It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

61.

Darkness turned to light, there were flashes, movement, shouting, screaming, demanding. She could feel her entire body aching as people moved around her, about her, above her. Colors swirled in her mind as she felt the pressure of something on her face, the warm hand of someone on hers, the frantic questions. Nothing made sense, nothing was right.

A face flashed in her mind, and she tried to open her eyes, her vision blurred and her body weak. "Derek..." She whimpered, moving her hand, she felt the hand around hers squeeze it tightly, her voice was muffled by whatever was on her mouth, and she wasn't even sure that she had said it. She knew that he was there, he had held her as she fell, he was there now. Though he wasn't in her line of vision, she knew that it was his hand on hers, she knew that it was his voice that was filled with pure fear.

She then heard another voice above all of them as she felt her body being lifted, moved, carted from the crowd of strangers that were staring. She recognized the voice, but not the fear that was injected into it, not the anxiety. It was this voice that made her the most frightened, because she had never heard this voice have anything but confidence in it, and all she heard before she drifted back into unconsciousness, was the fear in her mother's voice.

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The room was bright, the sounds and feelings that she was experiencing were not comfortable at all. There was a weird taste in her mouth, the noises from the room were beginning to irritate her. There was the whirring and beeping of the machines, there was the tapping of something in the room, but the most irritating was the chattering going on between two people directly over her.

She could feel Derek's hand on hers, and she listened carefully to his voice as he spoke in a stern whisper. His hands were warm and soft, and she could feel them trembling around hers. The other voice was her mother. Her voice was shrill and frustrated, nervous and anxious. It wasn't stern, it wasn't angry, just concerned. Meredith listened to the argument, something trivial, she figured, because her brain wasn't exactly processing anything but the tones of their voices at that point. She didn't even care what they were arguing about, the point of the matter was that she was trying to sleep, and they were interrupting it.

She opened her eyes just slightly, enough to make out the forms of Derek standing over her, and her mother on the other side. She smiled to herself hearing the defensiveness in his voice against her mother. She had never actually heard him speak to her mother in such a tone, and often wondered how he sounded like when he defended her. It was her mother's turn to talk, her bony little finger pointing at Derek across her body.

"Why don't you two take it around back... kick one another's asses...and let me get some sleep..." She grumbled from the bed as she squeezed Derek's hand. Her eyes opened a little wider as Derek smiled, crouching down to her face, he pushed her hair back and kissed her lips.

"Meri..." He whispered, his voice was tender now, not that frustrated stern voice that she had heard moments before.

"Meredith..." Ellis said, taking her other hand. Meredith's brow furrowed as she looked to her mother, not remembering the last time her mother held her hand for anything other than to keep her from doing something.

"I know... my name... can you please tell me what happened?" She whispered.

"Pre-eclampsia." Ellis stated, her doctor voice suddenly making an appearance as she released Meredith's hand. Meredith didn't need an explanation, she knew what it meant, but she also knew that her mother would have some sort of lecture pent up inside of her just waiting to spew out. Meredith nodded, and waited for it.

"It was pretty damn close...to...um..." Derek whispered, running his fingers through her hair. "They got you here... were able to stabilize your blood pressure...they wanted to deliver at first, but your mom had them re-evaluate you...and they decided to see if they could bring it down... You've been out for a few hours..."

"Deliver?" Meredith whispered, her voice small and frightened as she said the word, her eyes were so frightened as she turned her head to her mother.

"They put you on a magnesium drip...to try to keep the blood pressure down... if it flares up again... it could be worse." Derek whispered. "I don't want it to get worse." He whispered.

"No..." She whimpered. Her eyes remained on Derek as she told him her worries and fears through her eyes, her tears were sitting on the edge of her eyelids as she watched him swallow hard. "Your mother wants you to go back to Boston... tonight... she arranged an ambulance to transport you." Derek said as he looked up at Ellis.

"Is that what you were arguing about?" She whimpered, looking up at her mother.

"Derek didn't want you to be transported until you woke up." Ellis replied, looking down at her daughter. "He thought that if you woke up in the ambulance, that you'd be frightened... I just... I just need you under the care of me... of my staff... you need the best, Meredith... I won't settle for anything else." She said stubbornly.

"Mom..." Meredith whispered. She reached for her mother's hand, and after just a moment, Ellis placed her cool hand on Meredith's belly. "I'm sorry..." She whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cried softly. "I'm sorry..."

"Meredith..." Ellis said softly as she squeezed her daughter's hand. "There are better ways of getting my attention than getting yourself sent to a hospital." She winked at her daughter as she glanced up at Derek. "Derek takes very good care of you... and his family and your friends are very concerned." She said softly. "You need to take care of yourself too though, Meredith..." She said, as Meredith nodded her head slowly. "I..." She paused for a second as she looked to Derek and back to Meredith. "I love you, Meredith... and I don't ever want anything to happen to you."

"Mom..." Meredith whispered, carefully pulling her mother's hand with her own. She lifted her mother's hand and placed it carefully on her belly. "Mom, I'd like for you to meet your grandson." She gave her mother a shy smile as she watched Ellis smile sadly.

"I don't think he's ready to meet us just yet, Meredith...And we're going to do our best to make sure that you both stay as comfortably as possible until we can officially be introduced." Ellis said softly as she squeezed her daughter's hand. She leaned down and kissed Meredith's forehead. "You get some rest, sweetheart... I'm going to check on that ambulance." She whispered. She stood up and glanced to Derek as she nodded. "Doctor Shepherd..." She said with a smirk as she watched him.

"Doctor Grey." He nodded, smirking back at her as she turned towards the door.

"Meredith." Ellis said from the doorway before she walked through it. "I'm very proud of you." Ellis said softly as she then turned, and walked down the hallway.