Chapter 11: I Did My Best, It Wasn't Much
Disclaimer: They ain't mine, they belong to Shonda. I just play with them.
Meredith stood motionless and watched as they rolled the gurney with her mother's body to ICU. Through the haze in her head she could hear Dr. Bailey speaking to her.
"Dr. Grey? Dr. Grey? Meredith?"
"Yes, Dr. Bailey?"
"I think you should head home."
"I'm fine Dr. Bailey."
"No your not, your distracted and whatever this is, I can't have you distracted. You're off for the day. Now you can stay here as a visitor, but you are not allowed near any patients, do you understand me?"
"But-"
"There's no 'but'. Now scoot." Dr. Bailey dashed after the gurney and Meredith was left standing there alone. She could feel her stomach begin to turn and she dashed up towards the locker rooms.
Meredith stood in front of one of the sinks in the locker room, rinsing her face, hoping that the cool water would calm her nerves. She heard the door open but didn't look up to see who it was until she heard a familiar voice.
"Meredith?" Derek's voice was soft and soothing. It had been three weeks since Derek had told her that Addison had moved out and they were going ahead with divorce proceedings. But it didn't make things any easier, all the pain of his leaving was still there. With the situation with her mother she didn't think she could handle having him near right now.
"What do you want?" She kept her focus on the sink, not looking over at him. She didn't want to see the concern in his eyes, as much as she need to.
"I wanted to talk to you about your mom. I'm handling her case."
"Great, that's just great." Meredith said with frustration.
"Meredith, please-"
"Well, if you're her doctor, go ahead- give me her prognosis!"
"She's had a major stroke; there's already been significant damage to her brain from the Alzheimer's. I won't know how much damage there has been though until I get the results of the MRI back."
Meredith collapsed onto the near by bench. She was angry, frustrated, and scared. As she sat there the tears she had been fighting began to fall, and she felt Derek sit down next to her and take her in his arms, slowly rocking her and whispering in her ear that everything would be alright. She allowed herself to cry and feel the comfort of his warmth envelope her. They stayed like that for several minutes until she regained her composure. Wiping her eyes she took several deep breaths.
"Will you be alright?" Derek looked her in the eyes as though he was trying to divine the answer from there.
"I'll be fine, thank you." Remembering her resolution she got up from the bench, grabbed her things from her locker and left to go home.
Derek sat in the locker room after Meredith left. He knew she needed him, but that she was so locked into damage control right now that he didn't know how to reach her. Finally, Derek knew what he had to do. He walked down to the nurses station, grabbed a phone book, and finding what he needed walked out to his car.
Driving up to the neatly manicured house, Derek double checked the address he had written down. He got out of his car and walked up the path trying to decide exactly what it was he was going to say once he got there.
Upon, reaching the door he nearly changed his mind but he thought of Meredith and how much she needed this and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, it opened to reveal a man in his early sixties, completely gray, and a bit overweight.
"Excuse me, are you Thatcher Grey?"
"Yes, I'm him. How can I help you?"
A/N: Chaty1 pointed out to me that in the last chapter I confused the smell of Meredith's conditioner, putting lilac instead of lavender. Mea Culpa. I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapter, I've always wanted to write a scene between Derek and Thatcher. I hope Shonda will write on for the show.
