A Bad Dream

Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy belongs to ABC, Shonda Rhimes and all the other geniuses behind the show, not me. I wish Patrick Dempsey belonged to me though.

Summary: A moment that was missing from "Some Kind of Miracle" Bits of dialogue from "Walk on Water" and "Some Kind of Miracle."

Rating: T (to be safe)

Pairing: Derek/Meredith

"I wake up,

It's a bad dream,

No one on my side,

I was fighting,

But I'm too tired to be fighting,

Guess I'm not the fighting kind."

-Keane, A Bad Dream

As Derek lay next to Meredith in the hospital bed, stroking her hair, with an arm wrapped protectively around her body as she slept, he couldn't stop thinking about how close he'd come to losing her. As he breathed in her familiar scent and relished in her presence. Moments from their past few days together ran through his mind with vivid clarity.

"This is the happy ever after part, and in the happily ever after part, the guy is there, all the time saying things, and the girls love it. Just for the record, I am your night in shining whatever."

"From now on, you can expect that I'm going to show up. Even if I yell…even if you yell…I'm always going to show up…okay?"

"Okay."

Derek felt himself drifting off to sleep, when he heard Meredith talking in her sleep.

"I don't talk either when I get scared…I don't talk when bad things happen…you don't have to say anything, but I need your help."

Derek watched her for a moment before he realized that she was dreaming.

"Saved him. You helped…now we just have to bandage him up…we're going to find someone to take him to the hospital…and then we're going to find your mommy…"

"Meredith, wake up." Derek whispered softly

"Okay sir…it's okay…no…no…don't move!"

Suddenly the heart monitor that Meredith was connected to started to beep rapidly. Derek looked from Meredith's sleeping form to the heart machine and back again. She started flailing her arms as the machine kept up its warning beeps.

She's dreaming about what happened. Derek told himself, knowing that he had to wake her up.

"Meredith, "he called her name again, louder this time. He watched as Meredith took a quick gulp of air, and then started hyperventilating through chattering teeth.

"Meredith!" Derek was shouting now, his voice breaking tears at seeing her in such distress. He shook her shoulder as hard as possible without causing her pain until her eyes finally shot open.

"I…can't…breathe…I…can't…breathe…"

"Yes, you can Meredith." Derek said as he laid a comforting hand on her arm.

"You're okay…Mere…I promise…it's a nightmare…I'm right here, just try to calm down okay?"

Meredith nodded and after a moment got her breathing under control as the heart monitor resumed its normal beeping pattern.

"The girl with the pigtails…we should make sure she's okay." Meredith said reaching for Derek's hand.

"We will." Derek replied with a smile, his eyes clouded over with concern as he brought a hand up to caress her face.

"I fell in the water, Derek…It was so cold."

"I know, and I'm so sorry Mere."

Meredith struggled to sit up but winced in pain and Derek stepped forward and gathered her in his arms as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I didn't want to die, Derek…I just scared…and my mother…she said things…and when I was in the water I swam…I fought… and then for a second…just for a second…I believed her."

She sobbed into Derek's shoulder until her tears soaked through his sweater.

"No, Meredith, she was wrong…your mother was wrong…"

Meredith slowly raised the hand that was free of her I.V. and laid her fingers across his lips to silence his words.

"But then I thought about you, and Christina, and Izzie, and George, and Alex, and all the people that I haven't even met yet that I'm supposed to help. And I realized that even though bad things happened to me and sometimes it's hard and sometimes it hurts like hell, I'm meant to live. And I love you Derek, so much and I remember how it felt when you weren't there, and I can't…I won't…feel that way again."

"I love you, Meredith Grey, and you're not ordinary…you're extraordinary."

Derek kissed her deeply and passionately and then gently drew her body back against the pillow.

"You should rest." He said as he climbed into the bed beside her.

"I know." She replied, with a heavy sigh, as she leaned against Derek's chest.

"Derek?"

"Hmmmm?"

"My mother's dead isn't she?"

"Yes… Meredith, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay…I think everything's going to be okay now." She said her voice trailing off as she drifted into sleep again.

"Yeah, you're right, Mere, it is." He whispered back kissing her forehead and intertwining her fingers with his own before he too fell asleep.

Finis