**This is an AU for episode (inset season/episode #) when Derek pulls Meredith out of the water. However, in my universe Meredith is with both Derek and Mark (she is married to Mark though). She also did not know how to swim so she wasn't "giving up" as Derek said in the episode. This is just a little bit of drama to show how I think the two would feel. It'll be in both POVs (Mark and Derek's) because I think they would feel differently. Derek pulled her out while Mark had no idea his wife was in trouble. As with all of my other stuff I don't own the characters. I'm just playing with them.**
Mark
I was in surgery when my pager kept going off. It was the ninth time it had gone off and it had me a little pissed off.
"Will someone answer the damn page?!" I yelled as I finished up the facial reconstruction I was doing on one of the ferry boat victims.
"It's a 911-Pit from Dr. Shepherd." The scrub nurse informed me. I had a bad feeling about that, but I couldn't do anything until I was finished.
"Try and get a hold of him. If you can't get a hold of him try Chief Webber or Dr. Bailey." I demanded. I needed to know what was going on. I listened carefully as the nurse tried calling Derek first, but didn't get an answer. Next I heard her trying Dr. Bailey, but with the same result. Her last attempt with Webber gave the same results.
"I'm sorry Dr. Sloan, but no one is answering. You just keep getting pages for 911 from Dr. Shepherd. Wait, this last one says 911-Meredith, but it's from Dr. Shepherd." The same scrub nurse said.
"Shit! I need someone to close for me!" I screamed as I hurried to scrub out. It felt like it was taking forever. After I scrubbed out I ran down to the pit where I hoped Derek would be. I saw him sitting outside of Trauma Room 2 on the floor with his head on his knees. He looked up as soon as I came through the door and I could tell he had been crying. There was only one reason he'd be crying and that's if something happened to Meredith.
"What happened?!" I demanded as I looked through the window of the Trauma Room. I saw Meredith lying on the bed. She looked dead. Her lips were blue and her skin had a blue tint to it. She was also soaking wet. I could see a little blood on the bed, but I didn't know what type of injuries she had.
"We were down at the crash site and we all got split up. I had seen her with a little girl earlier, but when I went to find Meredith again the little girl was by herself. I asked her if she knew where Meredith was and she led me to the end of the dock. There was a guy there that had an artery sutured so I figured she had been there and moved on to find someone to bring him back here. I asked the little girl again, but she kept pointing out toward the water. I didn't know she meant that Meredith was in the water so I tried to walk away, but the little girl wouldn't let me. She kept pointing to the water and then I realized Meredith was in the water. I jumped in and pulled her out. I knew she couldn't swim, but I never thought that this would happen. I should never have had Bailey pick her to go to the site this morning. She had a bad feeling this morning. We should have let her stay home. I should have let her stay home since you were already here." Derek explained and I could tell by the look on his face that he was devastated. He was blaming himself for this.
My thoughts drifted to when the three of us got together as I sat down on the floor next to him.
She had been dating me for a few months while Derek and Addison tried to work things out, but that was never going to work. Meredith and I knew it wouldn't work between the two. She and I were slowly falling in love. It was a different type of love from what I felt for Addison. This was deeper, but then Derek divorced Addison and he tried to get Meredith back. It didn't work at first and we decided on a whim to get married. Finally we agreed to let Derek in our relationship after he had apologized and tried to be friends. Everyone thought the three of us were stupid, but it worked for us. Derek loves Meredith, I love Meredith and the two of us are best friends and brothers again.
I'm brought out of my thoughts by Addison walking towards us.
"What happened?" She asks as she looked at the two of us.
"She fell in the water or at least I guess that is what happened. We won't know until she wakes up." Derek answers.
"I'm going to go in there and see if there's anything I can do." She says and as she walks in I can see that Burke is in there too. I look over to the doors leading out to the corridor and I see Meredith's friends out there. Most of them look scared to death. I can tell Yang is in denial.
"Her friends are at the door. Should we let them know what's going on?" I ask as I look over to Derek.
"I don't know. I don't know what to tell them. We all knew she couldn't swim. She didn't want to come this morning. She wanted to stay home. I should have let her stay home." He whispered. I didn't know what to tell him so I just put my hand on his forearm as we waited.
Derek
I didn't know what to do. It's been hours since I came in with Meredith. I don't know what's going to happen if she doesn't wake up. They won't let either of us in there. Addison was called away to an emergency upstairs, but she wouldn't meet either of our eyes. Izzie and George have been standing at the corridor doors this whole time and neither Mark nor I know what to tell them. Cristina is AWOL according to the gossiping nurses.
"She's going to be fine Derek. She has to be fine. Our wife cannot die." Mark said as he squeezed my arm again.
"They need to give us a damn update!" I yelled. I didn't know what to do. Meredith needed to wake up and be alright.
"Derek they're working on her. I'd rather them keep working on her and not give us updates then stop working on her and give us updates." Mark said and I could tell he was losing his patience. I know I'm not making things easier, but I can't help it. I love that woman. I've always loved that woman. I can't lose her.
"I'll be back Mark. I need to do something. If anything changes before I'm back page me. Please?" I beg. I'm usually not one to beg, but this time I can't help it.
"Of course I'll page you or come find you myself. Derek I know you love her just as much as I do." Mark said as he looked me in the eyes.
"Thank you." I said and then walked off. I knew where I was going and I knew what I was about to do was really stupid. It was also very petty, but I needed to talk to Meredith's mother. She's the reason Meredith didn't know how to swim. She gave her a crappy childhood, broke her self-esteem and so she never had the confidence to learn to swim.
Once I'm up on the cardiac floor I head straight to her room. She's awake and looking towards the door. I know she's not lucid anymore, but that doesn't change anything.
"This is all your fault." I whisper as I enter the room.
"What do you mean? Who are you?" She asks and I can tell she doesn't remember me.
"You broke her. You abandoned her when she needed you most and now she doesn't trust anyone other than someone teaching her how to perform a surgery. Meredith barely let Mark and I into her life then you come along and demean our relationship to her face." I yell. I can tell I'm upsetting her, but I don't care. Although I start to care when she goes into cardiac arrest.
I holler for a nurse and we work on her, but there's nothing we can do. She was scheduled for surgery on her heart tomorrow and it just gave out. I don't know how I'm going to tell Meredith. I really don't know if I should yet. Of course that's if she wakes up. I slowly start walking back to the ER when my pager goes off. I look down at it and notice it says 9-1-1-Pit Meredith and I take off running. As soon as I burst through the doors Mark has me in a hug.
"She's awake. Cristina made them keep trying and she's awake. They were going to stop, but Cristina made Burke try the pacemaker again." He says as he starts crying. I can't help but join him. We hurry into the room and hear Cristina talking to her about how Burke proposed. She looks up as we enter the room and her words shock the hell out of me.
"My mother's dead, right?"
"How did you know?" I ask.
"I just do. I know I'm right." She whispers and then closes her eyes. I take a seat at the head of the bed next to Cristina while Mark sits on the other side. I lay my hand on her head because Cristina has her hand.
"Are you alright Mer?" I ask.
"I'm as fine as I can be since I just drowned and lost my mother." She says as she looks over to me.
"I'll come back later once you're in a room Mer. No more drowning, alright?" Cristina says as she walks out the door.
"What happened out there Meredith? How did you end up in the water?" Mark asks her and I want to know too.
"I had just sutured this man's artery and put my coat over him when he started thrashing around. I was trying to get up so I could get on the other side of him so he wouldn't push me over the barrier, but before I could stand up fully he caught me in the stomach. I stumbled back and I think I hit my head. I remember hitting the icy water and then everything goes black until I woke up here. I guess I hit my head pretty hard. It still hurts." She whispers. I know her throat must be raw from the water she ingested.
"I'm just glad you're going to be alright." Mark whispers and leans up to kiss her forehead.
"Who pulled me out?" She asks.
"I did and it's all thanks to that little girl that had been following you around all day." I answer and I can see tears in her eyes.
"Thank you Derek." She says and tries to lean up to kiss me. I push her back down and give her a gentle kiss on the lips.
"I love you Meredith." I whisper into her hair.
"I love you too Derek," she says and then turns to Mark, "I love you as well Mark."
"I love you too." We both say and I watch as her eyes close.
I can't help, but feel like the luckiest man in the world right now. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost her and as I look at Mark I can tell he feels the same way.
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