Derek was deep in thought as he stood on the bridge of the main hospital wing, looking out into the busy streets of Seattle. The bridge has always been his favorite spot, a place he could go to find solace and clear his head. Today; however, he was finding it hard to stop thinking about her as he stood watching the downpour of rain as it pounded with force onto the city he has grown to love since coming here with Mark eight years ago. He let out a bitter laugh at the cruel twist of fate he finds himself in now. He remembered in vivid detail the day she left him. It was a day very similar to this day. The skies were dark and grey as it loomed above, its heavy rain threatening to drown the city and everything that occupied it. He remembered standing in the middle of Central Park waiting for her. They were going to run away to a new city where she would be far from her mother's cold and unfeeling clutches and they could finally be together.

::flashback::

"She's not coming, Derek."

"Yes she is! She promised me she would be here and I'm not leaving until she does."

"It's been over six hours. If she hasn't shown up now, she's not going to."

"You don't know that! She wouldn't tell me she's coming and not show up. It's not like her."

"Maybe she changed her mind. Have you thought about that?"

"Go away, Mark! If you're not going to be a friend and support me, then leave."

"I AM supporting you! Why the hell do you think I'm standing here in the fucking rain? I know you love her and she loves you, but you have to face the fact that she may not be coming. I'm not saying this to hurt you. I need you to get out of the rain before you get sick and die."

"I'm not leaving. I will wait here forever if I have to, but I'm not leaving."

::flashback ends::

He snapped out of his thoughts and was brought back to the present when he heard a voice from behind ask him "What happened to you last night?"

"I'm sorry, Richard," he said, pushing back from the rail to address him. "It was a long day and I was a little overwhelmed, that's all. I had a chance to visit Mer…Miss Grey last night and checked her charts. The injuries she sustained were pretty severe and her brain is quite swollen. We will have to keep a close watch. If the swelling does not go down on its own, I will have to operate and leave the skull flap open to relieve some of the pressure." He paused to take a deep breath, knowing he was rambling but he needed a distraction to take his mind off his thoughts from earlier. Although, talking about her and her injuries did not help the matter. If anything, it raised his level of concern and worry for her, seeing as how she remains unconscious and her condition has yet to improve. "Speaking of which, have new tests been ordered?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I was looking for you to see if you wanted to come with me to check on her. I was told the results came back and thought maybe we could review them together."

"Uh…sure," he hesitantly replied. He wasn't quite ready to see her, but he didn't want to raise any red flags if he didn't agree to go. It was bad enough that he ran out last night, he didn't need to give the Chief reason to suspect anything. They walked in silence to her room, stopping by the nurse's station to request that the new test results be brought to her room immediately. They saw Cristina sitting on a chair next to her bed. Her day planner lies open on the armrest as she frantically types into the laptop sitting on her lap. She appears deep in thought, but her eyes anxiously shot to the door as soon as they stepped foot inside.

"Good Morning, Cristina. It's great to see you here so early in the morning," said the Chief, as the two men made their way to stand at the foot of the bed. Derek's eyes dart immediately to rest on Meredith, his brows furrowed together in obvious concern and…a hint of something else. This did not go unnoticed by Cristina as she moved her laptop aside and stood up from the chair.

"Dr. Webber. Dr. Shepherd," she addressed both men. "It's nice to see you. I was told Meredith's test results came back."

"Yes. I've asked that they're brought to me—ah…here they are," said the Chief, as a nurse came in holding a package in her hand. The young nurse handed the file to the Chief and stood hesitantly as she looked at Meredith with awe and sadness in her eyes. "Er…thank you Olivia. That is all." With a half-smile, he casually dismissed the young nurse and waited for her to scurry off before turning to hand the tests to Derek.

Together, they walked to the view panel and carefully reviewed her scans, checking for any hairline fractures on her scull or blood clots that may have developed overnight. After a few minutes, they returned to see a nervous Cristina standing there with bated breath as she waited to hear their assessment of her condition. Derek was the first to speak when he saw the distraught look on her face. "Her tests are clean; however, her brain remains swollen." He could see that Cristina was visibly shaken and continued to explain "The swelling has gone down noticeably since yesterday and if it continues to go down, we will not have to operate."

"What happens if it does not go down? Will…will she ever wake up?"

"We will continue to monitor her progress," Derek explained. "If the swelling does not go down by tomorrow, we will need to operate to relieve some of the pressure on her brain."

Turning to address the Chief, Cristina asked "Is that what you would recommend? Not that I don't trust Dr. Shepherd, but….she's my best friend. My person. I don't know what I would do without her and…," she paused as her voice began to falter "I'm not prepared to think of my life without her in it." Derek was touched by their deep friendship. At one point, he felt the exact same way Cristina did about Meredith, but that was a long time ago.

"Derek is my head of neuro and I trust him implicitly. I know you care a lot about Meredith and I do too. We will do everything in our power to save her."

It was the end of Derek's shift and he was getting ready to head to his office to collect his things when he decided to make one last visit to check up on Meredith. He had asked the nursing staff to page him every hour on the hour with a progress on how she was doing. As of the last update he received, she remained unconscious and her vitals were stable. That update was no different from the previous one or the one before that. As he made his way down the corridor that led to her room, he knew not to get his hopes up as the possibility of operating on her grew stronger as each minute passed. He knocked on the door lightly before opening it and walked inside. He scanned the room and did not see Cristina.

Pulling her charts, he quickly scanned it, but he knew there was nothing in there that he didn't already know. He stood there watching the soft rise and fall of her chest, thinking how peaceful she looked. His hand reached out. He watched it move toward her and he tried to will it back, but it seemed to move of its own volition until it touched her cheek, gently stroking. As if in a dream, he stood looking at her for what seemed like an eternity until he felt his coat pocket vibrate. Without moving his hand from her face, he looked up at the clock on the wall mount and knew it was probably Kendall calling him. Letting out a deep sigh, he released his hand and gave her one last look before he turned to leave. He was about to reach the door when he heard a faint groan. His head snapped over to her bed, staring intently at her, wondering if it was his imagination. Not daring to breathe, he waited a few more seconds hoping to hear it again. His face dropped in disappointment and he moved to look away when he saw her fingers move, followed by another faint groan.

Without another seconds delay, he rushed to her bedside, leaned down and whispered "Meredith?" It was met with silence as he reached out to grab her hand. "Meredith? Can you hear me?" The silence was deafening as he waited for a response. Leaning further in, he whispered in her ear, his warm breath fanning her cheeks "Meredith. Please say something…say anything. I need to know you can hear me. Please…" He waited a while longer, his heart slowly breaking when nothing happened. In all his angst, he must've imagined it and slowly let go of her hand when her fingers tightened around his.

Derek's heart jumped in his throat when he felt her fingers tighten around his. It was not a strong grip, but the feeble attempt was enough to get his heart beating a mile a minute as he cupped her small hand in his and gave a soft squeeze. "Meredith? Can you hear me?" he asked again, his voice hopeful as he felt her hand move within his. "Please open your eyes for me. Do you think you can do that?" He held his breath as he looked intently at her, watching for any signs of movement. He tried not to let the disappointment set in as the minutes passed and he still hadn't gotten a response. Releasing a frustrated sigh, he let his head drop onto his hands. He was exhausted and sitting there, waiting and not daring to breathe was exhausting. He tried to detach himself from feeling anything for her, but in a cruel twist of fate, he finds himself back where he was eight years ago…waiting for her.

He felt the coat pocket vibrate yet again. He had missed the first call when Meredith stirred and knew it was Kendall calling him. Deciding against ignoring her call for the second time, he released Meredith's hand and stood up as he reached inside his coat. Moving across the room, he flipped the phone open and whispered a soft "Hello?"

"Derek? Why are you whispering, honey?"

"I'm inside a patient's room. I didn't want to be too loud and disturb her," he said before remembering that she was still unconscious, so it really wouldn't have mattered.

"Her? Should I be nervous that you're inside a female patient's room at this late hour?" she teased.

"I—uh, I was just…," he stuttered, the ability to speak escaped his mind

"I'm just teasing, honey. I know she's just a patient and nothing else."

"Yeah, she's just a patient," he said, more as a need to remind himself of that fact. "She's means nothing to me. Absolutely nothing…nothing at all."

"Are you okay? You're acting strange."

"I'm fine," he lied. He reached his free hand up to pinch the spot at the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger to ease some of the pressure that was building in his head.

"Okay. It's just that you've been acting weird ever since last night."

"I'm fine. Everything's fine."

"Was it something I did?"

"What? What do you mean?" he asked, immediately going on the defensive.

"You seemed…distant. You kept shifting uncomfortably in your seat at the theater. You hardly looked at me and kept rubbing your eyes. You didn't let me touch you all night. You barely uttered two words during dinner. I know you don't like those movies and I promise never to drag you to them again. Just promise to talk to me, okay?"

"It's not you. I've been really busy at work and let my emotions get the better of me, that's all. I promise not to let it get in the way when we're together." He looked over when he heard Meredith mumble something inaudible and quickly tried to end the call. "Listen, Kendall..my patient is waking up and I need to check on her. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. I miss—"

"Please don't leave! Thunder…too loud! I don't like…"

"What was that?"

"It's, uh…my patient," he replied, watching her intently before averting his eyes to look out the window. The skies were dark and grey, but it was not raining and there was no sound of thunder.

"Why is she yelling like that?"

"I think she's dreaming. I really must go to check on her. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"