Thank you very much to evreyone who is reading my story. Also I would like to really thank those who took the time to review the last chapter: salmonscrubs, GreysAddict21, himmli, MeredithandDerekfanforever, TVHollywoodDiva, IluvMerDer, munchkin4444, Meredith and Derek, McsteamyIsMcGorgeous, kitykat17, LaFilmeMichelle, and Murgy31. I would also like to add that there will only be one more chapter after this one, just to let you know. Well with that said, here is the next chapter. Please read and review...and enjoy:-)

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Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy

Chapter 10

After Mer sat there for a little while pondering the recent events, the door to her room was opened. She looked up to see Derek standing there.

"Hey…you're here." She said, smiling.

He smiled back. "Yeah, I am." He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Are you ready for this?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Mer sighed deeply and looked down. "No…I suppose not."

He placed his hand on her chin and made her look at him. "Me either."

She smiled slightly and leaned in and kissed him softly. She moved to pull away, but he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss. They stayed locked in a breath taking kiss for what seemed like forever, until he eventually loosened his grip on her. He looked into her eyes and whispered "I love you Meredith."

She smiled at him. "I love you too Derek." She leaned her head on his chest and sighed.

He ran his fingers threw her hair, twirling her brown locks in between his fingers. "I love you hair…it's so perfect."

Mer laughed slightly. "Well I wouldn't say perfect…but I guess I like my hair too." She said amusedly. When he didn't laugh, Mer pulled away from him and looked at him questioningly. "Derek…why are you suddenly so interested in my hair?" she asked.

He looked at her and sighed deeply. "Well…this procedure…you'll have to…I'll have to shave part of your head."

Her eyes widened. "You have to what? You can't make me bald! I won't let you…" she stared at him for a moment before sighing and leaning back against his chest. "This seriously sucks."

He stroked her back softly. "I know. I know."

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After a little while, Derek kissed Mer softly on the head and left. She sat there for about 10 minutes or so before Izzie came in.

"Hey Mer…its…time." she said, trying her best to calm her nerves.

Mer looked up at her, slightly surprised that it was happening so soon. She tried to say something, but couldn't find the words so she just simply nodded.

"Alex and I will be prepping you for surgery." Izzie said, walking over to Mer's bed. "I will take you up to O.R.3 and begin the pre-surgery procedure."

Mer stared up at her. "You mean the whole thing where I suddenly have to look like a British man?" Mer said, trying to make light of the situation.

Izzie laughed and helped Mer into a wheel chair. "Yup that about sums it up." she said, wheeling Mer out of the room.

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Once part of Mer's head was shaved, Alex took her into the operating room.

"Now lay down, the anesthesiologist will be here momentarily." Alex said looking down at Mer and smiling.

Mer smiled back, and then looked up at the gallery, where she could see Christina and George sitting. "I want to talk to them first." She said, looking back at Alex.

Alex looked up at the gallery and frowned. "But you're already prepped…"

"Alex" Izzie said, walking in with the anesthesiologist. "Listen to her." she said, not looking at Mer.

He sighed and went over and pressed the speaker button. "Well go on, talk." He said.

Mer shook her head. "No…I want them down here."

The anesthesiologist crossed her arms and looked frustratingly at Mer. "We don't have time for this, its time for surgery."

Derek poked his head in. "I'm sorry is there a problem?" he asked.

"Yeah she won't cooperate!"

"I just want to say goodbye to my damn friends!" Mer yelled her eyes on the brink of tears.

"Could you give us a minute?" Derek asked everyone else in the room.

Everyone nodded and left the room. "Not you two." He said to Izzie and Alex. He looked down at Mer sadly. "Meredith…you don't need to say goodbye. You will be awake in a few hours." He said, though he only half believed his own words.

Mer shook her head, a tear sliding down her cheek. "But Derek…I don't-"

"No Meredith. Now I will let you speak to them…but I will not let you say goodbye." He said in a stern tone.

"Okay…" she whispered.

He bent down and kissed her softly. "5 minutes…okay?" he asked.

She nodded and let go of his hand as he walked out of the room.

Alex and Izzie walked over to Mer and looked at her.

"Mer…it will be okay." Izzie said trying to be optimistic.

Mer nodded as Christina and George walked in the room.

Christina walked over and grabbed Mer's hand tightly. "I hope this is over soon, I'm hungry." She said, trying to cheer Mer up thought there wasn't a trace of a smile on her own face.

Mer laughed half heartedly. "Yeah yeah…you can buy me a cheeseburger later."

Christina looked down, still not letting go of Mer's hand.

Mer looked up at George and saw his eyes were watering. "George…" she paused. "No nookie while I'm under okay…" she said, smiling and glancing quickly at Izzie.

Izzie smiled as George blushed. "Uh yeah…sure okay." Was all he could say.

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When they five minutes were up, Christina and George headed back up to the gallery, while Izzie and Alex prepped for surgery. The anesthesiologist returned and got everything ready. Once everyone was prepped and in the room, the anesthesiologist looked at Mer.

"Okay, now I would like you to count backwards from 10 for me."

Mer glanced at Derek for a second then nodded. "10….9…..8…."

Izzie took a deep breath once she realized her friend was under.

Izzie watched as Derek began cutting away layers of Mer's scalp. She wanted to close her eyes. She wanted to close her eyes and run away. But she couldn't. She had to stay here.

"Gigli." Derek said, interrupting Izzie's thoughts. She passed him the bone saw and watched closely as he began cutting her skull. He lifted the lid of the bone off before moving further into Mer's brain.

"Stevens…you've made excellent burr holes before…I trust you can do them again." He said, handing the tool to her. She stared at him for a moment before taking the drill and placing it above Mer's head. She glanced up at the gallery, seeing the frightened expression on Christina's face.

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Christina was sitting up in the gallery, watching everybody's tiniest movements they made in the OR. She kept mumbling under her breath how they should have done something different, or that they should breathe less…things like that. She watched as Derek handed Izzie the drill. 'She can't do this.' She thought. 'Why isn't Derek doing it? He is the neurosurgeon after all.' She clenched her fist tightly as Izzie made the first burr hole. She wanted to close her eyes, but didn't dare take them off of the scene…just in case anything went wrong.

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George glanced over at Christina, noticing her tense up as Izzie made incisions into Meredith's head. 'It's alright.' He reassured himself. 'Izzie can handle this…she's done it before…besides Dr. Shepherd knows what he's doing…' He sighed deeply, waiting…just waiting for this to finally be over.

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Alex was watching Izzie intently, amazed at how well she was handling everything. He knew that if it was one of his best friends, there was no way her would be able to do the operation. Even though he cared about Meredith, and was friends with her, he just wasn't as close to her as Izzie was. He watched as she finished making the burr holes, and as she stepped aside, to let Dr. Shepherd do the rest. Izzie looked up at Alex, their eyes locking for a moment. All he could see in her eyes was fear.

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Derek began making larger incisions between the burr holes, so he could open the brain further to take out the tumor. He had managed to get to the tumor and began taking bits of it out and killing certain cells that the tumor had infected. He was a little more than half way done with the procedure, when blood started to spurt from the brain. Izzie's eyes widened and she seemed to freeze up. Alex immediately started to try and stop the bleeding, but it wasn't working. Derek was yelling all sorts of things and doing everything to correct the problem.

The last thing Izzie remembered was the heart monitor flat lining and someone yelling "Code Blue!"