Meredith stood at the O.R scheduling board staring at the black ink on white board. Her hands were in her lab coat pockets, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She does not notice anyone walking by, or the hand that is laying gently on her left shoulder. However, she feels a second hand squeezing her right shoulder. When she down, she recognizes the familiar hands; Derek is standing behind her, beginning to softy knead her shoulders.
"You know, this much stress isn't good for you, Mer," Derek said in a soft tone. Meredith turned around and looked her husband in the face.
She let out a soft sigh before she spoke. "What am I supposed to do, Derek? He's here and everybody is expecting me to drop everything and help. I can't, I have my job to do, and I have Zola to take care of. We're just getting back to normal after everything that happened—"
Derek cut her off with a soft kiss on her lips. "Meredith, I know you have always had problems with him, but you are going to feel terrible if something happens to him and you didn't even talk to him before surgery. We are going to be fine, Zo is good in day care. Meredith, you're all that he has left."
"He blamed me for Susan's death," Meredith argued.
Derek shook his head, "And he told you he regrets it. He made amends with you and Lexie, and you gave him part of your liver. Thatcher may have been an absent father, but he lit up when he was around Zola at Lexie's funeral. Molly doesn't even live in the United States anymore. Go make amends with him, Meredith. Don't you want to set a good example for Zola?" Meredith looked up at Derek and scowled at the soft smile on his face.
"I want to punch you in the face right now, Derek Shepherd. Don't go thinking I'm giving him any body parts this time," Meredith got the last word in before she turned on her foot and stormed off towards Thatcher's hospital room.
Derek watched her retreating form and gave a small smile at his wife before pulling out his phone to check the time. Noticing that if he hurried up and spoke to Webber about getting Meredith to speak to Thatcher, then he would still have time to spend with Zola during lunch.
Meredith stood outside Thatcher's room, looking for the courage to enter the room. He looked so small in the hospital bed—definitely looking worse than he did at Lexie's funeral. If she was to be honest, she was glad, and proud, that he stuck to sobriety during one of the most difficult times in his life. She knew it had to be hard because there was plenty of times she wanted to turn to a tequila bottle in the aftermath of the plane crash. With a deep breath, Meredith took a step forward and opened the door.
Hearing someone walk into the room, Thatcher looked over at the door and smiled. "Meredith!" For reasons Meredith couldn't understand, her father's eyes lit up at seeing his oldest daughter in front of him. Shaking the thought away, she sat in the seat next to Thatcher's bed.
"Hi. Um…I hope you don't mind the company. Someone made me realize that I didn't want you to be alone for this. So, I am going to be right here, and we can…talk I guess," Meredith rambled as her nerves began to kick in.
Thatcher grabbed Meredith's hand and held onto it. "It is more than okay. I would really like the company." There was silence for a moment before he looked at her again. "How are you, and Derek…and Zola?"
Meredith smiled when her daughter's name was brought up. "Derek and I are getting by, we're just starting to sort of recover from what happened. And Zola…I never thought it was possible for one person to bring me so much happiness. She adores the ladybug you got her, she walks around the house with it in her hand, takes it to bed with her."
Seeing the way his oldest daughter lit up when she talked about Zola made Thatcher smile as well, thinking back to the time Meredith was that small. "You had a bear that you used to do the same things with. You would sit on the floor or the couch and have it curled up under your arms."
The two were quiet again, before Meredith spoke up. "It's probably not the best time to say this, but I just wanted to thank you. For giving me a sister. I know I wasn't the nicest person to Lexie when I first met her, and that girl was determined to have some type of relationship with me. I think it really started when her and all the other interns started doing surgery on each other. I don't know what came over me but when I found out about it, I just went into some…protection mode, like I was supposed to defend her and safe her from what was happening."
"I wanted to ask you, but it didn't seem right at the time considering it was her funeral. Was she alone…in the woods? I've wanted to know, but I've been afraid to ask."
With tears in her eyes, Meredith held his hand a little tighter. "I sat with her the whole time. Mark and my friends went to try and find Derek in the woods because I refused to leave her side. I held her hand and we talked. Nothing serious, just small talk, to ignore what was happening. She told me she loved me, that she wanted me to tell you the same thing—which I did—and she asked me to remind Zola of who her Aunt Lexie was. So, no, she wasn't alone." Both Meredith and Thatcher had tears streaming down their faces.
"Thank you, Meredith. For being her big sister and for being with her. You two may not have known each other very long, but she was much closer with you than she ever was with Molly. I am glad that she had you there." Meredith nodded her head at her father's words, her throat too closed up to say anything. After a few moments passed and her throat opened again, Meredith spoke up.
"Don't tell Derek this, but if we ever have another daughter, I'm naming her after Lexie and there's no changing my mind about it."
"I think she would like that very much," Thatcher said. Before anything else could be said, there was a knock at the door. When it opened, Derek stood in the doorway with Zola in his arms.
"Hi, Lovebug! Mama has missed you so much today," Meredith said as she got up to grab Zola and kiss her cheeks. Derek gave a small look of concern when he saw the tear tracks on his wife's face, but it went away when Meredith gave him a reassuring smile.
"I though I'd bring her by for a quick visit before lunch was over," Derek explained as he watched Meredith take Zola over to the chair she was once sitting in.
Meredith has Zola sitting on her lap, the child's back against her chest. Holding Zola's hand, Meredith pointed at Thatcher. "Zo, who's this? Do you remember your grandpa?" It was a small peace offering, all three adults in the room knew that. Zola smiled at the man in the bed and began squirming to try and get to him. "No, Zo. You can't go up there, Lovebug," Meredith said to Zola. She saw her daughter's lips moving and knew what her daughter was trying to do. "Want to give grandpa a kiss before you go?" She stood up and allowed Zola to lean in toward Thatcher and the child gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
Derek watched his wife in awe. He did not expect this to be the outcome of his encouragement, but he was welcoming the addition of Thatcher in their lives. Meredith began to bring Zola back over to him. Derek grab Zola and Meredith gave her one last kiss on the cheek.
"Mama will be home as soon as she can, Zozo. And you can come see Grandpa again tomorrow," Meredith told her daughter as she rubbed her back softly. Derek nodded and began his walk down to daycare.
Sitting back in the chair, Meredith had a small smile on her face as Thatcher looked at her. "She's adorable, Meredith."
"Thanks. She is definitely worth all of the hassle Derek and I have been through."
At that moment, Doctor Bailey came through the door. Derek had told her Meredith was in there with Thatcher, but the shorter doctor did believe Derek completely, and the small part of her that did believe him was not expecting to see the two getting along. No, Miranda Bailey was shocked to not enter as hostile environment. "Okay, Mister Grey. Time to get you down to surgery."
Miranda slightly looked up from the chart, but not enough to be noticed, to witness father and daughter look at each other. Meredith stood up and squeezed his shoulder. "I'm going to walk down with you, and then I will be right here when you're back and awake."
They rolled the bed towards the operating room, stopping just before they entered. Meredith nodded at Bailey before looking at Thatcher. In an uncharacteristic move, Meredith hugged her father and kissed his cheek before looking at him. "Do not pull anything funny in there. You'll see me later, and I'll have Derek bring Zola by again. Doctor Bailey, please take good care of him," Meredith said with a small smile. By this point, that saying had become a ritual between Bailey, her interns and Derek—namely Derek who refused to leave her side when she donated her liver to Thatcher.
End? Or multi-chapter?
Sorry for the delayed postings for Blindsided. I am currently in my last semester of college, so I am following a schedule I have set up for myself. I am hoping to get some writing done on the weekends.
Anyhow, I have not really been watching Grey's, but I saw the most recent episode and WOW, never have I been so annoyed with Meredith! I promise that I will start on Blindsided updates ASAP (and I am also working on another story that begins in season 1)