"Richard?" Meredith walked into his hospital room
"Mer.." He smiled weakly
"Hey, how are you feeling?" She walked up to him, taking a seat on his bed
"I'm fine, Meredith. I don't need to be here." He said sternly
"Richard, you fell and broke your hip. You'll need time to recover." Meredith squeezed his hand softly
"I can go home!" He snapped
"Richard.. please.." Meredith flinched, she saw him as her father
"I wanna leave!" He said sternly
"You'll stay here for a few more days and we'll see what's better.." She muttered. "I'll just- I'll bring you some more books."
"Sure." He sighed and just closed his eyes
"I'm sorry, Richard. Just.. call if you need us please." Meredith muttered and left
"Hey-" Derek saw her leaving Richard's room
"Hey." She muttered, leaning into Derek's strong arms
"What's wrong? Was he rude again?" Derek frowned, ever since Richard has been hospitalized he had been taking it out on Meredith
"He wants to go home, Derek but he can't. It's too dangerous to live on his own."
"I know that, he knows too but it will probably take some time before he gets used to that idea. Let's go have some lunch, what do you think?" Derek asked her
"Fine." She muttered and they linked hands while walking to grab lunch together
"Let's hope we can go home on time tonight, let's take a bath together, we'll watch a movie and maybe go for a walk.. All will be okay." Derek tried to ease her
"Thank you." She nodded her head and they went to pick up some lunch but decided to eat in her office, she needed some quiet time in Derek's arms
Derek served their lunch and saw how she struggled to eat but she continued
"I still think we gotta go to the cliff, it will be good for the three of us." Derek carefully suggested
"I can't, not with Richard now." Meredith frowned
"Can we ask mom and dad to check on him? And we can drive here if needed." Derek carefully suggested
"It's not fair, Derek. They do so much for us. Why don't you go with Ellie, maybe even bring mom and dad?" She suggested
"No Mer, I'm not going there without you. What if you don't feel well?"
"I never feel well." She harshly said and suddenly went quiet in his arms, shaking off the thoughts
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you." He kissed her head
"Do you think we should let Richard live with us?" Meredith carefully asked
"I don't know if that's a great idea, Mer." Derek sighed. "Richard never stopped drinking.. With Ellie around.. I don't know."
"Ever since mom passed away.." Meredith teared up
"I'm sorry, I didn't wanna make you sad." Derek said softly while stroking his fingers through her hair
"I miss her a lot." Meredith nodded. "I'm so grateful she looked after me when my mother died."
"Adele was one of the sweetest people I know." Derek hugged her
Meredith had been adopted by Adele and Richard after her own mother passed away during giving birth. Richard had started drinking after Ellis' death so he was barely around, only getting back in the picture after Meredith's teenage years
"Happy thoughts only." Meredith said and continued eating
"I can't wait to be in the tub with you." Derek said as he finished
"Hmm.. steaming hot water." She nodded
"I thought you and me in the tub together was your favorite part." Derek teased
"Of course." Meredith chuckled softly
...
Derek was waiting for his wife as she was finishing her surgery. Once she finished he went to the scrub room to go see her
"Congratulations, you really did amazing." Derek said
Meredith tiredly looked up and smiled. She finished scrubbing out and kissed her husband
"Ready to go home?"
"Yes please." She smiled and they left. Meredith had to empty her colostomy bag before she got changed into some comfy sweats. Derek drove the short distance home and parked the car on the street, another thing he missed about the cliff. He used to love the long car rides and park his car on their huge driveway but now everything was much more compact as they lived in the busy center of Seattle
The two of them made their way into the house and went straight away to the bathroom where Derek started filling the tub
Meredith turned on the heater to heat up the bathroom
For Derek the temperature was fine but he knew his wife was always cold, it wasn't her fault so he let her
He put in some of her favorite lavender oil and got naked
"You're so handsome." Meredith smiled
"I need to be, to keep up with my stunning and beautiful wife." He said, walking up to her for a hug
"I'm not." She muttered
They've had this conversation for over a million times, he wasn't gonna have it now but he wished she knew better, she is absolutely gorgeous and will always be
Derek couldn't care about a scar more or less, he didn't care about the sight of the colostomy bag, he just loved his wife. Of course the medical stuff sometimes scared him, because of how much his wife has been suffering and how it will always keep bugging her, but never because it scared him.
"I love you, Meredith Grey. I will always love you." He said and scooped her up, placing her in between his legs as he sat down on the tub, feeling her relax in his arms
"I love you too, Derek Shepherd."
