I'm glad you all love those annoying cliffhanger writers :D
DORKY Giirl: I'm so glad you like it! Congrats on reading the whole thing :)
Lizzie9: You're welcome, and thank you:P
I'm sorry about the lack of frequent updates, but here it is anyways. Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: Not mine; Shonda's.
"Desiree!" Meredith called, a dangerous warning tone in her voice, "Desiree, come here!"
A dark head peered over a stall door into the aisle. A shaggy pony with an equally dark mane poked its head over her head, "I'm here," she said softly, knowing she was in trouble.
"Ok," Teresa said, "Rule one: you don't ever go into a stall without a grown up," she said, opening the door to let the little girl out. Desiree nodded; her eyes wide.
"Please, can I come back?" Desiree asked.
"Of course you can," Teresa said, her face softening. She turned to Meredith, who was now holding tightly to Desiree's hand, "Come in on Friday and we'll have everything set up for you. There's just one more thing we need to do…" she pointed at the shaggy pony. "His name is Fudge. Would you like to ride him when you come?"
Desiree nodded enthusiastically, her face lit up with excitement. To add to her pleasure, Fudge nickered and tossed his head.
"Let's go," Meredith said giving Desiree's hand a gentle tug, "Thank you, Ms. Calhan."
"That makes me sound old! Please, just Teresa," she said as she turned and walked back down the aisle.
"So, what do you think?" Meredith asked once they were in the car.
"I can't wait! Fudge is so pretty and nice!"
"That's good," Meredith said, "But please, don't ever run off like that again. I was scared. You could have gotten hurt. Horses are big animals that can step on you."
"I know," Desiree whispered, looking at the silver seat belt buckle, "Fudge was just so friendly looking that I had to go say hi."
"Well, next time please just wait."
"Ok."
---
"What've we got?" Derek asked the young paramedic as he and an intern hurried to wheel a patient into the ER.
"Twenty three year old female, head trauma; blunt object to the head. She's stable. I don't think that this is her only injury."
"I can hear you, you know," the woman said, "This is my only injury."
"She's conscious?" Derek asked, shining a mini flashlight in her eyes.
"Apparently," the paramedic shrugged.
"Apparently? That's not a satisfactory answer."
"Well, when we picked her up, she was unconscious," she stammered, "She must have just regained consciousness."
"Thank you," Derek said, giving her an encouraging smile. She was young; it appeared to be among her first emergencies. She gave him a crooked smile in return.
"What can I do?" the intern asked.
"I want a CT scan… do you feel pain anywhere else?" he asked the woman.
"No," she said, a little too quickly. Derek looked at her for a moment and she met his gaze unblinkingly.
"Alright, CT scan. Thank you Dr. Cayne. Page me when you get the results." Derek checked his watch and scanned the ER. He noticed an intern becoming visibly frustrated with the sutures he was performing on a boy's knee.
"Would you like some assistance?" he asked.
"I can't seem… to get it through…" the intern bit his lip, "Oh, got it! No, thank you Dr. Shepherd," he looked up.
"No problem," Derek's pager went off. It was a 911 for his brain tumour patient. He set off at a run.
"What happened?" Derek asked a nurse, flipping through his patient's chart.
"I don't know, he was doing fine and then all of a sudden his BP dropped and his started seizing."
"Push ten milligrams diazepam Dr. Christiansen," he ordered the intern, handing the chart to the nurse to record the orders.
"Diazepam's in," Dr. Christiansen confirmed, "He's still seizing."
"Wait," Derek held up his hand. Sure enough, he stopped seizing after a moment. "Excellent. When's his surgery scheduled?"
The nurse checked the chart, "Next Friday."
Derek sighed. That was a week from now. "See if you can push the surgery to today. Christiansen, if we can push the surgery, I want another CT and an MRI beforehand, just to make sure we didn't miss anything."
"Yes, Dr. Shepherd," she nodded, hurrying out of the room to check the OR.
"Mr. Benzer," Derek addressed the patient who had regained consciousness, "We're going to try and perform your surgery today. You had a seizure, and we're just going to make sure there's been no change."
"Ok," Mr. Benzer said hoarsely.
Dr. Christiansen came around the corner, "The OR's free in an hour," she said breathlessly, "I'll take him for the MRI right now."
"Thank you, Dr. Christiansen," Derek said as he left the room. He rounded the corner to see his wife coming out of the next room, "Meredith!"
"Hi, Derek," she flipped a chart closed and dropped it into the slot. "What've you got today?" she asked as they walked down the hall together.
"Lesionectomy on my brain tumour patient, and I have to remove a malignant tumour that's pressing on the spine of a fourteen year old baseball star."
"That's at least interesting. I've just got a minor aneurysm to clip this afternoon, a consult in Neo-natal, and an intern that's interested in neuro that is late."
"I've got Desiree Christiansen assigned to me today. She's going to be an excellent doctor."
"I have one of the new interns. His name is Nicholas Keenan. And, he's right there," she pointed to a young man leaning against the wall that looked like a football player in scrubs. "Dr. Meredith Shepherd," she held out her hand as Derek walked the other direction.
"Nick Keenan," he took a bite of his apple and ignored her hand. She put her hand into her pocket, sizing him up.
"Well, I've got a consult in Neo-natal. Let's move," she said, drawing herself up to her full, and frankly unimpressive, height.
"Dr. Karev, you asked for a consult?" she greeted her friend when they arrived in the ICU.
He nodded, "She's six weeks premature and won't move her legs. I want you to check her out to rule out possible paralysis."
Meredith sighed, and her eyebrows drew together. She ran a finger down the preemie's cheek. "We need to run some tests. I'd like a CT scan to get a better look at her spine. Keenan, go with Dr. Karev to do this please, I have to go," she said as her pager went off. "Page me when you get the results."
"Aren't I supposed to be learning from you?" Keenan said desperately, "Doing surgery and stuff, not taking care of a baby that's going to die anyways?"
Meredith spun to look at him. This insolent intern reminded her of Alex Karev when they first met. From behind Nick Keenan, he gave Meredith a smirk and a shrug. Meredith tried to control her laughter because she didn't want the young intern to think she was a softie. Instead, she put on her most superior face (earning the silent laughter of Alex) and said "Well in that case, wouldn't you be more useful in the pit? I'm sure they could use an extra hand suturing."
Nick shot her a look that could kill, which she matched. Taken aback, he looked as if he had momentarily learned his lesson. "I'll take her to CT."
"That's right," Meredith lifted her chin and left the room to answer her page.
"Dr. Shepherd," the nurse said when she arrived at the station, "There was a phone call from Seattle West Elementary."
Meredith's heart quickened, "What happened? Do you know why they called? Did they mention any names?"
The nurse looked mildly amused, "They just said to call the school as soon as you got the chance."
"Well I have the chance," Meredith picked up the phone and dialled the number the nurse handed her.
"Good afternoon, Seattle West Elementary School, how may I help you?" a bored voice came over the phone.
"Hi, it's Meredith Shepherd calling. I'm the mother of –"
"Yes I know, Kamila Shepherd. She's got the flu; we need someone to come pick her up."
Meredith rested her head in her hands and brushed her bangs back, "Alright. Either my husband or I will be down as soon as possible. Thank you."
"Have a nice day." The receptionist said just before the line clicked dead.
Meredith strode down the hall to check the OR board. Derek was in surgery and there was an emergency surgery scheduled immediately afterwards for blunt head trauma. She'd have to pick up Kamila. She went to find Nick and Alex.
"Alex, can you take care of my intern for a little while? I have to go pick up Kamila," she offered no explanation to the intern who was busy studying Meredith's face.
"Yeah, no problem. Can you take a look at this first though?" Alex gestured towards the computer.
"What've we got?"
"Looks like a narrow spinal column," Alex circled an area with his finger.
"Yeah… yeah it does." Meredith examined the screen, "I will come in and take another look as soon as I get back. Get a printout please, Keenan."
"Yes, Dr. Shepherd."
---
"Ok, Kamila honey, I know you don't feel good, but I really need to be at work right now. You're going to come with me." Meredith said to her daughter.
"I don't wanna," Kamila whined.
"I'm sorry, baby, but this is how it has to be," she reached into the backseat to rub Kamila's knee. She heard her daughter retch into the plastic bucket on her lap as they pulled into the parking lot.
Meredith helped her daughter out of the car and emptied the plastic bucket in a bush. Kamila raised her arms, asking to be carried, and it broke Meredith's heart. Her daughter was too big now; Meredith was not a large person. She silently took Kamila's arms instead and they walked towards the hospital, tears silently running down the eight year old's cheeks.
"Are you busy?" Meredith asked Melia. She was in the midst of her fellowship, so of course she was busy, but –
"Nope! Hey Kammi!" she grinned. The usually happy little girl did not smile, but her chin quivered and she began to cry again.
"She's got the flu," Meredith explained, "And I've got surgery. I've given her some acetaminophen, so her fever should come down. I'll be back as soon as I can. Thank you so much, Melia!" Meredith took off before her friend had the chance to protest. "I'll see you later, baby!" she called over her shoulder.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Melia asked her charge.
"No," she mumbled into her sweater sleeve.
"Well, let's go find you a bed somewhere."
"Can we go for a walk?" she asked, some of the familiar sparkle coming into her eyes.
Melia smiled, "Let's go."
---
"Excellent job, people," Derek said as he dropped the pickups in the tray. He looked up into the gallery, and was shocked by who he saw. Melia was sitting with her arm around a flushed Kamila. "I have – I have something I have to do." He stalked out of the OR, first anger, then frustration and finally anxiety washing over him in pounding waves.
"What is she doing here?" he asked Melia through clenched teeth a couple of minutes later.
"Meredith picked her up from school, and I'm taking care of her until Meredith gets out of surgery. She has a fever."
Derek rested a hand on his daughter's forehead. "She's burning up! Has she had anything?" this was rapidly bringing back painful memories. This couldn't happen again, not to his pianist, not to his baby girl.
"Meredith said she gave her acetaminophen, but I don't think it's working," Melia said biting her lip.
"Well, you're a surgeon. Please, go fix her. I want her on an IV immediately," Derek ordered, his heart beating faster every second.
"Yes, Dr. Shepherd," Melia said, taking Kamila's hand and leading her to the pit to insert an IV. Fear filled the eight year old's eyes as she looked back at her father and began to cry.
---
"Derek, I need to go and pick up Desiree and Caden from school. Desiree has her first day of riding lessons, and Caden's going to have to come with me," she and Derek hugged, and he kissed her temple. "She's going to be ok, right?"
"I was hoping you'd assure me," he said quietly, the stress showing in his voice.
"I'll see you at home," she pulled away.
"Yeah, at home…" he sighed as he watched her walk down the hallway, and finally turned to check the post-op labs of his baseball player.
---
"This is Fudge, Caden! He's going to be my pony."
"He's going to be the pony you ride," Meredith stressed.
"Yes, that," Desiree said happily, patting him on the nose. Caden clung to his mother's hand, unsure of whether or not the huge animal was safe to approach.
"Come pet him," she ordered. Caden took a hesitant step forward.
"Alright!" the unexpectedly loud voice of Teresa saved Caden from having to face his fear, "Let's get him saddled up!"
Fifteen minutes later, Desiree and four other children were sitting astride their ponies in indoor ring. "And, we're sitting up straight, good. Now we're going to walk in a circle around the ring. Tap your heels lightly against your horse's sides to get him going."
Meredith smiled as Desiree kicked a bored looking Fudge carefully against his sides. One by one, the other four children and their horses walked by her. Her face began to screw up in frustration. She finally reached back and slapped his rump with the palm of her chubby hand.
"Ahh!" she yelled as Fudge took off like a rocket, his eyes rolled back into his head. Meredith stood up and Caden gripped her hand, but after a moment, she realized that Desiree had taken a deep seat, gripping tightly with her short legs and pulling desperately on the reins. The fear and shock had gone out of her face as she fought to control the horse by instinct.
Finally, Fudge stopped his gallop and slowed to a hesitant trot. Teresa cantered up and grasped Fudge's reins. "Good job, Desiree!" she praised the little girl, "you handled him well."
She grinned in response. That had been so cool.
---
Find what makes you fly.
Maybelline
