Leave a light on

9

"Her oxygen dropped, she had a lot of trouble breathing. I think her body can't fight the infection" Derek yelled as he stopped the car in the ambulance bay.

"I'll bring the kids to daycare" Alex offered and helped them out of the car, his eyes fixed on Meredith who was now wheeled inside

Derek nodded and followed everyone inside

"Shepherd, out!" Bailey yelled

"I'm staying!" Derek yelled back

Bailey nodded and stopped trying to fight Derek.

"Der?" Meredith murmured between panting

"I'm here, I'm staying here" He said and grabbed her hand

Derek could see a small smile forming underneath her oxygen mask

"Kids?" She asked

"Alex brought them to daycare. They're in good hands" Derek assured her

"''m sorry" She whispered

"Why?" Derek questioned

"Ruining.. our sunday..afternoon"

"You didn't! Mer, we just wanna take good care of you" Derek said

Meredith nodded and focussed on breathing which was already difficult enough

"Bring her to a room" Bailey yelled "Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna admit her. Her lungs don't sound clear and once she's breathing clear again, I wanna take her to CT. Until then we'll keep her on oxygen" Bailey told Derek

"I'm coming with her"

...

Meredith was awake and was laying in Derek's arms

"I wanna see the kids" She said

"Should I page Alex to bring them?" Derek asked

She nodded.

"Meredith?" Teddy came in "We got your scans back. For now, I don't wanna see you returning home, you'll need to be admitted for at least one week. We're also gonna place a long term feeding tube to help you get in all the nutrients you need."

Meredith started to tear up

"Mer, it will help you" Derek whispered as he started to brush her hair with his fingers

"I know" She sighed

"We'll get you schedueled in a few hours, okay?" Teddy asked

Meredith nodded again "Who'll do the procedure?" Meredith asked

"Bailey insisted that she would perform it" Teddy told her

Meredith nodded again "I need to see my kids" Meredith said

"I've paged Alex. He'll be here soon. Take some rest before they get here" He said and kissed her temples.

Meredith closed her eyes.

It wasn't the sound of snores that filled the room. It were gasps. Meredith was fighting for every breath

Soon enough, Alex and the kids entered the room.

"Hey babies" She smiled and weakly opened her arms as the kids crawled in the bed, surrounding their mother

"Mommy? Are you okay?" Zola asked

"I am" She gave them a weak smile as she felt her energy dropping with every breath.

Every breath felt like a chore. It was as if Meredith wouldn't push herself, that her body would stop