Aftermath

Part 2

There he was. The love of my life, the strongest man I knew, laying in a hospital bed. He was pale and his eyes were cloudy. I stood in the doorway, taking a few breaths before putting as real of a smile as I could on my face and walking in to my husband's bedside. 

"Hey," He croaked hoarsely "I didn't die."

"No kidding," I leaned over to gently place a kiss on his lips. God, it felt so good to do that again.

"I love you," He whispered when I pulled away. 

"I love you more. You gave me a real scare back there," I tried to joke. This man could read me better than anyone I knew, even Christina. He couldn't know what had happened in those ORs. He was too weak, he wasn't ready. 

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay, you're here now. That's what matters."

"That's what matters," He repeated, swallowing slowly, "are you okay?"

I tried scoffed jokingly. "I should be asking you that." 

His face said he was serious. I forced myself to smile. 

"I'm fine." 

He gave me a disbelieving glare, but sighed. He clearly didn't have the energy to push me on it. 

"Go back to sleep. I'll stay here. I'll be here when you wake up." 

He gave a slight nod, and within a minute he was unconscious again. The smile dropped off my face immediately and I sat down in a chair in the corner of the room. God, everything hurt. I put my elbows on my knees and rested me face in my hands, focusing on breathing. 

I lost track of how long I was sitting there. My mind kept replaying the scene of Derek on the catwalk. He turned around for a split second and Clark fired the gun. I shuttered at the memory of how his body was slammed backwards to the ground from the force of the impact of the bullet. 

A voice snapped me back into reality. 

"Mer?" 

I looked up. Suddenly I was aware of the tears that were running slowly down my cheeks. I wiped them and stood up. 

"Christina," I greeted.

"You may want to sit back down for this." Christina said, walking across the room to stand in front of me.

"I'm okay. What is it? Is it Derek?" 

"No, Derek is fine. He's sleeping right?" 

"Is he not supposed to hear whatever you're about to tell me?" 

Christina was silent for a moment, her gaze sweeping over Derek in the bed and me standing in front of her.

"Let's go in the hall." She suggested. 

I nodded and followed her into the hall, sliding the door to Derek's room shut behind me. 

"Reed Adamson is dead. And Charles Percy."

"Charles too?"

"You knew about Reed?"

"April told me."

We both looked at each other for a long minute. There was something else. I could tell.

"Mer, Alex was shot too." Christina said finally. 

My heart skipped a beat. Alex had been shot too.

"Is...is he alive?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer.

"Yes, yes, sorry. Teddy operated on him at Seattle Pres and Lexie is with him over there."

"Oh, thank god."