Chasing Cars

Chapter 2

"Meredith, what the hell is going on?" Derek frowned after watching her eat so little and almost falling asleep where she was sitting

"Derek.. You only need to know because you're Maddie's dad and because this will change her life" Meredith started explaining and got Derek really worried

"Meredith, come on. Tell me what the hell is going on!" Derek got impatient

"Derek.. I'm sick.." Meredith quietly said

"Sick in what way?" Derek frowned, his blue eyes widening

"Sick as in chemo and radiation and surgery.." Meredith whispered

"You- cancer?" Derek frowned and he watched her nod his head. "Since when? How bad, where?" He gasped

"Not important. I'm starting chemo this afternoon, I already underwent radiation and surgery without success so.. that's why Richard convinced me to come here" Meredith explains

"Mer, please. I need to know how bad it is. I still care about you even though we're no longer together." Derek says desperately. "I- I can't lose you."

"I'll be fine. I am fine. That's all you need to know." Meredith says softly, resting her head on top of her hand. She yawns. "I just need you to take care of Maddie whenever I or the Webbers can't."

"Of course I can take care of her. She's my daughter. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you. This is going to be very hard on you." He says, looking her in the eyes.

"Just help Maddie. This is going to be a big change in her life and she's not going to understand why."

Derek nods. He sees Richard walking towards them.

"Hey Derek." Richard says to Derek. He sees that Derek looks sad and knows that he knows Meredith's secret.

"Hey Chief." Derek says.

Richard looks over at Meredith and sighs at the bags under her eyes. He sees that her food has not been touched. "Mer, you need to eat. You need to keep your strength up."

"I'm not hungry." Meredith says softly. "I'm going to go take a nap in an on-call room." She says and rubs her eyes.

"Meredith, you have your appointment in fifteen minutes and then chemo after." Richard says gently.

"Oh. Right. That." Meredith's face falls.

"Come on. Let's get you up there." Richard says softly.

Meredith nods and stands up. She says a quick goodbye to Derek and reluctantly follows Richard down the hallway to the elevators.

"It's going to be okay Mer." Richard says softly to her.

Meredith just nods, not wanting to look him in the eyes.

They get up to her appointment and checked in.

Ten minutes later a nurse comes and calls for her. "Meredith?"

Richard looks over at Meredith and sees that she's fallen asleep. "Mer, time to wake up. It's time for your appointment."

Meredith slowly opens her eyes and nods tiredly.

Richard sighs at how exhausted she is.

Meredith follows Richard towards the nurse and they both follow her to an exam room.

"I'll give you a minute to change into this gown and then I'll take your vitals." The nurse says and her and Richard leave to give Meredith privacy to change.

Meredith slowly changed into the gown as she felt completely exhausted. Once she finished she took a seat on the chair, not wanting to sit on the exam table until she had to.