Meredith held the x-ray film of her daughter's lungs and swore. There it was pneumonia just teasing her sitting in Lilly's little chest.

Alex walked up behind her popping a piece of gum into his mouth,

"Yup," he said looking up and squinting at the films

"And in both lungs, we'll get her on oxygen and a couple of shots in the butt along with meds and sleep and she'll be able to walk out of her in about…oh a week," Alex looked down at Meredith who had started to massage her temples.

"You should call Derek…"Alex started. Meredith whirled around,

"No! He felt that it would be just fine to leave myself our two boys oh and our three year old daughter who just had surgery to go off to New York," she fumed. Alex back up with his hands in front of him.

"It's just that if it was me…I'd want to know how my kid was," Alex paused as Meredith looked down know that she knew what the right thing to do was, "look, do you want Iz and I to take Andy and Kieran tonight?" he asked.

"No, I can't keep passing my children off on everyone else. Besides I promised I would cook them macaroni and cheese tonight. They will stay home with me, George is on call tonight he can be my eyes when it comes to Lilly," Meredith sighed she hated the fact that she would have to leave Lilly here by herself but she had two other children that needed her too. Lilly would be out for the night after she got her shots.

"Here I'll come with you to help you with her when Bailey gives her the shots," Alex sighed hugging his friend.

Meredith and Alex walked down the hall to Lilliana's room. Bailey stood at the end of the little girl's bed reading over her chart. Once in the room Alex who had taken the x-ray from Meredith slapped it on the board on the wall and flipped on the lights allowing Bailey to see the damage.

Sighing Bailey turned to him, "Karev, go to the nurses station and have someone bring in the meds she needs them now,"

Lilly peeked out from under her blanket, "Mommy…I don't want to take any medicine,"

"You aren't going to have to swallow anything right now Lils," Meredith replied quietly.

Derek grabbed his small bag and walked out into the main terminal.

"Derek!" Addison called from her position by JFK's main entrance.

"Hey Addie," Derek replied giving her a small hug.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," Addison said as the two walked out and hailed a cab.

"Sure, so do we have an open OR?" He asked anxious to get home.

Addison looked down at her Cellini Rolex,

"In two hours we will," she informed him as the he got into the cab after her.

"55 Church please," Addison told the driver, "the hospital insists on paying for everything," she told him.

"That's very generous of them," Derek shuffled though his briefcase trying to find his phone.

Addison watched him, "So, uh how's Meredith and the kids?" She asked trying to strike up a conversation.

"Good. Andy started kindergarten in September and loves it. Kieran is two already and Lilliana…well she just had an appendectomy…last night," Derek almost whispered the last part of his sentence.

"Seriously?" Addison asked. Derek nodded as he finally located his phone and turned it on hoping to have a call from Meredith.

"And you came out anyway?" She was shocked. Derek never put anything in front of his children.

"Yeah, I'm kind of regretting it Meredith was angry as hell with me but it was a minor procedure and she was doing well when I left this morning," Derek tried desperately to justify himself but knowing there was no way to justify up and leaving Meredith alone to take care of the boys and leaving his daughter sick in the hospital.

"Well thank you," Addison patted his arm. They hadn't become close buddies but she and Derek were friends. After he and Meredith had decided to get married she had moved back to New York closely followed by Mark Sloan who she to this day had a… well she guessed you could call it a relationship. She was still weary of him and his…well…tendency to wander.

Once the cab pulled up to Derek's hotel she held it for him why he checked in and put his stuff in his room and changed into his scrubs. Fifteen minutes later Derek came jogging out the hotel's front door and got back into the cab.

"Ready to go?" Addison asked. Derek nodded and looked out his window his thoughts far from the surgery he would perform in almost an hour.

"It's not the simplest of procedures. It will take some time but she seems strong so I have confidence in her," Derek stood in front of the parents of the two week old baby girl who he was operating on.

"Have you done this before Dr. Sheppard?" The baby's mother tore her eyes away from her daughter in the incubator to look at him.

Derek gave a small smile, "Yes I have," when he realized they didn't have any other question he stepped out of the room and made his way down the hall to make sure he was still schedule for surgery in a half an hour.

"Dr. Sheppard!" Derek turned around to see the baby's father running after him.

"She'll be ok right? I mean you don't know what it feels like to see her in that incubator…she's going to be ok right?" the man asked again.

"As long as surgery goes well and barring any complications afterwards she will be fine and go on to live a normal life. And trust me, I know exactly how you feel," Derek told the man who just looked at him before nodding and turning away to go back to his wife and daughter.

Derek had forgotten what he was originally going to go check; all that was on his mind now was his family. Pulling out his cell phone he hit speed dial one and connected to Meredith's cell phone putting it up to his ear as he listened to it ring.

"NO!" Lilliana Sheppard screamed as Miranda Bailey tried to give her the two shots needed to start curing her of her pneumonia.

Meredith looked at her daughters tear stained face,

"Baby it's really quick and then it will be done come on sweetie," Meredith tried to get her daughters attention but Lilly wouldn't have any of it as she thrashed around in her bed.

"Meredith she can't be thrashing she'll tear her stitches," Bailey warned.

Exasperated Meredith held her daughters shoulders, "Lilliana Grace… you need to be still for mommy,"

Her tear rolling down her face like giant rain drops she sniffled, "I want Daddy to do the butterfly,"

Meredith sighed feeling defeated. Whenever the kids had to get shots for anything Derek did it using his 'butterfly'. He was excellent at it, taking their mind off of the cold metal going into their skin making them believe that it was a butterfly.

"Daddy isn't here, but Mommy can do it for you," she whispered to her daughter taking the needle from Bailey.

"See here is the butterfly it lands right here and," Meredith stuck her with the needle only to have the little girl flinch but then relax, she injected the medicine into her and pulled the needle out, " then we are all done," she discarded the needle into the toxic waste bin.

Lilly's tears continued to roll down her face. It always worked Derek was a genius for it. When he was three Meredith and Derek had bee concerned he may have been diabetic so for every shot and blood work they had to do there was Derek. She missed him and he had only been gone since that morning.

"I hurt," Lilly said rubbing her lower abdomen. Meredith's brow drew in concern.

"What do you mean Lilly?" she asked taking the blankets off her daughter. Bailey looked up from filling in her chat to see the small patch of blood seeping through the sheet.

"She tore them," Bailey sighed.

"Damn it," Meredith cursed if it wasn't one thing it was another and she had a surgery scheduled in an hour she did not have time for this.

"Don't worry we'll put her under for a few while we stitch her up again and then page you to let you know she's ok… it happens in children her…" Bailey stopped as Lilly erupted in loud deep coughs.

Meredith was immediately by her daughter's side grabbing for the oxygen mask she had thrown off during her fit. As she told her daughter breath and the little girl continued to cough loudly she felt her phone start to go home. With her free hand she looked at it hoping it wasn't her father calling to tell her something had happened to one of the boys. Christina had dropped them off there when she and Burke had to come into work.

Derek

Was what her screen read. Sighing she shoved back into her pocket without answering and turned her full attention back to her daughter.

Derek slammed the phone shut Meredith's voicemail picked up. Running his hands over his face and through his hair he sat down in a chair next to the nurse's station. He screwed up big time. He should have put his foot down there were plenty of other well qualified surgeons out there to do this job.

Standing up he realized that there was nothing to be done about it now. He looked at the clock realizing he should be getting ready to scrub up for the surgery. Walking into the scrub room he washed his hands and began to suit up.

"Clamp," Meredith grasped the tool handed to her and focused on her patient's spine the steady sound of the woman's heart on the monitor keeping her focused and in check.

"There it is," Meredith located the clot that had formed in her patient's upper back. Repairing the damage she closed and allowed the nurses to finish up and get the patient back to ICU.

An hour prior while Meredith was still in surgery she had been paged by Bailey saying Lilly was out of surgery. Scrubbing out of surgery she took off her face mask and cap and washed her hands. Walking out into the hall she figured Lilly should be moved down to pediatrics but she technically was a surgical patient still and it was more convenient having her on the floor Meredith spent most of her time on.

Walking into Lilly's room she noted that the little girl was still asleep from the anesthesia. Miranda Bailey appeared behind her.

"Karev and O'Malley are on call tonight," she said from behind Meredith who just nodded her head.

"How did it go?" Meredith turned to the other woman.

"It wasn't the fit she threw that really tore them…it didn't help. It was the coughing but the antibiotics are in there now working so coughing shouldn't be too much to worry about," the other woman consoled Meredith, "Grey, go home," Bailey ordered. Meredith gave a small smile Bailey was the only one who ever called her by her maiden name still. Yes she had hyphenated it so it was still apart of her name but her children and her husband's last names were Sheppard so she mostly stuck with that…except when it came to Miranda Bailey.

Walking over and kissing Lilly's forehead Meredith turned and hugged Miranda Bailey thanking her before she walked out of the room heading towards the locker room to change and go pick up her boys.

It was almost six thirty in the evening when Meredith pulled into the garage and turned off the ignition to her car. Andy and Kieran sat in their car seats.

The ride home had been quiet,

"Are we going to see Lilly?" Andy asked. Meredith shook her head as she got out of the car and opened his door to unbuckle him,

"Not tonight," she told him.

"Is daddy there?" Kieran asked.

"No. Daddy is away for a couple of days," Meredith responded as she unbuckled him as well.

"Why?" Andy asked his head shooting up from where he was fumbling to get his back pack of the car floor.

"A baby needed his help," Meredith opened the garage door and disabled the alarm.

"Take your wet shoes and put them on the rack in the laundry room and put your socks on the floor next to the washer please," she asked the boys as she made her way to the answering machine. The machine blinked 3 at her. Pressing play she pulled off her scarf and discarded her own shoes.

Hey Mere its Iz. Just wanted you to know that I can pick Andy up from school tomorrow if you need me to. Let me know!

BEEP

Meredith it's me please call me back when you get home. Love you

Derek's voice wafted through the machine. He must have called the house too she thought.

BEEP

Dr. Grey-Sheppard this is Linda calling from Roseridge Retirement Home. I was hoping we could schedule an appointment to meet. Your mother's condition has worsened and we would like to speak with you soon. Please call us back.

Meredith stared at that machine. Wonderful. She thought. Her mother had lost all sense of what was around her and only lived in the past now. To her Meredith was a nine year old or five. The age varied. But now she was in bed almost all the time and the disease must have really started to deteriorate her brain even more so.

She would call tomorrow after her nine o'clock surgery. Suddenly Meredith was ripped from her thoughts b Kieran,

"Mama, I'm hungry," he informed her. Meredith looked down at her two year old and picked him up.

"Well, I was thinking mac and cheese?" She told him.

"Yeah!" Kieran agreed enthusiastically.

Meredith set him down in the family room rug where some of his toys were still out and went into the kitchen to prepare there dinner.

"Dr. Lewis would you close please?" Derek asked the resident next to him who eagerly nodded and began working. Exiting the OR Derek washed his hands and watched the resident finish the baby girl's surgery. It had gone relatively well, only one instance when he though he wouldn't be able to maneuver around a vessel but it ended up not being a problem.

Walking out of the OR he headed for the on call room where he had spent his on call nights as an intern and resident. He heard the click of Addison's heels behind him. She had been in the gallery the whole length of the five hour surgery.

"Thank you Derek," she said from behind him. Derek turned and smiled.

"Your welcome Addie," he responded, "page me if you need me. I'll be here tonight. You are going to talk to the family right?" he asked her. She nodded as he walked into the empty on call room and pulled out his home. Looking at the time he crinkled his brow 8:30 pm…. he knew checked his phones battery before realizing his phone was still on Seattle time. Knowing that by this time the boys would be asleep Derek once again called Meredith's cell and held it up to his ear waiting for her to answer.

Meredith sat cross legged on her and Derek's giant bed. She felt so alone and lost. She had just called Izzie to confirm that her picking Andy up would be a giant help. She wanted to sleep, she was exhausted, but as a mother and knowing one of her children were not safely in their beds she couldn't. She knew Lilly was in wonderful hands, George and Alex were there but still… she was torn out of her thoughts though once she heard a faint ring coming from down the hall.

Remember that she had left her phone on the kitchen counter she leaped from her bed and ran down the hall and the stairs into the kitchen grabbing her phone. It could have been George or Alex calling about Lilly.

Looking down at the front screen she calmed once she saw Derek's name displayed. Flipping her phone open she pressed the phone to her ear and answered,

"Hey,"

"Hi," he replied. There was a long pause before he spoke again,

"How is Lilly?" Meredith couldn't hold back the tears that had formed when she had heard his voice,

"Derek," she took a breath trying to stop the tears. Derek stood was his spot and passed the room regretting his decision.

"Meredith, calm down. Shhh," he tried to quiet her tears.

"Derek, she has pneumonia is both lungs and during a coughing attack and the fit she threw when we tried to give her the meds she tore her stitches so Miranda had to take her back into surgery and now I'm here and she is there but the boys need to be home tonight and I don't know what to do," Meredith cried into the phone.

Derek pushed hard on of the bunk beds in the room in frustration.

"She is stable though?" he asked. Meredith nodded until she realized he couldn't see her,

"Yeah," she wiped the tears off her face.

"Ok this is what I want you to do, go turn off the lights, lay down and get comfortable ok? I will stay on the phone with you," Derek told her.

Meredith complied and once she was in bed she spoke again,

"I'm in bed,"

Derek smiled, "Ok now close your eyes and go to sleep," Meredith put the phone on speaker and set it next to her on his pillow.

"How was the surgery?" she asked him.

"It went well, she'll make a full recovery," Derek answered as he lay down on one of the beds wishing he was with her.

"I'm glad," Meredith swallowed. She didn't care anymore she just wanted him to be home. How did they do it? How did single mothers do it?

"I miss you," she whispered into the air surrounding the phone.

Derek sighed, "I miss you too…Kieran and Andy are ok?" he asked

"Yeah, they have been in bed for about an hour," Meredith replied feeling her eyes get heavy.

"I love you Mere," Derek told her.

"I love you too Derek," she murmured as she finally surrendered to the sleep she needed so badly. Derek heard her breathing become steady and waited a few more minutes before he disconnected and fell asleep as well.

"Mom?" Meredith stirred and opened one eye looking at her clock. The angry red numbers blared back at her 12:15. She looked towards the door way where she saw Andy standing and struggling to hold his little brother up.

"Andrew? What are you doing?" she asked him.

"We can't sleep," Andy responded stepping into the room. Meredith nodded and patted Derek's side of the bed.

"Come on,"

Andy staggered into the room and place Kieran on the bed who fell asleep as soon as Meredith pulled him towards her. At least he is asleep was all Meredith could think. Once Andy crawled into bed she pulled him close and rubbed his back until she heard his breathing even out and knew he was asleep. Soon she followed.

So don't hate me. I know I said I would have this a week ago but…yeah I failed. I did a lot of switching back in forth between Meredith and Derek in this chapter and got to now the line break thing really well haha, anyway I just thought it was kind of necessary to see how each was coping with what was going on in their day...or I just like the line break thing :-). Ok I will have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Let me know what you think! Have a great weekend!