Say you won't let go

Chapter 20

Meredith stood at the nurses station, filling out her paperwork for the day. She had so much going on, she could barely think about the paperwork she was filling out. After they had gotten back from New York, Lexie had been distant, she was suffering from the worst morning sickness she ever had, and to top it off the hospital was currently going through a law suit which made everything much worse at work. A patient and an intern had started a romantic relationship and she forged documents to get him higher on the transplant list. Work life was hectic, home life was even more hectic with settling into living with another man again. Zoe still hadn't spoken to Meredith much since the news broke and life was just full of stress.

"How much longer you think?" Derek said as he whisked around her, propping himself on the nurses station.

"I-uh maybe fifteen minutes?" She shuffled through the files of notes beside her she was inputting on the electronic chart files.

"Take-out sound good?" He asked, knowing she wasn't going to cook.

"That's fine," she nodded, distracted by so much going through her mind.

"Are you ok?" He asked, noticing how she was acting.

"Yes," she nodded. "No."

"What's going on?" He wanted to comfort her, even with just a hand across her shoulder but he kept his distance at work.

"There's just so much. Morning sickness is kicking my ass, Lexie is avoiding me, Zoe hates me," she sighed, trying to hold back the tears that begged to fall. Pregnancy hormones raged her body and mind, she had never had such a rough pregnancy, she had every single symptom plus more.

"Mer, Zoe doesn't hate you. For a long time, it was just me and her. Us against the world. Then she went from being an only child to a sister to three in a year. She will adjust, she adores you," he looked around a second before grabbing her hand, squeezing it just a bit for reassurance.

"I know that, my pregnancy brain doesn't ," she laughed nervously.

"Let's do something tonight, maybe play a game with the kids," he suggested.

"Sounds good," she smiled, looking around before going in for a quick kiss. His lips met hers, it was short and sweet. Something she wanted to do everyday for the rest of her life. He winked at her before hurrying off, watching behind him for a second before he turned the corner.

"What's been up with lexipedia?" Cristina asked as she came from behind, startling Meredith. Cristina had been distant since Burke filed for divorce and left the hospital.

"I don't know, she's been weird," Meredith replied.

"I know. Do you think Mark did something?"

"No, Derek would have told me but to come to think of it, Mark and Derek haven't been speaking much either."

"She's taking her boards in a few months, maybe she's worried?" Cristina offered then they both started laughing.

"Who am I kidding, she probably has every single textbook memorized," Cristina laughed again.

"I don't know, I'll try to find out. She never goes this long without talking to me," Meredith nodded and was now on a mission. She searched high and low through the hospital, checking on-call rooms, the basement, and even bathrooms. She couldn't find Lexie anywhere when she suddenly passed Mark who was too involved in his cell phone to even notice Meredith.

"Mark! Where's Lexie?" Meredith stood in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"I don't know," he lied.