She stood frozen looking at him as the words ran through her head over and over.
"What?" She squeaked out. "Thatcher, what are you talking about?"
"I have pancreatic cancer and I'm not getting better."
"I…I…" She stuttered. She paused. "I'm sorry; I don't know what to say."
"It's okay. I'll let you have some time to process this." He said touching her hand before walking away.
She stumbled back into the house and shut the door. She slid down the door and pulled put her hands onto her face and started to sob into them. It hadn't been too long when another knock came at the door. She reached up and grabbed a tissue wiping the mascara from her eyes the best she could. She sniffled and opened the door again.
"What are you doing here?" She said wiping her eyes once more.
"What's wrong, Meredith?" Derek asked. She looked at the five people standing in front of her.
"What do you want, Derek?" He voice was a little harsher.
"Are you hurt?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Derek. I doesn't concern you." She said sniffling again. "What are you doing on my porch?"
"We were wondering in Mark was here." Nancy said.
"He, um," She sniffled again rubbing her eyes. "He fell asleep when he was reading Katie a story."
"Meredith…" Derek said still concerned. She put up her hand cutting him off.
"Just leave it, Derek. I can't deal with this right now. I…" She was cut off by Mark's voice.
"I fell asleep." He yawned. "Who's at the door?" She turned to look at him. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"We'll talk later. I have to go do… something. The Shepherds…" She said before rushing away. She didn't know why she was crying so hard over him since he wasn't there for her. But the thought of him being gone, still hit as hard as if he had always been there for her.
"Did you guys do anything?" Mark asked harshly.
"No, she was crying when she answered the door." Kathleen said quickly.
"Excuse me." Mark said hurrying into the kitchen. When he walked in, Meredith was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Mer, what happen?"
"Go back out with your… family." She chocked out the last word. He sat down beside her.
"What happened, Meredith?" She looked over at him.
"My father came by. He's dying, Mark. He has pancreatic cancer and he's not going to get better." She cried putting her head on his shoulder. "And I froze. I didn't know what to say. He blamed me for Susan's death and I was so mad at him. Now, he dying. I don't know what to do." She started to sob again. "I want to hate him for everything he did to me. But… I can't. He's still my father."
"I know, Mer. I'm so sorry." He said putting his arm around her pulling her closer. He kissed her head and laid the side of his head onto the top of hers.
"Everything just feels like it's happening all at once and I can't handle it." She sobbed. He just nodded.