Strong enough

35

2 years later

"Mommy?" Charlotte walked inside the house, knowing her mom was currently home after she had been in surgery this morning

"Princess.." Meredith opened her eyes, she had woken up from her nap

"How are you?" Charlotte took a seat on the couch

"Doing just fine. How are you, how was school?" Meredith unhooked herself from her tube feeding

"Fine, just boring as always. How did your surgery go?"

"Amazing, I was able to remove the cancer completely." Meredith smiled proudly as she has been mostly taking oncologic cases

"You're amazing." Charlotte giggled and hugged her mom tightly. "I'm so proud of you, thank you."

"Oh monkey, I'm so proud of you too. You're the best daughter I could wish for." Meredith kissed Charlotte's head. "Do you think we should go for a walk? Dad will be here in an hour." Meredith suggested

"Can we go see Nana and Poppa?" Charlotte suggested

"I think that's a great idea, yes." Meredith smiled widely and got up, reaching for her daughter's hand

Carolyn and Christopher had moved in a year ago since Derek wanted them closer in case anything would be up. They had their own house on the land, close to the dreamhouse but keeping its privacy

Charlotte and Meredith were walking from their house to Carolyn and Christolher's. They knocked on the window and waited

"Hi dear, hi sweetheart." Carolyn smiled as she opened the doors, letting both of them inside

...

Meredith was jogging to the ER a few days later, slightly out of breath by the time she arrived

"I suspect she has a brain bleed but also has a ruptured spleen." Derek explained to her as they would have to work together

"Get her a CT, now!" Meredith demanded

"Let's go." Derek chuckled as they started running to the ER. Eventually both of them were able to save the woman. They did an amazing job but it had taken very long, around 13 hours which was a lot on Meredith even if she had been recovering for two years

"Der.." Meredith muttered as she started to scrub out, her hands shaking

"Go to your office, I'll go tell the family and afterwards I'll come find you so we can go home to Charlie." Derek kissed her head softly after they finished scrubbing out

It took some time before Derek arrived, the family had a lot of questions but he wanted to make sure they'd be well informed

"Mer?" He stroked his fingers over her cheek, tucking some hairs behind her ears. She had done everything to make sure her hair would be as long as possible in those two years

"Hmm., Tired.." Meredith groaned softly

"Come on, we should go home. You need to go lay down in bed." Derek frowned, grabbing her bags

"Don't wanna go to bed, wanna talk to Ellie." Meredith muttered and pushed herself up

"When was your last feeding?" Derek asked as he wrapped his arm around his wife's waist

"I think it was almost 16 hours ago." Meredith muttered, together they headed to their car and got in. During the carrie Meredith started the feeding to fuel up her body

Derek smiled at his wife as she fell asleep. He held her hand in his own and started the rather long drive home

"Mer? Wake up." He kissed her lips

"Hi." Meredith smiled softly and got up, putting her bag on that kept the food running inside her

Derek put his hand on Meredith's back as they entered the house

"Hey!" Ellis smiled at her parents, she was sitting with her grandparents on the couch

"Hey monkey." Meredith collapsed on the couch, hugging Ellis while smiling at her parents

"My feet hurt." Derek muttered as he took a seat as well, cuddling against Meredith

After a few minutes both Meredith and Derek had drifted off

"Who would have thought?" Ellis laughed, even if her mom's health situation had caused her to struggle a lot with anxiety, staying in DC around her family was all she needed

"They're adorable. Let me turn on the grill, Addison and Mark will be here soon, let these two sleep for a bit." Carolyn smiled softly

- The End -