Hey guys,
Thanks for the reviews and here's chapter 7!
Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU or any of it's characters, however Meredith is mine, nor am I making any profit from this work.
Enjoy and please review!
For the most part Meredith slept through the rest of the night and only woke once after having a nightmare. She hadn't said much after waking, and had taken no time in cuddling back against Amanda who simply comforted her daughter as needed.
It was a little before 8 that morning when she woke and at the sight of the bright light that was filling the room she gave a sigh and squeezed her eyes shut causing Amanda to give a small chuckle.
"How are you feeling?" She then asked after they'd sat in silence for a while.
"Okay I guess. I mean, I'll live." Meredith spoke softly and pulled herself into a sitting position, wincing as she did so.
Amanda's phone dinged then as a text came through and she read it quickly before looking at Meredith who rolled her eyes.
"Liv wants me to ring her. I'll be back soon. Do you need anything?" She gave her a smile and her daughter returned it before speaking.
"Coffee?"
Amanda smirked, "I'll see what I can do." As she went to turn around she then saw her daughters face fall and noticed her rubbing at her eyes. "You sure you're okay?" She checked, taking a step back towards the bed.
"Mmmhmm." Was all Meredith got out.
"Mere..."
"I've got a headache okay, I'm fine." She finally snapped, leaning back against the pillow and shutting her eyes.
"I'll find a doctor to come see you." Amanda murmured before heading out the door, closing the door softly behind her.
The waiting room was relatively busy for so early in the morning and she moved towards the receptionists desk, where she saw a group of doctors standing. Her phone dinged again and she pulled it out of her pocket. This time was the text from Nick, saying he had to drop past work before coming to the hospital. She sent him a quick reply, saying she needed to talk to Liv first anyway and then continued towards the doctors.
One of them saw her approaching and gave a smile. "Can I help you?" He asked and Amanda returned the smile.
"My daughter, she's in room 113. She's got a real bad headache and is in quite a bit of pain. I was wondering if one of you could go check on her?"
"Sure thing, just let me find her chart. Cathy, can you go sort that kid that came in with a nose bleed?" He asked one of his fellow colleagues as he made his way round the side of the desk and rummaged through a few folders. "Ah here it is. Meredith is it?" He muttered as he pulled out her one and at her nod he gave Amanda another cheery smile.
"Great I'll head over there." He told her and she nodded.
"I just gotta make a phone call then I'll be right there." She watched him walk over to the room where her daughter was and moved over to a quieter part of one of hallways.
She unlocked her phone before finding Liv in her contacts and hitting the call button. She held it to her ear as she leant against the wall.
"Detective Benson." The woman answered on the other side
"Hey, it's Amanda"
"Oh right. How's Meredith this morning?" She asked
"She woke up with a headache not too long ago and had a bit of a snap at me. She's putting on a smile for the most part though, I think she might just be doing it for me. She did have a good cry last night, I just want to catch the bloody asshole who did this." Amanda said, finally finding the anger boiling inside her.
"We will Amanda." Liv reassured before carrying on. "Nick and I were planning on coming by to get her statement soon if that still suits?"
"Actually I think they'll be discharging her soon and I think she just wants to go home. If you could come by our apartment that would be perfect."
"Yeah that's fine. We'll come by at 1?" Liv checked and Amanda gave a small smile.
"That's great. See you then." Amanda thanked her and the two said goodbye before Amanda hung up. She gave a sigh before pocketing her phone and moving further down the hall to where the coffee machine was.
She grabbed two, one for her and one for Meredith before hurrying back down to her daughters room.
Hearing laughter from inside, she paused curiously before she managed to open the door and the sight in front of her put a smile on her face.
The doctor who'd gone over to check on Meredith was juggling with apples. He stopped when Amanda entered and gave her another smile.
"Headache gone then?" Amanda asked her daughter who grinned.
"Just about."
"I'll go sort the paper work for your discharge" He said, placing two of the apples back where he'd gotten them from and taking a bite out of the third
"Nick and Liv are going to come by our place later on, to take your statement ." Meredith's smile disappeared, and she saw the doctor make his way towards the door with a wave at the teenager.
"That means I have to tell them what happened right?" She questioned and Amanda gave a small nod.
"I'll be with you the whole time." She told her, trying to reassure her but the teenager simply shook her head.
"No." After she'd blurted it out she went red. "That's not what I meant. I just don't want you to have to, ya know..." She trailed off.
Amanda looked at the ground but forced herself to reply. "Of course hon. I mean, I get it."
Meredith went silent and then gave a small smile after a moment, "is that coffee I spy?"
Her mother gave her a smile before handing it to her and sat down as Meredith took a sip.
The two sat in a comfortable quietness before Amanda broke the silence a while later. "You know that you can talk to me, about anything. Right?" She asked, watching her daughter carefully.
The teenager gave a shrug to start with. "Yeah mom." Was all she said and Amanda bit her lip at the fact that it seemed like her daughter was beginning to shut her out.
The two fell back into silence until the same doctor as before knocked and entered the room. He pulled a chair up next to Amanda before opening a file and pulling out a few sheets that Amanda needed to sign before Meredith was free to go.
"Also here's a prescription for panadeine - for any pain you may have in the next few days. You'll also have to come back in 7 days to have those stitches in your arm out and I will change that bandage on your head before you leave as well." He told the two of them as Amanda finished signing the last page and the two swapped, a pen for the prescription.
"Mom I don't have anything to wear." Meredith suddenly said and Amanda looked up at her.
"Oh. Don't worry, I think I have something in the car." She gave her daughter a smile to which Meredith forced herself to return.
"Well you can go grab it now if you want, I can sort Meredith out and you'll be ready to go." The doctor offered and Meredith simply stared at Amanda until she gave in and stood.
"Okay, okay I'm going." She said reluctantly and then made her way toward the door, throwing her empty coffee cup into the rubbish bin on the way out. Once outside she let out a long breath and ran a hand through her hair before heading towards the door into the chilly Fall weather that the end of September brought.
"How are you feeling now?" The doctor who had since introduced himself as Dr. Foster asked as he pulled on a pair of gloves and moved closer to the bed.
Meredith flinched as he raised is hand to pull of the chunky white bandage that had put on her the night before and he gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah I'm fine." She muttered after looking away, wincing slightly as he pulled it off.
"Is it going to scar?" He was just about to place the smaller bandage on it when she asked the question and he paused.
"I don't think so. If it does, it won't be very noticeable." Meredith nodded.
"I can deal with that I guess." She gave a light laugh before looking down and he carried on with what he was doing.
"You seem close with your mom?" His question was out of the blue and surprised Meredith who mumbled something incoherent under her breath before getting something out.
"It's always just been me and her so yeah, we're pretty close. I mean we have our differences but I know she loves me."
He nodded and gave her a small smile. "You're a good kid, you'll get through this, no matter how hard it seems at times." Pulling off his gloves Meredith didn't get a chance to respond as Amanda came back through the door, clothing in hand.
"Here you go hon." She said passing it to the teenager who gave a shrug and thanked her, glancing over what she'd been given.
There were a pair of sweats and an old Atlanta PD sweater of Amanda's. It was then that Meredith realized she hadn't yet had a shower and she felt bile rise in her throat at the thought of the mans hands on her body, tracing her curves.
Pulling herself out from under the blanket she dragged herself off the bed and stumbled for the adjoining bathroom. Amanda was right behind her and holding her daughters hair and rubbing comforting circles on her back as she threw up into the toilet.
"Ugh." Was all she mumbled when she finished, rubbing a hand over her mouth roughly before reaching up and flushing the toilet.
"Let's get you home, huh?" Amanda said quietly and Meredith nodded and pulled herself up into a standing position. Leaning against her mother she made her way back over to the bed and noticed that Dr. Foster had left in the mean time. As Amanda helped her daughter get changed, she found herself trying to avoid the bruises that were scattered across her body. Meredith must have noticed at some point as it was then that she pulled away to look at her seriously, "I'm okay mom, I mean, I'm going to be okay. I might look broken but it takes more than some asshole to take me down."
"I love you so much." Was all Amanda got out, tears threatening to spill.
"I love you too Mom." She replied, tucking her hands into the sleeves of the sweater before continuing, "Let's just go, please? I hate hospitals." Amanda gave a small laugh before pulling her daughter into a gentle hug.
xo
The drive home was quiet, with the low hum of the radio filling the silence. Meredith had her knees pulled into her chest and as Amanda looked over at her daughter every couple of minutes, she noticed how tiny she looked.
"I don't know why I didn't want to come here." Meredith said suddenly and Amanda glanced at her. "I mean, I do. But I also don't. I guess I didn't know what I was going to miss, and that scared me."
Amanda nodded, "That makes sense, I get that. I was scared to. I didn't know what to expect either."
"Why'd we come here? I know it wasn't for the change in scenery." Meredith gave a laugh. "Not much different. Tall buildings... People... More buildings..."
"It's complicated."
"No." Meredith looked at her mother then, "I don't think it is."
The harsh look in her eye softened then as she saw Amanda swallow nervously.
"I was trying to protect you, it apparently didn't do so good." She said, gripping the steering wheel tightly as she stopped at a red light.
"I really don't get you sometimes." Meredith replied before resuming looking out the window and upon hearing her mother sigh, raised an eyebrow. "You shouldn't be scared to tell me though, ya know the truth? I may be naive but I'm not stupid."
"Maybe one day." Meredith rolled her eyes.
"Maybe never." The teenager retorted with a snort, reaching to unbuckle her seat belt as Amanda pulled into a free parking spot near their apartment building. She swung open the door and jumped out, wincing as she did so having forgotten the pain that she was really in.
"You okay?" Amanda asked, as she rounded the hood after locking the car and Meredith nodded.
"Yeah." She muttered back, trying to ignore the concern in her mothers voice and the two hurried toward their building in silence, Meredith simply glad they were home.
Frannie greeted them excitedly on their arrival and before Amanda had a chance to say a word to Meredith the girl had disappeared in the direction of their bathroom. Deciding on giving her daughter her space she picked up Frannie's lead, and made her way back out of the apartment to take the dog for a quick walk.
Next chapter will be up in a couple of days, so prepare yourselves for a big Meredith and Olivia scene :)
Let me know what you think and the more reviews the faster I write and upload!
I also had an idea to start a prequel kind of thing for this - Like Amanda and Meredith when they were in Atlanta? Thought that might be a good way to address issues such as Mere's dad, Amanda's parents and the whole 'Thing that happened in Atlanta'. Let me know if you're keen and I can start writing. :)
Thanks,
Liv
