Love in the dark

15

Later that night Meredith was asleep on the hospital bed, the meds were wonderful for now

But she had no idea what they had arranged..

A few hours earlier Derek was on his way to pick up his daughter at his parents' house

He was honestly very nervous as he parked his car and made his way over to the front door

"Derek." Carolyn opened the door

"Mom.." Derek smiled softly, it was slightly awkward but regardless Carolyn pulled her son in for a tight hug

"Come on, Mads. Your dad is here, did you pack all your stuff? And did nana give you those cookies?" Derek heard his father

"Yes poppa. Thank you." Maddie hugged him tight, ever since the girl was born her grandparents had loved her unconditionally

"Derek." Christopher stood up, not moving towards his son

"I'll grab my bag." Maddie ran off to her room

"Mark warned you already, but don't you dare playing around with my girls ever again!" Christopher looked really angry

"Dad.. I know I'm in the bad." Derek sighed

"Take good care of Maddie and just give us a call if we're of any use." Christopher sighed

"Thanks poppa." Maddie walked back into the room and gave him a hug. "Thanks nana." She hugged her grandmother as well and left with Derek

Derek drove the short distance to the hospital and together they got out of the car and made their way over to Meredith's room. Maddie was quiet and in a rush. Derek had to keep up with his daughter but her smile was worth it

Maddie felt so relieved as she entered her mom's room and saw she was sound asleep

Derek's heart broke, he wanted to hug Meredith and Maddie, promising that everything would be okay

"Are you okay?" Derek quietly asked Maddie, softly rubbing her back

"Sure." Maddie shrugged, not trusting him enough to open her heart

"Hmm.." Meredith started stirring after a bit, slowly opening her eyes as she wanted to check her phone but suddenly she spotted Maddie

"Hi mommy." The girl smiled

"Monkey, how are you doing?" Meredith asked but not moving at all, not wanting to trigger herself for getting sick

"Fine, are you okay?" Maddie stroke her hand over her mother's shoulder

"Yeah of course I am." Meredith muttered. "Do you wanna lay down with me?"

"Can I?" Maddie's eyes widened

"Of course, princess." Meredith opened her arm but didn't dare to move

Maddie joined her mom in the bed and closed her eyes

"Are you two comfortable?" Derek asked, tucking them in gently

"Yes dad." Maddie nodded, cuddling close into her mom's body

"Bailey.. my meds." Meredith whispered as she was close to falling asleep but wanted to make sure she'd get her anti nausea meds soon in a try to let her have a good night

"I'll page her." Derek promised and did so

After a while Bailey administered her meds and frowned in Derek's direction

"What are you doing here?" She scoffed

"Bailey, please.." Derek sighed, tears welling up as he couldn't do this anymore, he couldn't keep explaining everything over and over again

"Shepherd, I'm just warning you. Everyone except you knows what she went through, we all saw her break in front of our eyes and there was nothing we could do, she shut all of us out. So be careful, especially now, you can't break her again. She's still not healed and for some screwed up reason the universe is doing that again to her." Bailey sighed

"I know, Bailey. I won't hurt her or Mads ever again." He assured her

Suddenly Derek noticed Maddie was actually awake as she reached for his hand and squeezed it softly

Bailey left again and Maddie went insane inside her own thoughts. She was so confused, so terrified that anything was up with her mom, every single movement of sound was enough to scare her

"Dad?" She looked up at her father that had stayed with them

"Yes?" He looked away from Meredith and to his daughter

"I'm scared.. and.. I wanna help mom.. is there anything I can do?"

"You're doing an amazing job, monkey. You have no idea how happy you make your mom. The day she gave birth she was only nervous because we'd finally meet you. She was so proud of everything you've done throughout your life. You should have seen her when you started walking and talking. You're the reason your mom is who she is, she changed so much since you were born." Derek stroke his daughter's arm softly

"I'm so proud of my mommy. I know I don't have that many friends.." She muttered and stopped as she realized her father didn't even know what she was talking about. "She's my best friend, my favorite person. She's my person."

"She's so proud of you, Mads." Derek sighed sadly

"I feel like you barely even know us.." Maddie suddenly said

"Your mom updated me on some things. I didn't always reply.. mostly not.. but she kept writing me texts to say how you were doing, how you did in school and tell me about your dance shows and horse riding lessons.." Derek looked down. "She did all that, she kept me updated in a way, even when I didn't deserve that."

"But why didn't you respond then?" Maddie sighed, closing her eyes

"Because I felt like I had failed. I wanted to move to DC to work for the president and your mom decided to stay here, to look after you and make sure you had your family close. I was so angry and upset with her as I felt like she had held me back. Eventually DC was horrible, I just went to my hotel room every night and kept working. After a while I met someone at work, she kissed me and I tried to distract myself, I didn't want to return to Seattle and admit that I had failed and instead I had believed that I could replace what I had, at least my ego wanted to believe that. And I promise you it led to the two worst years of my life, all because I didn't wanna prove that your mom was, once again, right."

Do you guys still like the story? Do i need to change anythign?