Derek waved at the tow truck as it pulled with the last vehicle from the wreck. He walked over to his car and slid in the drivers seat. He was ready to head back home, or rather to Grey Sloan to see Meredith and the kids. He put the car into drive and pulled on to the road. The phone began reaching and he realized that he hadn't even thought to look for it after the wreck happened. He stopped, leaning over to search for the phone. It took just a moment to find the device, but once the phone was in his hand, he looked up and saw a semi bearing down on him. Derek slammed on the gas, aware that the farther back the impact was, the more likely he was to survive, and he wanted to survive. He had his entire life ahead of him.
His life flashed before him. His childhood on the east coast, surrounded by so any sisters that he felt he would never escape from the sea of Barbies and dress up clothes and eventually makeup, high heels and hair spray. He thought of college and medical school, of meeting Addison. And then he thought of meeting Meredith when his life started over, of the feeling of her in his arms as the scent of lavender swirled around him, of the feeling that he could breathe again for the first time in years, of meeting Zola and knowing he was meant to be her father, of holding Bailey, unsure if Meredith was going to make it. He thought of his mother, his sisters, and then he thought of Mark, all of the stupid things he had done in a lifetime as his friend. And he remembered those terrible moments in the woods which had led to some of the worst nightmares of his life.
And in an instant, it was over. He had given himself a few feet at most, but it was enough that the impact was on the back half of his car, which sent the front half pivoting to slam into the side of the truck. The sound was deafening as tires squealed and metal crunched and the airbags deployed nearly encasing him. There was a rain of glass as it shattered into pebbled pieces, showering him. His body thrown forward and sideways within the restraints. The crunching of metal surrounded him, and for a moment he wondered if he would be forever trapped in this moment. But finally, the motion stopped. The sounds stopped and there was silence except for the hissing of his destroyed car. He opened his eyes and began to survey the world around him and assess his physical condition. He was covered in small cuts, and the entire left side of his body throbbed. He reached down and unbuckled himself, transferring the phone to his left hand which had limited strength. Then he dialed 9-1-1.
As he waited for the line to pick up, he began making a list of his injuries. He was pretty sure his left arm was broken. It wasn't a compound fracture. That was good news. His left leg similarly had been on the side of impact, and if it wasn't broken, then it likely was deeply bruised. There was pain radiating up that extremity. But that was not life threatening. His head and his abdomen were where the most crucial injuries could be. Thankfully, his car was quipped with several airbags that had lessened the damage and protected him from the worst of the broken glass. He mentally began trying to assess his neurological function as one hand was pretty useless at this point and his right hand was holding the phone. He hadn't hit his head, at least that he could recall. Since the majority of the impact was on the side, he hadn't hit the steering wheel, which could have avoided the majority of damages.
"9-1-1, what is your emergency?" the operator chirped at him.
"There's been an accident," he began listing as specifically the location as he could. "There was an accident in the same spot an hour ago. The ambulance just left."
"I'll dispatch an ambulance right away. Please stay on the line, sir."
"Fine." he tried to work himself out of his seat, but there was searing pain all over on his left side. He gritted his teeth. And he pulled himself over the console into the passenger seat. The pain was white hot, searing as he moved his damaged left side. He nearly blacked out from the pain. He must have groaned because the operator responded with a concerned "Are you all right, sir?"
"It's fine. I'm trying to get out of the car, and I'm sure that my left arm and left leg were broken in the crash." He reached for the door handle and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Dammnit." He groaned through clenched teeth. "The passenger door is stuck. I hope that they have the jaws of life." As he struggled with the door, he finally became aware of the truck driver who had climbed from his vehicle. The man came and began trying to pull the door open to free Derek.
"Sir." the operator spoke. "Should you be moving around. You could have injuries that you aren't aware of."
"I realize that. I'm a f***ing neurosurgeon. I'm fully aware of the possibilites. But this is the second accident in this exact spot today, and I don't want to a sitting duck for the next dumba** that decides to hotrod down this road." He paused. "I'm sorry. That was rude. But I would rather not take my chances."
"It's fine sir. The ambulance should be there soon."
The truck driver returned with a hammer, and Derek covered himself as well as he could as the man swung and shattered the passenger window. There would be more cuts, but Derek was beyond caring. He was again showered with glass, and then the other driver was reaching in to help pull him out of the car. Part of Derek wanted to curse the man, after all, he should have been paying more attention, he should have braked, but in all reality Derek knew that non of this would be an issue if he hadn't been such a dumba** and stopped his car in the middle of the road to find his cell phone, which he could have answered on the bluetooth, or pulled back of the road to find it, or if he had found his phone and tried to make some calls while he waited on the wrecker. All of his injuries were due to his own stupidity.
Soon Derek was free from the car amidst a string of expletives that his mother would have washed his mouth out for. With assistance, Derek made his way to the side of the road to wait for the telling wails of the sirens after pulling his medical bag from his trunk which had popped open in the collision. His leg could bear his weight, so a break was unlikely. He listed the positives. No one was dead. He hadn't hit his head. His chest and abdomen didn't seem injured. He didn't think his injured leg was broken. This could have been so much worse.
"Are you injured?" he asked the truck driver.
"No. I'm fine. But you look pretty banged up."
"Yeah, I'm not feeling so great." He lifted his shirt so that he could check his abdomen for bruising. Just because he couldn't feel it, didn't mean that there was no damage. Adrenaline can mask the extent of many injuries. Unfortunately there was some bruising on his left side that could mean most likely a damaged spleen. But considering the current state of his car, even this injury seemed less severe than it could have been.
"That's a nasty bruise," the other man offered. Then aver the sound of the other man came the faint wailing of the approaching ambulance.
"Thank God!" Derek breathed.
And within minutes the ambulance and other rescue vehicles arrived on site. They quickly assessed Derek and loaded him up on the back board. The other driver was loaded on a second rig to also be checked out. He road in silence, the pain rising as the adrenaline faded. The quiet murmurings of the EMTs was almost soothing in the familiarity.
They quickly arrived at the emergency room, but as soon as the doors opened, Derek began protesting. He was not met with familiar faces, instead they had taken him to some other hospital in the middle of nowhere. "Take me to Grey-Sloan." he demanded.
"Sir, you're injured." one of the EMTs protested.
"Yes, and I work at Grey-Sloan. My wife is at Grey-Sloan, and it is the ranking trauma center in the area. My injuries are not so severe that I should be dumped off at..." he trailed off with no name of the hospital where he currently was.
"Dillard Medical Center," the other EMT supplied.
"Dillard Medical Center, when I could be at one of the top trauma centers in the nation."
Finally they agreed, and the doors closed and the ambulance headed across Seattle to Grey-Sloan.
Derek fumbled with his phone while strapped to the backboard, though the EMTs were protesting. "I need to call the President and I need to call my wife."
His call to the President's office came first, and was brief. Then he dialed Meredith, who did not answer. So he called again, knowing that she was more likely to take it seriously if the phone rang a second time, even if she was in surgery.
"Dr. Grey's phone" answered a voice he did not recognize.
"It's her husband. Put it on speaker for her." he waited a beat until he could hear the faint sounds of the OR in the background, and then his wife's concerned voice. "Derek?"
"I've been in an accident. I'm in an ambulance on the way to Grey-Sloan. I'm pretty sure my arm is broken, and my spleen probably isn't in the best shape."
"Derek," she stuttered out. "How far out are you?"
"I don't know." He glanced at the EMTs. "I'll have you paged when I get there."
"I'll be waiting." Meredith promised. As soon as the conversation ended, Meredith quickly finished what she was doing and asked for a resident to close for her. She rushed out to the scrub room, and quickly scrubbed out before rushing down stairs to wait for Derek's arrival.
The rig was pulling in just as Meredith burst through the doors. Several interns were waiting for the next case and Meredith pushed past them, opening the doors of the ambulance herself. She almost cried in relief when she was finally able to look into his pale blue eyes. The interns all rushed forward and began moving him into the hospital. "I guess I don't need to page you, since you're already here." He offered with a smile. Meredith grabbed his right hand, and rushed with him into the pit.
As they moved Derek into the trauma room, Meredith was startled to find someone pulling here away. She started to struggle, but Alex's rough voice quickly stopped her. "Mer, he's ok. You're only going to get in the way."
"Mer," Derek's voice broke through the sounds of the pit. "I love you. Go check on Bailey and Zola. And call my mom. She needs to know. And you should probaly check if Amelia is in surgery, and if she's not, then she will want to see me."
Derek's voice galvanized her. She needed something to focus on. "Are you sure? You're hurt..."
"And there is no way that Hunt, or Bailey, or Webber are going to let you near the OR if they have to take out my spleen. And that is the only thing surgically wrong with me. But that means I will need an overnight bag, because I'm pretty sure mine is in the Cayenne and I'm not going to be getting it back any time soon." Alex released Meredith, and she crept slowly back to the bed, a sheen of tears filming her eyes. "I'm going to be ok. I'm sure to be safe, they should do a CT and an X-ray, but it's going to be ok."
Meredith leaned down and kissed him softly. Once the kiss had ended, he reached up with a hand that was tethered by lines and Ivs and brushed a tear from her face. "110, remember?"
She chuckled and nodded. "110. Got it. Just be ok. OK?" She clutched at his hand. "I love you, Derek Shepherd."
She stepped outside the Trauma room and pulled out her phone and dialed her mother-in-law's number."Carolyn? Derek has been in an accident. I think he's going to be ok, but he asked me to call you." she paused, waiting for the response from the other end of the line. "That's fine. I'll meet you at the airport as soon as you know when you're going to be here. I've got to find Amelia. But I know that Derek will be happy to know that you're on your way."
She took the elevator up to the OR wing, where she had no problem running into Amelia who was at the nurses station. "Hey." Meredith breathed.
"Hey, Mer. What's up?" Amelia tossed back.
"There was an accident while Derek was on his way to the airport. He's in the trauma room down stairs. He wanted me to come and find you." She offered. "He told me to go check on the kids, but I just don't want to be away from him."
"Come on." Amelia replied and grabbed her hand, pulling back to the elevator she had just exited. "The kids are fine. Some one would page you if they weren't."
By the time they reached the pit, Derek was already gone. "He's in the lodox right now." one of the nurses reassured them, which led to Meredith and Amelia following Derek's path. It made sense with all of the potential injuries to do the full body scan instead of two separate scans. They watched as the 13 seconds elapsed and all of Derek's injuries were clearly visible on the the screen. There was a hairline fracture in his ulna, and his spleen was heavily damaged. The rest of the injuries seemed to be soft tissue damage and a bone bruise on his hip.
While Meredith and Amelia waited, Bailey appeared. "I know that two of my doctors aren't just standing here, waiting around, twiddling their thumbs. Get to work." She dictated.
Amelia bristled at Bailey, but Meredith had long grown familiar with taking directions from Miranda Bailey. "It's Derek."
Bailey paused and turned back to Meredith. "What's Derek?"
"In the lodox." She motioned towards her husband. "There was a bad accident on the way to the airport."
Meredith had calmed down, while Amelia had only grown more agitated.
"The damn fool," Bailey muttered. "What's he doing getting into a car accident? I came down here for a consult for some idiot that pulled out in front of a logging truck and was t-boned." Here eyes grew wide. "You're telling me that this idiot stopped his car in the middle of the road and basically got run over by a semi and all that is wrong with him is a broken arm and a bad spleen?"
Amelia glanced at Meredith. "He did what?"
"I didn't know that it was because he pulled out in front of a semi." Meredith excused.
"I didn't pull out in front of a semi. That implies that I knew it was there. I pulled out on to the road after saving four people's lives and my phone started ringing and I reached for it, and when I looked up there was a logging truck, not a semi baring down on me, and I slammed on the gas as hard as I could." Derek offered sheepishly after being removed from the scanner and placed back on the gurney.
"You idiot." Amelia jibbed. "You have a porsche. Are you going to tell me that you don't have blue tooth? Because I know you do. This all could have been avoided."
"Yes, I realize that I was an idiot." Derek snipped back at her. "So sorry to inconvenience you when I'm the one who is going to have an organ removed because of my stupidity."
Meredith moved to his side and smiled at him. "For a brain surgeon, you really can be pretty brainless." She leaned down and kissed him gently. "But I'm pretty happy with all things considered that you aren't hurt more than you are."
He pulled her hand up to his lips. "You know how they say that you're life flashes before your eyes. It really did. But all I could think was that I wanted more time with you. There will never be enough time."
"OK, enough of this. Dr. Grey. Dr. Shepherd. I'm taking him up to the OR. So I get the two of you out of my hair." Bailey smiled despite the stern words.
"Fine." Meredith agreed. "But after this surgery, we are going to talk about your idiocy." She gave a pointed glance at her husband.
"I will never be that stupid again." He promised. "And Meredith, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm putting you through this."
There was a looked that passed between them, acknowledging for a moment the time after the shooting when Derek's driving had Meredith stressed beyond reason that she would lose him in a car accident. And now that fear had come very close to becoming a reality. She offered him a tremulous smile. They would deal with her fears again later. She had always been so strong for him and everyone else, and after this, he wanted her to be able to know that he would be there for her.
Hours later, Derek slowly came to consciousness, awareness drifting back like the gentle waves of the pond by their home. He had had moments of lucidity in the recovery room, and he remembered counting back in the OR as Miranda Bailey stood over him. He realized that someone was clutching his hand. He looked over to his right, and his wife was sitting there her head bent over, asleep, but holding onto him like a lifeline. He moved his thumb over hers in slow circles, and she slowly stirred. Her head suddenly jerked up, "Oh, Derek. You're awake!" She cried.
"I'm awake," he offered with a rasp in his voice from the intubation during the surgery.
"The surgery went smoothly. And Callie looked at your arm, but its a clean break. Everything else will just get better in time." She said in a rush. "Your mom should be here a few hours. Amelia is going to pick her up, and she isn't thrilled. Maggie took Bailey and Zola home."
"Meredith," he breathed. "I'm going to be all right. I'm clearly an idiot, but I'm still mostly in one piece." Meredith began crying, her shoulders shaking with the emotion. "Mer, come here." he pleaded.
"I can't. I'll hurt you." She replied.
"As long as you're here on my right side, It will be fine. I've been wanting to hold you for hours." He tugged on her hand. "Please come here. I need you."
And finally she compiled, and crawled into the bed beside him. They both drew comfort from the presence of the other.
***** How slamming on the gas saved Derek Shepherd's Life *********
I feel like this is the second chapter that doesn't feel like a one shot, but feels like the beginning of another story. We will see. And anyone that wants to use one of the other chapters as a jumping off point, just message me and acknowledge this story in your first chapter. Hope that you enjoyed this installment of Tell Me How to Save a Life.