This is a longish update. Enjoy!

Five hours later, they landed in New York; Meredith called Russell before she left Seattle, asking if there was any chance of him having Adam, he agreed to meet her at the airport, from where they head straight to the hospital. None of them brought much luggage with them, so they decided not to bother going to the hotel. When they get to the hospital, the first person they see is Nancy.

"Nance, where is she?" Derek says

"She is in the ICU, Derek, Amy's in their with her" Nancy tells him,

"Okay, I'm going in, Meredith you coming?" Derek says.

"Derek, you and Mark go in, I'll wait here" she tells him

"Meri, I can't do this without you" Derek pleads with her.

"Derek, you know they only let two people in the ICU at a time. Mark should…"

Mark walks over to Meredith, "Mer, he needs you, I will go in afterwards" he says to her quietly.

"Okay" she says turning back round to Derek, Derek, puts his arm around her waist, guiding her into his mom's room. Meredith felt Derek pulling her tight, has he look at his mother, lying their, with tubes. He had seen this many time, always warning the families, how hard it was but to see from the other side, he realised no warning would prepare the families for seeing their loved one in this state. Amy walked over to Derek and gave him a hug, Derek never let go of Meredith. Amy left the room; Derek finally let Meredith go while he went over to his mother.

Meredith stood there watching Derek, seeing him in so much pain, ripped through her. Everything he felt, she felt. She knew watching him, that she was ready for this, her feelings for him had always scared her, she knew from the moment she met him all those years ago, that he was her soul mate, the love of her life. He was the one, who sat with her, comforted her when her mom died, even though she had tried to push him away. Russell gave up trying to comfort her, because she wouldn't let him, but Derek wouldn't let her, no matter how much she tried. In the bad times, it was always his love for her that always got her through those times; she just hoped that her love was enough to help him through this. Derek motioned her to his side; he pulled her onto his lap, while he spoke to his mom. They stayed like that for a few moments, just being in each other's embrace, it helped to ease the pain for Derek, the pain of seeing his mother with tubes coming out of her. He feels Meredith shift in his lap, he releases his grip on Meredith, giving her the chance to get up and move.

Meredith moves over to the door of the ICU, where Kathleen is standing in the doorway.

"How is he?" she asks

"Not good, Kath, does Mark want to see her?" Meredith asks her

"Yeah, he's worried"

Meredith gives Kathleen a little smile, and walks over to Derek, she gets on her knees and kneels in front of him, and she cups his face in her hands, raising his head to look at her.

"Derek, I'm going to wait outside"

"Mer, I need you"

"Derek, Mark wants to come in…"

"Oh…Mark…I'll come out with you" Derek says, standing up and pulling Meredith to her feet. Derek leans over and gives his mother a kiss on the forehead. Derek wraps his arm around Meredith's waist, his head on her shoulder has they walk out of ICU. Derek sits down in the family waiting area, with Meredith sat next to him holding him.

A few hours had passed with no change, all the Shepherd siblings take turns in sitting in with Diane, Nancy insisted that everyone stays at her house, Derek, Mark and Meredith said that they would stay at a hotel. Derek knew that Meredith wouldn't want to stay at Nancy's, and with Adam it wouldn't be easy and her and Nancy have never really liked each other. He didn't want to put Meredith in that situation, he noticed that Meredith wasn't around, than he remembered that this was where her mother had died, in his worry over his mom, he had completely forgotten about it and that the anniversary was only a couple of days away. He knew that she would go down to the NICU, and watch the babies, she found it calming, he did consider going down to find her, but he left her too it, she would come back up when she was ready.

An hour later, Meredith still wasn't back, Derek was starting to get concerned, it wasn't like her to disappear on him when he needed her, he was pacing up and down.

"Derek sit down" Mark said.

"Where is she?" Derek demanded at no one in particular.

"She probably just has gone for some fresh air. She'll be back, she isn't going to leave you Derek" Mark said, just has the elevator dings, and Meredith walks out of the elevator. Derek rushes over to her, pulling her close to him, Meredith is surprised at Derek's action that her arms stay by her side to begin with, before placing her arms around his waist.

"I was worried, Mer" Derek said to her quietly.

"I'm sorry Der, I needed a break" she said pulling away from him and taking his hand and leading him over to the seats. Kathleen comes out of the ICU and walks over to where Meredith and Derek are sat she sits down next to Derek.

"Derek do you and Mark want to go in, I'll stay out here with Meredith" Kathleen says to him. Derek gives Meredith a quick kiss on the forehead before heading into his other's room.

"Kath, what did the doctor say?" Mer asks.

"They sent her for a CT scan, there is some swelling, but they don't want to operate just yet. Apparently the force pf the impact was very hard, and they aren't sure if she is only to wake up. They want to do some more scans tomorrow, to check the pressure, CT, MRI, but they don't hold much hope. I haven't told any of the others yet, I mean how to tell them Mer, especially Derek, and losing mom would destroy him." she said, trying to hold back the tears, but unsuccessfully.

Meredith puts her arms around Kathleen, letting her cry. She can see how much Kath needs this right now.

"You have to tell them Kath"

"I can't, I can't even entertain the possibility that she might not wake up"

"I know, none of us can, but they need to be prepared"

"I will see what the doctor says tomorrow, than I will tell them, please don't say anything Mer"

"Okay, but you have to tell them tomorrow" Mer says, has Derek makes his way over to them. Derek sits down next to Meredith; she turns to him, seeing how tired he looked.

"Derek, let go to the hotel, and shower and get a couple of hours sleep, than we can come back so Kath can go home" Mer says.

Derek shakes his head. "Mer I can't leave her"

"Der, listen to me. It's only for a few hours; she wouldn't want you making yourself ill"

"Mer I can't"

"Derek, go and get some sleep, you look exhausted. Amy is staying here with her for the night, and she will contact you if anything changes" Kathleen tells her little brother.

"Okay," Derek says, turning to address Mer "only a couple of hours Mer"

"I promise, now go and get Mark"

"Okay, bossy I'm going"

Meredith, Derek and Mark make it to the hotel about 3am; Meredith had promised them that they would only be at the hotel for a few hours. She knew they all needed showers and some sleep. Meredith and Derek had adjoining rooms, while Mark had the room next door to Meredith's.

Meredith had just had a shower, and was about to climb into bed when she heard a knock at the door, she knew it was Derek since it was on the door that adjoined their rooms. He opened the door, and walked into the suite, he saw Mer was in bed. He gave her a weak smile.

"Mer, I don't want to be on my own, can I stay with you tonight?" he asked gently.

"Come on Derek, get into bed" she told him.

Derek climbs into the bed next to Meredith, she indistinctively moved closer to him, she puts her arms around him and pulls him close to her, she can tell that he is crying, and her heart goes out to him. She knows how close he is to his mom, and Diane had always been like a second mother to her. She can feel his eyes on her; it brings her out of her thoughts.

"Thanks Mer" Derek says to her quietly.

"For what? Der"

"For being here"

"Derek I wouldn't want to be anywhere else"

"Mer, I couldn't do this without you. You are the first person I want to see when something happens. Is there a chance for us to work this out?"

"Derek, I want…Let just get through this first, make sure you mom's okay, than we can talk about this"

"You promise, you won't…"

"I promise Derek, now let get some sleep" she says giving him a quick kiss on the forehead, before turning over a facing away from him.

"Goodnight Mer"

"Goodnight Derek"

They fall asleep on opposite sides of the bed, and somehow during the night they both feel cold, and indistinctively move closer to each other in the bed, until they entangled in each other arms, and then they both have the best night sleep neither of them have had for a year.