"Fuck."

In her mind's eye, she envisioned herself in the locker room- Cristina's hand on her chest and Izzie grabbing her wrist. Her hair had been wet. On the floor beneath her locker, her scrubs had been piled up, still damp and stained dark blue. Cristina's voice was in her ear, loud and foreboding but also scared-

"Meredith?"

Oh, there it was again.

"Meredith!"

Something wrapped around her knee, shaking. Meredith forced her eyes open and found herself face to face with dark eyes and messy curls.

"Oh, thank god," Cristina gushed, falling heavily into the chair by her bedside. Abruptly, she sat up straight again, reaching for the waistband of her scrubs. "I'm gonna page Burke-"

With strength she wasn't aware she still possessed, Meredith's hand flew out and grabbed Cristina's wrist. "No."

Cristina paused. "But - he'd want to know you're awake-"

"I'm not," Meredith insisted, letting her eyelids droop. "Still sleeping."

"Oh- ok then. In that case…" Cristina climbed up onto the foot of the bed, shoving Meredith's legs forward until there was enough room.

"Hey, watch out. I'm injured," she protested.

"Oh, hush." Cristina made herself comfortable and eyed Meredith critically. "How do you feel? Your pulse is good- BP seems normal, I just checked-"

Meredith swatted in Cristina's direction weakly. "Shhh. Don't be a doctor right now. Be Cristina." She cracked one eye and glanced in Cristina's direction, feeling a smile tug at her lips. "Did you save it?"

Cristina pumped her fist victoriously. "Karev owes me 5 bucks. He said you'd be freaked out by it."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I'm not George. I'm not a sissy."

"That's exactly what I told Karev. You and I are cut from the same cloth, Mer," Cristina said proudly , wagging an approving finger in her direction. She shoved herself off the bed and went over to the bedside table. "Here, I got Burke to give it to me. I told him I was gonna take it to the lab and run tests."

"Oh, you are evil," Meredith mused as Cristina passed her a plastic bag. She held it up closely, observing the three-inch long piece of shrapnel still inside. "Christ."

"It actually came out really easy," Cristina lamented passionately. "Burke didn't even have to make that big of an incision. It'll still scar though- so the next time some guy is ripping off your clothes or whatnot, and he asks you what happened, you can tell him it was a bomb."

"Mmm." Meredith settled back into the pillows and stared up at the ceiling tiles. "So what did my heart look like? Was it as small and black and shriveled as I think it is?"

When Cristina said nothing, Meredith glanced in her direction. She had gone a few shades paler and was gripping the bed rail, refusing to make eye contact. Meredith arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"Do you want ice chips?" Cristina blurted abruptly, getting to her feet. "Or, better yet- how about ice cream."

"Cristina-"

"I'm gonna go get ice cream."

"I don't want any."

"Yeah, but I do."

Cristina stood and headed for the door like the walls were closing in on her. As she swung it open and barrelled outside, she rammed headlong into someone else coming in- someone tall and solid decked out in navy blue scrubs.

Cristina turned back to Meredith, grinning. "Besides, it looks like you have company." She ducked out into the hallway.

Derek jammed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat and leaned his shoulder against the doorway.