Flightless - Greys Anatomy

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She felt exhausted. But not the normal kind of exhaustion that came with having a newborn. An exhaustion that her body was failing her. Everyone could see her getting weaker, hoping she would be alright.

She didn’t even feel like eating, but forced herself to keep her milk supply up. They had been out here for days and everyone was getting worried.

Derek had stayed up that night, keeping an eye on Meredith. He and Cristina had been taking shifts since Meredith had started to become increasingly worse.

“I don’t know how long she can keep going.” Derek whispered. He and Cristina were sitting by the fire pit watching Meredith and the baby sleep. The baby wrapped up in her mother’s arms where she preferred to be.

“Meredith is strong, she’ll pull through this.” Cristina whispered,  although she had a hard time believing that herself. Meredith was getting noticably weaker. She was sleeping anytime she wasn’t up with the baby and had to force herself to eat, praying she wouldn't throw it back up.

Even throughout everything she was still a great mom, Derek and Cristina agreeing. Derek was beyond proud of her, knowing this could have not been easy.

“I wonder if I should wake her.” Derek sighed.

“Just let her sleep, Derek,” Mark chimed in. “She needs the rest.”

“I wish Arizona was lucid enough to tell us what to do.” Derek sighed. “What if Meredith’s body completely fails? What if she stops producing milk? How the hell are we suppose to keep the baby alive then? Her supply has already decreased a bit.” Derek said, panic rising in his voice.

“We will cross that road if we get to it.” Cristina sighed.

Derek got up walking over to where Meredith was, kneeling down beside her. He couldn’t help but lay down next to her, gently stroking her hair. He was downright terrified.

Meredith moaned, indicating what he assumed was that she liked the touch of affection. He smiled softly to himself, glad he was able to help in some sort of way.

He must have drifted off, because before he knew it he could heard his daughter’s soft cries. He felt Meredith pull her closer in an attempt to soothe her, to no avail.

She started to sit up, only to be gently pushed back down. “Go back to sleep, Mer. I’ve got her this round.” Derek gently spoke. Slowly he picked his daughter up taking her a little bit away from Meredith.

“Okay honey, let’s get you changed.” Derek softly spoke. He had come up with a makeshift diaper from extra clothing he had found. Whenever one was soiled he would wash it in the river, letting it air dry. He had three scrubs in rotation for that very purpose. It wasn’t conventional but it worked.

He took the baby, heading back over to where Meredith was. Mark came up to him then. “Hey, I got us some fish, want me to cook it for lunch?” He asked.

“Yeah that would be great, I didn’t even know you left.” Derek smiled.

“I work fast,” Mark winked. “I also picked up some berries and chives for Meredith because I didn’t know if she would be able to handle the fish.”

“I’ll see if I can get her to eat the fish but at least she will have something in her.” Derek sighed,  looking back down at Meredith.

“Mer? Meredith, babe,”  derek softly whispered as he shook her a little. “Can you sit up a little bit? Mark got you some stuff to try and eat.” Meredith groaned, forcing herself to sit up only to lean against Derek’s shoulder.

“I’m going to go check on Arizona, alright, Mer? Cristina will take over here.” He nodded at Cristina as he slid out from beside Meredith. He went over to Arizona, getting down on the ground as he checked for a pulse. It was slow and steady, for now.

Everything seemed to be falling apart around them, nobody knew if they would make it out alive.

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The night sky was full of stars, a nice change of pace from the gloomy, musty air they had all become accustomed to. Mark had taken over watching Arizona as Derek was performing his fatherly duties. He was almost certain that Meredith wasn’t going to last much longer. He had to take over completely with the baby as Meredith was only drifting into periods of counciousness seconds at a time.

He laid back down next to Meredith, their baby snuggled in between them both as he was stroking Meredith’s hair. He felt helpless, unable to help the love of his life.

“We’re not going to make it out of here alive, are we?” he asked Cristina who was sitting on the other side of Meredith.

“We just have to hope they find us.” Cristina sighed. Just when she said that, a loud noise could be heard. They all looked at each other, confused.

“What is that?” Cristina asked.

“It sounds like a helicopter, it’s getting closer.” Derek said, looking up at the sky.

They all started silently praying that they had been found. They watched as the helicopter came into view, hovering for a moment as light were shined down. “We found them!” They heard someone yell. It was true, they were finally getting out of this hell hole.

It was all chaotic, as a few more helicopters touched down, everyone was loaded into different ones except for Meredith and the baby who was loaded into one. Meredith caught sight of a body bag that she knew held her sister, her heart clenching. That was the last thing she remembered before she passed out.