Title: Loud And Clear
Authors: Sara And Lizzie
Rating: T for language, mild sex
Disclaimer: we don't own grey's anatomy, or any anatomies but our own at that.
Summary: Sequel to One Hell Of a Racket. Babies, weddings, and rain. Seattle at it's finest. Babysitting for the ex wife, meeting the family, planning the wedding and fending off the intern. All in a day's work.
Author's Note: The final story in our trilogy. We're staring two days from where 'Racket' left off. Also, we made up all the names and details of Derek's family, save for Nancy, who we adore, by the way.
WE ARE SO SORRY. We hope this makes up for the long delay in updates.
REVIEW.
Meredith was sitting in her room, almost two hours later, perplexed. She had been sitting on her bed, and he hadn't come looking for her. She felt a twitch of anxiety in her gut, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her feet hit the floor and she bolted to a standing position. She frowned and grabbed her keys. She drove to his land first; it was his sanctuary. He thought there. She got out of her Jeep and looked towards the trailer, but it was gone.
Nancy's voice rang in her head and she remembered how she had been talking about the trailer being gone. She forced herself to breathe deeply, and to remember how furious she was with him, despite her growing sense of trepidation.
Climbing back into her car, she backed down the dirt driveway. Joe's. She thought to herself. When he's an ass, I drink. He'll be waiting for me at Joe's. She drove there, forcing herself to stay within the speed limit. She didn't want to be concerned for him, after finding him kissing her intern, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt like something was wrong. It was Derek. He was supposed to show up and make corny speeches until she forgave him, not leave her alone to get increasingly more angry.
Meredith burst through the doors of the bar, scanning the crowd, eagerly, willing her eyes to land of a mess of dark curls. "Grey!" Joe called, waving.
She turned to look at him, and his amicable smile faded at the look on her face. "Has Derek been here?" she asked. Joe shook his head.
"What did he do?" he called out. Meredith bit her lip, but didn't answer. That suddenly didn't seem so important anymore.
Meredith turned on her heel and left the bar, heading back out into the rainy night. A slick sheen coated the roads as she maneuvered her car to the hospital and into a parking space. She jogged inside the hospital, and to his office, which was empty. The lights were off and his computer was on standby. She checked the board, but he wasn't in surgery. She dug in her bag and starting paging him.
In the trauma room where George and Cristina were forcing a tube down Derek's throat so he could breathe, and learn the full extent of his injuries, they heard his pager going off. Cristina picked it up. "It's Meredith." She said.
Mark nodded. "Call Bailey, Burke and the chief." He muttered. "Meredith should hear this from me."
He found her striding down the hallway, looking around almost frantically. "Mark." She said, spotting him. "Have you seen Derek? Cause he never came looking for me. There were no grand gestures or apologies and that's just so unlike him." She laughed nervously. "I mean, it's Derek, right?"
"Meredith…" Mark said slowly.
She ignored him and kept talking. "I checked his land, but the trailer is gone. Do you know why the trailer is gone? Oh and I checked Joe's. And his office is empty, and he's not on the board."
"Meredith." Mark interrupted.
"And now I can't think of any more places that he could possibly be, and…"
"Meredith!" Mark shouted. "I need to talk to you."
"Sorry," she whispered, not meeting his eyes. "I ramble when I'm nervous." She raised her eyes to meet Mark's and he looked down instinctively. Her heart started to pound in cold, hard fear. "Mark, where is Derek?" she whispered.
"Mer…" Mark started. She shook her head, overcome with panic at what she knew was coming.
"Don't." she told Mark. "Just tell me."
Mark sighed. "Ambulance brought him in half an hour ago. Drunk driver hit him going ninety five. Flipped his car off the road. He's critical."
Meredith smiled weakly. "But he's going to be fine, right?" Mark took a step toward her.
"I don't know." He whispered. "It doesn't look good right now. Massive internal bleeding, near his heart, Mer. Burke and Bailey and Richard are on it."
She nodded calmly, her face unchanging, stoic for a moment. She twisted the ring on her finger and looked up at Mark, her eyes widening with shock. Mark got his arms around her before she crumbled to the floor.
Mark stood with his arms around her as she cried. Suddenly, he felt her wrench away and he loosened his grasp. Addison, who had just come from Derek's trauma room, stood a few feet away, watching the scene unfold, Ashlyn cradled in her arms.
Meredith stumbled to the trash can nearest to her, leaned over and threw up. Mark and Addison reacted simultaneously, each moving towards her at the same moment. Meredith straightened herself and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "The last thing I said to him…" she whispered. The last strains of their arguments echoed in Addison's mind.
"Mer, I'll make this up to you. That or die trying." Derek said. Addison winced as she remembered the way Meredith had rolled her eyes and snapped at him that he shouldn't do her any favors.
Mark raised her eyebrows. "Go to hell, Derek." She had yelled at him.
Meredith's face paled, and Addison shot Mark a look. His hand circled around her wrist and gently tugged her towards the nearby nurses' lounge, as Addison pulled out her cell phone and called Izzie, who had since gone home.
"Hello?" she answered, sounding groggy.
"Iz, it's Addison. You and Alex should come back to the hospital, okay?"
"What's going on?" she asked, sounding more alert. Out of the corner of her eye, Addison saw a code team heading the hall.
"Just get here." She said to Izzie, hurrying after them, still holding Ashlyn. She followed the code team, relieved when they passed Derek's room. She poked her head inside where Bailey, Richard and Burke were appraising his injuries while Cristina and George leaned against the wall, watching in acute horror.
"How's it look?" Addison whispered. Richard looked at her and shook his head.
"He needs surgery." He said. "Soon." There was silence in the room as Burke made a note on his chart.
"Does Meredith know?" Cristina asked. Addison nodded.
"Mark's with her." She said. Their heads snapped up as the staccato beats of Derek's heart monitor slowed until he flat lined. Burke and Cristina lunged for the code button, and hit it at the same time.
"People, we need to operate now." The chief bellowed. "Get him to the OR!"
Addison backed out of the room, into Bridget who was hovering outside the door. "What's going on?" she asked.
Addison eyed her coldly. "Dr. Neilson, get to the pit and stay there." She snapped. "Or go home." Addison left her there, and headed back to the nurses' lounge, where she found Mark and Meredith, sitting on a couch. Mark picked up a cup of coffee and handed it to Meredith. She took it and started to sip robotically. Addison winced at her catatonic demeanor, and continued to watch them, marveling at the bizarre connection they had. A few weeks ago, when she had been in surgery, there roles had been reversed.
She coughed, alerting Mark to her presence. He stood, and Meredith just sank back into the cushions, staring at the wall.
"How's he doing?" Mark asked as he joined Addison in the hall. He took Ashlyn in his arms, and pulled Addison in to kiss her forehead. Addison shook her head.
"It's bad, Mark." She said. "He looks…." She swallowed and continued. "He was crashing. They're taking him down to surgery now." Mark sucked in a breath. Addison pulled him a little further down the hall.
"How's Meredith?" she asked.
Mark sighed. "Not good. She hasn't said a word." He looked down at Ashlyn. "Addie, is he going to be okay?" Mark asked, suddenly sounding vulnerable.
Addison looked down. "I don't know." She whispered. Mark sighed and looked down. Addison reached up and cupped his cheeks with her hands. "Listen." She said. "We know Derek. He's a fighter. He can pull through this." Mark nodded again and looked up resolutely.
"We should work on staying strong for Meredith." He said, glancing back into the lounge, only to find it empty and the opposite door ajar. "Shit." He muttered. "She's gone."
Addison followed his eyes and swore under her breath. "She's in the gallery." She said.
"Who's in the gallery?" Alex asked, appearing behind them with Izzie, both of them yawning and clutching coffee cups.
Mark opened his mouth to answer when his pager went off. "911 from Burke." He said, jogging off, handing Ashlyn to Addison. She sighed, and handed the baby to Izzie, following Mark as fast as she could on her heels.
Izzie looked at Alex as Ashlyn started to scream. "So glad we got up for this." She muttered.