"What? Are you sure?" Nathan asks.
"Yes. I found out today but I had my suspicions for a few days." I say.
"Why did you wait so long to tell me?" He asks. He sounds hurt. I never meant to hurt him.
"I wasn't sure how you would react." I say.
"Well, I'm not exactly thrilled, and I'll need a few days alone to go through this, but I promise, I will never leave you." Nathan says.
"Okay." I say. We finish the bath and get changed into pjs.
We fall asleep on opposite sides of the bed. I lay there, curled up, thinking about how I'm going to make this work with four kids. Four, really? We had such a hard time having Bailey, and now I've had Bailey and Ellis, and now this kid. Way to mess with me, fate. Way to go.
I wake up to a cold and empty bed. I go downstairs and my my coffee. I wake the kids and get them ready for day care.
"Mom? Why are you so sad?" Zola asks.
"Sweetie, you're going to elementary school in a few weeks, and you've just been growing up so fast." I say, covering up the real reason why I'm sad.
"Mom, you don't need to be sad." Zola tells me.
"Okay. Go get your brother ready for day care. I'll get your sister." I say.
"Okay." Zola says and goes to find Bailey.
We get into the car and drive to the hospital. I drop the kids off, then go to the OR board. I see my name next to a patient who needs a liver transplant. I look around for Nathan's name but I don't see his name next to anything. He must be taking a day off.
Meredith
Nathan
Hey, are you at work today?
No. Taking space.
Okay. Take your time.
Thanks. Say hi to the kids for me.
Will do. Have a good day
I'll try.
I walk down the hall and I see Alex.
"Alex, can we talk?" I ask.
"Sure Mer. What's up?" he asks.
"I told Nathan." I say, looking at my feet.
"Told him what?" Alex asks.
"That I'm having his kid and now he's somewhere and I don't know what to do." I say.
"Shh. It'll be fine. When did you find out?" Alex asks.
"Yesterday. Amelia was there and ugh it's a long story." I say.
"Meredith?" a different voice than Alex says.
"What." I say not even looking his way.
"Derek?" Alex says slowly.
"Yeah." Derek says.
"What? I thought you died." Alex says to Derek.
"I did. Well, I was in a coma and I was sent over to Sweden and I received extreme medical care and was in a coma for 11 months and then I woke up and didn't know where I was and was asking for Mer and the nurses there didn't know who I was talking about until I started talking about Seattle." Derek says.
"But we couldn't do anything for you here, and Sweden could?" Alex asks.
"Yeah. I don't know why they didn't send me here but apparently that's how it worked out. But I'm back and" I cut him off.
"I've moved on Derek. I've already told you this. You know this as well as I do. I'm not going back to you." I say. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I deserve to be happy and right now, I'm not happy."
"I'm sorry Meredith. I hope you continue to be happy. I'll leave you and the kids alone. And feel free to do whatever with the house." Derek says reluctantly.
"If you want, you can see the kids whenever you want. Just call or text me before you do." I say, trying to compromise. I don't want to cut out a person who played a significant role in their lives.
"Really? What about this guy who you're happy with right now?" Derek asks.
"I'll talk to him, but I'm not getting back with you. Just know the limit." I say.
"Alright. I will call or text when I want to see them. Should we make a schedule?" He asks.
"Yeah. You can see them for 5 hours every Sunday until they say they want more time." I say.
"Thank you so much, Meredith." Derek says.
"Okay. Now I'm going to go get prepped for my surgery. It's in 15 minutes." I say. I start walking away.
"Meredith?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." Derek says. We turn opposite directions and go separate ways.
"Mr Smith's family?" I say into the waiting room after the surgery.
"Yes?" A kind, older black woman says.
"The surgery went very smoothly, and Mr Smith is in recovery if you would like to see him now."
"Oh thank you." She says.
We walk up to elevators, and I take her into the ICU.
I show her to a room where Mr Smith lays, with just an IV for fluids in his arm and the finger heart rate monitor and the chest monitors.
"As I said, the surgery went very well, and he will have to take it easy for a couple weeks before getting back to work, or the stitches could get pulled out. He should wake up in a few minutes and he may be thirsty, so over there is a pitcher with water and a cup." I say.
"Thank you so much, Doctor Grey. You have no idea how much of a hero you are today." Mrs Smith says. I nod and leave her to be with her husband until he wakes up.
Now that I have time, I pull out my phone and check to see if I have any messages.
5 new text messages from Nathan Riggs
2 missed calls from Nathan Riggs
3 missed FaceTime calls from Nathan Riggs
I open messages and read them all.
Mer, I'm so sorry I reacted this way.
I'm a horrible person.
I'm coming back to the city.
I should never have taken space.
Ugh why did I do this.
I call Nathan.
"Yes?" He says.
"Hey." I say. "I got all of your text messages."
"Oh. Yeah. So I'm back at the house. Can you meet me here? I asked Owen and Amelia to pick up the kids." Nathan says.
"Sure." I say, slightly confused. "I'll be home in 20 Minutes."
We hang up and I get into my car and drive home. I arrive home soon after I leave.
I pull into the driveway and get out. The door is wide open, and there's a twist of pink and blue paper ribbons across the floor and up the stairs.
"I'm home!" I say.
"Great! Follow the ribbons!" Nathan says.
I follow the ribbons up the stairs and it goes into my bedroom.
There are roses everywhere, and there's a bottle of sparkling cider and chocolate covered strawberries.
"You did this?" I say in awe.
"Yeah. Care for some cider in a champagne glass?" Nathan says with a wink.
"I'd love some." I say, My smile growing wider every second.
"I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have run. I just needed to process everything." Nathan apologizes.
"It's fine. I needed to process it too. That's why it took so long to do the test and to tell you." I say.
We smile and kiss. We have a wonderful evening of sparkling cider and strawberries with an aura of roses and lavender.
A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you're liking this story! For those who were wondering... this is definitely a Merthan story, although Derek is going to be around, but only with the kids. Please vote and comment and share with friends if you like it! Thanks a million for reading!
