Chapter 11

"She won't let you see her?" Addison looked down at Derek with her hands on her hips.

He looked up at her from his seated position on the cold linoleum floor. "She'll let me come in the room, and I talk and I talk, but she won't talk back. Not a word, Addison."

She sighed and plopped down beside him. "Well, she's been through a lot. Not just the mugging, but you know, everything." She took in a deep breath and let it out. "Don't give up on her, Derek."

"Ha!" He let out a little laugh and used one hand to push himself up to a standing position. "I'm not worried about me giving up, Ad."

A blonde nurse in pink scrubs timidly approached them with a folder in her hand. She reached it out to him and said quietly. "Her latest films, Dr. Shepherd."

He looked down at them for a moment before cautiously reaching out for them. "Thank you Candace." He nodded at her and opened the folder slowly. "I should look over these," he said, looking at Addsion, who stood up after him.

"Sure, of course. I have a c-section in 20 minutes anyway." She began to walk away, but turned back around to face him after only a couple of loud high-heeled steps. "But Derek…. Promise me something?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me if you need anything, and….take a shower."

He allowed a slight smirk to form on his face. "Okay, fine." As she disappeared down the hallway, he looked down at the documents in his hands and studied them for a couple of minutes, his brows furrowed in concentration. After seeing all of them, he let out a long breath that he didn't know he'd been holding and closed the folder, then he turned and placed his hand on the doorknob in front of him. He hesitated, then turned it and slowly pushed the door open. As he walked in, she turned her attention to him, but she still greeted him with the same blank stare she'd been giving him every time she'd seen him in the past twenty-four hours.

"How is your head? Any pain?" He looked at her intently, yet not really expecting an answer. She blinked a couple times and shrugged. "Okay. Good? I guess…" he trailed off as he walked over to sit down in the chair beside her bed. "Your swelling's gone down considerably." He paused and looked up as he ran both of his hands through his hair. Meredith's heart nearly skipped a beat and she smiled slightly, but quickly covered it up as he looked back down at her. "But there's still a lot more bleeding than I'd prefer. So… Webber and the neuro resident on call will likely have to go in and cauterize the bleeders."

She was caught off-guard. "Weber?" She questioned, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"You can speak..that's good. Yeah. Webber. He says I'm too emotionally involved and all that jazz, so he won't let me near you in an OR…"

"Well, you should do it Derek. You're not too emotionally involved. Not anymore." She looked into his eyes for the first time since their apparent "breakup" two days ago.

"But Meredith…" he placed his hand over hers, being careful not to disturb her IV line. "I still am."

She quickly pulled her hand away and rolled over to face the wall on the other side of her bed. "You shouldn't be," she said quietly. He knew this conversation was over for now, so he got up and started out the door. As the light from the hallway flooded in, he heard her tiny voice again. "Derek?"

He turned around to face her. "Yeah?"

"If anybody's going to cut my head open, it better be you, so tell the chief there's not attachment…no reason you shouldn't be doing this surgery."

"Yeah. Okay." He turned around and shut the door behind him, the loud slam reverberating down the hallway much louder than he'd intended. As several doctors and nurses stopped what they were doing to look over at him, he raised his hands in defense. "Sorry," he mumbled, and walked down the hall towards Richard Webber's office.


"Meredith!" He whispered loudly. She rolled over and groaned painfully, but didn't awaken. He rolled his eyes and gently nudged her in the arm with his elbow. "Meredith!" he said louder.

She snapped her head in his direction and opened her eyes. Her right one was still nearly swollen shut. "What do you want, George?" she said hastily.

He grinned and handed her an icepack. "Put this on your eye."

"George O'Malley, if you woke me up to hand me an icepack….."

"That's just a little bonus."

"Shouldn't you be working?"

"I'm one of Bailey's interns again, and well, I'm her favorite you know."

"Oh, I see…she sent you to make sure Meredith Grey isn't circling the drain, right?"

"Actually, she said to get out of her face while she tried to teach the new interns a bunch of stuff I already know. I'm supposedly doing that 'most promising intern appendectomy' right now." He grinned and shrugged. "No appendicitis today, so I'm here to entertain you." He motioned to the wheelchair positioned by the door. "Your chariot awaits."

She moaned. "No offense, George, but I really don't feel like being wheeled around the hospital while the rumor mill runs rampant and everyone whispers about 'poor Meredith Grey'."

"But we were gonna go do that thing we used to do!" He whined like a three-year old and stomped one foot .

Meredith laughed at his antics, despite the fact that she had no idea what he was talking about. "What thing, George?" she giggled.

He groaned and sat down on her bed, placing his hands on either side of her. He leaned in towards her face and whispered, "You know…. That thing."

She stared him with a puzzled look on her face for a few more seconds before the light bulb in her head went off and she nodded knowingly. "Oh…that thing. Sorry George, but I'm not up to it."

"C'mon Mer. I know what you need."

"George…I really thought that last time was the last time…"

"Well, I'm going to do that thing, and you can come with me, or you can lie here and be miserable. Your choice."

"Fine. Help me get in that stupid chair on wheels, then." She reached out her arm that wasn't in a sling, doing her best 'damsel in distress' impression. George laughed silently to himself. Her impression wasn't nearly as convincing as the real thing, but things were so much better when it was just a silly impression.

He rolled the chair over to the side of her bed and let the railing down on that side. He then wrapped one arm around the small of her back and used his other hand to pull her legs over to the side of the bed so that she was in a seated position. "Try not to put any weight on that ankle, or you'll regret it," he said as he began to raise her up in order to ease her into the wheelchair.


The trip to the labor and delivery floor was relatively uneventful, and soon they were standing with only a thick pane of glass between them and seven healthy newborns. He had his arms wrapped around her, gently enough that he wasn't disturbing her broken ribs much, but securely enough that he was supporting much of her weight. She leaned against him and nuzzled her head against hid neck. "Thank you, George," she whispered.

"Nothing like a baby to lift the spirits, huh?" Izzie said cheerfully. She'd seen them from down the hallway and quickly joined them, placing one hand on Meredith's arm, and her head on her shoulder.