A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! They really make posting so very rewarding. I hope you enjoy the chapter! Thanks for reading.

Meredith didn't mind taking Cristina's shift in the ER. Normally she would be far past ticked off, but would have agreed anyway, yet tonight it was different. She had agreed to help out, as Derek was on-call anyway, and the more time she had to spend with Derek, the better. If she had stayed home and actually used her night off, she wouldn't have known what to do with her self. Derek was on-call; therefore, she would be alone.

Meredith didn't like to be alone.

So instead, she was walking to the newest patient that was brought in, reading her chart and running medical diagnosis' and facts through her head, as if she was picking through a box of folders, filing through the possible symptoms of different conditions, X-ing out the ones she didn't like and putting aside the possible ones. It was like a process of elimination.

She made strides over to the patient's bed, concealed by a pastel curtain to maintain the ever-treasured privacy that they valued so much, her sneakers squealing against the floors. She fluffed up her ponytail and clutched her chart to her chest as she swept the curtain away, revealing her patient and a very worried looking parent. She smiled automatically, kindly, at them both.

The patient, sixteen year old Michelle Brooks, sat up on the bed, alert and visibly nervous. Her dark blonde hair was piled up in a bun at the top of her head, and her bright blue eyes were sparkling vividly. The bit of makeup that outlined her eyes was smeared, and her lips were a natural shade of bright pink. Meredith's smile grew from automatic and clinical to sincere, "Hi, Michelle? I'm Dr. Grey, I'm going to be your doctor today. Can I ask what brings you to the ER?" Her mom swayed uneasily beside her, looking frazzled. Her strawberry-blonde locks were frizzy and undone, and her purse was locked between the knuckles of her hand.

"Well…" Michelle's voice was youthful and modulated, with the undertone of displeasure. She didn't want to be there, apparently- Meredith could read that in her eyes. Michelle fidgeted, rubbing her knuckles, and her voice remained small. "I've been having a lot of headaches, I guess." She continued to look down at nothing in particular, and then sighed as softly as one might take a breath.

Her mother's voice was grating and troubled, clearly aggravated with her daughter. She added pointedly, "And, her vision has been getting worse and worse, I swear. It's been slowly getting worse over time. But it's not just that. Her headaches, when they get bad, she can barely…It's almost like she can't even talk." Michelle sighed again and let her fingers dance along the sheets. "It's been worrying me for a while here, but Michelle here tried to convince me she was fine."

"Okay," Meredith nodded, keeping her eyes on the teenager. "Michelle, how long has this been going on?"

"I don't know…" She said softly, trailing off. Her mother waited expectantly, pouting. "I'd say… maybe…"

This caused her mother to explode into an outburst of some sort of chaotic rant. "Michelle Eliza Brooks, tell her how long this has been going on! We can't afford to hear your lies right now! You don't know how serious this could be, and you lying about it is not going to help anything!" Her mother crossed her arms, still tightly hanging onto her swinging purse.

Michelle visibly tensed, and her eyes flashed as she glanced up at Meredith. She stuttered, "Fine! It's been going on for a few weeks." She darted her gaze back down and tangled her fingers into the sheets of the bed, tightly intertwining them with the seams and then untangling them again, over and over in a dauntingly repetitive movement. Meredith clicked her pen and smiled softly at the both of them.

"Alright," She said with fake cheeriness. "Well, I'm going to send Michelle to go get some scans done, of her brain, and get a few tests done. If I see anything abnormal or that concerns me, I'm going to have you fully admitted, and you'll be able to meet the head of Neuro." She paused, and the flustered mother nodded. Michelle didn't move, just stared at the foot of her bed, her eyes empty.

"Okay!" Her mother said, nodding vigorously, clearly somewhat satisfied. She whipped her gaze back to Michelle and muttered, "I'm going to call you in sick for school."

Michelle looked up with a momentary hopefulness in her eyes, "Could you grab my phone from the car?"

"What, so you can text your delinquent friends?" Her mom shot back. Meredith shifted her weight uneasily, taken aback by the mother's sharp response.

"Mom, they're not del~" She protested softly, but her mom wouldn't have it.

"I'll be right back," She snapped, and she whirled around, her heels clicking as she left. Michelle looked away, and Meredith, again, couldn't pinpoint what she was looking at.

Meredith shifted the chart between her hands and moved to the side of Michelle's bed. She could hear soft sniffling coming from her bowed head.

"Michelle?" Meredith said softly. Michelle, after a moment of hesitation, rubbed her eyes furiously and looked up. "How long has the pain really been going on?" It wasn't a sure-fire way to get the truth out, but it was worth a shot. Much to Meredith's surprise, Michelle's small voice answered.

"A few months…" She said quietly, trailing off. Meredith nodded and sighed, scribbling more notes into her chart. She let her weight shift to her right leg, and she cocked her head at the shaken girl.

"Why did you lie?"

"I…" She drew her palm against her cheek and shivered. "I'm afraid…" But she changed her sentence completely, backtracking and correcting herself. "I don't like hospitals," She admitted softly, "I get nervous. I didn't want the problem…I didn't want it to seem bigger than it is. I… I don't know." She rubbed her forehead and grumbled, "I'm sorry, this is stupid. I'm stupid."

Meredith smiled at her, and their eyes met. She said gently, "Trust me, it's not stupid, I can promise you that. I understand." Michelle's rigid expression softened. "I do. It's okay to be nervous. But you'll be treated well here, alright?"

"Yeah," She said, put the thought into consideration for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah. Okay." She sighed and leaned back, settling into the pillow. Meredith looked at her, and her voice dipped even softer, "You said Head of Neuro. Neuro is brain, right?" She unconsciously twisted her fingers together.

"Yup," Meredith confirmed. Michelle frowned deeply and rubbed the top of her hands. "Dr. Shepherd, he's a brain surgeon." Michelle frowned even deeper than Meredith thought was possible, and she looked clearly nervous once again. Meredith stumbled over her words, trying to correct herself, "I mean, he's the brain surgeon here, but that doesn't necessarily mean you need brain surgery. It all depends what we find on your scans. But wait, that doesn't mean… I, uh…" She was just digging herself into a deeper hole, rambling. She ran a free hands through her hair, and to her surprise, Michelle laughed dryly.

"I get it," She said, and she smiled a bit. "Trying to make the stupid girl who's afraid of hospitals feel better. I've seen it plenty of times before."

Meredith grinned at her, "I was not."

"You so were," Michelle shot back playfully. She yawned largely and squinted in the light.

"Well, I've got to go talk to Dr. Shepherd, you've got to get your scans and tests done, and I'll see you afterwards to discuss. My guess is that you'll probably get admitted anyways, to be on the safe side," She said, carefully choosing her words. You'll probably get admitted because you're showing signs of a potentially dangerous brain condition. "Okay?"

"Tests?" Michelle readily replied. She bit her lip. "S-Sorry," She stammered. "I'm lame, I know."

"Nothing crazy, I promise," Meredith reassured, smiling genuinely. She took a few steps back and continued to grin at Michelle, who was already looking better than she had when she first came in.

"Thanks, Dr. Grey," Michelle said softly, relaxing her tense shoulders and sighing.

"Meredith," She said quietly, "Call me Meredith."

An hour later, and Meredith was looking at the brain tumor that sat comfortably on the temporal lobe of Michelle's brain.

XXX

Derek opened the door to the dark on-call room, "Hello?" He whispered into the darkness. He stepped inside and precisely closed the door behind him gently. He reached out and flicked on the light, squinting in the sudden brightness. Meredith was on the other side of the room, just like he had expected. "Meredith, hi." He smiled warmly at her, and she came up to greet him. She kissed him on the cheek out of habit.

"Hi yourself," She replied. She hadn't seen him yet that day, and she took in the sight of him, the sight of McDreamy. He had definitely earned that name. His hair was messy and long and silky, the tiny tangles at the nape of his neck sticking out in odd directions, and he needed a shave: But for now the scruffy, hot look would do. He smiled and she smiled back again. His scrubs were fitting well, and did a nice job of showing off his arm muscles and his butt. She had that sudden urge to kiss him.

She reached over and cupped his face in her hands and kissed him tenderly on the lips, pressing him up against the wall in the meantime. He kissed her back graciously, their tongues dancing, their lips mashed together in that puzzle-piece type fit that they had accustomed to. She pressed him harder against the wall, and he ran his hands down her back, playing with the seam of her shirt. "Is this why you paged me here?" He chuckled, half-joking…but not really. He continued to kiss her as she tried to duck out of his range.

"No, that's not…" She swiveled her head to avoid his lips but he caught her again, and she giggled but fought to get away. "…Derek, I have to talk to you about…" He kissed her neck, and she paused, sucking in her breath. "…Seriously, I… it's about…" She pressed her palms against his chest and moved him away, grinning. "…It's about a patient."

"A patient?" He faked disappointment. "Now, that's no fun."

"No, seriously," She said, but her smile faded. Derek frowned, crinkling up his eyebrows in confusion and slight concern. He nodded.

"Okay, okay, what's going on? Is this about the consult you asked for in…" He glanced down at his watch, and came back up a bit shocked. "…five minutes?"

"Yeah, the sixteen year old girl. Her name's Michelle. She has a large tumor on her temporal lobe." She sighed again, and reached up to tighten her ponytail. "You've seen the scans, right?"

"Yeah. It looks like we'll definitely need to operate, the thing is big…" He trailed off, looking at her, slightly confused as to where the conversation was going. He waited for her to continue, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. She drew in her breath.

"But, this patient…"

"Yeah?"

"She's… different, Derek," She said, trying to choose the right words for the situation. He just looked even more confused than the start. "I mean…I just wanted to let you know some stuff about her." She chewed on her lip and looked at him.

Although he didn't quite understand where she was going with this, he was patient, and his words were gentle and supportive and encouraging, "Okay."

"She's… well, I like her, but she's… she has a fear of hospitals, or something. And it's not just one of those simple, cut-and-dry fears that can be taken care of with a few supportive words and a pat on the back. I just wanted to tell you that you should… maybe… I don't know, be gentle?" She groaned as she heard her own words out loud. "I mean, you're always gentle with patients of course, Derek, but just be… be…" She trailed off and looked at him, raising her eyebrows in the hopes that he understood what she was getting at. He smiled softly and nodded.

"Okay. I can do that," He studied her face for a second and then added, "Thanks for telling me. That is being a good doctor, you're advocating for your patient and that's important, Meredith." He leaned in and kissed her cheek lightly, grazing his warm lips along her soft skin. She felt herself smile.

"You think so?"

XXX

Both Meredith and Derek could sense Michelle's nervousness as they entered the small hospital room. Her beautiful eyes were wide open and blinking, and her hands were twisted around the sides of the bed so tight that her knuckles were slowly turning a shade of white as she gripped them harder. Her soft hair had been let down and hung loosely at her shoulders, her bangs out of place and wisps of hair peeking out from her forehead. She flashed her gaze at them instantly as they came in, and her mom, who had been chatting on the phone, hung up too, standing up. She didn't look half as nervous as Michelle, who looked like she was about to throw up. When Michelle noticed Derek, holding the clipboard, her large eyes were suddenly unblinking, and her grip tightened. Meredith smiled softly at both her and her mom and cleared her throat.

"I'd like you to meet Doctor Shepherd, the head of Neuro here at Seattle Grace." Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smile warmly and reassuringly at the both of them, and she took a deep breath. "I'll let him talk to you." Michelle met her gaze, her eyes flickering as she rubbed her sweaty palms against the sides of the bed.

"Am I dying?" She blurted suddenly, her voice strangled and nervous. Her mom looked at her, appalled. Meredith reeled back in surprise.

Derek eyed Meredith with understanding and looked back at the scared patient, and his voice was gentle and kind, "No, no, you're not." Michelle visibly loosened, relaxing only slightly. "But, we have completely studied and investigated your scans, and it looks like you have a tumor located around your temporal lobe."

Michelle's mouth shut in shock, sealed, frozen. Her hands shook, she grew pale, and her BP on the monitor raised. "T-T-Tumor?" She stuttered, slurring the words as they shook deep in her throat.

Mrs. Brooks frowned, "Tumor?" She turned to Michelle, "I told you there was something wrong!"

Meredith was taken aback by her reaction. She was a mother. She gave birth to this girl, this beautiful, and- from what she could tell- kind girl, and she had a large brain tumor around the lobe of her brain that controlled her speech, something that could completely disappear at any time, and all she was concerned about what proving that she was right. Why would anyone want to be right about something like that in the first place? Meredith pursed her lips and kept her eyes on Derek.

"Michelle," He said softly. "You do have a tumor, but it's operable, and I should be able to get to it in a surgery. I do surgeries like this all the time." She didn't move, just bit her lip and nestled back into her pillow. She held her shaking hands in a prayer like position.

"Michelle?" Meredith echoed. She didn't even blink in response.

"She's clearly not interested enough in something as dangerous as a tumor to respond to you!" Her mother said, tears glistening in her eyes and her voice raising in pitch. "So you can just tell me about her options, okay?"

Meredith's eyes darted to the woman and they narrowed, "She is the patient here, not you." Derek glanced at her, his eyes a warning.

"So…" Michelle spoke again finally, and every syllable that rolled from her lips was quivering, coated with fear. "I need… surgery? Is it the only option?" She seemed to be regaining her composure, and the bed creaked and the sheets rustled as she tried to prop herself back up onto her pillow. Her feet twitched uneasily and she licked her lips.

Her mom added, "But if she needs surgery, we'll do it."

"Mom…"

"No, I just want you to be safe," Her mom said to her. Although her words weren't said warmly, her words were caring. Meredith noticed it. It reminded her of how Ellis treated her. She was rude, cold… because she just never understood. Meredith crossed her arms uneasily, feeling memories flood back slowly and dauntingly.

Derek sighed and pulled and hand through his hair, trying to get a hold of the right words to reassure this young lady. He knew it would be hard, though. He had never seen a patient this scared of…medicine and doctors in general. He wasn't very sure how to handle it. Something inside him, though… He felt different. This girl, this child, this young adult was terrified. Something inside of him took over. He was suddenly protective. One day, your child could be in this position. The words rang in his head and he swallowed.

He walked over to her bedside quietly and she looked away, biting her lip, her eyes shimmering with held back tears. He leaned down slowly and the bed creaked beneath his weight as he sat on the edge, craning his neck to look at her, his eyes soft and comforting. He said gently, "Michelle?" She didn't look at him, beyond embarrassed of her fear. He repeated, "Michelle? Look at me," She picked up a shaking finger and dragged it underneath her eye to wipe away the drip of tears that she was struggling to hide, and then looked at him, her lips trembling. "Listen, I know you're scared."

"I-…" She tried to defend herself, but her defense fell to heaps. She bit her lip again.

"I know it can be hard to admit that you're…" He took a sharp inhale. "Scared. I know that it can be hard to admit it, I know that. But you are afraid. I am good at what I do, and Michelle, surgery is the only option for you. I can tell you that, alright? But even scary…terrifying things, like this, you get through them. You do. Although you're scared now, when it's over…" He sighed and smiled softly. "…it'll be over. You have to trust us. And Dr. Grey? There's no reason to be afraid of her. She's the most…extraordinary surgeon I know. And she cares about you. So you have to trust us."

Meredith, on the other side of the room, met Michelle's gaze as she nodded through her tears.

A/N: Well, Michelle is going to impact them both as she continues her stay in the hospital. Maybe you've started to figure out how. Thanks for reading! Comments really are greatly appreciated!