Easy on me

3

"What the fuck?" Meredith woke up and heard her husband yell at her "What the fuck Meredith?"

"I'm sorry, I- I just-" Meredith stuttered

"Why are you sleeping in Grace's room again? Is it because of me? Am I a bad husband?"

"Shh, don't wake her please" Meredith tried to keep him calm and walked out of the room. She could just close it before he grabbed her face with his hand "D-Did you drink?"

"Of course I have been drinking! I don't wanna come home to you, you're awful!" He yelled "You're an awful wife, an awful mother!" He spat in her face

Tears started to pool in Meredith's eyes but she was fighting them from falling. He couldn't know how much he would hurt her with his words

"Stupid, pathetic whore!" He pushed her and she stumbled off the stairs

"Matt!" She yelled before falling all the way down. The second she hit the ground, she kept herself from crying out in pain. Her body was hurting but she couldn't show that to him. He watched her lay down before disappearing into his bedroom. Meredith waited a bit until she heard his snoring so she knew he was asleep

Meredith had no idea how long it took as she was freezing cold from laying on the floor. She slowly pushed herself up as she winced

Her shoulder and back felt awful but she had to get up. She had to make sure her daughter would be safe

Meredith slowly walked up the stairs with some small whimpers. She grabbed herself some old clothes that were in the laundry, there was no way she could risk going into her bedroom. She couldn't change her shirt, her shoulder hurted too much so her black shirt would do

Meredith tried to lift up her 4 year old daughter and had to fight tears as her shoulder and back were killing her

She carried Grace to her car and buckled in the little girl. She got in the car herself and drove away, she drive to the hospital

Once she reached the parking lot, she was crying in pain. She looked behind her and saw Grace still asleep in the car seat

She pulled out a small box with painkillers she had left in her car for when these kind of 'accidents' had happened

She couldn't sleep. She had locked the cars but kept staring outside, scared that he would find them even if she knew he was sleeping in their house and he wouldn't wake up in the first few hours because of the alcohol

As sunlight started to shine in the car, Meredith heard Grace wake up

"Mommy?" Grace whispered

"Hi baby" Meredith tried to turn around but winced

"Booboo?" She rubbed her eyes

"Yeah, it's okay. Shall we get out and get you some breakfast?" Meredith asked

"Okay mommy" Grace whispered

Meredith slowly got out as her body was sore. She helped Grace out of the car and then grabbed her stuff

"Keep holding my hand, don't run away baby" Meredith told her daughter as they walked through the parking lot and inside the hospital. They found a seat in one of the corners in the hospital after Meredith got some cereal for Grace

"Thank you mommy. I love cereal" She giggled

"I know monkey" Meredith smiled and softly kissed the tip of Grace's nose before the little girl started digging in

"Meredith, hey!" Alex walked towards her

Meredith wrapped her good arm protectively around Grace

"Hi, Alex" She breathed

"You're early" He frowned as he looked at Meredith. This wasn't the woman he had met all these years ago

"Oh- I-" Meredith gasped "Yeah" She breathed

"Are you okay?" He asked as he placed his hand on her shoulder

"Ahhh" She groaned

"Mommy!" Grace gasped

"It's okay" Meredith composed herself "I fell last night, it will be okay"

"Grace, can you finish breakfast so we can take mommy to an examination room" Alex asked the little girl

Grace nodded and quickly finished her cereal "I'm done mommy"

"Thank you baby. Come on, we have to clean up this table" Meredith said and grabbed the tray

"Let me" Alex offered "You're in pain"

"I'm fine!" She whispered

"Come with me please" Alex asked her

"Okay" Meredith sighed and held Grace's hand

Alex led them to an examination room and helped Meredith on the table

"Can you take off your shirt?" Alex asked as he put of some gloves

"I- I can't" She sighed

"Can I help?" Alex softly asked

"Yeah" She breathed

Alex slowly helped to take off her shirt and gasped as he saw her upper body "Mer.."

"Mommy?" Grace sounded scared

"I'm okay baby. I just took a fall, Alex will fix me up"

"I'm gonna give you a gown. I need scans" Alex looked into her eyes "Do I need to call your husband?"

"No" She said quickly "He's probably asleep, he had a long shift"

"Okay, let's go then" Alex said and helped Meredith into a hospital gown

...

"Mer, your shoulder is badly sprained" Alex sighed as he walked back into the room after checking out the scans "I'll need to give you a shoulder sling so you have restricted movement. Your back seems okay but I need you to rest" Alex said

"I'll take care of you mommy" Grace smiled

"Mommy needs to rest a lot, Grace. You and daddy have to take good care of her" Alex smiled at the young girl

"I'll do it" She firmly said

"I have work.." She sighed

"I paged Richard. He'll come up in a bit. I'll help you with your clothes and sling first" Alex said and did so. He helped her back in her shirt and hung the sling around her neck "Your cheek, was that from the fall as well?"

"Yeah" She breathed

Alex nodded even if he knew this bruise was older than the others, he decided to drop it for now

After a bit, Richard walked in and they discussed work. He told her she could come in for short shifts when she felt like it. He even suggested she could drive with her husband, if only he knew..

"You're okay to go Mer" Alex smiled "Do I have to call your husband?" He asked again

"No, his shift will start soon. I'll find a way to get home" She softly smiled

"I drove here with my girlfriend. If you want I can drive you with your car and take a cab?" He suggested

"Yeah, that's good. Thank you Alex" Meredith softly smiled as she was playing with Grace's hair "Let's go baby girl. We're going home"