Collapsed. Fainted. Passed out. Derek had fainted. When Meredith went to chase after him, she saw him collapsed at the side of the house with blood coming down off his forehead.

"HELP!" She screamed.

Kathleen, Nancy and Lizzie ran out and gasped.

"Call 911." Meredith shouted.

Lizzie ran into the house to make the phone call as Meredith continued to try wake him up. Alex and Izzie walked around the corner of the house with the kids.

"Oh my god!" Izzie shouted.

"Daddy?" Robyn shouted seeing her mother in her fathers blood.

"Get them away." Meredith shouted.

Izzie hustled them away and Alex stayed to help.

"Derek, you need to wake up for me." Meredith said shaking his shoulders.

"Come on Derek." Nancy said crouched down next to him.

Alex ran inside and reappeared with a cushion, a flannel and a glass of water. He put the cushion under his head and pressed the flannel against the large gash on his head.

"They're here in 3 minutes." Lizzie said running outside.

"Thank you." Meredith said, tears streaming down her face.

Derek's eyes fluttered open, his eyes looked groggy and glazed over.

"Hmmmm..." He groaned.

"Derek, you've fainted and hit your head, can you please stay awake?" Meredith said stroking his hand.

"Tired." He whispered.

"Stay awake." She said, squeezing his hand tightly.

"Pain." He cried quietly.

"I know Derek, I know."

He fell back asleep and Meredith tried to wake him back up. His breathing was slow, his skin was hot to the touch and he was sweating. The distant noise of sirens filled the air, then the noise of wheels on gravel followed by footsteps.

"Hi, what's happened?" One of the EMTs said crouching down next to him.

"He...he fainted and hit his head, he was awake then fell unconscious again. He is warm and when he woke up his pupils were reactive, sorry we're all surgeons." Meredith said.

The other EMT placed an oxygen mask over his face which made Derek immediately wake up.

"Sir, can you tell us your name?"

"Dr...Derek...Shepherd." He whispered.

"Good."

Alex lifted the flannel so the EMT could put on a gauze, he had a large cut spanning from his hairline to the top of his eye brow. He fell back unconscious.

"We need to get him to the hospital."

"Seattle Grace, he is chief of surgery there, we need to take him there,"

"Okay, Wendy get the gurney."

Wendy ran off to fetch it.

"I'm going with him, can you Alex take Nancy, Liz and Kathleen to the hospital?"

"Yes, Iz can take the kids."

"Thank you."

"We're going to go now, make sure we're there when you arrive." Alex said before running for his car keys.

"See you soon Meredith."

"Bye."

They all got into Alex's car and drove to the hospital.

"Can I go check on the person who is looking after my children?"

"Of course, we're going to get him into the back in a minute."

"Okay."

Meredith stood up and ran around the side of her house tears streaming down her face. Izzie was sat on a rock with the kids next to her. Orva, Robyn and Kai were all crying.

"Mommy!" Robyn shouted running over to her.

"It's okay." Meredith soothed as the rest of her kids.

"Blood." Kai cried.

"Sit down on the rock with Auntie Izzie."

They did so and Meredith crouched down in front of them.

"Daddy fainted because he is so sad and he cut his head badly when he hit the floor. He is really tired now and the EMTs are trying to wake him up. We're going to go to the hospital now where Auntie Lexie will check in his head." Meredith said crying slightly.

"Okay Mommy."

"Auntie Izzie is going to drive you in Daddy's car and Mommy is going to go with Daddy in the ambulance."

"It's okay you go Meredith, I'll lock up and meet you there."

"Thank you Iz."

Meredith stood up and ran over to Derek on the gurney as he was going into the ambulance. Meredith put her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and let her blue shirt cover it. She climbed into the back and held his hand tightly. He was still unconscious.

During the 20 minute journey, he was in and out of consciousness, his temp had gone to 102.6 and his head wouldn't stop bleeding. He threw up all over the blanket covering himself. They pulled up into the Ambulance bay and the EMT driving flung the doors open. Hunt, Lexie, Jackson and Bailey were all stood there in their navy blue scrubs and yellow trauma gowns.

"44 year-" The EMT started.

"It's Derek." Meredith said jumping out of the ambulance.

"What happened Grey?" Bailey shouted.

"He fainted, hit his head badly, concussion, thrown up and has a fever of 102.6."

"Okay, trauma 2."

"He needs a head CT." Meredith said.

Alex and his sisters were stood outside trauma 2 and Meredith grabbed hold of her arm.

"You need to wait out here Mer."

"But I'm head of Neuro, he's a Neuro patient."

"Lexie and Hunt are in there, stay here,"

Derek finally awoke again, feeling like a truck had hit him.

"Derek, can you hear me?"

"Hmmmm..."

He tried to move but he was too weak. Jackson was stitching up his head quickly so they could give him a head CT.

"Pain." Derek groaned.

"I know Derek." Lexie said squeezing his hand tightly.

"Mer..."

Bailey ran out of the room to get Meredith, they ran back in and Meredith went straight up to him.

"I'm here Derek, I'm here."

"Sorry." He whispered.

"Done, ready for CT?" Jackson said applying a bandage over the stitches.

"Yes."

They took him from the room to CT as Izzie ran into the room with the kids behind him. Hunt and Bailey stayed behind to talk to Meredith.

"How did that happen?"

"His mom...his mom died yesterday. We were talking about the funeral and he ran out of the house he must've fainted and hit his head on the wall."

"Oh my god." Gasped Bailey.

"We're going to need to keep him in tonight because he definitely has a concussion and we need to find out why he fainted."

"Okay, your intern chief Bailey, did you know that?"

"No, does the board know?"

"I've emailed them and explained because he's not going to be in for a few weeks. So your in charge."

"Oh wow." She said shocked.

"Mommy, is daddy okay? He looked sick." Orva asked hugging her tightly.

"Daddy is sick but he is going to be better soon." She reassured.

"When can we see him?"

"Soon, he is just having a test then we can go see him."

"Okay Mommy."

"Why don't we go for a walk." Meredith said looking at her other 2 terrified children.

"Okay."

They walked around the entire hospital twice as Meredith explained what was wrong with their daddy. Meredith got a page 20 minutes later saying that Derek was in his room and had finished the scan. They quickly hurried to his room on the Neuro wing where everyone was waiting for them. Izzie and Alex took the children so that Meredith could go in to see him.

Derek was laying down on the bed, rubbing his stomach with his eyes closed tightly. He had an IV connected from his hand with some painkillers and a bag of saline because he was dehydrated. He had an oxygen cannula under his noise and loads of machines connected to him like a heart beat monitor and a pulse ox. Lexie and Owen were stood in the room waiting for Meredith to come.

"Derek." She breathed.

"Mer..." He said opening his eyes, tears spilling down his face.

"Have you got the results?" Meredith asked looking over at a nervous looking Lexie.

"He has a grade 2/3 concussion."

"2/3?"

"He remembers everything, but he lost consciousness for longer than 5 minutes and he vomited so he has a 2/3 concussion."

"He can go home in an hour due to you both being Neurosurgeons but he needs a lot of rest and he has to take pain medication. In the next 2 days he will probably be throwing up a lot and in a lot of pain so if it gets too bad you need to call us."

"Okay."

"I'll go get the discharge papers and talk to everyone else."

"Thank you Owen." She smiled.

Derek didn't look like Derek. His hair was a mess, his skin was pale, he had a huge dressing down the right side of his head and he was completely spaced out. An hour later Owen walked back into the room,

"Okay, your okay to go."

The pain had been excruciating. He had spent most of his afternoon curled in the fetal position around the toilet, groans escaping from his lips as she tried to make it easier for him. His head had been killing him, so she had turned off the lights, demanded that all the phones be unplugged. She had done everything possible to make it easy, and instead he had suffered most of the afternoon on the washroom floor.

It had seemed okay at first. The first hour when he had been in the hospital for observations had gone a lot easier than the first time. He had been nauseous but it hadn't actually led to vomiting, and he had complained of a headache which was expected with a concussion but he hadn't wanted pain pills. Instead by the time he wanted pain pills he hadn't been able to keep them down.

She couldn't actually count the number of times she had put the anti-vomiting pills on his tongue, couldn't count how many times she tried to get him to swallow the pain pills, only to watch them end up in the toilet as he vomited. It was above and beyond bad. It hadn't been easier. She didn't actually remember the last time he had been sick. That happened after Mark died.

He was depressed. She could tell. She also knew that the sickness wasn't from the concussion, it was from his grief. It happened after Mark, it was almost identical. He tried to speak but he just ended up crying. But most of the time he had been in too much pain to even manage that. The pain hadn't been there with Mark, that was from the concussion and exhaustion. Meredith had no idea how she was supposed to deal with watching the love of her life in this much pain.

He didn't expect her to do this. He expected her to look after their children but she wouldn't leave, his sisters and Izzie were looking after them. He had spent all afternoon clinging to her desperately, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he buried his head in her lap. He needed her and no one else. Even when she had moved to grab a washcloth for his head or his pain pills, he had grabbed onto her and whimpered, begging her not to leave him.

Which she understood. If she was feeling like he was, she was quite certain she would never let him go. He was her rock or whatever and now she had to be his. She just wasn't sure how she was supposed to be his rock when she certainly needed one herself. He hadn't clung to her like that ever, he hadn't held onto her like he needed her to be there. She didn't know how to handle that.

Derek had been asleep on her lap for an hour when all the kids walked in, in their pyjamas because it was 7:30, their bedtime. They stood there watching for a second before Kai spoke up.

"I thought daddy was better."

"He is really sad baby, can you get Auntie Kathy, Auntie Liz and Auntie Nancy for me?"

"Okay Mommy." They all said in perfect unison.

They walked out and a few minutes later the 3 ladies walked in, their faces dropped when they saw how weak and vulnerable he looked.

"I know." Meredith sighed.

Derek begun to wake and he weakly sat up, Meredith grabbed hold of his back. He leant over the toilet and groaned quietly as he rubbed his head, wincing when he felt the stitches.

"Derek, do you want to head to bed?"

"Yes...with you." He whispered.

He leant back against the wall and looked over at his sisters.

"We're staying here tonight Derek." Kathy said.

"No...you don't...have to."

"Your sick Der, you were in an ambulance 8 hours ago, we can stay and look after the kids so Meredith can stay with you."

"Thank you." Meredith smiled.

"The kids are in bed, asleep so you don't have to worry about them. We have cooked but I don't think either of you are hungry."

"You need to eat something, Derek?" She said rubbing his shoulder.

"No."

"Okay, bed?"

He nodded and Meredith helped him up. He was very dizzy and the minute he stood up he fell back into Meredith's arms.

"I've got you, don't worry." Meredith soothed.

Lizzie walked over to him and grabbed his other arm.

"Thank you." He whispered looking very embarrassed.

They both helped him walk into his bedroom and lowered him gently down onto his bed.

"Mer, can I have some juice?"

"Yes, let me go get you some."

Meredith walked out of the room leaving Derek alone with his sisters.

"Are you feeling any better?" Lizzie asked sitting next to him.

"A tiny bit."

"Good."

"Are the kids...okay?"

"They're scared, do you remember much of today?"

"No...not really."

"Sometimes they walked in and saw you so ill which scared them. They thought you were dying Der. They were scared but we said that you were going to feel better and make pancakes with them tomorrow."

"Pancakes?"

"Yep, you don't have to eat any."

Meredith walked back in with a small glass of juice, some meds and a few mints. She passed him the meds and glass of juice which he quickly swallowed.

"Thank you."

"I got you a few mints, you nearly fainted getting up so your bloods are low."

"Thank you Mer."

She passed them him and he placed one in his mouth and sucked it. Meredith disappeared into the bathroom to get changed into her pyjamas.

"Goodnight Derek, hope you feel better tomorrow."

"Night." He whispered.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight Derek."

They all left the room, slamming it behind them. Derek only managed a single mint and he laid back against the headboard. Meredith walked out of the room and jumped onto the bed beside him.

"Just one mint?"

"Too sick."

"Okay."

She laid down, pulling him down and wrapping her arm across his aching stomach. He reached forward and turned off his lamp.

"Love you." He whispered.

"Love you Der."