking so quietly that he couldn't understand what she was saying. "Meredith?" Richard asked, walking over to her through the piles of papers, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Mer?" he tried again, still not getting a reaction. "Nick is here." He then said but she still didn't seem to even acknowledge their presence. Richard then took a step back, gesturing Nick to come closer. Now he knew why Richard was so worried. Meredith looked pale, tired, and sickly. She had obviously lost weight and all in all she just looked so- small. "Meredith?" Nick tired, walking over to her and kneeling down next to her. "Hey." he added after a few seconds of silence. But he didn't get any reaction until he gently placed his hand on the small of her back.

It was as if she froze- stopping in her movements, the pen with which she had written without pause in her little notebook coming to stand still in her hand. Slowly, she turned her head, looking up at him for a few seconds before lowering her gaze onto his lips and then onto the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked her, getting more concerned now that he had seen her eyes. She had dark circles beneath them and they were completely red, almost bloodshot. As if she hadn't slept in weeks.

While seeing her like this all his negative feelings about their last phone call and his hurt pride were suddenly gone. Very gently he put the lose strand that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear, stroking her cheek as he did so. He saw her closing her eyes and slightly leaning into his touch.

After a few seconds of silence, she opened her eyes again and attempted on getting up, swaying, and falling back down. Nick was quick to catch her and carefully helped her to sit down again. "Take it easy, it's okay." He said softly, rubbing her back. He assumed that she was completely dehydrated and therefor couldn't stand up without collapsing. Helplessly he looked over to Richard. "We should try to bring her into a patient room and place an IV, maybe even a feeding tube." He said, making Nick's heart ache.

"I'm fine." Meredith mumbled hoarsely, as if she hadn't said anything in days. "I have work to do." She added after clearing her throat. "You're dehydrated and tired Mer, you should take a break." Nick told her quietly. Meredith didn't reply. "Okay listen. In a few hours or even minutes you are going to fall unconscious because I'm pretty sure that you haven't been sleeping, nor eating, nor drinking for days and that is so far from healthy." He said, still stroking her back, trying to convince her to finally allow herself to take a break. It looked like she had been working in this office non-stop for weeks, without pausing a single time to take care of herself.

Now, he was more than grateful that Richard had asked him to come. Meredith was indeed not doing very well. "Did you only come here to criticize me?" she asked him monotony, not even looking up. "No Mer, I came here because Richard was pretty worried about you and honestly I am too." He replied, trying to stay calm. She wasn't herself right now. And he was getting more and more concerned with every second passing.

"Nick?" Meredith suddenly said, turning a little towards him, looking up into his eyes. "Yeah?" he gave back, not really sure what to expect. "I'm really tired." She whispered, her eyes filling with tears. 

Hi everyone, this is going to be a short story of maybe five to ten chapters =) let me know what you think so far