The ride downstairs in her wheelchair was nothing short of embarrassing, and yet it was something she had experienced before. It wasn't like she had an option to walk out of this place though, not like she would have wanted anyway. So, with her hand on her growing bump, she let her father wheel her down to the main entrance of the hospital.
She hadn't been able to bring herself to the point of asking about her mother, having hated that she hadn't been down to see her, or even tried to talk to her. There was nothing worse than knowing that as much as your mother had said that she wanted in on your life that she couldn't accept this part of it. It was enough to send her head into a spin.
When they reached the entrance, her father had put her bag down next to her and had said something quickly about needing to answer a page, a page that she hadn't even heard.
It was only moments later that she felt a presence sitting beside her, and looked up to see that Richie had wheeled their mother down and sat her next to her.
Without saying anything, he put her bags down before moving back towards the building.
Feeling nothing but cold for the woman who apparently wanted something to do with her, but hadn't even had the courage to come see her, she used her strength, to wheel her chair forward, away from her mother.
Ellis watched with pain in her eyes but knowing that it may possibly have been a warranted move, said nothing. She couldn't blame Meredith for her own incapability's. If she had been strong enough to visit her while she was awake, she was sure things would be a lot different to what they were right now.
They both sat there in complete silence, as they watched Elizabeth pull up in Derek's car. Meredith looked at her confused when she watched Elizabeth climb out and gather both her bags and Ellis's and placed them in to the back of the car. It was slowly becoming clearer to her why her mother was also out here.
Letting out a sigh, she pushed herself up out of the chair, a little quicker than she had anticipated, and had to quickly steady herself as she experienced a head spin.
She felt her mothers eyes on her as she steadied herself, and knew that she was probably thinking that she should probably be staying in the hospital. It was bad enough that she had to spend another 2 weeks at home resting, she wouldn't have been able to handle another week at work, even if it would mean that she was closer to her friends and brothers.
Richie reappeared to help both Meredith and Ellis into the car before climbing into the back seat. Meredith was also in the back seat, and was yet to speak to either of them as she didn't like the situation she was finding herself in.
Ellis sat in the front next to Elizabeth, and everyone remained silent as she pulled the car away from the side, and headed towards the main road, their wheelchairs being left out the front of the hospital for the nurses to collect.
.... shine on.... shine on........ shine on
Elizabeth could feel the tension in the car as she cut her way through the busy traffic. She knew the drive was only a 10 minute trip at the best of times, but there was something telling her that this trip was going to take forever, and even if it didn't, it sure was going to feel like it.
She looked into the rear view mirror, her eyes settling on Meredith, her beloved daughter in law – or soon to be, so her son informed her. The one woman who had somehow captured her sons heart and opened him up to the world that surrounded him. She had always been intrigued by the woman who seemed to be a quiet force of nature. She also seemed to have had managed to keep a few secrets, hence the heart issue, but was also blessing their growing family with the little baby she had kept safe in her womb. Nothing had thrilled her more than to hear both Meredith and baby were okay and that they had both pulled through the surgery. She had hated to admit how truly scared she had been at the concept of her daughter wielding a scalpel on the woman who was very much becoming a part of their family, let alone the fact that she was pregnant with her grandchild.
Her eyes shifted away from her, and caught the troubled look on the young boy who was also sitting in the back. She couldn't imagine how difficult it must be for him, after all this time he had lived without a family, only to be put in the situation that he was now in. Surely things would be extremely different if his mother had decided to not run away from her pain in the first place.
She often wondered, as her eyes shifted to Ellis Webber, how anyone could abandon their children in the manner that Ellis Webber had. She had heard the story from Mark many years ago, had held the young man as he cried, needing the arms of a mother to soothe him. It had broken her heart then, and the story never failed to pull on her heart strings, even now with the knowing that the woman was also Meredith's mother. "If you could call her that." She thought to herself as she let out a small sigh, her eyes moving to completely focus on the road in front of her.
They were only a matter of minutes from home now and she knew that saying anything to any of them could just make an awkward situation more awkward. She had no idea why Ellis had kept it from Meredith that she had visited her during the evenings, or why Meredith blatantly refused to go visit her, even after her last surgery. It seemed that neither was going to bend, and she couldn't help but wonder whether this was the only trait Meredith had acquired from her mother, even after years of her mother being absent.
Both women had strong yet somewhat delicate facial features, of course, Ellis's looked stronger and very much worn, even though she was just a few years younger that herself. Meredith seemed very nurturing, and she couldn't say that she picked that as one of the qualities Ellis would have had when Meredith was little, hell she couldn't even tell whether Richie had ever experienced anything like that in her whole life, so she could only assume that it was a trait that she had picked up from Richard. Most of all, Elizabeth could see the way both twisted their hands, or played with their watched and rings when they were nervous or stressed, and she couldn't help but notice as she pulled up into Meredith's drive way, that it was exactly what they were doing right now.
