Meredith is sound asleep in bed when Dr Bailey comes into her room to check on her vitals. She decided to not bring any interns with her so Meredith could have her privacy and not have her friends jumping all over her in concern.
"Hi Bailey." Derek says softly.
"Hey Derek, I heard she had a rough night."
"Yeah, she was up the majority of the night sobbing that her head was hurting. They gave her some pain meds but for whatever reason they took a long time to kick in. I hate seeing her in so much pain. And on top of that she was extremely nauseous and throwing up a bunch." Derek said sadly. "The pain meds only kicked in at 3am and it's now 5am. She's going to be exhausted today."
Bailey sighed and looked at her sleeping intern. "Her body must be getting used to the pain meds since she's having to constantly take them. I might prescribe morphine to help with the bad ones."
"Do whatever you need to do to take her pain away. Bailey I hate this! She doesn't deserve any of this!"
Derek says frustrated.
"I hate it also. She's my intern. I want to be teaching her, not having to take her vitals while she sleeps."
Derek lets a tear escape. "She's getting worse. And this new chemo is just so horrible on her body. She's so sick all of the time! I want her to pull through but at this point I don't know if she can!"
"We just have to keep being positive and hope that the medicine does its job. That's all we can do at this point." Bailey says.
Meredith coughs in her sleep and they both turn to look at her.
"And I don't want to tell her there's a prom here tonight. She'll want to go to prove she's fine but we both know she's not. She'll just overwork her body and be even more exhausted." Derek says.
"Derek, all of her friends are required to attend. If she was working she would be also. I'm not saying she has to stay the whole night but this would be good for her to have some fun and see her friends. You know all of them don't want anything to happen to her. You and I both know they would be sitting next to her the entire time."
"Yeah. I guess. I'm just scared. What if she goes to the prom and then gets worse?" Derek questions.
Meredith starts moving around in her bed and slowly opens her eyes. She looks absolutely exhausted.
"P-prom?" She asks sleepily.
"Shh, go back to sleep baby." Derek whispered, running his hand over her head.
"Wh-what's the prom for?" Meredith whispered with her eyes half open.
Derek sighed, knowing he has to tell her. "They're having a prom for Richard's niece tonight. All of the interns are required to be there. You don't have to, of course."
"I w-want to go." Meredith whispered.
"Mer, no. You're in no condition to go. You need to stay here and rest." Derek said.
"He's right, Mer. You cannot afford an infection right now. You just need to stay in bed and rest. Besides, the rest of the interns are only required to go because they're in trouble. You're not required to go."
"I'm an intern." Meredith coughs. "Wanna go."
"Mer..." Derek sighed.
"Wanna go... don't know how much time I have left." Meredith lets out a hacking cough and rubs her forehead. "Wanna dance with Cris."
Derek knows Meredith won't give up. He sighs and nods. "Fine. But you're wearing a mask the entire time there. Like Bailey says, you cannot afford to get an infection right now."
"Besides... I should go for Richard." Meredith says weakly. Her eyes are closing but she forces them open.
"Okay Mer. Stop fighting your body and get some rest. We'll wake you when it's time." Derek says softly.
Meredith nods. "Need dress." She whispers as she falls asleep.
Derek is relieved to see that Meredith is sleeping again. She needs all of the rest that she can get.
He realizes Meredith is right. She needs a dress for tonight. He knows that if he were to suggest that she just wear comfy clothes she would say no.
"She needs a dress for tonight. I don't want to leave her side." Derek sighs, looking at a sleeping Meredith.
A few hours later Meredith wakes up to see Derek watching her sleep.
"Hi." She whispers.
"Hey there. Did you sleep well?"
Meredith "s'okay."
"Meredith, you need to promise me that when we go to the prom tonight that you'll take it easy. Please tell me if you're not doing okay. Promise me that. I know you're super weak so we'll bring the wheelchair for you."
"I'll be fine. Don't want a wheelchair. Wanna be normal."
"Mer. You're not okay. You're very sick. I don't want you to overwhelm your body tonight. I don't want you to get an infection, baby. That'll really set you back."
All of a sudden Meredith started clutching her head.
"Mer? Is your head hurting again?" Derek asked concerned.
Meredith couldn't respond, she was in too much pain. All she could do was moan in pain.
"Mer, talk to me baby." Derek said worried.
Tears streamed down Meredith's face. She dug her fingernails into her palms and started breathing heavily.
"Derekkkkkk... make it stop!" Meredith sobbed. "Owwwwwww." Meredith was in so much pain that she was feeling out of it. "Derek please... I can't take this... owwww. Make it stop!!!" Meredith's sobs increased in volume.
Derek quickly pressed the nurse's button over and over again. Derek is very alarmed at how quickly the pain had set in.
"Owwwwwwww!!!" Meredith sobbed, clutching her head.
Nurse Linda quickly ran in and saw the situation. "I'll page Bailey 911. Don't worry Meredith, we're gonna make the pain go away soon."
"Now! Please!" Meredith sobbed.
"Shhh, you're okay. It'll go away soon." Derek said, getting into the bed, being careful of everything attached to her. He scoops up Meredith and holds her against his chest. "I've got you."
"It hurts!!!" Meredith sobs.
Dr Bailey comes rushing in. "What's going on?"
"She all of a sudden got a really bad headache. She's in a tremendous amount of pain. Can we give her a sedative please so she doesn't have to wait for the pain meds to kick in?" Derek questioned.
Bailey nods, looking very concerned at her intern squirming in pain.
"Mer, how bad is the pain sweetie? On a scale of one out of ten." Bailey asks.
Meredith just moans in pain in response.
"Mer, I need you to answer me sweetie."
"15! Owwwww. It's killing me! Owwww! Make it stop!!!!"
Bailey quickly rattles off to a nurse to bring her pain meds and a sedative. The nurse quickly brings the requested items.
"Mer, you're going to go to sleep now. You're going to be okay sweetie." Bailey quickly injects Meredith with the sedative.
Meredith's cries quickly stop and she falls fast asleep.
Bailey injects the pain medicine into her IV.
"She is in no condition to go to the prom tonight." Bailey says, looking at Derek.
"I know. Let's see how much she fights us on that later when she wakes up again." Derek says.
I hope you enjoyed!
