"Good Morning Grey! How are we feeling this morning?" Dr Bailey asks as she walks into the room and picks up Meredith's chart, reading it over quickly.
"A little bit better." Meredith said softly, clutching onto her blankets for comfort.
"Good to hear! I'm just going to check your vitals and take your temperature." Dr Bailey listens to Meredith's heart and lungs and nods in approval at what she hears. She runs the thermometer over Meredith's forehead. "Your temperature is decreasing Meredith. You're starting to beat this infection!"
"Good." Meredith said, shivering.
"Cold Grey? Want an extra blanket or two?" Dr Bailey asks.
Meredith nods. "I'm freezing."
Dr Bailey quickly grabs two more blankets and puts them on top of Meredith. "There you go sweetie. That should help to warm you up." She soothes Meredith by running her hand over Meredith's head, accidently making the last patch of hair fall off. Meredith is now officially bald.
"Sorry Grey." Bailey quickly apologizes when she sees the hair fall off Meredith's head.
Meredith quickly brushes away a tear. "It's okay." She whispers. "It's all gone anyway. Maddie is going to be scared the next time she sees me. She's not going to like that I don't have any hair. I don't like that I don't have any hair." She whispers, letting tears stream down her face, not bothering to stop them.
"Hey. Look at me." Bailey lifts Meredith's chin gently with her hand, forcing her to look at her. "You are beautiful with or without hair. Maddie will get used to it. She's never seen you without hair so it'll be a change for her. She's little so she doesn't understand why it's happening. But you are beautiful Meredith Grey and you better not ever forget it."
"But I'm bald..." Meredith sighs.
"Your hair will grow back. And you can wear your scarves to cover your head to keep it warm. But like I said, you are beautiful with or without hair."
"Thanks Bailey." Meredith says, attempting a smile.
Bailey continues examining Meredith and is satisfied with her exam. "You're slowly beating this infection Meredith. Your fever needs to drop a little bit more and then you can see Maddie. It's getting there."
"Good. I need to see my baby girl. I miss her." Meredith said weakly.
"I know you do, sweetie. You're getting so close to being able to see her. You just keep on improving and you'll see her in no time." Bailey said, smiling at her intern. "Close your eyes and get some more sleep Mer. You need your rest." She says after seeing Meredith's eyes starting to close but quickly opens back up.
Meredith nods sleepily and allows her eyes to close and quickly falls asleep.
———
Dr Bailey is finishing some charts at the nurse's station when she spies Derek walking down the hall. She had already let him know that Meredith's condition was starting to improve after examining Meredith that morning.
"Morning Dr Bailey. How's she doing?" Derek asks Bailey.
"Shepherd, it's 12pm, it's not morning anymore." Bailey says sarcastically.
"Right. Good afternoon Bailey. I was busy with Maddie this morning. She was sobbing because she misses her mom. She kept asking for her Mom all morning. She doesn't like being separated from Meredith. It took me a long time to convince her to let me go and visit her mom without her." Derek says sadly.
"That poor child. Tell her that she can see her soon. Tell her that her mom is getting better and she'll be able to come visit her soon." Dr Bailey tells Derek sympathetically. "Tell her that I'm working hard to get her mom back home to her."
"Thanks Bailey. We really appreciate all that you're doing for Meredith." Derek says with a smile.
"That girl was my intern. I'd do anything for that girl. She means a lot to me. She's one of my babies. Repeat that and I'll deny it." Bailey says.
"Got it. Thanks Bailey. I'm going to go see her now." Derek says.
"Try to get her to eat something. She still is barely eating and with her also being sick with this infection isn't helping her situation."
"Will do!" Derek walks into Meredith's hospital room and sees her sleeping. He decides to go get her some food that's not from the hospital while she's still sleeping. He needs her to eat and thinks maybe if he gets her some strawberry ice cream it'll be easier on her. He quickly runs out to grab the ice cream.
Meredith wakes up a few minutes before Derek returns. She winces at the pain in her head. "Oww." She softly cries. "Der." She whimpers. "Derek." She's in a lot of pain with her head, causing her to start crying softly.
Derek returns a few minutes later and sees that Meredith is awake. He realizes that she's crying. "Mer, what's wrong?"
"Head. Hurts." She whimpers.
He quickly sets down the ice cream and pokes his head into the hallway. "Bailey, I need you in here!"
Bailey heads towards Meredith's room, frowning. "What's going on? Is she okay?" She snaps a pair of gloves on when she enters Meredith's room.
"It's her head! She's in a lot of pain." Derek quickly says.
"Owwww." Meredith moans. "Hurts."
"Shh, I've got you. You're going to be just fine. I'm going to go get some pain meds. I'll be right back." Bailey quickly leaves the room and grabs the meds that she needs and rushes back.
"Okay Meredith, I've got some pain meds. This will help with the pain." Dr. Bailey hooks up the pain medicine to go into Meredith's IV. "All done. Give it a minute and it'll kick in."
Just a couple minutes later the medicine kicked in and Meredith's eyes slowly closed and she drifted off to sleep.
"I'm assuming the strawberry ice cream is for her?" Bailey asks.
Derek looks at the ice cream and sighed. "Yeah, I thought that maybe it would be easier for her to get down."
"Good idea. Let me have it. I'll go stick it in the freezer real quick." Bailey says softly, not wanting to wake up Meredith.
"Thanks Bailey." Derek says and hands her the ice cream.
"You gonna sit with her? I'm going to be back in an hour or so to check on her vitals and do another exam on her."
"Yeah, I'm staying right here with her." Derek says and sits down in the chair next to her bed.
———
Two hours later Meredith starts to stir in her bed. Derek looks up from the medical journal that he is reading.
"Maddie" Meredith whimpers in her sleep.
"Mer, you okay sweetie?" Derek asks.
Meredith slowly opens her eyes and frowns when she doesn't see Maddie. "Maddie?" She questions weakly.
"Maddie is in daycare sweetie." Derek tells her.
"I want Maddie." She whispers, coughing.
"We need your temperature to go down Mer. Once it does you can see her." Derek tells her. He hopes that it has gone down also because they really need to start back on her cancer treatments again. The more time that passes that Meredith doesn't get any treatments, the riskier it gets with her cancer being able to spread or not.
"Check my temp." Meredith mutters weakly. "Want Maddie." Her eyes start to close but she forces them back open.
"Okay, let me grab Bailey to make this official. I know she needs to check your vitals anyways." Derek leaves the room and comes back a minute later with Bailey who as it turns out was already on the way to Meredith's room.
"How are you feeling Meredith? Is your headache any better?" Dr Bailey asks.
Meredith nods weakly. "Tired but want Maddie." She whispers.
"Okay, let's check you out. Let me listen to your heart and lungs." Dr Bailey put her stethoscope on Meredith's chest and Meredith shivers when it touches her skin. "Sorry, I know it's cold. Can you sit up for me Mer? I want to listen to your lungs."
Meredith attempts to sit up but is just extremely weak that she falls back onto the bed. Derek quickly goes over and helps her sit up. He holds her up while Bailey listens to her lungs.
"Okay let's see if this temperature has gone done any." Dr Bailey takes Meredith's temperature and smiles. "98.5 Grey! Just where we want it. I think we can have a little visitor now. What do you say?" Dr Bailey asks with a smile.
"Yes! Maddie!" Meredith smiles. "Derek! Go get Maddie!" She weakly demands.
"You got it! I'll be right back." He gives her a kiss on the forehead and then leaves the room.
"Okay, you're starting to improve Meredith! Enjoy this time with Maddie!" Dr Bailey smiles and then leaves the room.
Just a few minutes later Derek returns carrying a wriggling Maddie.
"MOMMY!!!" Maddie screams. "Daddy! Down!! Wanna see Mama!"
"Okay, but remember what we said. You gotta be gentle with Mama. And don't mess up any of her wires."
Maddie is struggling to get down. "Daddy! Down!" She whines. "I want Mama! Want Mama!"
"Okay." Derek lowers Maddie onto the bed and she crawls on top of Meredith's chest and hugs her.
"Mama, I misseded you so much! Daddy never brought me to see you! Mean Daddy!" Maddie pouts.
"Mads, we don't call daddy mean. It's the hospital's rules not his. And I missed you so much sweet girl." Meredith tries to put her arms around Maddie but her arms are just so weak that she struggles to do so.
"Why does the hospibable make those mean rules? Not nice!" Maddie frowns.
"They do it to help their patients, sweetie." Meredith's eyes droop closed but she forces them back open which Derek notices.
"I gotsa stay here with you Mommy! Don't want to go home! Gotsa stay here!" She smiles as she cuddles into her Mom. "Mama I misseded you!"
"I missed you too, baby girl."
"Mads, tell your mom what you were doing at daycare today." Derek tells her.
Maddie ignores him and just cuddles into her mom more. "Mama, when you coming home?"
"I don't know sweetie. But your daddy told you something." Meredith said with a yawn.
"Just want to be with you Mama! Me and you!" Maddie whines.
"Mommy, I love you. It's always me and you! Me and you! Mama and Maddie!"
Meredith looks up at Derek, feeling sorry for him. She knows it's just because Maddie has missed her so much but still feels bad for him.
Sorry for the delay!!! Thanks to my co-writer _Ktje_