Are you with me

2

"Where's my daughter?!" Meredith yelled as Bailey emerged from the trauma room

"Meredith.. they're taking care of her and you need to let them do that" she said trying to keep Meredith calm

"Like hell I do!" she cried, suddenly attempting to collect herself to plead her case "That is my daughter Bailey.. I need to be with her. I need to know what's wrong. I am supposed to keep her safe."

Before Bailey could respond a cry of pain came from behind the closed doors of the trauma room and Meredith took the opportunity to go into the room where her little girl was lying, attempting to move herself away from the doctor's hands moving around her.

"Mama's here baby, mama's here" she attempted to soothe Ellis, while moving the hair out of her eyes where she could. The presence of the bulky neck brace and the spinal board that was still beneath her child showed with complete clarity the already serious nature of the accident that occured.

"It hurts mommy" cried Ellis as her hand moved from her side up to her neck which Meredith quickly intercepted and grasped the small hand in hers.

As she tore her eyes away from her daughter and looked helplessly around the room as her decades worth of medical knowledge escaped her, watching the doctor apply the tip of the needle to her legs with no change in her facial expressions, refusing to believe what was infront of her.

"Ellis," came Tom Koracick's voice above the noise of the trauma room, "I need you to tell me when you can feel my pen, can you do that for me?" A small nod was attempted by Ellis, despite the brace around her neck.

They watched as the pen travelled further up Ellis' body, the silent plea of desperation for her child to be okay increased with each moment of silence that encased the room.

"Now" uttered a small voice below her, once the pen reached her chest. A slight sob escaped her lips yet was quickly suppressed once she locked eyes with an equally terrified Ellis.

"I need some scans to confirm, but I'm almost sure that she has a spinal cord injury" Tom finished quietly while shooting a sympathetic glance in her direction.

The nurses started to push Ellis' bed to radiology as Meredith firmly held onto Ellis "We're going to take some pictures of your spine, everything will be fine"

They quickly transferred Ellis to CT eliciting a small whimper from Ellis, who quickly checked that her mother was still there.

"I am just going to be in that room and if you need me, you can call me and I can talk to you. Okay? You're going to be fine and I love you" Meredith said as she placed a kiss on her daughter's cheek and pressed the button for her to enter the machine.

She turned and left the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket, knowing she now needed her husband more than she had in the past few weeks.

After a few rings Derek picked up the phone, "Hey mer, can i call you back? I'm in a meeting-"

"You need to come home" Meredith interrupted her husband, "It's Ellis"

"What do you mean? What happened?" Derek asked, trying to make sense of the quiet sobs he was hearing from the other end of the phone.

"There was an accident, it's bad, Derek. I need you. We need you." came the defeated voice of his wife on the phone. "Der.. I have to go, Ellis needs me. Just please.. come home."

She hung up the phone and placed it into her pocket as she walked back into the room as the scans appeared on the screen and a cry came through the intercom from Ellis.

"It's okay Ellie, you're almost done. I'm going to come and get you out in just a minute" Meredith said through the microphone to Ellis.

After taking one final look at the scan showing the broken back of her child, she enters the room and begins to take her out of CT.

Meredith paints a smile on her face as Ellis emerges, "You did so well Ellie-bell, we're going to get you in a room so we can wait for Daddy."

"Daddy's coming home?" Ellis asked with surprise.

"Yes, he's going to come right back here so he can spend the night with you" She said as they approached Ellis' room.

Once they were settled in the room a nurse entered and administered some more pain meds for Ellis which promptly allowed her to fall asleep under the comforting touch of her mother.

There was a small knock at the door to reveal Tom standing with a brace in his hands, "Do you want to wake her up?"

"Hey Ellie-Bell, can you wake up for mommy?" Slowly Ellis opened her eyes and looked around the room, the best she could while still laying flat, "Dr Tom wants to talk to you"

"Hi Ellis, How are you feeling?" Tom asked as he moved around the side of her bed.

"Okay.. sore." came a sheepish voice.

"How about we try and sit you up a little bit? What do you think? I just want to do a couple of things and we will put a brace on you to help keep your spine nice and straight, is that okay?" Asked Tom as Ellis' eyes moved to look at her mom, who nodded in response.

After Tom had rechecked the feeling Ellis had remaining, he held the brace he had brought with him up to Ellis so she could see and began explaining how it would work. Ellis held onto her mothers hand while they put on the back brace. The brave facade she was putting on for her daughter was slowly crumbling from the look of sheer pain on her face while they were moving her.

"Okay, that's all. We are all done, you were so brave" Tom said, "Would you like to sit up a little?" Ellis looked up at her mother.

"It's okay if you don't Ellie, just tell him what you want to do." Meredith said softly, to which Ellis nodded her head as the bed was moved a little more upright.

As everyone left the room Ellis turned away from her mother the best she could as she started to cry.

"Ellis, What's the matter? Are you in pain?" Meredith asked anxiously.

"No" said Ellis, she looked back towards her mother, "Mommy.. why aren't my legs working?"

Meredith looked down at her hands and took a deep breath, "You were in an accident and the crash hurt your back a lot."

"Can they fix it?" Ellis asked innocently, "Did it break? Auntie Callie fixes broken bones"

"No Ellie," Meredith said as she pulled Ellis' hand into hers, "This is something they can't fix, but you will be able to find new ways to do most of the things you love."

"But I don't want things to be different" Ellis pouted as her eyes were slowly drooping.

"I know you don't, baby," She sighed, "But you will get a wheelchair that will help you to move around and your daddy and I love you so much and we always will."

"Always?" Ellis asked

"Always." Meredith replied. "Why don't you take a nap, I'll be here when you wake up. I love you, Ellie-Bell"

"I love you too, mommy" Ellis said before her eyes closed and it wasn't long before soft snores filled the room. 

AN // We really hope you like this update! Thanks to my cowriter mermcwidow <3