Where You Belong

78

"I heard Susan's back," Derek's soft tone pulled Meredith from her studying. After assuring herself Susan was fine, Meredith had been unable to find her friends, so she had grabbed a textbook and found herself a bench outside to studying on. "Everything okay?"

She smiled at the concerned look in his eyes. "Just an infection. She'll be fine."

He nodded. "Good. I figured if anything was wrong-"

"I would have paged you," she finished before he could. "If anything was seriously wrong, you would have been the first to know. She's hooked up to IV antibiotics now." She smiled. "I stayed as long as she'd let me, then she kicked me out of her room, saying I had to study. I promised I wouldn't come back for at least two hours."

Derek chuckled. "Sounds like Susan."

"Why can't I say no to that woman?"

"Because you like her."

"So? I like you. I can still say no to you."

This time he laughed out loud. "True."

"It was nice to spend some time with them both this morning," she continued. "I, uh, told them that if we decided to have a ceremony, I wanted them there."

He smiled and kissed her. "Good."

Grasping onto his hand, she leaned her head against his shoulder. "It's nice."

"What is?"

"To feel like I have a family. He's never going to be a dad, not after everything, but maybe he could be a...something. And Susan is the closest thing I've ever had to a mom. And I know that I'm a grown up and I don't need a mom anymore, but it's nice to have someone there, you know?"

"I do."

"It's just a nice feeling."

"I'm glad. You deserve it."

She sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the warm sun. It was so unusual for Seattle. "I think we should get married outside," she finally spoke.

"Hmm?"

"We should get married outside," she repeated. "Inside is stuffy and formal, and we...we aren't stuffy and formal. What do you think?"

"I think outside is great. We may get wet, but it would be us."

She giggled. "We'd probably get wet," she agreed.

He sighed and dropped her hand to wrap an arm around her. "It's such a nice day."

"I hope it stays this way."

Weather-wise, she got her wish. The sun stayed out and the clouds stayed away. It was a brilliant day outside the hospital. Inside, however, things were very different...

"What happened?" She demanded, running into Susan's hospital room out of breath after running up three flights of stairs in response to her nine-one-one page late that evening. In a series of domino effects, Susan's condition had progressively worsened as the day had gone on. Expecting that her step-mother would be staying in the hospital overnight, Meredith had rounded on her patients and headed for the cafeteria to grab something to eat so that she could stay with Susan. When she had received the page, her heart had begun beating frantically and she was overwhelmed with the sense that something bad was about to happen.

Something really bad.

"She's septic," Richard answered from Susan's bedside. "The sooner we get her to an OR, the sooner we can help her."

Meredith was passed Susan's chart, and she read furiously over the notes from the last few hours, hoping to find something that would help Susan.

"Richard, what...what happened?" Thatcher stuttered.