What Life Holds

33

Half an Hour later

Arizona was still sitting next to a sleeping Meredith when Amelia and Miranda returned to the room. Arizona smiled gently waking Meredith.
"Meredith honey wake up," she said softly, she let go of a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding when Meredith slowly opened her eyes.
"Mmh" she groaned, as she opened her eyes.
"Never like waking up did you Meri" Arizona laughed, moving Meredith bed position so she was sitting up a bit more
"Is that comfortable Mer?" She asked, gently moving the pillows to support Meredith. Meredith nodded,
"I'm fine Zona, sit down." She said softly, Arizona grabbed Meredith hand as she sat down. Turning to Amelia and Miranda.
"Well?" Arizona asked,
"Ok so, I'll go first" Amelia started, "your scans have come back clean I can't see any clear damage to your brain. Your nuro check seemed fine when you first woke up however we completed an EEG anyway." She explained
"The result of the EEG was not surprising however it did show slightly lowered brain activity in the area of your brain that controls your fine motor skills although we believe this is damage that will be able to be regained with time." Miranda continued,
Arizona and Meredith looked at each other taking in the information and silently thinking about what this meant moving forward.
"We then completed the full body check to see if you had any long lasting physical effects from what has happened. We noticed a little bit of scarring in your trachea but it is not going to cause you any harm and is most likely just the result of the intubation. Your digestive system appears to be completely healthy still so we will be able to remove your stoma bag. We did however discover scarring towards the bottom of your oesophagus which may impact your ability to consume food so for now we will retain your PEG tube. You may also find your muscles feel weak that is most likely due to their lack of movement for the past year we did discover some muscular atrophy which is not surprising." Miranda continued,
"Thank you Mandy, and thank you Amy" Arizona said smiling grabbing Meredith hand in hers squeezing it. She felt a slight semblance of a squeeze return but she took it knowing it was most likely the result of Meredith's issues with motor controls.
"No problem, I'm so glad Meredith is awake. Have you called the kids yet or Maggie or Richard everyone will be so excited to know." Amelia replied,
"I've called Maggie and asked her to bring the kids over after school which is in about an hour and Richard is going to come by in about half and hr. We haven't told any of them quite yet what's happened just to come visit for a surprise." Arizona explained,
"Do you want to stay here Amy you could ask Kai to come up?" Meredith asked quietly, Amelia smiled back before turning to Dr Bailey,
"Of course you can Amelia I'll let the rest of the staff know you've taken the rest of the day off and Maggie can have the day off as well." Miranda laughed,
"Thanks Mandy." Amelia smiled going to sit next to her sister. As she sat down she gently held Meredith's other hand, smiling at her sister.
"I'm so glad your awake Mer" she cooed, "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you."
"Thanks Amelia," Meredith said yawning again.
"Meri honey go to sleep I'll wake you when the kids get here." Arizona cooed, gently running her hand over Meredith head smiling as she felt small spurts of hair growing. It didn't take long for Meredith to fall asleep again, and Arizona looked over at Amelia.
"I can't believe she's back, my Meredith's back." She said nearly crying.
"I know, I don't know how we would have survived without her." Amelia answered "should I get Kai to bring the twins later I really want her to meet them but I don't want to overwhelm her." Amelia asked.
"Well even though it probably will overwhelm her Elli will definitely mention the twins so yeah get Kai to bring them by are they just in the nursery today?" Arizona asked, Amelia nodded.
"Ok yeah so get Kai to bring them by later, I'm sure Meredith will be excited to meet them." Arizona concluded.
The pair continued to chat for a bit until Meredith started the stir between them.
"Hey My love," Arizona cooed, "Maggie just texted  the kids will be here any moment."
She continued, gently helping Meredith sit up in her bed again.
It wasn't moments later when four little heads appeared at the door.
"Mummy!" Zola yelled running into the room closely followed by her siblings.
"Hey my little munchkins," Meredith said smiling, Zola and Sofia where easily able to climb into the bed and Ellis and Bailey joined them with an assist from Arizona and Amelia.
"We miss you mummy" Ellis said curling into her mum.
"Sofia where is Aunty Maggie?" Arizona asked unsure of how the kids for there
"She's coming" Sofia answered, hugging into Meredith.
"Kids what did I tell you about running..oh my god Mer?" Maggie yelled entering the room. Her eyes tearing up as she saw her sister awake.
"Hey Maggie." Meredith said smiling, it didn't take long for Richard and even Jo to arrive in Meredith's room. All beyond excited to see her awake.
Everyone sat around talking to Meredith telling her all about what she had missed. Meredith was getting emotional as they told her about the past year but as she got tearful they would stop talking telling her it was ok that she would be ok. As Arizona watched she couldn't help but notice the look on Meredith's face it wasn't one of upset but not one of happiness either. Her thoughts where interrupted by a knock at the door.
As she looked over she saw Kai standing holding one of the twins while Addison was holding the other.
"Kai come in" she said smiling, as Kai walked in Meredith looked at then confused looking at the babies and Addison.
"Meredith," Amelia started, "these are you new nieces, and also your god children." Amelia explained,
Meredith looked at the babies tears in her eyes,
"This one is Addison Faith but we just call her faith." Addison explained holding up the baby for Meredith to see. Kai then carefully passed the second baby to Amelia,
"And this is Meredith Hope," Amelia explained,
"You names your baby after me?" Meredith asked tearfully.
"Yeah we wanted to name the twins after some of the strongest women we knew, would you like to hold her?" She asked
Meredith just looked at Amelia tears in her eyes and nodded. Amelia carefully tried to pass the baby to Meredith but as Meredith went to lift her arms she couldn't they felt to heavy.
"I...i" Meredith started tears falling from her eyes.
As the group saw Meredith start to cry  they all started to try and comfort her.
"Hey it's ok"
"Don't cry it's ok"
"It's ok"
'It's ok' the phrase fell out of everyone's mouth. Tears continued to fall down Meredith's face, as she locked eyes with Arizona.
"Everyone out!" Arizona yelled, everyone looked at her confused.
"Everyone get out, kids you stay with your mummy." Arizona reiterated standing up. Slowly everyone left the room, standing just outside the doors.

Once everyone had left the room Arizona pulled the curtain closed before waking out to stand in front of their friends who all looked at her bewildered.

"Look I know your all trying to help and make her feel better," Arizona started. "But please stop telling her or us that it's ok. It's not ok, it's not she might be awake and I am beyond grateful that she is but it's not ok. What she's going through is not ok. Imagine you went to sleep one night and you woke up a year later. Because that's basically what happened to my wife. A year ago today she was fine, we where home having a relaxing night together and she fell asleep against me then she wakes up a year later. A year! So it's not ok, what she's been through is unimaginable. Not to mention, that's Meredith in there I feel like I shouldn't have to point this out many of you have known Meredith longer than I have. What was one of her biggest fears in life hey? What was it? It was being like her mother. It was missing her kids growing up. And no she is nothing like her mother she is one of the most caring understanding kind hearted people I have ever met she is an amazing mother. One of the first things she asked about when she woke up was the kids, they where the reason she fought. But through no fault of her own she's missed a year of their lives and truthfully she missed parts before the coma because of the treatment and she will miss bits know because of the ongoing treatment and effects of being in a coma for a year. Hell you say then she couldn't hold the babies that means that right now she can't even properly hug her kids. And I know Meredith even though that wasn't her fault it will be killing her that she's missed a year. She fought, she fought hard that's why she is in there that's why our kids get to see their mummy again but it is not ok so stop saying it please." She ranted looking at everyone. "Now go please you can come back in a bit but I need some time with my wife and kids." She finished before turning around and reentering Meredith's room.
Everyone stood there stunned, she was right but they weren't expecting it.
"I didn't know Arizona was capable of yelling like that." Maggie said, "it's so unlike her she doesn't yell she hates confrontation." She continued sharing the thoughts that everyone held.
"Yeah but the only thing she hates more than confrontation is people upsetting those she loves," Amelia reasoned, "I saw her when she realised that Callie had upset Sofia, Maggie you saw it too. She may hate confrontation, i remember when she cried after confronting you Richard" Amelia said smiling
"Yeah I remember that." Richard answered
"But she will do anything to protect the ones she loves so unless you want to get yelled at again I suggest we all go take a break and come back later" Amelia continued. Earning nods from everyone who quickly dispersed.

Authors Note
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Sorry for the delay in posting it I've been travelling.
Arizona may not be a confrontational person but I wouldn't want to get between her and someone she loved.
Please leave comments and suggestions.