TITLE: Something Beautiful Remains.
AUTHOR: Violet.
RATING: PG13.
DISCLAIMER: Anything you've seen on the TV doesn't belong to me.
SUMMARY: Despite the miles and years between them Derek and Meredith always managed to find a way back to each other.
PAIRING: Derek/Meredith.
SPOILERS: All of seasons 1, 2 and 3 are fair game.
NOTES: I live in England (and even then English is only my second language) so my terminology may be lost in translation sorry for any confusion. This is a post-prom fan fiction but season 3 will be incorporated and maybe even season 4.

1. "A little girl, a little small for her age, a little to slow for the field day race."

Holding the small child close to her chest 22-year-old Tarryn Bloom ran towards the emergency doors of the ER. Entering the busy Seattle hospital she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Help. Please Somebody help me."

George O'Malley a third year resident and the doctor in charge of the pit ran towards the distressed lady, as soon as he approached he noticed the small child in her arms, her eyes closed and her body unmoving.

"Miss you need to give me the child," George instructed as he lead the hysterical woman towards an empty bed.

Carefully Tarryn laid the young girl down on the bed and it was then that George saw the blood. "What happened?" he asked as he began to assess the unresponsive child's neurological state while a nurse set about taking her vitals.

"I … we were at the park and she wanted to go on the tall climbing frame … I said no and the … I only turned my back for a few minutes to make a phone call and it wasn't until I heard one of the other parents scream … she's not supposed to go on the big climbing frame."

"How tall was it?" George asked

Tarryn could feel her hands shaking as she watched the vital signs flash across the screen in bright neon colours. "Er it's about 10 feet 15 at most."

"And how long ago did it happen?" George asked as he turned to Matt Ramsey a first year resident. "Can you insert a line and have someone page Derek Shepard."

Matt Ramsey nodded as he headed to get everything needed to insert a line and find someone to page Derek Shepherd the hospitals top neurosurgeon and Chief of Surgery,

"About 20 minutes ago, I got straight in the car and brought her here, she was fine … she was crying and talking to me but then just as were pulling up outside the hospital she started shaking and now she won't open her eyes," Tarryn sobbed.

"How old is she?" George asked.

"4," Tarryn whispered. "But she'll be 5 next month."

George nodded. "What's her name?"

"Francesca," Tarryn cried. "But everyone calls her Frankie, she likes being called Frankie."

Turning his attention back to the child George watched as one of the nurses placed an oxygen mask over her face.

"Her blood pressure's dropping," she informed him.

"We need to intubate and get her to CT," George said as he moved to position himself behind the child and expertly passed an intubation tube, he was just about to instruct one of the nurses to start hand bagging her when the small child started seizing.

On the monitor next to him her vital signs started to go wild. "Does she have any drug allergies?"

"Not that I know of," Tarryn stammered as she turned her eyes away from the terrifying scene before her unable to watch Francesca suffer any more.

"Any past medical history that might be of relevance?" he asked.

"No," Tarryn sobbed her breath hitching in her throat.

George nodded turning to the nurse. "Let's give her some Phenobarbital. Now."

The nurse nodded as she loaded the child with the anti-seizure medication and within minutes of the drug entering her system the child's body stopped jerking.

"What do we have here?" Derek Shepherd asked as he approached the trauma area.

"This is 4-year-old Francesca she fell about 10 or 15 feet from a climbing frame, she cried and was responsive afterwards but then had what sounds like a seizure on the way to the hospital and has been unresponsive since, blood pressure has dropped to 62 over 31 so we're pushing fluids and her pulse and respiration rate are also dropping, she had a further seizure so we've given her a loading dose of Phenobarbital and she's intubated," George explained.

Derek looked at the child's vital signs. "I want an urgent CT and I'll probably need an OR so make sure there's one available for me. Where are the parents?"

"The mother is over there," George said as he pointed towards a sobbing Tarryn who was being comforted by one of the nurses.

Tarryn shook her head, her dark brown eyes bright with tears. "I'm not her mother, I'm her Nanny her mother is at a conference we … we live in New York and we're just here visiting for the week, Frankie she loves the park so I've been taking her every day but she's … she's not supposed to climb the big frame."

"Has her mother been contacted?" Derek asked.

Slowly Tarryn shook her head. "No."

"We need to contact her as soon as possible, now it looks like Francesca might have some sort of bleeding on the brain but we won't know for certain until she's had the scan and if the scans agree with me then we'll need to take her into theatre so we need to speak to her mother as soon as possible," Derek explained.

Tarryn nodded. "I'll call her."

"I'll let you know as soon as we have anything, one of the nurses will show you where you can contact Francesca's mother," Derek said as he motioned for one of the nurses to take her to a phone.

In an almost catatonic state Tarryn allowed one of the nurses to guide her through the busy ER and up in the lift to a small secluded phone booth on the surgical floor. Her hands were shaking as she picked up the phone and dialled the familiar number.

The phone rang 3 times before going straight to the answer phone, putting the phone down she picked it up and tried again getting the same reply as she reached the answer phone for a third time she left a message.

"It's Tarryn. Frankie she's had a fall and the doctors think she might need surgery so you need to come as soon as possible. We're at Seattle Grace on the surgical floor. I'm sorry. Oh God I'm so sorry," Tarryn sobbed as she hung up the phone.

Taking a deep breath Tarryn wiped the tears from her eyes. Once she had calmed down enough to speak she picked up the phone and asked the operator to put her through to the Seattle Bay Hotel where the conference was being held.

"Hello I was wondering if it would be possible to get a message to someone who is attending the Astrocytoma research conference?"

Tarryn could hear the lady typing something. "That conference ended an hour ago and everyone has left now," the lady explained.

Not even bothering to reply Tarryn hung up the phone and leaned heavily against the ball of the booth. Today was not a good day.

Closing her eyes Tarryn sent up a silent prayer to whoever was listening. Standing up she walked towards the nurses station where she found Derek Shepherd stood speaking to a fellow doctor.

"Did you get hold of her mother?" he asked when he spotted Tarryn.

Tarryn shook her head. "No but I left a message and the conference has finished so she should get it soon."

"Well the CT showed that Francesca has a subarachnoid haemorrhage and we need to operate as soon as possible to relive the pressure on her brain before she starts herniating into her brain stem, usually we would wait for the parents consent but this is an emergency we need to get her into the OR now, so as soon as the mother arrives have someone page me and I'll get someone to come and speak to her," Derek said as he left to get scrubbed in.

Watching as he walked away from her Tarryn crumbled into one of the chairs.

Closing her eyes she could hear the clock ticking behind her and she knew that if she sat here and waited she would go mad so she stood up and made her way to the lift, as she entered the lift she found herself face-to-face with Cristina Yang.

"Tarryn what are you doing here?" Cristina asked as she took in the young woman's distressed state.

"Oh God," Tarryn breathed as she allowed Cristina to lead her out of the lift and into her office; the Chief Residents office.

"Did something happen?" Cristina asked.

Tarryn nodded as she sat down in the chair. "Frankie fell."

"What do you mean she fell?" Cristina asked, her heart racing at the thought of anything happening to her.

"She fell from the climbing frame," Tarryn began to explain. "I thought she was alright but then she wasn't and the doctors are operating and they say she has a bleed on her brain and I can't get hold of her mum, she's not answering her phone"

Cristina stood up her breath coming in short sharp gasps. "Who is operating?"

"Shep … Shepy …"

"Shepherd?" Cristina asked.

Tarryn nodded. "That's it."

"You keep trying to get through to her I'm going to go and find out what is happening in surgery," Cristina instructed.

Running out of the room Cristina headed straight out of the room and towards the OR board. Looking up and down the board it took her 3 times to find which OR she was in as she had been put on the board under the name of 'Francesca Bloom'.

"That's not her name," Cristina muttered as she let herself into the scrub room of OR 3 and started scrubbing in.

As she entered the OR Cristina found Derek Shepherd inside Francesca's head and a small piece of her skull lying on a surgical tray behind him.

"Yang what an unexpected surprise," Derek smiled from beneath his magnifying goggles.

"I thought I would observe," Cristina shrugged.

Derek frowned. "That's what the gallery is for."

"There's a better view down here," Cristina hedged.

Looking up from the task at hand Derek eyed her suspiciously. "But it's also proper etiquette to ask before you scrub in."

"I know I'm … I know her Frankie … I … I know her mother she's … it's …she's Meredith's daughter. Francesca is Meredith Grey's little girl."

Not knowing what to say Derek looked down at the life he held in his hands and suddenly it was as if the whole world had shifted as the young life he was working to save was no longer that of a stranger but the daughter of the woman who had stole his heart 6 years ago and had been holding it captive ever since.