Strong enough

30

"Mer, you should stay in bed a little longer, yesterday ruined your body." Derek frowned as his wife was fighting him to get up and start Charlotte's breakfast

"She's gonna wake up soon." Meredith muttered

"I'll send her here while you two wait for breakfast to be served." Derek said but suddenly he saw Meredith's face changing. Her face turned as white as milk and he quickly grabbed her a bowl as she started vomiting heavily

Meredith's body started swaying as she was sitting up. Derek guided her so she was leaning into his chest while she vomited

"Aww.." Meredith whimpered weakly

"Easy. Easy." Derek whispered

"Mommy?" Charlotte frowned as she walked inside

Derek immediately noticed how Meredith tried to keep herself up and act as if all was okay while in reality she was very far from doing okay

"Fine." Meredith breathed

"Can I do anything?" Charlotte was frozen in her spot

"Can you grab mommy a towel and make it wet, please?" Derek asked, remaining calm to not make Charlotte freak out

The girl nodded and hurried to the bathroom, returning with a towel for her mom

"Thank you sweetie." Meredith nodded

"Why don't you two relax a bit and I get breakfast really quick?" Derek suggested

"I'm not hungry.. Can we stay here together?" Charlotte asked, honestly scared her dad would leave and her mom would get sick again but that she wouldn't know what to do

"Of course, princess." Derek nodded, understanding his daughter's fear

"Thanks." Charlotte muttered, climbing close to her mom, feeling her dad's arms around both of them

"Did you enjoy yesterday?" Meredith asked, forcing herself to stay up

"A lot." Charlotte nodded but knew her mom needed rest. "Can we nap? I'm tired.."

"Of course honey." Derek nodded, he had a feeling his daughter did this to get her mom to sleep. "Thank you."

…

A few hours later Derek and Charlotte were on the couch, Meredith was still asleep on the couch

"I'll go check on your mom really quickly to see if she needs anything." Derek told his daughter.

Derek made his way to the bedroom, he frowned as he saw Meredith all sweaty

"Mer? Mer, wake up for me." Derek tried to wake her, he felt her burning up

"Hmm.." She groaned weakly

"Mer, can you sit up for me, please? I wanna check you out really quickly." He said and grabbed a thermometer

Meredith was barely conscious despite Derek moving her body

"Mommy?" Charlotte whimpered

"Charlie, call uncle Mark now, make sure he sends an ambulance here." Derek said sternly

"A-An a-ambulance?" Charlotte gulped

"Please sweetie." Derek sighed, Meredith still hadn't responded properly. "Damnit Mer, 104.." He sighed at how high her fever was

Derek heard his daughter calling, his heart shattered in 10.000 pieces as he heard how terrified she was

"Mer, everything will be fine. Please just keep fighting, you can't give up. I love you too much to even think of losing you." Derek whispered, glad his daughter wasn't around as he was close to completely breaking apart

"H-He said they're on their way." Charlotte said as she came inside again, terrified of seeing her mom like that

"Thanks honey." Derek couldn't keep his tears at bay any longer

"Mommy? Mommy please-" Charlotte begged, suddenly panicking a lot as she saw this was serious. She had never seen her father cry before, at least not that she could recall

"She'll be fine." Derek choked out until suddenly the EMT's ran inside

They gave her an IV with fluids and something in a try to cool Meredith down as her fever just kept rising, by now it was 104.2

"Charlie, make sure you're buckled in, please." Derek said as they climbed in the back together

Charlotte did as her father asked, she froze in the spot as the sirens went on, she hated the sound because it was really, really loud

"Her fever keeps rising, Dr Shepherd." The ambulance guy said

"She needs to cool down.." Derek muttered, unable to keep his worries down. "Hurry, she needs to go to Seattle Grace asap!"

Charlotte started rocking herself a bit as the ride felt like hours and hours went by

"It's Mer! She's been having a fever of 104.4!" Derek yelled, Charlotte not sure what to do behind him

"Come here-" Addison offered her a hand and helped her out of the ambulance

"We need cooling blankets!" Bailey demanded right before Meredith had a seizure. "This is because of the fever, bring her inside!"

"M-Mommy!" Charlotte weakly whimpered