Because of you

11

"Derek- Slow down please." Meredith asks.

"Take your time, Meredith." Derek told her as they entered the hospital. "They'll wait for us."

Meredith was walking on her braced ankle, using crutches as she could barely put any weight on it after her PT session earlier

"Hmm.." Meredith nods and bites her lip, doing her best to follow as quickly as possible.

Derek's heart broke as he saw the pain in her eyes, the frustration she had about the crutches and how done she was with the whole situation. She was never very patient but the whole brain damage situation had for sure made it all worse

"I enjoyed lunch a lot. It's been way too long since we've been there." Derek said, trying to distract her

"What?" Meredith looks up, clearly too focussed on moving forward, now finally relaxing as they wait on the elevator

"I said I enjoyed lunch. My avocado toast was very good." He repeats, rubbing circles on her back to ease her annoyed feeling, or at least an attempt to

"Yeah, it was good." Meredith nods, staring at herself in the reflection of the elevator, its doors finally opening

Derek let Meredith go first, only then spotting Mark in the elevator

"Hey Mer. Hey Derek, how are you two?" He asks, knowing Meredith wasn't doing that great

Meredith looked at Derek, making sure to keep her balance by using her crutches, hoping he's answer for the both of them

"We're on our way to get some new scans for Mer's ankle, afterwards we'll go see Richard." Derek explains

"Addie was wondering if you two would wanna come over for a movie night soon, but doesn't have to be right away." Mark said, placing his large hand on Meredith's tiny shoulder

"We'll see." Derek nods, sighing as he hated to see Meredith so desperate

"Sorry.." Meredith sighed. "We'd love to come over, just not today, please." She looks up at Mark, the guy she's been seeing like her older brother for years

"No worries, Mer. But can we come over tonight? Drop some food off for you two?" Mark asks, knowing the couple has been extremely busy and barely found enough time for Derek to make them proper dinner

"Thanks Mark. That means a lot." She nods, looking down as she hated to be so dependent on others

"Of course, Mer. I gotta get out here. Bye guys, see you tonight." He removed his hand from Meredith's shoulder and walked out as the doors opened

...

"I wanna go see dad." Meredith sighed after Callie had strapped on her new brace, she experienced a lot of discomfort as her ankle was forced to be straightened again, instead of turned in and pointing down like it had been the past time

"Let's go then." Derek nods and lets her go first, trying to keep an eye on how she was doing, noticing she avoided putting weight on her left leg. "Does it hurt that bad?" He asks

Meredith sadly nods, not wanting to say much more as she felt tears welling up slowly

The couple made their way over to Richard's room on the oncology ward.

"Dad?" Meredith asks as Derek knocks on the doro

"Hi." Richard smiled tiredly. He had had another round of chemo yesterday and was still recovering

"How are you doing?" Meredith asks concerned, crutching inside and looking at his IV. Usually she could immediately tell how he'd be doing because of the amount of meds he was receiving. But ever since the accident it took her more time to calculate all the meds in her head

"Not too bad but don't you wanna sit down a bit?" He asks her, seeing how her arms were shaking from all the crutching she had done

"Yeah.." Meredith sighed and crutches over to a chair, Derek taking a seat next to her. He took the opportunity to rub her arms and neck a bit, knowing they must be painful

"Did you get your brace?" Richard asked as Derek had kept him updated, even if Meredith much rather kept it hidden, claiming that he doesn't need to worry about her while fighting cancer

"I did. It will work for now." She nods, even if all three knew that wouldn't be the case

"Did you see your mother?" Richard asks, wanting to change the subject

Meredith shook her head

"We haven't. Mer's been extremely busy with PT. But Addie did go check on her." Derek tells Richard, knowing how much the man loved her, even if Derek will never understand how that's even possible

"Has she been lucid?" He asks, really worried about his wife

"No. Sorry Richard." Derek said the truth. "We can take you there when you feel a little better." Derek suggests

"That would be very nice, yes." Richard nods, feeling his energy drain extremely fast

"We should go, you need some rest, dad." Meredith stands up, again she only used her crutches instead of her left leg

"Okay princess. Thanks for coming over, and let Derek help you. I love you." He hugs her tight

"I will, dad. I love you too." Meredith whispers as they hug

"Bye Richard. Call us if anything is up." Derek hugged him as well and then the couple left. Addie and Mark indeed dropped off the meal, but Meredith was asleep on the couch so they didn't stay long, knowing she was on heavy pain medication and combined with the brain damage it made her sleep a lot.

Thanks everyone for the comments on my previous chapter. Here I am again with another update, hope you like it and please send some ideas!