A/N: I hope you enjoy. This story will get a bit more active in a few chapters. It's kinda hard to have action when one of the main characters is in a coma.

XXX

Tears fell softly down Meredith's face like a trickling stream as Amelia wheeled her back into her room. She didn't bother trying to wipe the tears away; she felt like crying. Erin was a manipulative bitch but her words did have some truth in them. She had been driving. She should have seen the car coming. Always look left and right before you cross the road. They taught that to children, walking alone for the first time. She should have remembered that, even if she driving. "Mer," sighed Amelia, pushing Meredith towards the bed. "What happened to Derek was in no way your fault."

"How is it not my fault? I was driving," she cried.

"Meredith Grey," she said firmly, crouching down to Meredith's eye level and she placed her hands on the armrests of the wheelchair. "None of this was your fault. Erin wants you to feel this way. You know how much she hates you just because you and Derek are so close. You and Derek were hit by a drunk driver; it's his fault. The idiot should have been in a cab, not behind a wheel. Derek wouldn't want you beating yourself up over this. You know my brother better than anyone else. Do you really think he'd want you mentally killing yourself over this and avoiding him? Or, do you think he'd want you sitting with him. You've been his best friend for 15 years."

Meredith silently took in everything her friend said, not responding because Amelia was obviously right. "Can we go back?" she questioned softly as she raised her hand to wipe the remaining tears away. "You're right. Derek would probably want me there. And, I'm not being me right now. The real me would have done anything to sit by him and kick the bitch out," she finished with a lot more strength.

Amelia smiled broadly. "There's my Meredith!" she exclaimed and grabbed the handles of the chair. "I'd be happy to escort you back there." She quickly pushed Meredith out of the room, down the hallway, into the elevator then down to the ICU. Meredith politely smiled at a few colleagues as they wished her well. They burst into Derek's room startling Mrs. Shepherd as well as Erin.

"I thought I told you to get out," hissed Erin, her eyes narrowing at Meredith.

"I did that," answered Meredith. "And now, I'm back." Amelia grinned at her best friend's snark as she pushed Meredith closer to Derek, earning a smile from her mother.

"You're not welcome here," sneered Erin.

"She is very much so," Carolyn said firmly. "Meredith is like my daughter and Derek is my son. Heaven knows why my sweet boy is engaged to someone who is rude to his best friend and doesn't know him at all. Because, if you knew him, you'd know that he'd want Meredith sitting by his side."

"Well, he's not conscious and as his future wife, I should get to decide who's in here and who isn't," instead Erin.

"I'd like to highlight the word 'future' win that sentence," said Meredith snidely. "You're not your wife yet. I'm his power of attorney so, decisions are my job."

"And, I'm his mother and I'm telling you to leave," insisted Carolyn.

"Excuse me?" said Erin, taken back.

"L-e-a-v-e," Amelia spelled out. When Erin didn't move she continued, "Do you have a hearing impairment? Leave!"

"I-"

"Bye," grinned Meredith devilishly, waving at her.

Erin's face scrunched up angrily and she huffed dramatically as she exited the room. Carolyn smiled at her daughter and adopted daughter. "How are you feeling, Meredith," she asked sweetly.

Meredith grasped Derek's lifeless hand and looked up at Carolyn. "I feel fine. I'd be better if Derek were awake," she admitted.

"We all would," sighed Carolyn, walking over to place a supportive hand on Meredith's shoulder.

"He'll be alright," she whispered to herself. Searching his face for any sign of life, she was unsuccessful. He lay pale, lifeless, like an empty canister, waiting to be filled with something substantial. She craved any sign that her best friend was hidden in the still, sickly man lying in the hospital bed; that the strong, amazing man was just hiding, waiting for the doctors to pull him out of his uncurious state. Her hands absentmindedly stroked his arm, attempting to gain any sort of comfort from his warm, alive skin.

Amelia and her mother joined Meredith in sitting on or near Derek's bed and just touching some part of him to reassure themselves that he was alive. Silent tears cascaded down Meredith's face, weeping for the chances lost to confess her feelings. Over the nearly eleven years they'd been best friends, she'd had plenty of opportunities to profess her love but never took them. Their friendship was too important to her to ruin it by means of unrequited love. Meredith took to staring at him intently, willing him to open his eyes. Any flicker of movement to prove life besides the steady rise and fall of his chest. At that moment, waiting with baited breath for Derek to wake out of his coma, she promised herself that if things ever didn't work out between Derek and Erin and if she didn't move on, she'd confess. Her tears suddenly began to fall faster, making her look like a weeping willow, bend over and lifeless.

Suddenly, Meredith felt herself being pulled into the cozy embrace of a shorter, heftier woman. "I know," Carolyn whispered to her as she hugged her closer.

"You know?" she questioned, leaning back from the embrace.

"Meredith, I've known since the day my son brought you home from college."

"But I didn't-"

"At that point you didn't know, but I knew."

"I never told him," she whispered. "And now, it's too late. He's in a coma and engaged to Erin."

"It's never too late," promised Carolyn. "That girl is wretched." She pulled up a seat next to Meredith's wheelchair and wrapped an arm around Meredith's shoulders. "I still have my engagement ring that Derek's father made me promise to give to Derek for the right girl." Carolyn displayed the diamond ring in her soft palm. "Erin isn't right, clearly. I've always thought that one day… you would wear it."

"That will never happen," she laughed bitterly, wiping a few tears out from under her eyes.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"He doesn't love me…at least not the way I love him."

"I just don't think he knows it in the same way you do, sweetheart," said Carolyn. "Somewhere in that thick skull of his, he knows." Meredith shook her head 'no'. "He sees things in black and white. You don't. He needs a spoonful of that. He needs you," she told her softly.

"Well, it still doesn't matter," she said quietly, taking in the magnitude of what her surrogate mother had said.

"Just wait… things tend to unfold for the greater good," Carolyn smiled softly.

"Right now, I just want him to wake up and be fine," sobbed Meredith.

"Oh sweetheart," she said affectionately as she pulled Meredith into a sideways hug. More than wanted to hold him, to be with him as more than a friend, she just wanted him to wake up and tell her everything would be okay.

How'd I let you slip away,
When I'm longing so to hold you
Now I'd die for one more day
'cause there's something I should have told you
There's something I should have told you
When I looked into your eyes

XXX

A/N: I promise, Erin will be gone soon.