Loosely Knotted [2/2] [✔]

Eighty

Meredith's POV

"Eurgh, do I have to go back? It's so boring on the ward." I whine as I'm snuggled up to Derek in our bed on yet another last day of leave that I've been granted. He, on the other hand, laughs at my childish questioning.

"Mer, we have the same conversation everytime your leave comes to an end."

"Yeah, I know but I just wish I could stay here with you. In our safe little cocoon bed."

Derek leans down and kisses my hair as he couldn't reach anywhere else.

"Soon, baby. Soon."

He always says that but he doesn't know what it's like. What it's really like. Being on the ward, it feels like all I'm ever doing is waiting for the next meal or waiting for next therapy appointment. It's tedious.

"Der? Do you think I could be discharged soon? It's been 5 months, I'm a healthy weight, eating unsupervised.. what do you think?"

"You're still sectioned, though?"

"Yeah but, maybe I could talk to Dr Wyatt. Would.. would you be okay with that?"

Derek shifts his body so he's sitting a little further away from me and is able to watch my reactions better.. or he's just trying to buy himself some time before telling me he doesn't want me home.

"If you'd rather I didn't come home here, I could find -"

"What? No! Meredith! No! I want you to come home, as soon as possible but I don't want to rush it. I don't want to rush you. Let's talk to Dr Wyatt when we get back, okay?"

I nod, and we go back to cuddling for a little while. We eventually decide to get up and I attempt to make Derek some pancakes but they got burnt so Derek made a fresh batch for us both after mocking me mercilessly.

--

As we was walking through the hospital, we bumped into Arizona who greeted me with big opened arms. It felt awkward the first time I met her whilst I was on leave but now it's almost a tradition to bump into somebody, but I guess that's what is to be expected when the ward is literally in the same building as the place where all my colleagues work.

"Meredith, hi! How are you doing?"

"I'm good, really good! I'm going to ask Dr Wyatt about the possiblity of coming off my section. I think I'm ready"

Arizona glances over to Derek with a hint of worry in her eyes.

"Arizona, she's ready." Derek reassures her, and that fills me with so much pride that he defended my decision like that.

Arizona wishes me luck for my appeal when I said that I needed to get back as I only had 10 minutes left.

We walk in and I immediately see Dr Wyatt, so I walk over and ask if I could possibly have an appointment. She looks at me, and then at Derek and says "Of course" and guides us both into her office.

When we get in, she doesn't bother offering us a drink like she normally does.

"Meredith, are you okay? What's happened?"

I frown at her, I'm confused.

"Nothings happened, I need to talk to you. Possibly a favour, well it's not a favour, it is a favour but not like a -"

"Mer, just ask her."

Dr Wyatt looks concerned, I think I've worried her..

"I'm okay! I'm doing really well. I was just wondering if I could possibly come off my section and be discharged?"

Dr Wyatt looks between me and Derek once again, "Derek, how do you feel about this?"

"I think, Meredith is ready. I've never seen her like this, I'm mean, she's talking more about her emotions and how her day has been. She has never done that before. Literally ever, even before when she left last time. I'm so proud of her."

I squeezed Derek's hand to ask him to stop talking so positively about me. It makes me uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Mer, but it's all true."

I nod slightly, trying to accept Dereks kind words.

"I have been discussing it with the team. Obviously, therapy as an outpatient is still a necessity  - intense at first while you settle back into your regular life again and then we'll ease off. Give me two hours and I'll get back to you. You can stay if you want, Derek"

"Thank you, Dr Wyatt." We both call out as she stands up.

As we walk back, we bump into one of the kitchen staff and I ask if I could have some fruit to eat. When I turned back around, Derek was staring at me. Pride was beaming out of him.

"Please, don't make a big deal of this." I laugh at him, bumping my hip into him. When we get back to my room, I begin to peel my orange and think about life once I'm discharged.

"What you thinking about there, Mer-bear?"

I roll my eyes at the nickname, "You sacrificed so much while I was relapsing and -"

"Meredith -"

"No, let me finish. You sacrificed  so much while I was relapsing. We couldn't have a proper wedding, I lost our baby, we missed out on a honeymoon. I wanna do that all, for you now. Let's get married, again. Let's have a baby. Have a holiday. Let's do it all."

Derek smiled and nodded and his eyes filled with tears. I don't think he could talk right now without breaking down in a pool of emotions.

Soon, Dr Wyatt was knocking on my door and came in.

"Well, I've managed to get you off your current section. You've been put on a temporary community section which means you can be discharged but if you show signs of a relapse you can be sent back here, no questions asked."

I jumped up, is this real?! I'm being discharged!

"There won't be any relapses."

"I want you back here three times a week for therapy. Then we'll drop it down to twice weekly, then once a week, then fortnightly etc. By that time, the community section will be reviewed and likely removed."

I ran over to her and hugged her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I'll see you the day after tomorrow." Dr Wyatt got up and walked out.

Me and Derek hugged each other.

"Let's go home, Der."

Well, that's it for this story. I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for reading.

Thank you for the continuous support and patience you've all given me with this story, I've truly appreciated  it. Keep and eye out for any updates, you never know what might come up in the future ;)