Don't Give Up On Me

Chapter 10

Monday
"Say it." Meredith prompted the doctors surrounding her bedside. An intern has re-run her blood tests early in the morning, and now they were there for rounds to deliver the good news.

"Your WBC count is up, which means you're coming out of isolation today." Bailey stated, not even bothering to conceal her smile. Derek tore his mask off and pulled Meredith into a deep kiss for the first time in days.

"Settle down you two." Swinder chided. "We still want you to stay in the hospital for treatment today, and on Friday you'll get a new set of scans to make sure this round of chemotherapy has been effective."

"But I can go home?" Meredith breathed.

"Like, in my own bed with my own pillows and blankets?" She asked hesitantly, glancing between Swinder, Bailey, and Derek.

"We'll see, Grey." Bailey answered.

"Cristina is your intern today, I'll send her to start your chemo. Take it easy today." Swinder instructed as her and Bailey left the room.

"Tell her to bring some patient charts?" Meredith called to their backs.

"Patient charts?" Derek questioned once they were alone.

"Gotta stay sharp somehow!"

—-

Derek wheeled Meredith into the infusion center, and helped her into the patient chair.

"Ready for this?" Derek asked, not excited for the chaos and vomiting that was soon to follow. Meredith nodded slowly.

"Meredith Grey as I live and breathe!" Cristina yelled in a very "un-yang-like," chipper voice. The curly haired intern pushed an infusion stand towards her friend.

"Watch your tone, you'll give me a headache." Meredith groaned, tired of feeling coddled just because she's sick.

"Jeez, sorry." Cristina murmured as she applied betadine to Meredith's arm.

"Little poke." Meredith hissed and squeezed Derek's hand as the needle was inserted.

"Alright,  the infusion should take about four hours. I have to get to surgery, but Izzie is gonna come check on you in an hour." Cristina said quickly, already starting to walk away.

"Cristina!-" Meredith called after her.

"Oh right. Here's some patient charts for you to study." She said, setting a stack of binder down on Meredith's bedside.

"There's neuro, cardio, and general cases. I made sure to swipe the interesting ones. Good luck, Mer." She uttered, running away before Meredith could call after her again.

Meredith sighed, leaning back in the chair and grabbing a binder, paging through the operative notes.

—-

Patient is experiencing pain in the abdomen, tremors, and nausea. Appears jaundice, and labs reveal an electrolyte imbalance. Diagnosis?" Derek asked, quizzing Meredith on contents from the charts.

"Acute hepatic liver failure!" Meredith shouted.

"Good! What treatment plan would you follow?"

"Mer?" Derek asked, looking up from the chart when Meredith didn't respond. She stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused and glazed over. She started hyperventilating.

"Woah hey, you're okay. Slow, deep breaths." Derek urged, placing a steadying hand on Meredith's shoulder.

Meredith's head ached, and the dizziness was so bad she barely registered Derek's voice, let alone made any effort to control her respirations.