TW- mentions of guns. School sh00tings, possibly blood, dead bodies etc...
Reader is 13.
You are a patient at Seattle Grace hospital. Admitted after getting shot twice in a school shooting. It took a long time to get you stable enough to operate, but when you finally were, you had lost a lot of blood.
Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang and Dr. Bailey had performed your surgeries. They had removed both bullets and stitched you up, as well as carrying out every brain scan under the sun. Since you were still young and your brain was still developing, they wanted to be completely sure that you had not damaged your brain or spine in anyway when you fell and hot your head on the corner of a desk after the bullets entered you.
You were 6 hours post-op when your eyes opened for the first time. At the end of your bed, was a blonde woman, no older than 25. You recognised her as one of he woman that brought you in from the ambulance.
"Good evening," her warm smile lit up the room as the two of you mad eye contact. You smiled back at her as she took a few steps forward and studied the numbers on the EKG.
"Thank you... for helping me," you whispered.
"Just doing my job," she noticed you were slightly uncomfortable, possibly in pain. She looked at you concerned. "everything ok?"
"All good. The stitches are just really uncomfortable." she sent you a sympathetic smile as the doors at the end of the hall burst open and people started screaming.
"Dr Grey! We need you," Dr. Bailey called from outside the door.
"I'll be right back. I promise," your parents were out of town visiting family in New York when you were shot, so the only form of comfort you had while in the hospital was Meredith, and sometimes Izzie. Cristina came to check on you from time to time, but she was never very sympathetic. Meredith, however, understood how alone and scared you felt in such an unfamiliar place.
She came to check on you every time she got the chance, even if it was just for a few minutes. She would sit with you and talk. Talk about your lives. How you were doing in school. What you wanted to do when you grew up, all that stuff. The two of you actually got along quite well and enjoyed each other's company.
~~~
An hour or two went by before Meredith came back into the room. She looked exhausted. She untied her hair and dropped into the chair next to you.
"I'm sorry. They needed me to do surgery. I was gonna come right back," you could tell she felt guilty about leaving you for so long.
"It's fine. You were doing your job. You got the chance to save another life. How'd it go?" you were curious as to how the surgery had gone. A life in the medicine industry had always been an option for you. You were a bright kid. Top of your class, and exceeding in Biology and Maths, just science in general.
"It was a success. It didn't take long to get the bullets out but he was loosing a lot of blood so it took longer than expected,"
"what happened to him?" the mention of bullets had made you uneasy, but you were curious and wanted to know the whole story.
"Armed robbery. The gunmen shot themselves too after they got caught. They're still in surgery and the cops are down the hall," you nodded your head, trying to process all the information she had given you.
"Meredith?" she looked up at you as you spoke, trying to look for any hint of emotion in your eyes. "did they catch the guy that did this to me? Do they know who it was?" you had been on edge since you woke up. There was no one here to protect you, no cops or anything. You were a sitting duck.
"I don't think so. But I can go check if you want me to," you just shook your head, taking a loose grip on her hand. She held yours tight, bringing back that sense of security you'd been missing "Apparently your parents are on the flight back. They should only be a couple hours," she spoke softly, seeing as it was getting closer to midnight and you were getting tired.
"But you need to sleep. It's getting late and you need to rest if you want to recover properly," she smiled and stood up. You grabbed her hand and spun her round, making her look at you.
"Can you stay? until I fall asleep. I can't sleep in unfamiliar places. I don't feel safe," Meredith said nothing as she sat back down, taking one of your hands in both of her own. She watched as your eyes slipped closed before opening a second later. This went on for a few minutes until she finally spoke up.
"You can sleep. You're safe here, I promise." her smile never changed as she watched you fall asleep. Your breathing became even and you were out like a light. Meredith could no longer deny the smile forming on her face once she'd seen you relaxed for the first time that day.
She stayed for a while until Izzie came by asking for Mer's keys, seeing as she had lost hers. Izzie saw you asleep and immediately paused, smiling to herself until Meredith noticed her standing there. They exchanged a few words as Meredith handed over her keys, not taking her eyes off you.
"You know she already knows the ins and outs of a human brain? she's 13," Mer whispered as Izzie turned to look at you too.
"Really? That's impressive. Has she thought about going into medicine? She'd be amazing.
"She's been thinking about it. I agree. We could definitely use someone like her on our team. She's so talented already. Shame she's so young. I'd personally let her have a go with that guy down the hall. Inoperable tumor, taking up most of his brain. He only has a few days left."
"I reckon she'd be able to do it," Izzie concluded before saying her goodbyes and heading towards the exit. Her footsteps died down and silence fell over the corridor once more. Once she made sure you were asleep, she slipped out the room and walked downstairs to the showers.
~~~
You were due to be discharged from the hospital in a few days and your parents still hadn't turned up. No one had heard from them in days so they were reported missing. The police had been in and out of the hospital for days, asking questions about where you were the last time you saw them. Where they had been the last few weeks and everything that had happened to you in between.
Meredith had been by your side the entire time. Since your parents still weren't here, you didn't have anyone else to talk to, no family, no one.
You were a topic of conversation throughout the whole hospital. The 13 year old girl who survived getting shot twice by hiding behind your teacher's dead body.
Every chance someone gets, they make their way to your room and just stared at you. Every time a nurse would come over and tell them to leave, they wouldn't listen. It would take Dr. Webber coming out and escorting them back to their rooms for them to listen.
You were sat playing a game on your phone when Meredith walked in with Derek close behind her. In Derek's arms was a young girl, no older than 2. She had a big smile on her face as she poked at Derek's eye, making them both laugh.
"Y/n, this is our daughter Zola. I know this is a lot to ask but would you be ok watching her for like an hour or two while me and Derek scrub in on a brain surgery? This opportunity is so ridiculously rare,"
"That fine Mer. I'm apparently great with kids. I'm sure we'll be fine," your smile grew as Derek set the girl on the floor and her first instinct was to stand up and walk over to you, trying to climb up on the bed with you. "Hi there. You wanna come sit up here?" she nodded and you reached over and lifted her up, setting her on your lap.
"Thank you so much. We should only be 3 hours at most. I'll see you soon. Amelia wants us down in the OR,"
"Have fun." You called out as they speed-walked down the hall. Zola's eyes met yours when she went to reach up and grab your hair. The two of you laughed and played for nearly two hours until she fell asleep with her head on your shoulder.
Not long after, Meredith and Derek came back into your room. They saw Zola asleep on you and they couldn't help but smile.
"How was the surgery? Did it go ok?" you whispered as to not wake the sleeping toddler.
"Everything went perfectly. The guy's ok and will be fine. Thankyou so much for watching her," you handed her sleeping body over to Derek and he walked out, taking himself and his daughter to the car.
"Don't worry about it," Meredith came and sat next to you, a smile on her face as she brushed a strand of hair out of your eye.
"Has anyone heard from my parents Mer?" she just shook her head as you allowed the first tear to fall.
"no I'm sorry," you started crying, reaching out for her hand, which she happily gave you. "It's ok... don't cry," No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get you to stop crying. She knew all you wanted was your mom, and the fact she couldn't do anything for you really hurt her.
Your breath got caught in your throat as you cried. Your eyes met Meredith's for a brief second and the look in your eyes changed everything. She pulled you into her arms, her arms tightening around you.
"Hey... shh. It's ok," she positioned your head so it was resting on her shoulder. She hugged you tightly, not noticing Derek waiting at the door. Meredith had one hand gently stroking your hair, while the other was rubbing small circles on your back.
"It's gonna be ok. I promise. You're gonna be ok," she whispered, bringing little comfort until you noticed Derek just stood there. You hugged Meredith tighter, knowing that if he was waiting for her, she'd be leaving now and you'd be alone again.
After a few more minutes, you had calmed down quite a bit and your cried had been reduced to the occasional sniffle, still not letting Meredith move even an inch further away from you. She rocked you slowly, careful of your stitches, but also hopeful that it would help put you to sleep, seeing as she was so tired herself.
~~~
Today was the day you were being discharged from the hospital. Your parent's car had been found at the bottom of a river, your parents bodies not too far away. This meant that they had tried to get out and get away, but just weren't strong enough.
Meredith was the only person you let go anywhere near you. She was the only form of support you had now and she was the only one you trusted.
"Hey Y/N, can i talk for a minute? Is that ok?" you nodded and she came and sat down next to you while you signed the discharge papers. "Y/N, me and Derek had been thinking that maybe, if its what you want, that you can come live with us and Zola. I'm sure she'd love having you around more often." you dropped the pen you were holding and just stared at her.
"Are you sure? I mean-"
"Y/N. Of course I'm sure. Actually it was Zola's idea. None of us really want you in the foster system or on the streets. Would you want that?" you were frozen, tears filling your eyes.
"Yes. oh my god yes," you threw your arms around her neck She laughed and lifted you into her arms. At this point, everyone in the foyer was watching you. Izzie and George were stood by the door with Derek, huge smiles on their faces. George turned to Derek and whispered in his ear.
"What's going on? Everyone seems to know but me,"
"We asked Y/N if she would want to come and live with us, seeing as she has nowhere else to go," the boys turned back to see both you and Meredith in tears. She kissed your head and took your hand, walking over to everyone else.
Izzie was the first to hug you, lifting you off the floor slightly. Next was George, and you could swear this was one of the best hugs you'd ever had. And finally was Derek. He picked you up an squeezed you. Tight. You laughed as he set you back on the floor.
"Right. Let's go home," the five of you walked out of the hospital doors, Meredith holding one of your hands, and Derek holding the other.
You were home.