Hello once again!

I loved and appreciated each and every review you all left for chapter 9 and I'm so glad you all seemed to enjoy it.

I hope you all like this one just as much! :D

Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Meredith was perched on one of the stools surrounding the island in the kitchen when Derek placed a small plate of toast in front of her.

"Thank you," she offered with a small smile. She still didn't fully trust her stomach to accept the food.

Derek continued to putter around the kitchen before taking the stool across from his wife and slid over a steaming cup of tea next to her plate. The smell didn't immediately make her stomach churn so she brought her hands around the mug and enjoyed the warmth it was giving off.

She was just about to take a small sip until she got a whiff of what was in the matching mug in Derek's hands.

The mug she was holding slipped from her grasp before she could do anything about it and she was out of the room before the cup hit the tile. Thankfully the downstairs bathroom was close and unoccupied because Meredith's early morning ginger ale was coming back up whether she liked it or not.

Paying no mind to the new mess on the kitchen floor, Derek rushed out after his wife.

When he reached the bathroom, Meredith was already hunched over the toilet while her body emptied the contents of her stomach into the bowl. He sat down next to her and used one hand to hold her hair out of the way and the other to rub soothing circles along her lower back.

Having not consumed much in the last few hours, it didn't take long for her vomiting to turn into gag inducing dry heaves.

When the nausea began to subside, Meredith shifted to lean against her husband's shoulder. Her eyes were closed and a light sheen of sweat had formed across her forehead. It was stupid how exhausting throwing up was.

Derek reached up towards the counter above him to grab a small hand towel and then lightly dabbed her face. She didn't show any indication of wanting move from the floor anytime soon, so he continued rubbing her back and offering hushed words of comfort.

After a few minutes, Meredith shifted some of her weight off Derek in order to lift her head up to give him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before lowering her head back to his shoulder.

"What could you possibly be sorry for?" he mumbled into the top of her head before placing a soft kiss into her hair.

"I think I broke your mother's mug."

"They make more."

"I'm disgusting and throw up all the time."

"You're pregnant," he shrugged. She lifted her head again to send him a "Really?" look and a raised eyebrow.

"And you are in no possible way disgusting," he amended quickly.

"Next time you might want to lead with that part," she muttered, collapsing back against him.

When they finally emerged from the bathroom, they walked back into the kitchen only to find Carolyn sweeping up the remains of what used to be Meredith's mug.

"Carolyn, I'm so sorry. Please let me clean it up," Meredith apologized, reaching for the dust pan.

"You will do no such thing. What you will do is sit back down and let your husband get you something to settle your stomach," she said while sending a pointed look to Derek.

"Really, I'm okay," Meredith insisted, still trying to help. Derek finally took her gently by the shoulders and led her to a seat. "Seriously," she whined.

"Seriously," Derek mimicked. "Sit. Do you want some ginger ale? Or I can warm up your tea?"

"Ginger ale, please," Meredith mumbled reluctantly.

Grinning at his adorably pouting wife, Derek kissed her forehead and then turned to the cabinets behind him to fulfill her wishes.

"I'm sorry you're not feeling well, Meredith," Carolyn offered, slipping onto the stool beside her.

Derek placed the glass of soda in front of her and quickly took the offending coffee to the sink before her stomach decided it was time for round 2.

"Just a little nausea," she downplayed. "I guess traveling didn't agree with me."

"I suppose," Carolyn agreed, still eyeing the young woman with concern.

"Have you seen Amelia yet this morning?" Derek asked, changing the subject.

"Yes," Carolyn confirmed glumly. "After I got dressed, I went to check on her. I'm not sure she slept at all last night. She's curled up on her window seat in what I assume was one of Ryan's sweatshirts, just staring blankly out her window."

Derek's face morphed into that of pain and concern, perfectly mirroring his mother's.

"I asked her if she wanted food. She said 'No'. I asked her if she wanted to talk. She said 'No'. I asked her if she wanted anything. She said 'No'."

She shook her head sadly, choking back the lump taking residence in her throat. There was nothing that could compare to watching your child in pain. And not being able to do anything about it was the most helpless feeling in the world.

"I'm really not sure what to do here, Derek," Carolyn admitted. "Grief I can understand. I lost my love too soon so I understand that side of her pain perfectly. But she blames herself. She thinks she's the reason he's dead. I don't think she knows how to live with herself."

"It's kinda like Izzie…"

Two head whipped towards the source of the unexpected voice and stared at Meredith questioningly.

"It's just…I mean…" she stuttered nervously under their gazes. "Do you remember Denny? And the whole LVAD wire thing?"

"You mean the night Bailey's interns all went rouge?" Derek quipped only to be rewarded with a whack in the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, what? Who is this we're talking about?" Carolyn questioned.

"Denny was a heart patient around 5 years ago during our first year as interns. Izzie was the intern on his case when he first came in that year and they fell for each other. Denny had been on the waiting list for a new heart for a long time and it looked like it was going to happen but something came up that made the donor heart unusable. There was one other person ahead of Denny that was going to get another heart that happened to be getting harvested at the same hospital. When Izzie found out she, uhmm….went a little crazy? She knew in order for Denny to get the heart, he had to get worse. So she cut the wire to the machine pumping his heart. George, one of the other interns, was there when she cut the LVAD wire and called me and Cristina to come help. Long story short, Dr. Bailey caught us, Denny got the heart and proposed to Izzie, and we were forced to plan a prom for the chief's 17 year old niece as punishment."

"You planned a prom for punishment?"

"We weren't allowed near anything surgical because no one would give up Izzie as the one who cut the LVAD wire. I guess it was better than doing nothing. Plus it was his niece and what she wanted so…" Meredith trailed off with a shrug. "The only thing we weren't really looking forward to was the fact that we all were being forced to go. I actually think the chief made every surgical staff member go."

"Richard made you all go to a makeshift high school prom?" Carolyn chuckled. "How did it go?"

Meredith's eyes shifted nervously towards Derek only to see him doing the same. Adulterous sex wasn't something you particularly wanted to discuss with your mother/mother-in-law.

"It was great," Derek said quickly.

"It was fine," Meredith agreed with a nod.

"Fine?" he asked with a slightly hurt tone. "Fine? You thought it was just fine?"

"It was a prom for a 17 year old, Derek. Besides, you didn't plan it, why do you care?" inquired Carolyn suspiciously.

Realizing this wasn't the time or place to discuss that particular topic, he began his attempt to back track out of the hole of embarrassment he was digging himself.

"I just…think she should give herself more credit," he amended. "I think everybody had a good time," he concluded, his tone holding a slight suggestive purr.

Meredith swiftly kicked him under the table, trying not to blush.

"Not everyone has a good time that night. It was the night after Denny's transplant and he was recovering. Izzie went to go see him but when she got there he had passed away. He was prone to blood clots and they think a clot formed on one of his sutures and caused a stroke. When we all got there she was lying with his body and sobbing. We lived together at the time so we all went back to my house. She spent the entire night and all of the next day on the bathroom floor in her prom dress."

"She blamed herself for his death," Carolyn deduced sadly.

"Yes. Really there was nothing we could do for her. We all took turns lying next to her on the floor but I'm not sure there was anything else we could have done except let her know we were there for her. But she had to come to terms with it on her own before we could really help."

"So you think we should leave Amelia alone?"

"Actually, the opposite. We'd sit with Izzie and she didn't say much, but one of the times I went to check on her she talked about feeling like she didn't have anyone anymore now that Denny was dead. I think right now all we can do for Amelia is let her know she's not alone."

The table fell into silence as they each contemplated how to help the woman currently drowning in her sorrows upstairs.

"Are you two hungry?" Carolyn asked, breaking into mom mode. "I'm not sure if she'll want it, but I'm not about to just let Amelia waste away up there without at least offering her food."

"Whatever you want to cook, Mom. Do you want help?"

"No, no. You sit and relax. It's just eggs and bacon."

Meredith managed to keep down a couple eggs, so breakfast remained a quick and largely uneventful affair.

"Derek, why don't you take a plate up to your sister."

"Okay," he agreed and pushed himself away from the table.

"And please be nice," she called after her son. "No one needs you two fighting right now."

"Okay, Mom," he conceded with a groan. No matter how old he and his siblings got, at times their mother still managed to scold them like they were bickering 8 year olds. Of course, to be fair, sometimes they still did bicker like 8 year olds.

It wasn't until he reached the top landing of the stairs that he realized what might be walking into in the next few moments. The picture his mother painted, while not surprising considering the situation, wasn't something he was anxious to witness first hand.

He took a moment to mentally prepare himself before knocking lightly twice and pushing the bedroom door open.

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