Are you with me

32

"I'm sorry Ellis" The teacher sadly smiled at Ellis. They had inspected the wheelchair and saw there was a break on one of her wheels making it unable for her to use it any longer

"I want to go home.." Ellis whispered

"Maybe you should call your parents" The teacher quietly said, holding Ellis' trembling hands

"I-I will" Ellis nodded

"I'll give you some time, I'll go get us something to eat and drink while you call them. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you" Ellis weakly smiled

The teacher walked out of the room, leaving Ellis on the bed. The girl was stuffed up against the wall as she felt completely exhausted and didn't want to use any effort to keep herself up. She grabbed her phone and called her mother on facetime

"Hi El!" Meredith smiled, "What's up?" She asked as she saw that her daughter was devastated

"Mom.." Ellis whimpered and started crying

"Ellie, talk to me please-" Meredith begged, feeling helpless on the other end of the phone.

"Can you page dad? I only want to say it once" Ellis quietly said

"Of course Ellie-Bell" Meredith nodded and did so. They waited in a comfortable silence until Derek arrived "Der, come here. It's El" She sadly smiled

Derek immediately sensed something was up and sat down next to his wife

"Hi monkey, what's wrong?" He asked as he saw tears running down his daughter's face

"Something on one of my wheels broke.." Ellis quietly started "I can't use it anymore"

"Monkey, how did that happen?" Derek asked concerned

"We were in town but I had a hard time getting on and off the pavements.. This teacher.. she wanted to.. help.." Ellis slowly told them

"We're coming to get you" Derek stated

"Please?" Ellis asked, not daring to look up at them

"Ellie-Bell, we'll be there in a few hours, okay?" Meredith spoke up

"Thanks mom. Thanks dad" Ellis nodded

"We're leaving now, I promise we'll be there as soon as possible" Meredith blew her a kiss

"Okay. Love you" Ellis quietly said

"We love you too, honey" Meredith blew a kiss back and hung up. The two rushed to Derek's car so they would get to Ellis as soon as possible

"Ellis, can I come inside?" She heard her teacher knock on the door

"Yeah" Ellis sighed and fidgeted with her blanket

"I have some juice and biscuits for us" The teacher smiled as she walked inside

Ellis cracked a sad smile before looking down again

...

Ellis had gotten a phone call from her mom that they were almost at the hotel so her teacher decided to wait for them at the entrance of the hotel

"Mr and Mrs Shepherd?" The teacher walked up to Meredith and Derek

"Where's Ellie?" They asked immediately

"Please follow me" The teacher said and led them to Ellis' room. She knocked on the door and opened it

"Mom!" Ellis whimpered

Meredith ran up to her daughter and hugged her tight. The girl completely buried herself in her mother's chest

"Hey baby" Derek wrapped his strong arms around his daughter and wife

"I wanna go home" Ellis whimpered in her parents' arms

"We'll take you home right away" Meredith nodded her head

"I'm very sorry about how things turned out" The teacher quietly spoke up, she felt really bad about how things went

"Right now I just want to take my daughter home" Meredith with an indifferent expression

"I understand. Thanks Ellis for being here. I hope you at least enjoyed it a little" The teacher rubbed Ellis' shoulder

"Thanks for helping me out today" Ellis nodded with a soft smile on her lips

"No worries. I'll see you back on school and be careful on the way home" The teacher nodded

"Thanks for helping her" Meredith nodded once more as Derek lifted his daughter in his arms while Meredith pushed the wheelchair, it was clear something was obviously wrong with the wheel. She just hoped it would be fixed easily, especially knowing how much Ellis hated to use the spare one as it was less comfortable to use

Derek helped Ellis get in the back if the car and Meredith joined her. Ellis could rest her head on her mother's shoulder as Derek drove off

...

"Mom is getting your spare chair" Derek told his daughter as he carried her inside

"Hmm" Ellis nodded

"Here you go, El" Meredith put the brakes on the chair so Derek could lift her in it and she then rubbed his back, knowing this would probably hurt him more than it used to, as he had gotten older over the years and so had Ellis

"I hate this one" Ellis sighed

"We know. I'm going to drop your chair off now and I'll try to make them repair it as soon as possible" Derek sighed

"Thanks" Ellis quietly muttered and wheeled herself off to her bedroom while she kept shifting in her chair

"She's not comfortable" Meredith whispered

"You should talk to her. About the trip" Derek sighed, knowing his daughter always opened up when she cuddled with her mom in bed

"I'll go try, maybe I have to get us some drinks and snacks first" Meredith nodded and took off to the kitchen

"I'll be back in a bit" Derek said as he left with Ellis' broken wheelchair

"Ellie?" Meredith knocked on her youngest daughter's room

"Yeah?" Ellis quietly replied

"Hi monkey, can I come in?" Meredith softly asked

"Yeah" Ellis smiled softly from her spot on the bed

Meredith noticed Ellis was exhausted. The girl could barely hold herself up any longer as she laid down on a pillow with her chest. Meredith laid down next to her and pulled her daughter into her arms

Thanks to my co writer mermcwidow