When the echoing of her alarm rang through the room, Meredith almost tossed her phone out of the penthouse apartment's window. With a groan, she sat up, running a hand through her hair.

"What time is it?" Derek groggily moved so his arm was wrapped around her and his head in her lap. "Please, tell me I don't have to get up yet."

Meredith forced a smile, running her fingers through his messy curls. "Unless you want to get suspended again, I think you should get up pretty soon."

Derek frowned, bringing himself up to a sitting position as well. He glanced over at his girlfriend and smiled, "I really love being able to wake up with you next to me. Even though you yell at me to wake up."

"I'm not y-" Meredith brought her hand to cover her mouth. She jumped and ran towards the bathroom, emptying the contents of her stomach. Getting to her feet, she flushed the toilet and washed her hands. Derek was leaning against the doorframe with a frown on his face. "I'm fine."

"That doesn't look fine, baby. Why don't you stay home today?"

Meredith shook her head, "I can't. I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on. And," She rested her hand against her forehead. "I'm fine. I'll go in for a few hours." Meredith quickly brushed her teeth, trying to find a reason to understand her puking everywhere this morning.

"Well, how about I drive us to work? Let me try to take care of you a bit?" Derek dropped a kiss against her temple.

"Okay," Meredith nodded, walking back into the bedroom. She just pulled on a pair of jeans and a team shirt. "I was fine yesterday."

"You're not…" Derek just shook his head of the thought. "There's no chance you… You're not pregnant, right?"

Meredith looked at him and frowned. "No, there's no… I don't think I could be. Shit. I don't know." Almost immediately, Meredith felt her eyes watering up. "Derek…"

"Meredith, just breathe. Let's go to work and then we'll go from there, okay?"

"It's probably nothing! I'm just being crazy. Okay. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, all of my things are at the stadium," Derek watched as she paced back and forth slowly. "Baby."

"Let's just go," Meredith grabbed her bag, walking towards the living room. "Should I even ask where they went?"

Derek chuckled, grabbing his keys off of the counter, "Knowing my best friend? He hobbled his ass across the hallway."

Meredith shook her head as they walked out the front door towards the elevator. Once inside, she just leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. Derek came up behind her, as she leaned into him. "You're hot."

"It's barely a fever," She paused. "That's making me really think that… I'm gonna kill you."

Derek cracked a small smile, "Babe."

"Don't babe me," She frowned.

x.x.x

Derek was getting absolutely destroyed by his coaches today. The routes they were making him do were pure punishment. Derek ripped his helmet off, throwing it across the field, hitting the bench hard. "Out of shape after a week, huh?"

"Coach, it's barely been an hour and I'm dying."

"It's the old age," He smirked. "Come on, suicides. Go!"

Derek got to his feet again, but stopped short seeing Alton walking on the field. He never came onto the field. "Good morning, Sir."

"I'm real sorry to cut this practice short, coach, but Derek," He turned his attention towards his all-star player. "Meredith was just rushed to the hospital."

"Where?"

"Temple. There's a car out front waiting for you."

Derek started running. He ran into the locker room and ripped off his jersey and shoulder pads. He didn't bother with the rest of the uniform. He pulled a sweatshirt over his head and ran out the front doors of the building.

He slid into the front seat of the car as the driver sped off. His heart was racing. How long was she gone for? What the hell happened to her? The ten minute car ride felt like hours. When the car pulled up to the emergency room he jumped out, running inside the building.

He had no idea where he was going. He kind of spun in a few circles before someone stopped him. "Sir? Can I help you?"

"My… my girlfriend… she… she's here. I don't know where she is. Meredith Grey," He just blabbed out. "Can you help me?"

"Yes, sir. Just follow me," The nurse led him over to the station.

"Shepherd."

He looked over his should. "Yes?"

"You can come with me."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded, following the woman. "Is she okay? Can you tell me what's going on?"

"She has an acute appendicitis. She'll be going into surgery shortly. Meredith is on very high pain medication, so whatever she may say, may not make sense. And Derek, the next time you come to my hospital, try not to wear cleats. She's in this room."

Before Derek could even respond, Ellis had disappeared down a hallway. He walked into the room, seeing Cristina on the couch next to his girlfriend's bed. Meredith was looking over at her best friend, obviously not in the pain that she was earlier. "Hey, baby."

"You made it!"

Derek pulled a chair up next to her, grabbing a hold of her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm high," Meredith giggled. "Cris, tell him."

"She's high," Cristina looked up from her tablet. "And she'll be heading into surgery any second."

"Babe," Meredith looked up at him. "I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetie," He stayed right next to her bed, awaiting the moment for surgery. Meredith was rambling on and on about the most random topics Derek had possibly ever heard of. "I should record this to show you later."

"I'll remember everything. You just watch," She giggled. "Doctor Stewart! Can you take this thing out of me?"

"I can," Her surgeon chuckled. "All right, time to say your 'see you later's', Doctor Grey."

Meredith looked up at Derek, "Are you going to be here?"

"Of course. I'll see you soon," He kissed her slowly, pulling back and running his thumb across her cheek. "Go kick some ass."

"Yes, sir!"

Derek shook his head with a smile as he walked out of the hospital room and towards the waiting room. He sat on the couch, already starting to fidget with his phone. "You know she's not going to remember anything, right?" Cristina sat down across from him.

"Yeah, I figured as much," He nodded. "Shit. I need to call Lexie. You don't have her number, do you?"

Cristina tossed Meredith's phone towards Derek. "I'm sure it's in there somewhere." Derek looked up, slightly skeptical. "It's Meredith. The girl is absolutely terrible with her cell phone. I'm sure she won't mind if you call her sister to tell her she's in surgery."

"You're probably right," Derek nodded. He scrolled through until he found Lexie's number and started dialing. "Hey, Lexie. It's Derek."

"Oh, hi! What's going on?"

"Listen, she's gonna be fine, but Meredith has an appendicitis. She's-"

"I'll be right there."

Derek heard the beeping to indicate that she had hung up. He stood up, walking over to the window. His own phone vibrating made him jump. Addison. "Yeah?"

"Daddy!"

"Hey sweetie!" Derek smiled, immediately feeling like the worst parent in the entire world. "Can you put Mommy on the phone for me?"

"Well, since you're not at the stadium, am I keeping her with me tonight?" Addison spat at him.

Derek sighed, "Can you bring her to Temple Hospital? I'll meet you at the front entrance in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes."

"You're too hard on yourself," Cristina looked at him. "We're all human, alright?" Derek just nodded, standing up to mumble a quick statement of return. He walked along the hospital, heading towards the front entrance. He did feel a bit awkward in half of his uniform, but the stares weren't as bad as expected.

He sat in the lobby, bouncing his knee up and down. Even if she didn't remember saying those three words to him, he was going to remember it. And he felt it, too.