This is the life

10

"Meredith, you're doing amazing." Stan, her physical therapist, smiled

"Thanks." Meredith grinned proudly but she had to admit her hand felt stiff and extremely tired after the exercises

"What do you think, are you ready to see if you can suture a little?" Stan smirked, taking out a practicing kit Derek had gotten for Meredith when she'd be ready

"Damn, yes!" Meredith said with a huge smile and attempted to sit up

"Hey, take it easy-" Stan quickly stopped her

"I'm done with this!" Meredith's mood quickly changed

"You need to give yourself some time to recover." Stan tried to ease her

"I know that! But it's frustrating when your body isn't doing what it should do." Meredith sniffled

…

A few hours later Meredith woke up from her nap as she was exhausted after physical therapy. Her back was hurting a lot, she didn't wanna call out for Derek as he'd probably be busy with Grace, she was convinced he thought of her like another baby

"Mama!" Grace ran inside

"Shhh!" Derek quickly followed

"I'm awake." Meredith quickly said

"Wanna lay down with mommy!!" Grace whimpered, jumping up and down next to the bed

"Can she?" Derek asked Meredith, noticing she was uncomfortable in some way

"Can you help me reposition first, please?" Meredith asked, scared to look at her husband

"Of course." Derek nodded and helped her reposition while Grace started throwing a fit, she needed some attention clearly

"Come on Gracie, be sweet please." Derek softly asked

"Can I get out of bed today?" Meredith asked. "Please, I'm going insane, Derek!"

"Fine." He sighed, not amused but seeing his wife's smile made him worry less, he knew this was the right thing to do

And that's how the next months went until it was finally time for Meredith to finally focus on bigger goals. She had been cleared to walk a few times a day but still wasn't allowed to walk outside of the house or carry anything

"Please can I walk to Derek?" She asked her physical therapist after doing her daily session

"Do you need your cane?" He asked her, honestly not really a question

"No, I'll be fine." Meredith quickly said

"Meredith." Stan warned

Meredith sighed and grabbed the cane. Her broken leg had lostly healed except a small limp, only visible for people that knew her

"Is Dr Shepherd in his office?" Meredith asked a nurse at the nurse station

"He should be, yes. It's good to see you walking, Dr Grey." She smiled

Meredith smiled and slowly walked off, feeling her back hurting already as she reached the stairs but it wasn't unbearable, more kind of sore

She and Stan made it upstairs and he left her at Derek's office

"Take it easy. I'll see you tomorrow." He warned her and took off

"Yes?" Derek replied

Meredith opened the door and entered

"Mer? Are you okay? Why didn't you page me?" He got up and rushed to her side

"Derek, I'm fine!" She said, quite annoyed her husband was hoovering instead of celebrating

"I'm sorry. Did you walk here on your own?" Derek asked her, quite amazed

"Stand joined me but he just left." Meredith nodded, suddenly leaning a lot on the cane

"Come inside, let's sit down for a minute." He said and guided her to a chair, helping her sit down and he saw how her legs started trembling a bit. "I'm really proud of you." He kissed her lips softly

"I'm- I'm tired." She admitted

"You haven't walked in months, give yourself a break." He kissed the top of her head but they were disturbed by a phone call from Richard

"Dad?" She picked up

"Mer, are you at the hospital? You need to come to the ER, quickly please." He said and hung up

"D-Dad?" Meredith said but he hung up already

"What's wrong?" Derek frowned

"Dad said I had to go to the ER quickly.." She frowned

"Let's go, I'll grab a wheelchair." Derek said

"No, I can walk!" She said and pushed herself up

"Are you sure of it? You shouldn't overdo it.." Derek muttered

"I wanna try." She nodded and held Derek's arm. Together they made their way to the ER

"Meredith.." Bailey hurried towards them

"What's wrong?" Meredith frowned and they heard loud yelling from one room

"Richard hurt himself but Ellis isn't doing well, Meredith." Bailey explained a bit

"What do you mean? Is it her heart again?" Meredith asked

"We need to monitor her but she's not calming down. I hate asking you this but can you try to calm her?" Bailey sighed

"No, where's Richard? Can't he try?" Derek asked Bailey

"They took him for a head CT, Amelia is with him."

"I can try.." Meredith muttered

"I'm coming with you." Derek quickly said, his arm around his wife as he noticed how scared she was

"Mom?" Meredith carefully said as she entered the room

"Meredith, I need to go to work." Ellis sighed, staring at the door

"Mom, you're hurt.. Can some doctors check you out please?" Meredith carefully continued

"Meredith, I'm not in the mood for games, I have to save people." She said sternly

"Mom-" Meredith leaned on her cane, Derek holding her from behind

"What happened?" Ellis suddenly looked at Meredith

"I'm fine now." Meredith replied

"Richard fell, I think he got hurt." Ellis said calmly

"They took him for a CT scan, that's all I know." Meredith kept going

"I think he got really hurt." Ellis said softly. "Are you his doctor?" She turned to face Derek

"No, my sister Amelia is treating him, but she's amazing." He assured her

"You two are married." Ellis crossed her arms

"W-We are." Meredith nodded, feeling Derek squeeze her hand softly

"How's-" Ellis seemed to try to remember. "Don't you two have a kid?"

"We do. She's doing well." Derek quickly said

"Mom, can they please check you out?" Meredith asked

"Why can't you? Or are your husband and daughter making you soft?" Ellis asked, suddenly being rude again

"I'll do it." Derek sighed, helping Meredith to sit down on a spare chair and walking over to check Ellis out