Second Chances

Five

Meredith slowly opened her eyes and tried to get an understanding of her surroundings. She was expecting to wake up in her own bed with Chloe snuggled close into her arms but instead when her eyes opened she realised she was surrounded by four plain white walls then it all came flooding back to her.

"Chloe." Meredith gasped quietly as she sat up quickly, wincing slightly but continued to try and pull her IV out of her hand.

"Mer. Mer stop it." Derek suddenly appeared in front of her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and slowly pushed her back down so she was once again lying down. "You need to calm down."

"But Chloe..." Meredith whispered. "She must be so scared..."

"Well, when I left her she was happily mixing up a fresh batch of cupcakes that they are planning on bringing to you once you're ready for some visitors." Derek smiled down at her, brushing her hair behind her before dragging the chair over before taking a seat, keeping her hand in his.

"She's really ok?" Meredith asked tears shining her eyes as she squeezed his hand tight, looking for some reassurance.

"She's brilliant."

Meredith smiled as she seen the admiration for Chloe shine so brightly in Dereks eyes. He was different. He was becoming the man she had longed for him to be all that time ago.

"I mean she's so clever and beautiful. I mean look..." Derek pulled out his phone from his pocket and started showing Meredith all the pictures from the last 24 hours.

Without even realising, her fingers moved to run through his hair as she smiled down at the photos of her daughter. She knew she couldn't let herself get too attached again so she quickly removed her hand and wrapped her arms around herself.

Thankfully for Meredith, Dr Bailey walked in, a chart in hand as she approached Meredith's bed.

"Good news, it was just an appendicitis. Bad news, Chief wants you to have at least 4 weeks off to rest and recover and to spend some time with that beautiful daughter of yours." Bailey smiled at Meredith before her eyes flicked towards Derek.

She knew the stories. Everyone did. But she was very protective of Meredith and always had been so she was sure to keep an eye on things because she couldn't see that girl hurt again.

"You should be able to go home tomorrow morning." Bailey tapped Meredith's shoulder lightly before leaving the room.

"Hear that Mer, we can go home tomorrow..."

"What are you doing Derek?" Meredith snapped, watching as Derek leaned back a slight shocked look on his face. "I mean why are you here with me? Why are you so hell bent on becoming father of the year all of a sudden? Chloe deserves more. She needed you to step up from day one, not just now. What is it, have you met a woman and you want to impress her and that's it."

"Meredith, it's not like that." Derek knew she had kept this bottled up but he certainly wasn't expecting it to be now. "I wake up everyday regretting the fact that I put my career before my daughter. Before you. I see her now and makes me realise how much I've missed out on, feeling her kick, missing the birth, her first word, her first step..."

Dereks voice broke slightly as he reached up to wipe the tears off his own cheeks. There was no pretending now. He was devastated at his own actions.

"I rang you." Meredith couldn't help but get emotional as well. "When I went into labour, I phoned you because I didn't want you to resent me for not letting you know. But a woman answered your phone and I knew in that moment that you had moved on. Or at least I thought you had...I was angry, for a long time I was angry at you but every time I looked at Chloe it reminded me of the love we shared. I just wish we would have been enough for you."

"It was never you." Derek took her hand in his and squeezed it tight, leaning down to kiss the top of her hand. "I'm so sorry for all the hurt, I'm sorry for not being there but I want to make it up to you."

"For Chloe?" Meredith asked, hesitant to know his answer.

"Yes for Chloe, of course. But also for you. I miss us. I miss what we had. No one has ever made me as happy as you did so if it's alright for you, I want to make it up to you. I want us to get back to what we were before. I want us to be a family." Derek squeezed her hand tight.

"Are you saying this now because I'm in a hospital bed and can't run away from you?" Meredith laughed before wincing slightly. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Get some sleep." Derek stood up, leaning down to brush his lips against Meredith's forehead.

"You should..." Meredith stopped as she yawned. "You should go home, sleep. I'll be alright. Go be with our daughter."

"I'll see you in the morning." Derek smiled down at her and waited for Meredith to be asleep before slowly exiting the room and headed home.

Once he arrived back at his parents house, he quickly noticed that all the lights were off, meaning he would have missed putting Chloe to bed. Heading inside, he quickly made his way up to his room but when he opened the door he quickly noticed that Chloe was actually fast asleep in his bed.

Smiling and shaking his head, he walked over and ran his hand over her hair, gently whispering her name.

"Daddy?" Chloe woke up in a state of confusion which completely threw Derek off as he wasn't expecting it so soon but knew he couldn't get his hopes up of hearing her say it again. "Dewek."

"I'm here." Derek lay down and cuddled Chloe into his arms, holding her close as she clutched her blanket in her hand as she fell back to sleep.

This was everything. Holding his heart in his arms, there was no feeling that would ever come close to this. This is where he belonged.

*a/n*
don't even know if I like this but I realised it had been 2 weeks since I updated...so hope you enjoy

ps any suggestions will be appreciated :)