"Dr. Bailey."
She spun around and was greeted by an overly-eager, bright-eyed, and naïve intern. They are all the same, but they always learn. Even though she didn't have her own crop of interns this year, she still felt a distant urge to turn into a 'Momma-bear'.
"Ross, what can I do for you?" she asked in a flat tone.
"I'm on your service today. Grey's out." he stated.
She handed the intern a patient's chart.
"Jorge Navarro, 28 year old male admitted to the E.R with end-stage kidney disease. He's over a year sober, so we're waiting on U.N.O.S to confirm and we can start kidney procurement. Monitor him, and update me with any changes," she adjusted her white lab coat before walking off, leaving him alone. All he felt was annoyed that he had to sit around waiting for the phone to ring.
Bailey looked back at the intern who was staring at the ceiling in boredom. She chuckled to herself, and turned back just in time to avoid colliding with another doctor. Every single time she saw any of the 'Seattle Grace 6', her heart would drop, and this time was no different. She knew they hated to be looked at sympathetically, but it was something she just couldn't help.
"Shepherd," she nodded at him in acknowledgement, passing him.
"Miranda Bailey!" he smiled, causing her to turn around.
She looked at him curiously; he didn't look like he wanted to say more, so she turned back again. Annoyance built up in her when she heard him call out again.
"You know I have a job to do? Patients to see and heal," she couldn't keep the words flying from her mouth, and honestly? She didn't care.
Derek was glad to be around someone who didn't treat him like he was cracking glass.
"Have you seen my wife?" he asked.
"She took a day off," she looked at him quizzically. "Didn't you know?"
"No," he replied, and she shrugged before turning back and walking off.
He couldn't help from feeling worried. Every time he didn't know where Meredith was, he would freak out. He knew this was because of the plane. His legs carried him throughout the halls of the hospital, seemingly void of a destination. Memories of those four days flooded his brain.
He woke up, and immediately slammed his eyes shut. He opened them again, squinting.
"I'm sleeping here," he groaned, thinking someone had barged in on him while he was trying to sleep in an on-call room. But there was no one. No walls, no ceiling, no warmth. Nothing. He felt something jabbing his back. 'The mattresses at the hospital are not that bad.' he thought. Suddenly, he became aware of his surroundings. The sound of birds' wings flapping startled him. His backside was completely wet. He didn't remember leaving the hospital.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw branches. His eyes darted around. Trees, rocks…
"That's what's been jammed into my back," he said aloud.
He continued to look around and his eyes landed on white. They started on the tip, and then moved forward, until he saw his hand. It was mangled and bloody. 'How the hell did my hand get embedded into a plane?' He tugged, trying to pull his hand out, but it wouldn't budge. Sitting here for a few moments, he scrounged his brain for anything on how he got into this situation.
He managed to remember that they were flying to Boise, Idaho to work on separating a pair of conjoined twins. But how..
"Oh my god," he said, voice fading into the wind.
The plane crashed. He wasn't alone on the plane; where was everyone else? Meredith. His hopes dwindled when he surveyed the clearing and didn't see her, Cristina, Mark, Arizona, or even Lexie. He knew they were out there somewhere, dead or alive. He refused to believe the latter. His attempts at sitting up were futile, since his hand was an obvious factor to his torment, still he tried. He heard a noise, which made him freeze. He heard it again, and again. As it grew closer, he could hear his name echoing throughout the forest. 'Am I dreaming?'
"Derek..k..k…"
"Meredith!" he yelled. He found a sudden boost of energy and tried sitting up again. She was alive, and she was searching for him. In his latest attempt to get up, his hand moved in the plane, causing searing pain to flow through his body.
"Meredith" he tried, but his voice came out much quieter than he had anticipated. The pain made it hard to focus on anything else. Meredith was no longer yelling his name, and didn't know if he would be able to find them if they left. His free hand moved along the dirt, searching for something. He found something hard with jagged edges. At this moment in time, it didn't matter that this could potentially end his career, he just needed to get to her.
So, he took the rock and slammed it on his hand, and it came loose. He saw birds flying away when his scream broke the silence.
He managed to stand up and stumble around the trees. He heard someone in the distance and that was his beacon. Relief is an understatement to what he was feeling when he saw Meredith and Cristina talking and moving. 'No neurological damage. Quit it, now is not the time to be a doctor. Or maybe it is.' He clutched his left arm with his right. When he was closer, they both looked his way.
"Meredith."
He panted, out of breath.
"Oh, I heard your voice. I thought I- I thought I was dreaming."
Black spotted at the edge of his vision and he felt himself crumple to the ground.
When he was pulled out of his memory, he was in a supply closet; hyperventilating.
He told himself Meredith was fine, she was ok. They weren't in a plane crash, not anymore. 'Maybe it wouldn't hurt to check. No, if you're ever going to get past this, stop worrying all the time Derek.' He warred with himself. He wasn't indecisive, but recent events caused him to over exaggerate every little thing. When he left the supply closet, he found a few nurses congregating outside. They pretended they were discussing patients, which was no better since they were violating HIPAA.
"You have jobs," he hinted, but they didn't move. "Go do them."
The nurses took offence, but nonetheless went back to their patients. Derek pulled out his phone, and there was nothing. He had no surgeries for another half hour, and it was obvious no one was in need of immediate medical assistance, so he took out his phone and called Meredith.
It rang once…
A second time...
Then a third...
Finally, it rang a fourth time before it went to voicemail. He left a short message asking her to call him back as soon as possible. He would be performing another surgery before too long. He took a few minutes to put aside his worry, because he knew he was blowing things out of proportion. He made his way to his patient who was in pre-op. Derek Shepherd no longer existed, and Dr. Shepherd took over.
GAGAGAGAGAGAGA
His mood was brightened and he was scrubbing out. It was a common procedure for him; clipping an aneurysm. He was glad that it didn't rupture and the clip was holding. He dried his hands and grabbed his lab coat, leaving the O.R behind him. Pulling his phone out of the pocket, he called Meredith again after seeing no response from her. Thankfully, this time she answered.
"Hello?"
"Meredith, where are you? Why aren't you at the hospital?" he asked, not bothering to hide his concern.
There was silence on the other end, and he sucked in a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yes Derek, I'm fine."
He knew that when she said those two words, it was usually the exact opposite. He was about to say more, when she continued.
"I was heading in when I noticed I felt a little nauseous, and I didn't want to risk the health of my patients," she explained.
"Then why didn't you call in sick?"
"Really? After all that's happened, you think I have any sick days left?"
Derek's heart fluttered rather than laughing out loud. In the silence, he heard shuffling in the background. He was going to ask what she was doing, but she spoke before he could.
"Anyways, you have patients, so I should go," she said.
"I'm glad that you're okay. I love you," he said, staring at his phone.
"Yes I am fine. I love you too."
He heard the dial tone, and saw the 'Call ended' message. He stared at his phone, mind running wild. He already asked her if she was fine, and she said yes. Something was wrong. It wasn't his mind convincing him this, it was his gut. That was something never to be ignored.
After Meredith hung up the phone, she felt cool metal leave her skin. She tried to tell Derek what was happening, but it was rather hard to do that with the other person in the room. She was sitting on her couch in the dream house Derek built for them. They had just moved in, and it was already not so dreamy. Meredith shuddered as she saw the man slowly back away. It wasn't the man she was worried about, it was the gun pointed at her head.
