Andrew woke up in the middle of the night. He didn't know what, but something had woken him up. He turned around to get a look at Meredith to make sure she was okay but she wasn't there. Now highly alarmed he jumped up, looking around the room before opening the door and hurrying into the hallway where he spotted her sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, her blanket around her, the mask of her inhaler on her face but she was fast asleep.
He sighed, bending down, and sitting down in front of her, pushing the off button of the machine and carefully removing the mask. The movement was enough to wake her up and she tiredly opened her eyes, looking up at him.
She was breathing heavily, it sounded almost as she was in pain, fighting for every single breath. He reached for her arm to feel her pulse as she closed her eyes again. Her pulse was a little weak. 'Not again.' He thought as he gently picked her up, cuddling her into his chest before walking over into the hallway.
"No hospital." He heard her whisper into the crock of his neck as he placed her in the car once again. "We have to go to the hospital Mer, you're not okay." He said, kissing her forehead before closing the door and getting into the car himself.
"M-mask." She said, her blanket still around her since she was shivering slightly and it was extremely cold outside. Not answering to her he dialled the number of the ER since he knew that Bailey wouldn't be working tonight.
"Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Emergency Room, how can I help you?" he heard someone say from the other side of the line. "This is Dr. DeLuca speaking, me and Dr. Grey both have covid and I have to bring her in, she can't breathe very well and she has a bad asthma." He explained, looking over to Meredith every few seconds to make sure she was still conscious.
It wasn't as bad as the last time he had to bring her in. That was at least something. "Okay, we're going to prepare a trauma and patient room for her and I'll have someone wait outside the ER entrance." The nurse replied.
"Could you also page Dr. Pierce?" he asked, receiving a 'yes' from the other side of the line before hanging up. "We're almost there." He said, noticing that Meredith was trying to fumble out a mask out of the glove compartment.
"You don't need to put on a mask Mer." He said but she pulled one out of the package, nevertheless, putting it onto her wrist, ready to put it on as soon as they would arrive. He picked one up himself, realizing that it had no point arguing with her right now.
After a few more minutes they pulled up into the entrance road of the ER. It felt like he had been here at least ten times the passed month and slowly he was losing the patience with all of this. But it wasn't her fault. She couldn't do anything about it. He parked the car, put on his mask, and got out of the car, walking around and opening Meredith's door, seeing that she had put on her mask as well. He knew that she was scared and he couldn't blame her, so he remained silent as he picked her up, her blanket still tightly wrapped around her.
"Hey, is she okay? What happened?" Maggie asked, coming towards them and leading Andrew into the ER. Andrew explained what was going on while placing Meredith on the bed. He noticed that she was looking around, fear visible in her eyes so he quickly grabbed her hand to signal her that he was there as he explained Maggie what had happened.
"Okay, Mer we're going to do a few test and a chest CT, can you take off your mask?" Maggie asked, whom was wearing a full-protective suit, as well as the resident standing next to her. Meredith shook her head, a little embarrassed.
"Mer you have to take it off, it's okay, nothing is going to happen, you're totally safe." He said, stroking her hair as he carefully took off her mask. She didn't stop him, obviously enough comforted by his touch to feel safe.
Maggie who had observed the scene was confused but didn't say anything as she started hooking Meredith up to a few monitors. The resident now wanted to take away Meredith's blanket but as Andrew noticed how much she was shivering all of the sudden he quickly stopped the resident and readjusted the blanket.
Maggie seemed to also notice how cold Meredith seemed to be, so quickly placed the patches, also not removing the blanket. "Okay, oxygen levels are a little low but not concerning. We're going to take you up to CT now." Maggie announced, unlocking the breaks of the bed.
"C-can I pu-put my m-mask b-back on?" Meredith asked Andrew shyly and he noticed that she was actually, literally scared. So, he quickly put the mask back onto her face to make sure she would feel a little better. "Can I come with you?" Andrew asked, not wanting Meredith to be alone while she seemed so vulnerable.
"I'm afraid not, you have covid too, it'd probably the best if you just stay here, okay? I'll have someone tell you the results after we're done and if I decide to admit her I'll get you. We actually have some empty beds right now so if you want I could try to arrange to get her into a room with two beds."
"Thank you, that'd be good." Andrew said, looking down at Meredith. "You'll be okay, just try to stay calm. I'll see you in about twenty minutes okay?" he said to her, trying to make sure she wouldn't start panicking.
"Okay." She whispered, trying to calm herself down a little. "Okay." He said, kissing her forehead through his mask before watching her getting moved out of the room. He sat down on the chair in the corner. Hoping that she would be okay.
________
Exactly seventeen minutes later Schmidt came into the room, wearing a full protective suite, a tablet in his hand. "Dr. DeLuca, I got Dr. Grey's chest scans here." He said, opening them on the tablet and turning it around so that Andrew who was standing two meters away could see them.
"Everything looks good so far, it's just that her bronchial airways are slightly constricted which causes the lower oxygen levels. Dr. Pierce wanted to keep her here for a few days since we don't have a lot covid patients right now and it'd be better to keep an eye on her. She also made sure she would get into a room with two bed so that you can stay with her. Have you experienced any symptoms?"
"No, not really, just some fatigue." Andrew replied, wanting nothing more than to get to Meredith as quickly as possible. "Can you tell her that I'll drive home really quick to get us some clothes and other stuff and will be back in about fifteen minutes?"
"Yes, sure." Schmidt replied, nodding eagerly, before hurrying out of the room.
_______
Twenty minutes later Andrew arrived at the hospital again with a huge travel bag full of comfy clothes, fluffy socks for Meredith since her feet easily got cold and her medication as well as her inhaler. For him he had just packed two pyjamas and his toothbrush.
After Schmidt had led him through the whole covid unit he finally reached Meredith's room, were she was laying int the bed in the back of the room, hiding under the blanket. "Mer?" he asked, placing the bag on a chair, and approaching her.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, sitting down on her bed. "C-can you s-sanitize your h-hands p-please?" she asked a little embarrassed, looking up from under the thick blanket. "Yes of course." He replied, standing up again and walking back over to the door where he quickly sanitized his hands, very aware of the fact that Meredith was watching every single one of his movements.
He then started to move his bed over to hers until they were as close as possible. "I got you some comfy clothes and fluffy socks." He said, opening the bag and picking up her favourite pair of socks and walking over to her, putting them onto her stone-cold feet.
"Thank you." She whispered, still cuddled into the blanket. "I want to go home." Meredith then whispered as Andrew sat down on his bed and watched at his clock. It was 5am in the morning.
"I know Mer, but we'll have to stay here a little longer until you're feeling better." He said, noticing that the marks under her eyes had gotten even deeper. "I don't want to be here. This place is full of germs." She said quietly, on the edge of breaking into tears.
"Can I lie down with you?" he asked her, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. Meredith just nodded and scooted over on the bed, making space for Andrew.
"I promise you, you're totally safe in here. A hospital is probably the cleanest place in the whole city." He reassured her as she cuddled into his embrace. "Not during a pandemic." She whispered, hiding her face in his chest as he waved his arms around her. "You're my safe place." She mumbled sleepily, making Andrew smile brightly. "You're my safe place too."