"Holy crap!" Jackson exclaimed as he saw the flame.
"We need to get to the hospital," Richard said as he grabbed his coat.
"Richard! You're not supposed to be going to work." Adele walked in, only then noticing the scene through the doorway. "What's going on?"
"A plane crashed," Meredith said. "We'll need him Adele. We'll still make sure he doesn't get to much stress, but we need him."
Adele hesitated before agreeing with letting him go.
The three surgeons jumped into Jackson's car and headed straight for the hospital. They needed to pass close to the scene to get to there, and Meredith couldn't handle it. She clutched her stomach and closed her eyes. The people on the side of the road screaming were enough for her to handle.
When finally they made it to the hospital, it was chaos. Almost as much as it had been at the ferry crash. But this time, Meredith knew nothing would happen to her.
They ran to the pit, where bodies, dead and alive, were coming in ten a minute. Ambulances were traveling back and forth between the scene and the hospital, them not being too far apart, the traveling went by fairly fast.
Meredith and Jackson noticed a group of residents assembled, jobs being distributed so that there wasn't too much chaos.
"We want some of you to head over to the clinic, it being used as an overflow. Please make sure that if you find a patient that is very seriously injured that they be sent in here directly." Bailey had taken charge and the residents all seemed to follow the instructions as some headed to help the patients who had just entered and others made their way towards the clinic.
Meredith decided she'd head over to the clinic, it probably being the calmest spot in the entire hospital right now. She found a patient who didn't seem too injured and decided she'd start off with that.
"Hello sir," she said. "Where does it hurt?"
He shook his head. "Don't worry about me. There are others who are worse off than me. I tried my best to keep the plane in the air, but sometimes things just happen." He started weeping. Meredith understood that he was the pilot. "I didn't want to hurt anybody. I landed the plane in a field, but it didn't seem to help my passengers. Please help them."
Meredith nodded as she saw he wasn't near death. She took his advice and decided she'd find someone who was more hurt. It was then that she heard someone scream.
"Please! Someone!"
She ran over to where she found a woman laying on her side. When she rolled her over, she noticed the piece of fiber glass from the shell of the plane stabbed into her side.
"Okay mam, I need you to stay calm." Meredith tried controlling the patient, but it was then she noticed the bump on her stomach. She stopped.
"My son! It's hurting him!"
Her patient was pregnant. She looked to be about five months along. Meredith turned white and tried controlling the bleeding, but she started to feel light headed. She knew she couldn't do this. She couldn't handle this. And that's when she felt the weight give out from under her.
Jackson was wrapping a patient's leg with gauze when he heard Meredith trying to calm her patient just two beds down. He looked over and he saw the color drain from her face as the patient exclaimed about something hurting her son.
The next thing he knew, he was on his feet about to help Meredith when he actually ended up catching his sister as she fell over.
"Meredith! Wake up!"
That's when he heard Richard's voice behind him.
"I'll take her. I haven't been cleared for surgery so at least I'll be able to help somehow."
"Thanks."
Richard carried her out as Jackson turned to face the patient who seemed to have calmed down due to the scene that had happened in front of her.
"I need to know any medical conditions or problems you are going through at this moment. We don't have time for an entire history." Jackson had focused back on work, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to completely clear Meredith out of his mind.
"I'm pregnant," she answered. Jackson immediately caught on. So did she by the expression on his face. "That's the reason that doctor reacted, right?"
Jackson looked her in the eye before answering.
"I'm not supposed to reveal that kind of information…" He paused and then continued, but in a whisper. "It hit her hard. She had problems yesterday that could have resulted in her losing her baby."
The patient nodded her head.
"But we're not going to let that happen, to either of you."
Derek was panicking. This was too much. So many people, so little survivors. He didn't know how to handle it all. He needed help from someone who knew how to handle this. He needed Richard.
He knew that Richard would not be able to be cleared for surgery, the hospital would never allow it, but he needed everyone's help. Richard could help him with this surely.
Since he was near his office, he decided he'd check for him there before trying to page him.
When he reached Richard's office, he noticed the door was open. He walked in, and noticed that Richard wasn't there. But Meredith was.
"Meredith? What's wrong?"
She was really pale, and her forehead was soaked, but it didn't look like sweat.
"Nothing. I just… fainted," she admitted.
"Mer, you need to sit this one out. This amount of stress will affect the baby. Please, don't put yourself through this."
She nodded as he headed back for the door.
"I wish I could stay here by your side, but –"
"But you have people to take care of," she cut him off. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"Okay, and if you see Richard, tell him I'm looking for him."
"Sure, now go! It's a beautiful night to save lives."She smiled as he blew her a kiss and ran off.
It was early the next morning when things started to calm down a little. There were still some patients left that needed surgery, but the worst of it was over. After Derek had found Richard, he got a few surgeries done while Richard controlled the situation, considering he wouldn't be able to perform his own surgeries. At least it made him feel like he was doing something.
Meredith had fallen asleep on the couch in Richard's office and he knew that she needed the sleep. Things had just been so crazy these last few days that he was surprised she was still standing. He didn't know if he would have survived it. But he knew Meredith was strong, that nothing could break her for good.
It was close to six o'clock when he noticed her stretching out of sleep.
"Good morning sleepy," he said with a laugh. "How was the couch?"
She grunted. "Stiff."
Richard laughed. "Not as nice as the one in the chief's office, huh?"
She sat up. "Not even close. What happened after I fell asleep?"
"Other than chaos, not much. Lots of deaths, not enough survivors."
Meredith was afraid to ask, but she felt like she needed to know.
"What about the patient, the one I was with before…"
Richard smiled. "Jackson took over after I brought you here. Both the patient and her baby survived."
Meredith nodded. "Good."
There was silence before Richard started on a new subject.
"I'm worried about you," he said as he came and sat beside her. "When Addie gets back next week, I want you in to see her because of everything that has happened. I want to make sure you and the baby are really okay."
"I'll make an appointment right away, dad."
Richard smiled a huge grin at her last word.
"I'm really glad you've given me a chance Meredith. This time last year, you wouldn't even look at me. Look at us now."
"Well, you've got a son to catch up with, and I know for a fact that Adele is grateful to finally see you as a father, all things considered. Now you have two of us to keep your hands full." She smirked as she reached over and gave him a hug.
"I guess I'll just have to deal with it. But it's worth it."
After Lexie got out of her surgery, she realized just how fast things could happen. Her patient didn't make it. This morning, he got up, packed his bags and got on the plane, probably not for the first time. He probably didn't even think about the chances of it crashing, let alone it taking his life. But it did. And he didn't even get the chance to live his life. He was only in his early twenties, close to her age, and he hadn't lived his life to the fullest. Now he never would.
She knew what she had to do. She needed to find Mark. She needed to tell him just how much she loved him, just how much he meant to her.
She walked by the board and noticed he wasn't in surgery. As she turned around, she came face to face with the exact person she was looking for.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and didn't let go until Mark finally spoke up.
"What's wrong?"
She pulled away and Mark noticed the tears in her eyes. He wiped them away before they had a chance to fall.
"Mark, I see people come in here every day who die unexpectedly. My mom died from the hiccups. And I just realized that I need you to know that I love you, with all my heart, and I don't want to die without you knowing that."
Mark was shocked by her sudden outburst. "I love you too, more than you can even imagine, and I don't want you to die period." He smiled as she wrapped her arms around him again.
"I need you," she whispered in his ear.
"I need you too," he said as he pushed her into the nearest on-call room.
Meredith had gotten up after having talked to Richard and headed out to see where she could help. She needed to go back to being a doctor since in the last few days, she hadn't done a whole lot. She ran into Cristina who had just gotten out of a surgery.
"Where have you been?" Cristina asked as she approached Meredith.
"I fainted last night, Richard brought me to his office and Derek told me to sit this one out. But I'm good now and I'm going to see where I can help."
Cristina smirked. "I wish I had been as lucky as you when I was pregnant."
"Lucky?" With everything Meredith had gone through in the last few days, she didn't know how Cristina could have possibly called her lucky.
"Yeah, you've got a bunch of people worried about you, and everyone is there for you."
"Cris, you didn't tell anyone until after the fact. You would have had the same treatment."
"But that's it Meredith. You got it at the perfect timing. You knew what you wanted, and everything was on track. I was an intern sleeping with an attending whom I wasn't supposed to be with and had a resident who would have killed me if she found out."
"True, but she didn't find out until after she had completely tortured Derek and me. And you should have seen her when you were being operated on. She wouldn't leave your side."
Cristina nodded.
"I guess we both have pretty screwed up lives."
"Always have, always will."
It was exactly a week since her first arrival when Addison walked back into Seattle Grace hospital. She had heard about the plane crash, but she knew that everything had been taken care of before she got there. She knew that things had gone back to normal and that everything was okay between Meredith and Derek. But she was shocked when the first people she ran into when walking into the hospital were Meredith and Jackson, laughing as they walked out the main entrance way.
"Addison! You're back!" Meredith exclaimed as she saw her walk in through the doors.
"Yes, for good this time. It looks like you're back to normal since the last time I talked to you."
Meredith nodded, but made sure she mentioned Richard's demands.
"Richard wants me to get checked out anyway, because of everything that has happened. He says he wants to make sure his daughter and grandchild are perfectly fine."
"He's very protective. I'll book you an appointment for this afternoon." She then looked over towards Jackson and back at Meredith. "I take it the cat's out of the bag?"
Meredith looked at her funny, and then understood.
"No, not really. The only people who seem to know are the ones we intended on telling, plus a few extras due to everything that happened."
Addison looked confused.
"How much of what happened last week do you actually know about?" Meredith thought Addie knew the entire story, but by the looks she had been giving Jackson when they talked about the baby told Meredith that she didn't know the entire truth.
"There's more than what Derek did?"
Meredith laughed. "Oh, there's much more. Like how Richard had a heart attack when he found out he had a son he never knew about, with Ellis." She pointed to Jackson. "And how I found out I have a half-brother."
Addison's eyes grew three times bigger.
"I think we should probably do that check up now."
Meredith nodded and followed Addie up to the maternity ward after telling Jackson she'd catch a ride home with Derek later on.
Lexie and Mark's relationship grew stronger and stronger as the days went by. Every time he'd run into her in the hallway, he could feel his heart race. He smiled at the mention of her name and he kissed her every possible chance he had.
Lexie, on her side, felt like he was a whole new person. And she loved him even more than she had before because of it. He started acting like the family type guy more than as the man whore. He wanted a family, with her, but she wasn't sure if she was quite ready for that just yet.
Mark had been searching for Lexie when he bumped into someone. It was only when he saw how it was that his expression went from smiley, to downright afraid.
"Hello there Dr Sloan," she said.
"Rose," he nodded back.
"You don't happen to know where the chief is do you?"
Mark shook his head. "Even if I did, why would I tell you?"
She shrugged. "Because, he still loves me, he just can't admit to it because he's married to the wrong person, again."
Mark's eyes were throwing daggers at her now. "You're wrong. Meredith is everything to him, and you'll never hurt that."
"We'll see," she whispered as she walked down the hall.
Addison, followed by Meredith, headed down the hall towards Derek's office.
"I thought we were going to go do my checkup?" Meredith asked, a little confused.
"Oh, we are. I just need to let the chief know I'm here and get my name tag and pager. Besides, you should ask him if he'd like to join. He did help get you in this situation, him getting you pregnant and causing you all this stress."
"Maybe," Meredith replied with a shrug followed by a giggle.
As they crossed the bridge, they saw a raging Mark through Derek's office window. Addie looked over to Meredith, who had also seen the scene, and she shrugged, not knowing what could have gotten him so mad.
When they got closer, the two women could hear him scream.
"Fire her! Kick her ass out of this hospital!"
"I wonder who he's talking about," Meredith said as they reached the door.
"Hopefully not me," Addie replied with a laugh. When she knocked, Mark stopped his yelling and opened the door.
"What's up with all the yelling?" Addie asked. The two men looked at her, than at Meredith and back at her.
"I don't think this is the best time to tell you," Mark answered as he looked back to Meredith. When he saw her expression, he had guessed that she had caught on.
"I know what this is about," she answered. "It's Rose, isn't it?"
Derek got up from his seat and took both of her hands in his.
"Meredith, don't worry about her. She can't do anything to us. There's no way she'll ever get me away from you."
Meredith nodded into his chest as he pulled her into his arms. When finally she pulled away, Derek looked back up at Addie, Mark having already left.
"You're back!" He gave her a friendly hug and went to his desk to grab her name tag, her scrubs and a brand new pager. "I believe this is all yours." He then reached into his pocket. "And a key to your new office to top it all off."
"Thank you," she answered as she looked at Meredith. "Now I think Meredith wanted to ask you something."
Meredith looked into Derek's eyes. "I'm going in for a checkup. How would you like to see our baby?"
Derek's eyes brightened and they sparkled as he gave her a McDreamy smile. "I would love to," he said as he grabbed her hand and the three of them left his office.
Jackson was heading over to visit Richard when his phone rang. It was Izzie.
"Hello there," he said as he answered.
"Hey! I was just wondering, since you had the day off, if you'd like to come out to the Inn with me? I'm going over to start the decorating." The wedding was still on. Jackson still didn't know if he completely trusted Derek again, but he knew that Meredith and him were back to normal again and that last week's ordeal had been put to the back of their minds.
"I'm headed over to check up on Richard, but I'll out there right after."
"Perfect! Okay then, see you soon."
He hung up just as he pulled into the driveway. He walked up the stairs to the porch and didn't bother knocking as he entered. He had been here so many times in the past week, Adele had told him to just come right in.
"Hello?" he called as he walked in.
"In the kitchen," he heard Richard answer.
He walked through the house and into the kitchen where he spotted Richard sitting at the small table in the corner of the room, sipping his morning coffee and reading the paper. When he saw the young man walk in, he put the paper down and invited him to come and sit with him.
"So how's everything at the hospital?" Richard hadn't heard much since the day after the plane crash. He decided not to preoccupy his mind with work so he hadn't asked much about it when Jackson came to visit, but he was due to be back the next day so he needed to catch up on the drama.
"Same old, same old," he replied with a shrug. He then remembered his encounter that morning. "Oh, and Dr Montgomery has arrived."
Richard smiled. "Good. And you don't happen to know by chance if Meredith booked an appointment with her?"
"Actually, if it weren't for that, she'd be with me right now. She was planning on coming to visit too, but I think she's going to come by later."
Richard nodded. "So how are things with Yang?"
Jackson couldn't help but smile. Things with Cristina were … perfect. Well, as close to perfect as possible for them.
"They're going great," he answered.
"We'll have to invite her over for dinner some time." Richard then thought about it. "Scratch that. It would probably be very awkward for her to eat at one of her bosses homes."
Jackson laughed. "She lives with the chief, I think she can handle it."
Richard shook his head. "Yeah but that's different. He's her person's family. She's gotten to know him."
"Well, you're her person and her boyfriend's family. And she will get to know you."
Callie was headed towards her patients room when she spotted Cristina…smiling? Nah, can't be, she thought. But when the resident came into view, Callie had to admit that there was definitely a smile on her lips.
"Cristina, what's got you all smiley?"
Cristina looked at her former neighbor, shook the smile off her face, then replied.
"Nothing, why do you ask?"
Callie shook her head and smiled.
"It's Avery, isn't it? I've seen you two around here. You're in love with him!"
Cristina tried hiding her smile, but was unsuccessful.
"We're just friends. Besides, he's Mer's brother which practically makes him my brother."
"Cristina's in love, Cristina's in love…" she chanted as she continued her way down the hall.
She laughed at the sound of Cristina's protests, but soon realized that her friend way actually be falling in love. I wonder how Owen will handle this…
Meredith knew Cristina wasn't telling her something. She had been different in the last little while. She didn't complain as much and smiled more often. Only one thing did this to her. A guy.
She thought about it, but shook the idea from her head. I must be imagining things. She would have told me, right? But something was telling her that her person hadn't told her what had changed her mood in the past week.
She pushed the idea to the back of her head when she noticed the tears streaming down her husband's face. They had gone up for their baby's check up and it had now been a little while since they were back in his office. He was planning on finishing up some paperwork and then the two of them had planned to head over to visit Richard and Adele, but things had changed since they made their initial plans. Meredith decided she'd just sit in his office and wait until he was done, trying to relax a little bit, since she was supposed to be off anyway, but was unsuccessful.
"Derek, what's wrong?" she asked, already knowing what his answer was going to be.
He looked up at her from his spot behind his desk. The blinds were already closed, so he didn't need to think about his actions going public. He got up from his chair and headed over to where Meredith was sitting, propped up against the arm rest.
He slid her shirt up her stomach, revealing the beautiful skin that had not yet formed a bump. But he knew his child was growing in there, and the thought just pushed him over the edge. He kissed the skin very lightly and looked up into Meredith's eyes.
"I did this to you. I hurt you, and now it's hurting our baby."
Derek was thinking about what Addie had said when they were at their check-up.
"I know that this may be tough to understand, but with the signs I'm getting from your blood pressure and your heart rates and many other things, this is going to be a very tough pregnancy and probably an even harder birth. The risk of there being complications is very high and if your pregnancy were to move along perfectly fine from here, you'd be the first patient in a long time, at least for me, to go without any complications. But if we take the necessary precautions, both you and the baby should be fine in the long run."
"In the long run?" Derek asked, not quite understanding.
"The first few months after he or she is born will probably be fairly tough. Your baby, along with Meredith, will probably be hospitalized for a few weeks, depending on how things go. As he or she grows, they may develop some health problems, but nothing you should worry about now." She noticed Derek cracking as Meredith registered all of this expressionless. "Derek, could I speak to you in the hall?"
He nodded lifelessly and followed her out the door into the exam room across the hall.
"Derek, you can't fall apart. She needs you more than ever right now, they both need you. Don't make this harder on all of you guys than it already is. You need to stay strong, no matter what. And don't forget, I'm here not only as her doctor, but as both of your friends. If ever you need anything, even morale support, you know where to find me."
"Addie, I deserve this, but Meredith, she doesn't. Her life has sucked enough as it is. Why do these things always happen to her?" Derek finally spoke.
"Nobody deserves this. It isn't your fault. Her body just reacted differently to the stress than it should have. You can't keep punching yourself for causing this, because you didn't cause it."
Derek nodded his head but didn't move from where he was sitting. Addison got up to go check on her patient, but took one last look at her ex-husband before leaving the room. She felt so bad for him, knowing that things never seemed to go in his favor, nor did they for Meredith. She wished she could help, but there was nothing for her to do, at least not medically speaking. But she would show her support when they needed it, and she knew that sometimes all you really needed to get through the tough times was a little help from the people around you. And she knew that their friends would help them every step of the way, starting off with a way to cheer their gloomy mood.
It was just a week away.
Meredith tried not to cry as Derek blamed himself. She hadn't cried when Addie told her that it was going to be a long and rocky road. She hadn't cried when her and Derek made it quietly back to his office. She hadn't even cried when he shut the door and closed the blinds, then sat at his desk and caved. She would rather think about other things.
But as Derek told her that he had caused this, she couldn't handle it anymore. She cracked. And she cried. With Derek. Why can't things just be easy for once? She asked herself.
She glanced up towards Derek and as his eyes met hers, she suddenly remembered that all the hell she went through was worth it. She was with the person she loved and she wouldn't trade that for the world. Although life had sucked to get to where they were, and it was obviously never going to stop sucking, Meredith knew she was where she wanted to be. Safe in Derek's arms.
So I'm posting this in honor of the season finale tonight (which starts in 6 mins for us Maritimers :D) Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, even though it isn't the happiest one, and hope everyone is watching the season finale tonight !
