Strong enough

16

The next morning Meredith woke up, she felt so sweaty and dirty. She opened her eyes weakly and felt dizzy but already a bit better than yesterday. She wanted to turn around when she noticed Derek was gone

"Mommy?" Emma walked in

"Hi monkey." Meredith said, swallowing the bile in her throat

"Daddy's downstairs, he was making some breakfast." Charlotte climbed into the bed but frowned. "Mommy, you're completely wet."

"Hmm.." Meredith muttered

"I'll go get daddy." Charlotte ran off in panic mode, returning quickly after with her dad

"Fine.. Just the chemo." She muttered, hating to see how her daughter was so scared

"Let's go take a shower really quickly." Derek removed the blankets, seeing his wife was drenched in sweat. He lifted her and carried her to the bathroom. "Charlie, your pancakes are ready on the table. We'll be there soon." Derek assured her

"Thanks.." Charlotte muttered and quietly left as she heard the shower starting to run but she noticed something on the pillow

The girl gasped, she saw some of her mother's hair on the pillow. It wasn't much yet, but enough to know she was starting to officially lose her hair

Charlotte quickly left the room, heading to the kitchen where she managed to eat a few pieces but she felt sick to her stomach as she was thinking about the battles her mom was facing

"Charlie?!" She heard her father yelling

"Coming!" Charlotte yelled and ran upstairs, almost tripping on the stairs

"Easy monkey." Meredith weakly smiled as she saw her daughter out of breath entering the room

"I'm here." Charlotte nodded

"Can you- Can you stay with mom for a minute?" Derek asked

Charlotte found it odd, her dad was acting weird

"Of course." Charlotte smiled and got into the bed, her mom in fresh pajamas covered by fresh sheets

"Wanna watch a movie?" Meredith suggested, carefully watching Derek as he left the room, looking down on his way outside

"Yes!" Charlotte smiled, cuddling carefully into her mom's side, hearing how quick her mom was breathing. "Is everything okay with daddy?"

"He's just scared, that's completely okay. I told him to go for a walk on the cliff, you know how it seems to calm him down." Meredith forced a soft smile to assure Charlotte everything would be okay

But Meredith was honestly scared. Her husband was acting strange, she hadn't seen him this vulnerable before and didn't know what to do or what to say

Not to mention she was terrified about being sick, everything was hurting so much and she just wanted to sleep. Honestly the thought of dying sounded better than the pain of chemo but it wasn't worth never seeing her loved ones again

"Mommy? Is this one okay?" Charlotte repeated her question and pulled Meredith out if his thoughts

"Of course, it's our favorite." Meredith chuckled, brushing her fingers through Charlotte's blonde curls

...

Meredith had fallen asleep during the movie and Charlotte had carefully gotten up, she saw her dad sitting at the trailer. She was observing him, Charlotte knew this wasn't like her dad

"He's gonna be okay." She suddenly heard her mother say

"He's really scared I think." Charlotte muttered

"He is, and that's okay." Meredith tried to turn a little but pain spread through her entire stomach

"Hmm.." Charlotte climbed in bed with her mom. "Do you wanna drink something?"

"No honey, I'm fine." Meredith nodded, she honestly couldn't think of swallowing anything right now

"You haven't drank anything today.." Charlotte muttered

"I will in a bit, I'm just not thirsty." Meredith tried to assure her daughter

"You feel warm.." Charlotte muttered

"Those are fevers caused by the chemo, that's normal." Meredith assured her daughter

"That's why they wanted to admit you?" Charlotte quietly asked

Meredith frowned, she had no idea how her daughter knew about this

"Just to see how I would react to the chemo but we agreed I could go home since daddy and I are both doctors and Mark and Addie are too." Meredith explained

"Hmm.." Charlotte nodded

"It's weird they haven't called yet." Meredith winced a bit as pain was overtaking again

"Aunt Addie called me.. and I called her.." Charlotte admitted

"You're a little spie?" Meredith tried to joke, concerned about her daughter's wellbeing

"Yeah." Charlotte admitted with a chuckle. "Uncle Mark said the same thing."

"Great minds think alike." Meredith chuckled a bit until pain got too bad it made her stop

"Mommy?" Charlotte frowned

"Fine- Fine." Meredith muttered, trying to fight against the tears that were about to fall down her cheeks

"D-Daddy?" Charlotte whimpered, looking outside but not seeing him anymore

Charls.. I'm fine." Meredith groaned, completely curled up

"Mommy- You're not!" The girl frowned

"Sorr-" Derek walked in but was confused by the two girls. "What's going on?"

"Mommy's in pain and she doesn't wanna admit it!" Charlotte whimpered, scared to even touch her mom

"Mom's stubborn but she'll feel better soon." Derek said but internally he was also panicking and beating himself up for leaving them on their own for that long

"Just- Morphine shot.. Please." Meredith begged

"On the way." Derek nodded and quickly injected some, enough to make her fall asleep and hopefully keep her out of pain for just a little while, hopefully enough for her to get some rest and he could only hope she'd feel better after some sleep