Dreams on Fire

Oh, It is Love

The next few days passed by in a blur of routine. Be woken up by everyone doing rounds, have breakfast, Meredith would then have a marathon of morning sickness much to Derek's chagrin. The nurse would administer Derek's medication, and by that time the pair were ready for a nap together in Derek's bed. They'd be awoken in an hour by Carolyn, Bailey, and Zola, who were excited to see their parents; once the trio was gone they fell back asleep usually until around 11. 11 was when the nurse liked to try to get Derek up. Meredith hated 11 o'clock because she felt Derek wasn't ready, while Derek would claim he was. She knew he was forcing himself because he hated it here and he wanted to get the hell out of the hospital. She couldn't blame him for that in the slightest; they'd been there a week now and she was going crazy. Yet she knew she'd this do over and over for him.

So far Derek had been able to get up to the bathroom and back and bed several times since he'd been moved to a real room, which meant that the catheter had come out, which equaled even less pain for him. Owen had decided to back off the pain medication a bit to see how Derek was tolerating it. He was still in a great deal of pain, but he was somewhat grateful tat he could feel the pain now. Feeling the pain rather just knowing it was there was better than nothing. But today he was supposed to walk out of the room to the nurses station with nothing but Meredith and his IV pole.

The time had come for Derek to walk to the nurses station on his crutches and Meredith sighed as he swung his legs slowly around to the other side of the bed to a sitting position. Sitting had become much easier in the past few days, as had standing and walking to the bathroom with assistance from Meredith and the crutches, but now he had to do it with just the crutches, which were a pain in the ass in his opinion. Standing up, Meredith handed him the crutches and then backed away as he slowly made his way to the door, pain evident in his face but she knew he would never voice a complaint, and she knew she wasn't allowed to interfere. Derek made it to the door and paused, out of breath and exhausted just from getting to the door but he knew he had to do this. "You're so close Derek," she urged, moving closer to the door in case he fell, despite the nurse on his other side. She would never forgive herself if he fell and hit his head now, after everything he had overcome in the past week and a half. Grunting, he soldiered on taking those last few steps to the nurse's station that was about ten feet from the door of his room. Meredith couldn't help but smile, rushing to his side and giving him a kiss. "I'm proud of you," she murmured, rubbing his arm gently. "Come on, let's go back to the room and then you can rest," she smiled, as he began his journey back into the room. Once he was there, Mere helped the nurse get him back in bed, and another nurse came in with his next dose of pain medication. It had been decreased by a lot, but was still making him fall asleep, which she didn't mind. He was healing and every day he was improving by leaps and bounds. He just needed to make it to the end of the hallway and Meredith could take him home where he would be much more comfortable and be able to get so much more rest than in the hospital, with doctors and nurses coming in every hour or too. But for now, the pair were left alone and Meredith climbed into the narrow hospital bed with Derek, quickly drifting off to sleep with her head on his chest, careful to avoid any of his sutures.

Meredith and Derek slept like that for hours without disturbance. It wasn't like the ICU, where everyone was rushing in and out every hour to check things. The step-down room was on a quiet floor and Meredith was thankful that they were able to have some peace and quiet for the first time in nearly two weeks. Upon waking, Meredith checked her phone and was shocked to find out they had been out for five hours. Either they had been able to sleep through nurses rushing in and out, or they actually hadn't been disturbed. Either way, she was happy. Stretching out a bit she could feel him stirring beside her, his eyes flickering open. "Hey you," he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows. Derek could only smith, brushing her hair back from her eyes. "Better now that I'm well enough to sneak naps with you," he laughed and she scrunched her nose up. It sucked that he was still in the hospital; he had been for two and a half weeks now, but at least he was progressing and not falling behind in his recovery. He still had a few more weeks with the casts on his arm and leg; they were both on the left side, but he could deal with the crutches and Meredith helping him do things until he was fully healed. He hated not being able to hold both of his children, and put both of his hands on Meredith's ever-growing bump – he swore it grew every day, over night even – but he knew when the casts came off and he had full use of the left side of his body, he was never taking his hands off the bump, and Zola and Bailey were only being put down to eat and go to bed. He had more time off from work to go to physical therapy and he planned on spending it with his kids. Zola was starting kindergarten in September and he wanted to soak up the last few slips of her being a baby. They were both growing up much too fast; Bailey was going to be three in October and Zola was already five. The new baby would bring chaos and yet somewhat of a balance to the house again, with a screaming baby, a babbling toddler, and a 5 year old going on 15. He couldn't help but smile and look down at Meredith, her bump curling against him, her eyes fluttering shut again as she snuggled back up to him. Besides being stuck in the hospital a bit longer from an accident that nearly killed him, he had to say he was pretty pleased with his life.