You and Me

Chapter 21

Perspective: Derek

He tried to forcefully get me out of the room, but I wouldn't budge.

"Derek, you really need to leave, you're not allowed to be in here when operation on family." I wasn't going to move an inch. "Fine, you're making me do this this hard way. Page the chief, nurse." I gulped, knowing that if I refused to the chief I would get either fired or put on a warning. I gave Alex a dirty look before leaving the operating room.

A few hours later of waiting nervously, Alex came out in his surgical gown wearing an ugly look.

"Meredith is fine, she'll be awake in a few hours," he started.

"What about the baby?" I asked, nervously. I could see his face redden, like he was cautious about telling me the truth. "Just tell me, I can take it," I told him. I wasn't completely sure that I could, but I needed to know what happened.

"I should really wait until Meredith wakes up," he said absently. I nodded, and got up to go to her room, she would want me there when she woke up.

My footsteps echoed as I walked through the dim halls, wondering on what disease Alex was so afraid to tell me about.

"Hey, Mer," I whispered. Her soft blue eyes slowly opened and stared at me right back. She reached for my hand which I accepted quickly, knowing that soon, she would be devastated.

"How's the baby?" she asked. I looked at her, like I would when she was upset.

"We need to talk about that," Alex finished as he reluctantly as he walked in the door. She looked at me nervously before squeezing my hand.

"The signs are usually pretty unnoticeable in the ultra sounds, and although you did have some pains, thats pretty common and-" I stopped him, I didn't want to hear anymore of his excuses.

"Just tells already for God's sake!"

Perspective: Meredith

I could tell that Derek was getting mad, though I was unsure why. An awkward vibe was floating in the room, and it seemed that I was the only one who didn't know what it was from.

"Your baby," he started. "Has Anencephaly."

No.

No.

No. This wasn't true, it couldn't be true. There was no way in the whole world why this could be true.

"Alex," I laughed nervously. "Why are you lying to me?" He let out a deep sigh.

"Mer, I'm so sorry," Alex tried to explain.

"Shut up!" I scream, only because I couldn't hold it in anymore. The room goes silent for a few moments.

"How long do we have with," Derek asks.

"You have around 4 hours with your little girl." I cringed. Not because my mother was dead or that I had killed a patient, but because my baby, a little girl, had a few hours to live, and I was hysterically crying.

"Ellis," I whispered through sobs. "We should name her Ellis," Derek smiles a small smile at me.

"I love it." Alex then awkwardly leaves and comes back a few minutes later with Ellis wrapped tightly in a light blanket. A small "coo" comes from her mouth as he places her gently into my arms. She has sweet blue eyes and dark brown hair with fair skin.

"Hi baby," I whisper to her. "Want to say hi to daddy?" I gently hand her over to Derek, and as I do so, I can see his face light up.

"Hey there!" he says to her. Soon, tears start falling again, knowing that soon my little girl will be gone, and that I will have only gotten to hold her for a little while.

"Sorry guys, I got to put her back in the incubator," Alex explains. Giving him a death stare, I hand over Ellis to him, and he gently places her into a small glass container. It seemed like he wanted to go, because as soon as Alex closed the door to the incubator he nearly ran out of the room.

Ellis rolled around on her back and moved her tiny arms in a way that made her look even cuter. As much as I tried to savor these moments, I couldn't focus.

"Mer," Derek said to me. He looked at me as if he was going to say something meaningful, but it seemed like the words couldn't come out. "I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, like he said, Derek came into the room with an old polaroid camera, the kind that everyone that was so "cool" in highschool.

"We're going to save these moments forever," he told me. Derek handed me Ellis, and I looked down at her sweet little face. She most definitely have Anencephaly; her head lacked a large portion of her brain. She put her hand on my face right as Derek snapped the camera, soon followed by a small image of Ellis and I. After a while, we had dozens of photos of me and Derek with her, so many that we had run out of film.

"Forever," I whispered.

"Forever."

I prayed for a miracle.

To be continued... 

AHHHH! IM DYING. This got really dark really suddenly, sorry guys. I needed this to happen for reasons you'll see later

Shoutout to merder_dempeo for being really supportive to me and my story!