My Dad the Brain Surgeon

Chapter 8

When I walked back to Taylor's room, she was starting to wake up. She opened her eyes slowly and Derek shot up. Her hands immediately went for the breathing tube, but he grabbed them before she could try to pull it out.

"You have to leave that in for a little while longer." She had a confused, yet pained look on her face that made her look just like him. Her look had him holding his breath. "Do you know who I am?" She stared at him for a few seconds before she nodded and smiled slightly around the tube. I stayed by the door while he did the neuro exam. I couldn't help but love how gentle he was being. The bad ass neurosurgeon persona was gone. He was speaking very softly and going much slower than usual to be sure he didn't cause her any pain. Her eyes were starting to droop so he stopped and let her fall back asleep. He saw me watching as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"You can come in, you're her family too."

"I know, I just love watching you be a dad. How's she look?"

"Her vitals look good and she was able to wiggle her toes. I'll know more once she's not intubated and can talk. I should probably go apologize to Richard while she's asleep."

"Don't get yourself fired!" I winked as he walked past me chuckling. "I need to make sure my patients are still covered, but I'll keep an eye on her."

I quickly walked the halls looking in each of my patients rooms to make sure they were getting everything they needed. Then I stood outside Richard's office for a moment, no one was yelling so I guess that's a good sign. I must have taken longer than I anticipated, because when I got back to the ICU, Alex and several of the new interns were in Tay's room. She was awake again and Alex was taking the tube out.

"Hey, Mer! She was choking on it so I took it out. She's breathing fine."

The other interns were just standing to the side staring at Taylor. They were whispering, but I did hear one of them talking about how he rushed down here to see Derek Shepherd's daughter.

"This isn't a museum. Yes, she's Derek's daughter, but she's also a patient who just had brain surgery. She doesn't need a bunch of gossiping interns staring at her like she's on display. Get out." Thankfully, they listened and left fairly quickly. I turned my attention back to Alex and Tay. She was trying to say something, but the intubation left her with very little vocal power.

"M... M...." She squinted in pain while staring at Alex waiting for him to understand what she wanted.

"M? Do you want Meredith?"

She nodded yes softly. "M..Mom."

I froze. Did she just call me mom?!