A/N: Thank Hay (merdermcdreaming) for this. I wasn't originally gonna post tonight but between her kind words and her capitalized nagging, I changed my mind.

XXX

Meredith woke up in a sterile looking room, tucked snugly under itchy white sheets. Adjusting her eyes to the fluorescent lighting, she vaguely remembered the events that had transpired. There was a car crash; that much she was clear of. And she had been with Derek. Then Derek got stuck in the car but they cut him out. They were put into ambulances and taken to the emergency room. After that, her memory went fuzzy. Suddenly she was overcome with the urge to get out of bed and find Derek. She attempted to sit up but was stopped by a tug and a shooting pain in her side. Looking down, she found a tube sticking out of her side. Meredith tried to lift her arm to feel her ribcage but the same shooting pain stopped her. The one thing she could reach was the call button, which she immediately pressed.

A minute or so later Dr. Bailey walked in. "You're awake," she stated.

"Where's Derek?" rasped Meredith in a tired voice. The pain in her sides became dull and constant as she spoke.

"He's out of surgery."

"And?" Bailey took a deep breath and walked to sit beside Meredith on the bed. "Don't do that," said Meredith, her voice cracking.

"What?"

"The sympathetic thing where we sit beside the patient. It makes me feel like he's dying."

"He's stable," articulated Bailey reassuringly, covering Meredith's hand with one of her own.

"I feel a 'but' coming," she said nervously.

"There was a lot of swelling in his brain so we had to leave a part of his skull in his abdomen until the swelling does down," she said. "And his other injuries were extreme, so for his own comfort and easiness of healing we put him in a medically induced coma."

Meredith gulped, her head aching from a combination of the drugs wearing off and trying to comprehend everything Bailey told her. "H-his spine," she stuttered. "There was something…a piece of the car…lodged in his spine."

"I was getting to that," sighed Dr. Bailey. Meredith looked up at her, searching her eyes for a spark of good. "There was damage to his L-1 through L-5 vertebra. Nelson was able to do the decompression. It was an incomplete spinal chord injury. But until he wakes up, we have no idea how much, if any, function or feeling he has."

"So… he could be paralyzed?"

"It's possible."

Meredith sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn't be paralyzed. He was Derek Shepherd with the big ego. Being paralyzed would emotionally kill him. It would rip him inside out until he was nothing but a broken shell of a man. "When do you think he'll wake up?" she questioned apprehensively.

"I don't know," admitted Dr. Bailey. "I think the Chief and Nelson are going to talk about it in about three days. They'll assess his progress but… there's a chance," she breathed.

"That he won't wake up," whispered Meredith.

"I'm so sorry Meredith."

"I…he's been my best friend for… years…I can't-" she said, her voice breaking as she started to cry. A sob rolled through her chest, making her wince visibly in pain. "I never said anything," she whispered to herself.

"I know," said Dr. Bailey.

"You…"

"I'm Dr. Bailey, I know everything."

"What about…did someone call his fiancé and his family?" sniffled Meredith.

"I called his family personally and I had a resident call his fiancé," she assured Meredith. "I think at least his mother is on her way."

"Thank you, Dr. Bailey. They deserve to know."

"Okay," said Dr. Bailey, sucking in a breath. "I'll leave you to get some rest."

"Can…can I see him?"

"Later. You need to sleep. You have two fractured ribs and a punctured lung. While you were sedated, I inserted a tube to drain some fluid. And if you didn't notice, you have a broken tibia," she said. Meredith only then realized that she hadn't taken a moment to assess her own injuries. Of course she noticed the tube sticking out of her side and the pain that kept ailing her. She looked further down to realize her leg was in a blue plaster cast. "You're just realizing your injuries. That shows how selfless you are, Meredith Grey," smiled Bailey. "Now get some rest." With that she strode out of the room.

XXX

A few hours later, Meredith peeked in to consciousness and heard hushed voices. "Mom, we she should at least wake her up for a moment to say hello, tell her we're here," said one of the voices.

"Hush. Let the poor girl get some sleep. We'll go sit by your brother and wait until she wakes up," a different voice spoke.

"I don't want to leave her all alone!"

"You're right, she shouldn't be alone. Stay here. I'll go sit with your brother. He shouldn't be alone either…even if he's in a coma," said the voice that was becoming familiar. It was of an older woman.

"Erin is with him," a younger voice spoke.

"Still," said the older voice disdainfully. "He should be with people who really care about him."

"Okay."

"I'll see you later." Meredith heard footsteps and she strived to open her eyes.

"Hey," she heard. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Amelia Shepherd sitting in a chair beside her. She looked like her normal put together self. A pair of jeans, a shirt that revealed a little more of her stomach than most professionals, and a black blazer covered it all. Her brown hair was uncharacteristically put up, and there was fear and worry hidden behind her exuberant, fiery blue eyes.

"Amelia, what are you doing here?" she questioned with a smile as she started to wake up.

"We didn't want mom out here alone and since I'm the last sister with no kids or husband, I flew out with her. She left the other girls at home with their kids. She didn't want everyone hovering."

"Good idea," said Meredith, her voice tired and strained.

"Yeah the Shepherd sisters can be… overwhelming in a word," laughed Amelia. There was a pause for a second, as Amelia looked Meredith up and down assessing her injuries. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm fine."

"Good."

"Have…have you seen Derek?" she asked nervously. Her stomach did a flip turn at the thought of his bruised and bandaged body, lying in the neurosurgical ICU.

"Just briefly. He… it looks bad. He doesn't look like Derek," she whispered sadly.

"I want to see him."

"Later Mer, you need to rest."

"Amelia," she pleaded desperately. Somehow, her mind couldn't wrap itself around the idea of Derek in a hospital bed. The last time he'd been in one was during her Freshman year of college when he'd crashed his motorcycle but then it was just cuts and bruises. Now he was lying in a bed in the intensive care unit.

"I don't need two siblings in medically induced comas," snapped Amelia.

"Amy," sighed Meredith.

"No one calls me Amy," she half-laughed. "Only…Derek calls me that."

"He really looks that bad," asked Meredith in an anxious whisper.

"He's not Derek...or he doesn't look like him."

"And Erin is there?"

"Yes," groaned Amelia.

"She's not that bad," Meredith lied.

"Have you met her?" she asked sarcastically.

"So…she's a little…fake."

"Mer, that woman is not right for Derek. He should be with…well, you."

"Amelia!" scolded Meredith, her cheeks flushing red.

"I'm sorry Mer but you're in love with him and you are prefect for him. If you got married, you'd really be my sister instead of my unofficial one."

"Just-" She shook her head no.

"Sorry," breathed Amelia.

"It's just too hard."

"I know."

"He asked me to be his best man," she said, an amused smile creeping on to her lips.

Amelia let out a hearty laugh. "You, his best man? Oh that is priceless." Meredith nodded; trying not to laugh because she knew it'd end up with her in pain. Her eyes started to fall droop and close; her eyelids felt heavy. She tried as hard as she could to keep them open, wanting to continue talking to Amelia. "Sleep," commanded Amelia softly. "I'll be here when you wake up."

"Okay," she said as sleep overtook her.

Close my eyes for a while
Force from the world a patient smile

XXX

A/N: This update was drowned by dialogue. I couldn't save it.

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