After the nurse took Meredith away to bring her to her room Dr Bailey took a deep breath and tried to not let herself fall apart. She is really scared for her intern. Once an intern, always her intern. She steadies herself and leaves the exam room and goes up to the conference room where Dr Webber and Derek are.
She knocks on the door and opens it. Derek has his head in his hands. Dr Webber is trying to comfort him but Derek is just so worried for Meredith that he can't stop freaking out.
"Dr Bailey! Please tell me this isn't true! There's no way that Meredith has leukemia! She's healthy, she's always been healthy." Derek says quickly.
"Derek, you know that we hate this just as much as you do. But unfortunately it is true. We need to run some more tests to confirm the diagnoses but we're pretty confident it's leukemia." Dr Bailey said softly, sitting down next to Derek.
"But... we thought it was just the flu." Derek says softly with tears running down his face. "It has to be just the flu."
"Derek. She has so many unexplainable bruises on her. Bruises that would be difficult to get because of where they're located. Plus she has petachiae on her skin." Dr Bailey says. "None of us want this for her but we need to get these tests done so we can start treating her and getting her better."
Derek nods.
"We have a few questions for you Derek. Have you noticed any odd symptoms lately? Has she been sick lately?" Dr Webber asked.
Derek thinks for a moment. "She's been getting sick easily lately. She's usually pretty healthy and doesn't get sick too often. And she'd been complaining about her stomach hurting her lately."
"Any headaches?" Dr Bailey asked.
Derek nods. "Yeah her head has been hurting her pretty regularly lately. Oh, also I've noticed she's lost some weight and we all know she can't afford to lose any weight at her size."
"I've noticed she's lost weight lately. I was wondering why. Anything she loses is so visible because of her size." Dr Bailey says. "Any noticeable fatigue lately?"
"She's been really exhausted lately like more than usual but we just thought it was just from being an intern and always working. She's been taking every opportunity of free time to take naps. She's even canceled plans with Cristina to go to Joe's to stay home and go to bed instead. Which isn't like her at all." Derek looks at Bailey and Webber. "She's really sick isn't she? All of these symptoms never made sense but now... I just..."
"I know, I know Derek. We hate this too. Meredith is like a daughter to me." Dr Webber says.
"How is she doing?" Derek asks.
"The nurse took her and got her settled in to her room. She was pretty scared when I was telling her what was going on. I told her that we need to do a lumbar puncture and a bone marrow biopsy to confirm." Bailey said. "She's not feeling too great either. I'm having Cristina sit with her for the tests."
"She'll like Cristina there. Have to talked to Cristina yet?" Derek asked.
Bailey shook her head. "No, not yet. I'll talk to her when she gets here for rounds."
——————————————————————
The next morning arrives and Bailey goes to the residents lounge to find Cristina. She hears the residents wondering where Meredith is.
"Dr Yang? I need to speak with you." Bailey says.
"Okay." Cristina starts walking towards Dr Bailey. She tells the other residents "When one of you losers sees Meredith tell her I'm looking for her."
Cristina follows Bailey out of the room and into the conference room.
"Have a seat Yang. We need to talk."
Cristina sits and is wondering why Dr Bailey looks sad.
"It's about Grey. She was brought in last night with a super high fever. We got her fever down eventually but not before she had three febrile seizures." Dr Bailey starts.
"What!! Is she okay? Where is she?" Cristina says freaking out.
"Yang, let me continue. We shotgunned her blood work and it came back abnormal. I also noticed tons of unexplainable bruises on her along with petachiae."
"Please don't say what I think you're going to say." Cristina says softly.
"We are pretty sure that Meredith has leukemia but we just need to confirm it with a bone marrow biopsy and a lumbar puncture. That's where you come in. I want you to sit with here and help keep her calm during these procedures."
Cristina had gasped when Bailey said leukemia.
"I'll do anything she needs. Is there any chance it's not leukemia?"
"Unfortunate we're 95% sure it's leukemia." Bailey said softly.
"Where is she? She's been admitted I assume?"
Bailey nods.
"Yes, she's in patient room 1522. You can go see if if you'd like. We'll be doing her tests later on this morning."
Cristina nods. "Can I go see her now? Do I have to go do rounds?"
"No, you're fine. I'm giving you the day off to be with her and keep her company. This is going to be really hard for her so she needs you. I'll be in this morning to come get her for the tests. I wish I had better news for you this morning."
"Me too. I hate this. I thought it was just the flu." Cristina said softly.
Cristina gets up and finds Meredith's room. She gets there and sees Meredith in bed looking tiny. She looks even tinier in the huge hospital bed. Cristina hates seeing her in a hospital bed.
Meredith hears her come in and opens her eyes. "Hi Cristina. I'm assuming you know?" She says weakly.
"I know." Cristina replies.
