Stand By Me

A/N: I do not own any of Shonda Rhine amazing characters. Sorry for the delay. Since I'm stuck in a doctor's office this beautiful day, I decided to write while I was waiting to be seen.

It has been three days since the accident. Kinsley has been under sedation. Derek is recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Meredith is about to be discharged. Kennedy, Kollin, and Karson are all okay.

Kinsley jolts awake, trying to sit up. Dr. Callie Torres jumps up, putting a hand gently on Kinsley's shoulder. "Sweetie, don't try to sit up. You're in a brace for your back to heal. You broke your back in the accident, but you'll be good as new by the time school starts."

Kinsley looks at Callie, "What do you mean when school starts? I have to be like this all summer?" Kinsley starts tearing up.

Callie pats Kinsley's shoulder. "It'll be okay, I promise. If you work hard it could be sooner."

"Where's my dad?" Kinsley whimpers.

"He had some head trauma that your Aunt Amelia is watching. He's in good hands. Meredith is getting discharged today and your sister and brothers are at home with your Aunt Maggie. You are all fine. You are all going to be just fine," Callie says, as she looks away so Kinsley doesn't see her tear up. This was reminding her of when she was thrown through a windshield. Derek went through the exact same trauma. He just has to pull through.

Meanwhile, in Meredith's room:

"Everything is checking out. Your arm looks like it's healing well, your ribs are also healing nicely, and other than a concussion, you're clear of head trauma. If you're ready we will discharge you today. Just let Maggie and Amelia help you at home." Bailey looks up at Meredith while swiping through her chart.

"I'm ready. I need to see Derek. And make sure Kinsley is okay. Has anyone called Addison? She needs to be here." Meredith is anxious, ready to get to her husband and step-daughter.

"Calm down, Meredith. I called Addison. As soon as she makes sure the clinic has her cases covered, she'll be on her way," Richard pats Meredith's leg. Addison works at the Oceanside Wellness Clinic in Los Angeles as an OB/GYN.

Amelia crosses the room and joins the other two doctors by Meredith's bedside. "Derek isn't bleeding in his frontal lobe anymore. I managed to stop it in surgery the day of the accident. He isn't worsening. He isn't improving. It is just a waiting game. He still has brain activity and is responding to only painful stimuli. But I know my brother. He will pull through this. He just has to." Amelia turns away, fighting back tears.

Bailey adds, "He had some blunt chest trauma as well. We are monitoring that closely, but his chest tube output has slowed tremendously. He also had a CT and MRI of his chest earlier and other than the collapsed lung, he seems to have been spared of anything major."

Meredith slowly gets up and reaches for her sister-in-law, pulling her into a gentle hug. "Thank you. And yes, Derek is strong. He will pull through this."

"Callie comes in to find this scene and holds back tears herself. "Is Derek okay?"

"He's doing okay. There's really no change other than all the bleeding has stopped. It's just a waiting game now," Bailey says. "How about you give Meredith an update on Kinsley."

"Yes. That's actually what I came here for. We just let up on sedation and let her wake up. She has a fracture dislocation of the spine. We surgically fixed her. She will be in a back brace for up to three months and then I will reevaluate her then. She still has some swelling and a drain at both sites. I had to go in from the front and the back of the spine. She doesn't have feeling from the hips down at the moment, but with the spinal fusion I did, I'm hopeful that it will improve. She's in good spirits."

"Thanks for looking after her, Callie. I don't know what I would have done without you." Meredith walks over and gives her a gentle hug as well.

After Meredith is discharged, she races up, well as fast as someone who was just in a MVA can, to Derek's room. She slowly walks in. Derek is off the vent now and breathing on his own. His head is bandaged and he has cuts and bruises all over his face and arms. Meredith sees he still has a chest tube, but it looks like it isn't draining anything anymore, just as Bailey had said earlier. Meredith walks up to his bedside and pulls up a chair. Grabbing Derek's hand, she says, "I'm here, Derek. Hang in there. We've got you."

Next thing Meredith knows, she's being tapped awake. "Mer. Wake up, Mer. We need to do a follow up CT on Derek. I just want to monitor him closely so no surprises arise."

Meredith glances up to see Amelia's worried face. "Yea, sure. I'll go check on Kinsley. I need to call Maggie too and see how Kennedy, Kollin, and Karson are doing."

While Meredith is making her way to the Pediatric Ward, which she is sure Kinsley is hating right now, due to all the "tiny humans" around her, she reaches in her pocket for her phone. Dialing Maggie's number, she puts the phone to her ear.

"Hello, Meredith. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. They discharged me a few hours ago. I just can't bring myself to leave until Derek is for sure okay. How are the kids?" Meredith realizes she hasn't seen them since before the accident.

"They're fine. We just finished dinner. They are eating popsicles and watching emFrozen/em in the living room. They have been asking about you, Derek, and Kinsley. I told them that you were all okay, but just needed a little more help from the doctors than they did."

"Okay. Thank you for playing interference. If you need to get back to work tomorrow, bring them to the hospital. I think I can handle them here. I know they're probably scared. Tell them that mommy loves them."

"I took the week off. Dr. Riggs is covering my service. If you want though, we can come have lunch with you tomorrow."

"That would be great. Thank you so much Maggie. I'm going to check on Kinsley now, since they just took Derek to CT. Tell the kids I will see them tomorrow, okay?"

"Will do, Mer. Just let me know if anything changes okay?"

"Okay."

Meredith puts her phone back in her pocket as she enters Kinsley's room. She discovers Kinsley laying in the bed, with her best friend Abigail sitting in the chair next to them. Of course they were watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians. For some reason, Meredith had no clue why, but Kinsley was obsessed with them. "Hey girls. Looks like you've got good company, Kinsley."

"Hey, Meredith." Kinsley grins at her step-mother. "Abigail came to keep me company until her curfew. Especially since you and dad were kinda tied up. Mom should be here tomorrow. She had to tie up loose ends at work."

"I'm glad you came, Abigail. It helped me and her dad out a lot." Meredith smiles at the giggling girls. She was glad Kinsley had a friend her age that could distract her from the problem at hand.

"It was no problem, Dr. Grey." Abigail handed Kinsley a water.

"I wanted to give you an update on your dad. He's still the same. No better. No worse. It's just a waiting game. But your Aunt Amelia is watching him closely," Meredith says as she gently sits on the bed.

"How are you doing, Meredith?" Kinsley looks at her arm with concern.

"I'll be okay. It's just a broken arm. Callie fixed it up. And your sister and brothers are fine. They are at home with Maggie. They're going to come for lunch tomorrow, so if you want we can come and eat in here with you since you can't get to the cafeteria quite yet." Meredith smiles at her step-daughter.

"That sounds good. I actually kind of miss those munchkins," Kinsley giggles.

"Good. I'm going to let you two continue your marathon TV watching. I'll let you know if anything changes with your dad, okay? Meredith starts to get up and head to the door.

"Okay. And Meredith, I love you." Kinsley looks at Meredith with gratitude.

"I love you, too, Kinsley." Meredith gets out of the room just in time to let the tears roll. That was the first time since Kinsley was in elementary school that she told her that. Even though she knew Derek wouldn't be awake, she wanted to get back to his room and tell him.

Meredith comes back into his room and sits back in the chair next to his bed. She was sure Amelia would be back by shortly to give her an update. Meredith grabs Derek's hand and says, "You will never guess what Kinsley just said to me. She told me she loved me. She hasn't said that in ages." Meredith leans down and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

As she starts to lean up, Derek's eyes start to blink. "I love you, too. You're a great mom."

She sits up quickly, and looks into her husband's eyes. "Derek?"

"Yes, Mer?"

A/N: Sorry to leave you to another cliff hanger. It took me all day even after the doctor's office to get this story done. And I have an ear infection, just lovely since I work 8 hours tomorrow. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Memorial Day if you are in the States. The next 2 weeks are crazy so I may not update for three weeks, but I promise it's coming. Thanks for all the reviews. It's the fans like you that keep me writing. Also don't forget about my Facebook fan page if you want to keep up with when I am writing! megnikfanfic