1 WEEK LATER:

She was visiting Noah everyday and she continued to watch the boy get stronger by the minute. He was now at 3 lbs. 6 oz., almost 10 ounces up from when he was born and Meredith was able to hold him everyday. Yesterday, Derek had surprised her by bringing up Ethan to see his little brother and she and Derek had stepped back, holding hands while Ethan stood on a step-stool looking into his brother's incubator and stroked his head gently. Noah had been awake the whole time and was staring intently at his brother and when he spit up, Ethan proudly wiped the baby's mouth not even saying how gross it was. Meredith stood watching her two boys interacting with each other, hand in hand with her husband and she thought the moment couldn't be more perfect.

Derek was back at regular shifts at the hospital and life was going good. His wife seemed back to normal, Ethan was being an amazing big brother and Noah was striving all on his own. He still had his nasal cannula to help his breathe, but otherwise he was gaining weight and drinking a bottle every few hours. Derek was filling out a chart at the nurse's desk when Mark popped up next to him and said "Hey, how's the tater tot doing?" Derek replied with a smile and said "Noah's great. Mer's happy and Ethan is a great big brother. It looks like life is finally looking up for the Shepherd Clan." Mark smiled and said "That's great, man. Really great and if you ever need anything, just ask." With that, Mark walked away and Derek's pager rang.

She was asleep in the on-call room with Ethan next to her trying to catch up on the sleep she desperately needed. She was so deep in her sleep that she didn't wake up until she heard coughing over from the corner and her eyes immediately opened. Ethan was bending down over the trash can and before Meredith could get up, Ethan puked in the waste basket. When she went closer, she saw something she feared. Blood. It was blood that her son threw up and Meredith was more nervous than when Noah had been born prematurely. Ethan said "Mommy" in a whiny voice and Meredith picked up her son and ran to the ER. The first person she saw was Owen and she yelled "Hunt, get a gurney. It's Ethan." Putting Ethan on a gurney, she screamed for the nurse to page Derek.

He was running through the halls, flying actually. He knocked down crash carts, ran into nurses and even flipped an empty gurney. It was 911 page to the ER with Meredith's special code on it. He feared for Noah, but knew it couldn't possibly be him since he was safe in the NICU and then his fear turned over to Meredith. Maybe she had gone to work too soon. He crashed through the ER doors and saw Ethan, the one person who he thought was ok through all this. He saw the blood-stained chin, Owen yelling orders and finally, a look of panic so familiar to him on his wife's face.

It was hours later and Ethan was up in pediatric ICU under the care of Arizona which left Derek and Mer in some sort of comfort. Mer was sitting next to her oldest son who was laying in a bed with an IV and a towel on his head while Derek had gone up to the NICU to check on Noah. It was feared by both parents that whatever Ethan had, he might have passed it to his little brother and with Noah having a weak and underdeveloped immune system, the possibility was high. Ethan watched her cartoons with a pale face and Mer just sat in a chair next to him wondering what was going on inside of him.

Noah seemed fine and Derek headed back down to his other son's room. He wondered how it was possible to have two sick kids in the same hospital. All he wanted was for everyone to be better and home under one roof. He arrived at the door of Room 717 just in time to see Arizona coming around the corner along with a doctor he dreaded. He nodded curtly and walked in the room just hoping for the best.

Thoughts raced through her mind as she saw Dr. Casler follow Arizona into the room. She was all too familiar from years back and Meredith just wanted to know what he was doing here. Dr. Casler begin to speak saying "Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Grey. Dr. Robbins has brought me in to consult on your son's case. We ran some tests and found that your son has Acute lymphoblast leukemia, also known as ALL, but we seemed to have caught it at a reasonable stage for treatment. With regular chemotherapy and a possibility of a bone marrow transplant, it seems that your son has a 90% chance of recovery.

Meredith sobbed into Derek's chest and looked at her little boy. She looked at him more closely and saw the bruise on his leg that she thought had been from a fall. She saw his pale face and realized that never ending bleeding cut from two weeks ago was a sign and she was a doctor for God's sake. She should have known and that's what made her sob harder. She was doctor with 2 sick kids and she was losing hope.