Meredith sighed heavily into her pillow. She was seriously pissed off. She rolled over carefully, so as to avoid waking her sleeping husband, and checked her bedside clock. 1:38. Damn. Meredith knew from experience that at this point, she would not be falling asleep tonight. Damn!
Among the many things that pissed Meredith off, one of the biggies was not being able to sleep, especially since she had trained herself to sleep anywhere and everywhere during her first year as an intern. If she could sleep on a waiting room chair in a noisy hospital, she should be able to fall asleep in her own house, in her own bed, with her husband. Meredith glanced loathfully at the clock. 1:49. Shit.
Meredith began to curse internally. Ever since the damn plane had crashed, Meredith and Derek had had trouble sleeping. Tonight, however, Derek seemed to be blissfully unaffected. Meredith briefly considered turning off the nightlight which was plugged in across the hall outside their bedroom door, but knew it would only increase her sleeplessness. Derek and Meredith had slowly weaned themselves off the need to sleep with all the lights in the house on, but Meredith had purchased the nightlight and solemnly jammed it in the outlet after the pairs' string of sleepless nights.
Knowing there was only two things that would calm her down, she got out of bed carefully, gently slipping her pillow under the arm Derek had slipped across her waist. Number One was Derek, but she couldn't bare to wake him up- at least one of them was sleeping.
She crossed the house in a catlike fashion to Number Two. Upon entering Zola's room, she reached into the crib and expertly picked up both the toddler and her blankie without much disruption. Holding the sleeping child to her chest, she made her way to the living room, stepping over toys, weaving around the coat rack that still held Lexi's favorite coat. Zola's breathing was soft and even. Meredith matched her breathing with Zola's and allowed her tense shoulders to relax a fraction of an inch.
Zola was Derek and Meredith's new touchstone. Of course, Zola had always been a bright spot in their lives, and they had always loved her, but since the plane fiasco, Derek and Meredith stuck to Zola like flies to honey. Derek especially, since he was spending less time at work. Ugh. Work. Tension once again crept its way into Meredith's shoulders as she searched for the clock on the mantel. 2:17. Crap. Crap, crap, crapity crap-crap.
Tomorrow Meredith was scheduled to do her first solo multi-organ transplant. A man had come in with Hemochromatosis. The overload of iron had screwed his liver. The poor bastard had no relatives whose blood type matched his, so while he waited for his liver both of his kidneys quit on him. The donor organs were found in a brain dead patient who had been in a multi-car pile up just before Meredith had left the hospital for the evening. They were giving the family 7 hours to come and say goodbye before the poor girl of 26 would give her life so that the grumpy man in room 317 might live.
In other words, tomorrow was a big day. A very big day. A very big day which would require her to be well rested and on the top of her game. Sighing again, Meredith reached for a medical text which was stuffed in between a few of the cushions. She flipped to the page she had dog eared about multi-organ transplants and settled a little deeper into the couch. Zola's breath against her neck, her own spine sunk deep into the couch and the medical journal balanced on one knee, Meredith's eyes finally began to become heavy.
Meredith woke at Derek's gentle urging. "Hmm." She moaned defiantly.
"Meredith." Her eyes opened slowly to the sight of her delightfully sleep ruffled husband, head tilted, smiling, but a deep concern clearly pulling at the corner of his eyes. She had been getting that look about as much as she had been bestowing it on him, everytime he rolled or bent his stiff, painful wrist. "You're alarm clock went off." He said in answer to her sleepy, questioning glance.
"Oh. Sorry." She acknowledged regretfully. She had set it to 3:30, so that she could be at the hospital bright and early for her big surgery. So much for Derek getting sleep.
"Don't be." He said understandingly, reaching out to take Zola from Meredith.
Meredith pushed herself off from the couch slowly. "Coffee."
"Go for it." Meredith trudged into the kitchen as Derek took Zola back to her room, but she perked up at the sight that greeted her. A fresh brewed, large, steaming cup of coffee-black with a drop of milk- and four pieces of toast spread with butter and strawberry jam. Her husband entered the kitchen baby-less.
"That kid would make a great surgeon. She could sleep through an earthquake." Meredith glared at Derek playfully, and Derek quickly knocked on wood.
"God, Derek, why not just hold a neon sign that says, 'hey world, take your best shot!'" Meredith said around a mouth full of toast.
"Sorry, won't happen again, dear."
"Ah, I have trained you well." Derek scoffed laughingly at that, and Meredith shot him his favorite of her smiles. It was the half smile, which tugged happily at one corner of her mouth. It was the smile which she said she was trying not to smile, but she couldn't help but do so. It was also almost exclusively reserved for her husband. Derek smiled back warmly, full-on McDreamy, but he flexed his wrist behind the counter, trying to relieve the pain.
Meredith was not easily fooled, nor was she pleased that he was attempting to hide from her. "So how bad is it right now?"
Derek considered telling her it didn't hurt, but knew it would amount to nothing more than a well practiced glare from his wife. "It's about a four. Maybe a five." He shrugged, as if that would lighten the tone of the conversation.
"So a 7, then?" It was almost scary how perceptive Meredith had become of him. Derek did not give a reply. He didn't need to. "What did the physical therapist say?" She asked, extended her hand out to Derek's. He allowed her to take his wrist, but only just.
"He gave me a few more exercises, thinks I could ramp it up a bit more. Callie agrees, says I'll be back in the OR before I know it." He added the last part ruefully.
Meredith's deft fingers kneaded and rubbed circles around the joints and scar on Derek's left wrist. "Oh." Derek's head lowered to the cool counter, his body bending at the waist. Meredith had always been a quick study, but the speed at which she learned how to stave of the sharp pains and aches Derek felt daily was truly astonishing. And truly wonderful. He loved his wife.
"Sorry, Derek." She whispered several minutes later. He felt her kiss the top of his head. She relinquished his injured wrist and rubbed his shoulder with the heel of her palm firmly. "I gotta get to the Hospital."
He flexed his wrist appreciatively. No pain. "I have the best wife ever. Did you know that?" He kissed her soundly on the mouth once, twice, three times for good measure.
"I had my suspicions. When she comes by, you should introduce me." She smiled teasingly.
"You'd like her." He joked back, pecking her lips once again. She obliged, then turned, no doubt off to get dressed. He almost let her get away, before snaking his hand out to grab her wrist and pull her backwards for one last kiss. When once again they came up for a breath of air, she placed her hand on his shoulder, pushing back and shaking her index finger at him with mock disapproval.
"See you later, Derek." She had a smile in her voice.
