Never grow up [1/2]

30

"I'll give you a virtual hug. I want you to be nice to mommy, Ellis. Go to bed, we can facetime afterwards" Derek told his daughter

"M-e n-nice! Al-ways!" Ellis stated

"So, be a good girl now too and go to bed, will you?" Derek asked

"Kay" She sighed which made Derek and Bailey chuckle in response

"Come on, Ellis. Say bye to daddy and Bailey" Meredith smiled

"B-ye" Ellis giggled as Meredith ticked her a bit when she didn't hurry

Weeks went by. Derek was still in New York with Bailey, Zola had returned back to work and Meredith was home in Seattle with Ellis

"Ellie, please stop that" Alex could hear Meredith as he entered the house

"B-Bayyy!" Ellis screamed

"We'll call Bailey and dad in a bit, Ellie. First you need to shower" Meredith tried to calm Ellis down

"N-o!"

"Yes, Ellis" Meredith said sternly

"N-o s-ss-shower"

"Then we'll talk a bath, sweetie but you need to get cleaned" Meredith tried to explain

"Ya!" Ellis agreed

Meredith let water run in the tub as she helped undress Ellis

"We have to do your homework after we called daddy" Meredith said sternly

"Now!" Ellis frowned

"No Ellis, we have to finish your bad first" Meredith argued

Ellis started pouting but Meredith quickly finished washing her daughter

"Mer?" Alex yelled

"Be there in a bit" Meredith yelled back and helped Ellis out of the tub and started dressing her daughter. Once she was finished, she went downstairs with Ellis

"U-cle -lex! Ellis giggled

"Hi munchkin" Alex hugged Ellis

"M-ommy call D-addy" Ellis whined

"I'll get the Ipad" Meredith sighed

Alex noticed the exhausted form of his best friend and started to get concerned. She clearly lost a couple of pounds

"Here, let's set up the Ipad" Meredith smiled and mouthed a sorry to Alex

"I'm gonna get you some drinks and food" Alex announced and disappeared to the kitchen

"Hi D-addy!" Ellis giggled

"Hi lovebug!" Derek waved "Hi Mer"

"Hi" Meredith smiled "Hi Bails"

"Bayyy" Ellis moaned

"Hi little sis" Bailey smiled

"How is your mom?" Meredith asked as Ellis ran to her room to get something to show Derek

"She's doing very good. Next week is her last chemo before the scans" Derek said hopefully

Meredith nodded

"The doctors have good hope, Mer" Derek told her

Meredith nodded again. She didn't notice that Alex was now listening too

"Maybe you and Ellis can fly over?" Derek asked

"Derek, I don't know if she wants this-" Meredith started

"Mer, I miss my daughter" Derek said

"And I miss my husband and son but flying all by myself with-" Meredith explained but Ellis ran in

"D-addy, see!" Ellis showed her new sweater

"Oh, princess! It's beautiful" Derek smiled

Meredith was lost in thoughts, she felt bad "I'm going to the bathroom" Meredith said and walked away from the screen, followed by Alex who pulled her to the side and saw her crying

"Alex.." She whispered

Alex opened his arms and pulled her in his embrace. He kissed her temple and let her cry on his shoulder before she composed herself and went back into the room

"Were you crying?" Derek asked concerned as he saw his wife's red eyes

"No" She quickly said

"M-omm-y?" Ellis gasped and turned around "K-ay? M-omm-y kay?" Ellis looked at Meredith with big eyes

"I'm okay" Meredith whispered and faked a smile

"M-M-Mo-mommyyy?" Ellis started to whale

"Shh, I promise that I'm okay" Meredith said

"D-dd.." Ellis struggled "aadd-"

"I know. Daddy didn't mean it, baby" Meredith tried to make Ellis stop but it started to get worse. She was clearly overstretching her body and started to zone out

"Derek, she's having a seizure" Meredith said and quickly held her daughter in her arms

"Is she okay?" Derek asked

"Hey, Ellie, daddy and I are here" Bailey tried

"She'll be okay, Bails. I'll end the call" Meredith said

"Love you" Derek quickly said before the call ended

"Should I bring her upstairs?" Alex asked as she seemed to be responsive again

"Ellie, wanna go rest a little?" Meredith slowly asked

"M.. K-Ka-k-ay" Ellis weakly muttered

Alex wanted to scoop her up but Ellis protested

"M-Moooo" She moaned

"I'll grab you" Meredith said and had to put everything she had to carry her now young daughter to her own room as Ellis had gotten bigger in the past years. But she did, she carried Ellis to her room and laid her down in the bed before grabbing the teddy and stuffing it between Ellis and the blanket before tucking in her daughter

"I'll check on you later. Just rest a bit" Meredith kissed Ellis' head

Meredith returned to the living room and started cleaning up the mess that was made

"Mer, stop" Alex said and held her from moving "Sit down and drink this" Alex handed her a cup of tea "You can't keep doing this" He firmly said

"I have the time off but Bailey called me in last night and I'm just.. I just need a couple hours of sleep" Meredith protested