In the morning, Ellyse still wasn't feeling great, she was better than the night before but all morning she had been tired. She had spent the night in Meredith's bed but she didn't get much sleep so now she was napping off and on throughout the day. Meredith was beginning to get concerned because her daughter was never sick, in her whole 5 years of life, Meredith could count on one hand the amount of times Ellyse had gotten sick but she was training herself not to panic as it hadn't been 24h yet and there was still time for whatever was making Ellyse sick to pass.
She was sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee, her daughter on the opposite end of the l-shaped furniture warmed closely by her duvet, which Meredith had brought in from the girls bedroom. Her cheeks were rosy and her brown curls were tatted up in a messy bun just like her moms. Derek had called earlier to check in on both girls and he was worried as he heard his daughter sobbing down the phone. Meredith sounded stressed as she tried to soothe her but nothing seemed to be working, the lack of sleep was just putting too much weight on the girl and Meredith felt helpless. He had offered to come around to her apartment and make them breakfast and help out with Ellyse but Meredith politely declined, she didn't want Derek to think she had to rely on him, she could take care of her daughter.
Today was also the day that his mother would be arriving, in fact her plane was due to land soon and Meredith was no where near ready to see her again, she was a mess, mascara down her face and her hair stuck down with sweat, she had a lilac t-shirt on with grey sweats that both had sick on from when Ellyse threw up during the night. She thought about putting it off until tomorrow, especially considering the condition of her daughter who was supposed to be the star of the show today, but what would Carolyn think if she cancelled? She would think that this was a way of avoiding her and she didn't want her to think that as much as she wish she could.
She was disturbed from her thoughts when she heard a whine come from the small girl on the couch, she got up and leaned over so that she could check on her. Looking down she could see the frown on her face, the frown of pain and she didn't know what to do. It had been a rough night but she had stopped being sick which was good. Meredith watched as she began to stir so she stroked her hair softly as she began to wake up.
"Hi, still feeling sick baby?" she asked pouting her lips.
She watched as she nodded and rubbed her eyes, Meredith sighed and was met with the green eyes of her daughter who was staring back at her. Looking at her she noticed that her rosy cheeks were starting to pale, which was good, it meant that her fever must be going down.
"Daddy." she heard Ellyse mutter.
"Daddy's not here Ells."
Ellyse nodded but repeated it again. Meredith frowned with concern, maybe she should call Derek, maybe he should be here.
"You want daddy?" she asked and watched the girl nod, she kissed her forehead and watched as she closed her eyes again. She picked up the phone and walked into the kitchen to call Derek.
"Hey Mer, what's up?" he answered.
"Are you busy?" she sighed down the phone.
"Im just at the airport, ma should be here any minute, why? Is Ells okay?"
"Yeah, no, yeah" she sighed and rubbed her head, "I don't know, I don't know what's wrong with her." her voice broke signifying that she was crying.
"Don't cry Mer, she'll be okay, do you need me to come over?" he offered. She nodded her head in relief before replying.
"Please." she cried.
"Okay, I'll get ma and then I'll come right over, okay?"
"What about your mom?"
"I don't know, I might have to bring her with me." Meredith buried her head in her hands.
"Or I can tell her to wait in the car." he said when she didn't respond.
"You can't leave her in the car Derek, she's your mom." she rolled her eyes as she dried her tears.
"Okay, she's just coming through the gate, I have to go Mer, I'll be there soon."
She nodded and ended the phone call, her head rested in her hands against the counter for a few minutes before she grabbed two ice cold waters and went back to her daughter.
Putting the phone down, Derek felt guilty that he had listened to Meredith in the first place, of course he should have been there to help her, but he would be soon. He saw his mother walking through the gate, a smile on her face as she saw him for the first time in four months.
"Derek." she smiled as she hugged him.
"Hi ma." he smiled. His mother gave the best hugs.
"I missed you son."
"You too ma. Are you ready to go? Do you have all your things?" he asked nodding towards her bags.
"I do and I am, let's go."
Derek grabbed her bags and they walked to his car, he put the bags in the back and sat next to his mom who was in the passenger seat.
"So, we have a change of plan." he said and watched his mom frown.
"Ellyse had a rough night last night, she has some kind of bug and Meredith sounds like she's stressed, stressed enough to make her cry." he said.
"Oh, poor babies." she looked at him sadly, "so, I'm going to have to wait a little longer to meet my granddaughter?"
"Not exactly... I told Meredith that I would go round and help." he said sheepishly.
"Okay? Now I'm confused." his mother told him.
"You can still meet Ellyse, but you're going to have to come to Meredith's apartment with me."
"That's fine Derek." she smiled and he nodded before starting the car and heading to Meredith's.
"I know baby, I know." Meredith cried as she rocked her crying daughter on her lap.
She was a great mother, one of the best and she didn't want to cry in front of her daughter but she couldn't keep up and the stress and the lack of sleep was drowning on her. Ellyse had been crying non-stop for the past 10 minutes and she couldn't find a way to stop her, nothing seemed to be working and she was considering taking her to the hospital for a work up. It was stupid, she was a doctor, a surgeon, and she couldn't even help her own daughter when she needed to.
"Mommy-" Ellyse hiccuped before vomiting in front of Meredith on the floor.
"Shh, I've got you, it's okay." she said as she carried her to the toilet.
She sat Ellyse down in her lap in front of the toilet and rubbed her back and she was being sick. She heard the doorbell of the front door ring but she couldn't leave her daughter, she was afraid that she might choke or faint if she wasn't there, she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the door open.
"Mer, I used the spare key." he shouted as the door closed.
"Mer?" he shouted when he didn't see her.
"In the bathroom." she shouted back, she heard his footsteps and then a knock on the door which she had closed to keep in the smell.
"Can I come in?" he asked.
"Yeah." she sighed and watched as the door opened.
"Oh Ells." he muttered sadly as he saw his daughter look up at him crying. It was obvious she had been sick.
"Daddy." she cried.
He looked towards Meredith with sad eyes and noticed how exhausted she looked, she was covered in vomit, her hair a complete mess, mascara and tear stains down her cheeks.
"Are you okay? You look exhausted." he sighed.
"I'm fine, I've just had no sleep." she ran her hands over her face before returning them to her daughter's back.
"I think she's done." Meredith muttered and picked Ellyse up.
"Let's get her back on the couch and I'll grab a bowl in case she needs it." he assured her.
"Where's your mom?" she stopped before they left the bathroom.
"She's in the living room." he looked at her.
"Great. Look at me, she's going to think I'm the worst mother in the world." she sighed.
"She won't Meredith, she's done this before." he said nodding at Ellyse.
Meredith took a deep breath and nodded before leaving the bathroom. She saw Carolyn sitting on the stools at the kitchen counter, standing up when she saw Meredith.
"Meredith." she smiled slowly.
"Hi Mrs. Shepherd." she said nervously, holding tighter onto Ellyse.
"Please, it's Carolyn." she smiled warmly, her eyes flickering to Ellyse.
Meredith noticed her looking at her daughter, her grandchild, and felt sorry that she had to meet her this way.
"We've had a rough night." she scoffed quietly, feeling insecure about the way she currently stood in front of her and Derek.
"Let me take her Mer and you can go and take a bath, get something to eat." Derek offered.
"Okay." she sighed,
Meredith handed Ellyse over to Derek, her heart breaking when she heard her daughter's whimpers from the movement.
"It's okay Ell's, daddy's here." Derek whispered.
"Daddy." she whined as she buried her head into his neck.
She walked towards her bedrooms and sat on her bed when the sobs that she was holding in finally took control of her body. Derek could hear her crying from the living room and looked to his mother who could also hear them.
"I need to go check on her." he stood up.
"No, I'll go. Look after your little girl, I'll worry about Meredith." she nodded to him and walked towards Meredith's bedroom.
The sight in front of her breaking her heart for the young mother.