Strong enough

31

"I'm scared.." Charlotte whimpered in Mark arms

"I know, sweetie. But Bailey is doing everything for your mom and aunt Addie is there, she'll help her." Mark stroke his fingers through Charlotte's hair, it had always calmed her down

Meanwhile Derek was running behind Meredith's gurney. They placed cooling blankets all around and on top of his wife's pale body

"Run this to the lab, now!" Bailey ordered after she took Meredith's blood, she needed to see what was going on inside Meredith's body

"She can't be sick, right? We've been so careful with her!" Derek yelled in denial

"Shepherd, something is causing her to have a fever, we'll give her meds and meanwhile we'll cool her down with ice packs. So either you remain calm or you're leaving the room." Bailey said sternly

"Bailey, please take care of her." Derek said before he went to stand at her head, stroking her cheek softly as he held her head, feeling her skin burning in his hands

…

An hour later Charlotte was asleep in Mark's arms after she had cried herself to sleep

"Monkey?" Derek opened the door of Mark's office

"She's finally asleep, how's Mer?" Mark asked, really worried about his sister

"She's asleep and was brought to the ICU. Bailey said no damage was done by the seizure. She's on heavy antibiotics, I- I wanna stay with her tonight." He made clear

"We can take Charlie but I'm scared she will wanna see her mom." Mark sighed

"She's not old enough to enter the ICU.." Derek sighed sadly

"I really hope you'll sneak her in because otherwise I will." Mark said sternly

"I don't wanna take any risks, Mark." Derek said, tears welling up in his eyes

"Meredith would never allow you to keep her from seeing her daughter, especially not if she'd known how Charlotte was crying here before." Mark said sternly

"Shortly, but she needs to sleep in a proper bed outside of the hospital." Derek gave in

"We'll take her home, Addie and I will manage." Marj nodded

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Derek sighed. "Is it okay if I go back to see Mer? Please come when she's awake, I wanna hug her.." Derek sighed, scared to touch her because she needed some rest.

"We will, go be with Mer now." Mark nodded and sighed in relief, Meredith was okay for now. He believed she would fight this and soon enough she'd win from the cancer

Derek was hurrying back to the ICU. His wife was laying down in the bed, cooling pads still surrounding her

"She's stable for now." Bailey told him. "Her fever is slowly going down."

"Charlotte's asleep in Mark's office.." Derek muttered

"I'm sorry, Derek." Bailey squeezed his arm softly

"Bailey- My wife and daughter they-" Derek was completely lost for words

"Go take a shower, get changed and take a deep breath." Bailey ordered him

"The seizure.. It was awful seeing Meredith like that. And Charlie saw-" He shook his head

"Soon enough all of this will be in the past. We'll keep fighting for Grey." Bailey assured him

"I'm staying. Mark said he'd bring Charlie here when she woke up." He said

"She's 14.." Bailey sighed

"I know." Derek sighed

"You got my approval. Just not without protection, okay?" Bailey made clear

"Thanks a lot, Bailey. Thank you." He nodded

…

Derek was hyper focused on his wife, he hadn't missed anything. He watched her chest rising, he watched the monitors, he kept checking her temperature until someone knocked on the door

He saw his daughter and brother. Charlotte's eyes were red and puffy, probably from crying. She was clinging onto Mark, clearly terrified

"Hey monkey." Derek stepped out of the room, hugging his daughter tight

"Daddy-" She whimpered. "How's mommy?"

"She's doing way better, sweetie. She's asleep now and taking a lot of rest but she's okay." He assured her

"I thought mommy was gonna die." She admitted

"No sweetie, mommy just got sick but because of the chemo and the cancer she responded like this." Derek held her tight. "You just need tk get changed into this suit, just because usually you're too young to enter but Bailey said it was okay if you wear protection." Derek explained

"Thank you." Charlotte nodded and got the protection on before she followed her dad inside the room, Mark stayed outside, only two people were allowed at the same time

"Mom's asleep, but she's doing a lot better." Derek explained again

"I'm really scared, daddy." Charlotte muttered, not letting go of her father

Some ideas or feedback would be really nice 🙏🏻