Christmas Miracle: Merder

The One With The Never Ending Day

It was officially the day that Meredith had been waiting for.. the day she was permanently put in the neuro department. Meredith always had a thing for neuro and always made it a point whenever she could, so she was thrilled when she was placed back in it. She didn't know how long permanently meant, whether that meant forever, or for 6 months... she didn't care as long as it meant she was there for more than a day. 

"Good morning." She said from their kitchen as Derek walked in. It was early, around 5:30 in the morning, which was unusual for Meredith. Usually she was getting up at the last minute. 

"Good... morning." Derek said suspiciously as he went and sat at the table next to the highchair that Aubrie was sitting in, eating a cut mini pancake. "Why are you up so early?" He then asked. 

"I am just really really excited to be back in neuro and not have to be somewhere that I don't want to be. I'm actually excited to get up super early and go to work for once." Meredith replied as she placed a plate of pancakes in front of Derek and grabbed an apple for herself before she sat down. "Eat up, we have a very busy day today." She said.

Within an half hour, they were all cleaned up, dressed, and out of the house. They managed to make it to the hospital in record time of about 5 minutes, mainly because Meredith insisted on driving and since she was excited that resulted in pretty fast driving. 

"I'll bring Aubrie to daycare, you run up to neuro and do a rundown of all the cases we have today." Derek said as he took Aubrie from Meredith. 

"Thank you times a million." Meredith said as she kissed Derek and Aubrie and headed up to neuro. 

10 minutes had passed and Meredith managed to do a rundown of all the cases, which basically meant to put them in order of who was most critical, and just get and idea of the case. Derek had made it up to the floor, and looked at the cases as well. 

"So." Meredith said to Derek. 

"So what?" Derek replied. 

"When's your first surgery?" She asked. 

"About an hour." Derek said as he sat down in the chair behind the desk. 

"You're letting me scrub in, right?" Meredith asked. 

"Of course, but you have to take it easier up here." Derek said back. 

"What do you mean easier?" She asked. 

"You aren't allowed to be running around like crazy, and doing things excessively." He replied. 

"Why?" She asked with a mad look on her face. 

"Because, up here you are not just Dr. Grey to me, you are my wife and you have my kid inside of you and i'm not about to let you over do it." He said back to her looking at her facial expression change. 

"Whatever. I'll go prep for your surgery." She said as she walked away and headed towards the OR rooms. 

Meredith knew all of Derek's little OR quirks. How he needed 12 surgical towels in the OR at all times. How he would never operate without his ferryboat scrub cap. How he needed a certain surgical staff in the OR or in close range in case something went wrong and they were able to work at the same pace as him. 

Before she knew it, OR nurses started to roll in the patient, and the surgical prep on the patient started. From that moment on the rest of the day just went by incredibly slow, or felt like it was anyways. 

The surgery was a routine procedure, or it was supposed to be anyways. A lot happened, and it was very unorganized, staff wise. 

Meredith and Derek went to scrub out after the surgery. 

"Will she be alright?" Meredith asked. 

"I don't know." Derek said not paying too much attention to her. 

"Derek, what is your problem?" She asked as she turned to face him in the scrub room. 

"Not here, we'll talk later." Derek replied. "We'll talk at home later." 

"Okay.. are you sure you're fine?" Meredith asked. 

"I'll make it through the day." He replied, before kissing Meredith's cheek and walking out of the scrub room. 

Meredith's day seemed to be never ending. She saw plenty of patients, both in the clinic and on the neuro floor. Her day was a never ending marathon, to say the least. Finally, her 18 hour shift was over and she went searching the floor for Derek.

"Have you seen Dr. Shepherd?" Meredith asked the nurse sitting behind the nurses station. 

"He actually went to the daycare, he left a memo for you." She replied. 

"Thank you so much." Meredith replied as she started to walk towards the elevator to take down to the daycare. 

Once she arrived there, she saw Derek in the window, holding Aubrie, walking back and forth in a pacing kind of matter, while she was sound asleep. He looked so at peace, and so calm. She loved seeing how good he was with her, and how much he loved her. She adored how Derek loved her just as much as he loved Meredith from the second they met. 

Meredith walked in the daycare after watching Derek for a couple minutes. 

"Hey." Meredith said in a whisper standing next to Derek. 

"Hi." He said back also in a whisper. "Let's go home." He said as he motioned over to Aubrie's bag for Meredith to get. 

"Please." Meredith replied and went and got the bag. 

Once they got into the car and successfully put Aubrie in her carseat which is never an easy task especially when she's sleeping, Meredith and Derek started their journey home. 

"Talk to me." Meredith said looking at Derek who wouldn't take his eyes off the road. 

"Not with her in the backseat." He said back, taking one hand off the wheel and placing it in Meredith's. 

The drive home felt like it took hours, when in reality it was only a few minutes. That's how the whole day felt. Meredith knew something was up with Derek, but she didn't know exactly what it was. 

They finally arrived back at the house. Derek put Aubrie down for bed, and Meredith started to make a lunch and snack for her, for daycare the next day. Derek came down the stairs after being upstairs for only about 5 minutes and walked in the kitchen and just stood there. 

"Derek, seriously talk to me. It has been eating me alive all day." Meredith said. 

"I was sitting at the desk at work today, and I saw an email from a few different hospitals, which is totally normal for me. Two emails caught my eye. One was from Johns Hopkins and one was from Seattle Grace."

"Okay.. and..?" Meredith asked. 

"One of them denied my alzheimer's trial, and one accepted it." He replied. 

"Derek Shepherd will you just spit it out." Meredith said. 

"Seattle denied. Hopkins accepted." He replied. 

AU: OMG can you believe it's been like 8 weeks since i've updated. Ugh school is killing me, and on top of school i'm in recovery from a few out patient procedures i've had done on my knee (I haven't talked about this, but last year I tore cartilage in my knee, and once that healed, I ended up tearing a muscle and my knee hasn't healed properly, so I opted to get out patient procedures done before I got a more serious surgery done). I do plan on being much much more active when it comes to writing from now on. I missed you guys so much and I hope that you understand! <3