Dreams of Love
Chapter 52: Busted
"Oh no you didn't! I am not looking at my patient who was beaten and stabbed to a bloody pulp just days ago walking around in a bar! My patient who is also a doctor, no less. One whose intelligence I'm totally questioning right now, by the way," Mark exclaimed as he marched over to her.
Meredith had frozen at the first sound of her name, knowing she was totally busted. Crap! She frantically tried to think of something to say and drew a blank. The next instant Mark was looming over her, breathing fire.
"It's okay Mark, I signed an AMA form before I left," Meredith said inanely, more than a little intimidated by the man standing over her in a towering rage.
"What the hell?! Yeah, that's going to make everything alright. AMA means 'against medical advice', dummy," Mark growled, even as he grasped her elbow and guided her to sit down at a table, "It doesn't mean 'asinine moronic activities'. This is stupid even for a first year intern!"
"Mark! Stop yelling at her. She's pale and sweaty, not to mention short of breath," Siobhan said, "She must be in tons of pain."
"Good! Damn it!"
"Meredith? Meredith?!" called a new voice.
Everyone turned to look at Alex Karev framed in the doorway.
"Crap," said Mer under her breath and frowned at Joe, who was wiping glasses behind the bar.
"Karev, lose something?" asked Mark sarcastically, switching targets, "How the hell do you let a patient get so far off your watch?!"
"It wasn't his fault," Meredith tried, "I waited until you were both with those burn victims."
Mark glared angrily at both of them while Meredith fought to her feet.
"My cab will be here any minute," Meredith said as defiantly as she could, "I'm going home."
The cacophony of denials from all three nearly deafened her. It was Siobhan who won out.
"Meredith, you are still way too fragile to be on your own, you must know that, so what is really going on?"
Tears of frustration sprang weakly to Meredith's eyes. She shook her head mutely, admitting defeatedly to herself that Siobhan was right. She was dizzy, sick to her stomach, and in pain. Her happy plan of Joe's, then home, just wasn't going to happen. She was going to be put right back in the hospital, she knew it. She plopped back in her chair and slumped.
Mark watched the light drain out of her and said in a much softer voice, "Meredith, what's really going on?"
"I want to go home," Meredith wailed forlornly and rubbed her aching head, "I want to sleep in my own bed."
"Doll, you aren't well enough yet, you know that," Mark murmured to her and sank down on his haunches in front of her, "You're making great progress, but you're still recovering. What are you running away from?"
"All the family," said Alex bluntly, "I wondered when it would all get too much for you."
Meredith hung her head in shame.
"Genie Eyes, it's called asking people to give you a little space, not running away like this and jeopardizing your health after everything you've been through. Hello, can you say reverting to old patterns? I'm just surprised we didn't catch you with a tequila in your hand," Alex hammered her.
Meredith glanced up at him reproachfully.
"Meredith, you need to be back in bed now. Let's get you back to your room and then you can tell us exactly what you need from all of us after you've had a nap and some pain meds," Siobhan said as softly as she ever said anything, since Meredith really did look so pitiful, "Come on now, no more foolishness."
Mark and Alex helped her up and walked her between them to the parking lot. Mark paid off Meredith's cab and put her in his own car. They rode in silence back to the hospital, everyone thinking his own thoughts. Meredith sighed in frustration and pain. Siobhan wondered how much Meredith had heard. Mark knew Derek would kill him. And Alex closed his eyes in intern exhaustion, cat napping for the few minutes back to the hospital.
o-o-o
"So, I hear you went for an unauthorized stroll, baby. What were you thinking?" asked Derek in a low voice, stroking his fingertips over her hand and kissing her cheek.
Meredith sighed and stopped pretending she was asleep. She supposed she'd have to face him sooner rather than later. She'd just planned on it being later in her own bed. Her plans were just not working out today, that's all. She was sick of being sick, she thought crankily.
"I wanted to go home," Meredith admitted pitifully, almost pouting, "I left you a message on your service, Derek. You would have gotten it when you got out of surgery."
"I know, Meredith. Telling me to meet you at your house when you should be safe in your bed here, was a little cryptic, don't you think?" Derek had a thread of steel in his voice.
"Derek, don't be mad, okay?" Meredith sounded like a little girl.
"I am angry, Meredith. You knew better, and you endangered your recovery. You can barely walk, let alone go home," Derek said sternly as a doctor, more than as a boyfriend, "I want you to promise me you won't do something so foolhardy again. I can't believe Mark found you at Joe's!"
Meredith cringed at the incredulity and strict command in his face. She could see he was really disappointed in her. That hurt the worst.
"I thought you were past running away to Joe's," Derek said frowning at her "Talk to me."
"Derek ... Derek ... I ... you hover!" she finally blurted out after staring into the distance and stumbling for words, "Your mom and my step dad tuck and touch, my friends bitch and eat, Alex and Mark boss me all the time, Zach chatters, and I couldn't figure Siobhan out (well, I couldn't before Joe's anyway)," she said that last under her breath, "I can't get comfortable in this stupid bed, and I want my own bed and bath, and I know I'm whining! I just don't want to be sick anymore. Besides, this cast and these darn sutures itch! Okay?!"
Derek waited for Meredith to look up and said mildly, ignoring everything else she said for now, "So, I hover, huh?"
"Yes ... constantly. I know you've really been worried about me ... but now I can't make a move without you watching me, honey, and you're driving me crazy," she said in a small voice, then glanced at him under her lashes.
A small smile crossed his handsome face.
"Derek, are you laughing?" Meredith pouted. She couldn't help it. She knew she was being childish, but she couldn't seem to help it, "I wanna go home."
Derek sighed as relief rippled through his system, "You're getting better. You really are. Thank God."
"Derek, what are you talking about? Stop smiling. Don't you get it? I want everyone to leave me alone!"
"I get it, Meredith, I do. You've been so meek and tolerant you've worried me to death," Derek kissed her lightly all over her face while she tried to squirm away, "Getting crabby means you're finally really getting well." then his voice turned strict again, "We'll see what we can all do to stop smothering you, but I swear if you pull a stunt like that again ..."
His threat hung on the air until Meredith cheekily taunted, knowing she could get away with it, "You'll what?"
"I'll delay your release papers from this hospital for three extra days, Miss Smarty," Derek declared, inspired by her sass, "Now, lie back and let me see if you did any damage to yourself."
"Derek, Drs. Sloan, Adelmann, Karev and Bailey have already checked me over – twice. Come on!"
"Shut up. Now Dr. Shepherd is going to examine you. You're lucky I don't have you sedated and chained to your bed for the duration."
"Ah! Derek! Hovering!"
"No, you may consider this payback for leaving the hospital like that. The next time I do it, it will officially be hovering," he gave her a boyish smile and then proceeded to professionally examine her, ignoring all further protests.
