"Der? I really don't feel well-" Meredith whimpered during the night after she had woken him up
"Can I check?" He asked, only starting after Meredith agreed
He checked her stomach and carefully opened the colostomy bag, emptying whatever was inside and making sure the whole area was cleaned
"Hmm.." Meredith winced and curled up in a ball as she felt cramps ripping through her stomach
"You're feeling a bit warm. I'm thinking of bringing you in." Derek frowned as he saw his wife struggling
"We got El- We have to wait until tomorrow, I don't want us to wake her up."
"We don't have to wake her, we can call Alex or my mom.." Derek suggested
"Not your mom- It's 3am." Meredith winced, the pain getting worse
"I'm calling Alex." He said quickly
After a while Alex arrived at the house while Derek had gotten himself ready to leave.
"Thank you for coming, I'm taking her to the ER." Derek said and lifted her up
"Sorry-" Meredith whimpered
Derek kissed her forehead and drove off, luckily the hospital wasn't that far. He lifted her out of the car and carried her inside
"Hey Meredith, what's up?" Bailey walked up to them
"My stomach has been hurting badly- I don't feel that well." Meredith groaned weakly
"She's sweating and a bit feverish. I'm getting worried her colostomy bag is causing issues." Derek said and placed his wife on a stretcher, seeing her crawl into a ball right away
"Sweetie, it will all be okay." Derek kissed her cheek
"Let's go take a look." Bailey nodded and pushed Meredith to a more private room
...
A few hours later they were waiting for the results of the tests. Meredith was laying down in a ball, her blanket tucked around her as she had been cold and Derek next to her, feeling useless as he wanted to help but had no idea what he could possibly do to comfort her
"Der-" Meredith started stirring. "News?"
"Not yet, close your eyes and try to sleep a bit more." He said softly
"What time is it?" Meredith asked, still not opening her eyes
"Almost 7 in the morning." He stroke his hand over her head
"Ellie will be waking up-" Meredith winced
"I know, Mer.." Derek muttered and kissed her head gently. "Close your eyes, it will probably take a while before we get some news." Derek told her
"You too.. You barely slept." Meredith said sternly but extremely weakly
"I will try to sleep a bit. Are you comfortable?" He asked her
"Think so." She nodded and weakly pulled at his arm, the two of them cuddling tight and slowly drifting off to sleep
It indeed took a while before Bailey walked into the room
"Hey Derek." She said softly. "Can you wake her up for me, please?"
"Of course." Derek nodded and carefully woke up meredith who started stirring until she winced in pain
"Hey Meredith, I got your results." Bailey started carefully
"What's wrong?" Meredith frowned, Bailey was being way too sweet and soft right now.
"We finally found it, Meredith." Bailey took a seat on the bed, grabbing the blonde's hand
"What's it?" Meredith muttered
"We're sure it's Crohn's disease combined with spondylitis." Bailey sighed sadly
"Spondylitis?" Meredith gasped
"But we also found an infection inside of your stomach. We think it's colitis ulcerosa.."
"Another chronic illness?" Derek frowned. "She has the two of the most severe chronic illnesses combined with spondylitis?"
"I'm really sorry." Bailey nodded. "I'll give you some inflammation meds and antibiotics through an IV before you can go home. I'm really sorry." Bailey said and excused herself
"At least we now know what's wrong, we can work from here." Derek sighed sadly, not feeling like it's any relief at all
"Sure.." She started crying
"I'm sorry." Derek held her tight against his chest. They knew about her Crohn's disease when they had placed her colostomy bag but they had never expected all of this
It finally explains all the pain and neck issues Meredith was having but he hoped they'd give a solution, not something that they might never be able to fix at all.
As Meredith got installed and finally got pain meds, resulting in her falling asleep, he allowed himself to feel emotions. He was terrified of what might come
"I will always love you. We're so proud of you, sweetheart." Derek kissed her head and held her as tight as he could without hurting her
Time passed by, Derek watched the IV run slowly but was glad Meredith finally had some sleep
He had texted his mom earlier, asking if she could pick up Ellis because Alex had to work
Of course Carolyn was worried, she knew Meredith was admitted in the ER but they hadn't heard of the results yet. She decided to tidy the house and make them some light food for when they'd come home
"Nana, cookies?" Ellis asked with a big smile
"Will we make some cookies, sweetie?" Carolyn offered, lifting the girl and placing her onto the counter, debating if she would call her son or not, as she was extremely worried about her daughter in law
