It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

64.

The ambulance ride was smooth and quiet and Meredith remained stable the entire time. Derek held her hand securely as she slept the entire way. They arrived in Boston in the early morning hours, pulling into the emergency bay behind the hospital. Derek jumped from the ambulance, aiding the EMTs with the gurney as Meredith moved a little atop it, her eyes opening briefly.

"Just close your eyes, baby... we're home now..." He whispered as he squeezed her hand as they lifted her out, pulling her into the hospital door and down the long hallway to the maternity floor. All of Derek's attention was on Meredith, and nowhere else. He didn't want to chat with any of the doctors he saw in the hallway, he didn't want to answer questions or notice any curious looks. He wanted to get Meredith and that baby somewhere safe and sound, somewhere where he could just rest with her peacefully for a couple more hours, days, weeks, months. He just needed to be alone with her, and it was starting to ache.

They pulled her into a small hospital room, the monitors and medications were ready to go, and they lifted her from the gurney onto the bed, with Derek's hand on one part of her or another each step of the way. They attached the equipment to her and asked her a couple of questions as they prepared her chart. Each movement of everyone in that room was like a machine, everyone doing their part to make her comfortable, each one doing their part of the job to ensure that she was stable. The nurses and doctors left the room, leaving Derek alone for a mere moment with her. He rubbed her hand gently as he crouched down beside her, watching her head turn to the side so that she could face him, her eyes slowly opened.

"We're home, sweetheart..." He whispered as he delicately let his fingers dance over her skin as she watched him sleepily.

"No..." She mumbled. "This is the hospital..." She whispered. "I want to be in our bed together." She whimpered.

"Oh... I know, darling... my sweet, sweet girl..." Derek whispered softly as he continued to run his fingers through her hair, his eyes melting into hers as his voice soothed her. "I know, baby..." He whispered.

Suddenly, the door opened quickly. "You were on my ass the entire way here... you drive like a goddamned maniac..." Mark huffed as Cristina followed him inside.

"If you would drive just a little bit faster, I wouldn't have had to freaking tailgate you the whole way..."

"Cristina... I had my boss in the car, I wasn't about to get a speeding ticket with her sitting in the passenger seat. It's bad enough that we looked like a bunch of ambulance chasers the whole way here, but then you have Doctor Grey sitting beside me making snarky comments about my hair, the cologne I'm wearing... it was nerve wracking... at one point, she got so into my face about something or other, that I thought that she was going to make out with me."

"Mark..." Derek said, shaking his head in frustration.

"What? It's true? I mean seriously, if that woman got any closer to my face, I swear she would have bitten my nose off."

"Mark... thanks for your help today... but I think that..." Derek said as he nodded towards Meredith.

"Oh... oh, yeah..." Mark nodded.

"What? You're kicking us out of here? We just got here..." Cristina said as she looked between Derek and Meredith. "We don't have to..."

Suddenly, Ellis walked in and Mark straightened himself immediately. Derek and Meredith exchanged a glance as they watched Ellis look over the EMTs numbers from the drive. "Things are looking good..." She said as she continued to look over the chart. "Things are looking very good..." She looked up and noticed Mark and Cristina were standing there. "What are you two doing in here... out, out... she needs her rest..." She said as she shooed them.

"But..." Cristina mumbled.

"No 'buts', you can come back for visiting hours... it was nice to meet you both... now out..." Ellis said as she pulled both of them towards the door. "Now say goodbye... good... out..." She said, without letting them say another word, she pushed them out into the hallway.

She spun around and faced Meredith and Derek. "Well... everything looks good here... you're home, I'm home... everything is right with the world. I'm sending the OBGYN over at nine to do a full physical, and they'll be checking on you every hour... I'll be back in a little while... I think I need a little bit of sleep before my day officially starts, and before you ask Derek... yes, I keep a coffin in one of the on call rooms to sleep in..."

"I didn't..."

"I know you think that I'm an evil person, Doctor Shepherd. I know that you think that I don't care about my family, or anything other than the hospital, and I hope that from what happened here, you can see that I am not the horrible person that I am made out to be around here. I have to be tough, Doctor Shepherd, if I want to make it in a man's world... and if that means that I have to teach my daughter to be tough too, then I'm going to do it." She said, her voice stern as Derek and Meredith watched her defend herself.

Derek stood up suddenly, and walked over to Ellis. Without saying another word, he put his arms around her and gave her a hug. She stood there stiffly for a moment, just standing in Derek's arms, and finally after a moment, she put her hand on his back and hugged him in return. "You don't have to prove anything to me, Dr. Grey." He whispered. "I'm not the one that needs your approval." He said as he pulled from the hug and looked her in the eyes. Meredith sat watching the exchange curiously, her mind still confused about what exactly had happened, but she swore she saw tears in her mother's eyes.

"I'm... going to...I think that I'm going to... go now..." Ellis said as she glanced to Meredith quickly. "Take care of her, Derek. If there are any changes... let me know..."

"Yes..." He smirked.

"Thank you." She said as she cleared her throat. "Meredith, I'll see you later." She said as she took a step backwards towards the door.

"I..." Meredith whispered as she looked up at Derek, and back to her mother. "I love you...Mom." Meredith whispered as she watched her mother's lip curl up just slightly.

"I love you too, dear." She whispered as she turned and walked out of the room.

Derek turned to face Meredith, as a grin spread over his face. "What do you think you're smiling at?" She whispered as she watched him approach her slowly.

"We're alone..." He whispered, as he pulled himself onto her bed and wrapped his arm around her.

"We are alone." She whispered as she leaned forward for a kiss. "We're alone... and you like my mommy..."

"Cut that out..." Derek whispered with a chuckle into her.

"You like my mommy... I think it's cute."

"Just go to sleep..." He laughed.

"Mommy lover..." She giggled as she cuddled into him and listened to the vibration of his laugh as she drifted off.