Description: Mia goes under a lot of stress while studying for her upcoming exams. Her family doesn't notice until it's too late.
A/N: School has been so stressful and annoying lately, so that is what inspired me to write this chapter. Please keep on sending the requests. Enjoy!
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Author POV:
"Mia? Mia? Mia!" Derek sat across from his sixteen-year-old daughter at breakfast, she was falling asleep in the middle of her science textbook.
"Huh?" She jolted up with a yawn in response.
"Mia? If you're gonna read, you have to stay awake." Derek asserted
"Sorry, you're right." She said
"Morning, Mia. How's the studying going?" Meredith took a sip of her coffee.
"Good. I just have to make some notes." She replied
"Good. Make sure you study enough. Our daughter is gonna pass with flying colours, isn't she Derek?" Meredith asked
"Without a doubt." He said with a smile.
Mia was the overachiever. She was a perfectionist. She never had one screw-up, always had a perfect attendance record, didn't get into fights, was always home on time, she was the perfect kid. However, being the perfect daughter is not all it's cracked up to be. Keeping up that facade illustrated to be more difficult than Mia had originally thought. She always pushed herself to exceed their expectations. She didn't just want to make them happy, she wanted to leave them satisfied and then some.
They idolized her and believed she could do no wrong. In fact, she knew that she did no wrong. She was happy to do whatever they asked: set the table, be home on time, practice piano, not hang out with friends they felt were not a good influence. Mia felt her parents knew what was best for her and she complied.
Although, other people had thought that she had no control over her life at all. She was ruled by Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd her whole life. If she'd ever disappoint them, she'd hate herself forever. She thought that they wouldn't love her anymore. They would love Zola because she was also a child prodigy and she was a tad jealous of her younger sister. But to be fair, she was always paid less attention to compared to her time-consuming younger siblings.
Fast forward one week later, it's now the week of her exams of 11th Grade. She was up, day and night. Reading, memorizing, writing...the list went on. She had pulled many all-nighter's studying her butt off.
She'd never been so overworked in her life. School had felt like a fulltime job. She was destined on getting into the most prestigious schools in the country and she knew that she have to work extra hard to do so. She never came in second. She was a shark.
"Honey, it's eleven. Aren't you heading to bed soon?" Meredith stopped by her daughter's room before heading to her own bed.
"Yeah, just a sec. Goodnight, love you!" She smiled
"Love you too, munchkin. Don't stay up too late." Meredith said
The Next Day
She was sitting with her best friend, Maddie at lunch and they were talking casually.
"Ugh, I can't wait to be done with these exams, and then we'll have the best summer ever! Don't you think?" Madison raised a question.
"Mia? Mia! Dude!" She tapped her friend repeatedly until she jolted up out of her gaze.
"Hmm? Sorry." Mia uttered
"You look exhausted, girl. What time did you go to sleep?" She asked
"Who says I got any?" Mia groaned
"Promise me that you'll get loads of rest tonight? It's not healthy for you, you need your sleep. When you get home, just relax tonight, okay?" Madison begged
"I'll try my best. I just can't fail these exams. If I fail, I have no future, Maddie! Nothing at all."
"Stop doubting yourself, Mia. You're amazing and these exams will be a breeze. I promise you that you'll feel better after you get some rest." Madison insisted.
"Fine. Adderall helps people focus, right? It's a stimulant, like caffeine, except stronger?" She questioned
"And you are asking me about drugs because?" Maddie was concerned with her best friend.
"Just a thought. If I took some Addy, it would help me focus and not be stressed out this week. Don't you agree?" She consulted Maddie.
"You should probably ask your parents first, they're doctors and there's always a bunch of side effects with drugs." She suggested
"Yeah, you're right." Mia nodded in agreement.
"You're not thinking about taking them, are you? That's almost like high school athletes taking steroids." She worries
"I'm not, Maddie. Don't worry, it was just a thought. I'm gonna head to my locker." Mia leaves the cafeteria.
Today was Tuesday, so she was instructed to go to the hospital after school and wait for her parents to be done work, so they could all go home together. They had a little break in between surgeries to get the kids from preschool and elementary and they dropped them off in daycare.
As always, she took the bus to the hospital and walked through the doors of Grey-Sloan Memorial.
She had really thought about what Madison had said about drugs. Her gut told her to listen, but she couldn't shake the feeling of having panic attacks and being so worry some in school. She needed to put herself at ease. It's not like she was doing something that was completely wrong.
She decided to give her parents a quick text and hurried to the nearest supply closet. They were full of medicines, tools, iv kits, there were plenty of things in there.
"Where is it? Damn it! Someone probably gonna catch me in here and I'll be dead!" Mia worried
"Adderall, got it! 100 milligrams, that sounds like enough. Time to go!" She whispered
She quickly threw the pills into her bag and waited for the hallway to clear before meeting her parents upstairs.
"Too many doctors, ugh!" She sighed
She waited a few more minutes before quickly walking out around the corner and taking the elevator.
She made her way upstairs and waited in the attending's lounge and saw her parents.
"Hey, you're here! Thought you guys would be in surgery or something?" She smiled
"It isn't that busy today so we could go home early. How was school? And what took you so long to come upstairs?" Derek started to interrogate her.
"I was trying to decide on something to eat, but the food here sucks. Maybe we can stop for take-out? I'm kinda exhausted." She yawned
"Oh, okay. I just need to check on some patients and then we can go. You and Mom can get your brother and sisters and I'll meet you in the car?" Derek asked
"Yeah, see you there." She nodded
...
The car ride home was pretty quiet. It was kind of awkward. No one was talking until Bailey had opened his mouth.
"Dada, we did painting today! I made a house with you, Mama, Zozo, Ellie, Mia, and me!" Bailey cheered
"That's sweet buddy, we can put it on the fridge when we get home. Do you guys have any homework?" Derek said
"I have math worksheets and I have to practice for my spelling quiz!" Zola smiled
"Mia, you can help Zo after dinner, right? It's been a long day. We need some rest." Meredith said
"Yeah, I'll do it. Don't worry." She reluctantly agreed to stay up any longer after dinner.
...
After helping Zola for a while, Mia finally headed to her bed around eight o'clock. She was laying in her bed and she couldn't shut her eyes.
There was this constant voice in her head.
"You can study! You have time! Study or else you'll fail, Mia! Your parents will be ashamed of you! Nobody likes a failure for a daughter! You're such a disappointment!" She heard
She took out the pills that she had snagged from her bag and took two of them with some water.
After a few minutes, she was in pure bliss, reading and retaining as much information as she could before her exams in the morning.
Today was the test day and Mia had fallen asleep two hours before she had to be awake and ready for school. When her alarm rang she got dressed for school and her parents dropped her off after her siblings.
She had taken the pills before school and again before the test to calm her nerves. she had taken them inside of the girls washroom and went straight to class.
She finished the exam on early and then started to feel a bit dizzy.
She was heading back to her seat and felt her heart racing super fast. She waited for it to stop, but then these sharp pains started hitting her chest.
"Mia, honey? Are you okay?" Her teacher asked.
"I'm fine Miss, I'm perfectly fine." She replied.
She was in class with Madison who looked at her strangely.
A few seconds later Mia was on the floor and unconscious.
...
She was rushed to Grey-Sloan immediately because it was the closest hospital and Madison insisted on going with Mia to the hospital, so she rode in the back of the rig with her.
The doors open and Madison sees Alex.
"Maddie? Are you hurt, you're supposed to-" The paramedics wheeled her out and he panicked.
"Crap, what happened to her?" He said
"Mia Shepherd, sixteen, cardiac arrest in class and coded twice in the field. Vitals are stable, but breathing is shallow. She had a fall in class." They say
"Page Grey and Shepherd now!" Alex shouted as interns passed by.
Meredith is jogging down the hall, on her way to the ER when Derek suddenly joins her.
"You were paged too? Maybe it's a big trauma?" Meredith asked
"I hope so, but I hope not." Derek sighed
They arrived at the ER and saw their daughter, Madison, and Alex from across the room.
"What the hell happened? What happened to her?" Meredith screamed
"Maddie, honey? What happened to Mia?" Derek asked
"She was handing in her paper and then she fell! Is she going to be okay?" Madison cried
"She had a heart attack in class, hit her head. I need you to run a head CT, she could have a bleed and she hasn't woken up yet. Is she on any meds?" Alex tells
"No. Why? Did you find something in her bloodstream?" Meredith inquired
"Adderall. Why is she taking ADHD medication? Mia is perfectly healthy." Alex said
"She took it? She promised she wouldn't take it! This is all my fault! I should've told you guys that she was thinking about taking it. She was stressed out and she didn't know what to do. I'm so sorry." Meredith and Derek hugged Madison.
"Honey, this isn't your fault, okay? You didn't know. How about I call your Mom to get you and you can come back and see Mia when she's awake. I'm sure she'll be fine." Meredith suggested and called her mom.
Shortly after Mia's head CT. She had woken up. Due to her taking so many pills, she had fallen into a deep slumber.
"What happened? Why am I here? Crap!" Mia muttered
"I think you know exactly why you're here, sweetie. We need to talk." Meredith said
"I'm sorry. I didn't think that this would happen, okay? I'm not an addict or anything. I was just freaking out and I didn't want to bother you guys so I tried to solve my problem, but it turns out that I just made it even worse. You can ground me or whatever, it's fine. I wasn't getting sleep because I'd been studying all night and I thought that it would help me stay awake in class. I just didn't want to disappoint you guys. But I'm already a failure." She cried
"Mia. You know you're supposed to come to us for help. We're your parents, honey! We're here for you." Derek said
"It just feels like I failed you guys. I'm a perfectionist and I let it get to me. I just wanted to make you guys proud. I didn't mean for all of this to happen." She sighs
"You can't be serious? How could you ever fail us?" Derek frowned
"I am serious, Dad." Mia snapped.
"I needed it. I needed it to pass. I couldn't focus and quit freaking myself out long enough to really focus, so I figured taking some addy wouldn't hurt, and I would focus on my exam and then pass, and I would never do it again. But it got out of control and I started taking more because the regular dosage wasn't enough for me." She said in one giant, shaky breath.
Derek and Meredith shared a look, before focusing back on their daughter. "Mia, I'm sure you would've done fine on the exam. You're a genius." Derek said softly.
"And even if you don't, you can always retake it. But I know you will do fine, you've studied and your practice exams were great." Meredith said.
"You don't know that." Mia muttered, looking down at the window.
"You're right. I don't," Meredith said, kneeling down in front of her daughter.
"But what I do know is that taking adderall doesn't give you superpowers that'll automatically make you score perfect on an exam. I don't really give a crap about what anyone else says. You are the only person who can do good on this. You. No drug or anyone else can affect that. Got it?" Meredith caressed her hand.
Mia nodded, on the verge of crying. "I-I'm sorry." She said, meeting her two parent's gazes.
"For stealing, lying, doing drugs, and almost dying. I'm a pain in the a*s, I know. I should've just trusted my gut. I want you guys to know that this wasn't an easy choice, okay? I try to deal with my stuff on my own and I try my best, the way that I know how to. I only have Maddie and you guys. Please don't hate me." Her heart rate started to increase.
"Honey, breathe! It's okay. You don't have to go through this alone. We're here with you, forever." Meredith crawled into bed beside her.
"Don't work yourself up about this. Everyone screws up. We were more worried that we were gonna lose you. We can't have that, okay? If you're ever stressed out or you're panicking, you come to us. We promised to protect you for as long as we're here. For now, you need to recover and we need to have a more open relationship. No secrets, understood?" He laid down on the other side.
"You really want to know every thought in my head?. I'm a little dark, ya know." She said
"Nothing we can't handle. Get some rest, honey." Meredith snuggled her.
"Love you guys." She says before falling asleep.
"Love you more." Meredith and Derek say in unison.
The End
Aaliyah