I'm playing with the actually dates of these moments in order to fit my own ideas, so this particular event occurred later than it did in the show. This will go for everything. Basically if I decide that I want some event to happen in a different season to fit my purpose then I will probably do so. I'll try and put the dates on them as they fall in my timeline. Everything that has happened on the show aside for Lexie's death will occur. That means everybody that is dead has died. Everyone who has left is gone. The only change is that Addison never came to Seattle. Also, I went back and watched these episodes before I wrote these so I hope I am able to evoke the same feelings that the show did, but I don't want to just copy and paste the original dialogue (especially considering we've probably heard it all several times before). That being said, at least for the first couple of one-shots I really need you to tell me if something isn't working so that we can reach a nice balance between the show and the TaTA universe. Thanks and happy reading.
March 2006
If there was one thing of which she was absolutely certain, it was that she didn't want to get out of bed. She sighed heavily running her hand along Derek's arm as he slept soundly behind her, reminding herself that this was the real Derek, the solid Derek, not the Derek in her dream. It was a stark difference from the way she had felt the night before. She had been happy, almost giddy. It had been nearly two months since she had cried in Derek's arms after revealing that she was pregnant. All she could think about was her screwed up childhood and how her mother had been working constantly. This baby was the product of two surgeons and she couldn't help but think that history was not only repeating itself, but upping the ante. Last night however, Derek had walked into her bedroom with a baby romper covered in Yankee's logos and suddenly the worry had shut off and she was happy. She knew that she was not her mom and Derek was not her dad and they could raise this baby because they loved each other. But that was last night, and this morning she felt like she was going to die and she really didn't want to get out of bed.
"Hi," Derek whispered from behind her dropping a kiss to her shoulder.
"Hi," she mumbled back grasping feebly at his hand as he moved from the bed.
She rolled over to his pillow, breathing in the scent that was uniquely Derek as he began to pull on his clothes for the day.
"Are you going to get up?" he asked with a smirk when his eyes met hers a few moments later.
"I'm not going," she huffed, pulling the covers up to her chin and burying her head deeper into his pillow.
The conversation that followed got them nowhere and Derek seemed to sense that he wasn't the one she needed at that particular moment. He walked from the room grabbing his cell phone and shooting her a reassuring smile. It seemed like no time later that she was staring at Christina and Derek, as they stood at the end of the bed.
"Traitor," she hissed at Derek.
He held his hands up in mock surrender and slunk from the room without another word. Christina repeated what Derek had said earlier before a look at Meredith's face convinced her that there may be something seriously wrong.
"Okay. This is me being supportive," she sighed.
"Really?" Meredith questioned.
"Really. I'm being supportive. Now talk," she nodded.
Suddenly she was ranting about anything and everything. She went on and on about the baby, and Derek, and her conditioner. Christina snapped and she found herself getting dressed and being driven to the hospital against her will. Derek found her later with a sour look on her face.
"Are you okay?" he asked and then because they were attempting to keep the gossip mill at bay for as long as possible, "are you feeling achy?"
"No. I have a feeling," Meredith sighed, leaning into his chest as his arms snaked around her.
"I get those," he murmured, although he wasn't entirely sure that it made any sense to either of them.
"Yeah?" Meredith asked.
"Yeah," he confirmed.
"And…" she needed some comfort whether it made sense or not.
"If you wait long enough it will pass," he smiled slightly.
She moved away from him, shooting him one last glance before disappearing. Derek smile broke and he sighed. He couldn't but help to be worried. The last week had been an eventful one and he was worried that Meredith was slipping backward after the progress they had made the night before, but right then he had a job to do. The next thing Meredith knew, she was standing in a hallway while Dr. Burke explained the plan for the Code Black. When he told them to leave she knew that she should, she had her unborn child to think about, but she couldn't seem to leave. She figured she would be waiting outside the OR ready to help after the situation had been diffused, but in an instant her hand was on a bomb and the bomb squad leader was strapping a flak jacket to her boobs and she was pleading with Christina not to tell Derek how stupid she had been. Christina disappeared from the room at Burke's request and she was alone with Mr. Carlson and the bomb squad guy, and suddenly the emotion of it all washed over her. She really didn't want to cry, but despite trying her hardest, she could feel the wetness beginning to prick at her eyes. Christina slipped into Derek's OR, needing to keep her hands busy and her mind off of her person.
"How's the girl with the bomb?" Derek asked.
"Pardon me?" she sputtered, her voice cracking slightly.
"The girl with bomb. How is she?" he repeated.
She hesitated for only a moment, considering Meredith's plea against the importance of telling Derek what was going on before finally replying, "she's hanging in there."
Everything seemed to be moving very slowly. Meredith was informed that they had to move and every fiber of her body screamed at her to run, but she managed to force her legs down the hall. Christina found her and Dylan seemed to recognize that her presence was calming for Meredith, allowing her to stay. Meredith was grateful because if she was honest with herself, her strength was waning and she wasn't sure if she could make it to the other OR without fainting. She kept playing the plan over in her head and out loud with Dylan, but it still seemed completely insane and she figured it had something to do with the metal object grasped in her fingers. After what seemed an eternity, Dylan was yelling and she was pulling the bomb out. Without a word she followed him, attempting to slow her racing heart, and then there was a bright light and she was on the floor. Derek meanwhile was exiting the OR when he heard the blast. He was running without knowing exactly why moments later and came upon the completely destroyed hallway. Moving through the wreckage to the OR, he offered Burke assistance in an attempt to clear the area quickly. It was only after they had finished, and were watching Mr. Carlson as he was wheeled away, that Derek caught a glimpse of light blue down the hallway. Somehow he knew it was her and was on his knees at her side in seconds. He felt for a pulse and sobbed openly when he found that it was still strong. Pushing the flak jacket off and pulling her into his arms, he stood just as Burke caught up to him. Burke nodded in solidarity and led him to the elevator, pushing the button wordlessly. The tears continued to fall landing on her scrub top and dotting the fabric with dark blue. When the doors opened, there was a rush of people talking at once and he could feel Meredith being pulled from his arms. They placed on her a gurney and only then did he notice that the chief was in front of him.
"What happened Derek?" he asked, placing his hand on Derek's shoulder to try and steady him.
"I…uhhh…I don't…there was an explosion and she was on the ground," Derek stammered choking on his own sobs.
He twisted out of the chief's grasp and tried to follow the gurney as they wheeled Meredith away. Richard once again reached out to grab his shoulder but grabbed his wrist instead, effectively holding him there.
"Derek. You can't do anything for her right now. Let your colleagues do their jobs," Richard tried.
"She's…ummm…she's pregnant. They need to check the baby," he cried suddenly.
"What? What…did…you...ummm…say?" Richard stuttered.
"She's almost 17 weeks along," Derek replied, suddenly feeling very weak and beginning to sink to the ground.
He could hear someone calling his name, but it sounded fuzzy and drawn out. He closed his eyes tighter trying to concentrate on the sound when a muffled THWACK finally forced him to jump back. His eyes snapped open and he squinted at the face hovering above his own.
"Derek, are you okay?" Burke asked.
"Uhhh…yeah. I think so," he croaked, attempting to pull himself up from the gurney where he lay.
"Hold on, go slow!" Burke ordered helping him to his feet, "you fainted. You've been out for awhile."
He walked slowly through the hospital, finding Richard almost immediately.
"Where is she?" he asked frantically.
"Yang and Stevens took her to get cleaned up in the locker room," he replied.
Derek was gone before he could say another word. He bolted to the locker room and through the door, finding Alex and George huddled on the benches sheepishly. He burst into the showers, finding that Christina and Izzie were coaxing Meredith into clothes after stripping her of her formerly bloody ones. Christina caught sight of him and shoved him from the room.
"Is she okay?" he asked quickly.
"They said there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her. She was thrown back, but she's okay," Christina hissed pushing him onto the bench next to Alex.
"What about the baby?" he questioned, barely masking a sob.
"The ultrasound revealed no abnormalities," Christina replied.
Izzie led Meredith out of the showers and Derek was by her side seconds later. He held her flush to his side and led her through the hospital and then drove her home. Once there, he tucked her into the bed watching from the chair by the bed as she slept. At some point he must have dozed off because he awoke to Meredith shifting in the darkness. He leapt to action turning on a lamp beside the bed before crawling into the bed beside her. She flipped over to face him and his hand immediately moved to rub small circles on her side.
"You almost died today," Derek said after they lay there in silence for a moment.
"Yeah. I almost died today," she sighed.
They fell into silence again, Derek's hand moving to run along her arm.
"The whole time I was there in the OR with Mr. Carlson all I could think about was the baby. I've been so freaked out by the pregnancy that we haven't really gotten to enjoy it," she whispered into the silence.
Derek's hand moved to brush the slight bump that was their baby, his eyes following the hands path before returning to her eyes.
"I thought of a few names," she said thoughtfully, "while I was in there."
"Tell me," he pleaded softly.
"I like Jillian for a girl. Or maybe Elizabeth. And I really only like one name for a boy. I want to name him Christopher. After you," she listed, biting her lip slightly as she awaited his input.
"I like those," he replied softly, kissing her forehead and pulling her into him.
Apparently I really like making Derek faint; maybe I should lay off that since I'm pretty sure the character would do the exact opposite. Anyway, here is the first in this series of one-shots. I'm not sure if I will go back and do any of the episodes before this, but let's go ahead and say these one-shots might not be in order. Remember to review. Especially if you have a specific issue with the format so that we can get this figured out.