She was still holding Derek's hand but she had to let it go when she heard a knock on the door. Derek had been resting with his eyes closed and didn't bother to open them considering it was some nurse to examine his bp or temperature or listen to his chest or to do an annoying neuro check. Meredith looked back and saw it wasn't a nurse after all. Doctor Bailey was on the door. She stepped in.

"How's he doing? I am sorry I am a little late, I had to perform another emergency splenectomy today, and Webber has taken off, so I got caught up. Has he complained of any abdominal pain?" Bailey asked looking through his chart.

The ultrasound they had done prior to his surgery showed a bleed, they had to take his spleen out.

Before Meredith could say a word, Derek opened his eyes and looked at Bailey.

"How's my favorite patient?" She said jokingly.

"I have a little discomfort on the left side." He whispered.

"We had to take your spleen out."

"That explains it." He whispered while looking at Meredith.

"Apart from the left side, any other pains I need to know about?" Bailey asked while placing her stethoscope in her ears. "It'll be cold, I am sorry." She lifts his hospital gown with help of Meredith and puts the stethoscope on his abdomen; Derek winced when the cold stethoscope was brought in contact to his skin.

"No other pains." He whispered; his throat was still uncomfortable.

"Everything looks good for now. You just had your spleen out so be ready to be poked with a lot of vaccines in some days. I'll keep a closer eye on your vitals for now, but everything else looks fine. Get well soon, Shepherd." She said, smiling at Meredith assuring her that everything was fine.

She waited and waited, still no update on him. What was taking them so long? She asked herself and then she reminded herself of the amount of injuries he had obtained. Tears had dried in her eyes. She wasn't crying anymore, she had her eyes open wide and she was leaning on Alex's shoulder.

"Mer? Say something?" Alex said.

"I don't know…"

"Mer?"

"The people from his new job called, I told them. They said they were sorry to hear about him. They should be sorry shouldn't they? They practically destroyed our married life. I looked at my husband, injured husband; I couldn't even tell him I am sorry. But I am not even truly sorry Alex."

"I wish I could be Cristina for a while to understand what you're saying Mer."

"Cristina's operating on him for the second time."

"Yeah."

"I miss Derek."

"I know you do."

"Thanks for being there, Alex."

"You're my family, Mer."

Hearing that she tightened her grip on Alex's arm and she leaned on his shoulder even more. She then saw Owen come out of the OR, she rushed to him.

"Hows Derek? Please tell me he's alive, please!"

"He's alive Meredith. There was a lot of damage to his lungs and abdomen, Dr. Bailey and Cristina did everything and we were able to repair almost everything. His CT and MRI were clear but we still need to see if there's any neurological damage. We'll still keep him in the ICU, his vitals aren't really stable but we expect a full recovery if he makes it through the night."

"He left in his car. I used to get scared a year ago everytime he pulled out of the driveway, but not anymore, just when I stopped being scared, the worst happened."

"This isn't the worst Meredith." Owen said.

"He might not make it through the night. My Derek might not make it through the night."

It was haunting her, she felt like her heart would burst.

"You can go sit with him in the ICU."

"Are you mad at me?" Meredith asked breaking the silence of the room.

"I am not." He said.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Where did you leave the kids?"

"April and Jackson will take care of them."

"Okay."

"Do you want some water?"

"No."

The room went silent again.

"I saw Mark." He said breaking the silence this time.

"You really miss him don't you?"

"I do."

"I miss Lexie."

"I know." He said looking at her. "Meredith we need to talk." He said.

"About what?"

"DC."

"I dont want to talk about it right now Derek."

"Why not?"

The room went silent again and then the ICU's door was knocked again, and entered a nurse.

"How are you doing ?"

Derek was irritated now. It had been the third medical practitioner visiting him in the past hour. He couldn't even have a conversation with Meredith.

"I am okay."

"That's good. Any pains?"

She asked while switching on the electronic thermometer in her hand.

"No."

"Open your mouth and lift your tongue for me please?" She asked Derek and placed the probe right under his tongue and he closed his mouth and griped it with his lips.

She looked at the monitor wired to the probe then took the probe out of Derek's mouth. She scribbled something on his chart and left the ICU.

"Mer? Can we talk?" Derek said weakly.

"You're sick Derek."

"But we really need to talk Mer. This will destroy our marriage. Its not just about us now, we have kids. Its about them too."

"You need rest Derek." She said.

He had no idea what she had been through in the last 24 hours she thought to herself, she only wished for a minute that he would put himself in her shoes and think.

He knew Meredith was mad at him. He knew that her mind was currently boggled and a conversation like that wouldn't have helped. It was a lot to process for both of them. Both of them sat there thinking what was next? Was this the end?


I am sorry for the short update guys, I'll be back with more. I am just immensely busy now a days. Thank you for the previous reviews though, they really do boost my confidence as a newbie. Keep them coming please.