Chapter 72:
July 8, 2026-
Meredith walked into her house surprised by how quiet it was. She hurried up the stairs towards Celine and Aimee's rooms. Celine's was torn apart from her packing for college, but empty nonetheless. Next to that, Celine's room was also empty apart from the growing amounts of baby clothing and accessories.
As Meredith looked around the room she heard the front door open. She walked down the stairs, expecting to find her daughters and not Cristina who was standing expectantly in the foyer.
"Come on," was all the Cristina said.
"What?" Meredith asked.
"Come on," Cristina said opening the front door.
"No, I need to find out where my girls are," Meredith said walking towards the kitchen.
Cristina stopped her, "They are out shopping with Izzie. Now we are going to get you some real food since you've been living on hospital food. I did it when we were interns and I know how gross of a diet that is."
"No, I need to go back to the hospital and see Derek. His treatment doesn't take that long," Meredith said, still resisting Cristina.
"He always sleeps for at least three hours after his treatment and you know that. You don't need to sit there and watch him sleep. We are going to go eat," Cristina said, this time forcing Meredith out the door, shutting it behind them.
"I don't want him to wake up without me there," Meredith said, almost close to tears.
"Fine," Cristina said sympathizing with Meredith, "I'll call Burke and find out when he is done with his treatment. Then two hours after that, I'll let you go back. That way, you'll be able to watch him sleep for at least an hour and be there when he wakes up." Usually Cristina wouldn't have been so compromising, but she couldn't help it. Meredith looked like she was about to fall apart.
"Thanks, Cristina," she said sincerely.
"Yeah, whatever," Cristina replied, leading Meredith towards the car.
"Okay Cristina. We've eaten, shopped, and talked, everything. I've been gone for five hours. Can we please go back to the hospital now?"
"Jeez, so much for being grateful."
"Seriously Cristina. I just want to be there for him. You told me yourself that I need to be," Meredith said, proving her point.
"Okay, fine," Cristina said turning her car onto the high way, heading for Seattle Grace.
Meredith walked towards Derek's room while Cristina headed towards Burke's office. She opened the door expecting to find her husband asleep, but the room was empty. Meredith looked at the bed again to make sure that her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. But it wasn't. The bed was empty, only ruffled sheets against the mattress.
She felt her heart sink as she turned on her heels, frantically looking for someone. She saw a nurse she didn't recognize, but stopped her anyways, "Where is my husband?" she asked, almost screaming.
The nurse was alarmed by the terrified look on Meredith's face, "Ma'am, calm down. You shouldn't be down here."
"Don't you darn tell me I shouldn't be down here. I've worked here for twenty years now where the hell is my husband?" Meredith screamed.
"Mr. Shepherd?" the nurse asked looking at the chart by the door.
"Yes. Who else?" Meredith asked annoyed.
"I believe he went into surgery a few hours ago," the nurse said innocently.
"Surgery? He was supposed to be getting his chemotherapy treatment. Not surgery. What OR? What OR is he in?" Meredith asked. The nurse looked dumbfounded and Meredith rolled her eyes, "Never mind," she mumbled before hurrying down to the ORs.
After running up a flight of stairs, Meredith glanced up at the OR board, seeing her husbands name besides OR2. Meredith rushed down the hall and pushed open the scrub room door she grabbed a mask and hastily tied it around her face, realizing how long it'd been since she'd been in the OR.
As she made her way to the window separating the scrub room and the OR, a piercing sound penetrated through the air. The intern helping Burke began his efforts to save her husband.
Meredith had always been quick to react in situations like these. She was known for it in fact. Very few people died on her watch. But right now, hearing those monitors react; she had no idea what to do. She froze. She felt like she couldn't breathe.