This is the life

4

Derek was sitting with Grace in his arms after they had lunch together

"Daddy? I miss mommy.." A five year old Grace muttered, starting to sob in her dad's arms

"I know you do, sweetie. I know she misses you as well."

"I gotta see mama!" She said sternly

"We'll see her soon

"No! Now!" Grace sobbed, continuing for quite some time but Derek had no energy to respond, he was exhausted. It's been another week since Meredith had woken up, they finally performed the surgery on her leg a few days ago to save her leg but she was in discomfort. A metal cage was screwed into her bones and made it able for the bones to probably heal together again, or at least that's the purpose

"Monkey.." He sighed, hugging his daughter close

"Miss mama!" She cried in his arms. It had been over two weeks since she had seen her mom

Derek knew Meredith's heart was awfully aching for her daughter, she had been begging him since she arrived in a regular room to see Grace, which was this morning

"Let's go see mama." He gave in with a sigh

Grace's eyes widened, she looked at her daddy, almost not believing him

"But you can't jump, you need to stay seated and you need to listen, okay? Mommy has a very bad oowie."

Grace nodded her head in agreement

Derek walked up to Meredith's room with Grace in his arms as Mark was currently sitting with her

"Mama!" Grace yelled as she spotted her mother through the window. The girl immediately yelled and waved

"We agreed you'd stay calm, Gracie.." Derek muttered

"I think you got a visitor." Mark smiled, seeing Meredith's eyes were closed but her breathing gave away she was awake, she just was in so much discomfort, her whole body was aching

"Visitor?" Meredith asked confused, not getting the clue until Mark pointed at the window

She weakly turned her head, making sure it wouldn't hurt more than needed but then she spotted her daughter in her husband's arms

"Grace!" She smiled, her speech slow from all those meds

"Okay, I'll quickly cover up your leg, so it can't scare her." Mark said and did so, replacing Meredkth's casted arm onto the pillow and they waited

Meredith was eager to hug her daughter, she currently couldn't even care how she'd do it but she just had to

"Mama!" Grace squirmed in Derek's arms as he carried her inside

"Gracie, I love you so much, sweetie but we agreed you'd listen to me." Derek reminded her and placed her down on the bed, on Meredith's good side

"Yucky!" Grace knocked on her mom's stomach, frowning as it was hard to lean against

"Monkey, gimme a hug-" Meredith whimpered but everything was hurting so badly

"Mama!" Grace muttered, not sure how to

"I missed you so much." Meredith teared up, using her good arm to squeeze her daughter a bit

"You were at the hospible?" She frowned

"Uhu." Meredith agreed, not really wanting to nod since that hurted her head

"I think we should go, we can return later

"No!" Both girls said

"Mer, you need a nap." Derek muttered

"With Gracie.." She protested tiredly

"Fine." Derek gave in as Mark made him

"And Grace will also take a nap, lay down against this pillow." Mark spoke up and helped them both get a little more comfortable

…

Meredith had been snoring loudly, the pain meds made her extremely sleepy, combined with her body that was working hard in a try to get better

"Come on, Gracie." Derek lifted his daughter. "Let's go home."

"No! Daddy!" She whined, starting to protest, kicking the blankets, almost kicking Meredith

"Careful!" Alex stopped her but the blanket had slipped off the external fixator, leaving Grace in shock as she stared at her mom, some sort of metal cage pinned into her leg

"M-Mama-" She started crying

Derek quickly hurried outside, he really didn't wanna wake his wife, especially because Meredith would wanna comfort her daughter but she just couldn't move properly right now

"Daddy! I scawed!!" The girl sobbed in his chest

"Shh, it's just fine, mommy is recovering." He tried to explain

"Mommy's leg is scawy!" She sobbed

"It's like a metal cage, it keeps mommy's bones locked." Derek explained. "Do you wanna try and go see it?"

"Dunno.." Grace muttered and saw her mom waking up through the window. "Mama!"

"Wave at her." Derek urged

"Mama!" Grace yelled and started waving

Alex pointed at the window so Meredith would see her daughter was waving. She lifted her uninjured arm and weakly waved at her daughter

"Mama! Mama!" She started squirming in Derek's arms

"Do you wanna go inside?" He asked her

"Mama! Yes!" She nodded

As Derek walked back inside, everyone noticed how Grace was staring at Meredith's leg that was now again covered with the blankets

"Mama-" She muttered and anxiously cuddled into her mom's side

"Monkey-" Meredith muttered, exhausted but glad to be cuddling with her daughter

"I scawed." She admitted and pointed at Meredith's leg

She hadn't even seen it either since she had been lying down flat the whole time

"What's scaring you?" Meredith asked, finally raising the headrest so she'd sit up a bit more, Derek helping her to make sure she wouldn't do anything that could lead to more damage or pain

"Your leg.. it's scawy.." Grace muttered, tears running down her cheeks as she bumped into her mom's hard spinal brace

"It looks scary but it's just something that will help me." Meredith tried to explain to her daughter

"Does it hurt?" Grace asked, trailing her fingers over Meredith's brace

"The broken bones hurt, but everything else keeps me protected and makes sure the bones will heal." Meredith explained softly, stroking her fingers through Grace's hair when she felt pain in her back getting worse from sitting up so she lowered the bed again

"I like this bed." Grace giggled

"Do you?" Meredith smiled softly, she always loved hearing her daughter's giggles, holding her tight as she started drifting off, the little girl as well as both were clearly tired