Cristina arrives at Meredith's house and walks in. She sees Derek on the couch watching some tv.
"Is she still sleeping?" Cristina asks.
"Yes." Derek says.
"I'm gonna go wake her." Cristina says mischievously
"Be careful. She had a rough night."
Cristina nods and walks upstairs.
Cristina slowly walks into Meredith's room and turns the lights on. Meredith is sound asleep for once.
"Meredith, wake up!" Cristina says, sitting on the bed next to her person. Usually she would pull the covers off of Meredith to get her out of bed but because of how cold Meredith gets she doesn't want to do that to her
Meredith groans in her sleep.
"Mer, come on, wake up."
"Wanna sleep Cristina." Meredith mutters. She lets a cough escape.
"Meredith Grey! It's your birthday, wake up!"
"You mean it's my last birthday." Meredith mutters.
"Hey! None of that! And that is not true! We will get you healthy." Cristina says loudly.
Meredith just rolls over in her bed and pulls the covers tighter around her as she shivers.
"Come on Mer, time to get up." Cristina says softly.
"I wanna sleep." Meredith says, shivering under all her covers.
"Come on Mer! It's your birthday! We need to celebrate!"
"Cristina I'm cold!" Meredith whines.
"Let's get you dressed in some warm clothes." Cristina says softly.
"I want to stay in my pajamas." Meredith says softly. "It's too cold to change clothes."
Cristina gives in. "Okay, let's give you extra blankets and bring you downstairs."
Meredith coughs a few times.
"You okay?" Cristina asks.
"I'm fine." Meredith says as she coughs again.
"Mer…"
"Cristina! I'm fine! I just want to sleep. Please can we just lay in bed?" Meredith didn't mean to snap but she isn't feeling good at all. But she's not about to tell anyone that. That'll be her secret. She knows she'll be fine.
"Okay, we will lay in bed for a little." Cristina gets into bed with Meredith. "Let me have some covers."
Meredith instantly falls back to sleep.
Cristina sees Meredith asleep and sighs, saddened by how sick her person is. She quickly texts Derek that she's letting Meredith sleep a little bit longer.
An hour later Cristina is still in bed with Meredith. Cristina hears footsteps coming up the stairs and then sees the door open to reveal Derek.
"Hey, how is she?" Derek whispered.
"She's exhausted, Derek. She coughed a few times in her sleep. I'm worried about her but when I asked her if she was okay before she fell back asleep she just said she was fine as usual."
"She's so stubborn." Derek said. "Bailey, Webber, and Alex all just got here. They're all downstairs. We should get her up now."
Cristina nods. She gently shakes Meredith's shoulder. "Mer, time to wake up now."
Meredith groans. "Noo." She whines with her voice sounding raspy.
"Bailey, Webber, and Alex are all downstairs Meredith. They want to see you on your birthday." Derek said softly.
"I'm tired." Meredith says raspily. "I just want to sleep." She says with her eyes still closed.
"Why don't we get you changed and then you can sit on the couch downstairs?" Cristina asks softly.
Meredith gives in. "Fine but I need my blankets. I'm so cold."
"Deal. Mer, I got you a comfy outfit for today." Derek pulls out a shopping bag and pulls out a brand new comfy outfit for Meredith to wear.
Cristina helps Meredith to sit up and helps her get dressed. She sees goosebumps all over Meredith's body. And she can also see how much weight Meredith has lost.
"Do you think you can walk Mer?" Derek asks.
Meredith nods. She tries to get up but gets dizzy right away. "Woah." She mutters.
"Okay, sit down for a minute, Mer." Derek notices Meredith is a little shaky also.
They let her sit for a minute. "I'm okay." Meredith whispers.
"Do you want to try again?" Derek asks and Meredith nods.
They help her stand up and help her walk. "I can walk by myself." She whispers.
They let her try to walk without any help and she moves very slowly. She gets to the door and stumbles and reaches her hands out to steady herself. Both Derek and Cristina grab her to steady her. Meredith whimpers.
"Dizzy." She whimpers. "So cold"
"I've got you." Derek says and picks her up. He carries her downstairs and sees the worried eyes of Alex, Bailey, and Webber.
Derek sets her down on an empty couch and she whimpers and doesn't let go of his hand despite how weak she is.
"What is it sweetie?"
"Stay with me." She says with her voice raspy, looking at him. She's feeling so weak and sick but she's not saying anything. She lets a few harsh coughs out.
"I'm not going anywhere." Derek sits down next to Meredith and she weakly cuddles into his side. She closes her eyes and is instantly fast asleep. Cristina covers her with a few more blankets
"Shepherd, is she okay?" Bailey asks.
"She doesn't look okay. Was she not able to walk down the stairs on her own?" Webber asks.
"And her voice! Is she getting sick? She looks super pale. She can't afford to catch anything." Alex says worried.
Derek sighs. "I don't know. She didn't want to wake up and convinced Cristina to let her sleep for another hour. She's so cold. She keeps saying she's cold."
"She's been coughing a little and I asked her if she was okay and she said she was fine." Cristina said. "She got dizzy when she got up from her bed. And then she said she could walk but she stumbled and that's when Derek carried her downstairs."
Bailey sighs and looks at her intern worriedly. "We will have to watch her closely. She can't get sick. Her body can't take that."
The four of them decide to watch a show while Meredith sleeps. Meredith starts whimpering in pain in her sleep.
"Mer, You're okay." Derek says and Meredith wakes up slowly.
"Hey sweetie. Look who's here." Derek says to Meredith. Meredith didn't really get to see everyone before she fell back asleep.
"Hi." Meredith whispers sleepily. She lets out a few coughs.
"Hey Mer. Happy birthday!" Bailey says softly.
"Thanks." Meredith whispered with her eyes half closed.
"Mer are you feeling okay?" Alex asked.
"I'm fine." Meredith whispered. In reality she was not fine. But she didn't want to admit it. She was feeling super sick.
"Would you like some birthday cake?" Derek asked.
Meredith shook her head no. "Not hungry."
"Come on, have a tiny piece Mer. It's your birthday and you love birthday cake. You're always begging to have birthday cake even when it's not someone's birthday." Cristina begged.
"I'm not hungry Cris." Meredith rasped out. "Don't want any."
This is so not like Meredith, Cristina thinks to herself.
"Can we at least sing you happy birthday and you can blow out the candles?" Derek asked Meredith softly.
"Kay." Meredith whispered softly and buried her head more into Derek's chest. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and held on.
"Cristina, can you do the cake please? She doesn't want me to get up." He looked sadly at Meredith.
Cristina nods sadly and gets up.
She comes back a few minutes later with it.
Everyone starts singing happy birthday to Meredith. Derek nudges her to get her to blow out the candles but she doesn't have enough strength to blow out the candles so Derek ends up blowing them out for her.
Everyone gets a slice of cake and they cut a teeny tiny piece for Meredith to try.
"Not hungry." She whispers.
While everyone else is eating their cake, Meredith falls back to sleep.
"Derek, she's sleeping again." Bailey said softly. "I think something is up with her."