Meredith is back home now and is laying in her bed trying to sleep. It's 3 in the morning and the Shepherds are all sound asleep. Tears are falling down her face and she hugs Puppy to her. Meredith is in a lot of pain, more pain than usual.
"Amy." Meredith whimpers. "Amy, wake up! I need you." Meredith sobs.
Amelia woke up to Meredith crying for her. "Mer? What's wrong?"
"Everything hurts! I need Carolyn!" Meredith sobs. "I need Carolyn!"
"I'll go get my mommy!" Amelia runs out of the room. She runs into her parent's room and tries to wake up her mom. "Mommy! Mommy, wake up!" Amelia says, shaking her mom's shoulder.
"What is it Amy?" Carolyn asks sleepily.
"Meredith needs you. She's crying Mommy!" Amelia says, frowning.
Immediately Carolyn is fully awake and quickly gets out of bed. She hurries with Amelia back to her room. They can hear Meredith's sobs before they even get to their room.
"Meredith, what's wrong sweetie?" Carolyn asks, rubbing Meredith's head.
"Everything hurts! It won't stop hurting! Make it stop!" Meredith whimpers.
Carolyn can see how much pain Meredith is in by the look on her face.
"I'm going to bring you some pain meds, okay? We'll see if that helps you any."
Meredith nods, hugging her stuffed animal."I don't like being sick!" She wails. "I wanna be normal! It hurts so bad!"
"I know baby, I know you do. I want that for you also baby girl." Carolyn quickly goes and gets medicine for her along with some water.
"Okay sweetie, swallow these pills and hopefully it'll help." Carolyn puts the pills into Meredith's hand.
Meredith puts the pills into her mouth and tries to swallow them but can't for some reason. She tries to swallow them with more water but starts coughing and almost chokes. "It won't go down!!!" Meredith sobs.
Carolyn's brows furrow in confusion. "What do you mean they won't go down Mer? Is your throat bothering you?"
"I dunno! I just can't!" Meredith wails. "I want it to stop hurting!"
"Mommy, is she okay?" Amelia is very worried and goes to stand next to Meredith.
"She's in a lot of pain sweetie." Carolyn tells Amelia.
"Mer, wanna hold my bunny to help you? Maybe Puppy and Bunny can help make you feel better!" Amelia asks.
"Here! Bunny will help you!" Amelia moves Meredith's arm and puts her bunny under Meredith's arm.
Meredith sobs harder as her arm is moved to hold the bunny. "Owwwwwww!"
"Shh, you're okay. You're okay." Carolyn says, trying to soothe Meredith.
Christopher runs into the room all out of breath. "What's going on?"
"She's in a lot of pain Christopher. And she's unable to swallow the pain meds. I don't know what to do to make it better." Carolyn tells him over Meredith's sobs.
"Mommy, she's hurting! Make her better! Daddy! Please!" Amelia says, starting to cry.
"It hurts!!! Owwwww!!" Meredith wails.
"I know baby, can we try the pills again?" Carolyn asks softly. "I think if you can get them down it'll help."
Meredith nods. "Make it stop please!!!"
Carolyn puts the pills into Meredith's mouth and Meredith takes a sip and tries to swallow them again. But she starts coughing and choking and spits them out into her hand.
"Mommy! She's hurting!" Amelia stomps her foot. "Make her better!"
"We're trying Amy. Don't worry sweetie. Everything will be okay." Christopher said.
Just then Derek walks into the room, rubbing his tired eyes. "What's going on?" He sees Meredith squirming in pain on her bed. "Is Mer okay?"
"She's in a lot of pain bud. Can you take your sister into your room? She's getting upset because Meredith is in so much pain."
Derek nods and puts his arm around his little sister. "Come on Amy, you can come lay with me."
"B-but Mer needs me!" Amelia protests with tears rolling down her face.
"She'll be okay sweetie. Go with your brother." Carolyn says softly.
"Okay." Amelia whispers and goes with her brother.
"Carolynnnnnnn!" Meredith wails, reaching out for her.
"I know baby." Carolyn sits next to her and strokes her hair. "Christopher, do we have any liquid pain medication left? Did we ever get more when we ran out?"
"Let me go check." Christopher hurries out of the room.
Meredith grips Carolyn's arm tightly. "It hurts so badly!" She wails.
"We're going to make you feel better, don't worry Mer."
Christopher comes back a minute later. "I found it!" He quickly pours the correct dose and hands it to Carolyn.
Carolyn then helps Meredith sit up and tips the liquid medicine into her mouth. Meredith protests at sitting up as that hurts even more. "Shh, swallow that, baby. It'll help you."
Meredith swallows the medicine and then makes a face at the gross taste.
"Christopher, I think she should come with us to our bed. I don't want to leave her alone like this." Carolyn looks down at Meredith squirming in pain.
"I agree. She's not okay, Carolyn." He says with a sigh. "Mer, you're going to come lay with us sweetie. Your stuffed animals can come also." He picks her up and she screams in pain.
Both Christopher and Carolyn look at each other in alarm.
Meredith is gasping in pain. Tears stream down her face at an even faster pace. She grips his arm as she's in so much pain.
"You're okay. Let's get you to our bed." They quickly bring her to their room and lay her in bed. Meredith wails more when the covers are placed over her.
"Carolynn... make it stop!" Meredith gasps out. "It ... hurts too... much."
"Why is she in so much pain?! This isn't okay!" Carolyn says to Christopher while gently rubbing Meredith's sweaty forehead.
"I have no idea. And she wasn't able to swallow those pain meds either, which was very strange." Christopher says.
"This isn't fair to Meredith! She's in way too much pain!" Carolyn says. "I'll be right back. I'm going to grab some more of her stuffies for her."
Carolyn takes her hand away from rubbing Meredith's forehead and starts to walk away.
Meredith sees her leaving and this makes her even more upset. "Carolyn! Don't leave me!" She cries.
"I'll be right back, baby girl. I'm going to get you some more of your stuffed animals." Carolyn says to the little girl.
Carolyn quickly goes to Meredith and Amelia's room and grabs a few more of Meredith's stuffed animals. She can hear Meredith's sobs from their room. She takes a moment and just sits on Meredith's bed and cries. "This isn't fair! Why does she have to be in so much pain!" Carolyn softly cries.
Carolyn gets up and hurries back to her room to comfort Meredith. She sees Christopher rubbing his hand over her head in an attempt to soothe her.
Carolyn gets back into bed and does the same thing as her husband. "Sweetie, I got you more of your stuffies!"
"Thank... you..." Meredith gets out in between sobs. "I hurt more! Make it stop!"
"Mom? Dad?" Derek says softly.
"Everything's okay Derek." Christopher says.
"I got Amy to sleep. But what's wrong with Mer? Is she okay?" Derek says softly. He looks concerned at Meredith squirming around in pain on his parent's bed.
"She's in a lot of pain Der. We're not sure why. But she'll be okay. Why don't you try to get some sleep?" Christopher says.
"Okay." He whispers. "We can hear her crying from our room and were worried."
"I know bud." Christopher sighs.
Derek walks to the side of the bed and leans over his mom. "Mer? You're gonna be okay! Mom and Dad will take good care of you!"
Meredith looks at him and he sees the tears streaming down her face.
"Goodnight Mer! Feel better!" Derek says and leaves the room.
"Car-o-lyn... it... hurts..." Meredith says , starting to hyperventilate.
"Mer, I need you to breathe. I know it hurts." To Christopher she says, "Why is this medicine not working??!!"
Meredith gasps for air. "Can't... breathe...". She continues to hyperventilate. Her asthma is being triggered by all of her sobbing.
"She's having an asthma attack!" Carolyn quickly says.
"I'll go get her nebulizer!" He runs out of the room.
"Sweetie, I need you to breathe. I know it hurts ,baby. Breathe in and out sweetie." Carolyn instructs the girl.
"Can't..." Meredith gets out. She is still sobbing from the extreme pain she is in.
Christopher runs back into the room and he quickly straps the mask onto her face. "This will help sweetie."
The medicine helps Meredith's breathing and she all of a sudden gets extremely exhausted. She falls asleep from the exhaustion and all of the pain.
"She's out." Carolyn whispers. "This isn't okay! We're bringing her into the hospital first thing in the morning!"
Christopher nods in agreement.
Thanks to my co-writer _Ktje_