AN: I started writing this story my senior year of college and never thought I would ever publish it, but having to stay at home for the past six weeks has given me a lot of free time. I decided to look it over again and start publishing what I have written to hold me accountable to finish it. I'm also interested to see if people would enjoy this story. I don't own Grey's Anatomy, if I did, I probably would've ended the show after season 10 and we wouldn't live in a world without Meredith and Derek being together raising a family.
Derek Shepherd worked hard in his life to get to where he is today. Every time he steps onto the football field he has to prove himself not only to his team and the fans, but to millions of others who may be watching the games on national television. Derek has the toughest position as starting quarterback of the New York Giants. Not only is he the leader of the team, he is also constantly in the public eye. While it isn't as awful as if he was a Hollywood celebrity, he still gets annoyed with the paparazzi following him around whenever he is trying to live his life.
But that isn't what Derek is worried about at this moment. No, right now he is focused on creating and executing new plays for the upcoming football season. The team is currently in spring training to prepare for kickoff in September. While the team did not have a bad record last year, they are determined to perform better this year with an ultimate goal of playing in the Super Bowl.
At age 29, Derek is considered a seasoned starting quarterback. He is going into his 5th season as starting quarterback, after being the the team for three years as second-string quarterback. He had made the decision to complete his college eligibility at University of Texas before trying to get into the NFL, thus allowing him to also complete his B.S. in Sports Medicine.
Derek is constantly training to improve his speed and his strength in his throwing arm. He is always pushing himself to become a better player because he knows that younger quarterbacks, such as Joe Burrow and Cam Newton, are quicker and have a healthier throwing arm due to not having as many years of potential injuries. Getting injured is unfortunately part of the game, but luckily Derek's offensive line does a decent job in protecting him.
The team is currently at Meadowland Sports Complex in Rutherford, New Jersey, where they hold their trainings in the off-season. Normally the starting line-up doesn't show up to these trainings, as this is a time for the coaches to see their rookie players and decide whether or not they could benefit the team in the upcoming season, but Derek managed to convince his head coach, Owen Hunt, and his teammates to come out for a day of practice to try out some plays he is interested in. This team has become Derek's family and he wants to see all their hard work pay off in the upcoming season.
Derek put on his practice gear and went over to Mark Sloan, wide receiver, and Alex Karev, center, to discuss a few plays he wants to try out. On his way over to them, he grabs the dry erase board and marker so he can attempt to draw out the plays for better visualization.
"Alex! Mark! Got a second?" Derek called.
"Yeah man, what's up?" Mark replied.
"I have some ideas I wanted to run by y'all and see if y'all think they can be successful to the team."
"Well let's take a look at them," Alex said.
"Okay, here's what I have so far."
Derek then went on to explain some of the plays he has in mind and Mark and Alex give their input about whether they feel that their fellow players will be able to help execute the plays successfully.
Thirty minutes later, Derek finds himself back out on the practice field for the first time since the beginning of preseason ready to practice. He is excited about trying out the new plays for the first time. It's always fun for Derek to try and challenge his mind while playing since he has been in the game for a while.
About an hour later, the team has practiced the Statue of Liberty play, the Hook and Ladder play, and a double quarterback move, where there are two quarterbacks out on the field changing their position between quarterback and running back each play, so the defense won't figure out who the live quarterback is before the snap.
Derek is excited to try out the final trick play for the day, the Flea Flicker. In this play, a running back or wide receiver takes the ball from the quarterback, runs wide, and then tosses the ball back to the quarterback. At this time, the plan is for the quarterback to be successfully out of the pocket created by the offensive linemen, free to have plenty of space to throw the ball to another wide receiver that is (hopefully) open down the field.
As the team sets up for the play, Derek takes a second to discuss last minute details about the play with Mark (the wide receiver) and Alex, who has to make sure Derek is covered and free to throw the ball not only once, but twice.
The team finally lines up on the field and Derek calls the play into action. He receives the snap from Alex and throws the ball to the first wide receiver, Ben Warren. Ben, in turn, runs sideways down the field and then throws the ball back to Derek. Derek has managed to escape the collapsing pocket and go towards the open side of the field and catch the ball from Ben. He sees Mark down the field and throws the ball to Mark. Mark successfully catches the ball and Owen blows his whistle signaling the end of the play.
The team returns to the center of the field to discuss the play.
"Okay, that was good for the first time. Now that we know the basis of the play, let's try it with the defense putting pressure on the first wide receiver." Derek says.
"What about also putting a defensive player on me also?" Mark asked.
"Let's put one player on you for this try and then we can add more the next try."
"That works with me."
"Great. Let's get to work guys."
The team broke out and got back into their positions. This time when Derek received the snap, he saw that Ben was covered pretty well, but luckily Ben was able to break free long enough for Derek to throw him the ball. Derek went to turn out of the pocket and felt his foot stuck in the turf.
The next thing Derek knew, he was on the ground in excruciating pain after hearing a snap. The team stopped the play and the athletic trainers came running out onto the field to check on Derek.
"Derek, what hurts?" asked the head athletic trainer.
"My ankle. I heard a snap. I think it may be broken," replied Derek.
"Okay, just try to relax and I'll look it over real quick."
Derek tried to relax the best he could, but the pain was the worst he's ever felt. After about two minutes, the athletic trainer concurred that it is most likely that his ankle is broken and that he needs to get an X-ray done.
"Let's get him onto the cart and get him to the team doctor for x-rays," the head athletic trainer ordered.
Derek gets loaded up onto the cart and carried away to the locker rooms. He goes to lie down on the table and the team doctor takes x-rays of his ankle. After about ten minutes, it's confirmed that Derek's ankle is broken and that he will need surgery.
The ambulance arrives a short time later to take Derek away to Hackensack University Medical Center and is taken into surgery.
The last thing Derek remembers is telling Mark, who rode with him in the ambulance, that this is not how he planned to start the new season.