I'd like to start this story off with an open letter to myself.
Ahem.
Dear TCGeek -
YOU SUCK.
Love, TCGeek.
This oneshot is over 5000 words. I cannot write a small oneshot if someone had a gun to my head screaming "WRITE A SMALL ONESHOT" in a foreign language or something.
Wow, that was a weird scenario. Meh. (shrug)
This is a fic for my good buddy CrazyGirlPerson, as I promised it to her forever and a day ago.
I guess it is so long because I am adding interest for being such a slacker?
Who knows.
She wanted me to write a fic that addresses a certain pet peeve of hers - when Derek is portrayed as an idiot. So this story addresses just that.
Hope you like it:D
Oh, and if you ever get a chance to play blindfolded Jenga, do it. Its hilarious.
"Derek? Hmm…"
Victor Niguel's forehead furrowed just a bit when he walked into Derek's office to find Angie, but no Derek. The nurse turned her head up at him questioningly from her own desk, raising an eyebrow.
"Have you seen Derek?" he asked her, watching as she shook her head.
"No, he left a little while ago but I haven't seen him since… is everything okay?" she asked, noting Victor's contemplative expression.
"Yeah, Sidney just wanted me to find him…" he replied, whirling around and walking out of their office.
Curious and a bit nosy just like always, Angie followed him.
"What does he need Derek for? Do I need to come too?" she inquired, trying to keep up with the scrawny researcher as he walked.
"We've got a patient coming in. Yes we will need you, but not until I find Derek."
Angie scowled briefly – she was the one that had been credited with keeping Derek in line, keeping his head on his shoulders… if anything, they should be looking for her first.
Angie and Victor walked into Caduceus's break room to find Leslie and Dr. Clarks chatting over a cup of coffee.
"Have either of you seen Derek?" Victor asked, both shaking their heads in response.
"I haven't seen him lately – but I also haven't seen Tyler, so that may be your answer…" Leslie said with a smile, Dr. Clarks chuckling just a bit.
Angie giggled as well and thanked her before noticing that Victor was already down the hallway. She broke into a light jog to catch up to him just as he turned and stopped in the doorway to Tyler's office. From just a ways away Angie watched Victor cross his arms and scoff, leaving her to realize that he had most likely found Derek, and Tyler as well.
Angie peeked her head in the doorframe, unable to keep from giggling as she looked at the two surgeons.
Seated on either side of Tyler's coffee table, both men had their bodies turned towards a game of Jenga that was halfway finished – the interesting fact though, was that they were blindfolded.
"Ah, Victor – I'd know that scoff from anywhere…" Tyler said, itching his face right above where his blue blindfold rested. Derek just laughed in response to this as he raised his hand up gently, feeling for the Jenga tower. He softly settled a hand on it, feeling around for a piece that he would be able to take out.
"Really Tyler? Cause a lot of the time that scoff belongs to Angie…" Derek said, him and Tyler laughing as neither of them knew she was in the room as well. Victor sent a smirk her way as she just stayed quiet, her arms crossing while she listened.
Still feeling around for a good piece, Derek chuckled to himself before he changed his voice to a higher pitch.
"Tch…Dr. Stiiiileesssss! How many times have I told you it's improper to sleep during surgery!?" he bickered in his best Angie voice, him and Tyler beginning to laugh.
Angie just looked at Derek, now annoyed.
"It's also improper to play Jenga while you have patients waiting…!" Angie bickered back in her best vindictive tone, watching as Derek surprise caused his arm to basically slap right through the Jenga tower.
Tyler was in hysterics as he removed his blindfold, watching Derek slowly lift up the corner of his blindfold to see Angie in the doorway, her arms crossed with an annoyed look on her face. He looked at Tyler for help, the blonde surgeon just telling him "You're on your own."
"Oh… uh, hey, Angie…" he chirped, trying to play it off as nervous laughs spilled form his mouth. "I was just kidding – I knew you were there."
Angie just raised her eyebrow, stone face signaling that she was in no way accepting his excuse.
"Okay, enough of this crap." Victor said, watching Derek put on his best puppy dog face to Angie, who giggled, walked forward, and then slapped him on the back of the head.
"Derek!" Victor snapped, his voice now raising as the brunette surgeon pulled his nurse into his lap.
"Whaaaattt….?!" Derek groaned, reluctantly turning his head towards the agitated researcher.
"First, you're an idiot. Second, Sidney told me to find you – we've got an emergency patient coming in, but the woman that's bringing him in just says he unconscious… she has no idea what's happening to him."
Standing up, Angie pulled Derek to his feet and straightened her uniform before walking out the door. Derek followed her, followed by Victor and eventually Tyler, who was still laughing at the previous chain of events.
The four walked towards the OR to see Sidney standing there with his arms crossed. They slowed their pace in nervousness – all except Victor that is, who seemed more than happy to go tell Sidney what a bunch of slackers they were,
"Stiles, the patient is in 115." Sidney said, tossing a clipboard Derek's way. Sidney began to walk towards the room, Derek in tow as he scanned over the notes on the chart.
"The patient is a 38 year old male. Not much is known about his condition, because he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness too frequently to be able to speak with. His wife is with him though, and said that there were several things he was complaining of before he became unstable. Those are listed on the top sheet on the left side.
Derek's eyes scanned over to where Sidney was talking about, Angie looking over Derek's shoulder to see as well.
"So, let's go see what's going on…." Sidney said, knocking on the door to the patient's room and swinging it open.
"Hello Mrs. Stone…" Sidney began, pulling the woman's attention away from her husband. She was seated in a chair next to his bed and holding his hand, her eyes heavy and dark from exhaustion. Still she was able to crack a small smirk while she looked on at the new occupants of the room.
"This is Dr. Stiles – he's one of our best… I'm going to leave your husband in his hands." Sidney continued, walking over into the corner as Derek stepped forward with Angie walking to the other side of the bed. She checked on the man's vitals as Derek conversed with his wife, getting a first-hand account of everything that had happened before his hospitalization.
Just as they were finished talking, the man snapped awake and sat up quickly, startling everyone in the room just a bit.
"Mr. Stone?" Derek asked, quickly approaching the man as Angie laid him back down. Immediately they both noticed that he was unable to form words, everything he said coming out as unintelligible noises.
"What's going on? Why can't he talk?!" the man's wife exclaimed, bursting into tears as he looked on at her husband.
Angie looked over and motioned to Sidney, who gently removed the woman from the room as not to interfere with Derek.
Now that he had been laid back down, Derek began looking the man over.
"Here…" he said, tossing the clipboard to Angie with his pen. She flipped to the diagnosis page and readied herself to write what he was saying.
"Obviously the patient has pretty severe aphasia, though it looks as though he can understand me. Mr. Stone?" Derek queried, getting the older man's attention. "Can you feel this?" he asked loudly, poking his arm gently with his fingernail. The response was a shake of the head.
"Loss of touch sensation…" Angie noted.
"Correct, and hemiparesis on that same side." Derek noted, reaching back the back of the man.
"What are you doing?" Angie asked, watching as Derek pressed against the back of the man's neck with the tips of his fingers, his eyes locked with Angie's yet concentrating on what he was doing.
"He has pretty bad stiffness in his neck, which can be a result of increased pressure in the skull. From blood or fluid we don't know yet…"
Victor and Tyler moved out of the way as Sidney walked back in the room, now accompanied by Dr. Clarks.
"What are you doing in here?" Tyler asked Dr. Clarks, receiving a shrug.
"Not much else to do – might as well watch something exciting." he replied, earning a laugh from Tyler.
"Whoa... Mr. Stone?! Mr. Stone?!" Derek exclaimed, looking at the monitors which remained unchanged as the man lost consciousness once again.
Derek stood confused for a moment, seemingly spacing out as Angie waited for her next instructions from him.
Within a few seconds he snapped to and looked over to Sidney.
"You can let her back in now, sir." he said quietly, moving away from the bedside and back against the wall.
Sidney brought the woman back inside, and though she had settled down from crying, she still looked as miserable as ever.
"The orders sheet, Angie?" Derek asked, outstretching his hand. With a quick shuffle of papers the right sheet was on top of the clipboard and in Derek's hand.
Scratching away at the chart as Tyler, Victor, Dr. Clarks, and Sidney looked on, Derek clicked his pen shut and handed his orders off to Angie.
"Okay Mrs. Stone – we're going to have to run a few tests, so the techs will be in here in a few minutes to get that started… do you have any questions?"
"Yes doctor… do you have any idea what this could be? I mean, any ideas?"
Angie, Victor, Tyler, Clarks, and Sidney looked up at Derek who was staring stone faced at the wall silently, his face looking nearly drained of all emotion.
The five exchanged glances with each other and then looked at Derek again, who was still lost in contemplation.
"…Derek…?" Angie asked softly.
Suddenly his head shook and he snapped out of his daze to see Angie staring at him with gentle concern.
"Oh, I'm so sorry…" Derek said with a chuckle. "Um, yes… in response to your question, I have a feeling that it may be some sort of neurological issue – that something may be going on in or near his brain. So like I said, we'll have some tests run and see what comes up."
"Thank you, doctor…" the woman said, her blue eyes warm but void of any life. Derek nodded and excused himself, his five confused coworkers following.
"Derek." Sidney said sternly, the brunette whirling around in his tracks. "What was that?"
Derek just smiled his usual smile in response. "What was what, sir?"
Sidney traded a glance with the other three next to him, and then looked back at Derek.
"Your little 'lost in space' episode you had there – you were completely out of it."
Derek just rubbed the back of his head and laughed it off, backing away to retreat from the barrage of questions.
"It was nothing, I just spaced out a little, that's all…" he replied, chuckling nervously again.
"Well, another "interesting" case…" Dr. Clarks said sarcastically, adjusting his tie as it had flipped over.
"Yeah, it's not often you see something like this, huh?" Derek replied, earning a confused glare from everyone else.
Angie looked down at Derek's test orders with a furrowed forehead. Tyler and Dr. Clarks noted this and looked over her shoulder at the surgeon's scribblings, seemingly confused as well.
"Derek… I've never even heard of half these tests – when did we start using them for stroke patients?" Tyler asked, all five of them looking at him for an answer.
"What do you mean stroke patient? That guy isn't a stroke patient…" Derek replied.
The five exchanged glances, all curious to see who would be the one do battle with the obviously confused surgeon.
"Derek…" Angie said softly, stepping towards him with a giggle. "Come on, you can't be serious…"
Derek just raised an eyebrow in response, waiting for an explanation.
"Droopiness on one side, slurred speech, confusion, severe headaches and vomiting… this man is a classic stroke victim." Angie said matter-of-factly.
Seeing that he was getting slightly agitated, Dr. Clarks stepped in.
"What are you ordering these tests for Derek?"
"A cerebral arteriovenous malformation." Derek said, soliciting a scoff from Victor.
"Come on Stiles – its not that complicated. Sure we've been bored around here but there's no need to make it worse than it really is." the researcher grumbled in his sarcastic tone.
Derek was now growing a bit impatient, as evident in his stare.
"Besides, how rare are those, you know?" Tyler said, the group beginning to chat about it.
"Enough!" Derek exclaimed, his hands on his hips. "Last time I checked I was the doctor here, and those are the tests I'm ordering. So find the techs and have the results sent to my office when they're finished. Got it?"
All five stood surprised at the outburst, as more rare than the disease he was pitching was an outburst from Derek Stiles.
Angie just nodded in response, clutching the clipboard closer to her chest. "Yes, Dr. Stiles…"
And with that he was gone, leaving his friends in the deserted hallway to contemplate what had just happened.
"What do you think that was about?" Tyler asked.
"It's Derek… is he ever on planet earth?" Victor asked, walking away in his extreme disinterest at the subject.
"I don't know – he looked pretty upset though…" Angie noted, Sidney shaking his head.
"Stiles isn't always the quickest one around here – maybe that has something to do with it…" Sidney replied.
And just around the corner from their conversation where he had stopped, Derek let out a big sigh, having heard everything that had just been said about him. He shrugged his shoulders at the insults, knowing that it would accomplish nothing to let the comments get to him. Instead he walked towards the break room, filling his black mug with some delicious hazelnut coffee – his favorite.
And after he had gone, they continued to talk it over.
"There's really not a lot we can do – he is the attending…" Dr. Clarks noted, looking at Sidney.
"I agree with all of you… it's a classic stroke case." Sidney replied, looking at Tyler who agreed with him. "I don't know what basis he has for ordering something so ridiculous."
"I can relate – when we have our down time here it gets really easy to try to create something to have a problem about… we're so used to being on the go all the time that I can definitely say I know what it feels like to be Derek right now." Dr. Clarks added, doing his best to stick up for the surgeon.
"We're not going to order some of the most expensive neurological tests we have just to make Stiles happy…" Sidney interjected, silencing everyone.
"Well…" Angie said, pulling the clipboard out into a writing position.
She took Derek's pen and crossed out two of the tests, leaving a spinal tap and adding more simple examinations instead. She also crossed out the diagnosis line, replacing it with "suspected ischemic stroke", signing her own initials next to it. As she clicked the pen shut Angie felt a twang of guilt in her chest, but brushed it off, knowing it was for the better this way.
"Let's just hope he understands…" she said, earning a nod from everyone.
"I'll take these upstairs so I can let them know what's going on…" Sidney added, taking the clipboard from Angie's grasps. Everyone split and went their separate ways, nervous as to how the situation would play out.
------------
After finishing his cup of coffee and settling down outside on a bench, Derek had finally decided to return to his office, awaiting the result of the tests he had ordered.
The tests that everyone was doubting him on… the tests that he knew without a doubt in his mind he was right about.
In his time thinking, Derek decided that he owed Angie an apology for snapping at her like he had, sheepishly pacing up towards their office to do so. He wondered what she would say, if she would even accept his apology – he had never really yelled at her before.
As he swung open the door to their office and found it empty, Derek breathed a sigh of relief – he didn't know what to say quite yet, and the silence would most likely help him figure it out.
He sat down in the brown leather chair behind his desk and began to think about things, mind unable to push away the things that he had heard his closest friends say about him earlier.
Breaking his thoughts was a knock at the door, timed just right.
"Come in."
Leah, one of the techs in the building popped her head in the door with paperwork in hand.
"I have your test results, Dr. Stiles…" she said with a smile.
He returned her smile, thinking of how pleasant a person she always was.
"Thanks a lot, Leah… I appreciate you guys getting everything done so fast." he replied, taking the papers from her.
"Oh, it actually didn't take long at all – he's just pretty unstable, that's what ended up taking a couple hours."
This struck a small alarm in Derek's mind – the tests he had ordered were pretty lengthy.
Looking down at the pieces of paper, things failed to add up.
"Wait, I don't think these are for my patient…" Derek said, looking it over. "No, wait, Thomas Stone, that's him…"
Then it hit him what had happened, his confused stare morphing into a furious glower.
"Is, everything okay, Dr. Stiles?" Leah asked, her expression concerned.
Derek paused for a moment, now seething.
"It's nothing you did, Leah…" he started, forcing himself to calm before he snapped at the undeserving technician standing before him.
Clenching the paperwork in his hand, Derek continued.
"Listen, this guy needs more testing, but for some reason, it wasn't ordered… don't go anywhere, because I am going to get this stuff straightened out."
"Will do, Dr. Stiles!" Leah chirped. "I'll be upstairs, just let me know"
"Thanks Leah…" he muttered under his breath.
And like that, Derek was gone, pacing angrily down the hallway in search of answers.
----------
"I haven't heard from him – I wonder if the lab is even done yet?" Tyler asked, sitting around a table in the break room with Angie, Dr. Clarks, Victor, and Sidney.
Back outside, Derek had stopped in front of the patient's room, removing the chart from the holder on the door. Holding it in his left hand he stormed off in search of explanations.
Angie sat with her knees pulled up into her chest, her coffee virtually untouched.
"I know we're right, but I still can't help but feel bad…" she started. "He's probably going to be real mad…"
"Mad?" Victor asked. "Tch, no way – Stiles can't get mad at anything…"
BANG!
The door to Caduceus's break room was thrown open, leaving the five at the table to jump in its wake. They were all startled to see that a furious Derek was the cause of the racket, and that he was closing in on them fast.
"I'm only going to ask this once." Derek said calmly, but with a firm tone. "Who changed my orders?"
The five exchanged glances with each other and then turned back toward Derek silently.
"Okay, fine…" he said, beginning to flip through the chart. "Someone had to have signed for it, I guess I'll just have to figure it out my…"
Derek stopped short as he read the initials next to where his had been crossed out – a cursive A.T. He looked up at Angie, who looked ready to cry.
"You? You did this?" he asked softly.
"Derek, we all agreed – it wasn't Angie's fault… we all just felt that you were blowing it out of proportion…" Sidney started, watching as Derek's eyes grew angry once again.
"I don't understand why everyone thinks I'm such an idiot!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "You know, if helping save the world from GUILT wasn't enough to prove that, I don't know what is!"
"We don't think you're an idiot dude…" Tyler interjected.
"Seems like that's what you all thought earlier in the hallway after I left today."
Everyone became silent at Derek's confession feeling awful, as they had not known he had been just around the corner.
"Derek, we're…"
"Save it." Derek said, cutting off Tyler's apology. "I reordered all of those labs, and—"
"Dr. Stiles!"
Derek whirled around in the break room to see a panicked Leslie in the doorway.
"We were getting ready to transfer the patient for his labs and he began having seizures!" she blurted out.
In a flash Derek was out the door, followed by Dr. Clarks, Sidney, Victor, Tyler, and finally Angie, who was still visibly upset.
"Doctor! Doctor, what's happening?" the man's wife exclaimed, escorted over into the corner by Sidney so Derek could do what he needed to.
"Don't worry Mrs. Stone, everything's going to be alright…" he said, reaching into a nearby drawer and removing a syringe. A hand shot into his pocket and removed a small bottle, which he tipped upside down and stuck the needle into. He carefully pulled back the stopper and the clear liquid spilled into the syringe until it was around halfway full. Working quickly Derek grabbed the patient's IV and injected the needle into it, slowly pumping the liquid in as he watched the vitals. After the entire dose had been administered the seizures almost immediately stopped and the man's vitals stabilized.
All was quiet in the room, save for a beeping heart monitor and Angie's nervous, uneven breaths. Everyone watched as Derek placed his hands on his hips, still staring at an arbitrary place on the patient's bed.
"I grabbed a vial of phenytoin when I heard that you had cancelled the labs, because too much bleeding can cause seizures. A cerebral arteriovenous malformation is a tangle of veins in the brain, and the bleeding produces the same signs as you would see from stroke victims. An AVM will exhibit the same signs as a stroke such as aphasia and loss of function on one side because the bleeding from the problem site causes extra pressure on the brain which will cut off blood supply to other places. If it's not treated in time, that bleeding triggers a REAL stroke, which is double the bleeding in the cranium and is fatal over 99 percent of the time. The difference between an AVM and a stroke is that the extra fluid will pool up in the subarachnoid space, making the neck as stiff as a board, which is why Angie saw me feeling Mr. Stone's neck just before I sent out for the labs… which, if you take a look at, you will see all came back negative – no sign of ischemic stroke."
Everyone in the room's mouths dropped open at Derek's explanation, unable to believe how much his intelligence was shining.
The surgeon finally lifted his head up, scanning across everyone in the room, including Leslie who had little idea what was going on.
"On the chart is an order for a cerebral angiography, as you saw before it was ignored. That will highlight the problem area so that the damage can be seen, I will remove it and all subsequent bleeding should cease."
Dr. Clarks nodded his head, still with a small bit of shame in his eyes.
"Leslie, please go tell Leah that we're ready to do the second set of labs whenever she gets here."
"Yes, Dr. Stiles…" Leslie said softly, removing herself from the room.
Derek's eyes scanned over to Angie, who froze waiting for him to address her. Instead he stared at her disappointedly for a moment and then turned towards Sidney, who was now speaking.
"Derek – how did you know?" he asked, finally vocalizing the question that was on everyone's mind.
Derek stopped, his gaze serious with a hint of sadness in it.
"Because an AVM is what killed my father."
Angie's eyes watered as she heard the words out of Derek's mouth – he never talked about his father, much less how he died. Tyler rubbed the back of his head, Victor looked at the floor, and Sidney and Dr. Clarks shared a glance with each other and then with Derek, who was still quiet.
"Page me when the tests are completed, sir."
"Of course Derek." Sidney replied. Nobody moved as the surgeon walked from the room, but after a short time had passed, they all filed out as well, hearts heavy with guilt and shame.
For the one who they had always played off as their childish, happy-go-lucky, shy on brains surgeon was the one that they had underestimated for the last time – the time that he had outsmarted them all.
----------
The cold air of Angeles Bay stung at Derek's cheeks and swept through his hair as he sat on the roof, the place he went when he just needed to think, to recover from another curveball life had thrown at him. Legs dangling over the edge of the raised platform he was seated on, he looked out over the cityscape, trying to remember the moment where he had become the unreliable one – the joke.
His head turned upward at a perfectly starry sky, thoughts tracing to that of his best friend – the father he had lost so young.
There was a burning in his eyes as memories of his father's death began to flood back. Back in that time, an AVM was something previously unseen in the medical community – and in the time the doctors had taken to try to figure out a treatment, it had been too late.
Another breeze kissed Derek's face as he remembered the man inside, wishing that someone would have been knowledgeable enough to save his father the way he was giving his all to save this man – this complete stranger.
"I'll always watch over you Derek – be the best you can be, and always remember… I believe in you…"
Derek's heart grew heavy – this was the reason that thoughts of his father stayed suppressed in his mind, because they were brought to the surface they stayed put, and reminder after painful reminder hit Derek until he could barely take it anymore.
"I miss you, Dad…"
Voice softer than a whisper, Derek spoke to the night sky, body sporadically shivering in the chilly night air.
"Everyone believed in me when I was treating GUILT, when I was a hero… but what do I have now?"
Derek's hand reached up and rubbed the back of his head.
"You always believed in me no matter what – I know wherever you are, you still do… but I just need one person… just one."
A single tear traced down Derek's cheek at recollected memories of his father, the frustration of the day all finally being release.
"I'll be that person…"
Derek heard a soft, comforting voice as a warm blanket was wrapped around his shoulders. He quickly wiped the tear away and collected himself. The figure sat down next to him, and as he turned his head he saw Angie's face come into view, her blonde hair gently flowing in the night-time breeze.
Derek just looked over at her, both locked in a serious, silent stare. He watched as Angie looked down at her feet, then over the cityscape, and back down again.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop…" she started, twirling a chunk of blonde hair around her finger.
Derek stayed silent, just staring down at the lights of the city.
"I'm so sorry, Derek – I'm sorry I ever doubted you…"
There was a slight pause as her voice cracked.
"You've been there for me through the hardest times I had ever been through… I trust you more thank anyone I've ever known – you're… my best friend."
Angie wiped a tear away as it fell down her cheek, another silence coming to rest between them.
"And after everything, I still doubted you – I still questioned your intelligence when I had absolutely no right to..."
Angie sighed.
"But even after all the horrible things that happened to you today, you still focused on saving that man's life… something so selfless and so amazing."
Derek just shrugged to the comment, eyes still panning out over the city.
"I understand that you probably want nothing to do with me right now…" she continued, tears now flowing freely as her body shivered. "But, just know that I've never been so proud of you – and that I'm sorry I ever doubted you or your worth."
Angie lingered for a moment, but then rose to her feet, wiping her face dry as she turned to walk back inside.
"…did you really mean that?"
Derek's voice caught her just before she opened the door, causing her to slowly whirl around and look at him, his back to her.
"Mean what?"
He turned his head to the side, still not looking at her, but curled up in her blanket.
"That you want to be the person that believes in me?"
Angie paced back towards Derek, taking a seat next to him again.
"With the exception of today…" she started gently, locking eyes with him; "I always was that person…" she finished, a warm smile spreading across her lips.
Feeling the sincerity in the comment, Derek returned a small smile, allowing himself to let go of some of the pain he had been holding.
It was at this time he noticed Angie's shivering form.
"Angie, why are you out here without a blanket!" he said quietly.
She just shrugged, looking back at him. "It looked like you needed it more than I did."
Derek pulled a corner of it around the two of them, pulling her into a tight hug. Angie sighed and rested her chin on his shoulder, smiling to herself as she felt him do the same.
They pulled out of their hug but remained huddled under the blanket together, silence between them as they looked out at the city and the stars.
"That woman – she reminded me so much of my mother…"
Angie listened intently as Derek began pouring out his past to her.
"I remember her being so helpless – having person after person tell her there was nothing that could be done. She kept begging them to try more tests, but by the time they had finally realized it wasn't a stroke or a tumor, it was already bleeding too heavily to be controlled."
He sighed gently. "It's all that's been on my mind today every time I step into that room…"
"My dad was my best friend, and I'm sure that guy has someone that looks up to him that way too – I couldn't bear to have to kneel down next to his son or daughter and tell them I couldn't save their dad, just like the doctor did with me… that's why I was so pushy – I was so sure."
"And you were right, Derek – you were 100 percent right on the mark, and we never should've doubted you. If it weren't for you, he would be dead right now… and I know that somewhere out there your dad is smiling, knowing that the pain you had to go through once is saving pain for a whole bunch of people."
Derek smirked. "I appreciate you coming up here – I really needed it."
Angie smiled, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on Derek's forehead. She saw him blush as she pulled back, pulling the blanket even tighter around them.
"Anytime you need someone, I'll be there for you. Even though people may be hard on you sometimes, your true worth will always shine through in those who love you."
This made Derek blush even harder, trying to hide it by wrapping her up in another hug.
"Thank you, Angie…"
They broke apart and Angie rose to her feet, slipping out of the warmth of the blanket and of Derek's arms.
"The tests should be ready soon – are you going to come inside?"
Derek looked up at the night sky again, turning around to face her briefly.
"You go ahead – I'll be inside in a minute."
Angie smiled and walked in the door, leaving Derek alone with his thoughts and her blanket.
He smiled, remembering what she had said to him.
"...your true worth will always shine through in those who love you."
Derek took a deep breath in and stood up, taking one last look at the night sky as he walked back inside. He stopped just short of the door, thinking momentarily about how he had found the strength to fight for something against all odds.
He smiled, knowing the answer.
"Thanks for keeping your promise, Dad…" he said softly toward the heavens, feeling comforted as he walked back inside.
OMG, Derek and Angie DIDN'T outright maul each other at the end?! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?! (checks temperature)
Anyway, so , Derek just totally pwned everyone and I found that to be 10 shades of awesome.
Hope you all liked this, especially you, CGP!