emilia

chapter 3

A/N : italics are for flashbacks 

PRESENT 

"Sweetie, wake up we're here"

The little girl slowly stirred awake and gently shifted in her seat to move her head away from the window.

Meredith had her cellphone in one hand and began to dial a number. "Where are we, Momma?" Emilia asked while Meredith tried to balance the phone on her shoulder.

"Seattle honey, we're going to stay here for a while-" Meredith replied. "Mommy's going to make a call real quick, just wait here okay?"

The little girl nodded her head in response and went back to sit in her seat. Meredith slowly left the compartment and went into the hall. She continued to press the numbers on her phone and started to ring a familiar contact. The number immediately went to voicemail but the familiar voice on the other end made her heartache.

"Derek... it's me, I.. need your help. Please just call me if you get this " she managed to say.

---

Meredith dressed slowly and gathered her things, wandering out of Seattle Grace and towards the fading afternoon light. The last thing she wanted was to go out tonight - the thought of drinking made her ill, as did the thought of socializing with strangers. She knew she could balance work with a social life but today she would much rather prefer to sleep.

She paused outside the hospital, feeling the ache of exhaustion in her bones. At this point, she doubted she even had the energy to drive.

She leaned her head against the wall, closing her eyes.

Just five minutes, she told herself, five minutes, and then you can get in your car and-

Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar loud screech of tires coming to a desperate halt, followed by a door being slammed. It wasn't an uncommon noise by this point, despite how a normal person might have responded; Meredith, on the other hand, had grown familiar with the sounds of panic and desperation and the corresponding injury itself inside the hospital doors.

"Excuse me," someone grunted, the male voice low and vaguely intimate. She looked up in alarm, her breath caught by a set of piercing blue eyes as a man - who was surely no older than she was staggered towards her.

"Um," she managed, trying to piece together what was happening; he was uncomfortably attractive, she thought, her gaze travelling from his eyes to the perfectly moused hair, and then to the particularly strong angle of his jaw. "I -

She stopped, her glance snagging unexpectedly on the vast amount of blood seeping from his arm; she could see he was clutching it and grimacing in pain. There were multiple other scrapes and dirt all over his body and clothes but it seemed as if his arm was is in the worst shape.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, scrambling to her feet. "Come with me," she determined instantly, shaking herself of her exhaustion and reaching for him. "The ER is right this way, and - "

"No," he gritted out, clearly struggling through the injury.

"No, I can't, I - " he looked around anxiously. "I need you to help me," he said, his voice still notably low.

She couldn't quite work out how he was managing to be so calm; injuries like this usually came in with wailing and cursing. "I can't," she said bluntly, blinking at him. God, my brain is moving slowly, she thought, furious with herself. "I'm not a doctor," she explained hastily. "I'm - I'm only an intern - "