It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

63.

Derek had his nose still buried in Meredith's hair when he heard the nurses come in and check on Meredith. They worked around him, moving her a little here and there, waking her up to ask her a couple of questions. Her voice was groggy and tired, and when the nurses were finished, they slipped out as they wrote a few notes in her chart. Meredith turned her head away from Derek's for a second, sending him searching for her in a sleepy haze. His eyes opened, and her eyes were looking directly into them.

"You have beautiful eyelashes." She whispered.

"Thank you." He smiled sleepily as he watched her smile slightly. Suddenly, the door opened, and Derek looked up to see his mother walk in slowly, poking her head around the corner. "We have a visitor..." Derek whispered, nodding towards the door. Meredith turned her head and smiled at Mrs. Shepherd softly, her eyes still droopy with sleep.

"Meri..." She said softly as she approached the bed, scooping up the young woman's hand. "I was so worried about you."

"She's doing alright..." Derek whispered.

"The doctors told me what happened... it seems pretty serious... I mean... they wanted to deliver the baby? It's way too early... I hope you're doing alright... are you feeling alright? I was so worried..."

"Mom..." Derek said as he rolled from the bed, dropping a kiss on Meredith's lips. He stood up. "She's going to be fine... she just needs to rest... strict bed rest..."

"Your mother said that they're taking you to Boston... they're taking you to Boston?" She whispered as she looked up at Derek. "Is it safe... is she stable enough? Will it be alright to travel? Is the baby alright? Was there any stress on him? Is he moving around?"

"Mom..." Derek said as he walked to the other side of the bed. He encircled her with his arms as she squeezed him tightly.

"You're just trying to shut me up... aren't you?" She whimpered into Derek's shoulder.

"I'm trying to get you to calm down... just... relax..." Derek said softly as he let her continue to cling to him.

"I'll be alright..." Meredith said softly, watching Derek hold his mother tightly. "I just need to rest... I have no pain right now... they have me on some medications, keeping my blood pressure down... and hopefully there won't be any complications... they'll be able to deliver the baby as close to the due date as possible..."

"That's so scary..." She whispered as she released herself from Derek's hug. She crouched near the bed, pulling the chair closer. "Sweetheart..." She said, shaking her head. "If you need anything... anything, you need to let me know. The girls and I will be right by your side... Nancy is an OBGYN... if you have any questions or anything... if you want us to stay with you or to..."

"Mom... I think we have it all under control..." Derek said softly placing his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and scowled at him.

"Derek, if you had this all under control, this wouldn't have happened." She said, shaking her head, she looked down at Meredith and ran her fingers through her hair. "If you had this all under control, she wouldn't be lying here right now... poor little girl..."

Derek watched as Meredith took it all in, her eyes sparkling as she glanced up at Derek, and he stuck his tongue out at her as his mother's attention remained on her. She had to fight so hard not to smile at him as he stopped, just as his mother turned her head again. "How long will she be in the hospital?"

"Um..." Derek stammered for a moment as he raised his eyebrows. "Um... she could be in for a week... or up to a month... depending on how her blood pressure is..." Derek shrugged. "They're going to keep her under observation." He nodded.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Cristina barged in with Mark right behind her. "Good... you're awake... lazy ass..." She said as she stepped without noticing Derek's mother sitting there. She stepped right up to the bed and looked down at Meredith. "It's good to see that Mini is behaving himself... seriously though... I'm going to kill you... causing a scene like that... you'd think that the highlight of the day would have been when the speaker said 'orgasm' instead of 'organism'... but nooooo... it was the pregnant graduate sprawled out on the ground in a choke hold by her fiancé..." She babbled on as she glanced to Derek. "And speaking of you, Derek... preeclampsia? Preeclampsia? Seriously... don't you read the studies on that? They say that lots of sex during pregnancy can help to prevent that... maybe if you gave it to your woman once in a while instead of holing up in the hospital all the time, she wouldn't be laying here... what do you think about that?" She said, crossing her arms as she looked to Derek standing there with his face bright red and his eyes widened.

"Cris..." Derek whispered as he glanced to the bedside. "Cris... this is my mother... Marion Shepherd..."

Cristina's eyes widened and her jaw dropped for a minute. She closed it quickly as she spun around with her hand extended. "Cristina Yang... Meredith's roommate... best friend... you know... and the like... It's nice to meet you..." She said as she shook Mrs. Shepherd's hand, thankful for the amused smirk on her face.

Mrs. Shepherd looked up at the embarrassed looks on both Derek and Mark's face as she shook the young woman's hand. "It's a pleasure, Cristina..." She laughed as Meredith giggled from her bed.

The door opened once again, and Ellis walked inside holding Meredith's chart in her hand. "This room became crowded all of a sudden... isn't visiting hours over?" She asked, her voice was stern, but her eyes were still soft and concerned.

"You don't work here, you can't boss us around." Derek replied, watching Ellis' eyes move to Mrs. Shepherd.

"Do you see what I have to deal with on a daily basis?" She shook her head. "Alright... we're going to begin the transport in an hour... the ambulance will be downstairs... "Cristina, I'm assuming that you'll be taking your own car." Ellis asked, watching Cristina nod. "And Derek... you can ride in the ambulance with Meredith. Pretty boy... you're riding with me behind the ambulance in Derek's car." She said, pointing to Mark. "We'll be in constant contact with the ambulance the entire way just in case there are any issues. How are you feeling?" She asked Meredith as she stepped forward towards the bed.

"I'm alright." Meredith whispered.

"Are you ready to go home?" Ellis asked.

"I'm ready to go home." Meredith whispered, grasping Derek's hand as she gave her mother a teary eyed expression as she sighed with the thought of being there already.