Family

Chapter 24

Derek stepped into an elevator behind Owen. They were the only two in there. They had been sent to retrieve gauze and IV kits from central supply. Derek let out a loud sigh.

"What's up?" Owen asked.

"Meredith."

"What's wrong with Meredith?"

"She's 35 weeks pregnant and refused to call my family to tell them. I called them and now she's so mad at me that she slept in the guest room until we got paged."

Owen scoffed quietly, "She loves you, everyone in the whole hospital knows it. It's probably just the hormones. You know she can't control her emotions that well. I've seen her very angry at interns for making a mistake, but I've also seen her crying in empty hallways."

"I hope you know better than to say anything to her about it." 

"Yeah, I learned that the hard way." Owen laughed. 

"So did I. You really think it's just hormones?"

Owen nodded and turned to face Derek. "Their bodies go through something we can't even begin to imagine. The best we can do it just be there for them, support them, and put up with whatever crap they give us. It's love."

Derek was silent for a moment before he nodded. "You're right."

The elevator doors opened and the men walked out, heading to storage.

A few hours later, the storm was just started and the ER was overstocked as a flow of patients began to arrive. Meredith found herself in a trauma gown trying to get outside to wait for an ambulance, despite the extremely strong winds. Christina appeared behind her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Christina shouted over the wind, grabbing Meredith's arm.

"I'm receiving an ambulance!"

"Not in this wind you're not! Wait inside! They paged me too. I'll bring it in and you can help once we're safely inside!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Just because-"

"Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you're less of a doctor," Christina cut her off, rolling her eyes "I know, I know. But let's face it, you have the center of gravity of a cow. Something is going to hit you or you're going to be blown off your feet out here!"

"Christina!"

"Wait inside! Now!" Christina commanded, stepping in front of Meredith so she couldn't go any further out.

Meredith shot her a dirty look and made her way back inside, inwardly sighing with relief that she was safe. But she couldn't let anyone else know that. After a few minutes, Christina came back in on the side of a stretcher yelling at the paramedics and nurses.

Meredith joined her. "What do we got?"

"47 year old male, blunt trauma to the chest and abdomen, let's get him to trauma three and asses, but we'll need a CT to be sure."

Meredith nodded and followed everyone to the trauma room. She stepped back as they transferred the patient from the stretcher to bed as she wasn't allowed to lift anything heavy anymore. Christina and Meredith had started to assess the patient and order tests when a pain started in the front of her abdomen. Meredith inhaled sharply and gritted her teeth against the pain, trying to hide it. After a minute, it faded and Meredith returned to work.

They decided to take their patient up to CT, he wasn't critical. Meredith sat next to Christina in the room, waiting for the images to appear on the computer screens. Christina was rocking back and forth in her chair, when Meredith started laughing.