"Ouch" Meredith whimpered. Her body ached from the hours of chest compressions and all the IVs and central lines used to save her life. Everything just hurt.
Cristina cupped Meredith's cheeks, which were still icy despite her now normal temperature, and exhaled for what felt like the first time in years. "I'm getting married to Burke, not that that should be anywhere on your list of thoughts right now but just in case you slip in the hall later or something," she babbled, "You were the one person I wanted to tell."
Meredith smiled to herself, glad that she had more than just a whiff of her best friend, before drifting to sleep again. By the time she awoke she had been transferred from the trauma bay to a regular room. Derek leaned against the door frame. He studied her frame like he had to memorize every inch of her just in case she slipped away again.
"Hey," he breathed as he made his way to her bedside. "Meredith," he started, hesitantly, unsure of how to break the news to her. He had to inform her that her mother, however much they seemed to hate each other, had died.
"My mother's dead isn't she?" Meredith beat him to the punch line.
Derek knit his brows together. How could she possibly know that? Who told her? "Yeah," he answered.
"It's ok, I think. I think it's ok," Meredith said. She remembered her encounter with Ellis in her afterlife. Ellis had called her extraordinary, told her that she had to go back, told her to run. It was as if Richard had been right. That in a perfect world her mother could say those things to her. A perfect world just so happened to be the afterlife.
"Mere, I was so worried about you. I thought you were gone for sure," Derek choked out, feeling the emotional effects of the day, suddenly exhausted.
"I'm here, Derek. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I promise you," Meredith said. She meant it too. She wanted to be alive. She wanted to keep fighting for herself and McDreamy and Cristina and her life. She wasn't going to quit on any of them. She needed them. She needed more than just a whiff. "Will you stay with me tonight?"
"Of course," Derek whispered and he climbed into the cramped hospital bed with his girlfriend. He'd never felt like this before, not with Addison. He'd never needed anyone like he needed Meredith Grey. Meredith curled herself into his body and intertwined their fingers together. Meredith allowed him to completely envelop her, to surround her with himself. She wanted to be near him; he was her lifeline, allowing her to keep a hold on reality. It was as though she would slip away back to the world with Denny and Dylan and Bonnie and her mother if he wasn't there to keep her grounded. They lay there all night, holding each other, neither one allowing the other to slip through the cracks. Both knew that neither could survive with nothing more than a whiff of the other.