This is the life

3

Derek and his family had been sitting at Meredith's bedside for days. Meredith was extubated by now but hasn't been awake much, everytime pain was overtaking and they had to sedate her again

"Derek, Grace misses you." Addison muttered as she had been trying to convince Derek to leave the room

"I miss her too, Addie. But what do I tell her? Mommy's been asleep for almost a week because a car drove into her and now she's shattered into pieces?

"What do we tell her, Derek? She hasn't seen neither of her parents in almost a week. That girl is extremely confused and scared!" The redhead raised her voice, not knowing how to deal with it

"I don't know, Addie! Mer's been the one who knew how to deal with these situations!" Derek snapped

"Don't snap at her!" Mark stepped in, neither of them realizing Meredith was slowly starting to wake up

"Sorry." Derek sighed and softly pulled Addison in for a hug, careful for her arm

"Mer?" Mark suddenly noticed Meredith's fingers moving

"Meredith? Are you okay?" Derek asked, hoovering over his wife

"P-Pain-" She whimpered weakly

"What's hurting the most? Can you try to explain

"Awww-" Meredith winced, almost sobbing

"Take it easy, sweetie." Addison brushed her fingers over Meredith's forehead. "Do you remember anything?"

"N-No.." Meredith shook her head, feeling her whole body ache

"You were hit by a car. You suffered quite some injuries." Amelia explained

Meredith's good hand moved to the spinal brace that was helding her spine together as the screws fixed the issue internally while they hoped the fractures would heal as soon as possible

"Head-" Meredith muttered. "-Nd my arm.."

"Your arm was broken very badly." Derek explained while Amelia started doing some tests. She ran a pen over Meredith's sole and watched as her foot twitched, causing Meredith to cry out in pain

"Awww!" She whales

"I'm sorry, Meredith. But your spine was fractured, I need to be sure you have full sensation." Amelia explained. Your other leg is fractured as well, we're debating on placing an external fixator."

"Hurts!" Meredith mumbled

"I'll inject your meds now." Amelia said and did so, watching her sister drift off

Derek hurried over to a bucket and vomited into it

"She'll be okay.." Addison gently rubbed his back. "It will take time but she'll get better."

"I can't stop thinking of how- of how she was hit by that car!" Derek whimpered, he was scared of closing his eyes. "And now she's in so much pain- and her arm-" He shook his head and threw up again

…

Richard stepped into Meredith's room, it was the first time he'd see her after the accident

He saw Derek asleep next to Meredith's bed, clearly having a nightmare

"Derek?" Richard woke him up

"Mer!" He gasped

"Easy, she's okay. She's asleep." Richard frowned

"Sorry." Derek rubbed his fingers through his hair

"Have you been out of this room today?"

"Not yet, but I will once she's doing a little bit better. She woke up earlier in pain, I don't want her to be on her own if she wakes up again." Derek muttered, checking her IV to be sure she'd still geg enough meds

"How long do they expect her recovery will be?" Richard carefully asked

"We don't know yet. A lot will depend on the process." Derek sighed

"Oh my little girl.." Richard sighed, stroking his finger over his daughter's hair

"Hello-" Bailey and Callie walked inside

"Hi." Derek sighed

"We'll take her for scans, to be sure all is looking okay." Callie informed them

"Her sats are looking great." Bailey nodded, glad that was at least stabilizing

"Amelia told us she had full sensation, that's good news. We just gotta make sure her back heals cleanly and hope it won't bother her too much in the future." Callie sighed, knowing a fractured spine can be delicate. "Same with her hand, we'll have to see how that goes. And her leg, I'd prefer to perform another surgery."

"Once she can be awake without heavy pain meds I wanna transfer her to a regular room." Bailey explained

"I think she'll work towards that goal pretty quick." Richard nodded

"It might take some time." Derek sighed, not wanting wife to feel rushed

"Maybe once she's transferred Ellis can come too?" Richard said, he hated keeping his daughter and wife apart, even if he knew things were sometimes rough

"No. She's not gonna be around Mer while she's in the hospital." Derek growled

"I can't keep her away from her own daughter, Derek!" Richard crossed his arms

"Yes you can, for Meredith's sake!" Derek said sternly, causing Meredith to stirr weakly

"Hello Grey, nice to see you awake." Bailey said carefully

"G-Grace- Awww.." Meredith groaned in pain, her arm was throbbing, her leg hurting like crazy

"Grace is doing amazing. She's staying with Addie and Mark, she's been begging to come see you but I think we should wait a tiny bit longer, don't you think?"

"Kay.." Meredith nodded, unable to get comfortable as her back started to keep her from taking a deep breath

"Take a nap, Bailey and Callie will take you for scans, they'll give you some more pain meds because lifting you will hurt." Derek explained to his wife, really wanting to hug her tight but he knew he couldn't