Hey everyone. I just wanted to thank you for your patience in between updates. I'm really glad that this fic still has a following. I also wanted to thank those of you who left such sweet words regarding the loss of my friend. Even though I don't know many of you personally it was really comforting to read your kind words so thank you so much for that. You're very sweet. I hope that you like this update.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Izzie headed down the hall of the surgical ward and towards the waiting room. She didn't try to suppress the smile on her face. Finally, after a nightmare few days, something was finally going their way. Izzie knew that there were no guarantees. The technique might not work, but the fact that Derek had made it through such an experimental surgery with flying colors gave her cause for hope.

When she reached the end of the hall, Izzie stopped as she observed the Seattle Grace family. Richard was holding one of Meredith's hands, Lexie was holding the other. Alex, Cristina and Callie were also seated in the waiting, as was Bailey who, along with the Chief, had been to hell and back in the past day. George sat on the ground playing pick a boo with baby Tuck. Izzie's colleagues were tired. They were physically, mentally and emotionally drained and yet they were all there to support their own. It made her proud.

Izzie entered the waiting room and everyone's attention was immediately drawn to her. They breathed collective sighs of relief as they saw the smile on her face that she couldn't conceal.

"He held up really well through the surgery," Izzie said proudly. "Of course we can't say how successful the procedure was but he's a fighter and he's made it so far." Izzie's eyes met with Meredith's which had filled with tears.

"Thank you," Meredith mouthed tearfully to Izzie. Finally after all the tragedy there was a glimmer of hope.

"Do you want to see him?" Izzie asked Meredith. Meredith nodded and stood up. To everyone's surprise, she held on to Lexie's hand, bringing her to her feet as well. Suddenly Izzie's pager beeped.

"Dammit," Izzie, said to herself. "I'm sorry, Mer. I have to see another patient."

"I'll take over," Mark said, appearing in the doorway to the waiting room. Upon close examination one would be able to notice that his eyes were a little red. After Derek's surgery, when he found himself alone in the scrub room, Mark had shed tears of enormous relief. No body would ever find out how scared he had been. Mark gave Meredith a smile and put his arm around her, as though she were his younger sister.

"Come with me," he said as he led her to the recovery room where Derek was starting to wake up.

Derek opened his eyes groggily. The bright lights were too much straight away and he immediately closed his eyes again. He felt like he was floating but he told himself that it was probably the medication. He didn't like seeing things from the patient's point of view. A nurse checked Derek's blood pressure and suddenly he heard familiar muffled voices.

"Meredith," he said hoarsely, his voice still damaged from the burns.

"Hey," Meredith said, the relief evident in her voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now you're here," Derek replied.

"Geez the man's been awake for five seconds and he's already charming the women," Mark joked. Derek managed a laugh. Derek had bandages covering his arm, leg and chest where the grafts had been done. His face remained uncovered and Meredith took full advantage of this, leaning over him and kissing him softly on the lips. Derek kissed back, relieved to have Meredith close to him. Meredith relaxed more and leaned further into Derek.

"Ow!" Derek shouted suddenly, Meredith jumped back.

"You'll have to watch where you lean," Mark spoke up. "No getting carried away."

"I'm sorry," Meredith said, looking worried and guilty.

"Forget about it," Derek said. "It was worth it."

"I'll be more careful," Meredith said to Mark who was checking Derek's vitals.

"I know you will, Grey," Mark replied. He didn't seem too concerned. "Everything looks good so we'll have you transferred to your room and we'll wait it out."

"When will you know if it worked?" Derek asked Mark. He had tried to keep his tones neutral but it was obvious to Mark and Meredith that he was scared.

"Tomorrow morning," Mark said. "When you wake up I'm going to see how it's looking under all that dressing. If it worked, no surgery for a while."

"And if it didn't?" Meredith asked fearfully, asking the question that Derek was too scared to ask. There was a long, painful silence.

"If it didn't work," Mark spoke up. "You'll be back in the OR tomorrow night having conventional skin grafts and… there will be some issues with healing and pain management." Derek and Meredith nodded. No body said anything.

"But," Mark spoke up. "Everything is on track right now so we'll deal with that if and when we have to. Let's get you back to your room." Several orderlies approached Derek's bed and wheeled it down the hall. Meredith turned around to where Lexie had been standing while she was with Derek. Lexie had tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong?" Meredith asked, her concerned.

"I'm just…." Lexie started, but then a sob escaped her. "You know? It's just that…" Meredith couldn't help but smile. She did know. They had been hit with so much emotion in the past couple of days and now Lexie was finally able to let go and feel it.

"I think I need…" Lexie started, but another sob escaped her.

"I think you need to look at the babies," Meredith said in her diagnostic doctor voice.

"I really need to go and look at the babies," Lexie agreed.

"Come on," Meredith said as she led Lexie down to the maternity ward while Derek settled into his room.

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Can we see him, Chief? George asked Richard from the waiting room where the rest of them had stayed.

"I think he needs some alone time with Meredith," Richard replied, even though he wanted to see with his own eyes that Derek was okay. Richard stuck his hands in his pockets and came across his cell phone. He realized that it was turned off so he switched it on. A few seconds later a text message came through.

Cristina was sitting on the couch opposite the chief when a brief flashback of her morphine experience hit her like a brick. But it was too late. Richard had already seen the text which had been sent from her phone the night before. Richard's face changed colour. He looked embarrassed and angry at the same time. His eyes met Cristina's. Cristina wanted to run out of the room but she couldn't feel her legs. She couldn't feel any part of her except her heart thudding extra hard in her chest. She opened her mouth to speak but she had lost her voice.

"I'm old enough to be your father!" Richard said, extremely embarrassed. He turned to George. "O'Malley, how do you delete this?" he asked, handing the phone to George.

"Don't show-!" Cristina started, finally finding her voice but it was too late.

"Whoa! Oh my God!" George said, reading the contents of the message.

"O'Malley, delete it!" Richard said with a raised, embarrassed voice.

"It's gone, Sir," George promised. Suddenly Alex was unable to control his laugher. He had caught a glimpse of the explicit things that Cristina had said to the Chief.

"What the hell did you say to the Chief?" Bailey asked.

Cristina stood up ready to say something but knew that she couldn't explain her way out of this one. She turned and left her giggling and embarrassed colleagues in the waiting room.