At The End Of The Day

POST 11X21. After Bailey's life is on the line , Meredith and the others struggle with the prospect of not being able to save him, on beautiful days, and ferryboat scrub caps, life and death and on Derek. Set 12 years after season 11.

Thank you so much for the support guys, although I wouldn't mind more reviews if you get the chance :) Also I'm sorry if some of the characters seem to be a bit off, I've watched the show for years, but the writing is a bit harder, working my best to doing them justice.

I own nothing but my own mistakes! It'd been a while since I had such a good time writing a story so I'm so grateful for all of you reading and following , it motivates me to write more! Enjoy! I hope the ending of this isn't too confusing , I hope it is rather comforting for some of us.

PART IV

Tommy had been friends with Bailey since they were both toddlers hanging out at daycare in at Grey-Sloan, his mom was a nurse and single mom of three kids. She balanced her life the best she could and she tried her best to give her children a chance of normalcy. She was a kind and hardworking woman who loved taking care of others.

"Tommy?" Allie Morgan stared at the stained face of her child. She didn't know how long he'd been sitting as she had just been paged her son was here, at first, her heart went cold as she thought of the game he had tonite and the feeling of guilt and worry washed over her. She'd tried her best to get out of the hospital in time for the game but she just hadn't been able to make it. "My goodness honey, are you okay?" Tommy looked up at his mother and he sobbed harder. "What... What happened?"

"Bailey..." Allie cradled her child in her arms. "Bailey's hurt mom, it's his brain, he's...Is he going to die?" Nurse Morgan didn't know what do say, this hit her like a ton of bricks too. She and Meredith Grey weren't all that close, they both were single and busy women whose only focus was their children, but she did consider the general surgeon her friend.

"Sh...No sweetie. Wait, what happened? How did he get hurt?" She asked softly, forcing her son to look up.

"I, I only saw him hit the ground, but his aunt told some other doctors his brain's swelling and they have to open him up." Allie's heart sank. She knew what had happened to Derek Shepherd, he'd been declared brain dead, having left his wife and children behind. She was sure Bailey's injury couldn't be as bad, the extent of his injuries, that she didn't know.

"Okay well, I'm going to go find Dr. Shepherd and ask her alright? You stay put."

"She's gone up with Bailey already..."Tommy stopped his mother from moving. "I didn't even get to say goodbye to him mom."


"What are you doing?" Owen asked Ellie as she was kneeling in front of one of Amelia's cabinets.

"Does aunt Amelia still keep her films here? The ones with mom and dad on them?" the little girl asked. Owen's heart sank. "I just... I wanted to watch one...I can't think about Bailey right now, I just worry."

"Of course you worry." Owen said softly, he glanced at his own child sleeping on the couch. "You love Bailey."

"Mom loved Daddy too and he died." Ellis said. Owen sighed. "Here! I found one." Owen read the label on the old DVD. THE SHEPHERD METHOD. BETH MONROE. "would you watch it with me?" Owen smiled. "Mom always does because she don't want to miss dad so much." Owen picked the DVD and placed on the old player, moving to sit with Ellie on his lap. She cradled closer to his chest as Derek's face appeared on screen. "It's a beautiful day to save lives." Ellis said before Derek began giving instructions. He looked up praying that Amelia would fix Bailey.


Meredith cursed under her breath as she kicked the vending machine, some things never changed, neither had they changed when you were on the other side of the situation. "Dammit!"

"Still doesn't work?" Miranda asked. "Here." She offered her a granola bar out of her pocket. "This is healthier anyway."

"Why do we even bother? To eat healthy I mean? We are all doomed to die, as a baby, at fourteen, it doesn't matter.." She said, hitting her back with the wall in defeat.

"Grey, hey look at me. Listen to me, your son is going to be fine, you just, have to wait and see, he's a fighter, always has been, I should know since I was the one to bring him into the world..."

"Derek was a fighter too, so was Lexie and Mark and they all died, what makes you think this will be any different?" Meredith said, her voice cracking. "And I should be in there, with my son, instead of kicking a stupid machine for a candy!"

"You know you can't do that." Miranda said calmly. "Even if I let you, this is the best place for you to be in." Meredith glared at her. "Come with me." the younger woman sighed.

"Look in there." Dr. Bailey said. This was Amelia's office. Meredith saw Owen with Zola and Ellis, they were watching something on the monitor on the wall. Meredith would recognize those eyes anywhere.

Those were her little boy's eyes. Derek's eyes.


"So my friend Tommy and I got in trouble this one time because we decided it'd be cool to sneak into a gallery during one of Chief Webber's surgeries. There were some new interns so they didn't know us, but they looked terrified..." Bailey said with a laugh. "If Dr. Bailey was scary, mom was another story, did you know they call her Medusa?"

"Still?" Derek's eyes widened. "So what happened?"

"I was used to watching surgeries from the gallery, mom did that with me and Zola all the time. Ellis too for a while, so I thought they wouldn't say anything.." He continued with the story, his eyes fixed on his dad's. "So I see this, thing, right bellow, like a leak or something and...No one, not even mom is aware of it so Tommy nudges me to pick up the intercom. Let's just say, the interns didn't have it easy that first week when mom told them even a seven year old could have picked on the leak and no one said anything." Derek laughed.

"Your mother must have been proud." Derek said. "Or mortified."

"No, she was pretty proud. she grounded me for being away from daycare." Bailey blushed. "She did say it was rare for me to have seen that kind of leak, unless I had year's experience." Bailey beamed. "She called me a neurosurgeon kid alright."

"Well you are." Derek smiled. "That and an extraordinary general surgeon." Derek looked down at his watch for a moment. Bailey hadn't been aware that time had gone by, they had been in the playroom for quite sometime but he wasn't sure how time passed in alternative realities or whatever this was. "What's wrong? Dad?"


Meredith had gone back to the waiting room, Alex in tow as he and Arizona had been assisting Amelia. "Edwards said they had to stop because he was seizing. They'd given him some... " Alex hesitated" They think it's best to induce coma so his brain has time to heal..."

Meredith's knees felt weak "How long?"

"What?"

"How long do they have to wait?" Meredith said.

"I don't know..." Alex admitted. Meredith stood up, bolting towards the OR. "Mer!"

Meredith ran into the gallery, shouting"What the hell are you doing?!" She snapped.

"You can't be in here Meredith... I was just about to come and find you..."

"Shut up, if it was either of your kids, I'd be the one dragging you out,now tell me, what the hell are you doing?"

"A blood vessel burst, we had to stop the seizures one way or another, so I gave the brain a little rest, there's no way I am stopping Meredith, I'm just..."

"You don't know what caused the rupture?" Meredith asked, shaking. "You just induced my kid into a coma!"

"No, It could be the the contusion itself or... Mer, I need you to calm down, It's to prevent the brain to damage itself even further..."

"Dr. Shepherd?" Came Edward's voice. "Vitals are spiking again"


"Why do you keep staring at your watch?" Bailey asked. "You have somewhere to be?" Derek's face turned serious.

"No, but you do." He said.

Bailey frowned. "What?"

"You can't stay here bud, you have to go back." Derek said with a kind smile. "You have to go and be great, just as I know you always were." Bailey's eyes filled with tears. "Hey, no, no tears... Listen to me, this isn't how you want to spend your life, you still got a lot to do, a lot to change. You can't stay here.."

"Why not?" Even if it's a little while longer." Bailey said, he moved to his feet as Derek did the same. "Just, please."

"I once made a promise. I said I wanted more than just a few stolen hours, moments with someone." Bailey blinked his tears away. "I always wanted more for you, your mom, I never wanted her to do this alone. I always saw how it drove my mother crazy, although deep down I know she just wanted to be able to talk to him again, say how much she missed him." Bailey let his head fall against his father's chest, his arms wrapping around him. It wasn't until a few minutes before the young boy realized he could touch him. "I still don't want Mom to keep on missing me, to not move on with her life."

"She said she'd just rather become dark and twisty again than to feel as she was breaking her vows." Bailey said cleaning his face. "She said She'd called it upon post it, she said it was forever so she...She keeps waiting for you." Derek's heart sank as Bailey looked up to give him a smile. "I can take care of her in the meantime, I don't mind..." Derek smiled, taking his son's face in his hands.

"But in order to be able to do that..."

"I have to go."

"You have to go." Derek said, hugging him closer. "I love you so much son."

"I..."


Bailey's eyes snapped open. His head was killing him, literally. "Good morning sleepy head." He wasn't in a hospital bed like he imagined he would when he woke up, instead he was home. His mom had come to wake him up. "Hurry up, you're going to be late."

"Wait, what?" Bailey mumbled. "I was at the hospital...Dad..."

"What about him? He's driving you to school before his meeting so you need to get up, now..." Meredith left the room as Bailey sat on the bed. He glanced around his room. It didn't seem different. Except there was another bed on the other side of the room. That wasn't there before.

"Bailey!" He heard someone call for him. "I swear munchkin if you make me late again!" By the door appeared another boy, he was older than Bailey that was for sure. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, I..."

"Then, let's go!" Bailey blinked a couple times until his eyes landed on the picture on the nightstand. There he was, age fourteen next to Derek. Meredith was on the other side, holding on to a young girl, the boy he'd just seen next to her, Zola and Ellis stood there too, A smile plastered on their faces. Two other boys stood by his side.

"Hey buddy, Sebastian said you aren't feeling so good, do you have a fever?" Derek said to him. "Bailey?"

What?


So... yes this is a bit confusing but it's some sort of what if reality that might work onto the story for the next several chapters. I might even develop a story of it's own from it if you guys like it. Just remember, we still don't know if Bailey is okay or not so in his mind, anything can happen! and did you catch who's the older boy named Sebastian? Yep, I've been rewatching the show so... guess!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review. And just to be clear, I am in no way a doctor so I hope my writings are not so far fetched, if they are , I do apologize.