All I Want Is This

30

Meredith started waking up when Alicia whimpered and starting tossing beside her. She slowly opened her eyes, heavy of sleep, to see Ally sinking her face in her pillow. As her head cleared a little, Meredith heard the reason for the sudden fussiness around her. A phone was ringing. Immediately she threw the blanket off her and stumbled on her feet, grabbing a hold on the nightstand when she got dizzy. Meredith closed her eyes, controlling her breathing and fighting against the dizziness. When she felt she recovered her stability, Meredith turned and walked out the Alicia's bedroom, trailing into the living room. She grabbed the phone and crashed on the couch as she answered.

"Hello," she answered with a yawn.

"Meredith," Meredith recognized Cristina's voice and from the tone of her voice, she could tell it was about something serious. In that moment, the sleep vanished instantly and Meredith looked at the clock beside her. It was past 4 o'clock in the morning and just then, she realized that she had fallen asleep with Alicia while she waited for Mark to come back from the hospital. "Mark is here," Cristina announced.

"Mark is still there? How bad it was and why wasn't I paged?" Meredith asked, confused.

"He was in a car accident on his way home," Cristina answered.

Meredith felt like she was chocking in the lack of air. "He what?" her voice was barely audible.

"The Chief is taking care of him right now. He didn't seem to have serious injuries," Cristina related. "He is still conscious and this is a good sign."

Though Cristina was giving her several assurances, Meredith couldn't help but feel panicked and suddenly sick to her stomach.

"He wants to see Alicia," Cristina added. "Bring her here when she wakes up."

Meredith had to swallow a limp to be able to form a word. "Ok,"

"I have to go now and... don't worry," Cristina softened her voice. "He's going to be alright."

As soon as she hung up, Meredith ran to the bathroom.

After that phone call, Meredith couldn't go back to sleep. She just lay there in bed with Ally, watching her sleeping. When the time came for Alicia to wake up, Meredith gently shook her. Of course, Alicia wasn't going to jump on her feet right away. She whimpered, shaking her head.

"It's time to wake up, Ally," Meredith whispered in her ear. A muffled whimper came from Alicia's pillow. "Don't you want to get up?" Alicia shook her head. "Don't you want to have breakfast with me?" The girl shook her head again. "Would you let me eat alone?" Meredith adopted a hurt voice.

Alicia didn't come with the answer right away. After she thought about it for a while, she reluctantly got on her knees and crawled to Meredith, hugging her sleepily. Meredith smiled, content with the results, and hugged tightly.

"You're hungry?" Alicia asked her sleepily, yet not opening her eyes.

"I am a little hungry," she answered.

"The baby is hungry too?" Alicia asked then.

Meredith found herself smiled widely as she heard Alicia asking for the baby; it was her first smile that morning, which made her forget for the moment about Mark's accident. "The baby is hungry too."

Alicia sighed as she slowly pulled from Meredith and fell on her seat. She rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn before her blue eyes looked at Meredith. "The baby is still in there?" she asked Meredith, glancing at her stomach.

"The baby is still in here," Meredith giggled as she placed a hand over her stomach. In that moment, she felt a strange feeling sweeping through her body. It was for the first time she was doing that gesture while she was aware of the pregnancy. "And it's going to stay in here for a while."