Derek was in a panic. He never panicked. Not like this. At this moment, all rational thought was gone. He couldn't function. He had no idea what to do. He was frozen. He was brain dead. It seemed like hours. Hours of confusion. Hours of hell. But in reality it was seconds. Seconds and he had to make his move.
"911 emergency." The operator asnwered.
"2028 Evergreen Lane. I- I- My wife. My wife is unconscious and my children-- My children are missing." He said in a panic.
"Sir, have you looked for your children?" She asked frankly.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He yelled as he bent down next to Meredith. "She... She has a bump. She's unconcious. I think it's a hematoma. Oh God...Mer." He said in a panic.
"Sir, you need to calm down." She said softly.
"Calm down? I'll calm down when I feel fucking calm!" He yelled into the phone.
"Help is on it's way..." She said before he sat the phone on the floor. He pulled out his flashlight and peeled her eye open. Her left pupil was bigger than the right. He looked up when he heard the front door open loudly. The emergency personelle walked in quickly.
"She has unequal pupil size and a knot on her head. I believe she has a subderal hematoma. She hasn't regained consciousness in the last twenty mintes" He said in a panic as the rushed up.
"An who are you?" A parametic said as he knelt down.
"Her husband... I'm a surgeon. Neurosurgeon..." He said quickly.
"Sir?" And officer said as he walked up.
"My- My- My children are missing and my wife is... Oh my God..." He said as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"What happened. I need tou to say it calmly and cleary so we can get moving." The officer said nicely.
"I was planning on coming home for lunch. My wife took our seven year old daughter and our seven month old boy and girl to the zoo. She was supposed to be here. I called her and got no answer. When I came home, I searched and I found this." Derek said as he held her hand.
"Have you searched the house?" The officer asked.
"Of course I have." He spat. The officer nodded for them to search the residence.
"You're sure your wife didn't take the kids to a friend's or realatives?" The officer asked.
"I don't think so..." Derek said quickly. He looked on the countertop. He say the two plates of food. Nothing for Anna. None of Anna's things were there. "There are only two sandwiches. She would have made something for our daughter..." He said with a ray of hope.
"I suggest that you call her friends, perhaps your children are staying somewhere. We will continue to search." He explained.
"Wait!" Derek said as they began to wheel Meredith out. What to do? Search for the kids, or go with his wife? Kids? Wife?
"We will keep searching." The officer said as he nodded for Derek to go. "This is our job."
Derek opted to take his car, rather than ride along. He needed to call. He needed to talk to every last person that the twins had ever seen. He drove dangerously as he followed the ambulence. He didn't care that he was being wreckless. He could only think about his family right now.
"Jen?" Derek said in a panic as the fourth person he dialed answered.
"Derek?" She asked in confusion.
"Are the twins there? Is Anna with you?" He said quickly.
"Anna is, yes. But the twins are at home with Meredith. Are you okay? Is everything okay?" She asked quickly.
"Oh my God..." Derek said quickly. "The- The twins are missing. Meredith was attacked..."
"Oh my God!" Jen said in utter shock, for lack of better words. "Um... I ... Anna?" She finally said in exasperation.
"I'm on my way to the hospital. I- I don't know. She- We-- We're not sure when it happened. She may know something... I don't- Can you keep her for awhile. I have to go. We're here, I have to go..." Derek said as he jumped out of the car, and flipped his phone shut.
Everything was a blur. A complete blur. He melted into goo when something happened. As a surgeon, he was calm, cool, collected. But when it involved his wife. His children. He crumbled. There he stood, a pile of rubble as he watched them work on his wife. Then he snapped to action.
"Her left pupil is blown. We need to release the inter-crainial pressure." He said as he began shoving people out of the way. "Oh, God, Mer..." He moaned as he started working on her.
"What do we have here?" Justin Rayburn asked as he walked into the trauma area.
"Derek..." Richard said as he put his hand on his shoulder. "You can't be here right now." He said as he tugged him away.
"I have to help her. She needs a CT and-" Derek said quickly.
"Let's go..." Richard said as he pulled him away.
"No!" Derek said nastily.
"You cannot help her. You cannot work on her. You are family, and you are not on staff here." Richard said as they walked out.
"I want Jack Hudson here now. If I can't work on her- I want the best. I want Hudson." He said loudly. Justin dropped his head.
"We can do that." Richard said with a nod as he looked over at a nurse. "What happened?"
"I don't know..." He trailed off as he went into a daze. "I have no idea."
"You found her like this?" Richard asked.
"Yeah- She- The twins. The twins are gone." He said as he began to bawl. He didn't notice or care about the many sets of eyes watching the broken down man.
"Gone?" Richard said quickly, thinking he heard wrong. "As in kidnapped?" Derek nodded his head yes. "Oh my God..." Derek's eyes got wide as they rolled Meredith out.
"Where are you taking her?" Derek asked as he followed.
"Dr. Rayburn ordered a CT." They said as they wheeled her off.
"Derek, she's stable at the moment. I'll let you know what the results are." Justin said as he rushed off.
"Thank you, Justin." He said with a nod.
"Derek..." Richard said as he placed his hand on Derek's shoulder.
"I- I don't know what to do, Richard. I don't even know how to begin. My children our out there somewhere. Gone. My wife. My wife is unconscious and she's the only one that knows what happened. I don't know what to do. Do I search fro my kids, or sit with my wife. I- I don't know..." He said as he began to cry. He looked up as an officer headed towards them.
"Dr. Shepherd?" He said as he walked up.
"Yes. Did you find them?" He said as he rushed up.
"We're going to issue an Amber Alert for your children. We need pictures of all three." The officer said sadly.
"My daughter- She's at her friend's house. She's okay." Derek said with a small amount of relief. "We have pictures. We have a lot of pictures. They're at the house. And there are pictures from today. They went to the zoo. The zoo. They had fun... Who would have known that they would be gone?" Derek said in disbelief.
"We will need those. Now did anything happen at the zoo? Did anything out of the ordinary happen?" He asked.
"I don't know. Anna, Anna is the only one that would know. My wife is still unconscious." Derek said sadly.
"We need to talk to her." Tim, the officer said.
----------------
"Where is mommy?" Anna said as she looked around.
"Anna, did anything happen at the zoo today?" Derek asked as he knelt down in front of her.
"Yep. We saw the monkeys and gorillas and the zebras..." She went on.
"No Anna!" Derek said loudly. "Did anything bad or scary happen!" He watched as her face scrunched up and she started to cry. "What happened?" She continued to look at him. "Damn-it What happened?" He yelled. She began to cry even harder.
"Where's my mommy!" She screamed. Derek looked at her and started to cry. Anna's eyes got as she looked at her dad. "Daddy." She said as she threw her arms around him and cried.
"Anna, sweetheart..." The female officer said as she walked up. "My name is Sue..."
"Where is mommy!" Anna said again.
"Mommy got hurt, but she'll be okay. I need you to talk to this woman. Maybe it can help mommy." Derek explained.
"Anna, what happened today?" The officer asked.
"Mommy got scared. She told me not to talk to strangers. She was mad cause I talked to that man..." Anna said as she looked around.
"What man!" Derek said loudly.
"The man..." Anna whined.
"Anna!" He yelled. "What man!" He said again.
"I don't know..." She cried.
"Anna? Do you like to color?" The officer asked. She nodded her head yes. "Good. Do you think you could color a picture of that man?"
"Yeah..." Anna said with a nod.
"Good, come with me an we'll color." She said as she looked up at Derek with a faint smile.
"Okay..." Anna said after receiving an approving nod from Derek.
Derek chided himself for yelling at her. She was innocent. He was just so angry. So disgusted. So scared. He had no idea how to act at the moment. He was grasping at straws. Hoping he would blink and life will have changed. Hoping this was just a horrible dream. But it wasn't. And he wasn't waking up anytime soon.
------------------
"What's going on?" Derek said as he rushed up to Dr. Rayburn and Dr. Hudson.
"We've relieved the pressure. She is stable." Jack said as he looked up at Derek.
"Is she conscious?" Derek asked quickly.
"Not yet. She's in a room. You can see her now." Justin said as he looked at Derek. The lump in Derek's throat got larger and larger as he stood there. He couldn't talk. If he talked her would break. He would crumble. He couldn't do it right now. He nodded as he walked away.
[iKeep holding on
When my brain's ticking like a bomb
Guess the black thoughts have come
Again to get me[/i
Everything was quiet except for the faint beeping of the machines hooked up to her. He eyes were closed. She looked soft and peaceful. Things were a mess right now. He needed her to waked up. He needed her to tell him what happened. What was wrong. But at the same time, he didn't want her to. He wanted her to stay in the peaceful world she was in. Away from the pain. Away from the emptiness.
He sat there and stroked her hand. The police were searching. The pictures were all over the news. And Anna's picture that she drew was being compared to the video surveillance at the zoo. They found a muddy footprint in the kitchen and one in the great room. Meredith's pumped breast-milk was gone from the refrigerator. The police said that was a good sign. If they wanted to hurt them, they wouldn't have taken it. Such little comfort. The wheels were moving. Things were going. But who knew where. He looked up to see Addison in the door.
[iSweet bitter words
Unlike nothing I have heard
Sing Along Mocking Bird
You don't affect me[/i
"How is she?" She asked as she stood there.
"Stable." Derek said, looking back down at her.
"It will be okay, Derek." He said as she put her hand on his shoulder.
"How? How will it be okay? My children are missing, Addie. My kids. They are my kids. They mean more than anything in the world. They are innocent. Innocent. They don't deserve this. How the fuck did this happen?" He said as he laid his head on Meredith's stomach.
[iThat's right
Deliver it to my heart
Please strike
Be deliberate[/i
"Derek. It will be okay." She reiterated. "Because I have faith." She said as she rubbed his shoulder.
"I love her so much. So much." He said as he sobbed. "What if we never get them back? How will I look into her eyes and tell her that her babies are gone? I can't do that." He cried.
"I'm going to go check on Anna." Addison said as she kissed his head. Her heart was broken. Seeing him in that state, broke her heart.
[iWait
I'm coming undone
Irate
I'm coming undone
Too late
I'm coming undone
One look so strong so delicate
Wait
I'm starting to suffocate
And soon I anticipate
I'm coming undone
One look so strong so delicate[/i
He fell asleep on her stomach. How he fell asleep, under all the stress, he would never know. It was her. She calmed him down. Her steady breathing. The gentle rhythm of her in and exhaling. Some rest. Much needed rest.
Derek quickly awoke when he felt her stir. He sat upright when she opened her eyes. She looked over at him. It was like a wrecking ball flew into him. She didn't have to speak. Confusion. He could see it on her face. She was scared and confused.
"Mer?" Derek said as he looked at her. She furrowed her brow as she looked into his eyes. "Meredith." He said again.
"Ah... I see someone's awake." Justin said as he walked in. She looked over at him with a blank look on her face. He looked over at Derek, seeing the concern on his face. "Dr. Shepherd..." He said softly as he looked at her. She looked at him fearfully.
"There was an accident. You're in the hospital, Mer." Derek said.
[iChoke choke again
I find my demons were my friends
Getting me in the end
They're out to get me
Since I was young
I've tasted sorrow on my tongue
And this sweet sugar gun
Does not protect me[/i
He stroked her hand. She gently pulled her hand away. Derek looked at her, feeling the tears welling up. He quickly jumped up and left the room. He stood against the wall gasping for breath. How could this be? Why did this have to happen? He looked up when he saw the police walking up. They rushed past him and into her room.
"Dr. Shepherd?" They said loudly as the rushed in. "We need to know what happened today." They said as the rushed up to her bedside.
"She's not in any state to be talking to you." Justin said as he walked up to the bed.
"I don't care." The officer said. "She better get there soon..."
"My wife is confused at the moment. You need to come back later." Derek said as he walked in.
[iThat's right
Trigger between my eyes
Please strike
Make it quick now[/i
"Meredith?" Justin said as he walked to the side of her bed.
"Please leave." Derek said firmly. "Shouldn't you be concerned about my children?" He said angrily. He knew that they were worrying her. A scared, confused Meredith wasn't going to be any help.
"Your wife knows what happened to your children." They stated.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Derek snapped as he looked up. He was feeling as if they were claiming she had something to do with it.
[iWait
I'm coming undone
Irate
I'm coming undone
Too late
I'm coming undone
One look so strong so delicate
Wait
I'm starting to suffocate
And soon I anticipate
I'm coming undone
One look so strong so delicate[/i
"She was there." They said frankly.
"Meredith Shepherd?" Justin asked as he looked up at her. She furrowed her brow and rubbed her head. "Meredith Grey?" He asked again. Her eyes lit up as she looked at him. "Please leave. She can't handle this right now. I will let you know as soon as she is in a better state." Justin said as he led them out.
"Meredith Grey." Derek said with a faint smile as he walked to her bed.
"I'm going to be late for class!" She said loudly as she looked at the clock.
[iI'm trying to hold it together
Head is lighter than a feather
Looks like I'm not getting better
Not getting better
Wait
I'm coming undone
Irate
I'm coming undone
Too late
I'm coming undone
One look so strong so delicate
Wait
I'm starting to suffocate
And soon I anticipate
I'm coming undone
One look so strong so delicate[/i
Yeah. That cloud has been coming for awhile... Just trust me!