Strong enough

10

"Easy, take it easy." Derek held his wife up as she was throwing up in the toilet

"Can I do anything?" Charlotte asked quietly

"Can you make a towel wet, please?" Derek asked as Meredith kept going

Charlotte hurried and handed a wet towel to her father

"She'll be okay, just give her some time." Derek told his daughter as Meredith finally stopped throwing up and was gasping for air

"Love you." Charlotte whispered as she hugged her mom from behind

"I'll help your mom shower, we'll be out in a bit so why don't you lay down on the bed and maybe see if we can watch a movie?" Derek suggested

"Okay." Charlotte hestistanly nodded and left while Derek started to undress himself and his wife for a quick shower

"I'm tired.." Meredith muttered, shivering as she felt so cold

"Get in, the water will warm you up." Derek kissed the side of her head and watched how his wife stumbled inside

He quickly joined her and started soaping her in, seeing how she struggled to keep her eyes open. He did his best to support her a little but suddenly her knees gave out and he was just in time to save her from falling down on the cold tiles

"Easy-" He did his best to hold her up, really hard since the water was still running and everything was slippery

But Meredith broke down, she didn't even know it pulled her over the edge but she couldn't keep her tears in any longer. She was so tired, she felt awful and just wanted the stupid disease to be gone

"Shh, don't cry." Derek carried her to the toilet and placed her down, quickly covering her in warm towels

"So dizzy.." She muttered, struggling to keep her head up

"It's okay." Derek leaned against her so her head was against his chest

"Is everything okay?" They heard their daughter knock on the door

"Yes monkey, we'll be there very soon. Can you make sure we got enough blankets, please?" Derek asked while starting to dress his wife in a try to warm her up

"I don't want her to go through this." Meredith muttered

By the time Derek had dressed Meredith he struggled to keep her up and accidentally made the towel rack fall on the ground

Charlotte was so scared she called her aunt Addie

"Charlie? Is all okay?" Addison picked up

"Mommy.. And- I-" Charlotte was really upset

"Charlie? Is she okay?" Addison was frightened and immediately ran out of the hospital, followed by Mark as they were getting ready to leave for dinner at their brother and sister's house

"I don't know. She was crying and then there was a loud noise.." Charlotte whimpered

"We're coming over right away. It will be okay, sweetie." Addison promised

"Thank you.." Charlotte whispered and hung up, she saw her dad carrying her mom inside. "Daddy?"

"Fine." Meredith groaned, reaching out for Charlotte's hand

"Are you sure?" Charlotte asked her mom, really scared

"Yes monkey." Meredith forced herself to reply as normal as possible

"I.. I called Aunt Addie.." Charlotte looked down. "I was worried."

"Oh honey, I'll call her quickly. But we understand." Derek nodded and called them

...

An hour later everyone was at the house, Meredith was still asleep upstairs with Charlotte

"I'll go check on them again." Addison said and hurried off

"No, I'm really scared.." She heard Charlotte explain

"I know, but the doctors know what they're doing." Meredith replied tiredly

"What if anything happens to you?"

"Nothing will happen." Meredith kissed Charlotte's forehead

"I don't wanna move to DC, we really can't move."

"I promise we'll talk to daddy soon." Meredith muttered, saved by Addison's knocking

"Hey, how are you two doing?" The redhead asked

Both didn't really know what to respond and just kept quiet

"Dinner is almost ready, do you wanna try some?" Addison asked Meredith

"No, I'm gonna take a nap. Charlie, you should go downstairs and have dinner. I'll call if something is up." Meredith promised

"I can have dinner here.." Charlotte suggested

"No, go see everyone." Meredith tried to convince her

And so Charlotte did, she went downstairs to have dinner with her family until her dad suddenly got a phone call and left the room

"So sweetie, would you like to come with us next weekend?" Carolyn asked

"No, I wanna stay here, with mom.." She muttered

"Fuck everything!" They heard Derek yell, which made Charlotte flinch

"What's wrong?" Mark rushed out of the room towards his brother

"They wanna sue me! I apparently can't just cancel my contract, having a sick wife apparently isn't a good enough reason!" Derek yelled, everyone could hear it

Addison wrapped her arms around her niece, seeing how her anxiety kept rising while Derek continued despite Mark's tries to calm him down, even Christopher now had joined

"Maybe we should go." Derek suddenly heard his wife's voice, seeing her lean against the wall, her skin pale and her hair a mess

"No, Charlie was right." Derek shoop his head

"Then you should go. Go fly to DC, explain everything to them and hear what they gotta say.." Meredith suggested, smelling the food which started to make her nauseous again