Chasing Cars

Chapter 32

"Mads, wanna go to daycare and play with your friends?" Derek asks her. She's been extremely worried about her mom, constantly asking if Meredith was okay.

"Will Mommy be otay if I go pway?" Maddie asks, biting her lower lip just like Meredith does. She clutches Nanas to her chest.

"I will be just fine, baby girl. You should go play with your friends! And then after you can tell me and your daddy about all of the fun you had okay?" Meredith says weakly to her daughter.

Maddie thinks for a second and then nods "Otay Mommy. Me and Nanas go have fun now. But... can me and Nanas pway with you later??"

"Sure sweetie." Meredith says. Meredith holds her arms out for a hug."

Maddie climbs up onto her mom's bed with her dad's help. She gives her mom a big hug. "Mama? Can we have lunch together pweeze?"

Meredith nods, which makes Maddie squeal with happiness. "Yay! We gets mac and cheese otay Mama?"

Meredith giggles. "Sure, that sounds good." Meredith doesn't think she can hold any food down but she doesn't say that to her little girl.

"Okay monkey, let's get you to daycare!" Derek says. "I'll be back soon Mer."

"Otay! Bye Mommy!" Maddie waves Nana's paw at Meredith.

"Bye Mads, bye Nanas." Meredith says.

The minute they leave the room, Meredith allows herself to close her eyes. She's not feeling too well but didn't want Maddie to worry about her. Meredith groans to herself and rolls onto her side. "I just want to feel good again." She whispers to herself. "I want this stupid cancer to go away." Meredith then falls asleep.

A little while later Derek comes back and finds a sleeping Meredith. He lets out a sigh and sits down next to her bed. He gently rubs her bald head soothingly. Meredith sleeps through this.

An hour later, Derek's phone rings. "This is Dr Shepherd... okay...she did?... okay... I'll be down soon. " Derek sighs and looks at Meredith's sleeping body.

"Knock knock." Dr Bailey comes into the room. "It's time for her scans now. Can you wake her up for me please Shepherd? I just need to examine her quickly and then I'll take her for her scans."

Derek nods. "Hey Mer, it's time to wake up. Mer, sweetie, Dr. Bailey is here."

Meredith groans softly. "Tired, want more sleep." She whispers.

"I know sweetie, but Dr Bailey is here to take you down for your scans." Derek softly says to her, while rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"Don't wanna. Just wanna sleep." Meredith whispers weakly.

"You feeling okay sweetie?" Derek quickly checks her vitals , as does Dr Bailey, and both are relieved to see that her vitals are stable for the moment.

"Head hurts." Meredith whispers. "And stomach hurts too."

"Did those just start hurting?" Dr Bailey asks.

Meredith shakes her head no.

"When did that start?" Dr Bailey asks.

"This morning." Meredith weakly says, clutching her stomach.

Derek sighs, knowing she hid her pain so that Maddie wouldn't see it.

Derek's phone vibrates again. "Yes, sorry, got caught up in something. I'll be right down." He hangs up.

"Mer, I need to go take care of something. I'll be back soon. Dr Bailey will take good care of you sweetie." Derek says.

Meredith nods weakly. "Okay." She whispers.

Derek decides not to tell her about the phone call so she doesn't get worried. She's already not feeling good and he doesn't want to make it harder on her.

Derek kisses her on the forehead and then leaves the room. He walks down to daycare and enters the room. He sees Maddie sitting on a chair in daycare with her arms crossed. He can see right away that she's pouting. Maddie doesn't see him yet

"Hi Dr Shepherd, can we have a talk about Maddie please?" Erin, the daycare worker asks softly.

"Of course." Derek says, nodding.

"Let's get Miss Maddie to come with us." Erin says and turns towards Maddie. "Maddie, come here sweetie. You can come out of timeout now."

Maddie sees her dad and her eyes light up. "Daddy!" She yells and runs towards him. "Up!" She holds her arms up to Derek and he picks her up.

"Hi monkey. Why were you in timeout?" Derek asks.

Maddie shrugs and looks away.

"Maddie, you know why." Erin says gently. "Come, let's have a little chat."

She leads them into an empty room. They sit down and Maddie sits on her dad's lap.

"Daddy, is Mama sweeping?" Maddie asks.

"She wasn't sleeping when I left to come see you monkey. Dr Bailey is with her." Derek tells her, not wanting to worry her by saying she's having more tests done.

"Ohhhh. I love Dr Baiwee." Maddie says.

"I know you do. She loves you also."

"So, Maddie, can you tell your daddy why you were in timeout?" Erin asks her.

"I dunno." Maddie whispers.

"Maddie. You know why sweetie. It's okay, tell him." Erin says

"I gots in trouble daddy." Maddie whispers.

"What happened sweetie? It's okay, you can tell me." Derek gives her a kiss on the top of her head.

"I hits Charlie." Maddie whispers.

"Why did you do that? You know we never hit." Derek says.

"He was mean to me and made me cries. He... he.... He says mama gonna die. He says she vwery sick. And peoples who sick wike that don't survive." Maddie says, tears running down her face.

"I told her even though he was being mean to her and telling her that, that it doesn't mean she can hit him. We always keep our hands to ourselves. Right Maddie? Did you learn your lesson? Are you going to keep your hands to yourself from now on sweetie?" Erin asks.

Maddie nods, and hides her face in Derek's chest. "Uh huh. But... I scares about mama! I don't want her to dies! I need mama!" Maddie says, starting to sob.

"Hey, mama's going to be just fine sweetie. That's why she's getting treatment. And that's why she's hospitalized right now so they can monitor her because of what happened recently. She's not going to leave you. She's trying her hardest to get better and get healthy again."

"Mama not be sick fowever?" Maddie asks softly. "Wants to pway wit her but she always sweepy."

"Not forever. Hopefully she'll be healthy again at some point. and can play with you whenever you want. But your teacher is right, you cannot hit people no matter what they say. What he said was mean but you still shouldn't have hit him. You should have gotten miss Erin and told her what he said."

"Otay." Maddie sighs.

"Come on. Let's go see Mama."

We hope you enjoyed!!!!! Sorry for the delay! Thanks to my co-writer _Ktje_