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Chapter 10 - New York

Ever since Carolyn Shepherd had received the call that Derek, her only son, would be coming home for a few days, her excitement levels were over the roof. She had gone overboard buying groceries, had cleaned the house and prepared dinner all before 12 am. She had organized a family weekend and called all his sisters with the exciting news. She would finally be able to meet Derek's new girlfriend, the mysterious woman who had kept him in Seattle.

Derek was driving the familiar roads of New York City, getting closer and closer to their destination. Next to him, Meredith was soundly asleep. After he had calmed her down in the parking lot she had apologized for her break down, which lead Derek to assure her that she had every right to freak out. They had stopped for dinner somewhere between Baltimore and New York. They had talked about the results and what Dr. Welch had told them. Both decided that they would withhold any decision before attending the other two appointments. An hour outside of New York Meredith had fallen asleep after an exhausting day. He knew she was having bad headaches ever since stepping off the plane, but there was nothing he could do about it. Dr. Welch had prescribed her stronger alternating pain relievers that he strongly encouraged her to use. They would fill the prescription tomorrow but Derek doubted that she would take any. He was thankful that she was getting some much-needed rest before getting sucked into the Shepherd women craziness.

They were two miles away from his mom's home when Derek had to stop at a red light. He gently woke Meredith out of her slumber, letting her know that they almost made it, giving her time to wake up a little before she would meet her fiancé's mother.

Derek pulled into the driveway of a nice looking, big family home in New York's suburbs. It was just after eleven at night on a warm June day, when they left the hospital Meredith got hit with the hot humid weather, bringing her back to her east coast days.

As soon as the tiers of their rental car hit the paved driveway the front door opened and a grey-haired woman with Derek's blue eyes stepped out of the house, a giant friendly smile lighting up her face. Derek shut down the engine taking Meredith's hand squeezing it reassuringly. He knew that she was just as nervous about the family thing as she was about her actual medical condition, which was amusing and sad at the same time. She smiled at him, signaling that she had understood his message.

Carolyn Shepherd had been looking forward to this moment ever since Derek left for Seattle. As soon as she heard a car on her driveway, she opened the front door to see her son for the first time in a year. Never had she gone so long without seeing one of her kids. When Derek announced that he wouldn't be in New York for Christmas, his sisters have been furious. She had been disappointed herself but understood that he needed the space, after everything that unraveled the previous year. Nevertheless, she missed him greatly and now he was back, even if only for a short week.

Carolyn watched as her son shut down the engine, taking his girlfriend's hand and looking at her, as to tell her that everything would be okay. The smile she sent him back was genuine and trusting, melting her inner mom-heart. She hadn't met the woman that kept Derek in Seattle yet but form their interaction she just witnessed she got a very positive feeling. Maybe Derek had finally found his real match.

Carolyn waited at the door, as Derek and Meredith collected their bags and made their way up to the house.

"Mom!" Derek hugged her tightly, "You look good."

"Derek, it's so good to see you. It's been so long." Carolyn told her son.

"Mom, this is Meredith." Derek put his arm around Meredith's waist inching her a little closer.

"Hello, Mrs. Shepherd. Very nice to meet you." Meredith told his mother, not sure what was expected of her since she had never done the parents thing.

"Hello Meredith, please dear, call me Carolyn. It's really nice to finally meet you." Carolyn hugged Meredith, surprising her. "Come in, come in. You must be tired. Derek, your old room is ready for you two if you want to go to bed and if you are hungry there is food in the fridge, just help yourself."

"Thanks, mom, but we already ate. And I am about ready for bed." Derek yawned. "You didn't have to stay up for us."

"Oh, nonsense. I am glad you are finally home." Carolyn smiled at them. They sat down in the kitchen, for a little bit, catching up and getting to know each other. Carolyn was a loving kind woman, Meredith could only imagine how it would be like to grow up in such a loving environment.

"I will be heading to bed. Derek, you know where everything is?" Carolyn asked after half an hour, getting up. Derek nodded. They bid their goodnights before Carolyn headed up to bed. Leaving Derek and Meredith alone in the kitchen.

"Do you need anything?" Derek inquired. Meredith wrapped her arms around his body laying her head down on his chest. "Just bed." She yawned.

Meredith woke up the next morning with Derek wrapped around her body. The room was lit by sunlight. The clock on the bedside table showed that it was ten a.m.. Meredith couldn't remember the last time she slept so late. Of course, there was the time difference from west to east, but even at home she barely slept until seven.

"Good morning," Derek whispered in her ear. Meredith turned around so she could look at him.

"Good morning, Der." She smiled, just when her stomach started growling, making them laugh.

"Someone is hungry. Let's change that. Shower first or later?" Derek asked.

"Shower first."

After their much-needed shower, they found themselves alone in the kitchen. Derek was making pancakes, while Meredith sat on the table talking to him.
"There is really nothing I can do?" Meredith asked

"No, my mom is really fond of her kitchen, and I don't want to be put in the position to tell her that we burned it down." Derek sarcastically said.

"I am not that bad, you let me do things at home."

"Yes, because it's your house and if you burn down your house that is your problem. But if you burn down my mom's house that is my problem." Derek laughed.

"Where is she anyway?" Meredith wanted to know, trying to change the subject.

"She is probably at the community hospital." Meredith had a confused expression on her face. So Derek cleared up. "She used to be a nurse in the Navy, and ever since my sisters' kids are older, and she has fewer grandma duties she volunteers at the hospital from time to time. Otherwise, she would be bored out of her mind."

"I can see that raising five children while being a nurse and then taking care of numerous grandchildren, I would be bored as well if I didn't have anything to do," Meredith said after a while.

They finished breakfast, cleaned the kitchen – this time Meredith was allowed to help since it didn't involve fire.

"Do we have anything planned for today?" she asked Derek as they sat down on the back patio, overlooking the big back yard.

"No, I thought we just spend some time here, have dinner with my mom. Relax a little. See if we are up to doing something." Derek told her. "I thought we could use an off day since the next two days will be spent at appointments again. And after that, we have the whole family spiel."

Meredith moaned at that thought.

Derek showed her the house and back yard telling her stories from his childhood. Around three in the afternoon, they went out to grab some late lunch. On their way back Derek pulled into the parking lot of a pharmacy.

"What are you doing?" Meredith asked.

"We are going to fill your prescriptions," Derek told her as he opened the car door.

"No, we are not. I don't need them because I am fine." Meredith protested.

"Mer, please. We both know that you are not fine. How many ibuprofen did you take today? Two?" Meredith's face gave her away. "You don't have to take them, but we should at least have them in case you need them." Derek reasoned with her.

"Fine, buy them. But I am not taking any."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn all the time? You do know, that I am trying to help you and I only can do that when you let me." Derek sighed frustrated, closing the car door a little harder than anticipated.

"Do whatever you have to do." She told him stubbornly staying in the car. She hated that she was in pain and she hated that he knew about it and wasn't taking her bullshit. But for now, she chose to be stubborn about it just to have some control.

When Derek came back her stubbornness had already subsided, feeling childish about her behavior.

"Sorry and thank you." She told him when he opened the door.

"You are very welcome. And no problem." He smiled. "Let's go back."

Carolyn had come back home from the hospital where she was volunteering, finding Meredith and Derek together in the back yard laughing and talking. Her kitchen windows overlooked the back yard, which was one of her favorite things about the house. When the kids were smaller and she had to prepare dinner, she still could glance a look at her playing youngsters or any mischief they were up to. Now she was using said window to watch Derek and Meredith. It's been years since she had seen Derek this happy. Their conversation flowed easily but keeping each other in check at the same time. Carolyn smiled to herself as she watched the pair. Derek seemed to be home at last and as much as it pained her, she knew that this home wasn't in New York anymore.

Dinner was eaten, the kitchen was cleaned and Meredith, Derek, and Carolyn occupied the living room having long meaningful conversations. Meredith really liked Derek's mom, she was so far from Ellis and what Ellis had been that it was hard to picture what it would have been like to have a mother like her.

"So what are you two going to do tomorrow?" Carolyn asked

"We are going in the city. I am going to show Meredith some of my old stomping grounds." Derek smiled at Meredith, who once again was fighting her headache and dizziness. Derek had noticed that she was moving her head more than usual. Derek moved his hand on her back, slightly massaging her neck muscles, which earned him a grateful look from Meredith.

"Have you ever been to New York?" Carolyn asked Meredith.

"I actually have. I am originally from Seattle but moved to Boston when I was five. So I've been a couple of times. But there is nothing better than seeing a new city with a local." Meredith explained Carolyn.

Carolyn kept going on about the places they should visit tomorrow, which they assured her they would visit if time would let them. Around eleven p.m. the young couple said their good nights, well knowing that they would have to get up bright and early, to make her appointment. They were lying in bed ready to go to sleep.

"I kind of feel bad for lying to her about tomorrow and the day after. You better show me one of those places she mentioned or tell me something about it because if I come home blank she will be very disappointed." Meredith stated in the silence.

"Don't feel bad. We could always tell her, but I don't think you would want that. Don't worry we will figure something out." He said holding on to her. "I love you, Mer. Sleep well."

"I love you, too." Meredith kissed Derek's lips before she closed her eyes.

The appointment the next day turned out to be a huge fail. They had made their way to Columbia early in the morning to beat the traffic. As soon as they entered the waiting room of the neurological clinic, they were met by a tone of people already waiting. After another mountain of paperwork, three trips to the cafeteria – first to get coffee, then snacks and then the almost famous suture banana to keep Meredith from going insane – and three long hours, they were finally led into a room, where again they waited another 30 minutes. Derek had successfully used his McDreamynis to charm a suture kit out of the nurses. Even Derek, who spent hours in the OR doing delicate work, was getting frustrated almost asking if he could have the other half of the banana. Just then the door opened and a second-year surgical resident entered the room, introducing himself as Dr. Tom and starting his assessment of Meredith as he referred to her. Derek was about to jump in, but Meredith stopped him.

His bedside manner was miserable, he just went over the questions he had to ask, not once acknowledging Derek's presence. When Meredith was about to tell him about the two separate MRIs and other tests, Dr. Tom had already concluded his assessment and was telling Meredith that she was probably experiencing stress-related headaches and had nothing to worry about. This is when Derek lost it. Meredith had only once ever experienced, how it was when Derek lost it with a resident. Then she had been an intern on her very first day, almost losing her patient to a grand male seizure, but this was nothing compared to it.

"No, just no. I am going to tell you what you are going to do now. You are going to find your boss and with boss, I mean boss-boss. You are going to come back with a neurosurgical attending. And then we will have a look at the two MRIs that we brought. Then we are going to see if your diagnosis of 'stress headaches' is still correct. And you better make it fast." Derek told him in a stern voice that almost made Bailey run for her money. Meredith was impressed and felt a little sorry for Dr. Tom. At that moment she decided that she would do everything in her power to never piss Derek off professionally.

Twenty minutes later Dr. Tom came back with a neurological attending but apparently, the surgeon part of his request got lost on the way.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Maria Rodrigues and I am the neurologist you asked for." A small Latina entered the room with Dr. Tom close to her feet. Derek exhaled loudly, Meredith put a calming hand on his thigh.

"Hello, Dr. Rodrigues. I'm Dr. Grey and this is my fiancé Dr. Derek Shepherd." Meredith introduced them before Derek had the chance to explode. Dr. Tom may be the biggest idiot she had ever met, but Dr. Rodrigues didn't deserve any of Derek's anger. As soon as Meredith had mentioned Derek's name, she could see that Dr. Rodrigues knew exactly who Derek was, Dr. Tom was still clueless.

"Dr. Shepherd, very nice to meet you." She told him. "You too, Dr. Grey. What can I do for you today?"

"Dr. Tom already wrote down all my symptoms in the chart, he was about to diagnose me with headaches related to stress. We would like to show you my MRIs and maybe he would like to rethink his diagnosis." Meredith said calmly, certain professionalism in her voice that made sure there was no messing around. Derek recognized that tone from Ellis, she had talked to him the same way when she had been lucid. "And then I think you should page a neurosurgeon because we came here most likely for a surgical consult." She continued.

Derek had pulled up the scans on his laptop and gave the laptop to the doctors in the room. Dr. Rodrigues was about to say what she saw when Derek stopped her.

"What do we have, Dr. Tom?" Derek asked in the same voice he used on rounds, making Meredith grin.

Dr. Tom was intensely studying the scans but didn't have an answer to Derek's question. Meredith could see annoyance on his face that a patient was treating him that way. After fifteen minutes, he had finally figured out that Meredith had Chiari. Just as Dr. Tom had proudly declared his diagnosis, the door opened again and another doctor entered the room. The man was about sixty years old had gray almost white hair and a big mustache.

"I've been paged. I'm Dr. Hubert. I am the head of neurosurgery, what can I do for you?" He looked around the room, taking in the scene. As soon as he spotted Derek he got more confused. "Dr. Shepherd, what are you doing here? I thought you moved to Seattle."

"I did. Right now I am teaching your resident, I hope you don't mind." Derek replied, more and more enjoying what was happening. When he had his private practice he sometimes operated in this hospital, having to coordinate his schedule with Dr. Hubert.

"Now, I am intrigued. Go ahead." Dr. Hubert told Derek.

"Is this your final diagnosis? What would be the treatment options for this particular case?" Derek put Dr. Tom right on the spot. Meredith was enjoying this more than she thought she would, maybe because they weren't really talking about her, yet.

"This is definitely Chiari malformation. I am 95% sure. I would recommend treatment with pain relievers and three-month monitoring to see the process." Dr. Tom finished.

Meredith couldn't hold it back any longer. "God, how did you pass your intern exam, not to mention the neurosurgery part?!" She stood up, walking over to the screen, showing him. "Yes, this is Chiari, congratulations you got one right. But here..." she moved the mouse over the screen up her spinal cord pausing on the larger cyst. " is a pretty noticeable syrinx." She moved it up to just at the beginning of her neck " and here is another one. I'll give that to you, it is barely noticeable but still. Which means syringomyelia. As for treatment, considering that I told you all my symptoms over an hour ago, which included tingling and numbness in my feet, and that I am already ineffectually treating the pain with pain relievers. I also told you that I am a surgical resident and the fact that we paged surgery here, you should at least have mentioned a surgical approach. As for me, you are off my case. You can stay an learn, but don't you dare say anything." Meredith finished her rant, sitting back down, feeling incredibly accomplished.

The rest of the appointment everyone had been really accommodating, trying to make up for their previous mistakes. In the end, the recommendations had been the same, even though they would like to drain the larger cyst, which both Derek and Meredith felt was surgical unnecessary at this time and place. They had spent almost 8 hours at Columbia mostly waiting to be seen, both were exhausted. They had some food and drove back to his mother's house, just to see another car in the driveway. Which made both of them sigh.

Additionally, to her already existing Chiari-headache, Meredith had developed a buzzing hospital headache. All she wanted to do is take one of those prescribed painkillers and sleep. The last thing she wanted to do is deal with any more family members. Derek could feel her distress and emotion when he looked at her, tears were shining in her eyes.

He successfully managed to maneuver her up to their bedroom without running into someone. He got her settled into bed. The moment she took the prescribed medication without any fight, it broke his heart to know in how much pain she must have been.

2/16/19

We are in the double digits. I had a little too much fun writing the appointment at Columbia, I got a little carried away.

Thank you again, for all of you people reading my story. I am still blown away, that people are actually reading my little work of fiction. So thank you I appreciate every single one of you. I also love to read what you think, so keep the reviews coming. Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas let me know, I'll try to work them in whenever possible. Follow for more.

Have a great weekend. =)