Chapter 6

Time stops when you're in the O.R. You step up to the table, you evaluate the patient, you pick up a scalpel, and then you go into a bubble. It's just you and your surgery and nothing else matters; not time, not pain, not exhaustion, nothing.

It happens in real life too.

When something big happens, something tragic, you freeze, you retreat into your happy bubble for what seems like a second, until you look up. And suddenly, you realise it's a whole new world.

How do you step back into the world?

It's scary.

Time stood still and now it's speeding by. You're looking for a lifeboat, something to give you hope. But are you really ready to leave your happy little bubble and step back out into the big, blinding, bloody, terrible world?

Are you ready to achieve the impossible? Meredith Grey; Time Stops

When Meredith entered his ICU room, she swallowed hard.

Meredith always thought she knew what it was like, seeing someone like this. It's what she does every day. Every day she was seeing people like this – but only with a detached doctor view. Now the roles were reversed. She was a relative of a critical injured patient who was her husband. She wasn't prepared for that. Derek was lying in this bed, hooked up onto a million things like catheters, a central line ... She forced herself to look at him. His eyes were closed.

She was wanted nothing more than that he opened them … that he was awake.

He was pale, she suspected it was because of the extensive blood loss. Then there were all these medical devices he was hooked onto, there was even an external pacer since they've suspected cardiac contusion and they want to cover all the bases. Since he is at risk for sudden dysrhythmias. Somehow, Meredith was afraid to touch him. He just looked so vulnerable, not like the Derek she knew.

She heard the whizzing of the mechanical vent he was connected to. She watched how it shoved air into his lungs. The heart monitor was beeping rhythmically and his sats were stable.

"Derek. I know you probably can't hear me but you need to listen to me." Meredith swallowed hardly. But of course Derek didn't react. Only the monotone beeping of the machines could be heard. "I need you to come back to me. Don't cop out on me now. I know you're fighting for your life and I am begging you please fight to win. You've survived so many things, please don't let it end like this. I need us to have our lifetime, Derek." Meredith sniffled as she tried to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes.

"I'm … you always said you wanted a third one, Derek. And our third one - it needs his or her daddy. And Zola and Bailey, they need you too. I'm pregnant, Derek. I need you to fight for us and I need you to know that I love you. I always have and I always will." Meredith choked back tears as she clutched his hand, waiting for a response. But of course there was no response.

He was just out of surgery. "I need you too." She reached for his hand and squeezed it slightly.

Amelia leaned in the doorway, seeing the cardiac monitor beeping rhythmically but as a neurosurgeon she knew that this was not the only sign of life. Her question was whether his brain was working. She really hoped it was.

But in fact, she had no idea whether his brain was functioning or not.

Meredith was with him, begging him frantically to stay with her. It was heartbreaking to watch. Amelia remembered the words she had said to Meredith yesterday. Now it all has changed in an instant. Meredith was now facing the possibility to lose Derek forever. It seemed like she'd cursed Meredith and Derek's relationship, that the accident happened because she'd said that although she knew that that was a load of crap.

There is no way of knowing or predict what could have happened before.

Then Owen suddenly was behind her, with an unreadable face expression. "Amelia." He said. "What is going on, Owen, just say it." She urged him, not taking her eyes off of Derek for one second. Meredith didn't even look up although she heard Amelia and Owen talking.

"Your mother just arrived and is asking for you." Amelia looked up. "Oh, she is already here? I thought she'd get on a plane tomorrow, anyway, it doesn't matter, you're right. I'll just tell Mer so that she doesn't freak out, when she sees Mom." Amelia chuckled slightly despite she knew that the occasion was not in any way laughable. Quietly, she entered Derek's ICU room. Meredith was just sitting there, staring at his face and holding onto his hand for dear life. "Meredith." She said and startled Meredith from her daydream staring at Derek.

She flinched when she heard Amelia talking to her.

"Mom's here now." Amelia warned her. Meredith looked at her in confusion and tiredness. It seemed like she hadn't really listened to what Amelia told her. "Uh, what did you say?" Meredith asked, confused. "Mom's here. She'd taken the first flight out and she is now here." Meredith only nodded, she knew freaking out wouldn't do anything good to her nor the baby.

The baby, the reason Derek had to get through this.

"I'll be fine." Meredith told Amelia.

Amelia knew as well as her that it was the code for her being not okay. It meant the opposite of being fine. She was so not fine.

Amelia hovered for a minute over Meredith before she silently exited the room to welcome her mother. She was waiting for her in the entrance hall. Carolyn Shepherd made her way over to her youngest daughter to hug her before asking how Derek is doing.

"I got here as fast as possible. How is he, how is Meredith taking it?" She wanted to know. "He made it through the surgery. Now all we can do is wait and hope." Amelia forgot that her mother also asked about Meredith. "How's Meredith, that poor girl must be terrified." Amelia chortled sarcastically. "You have no idea. She … take it easy on her, she needs rest. She's worried sick about Derek, just as I am. Just leave it at that."

"Why rest?" Amelia's and Derek's mother inquired.

"Uh … It's not quite my place to tell you. It's her and Derek's place not mine." Amelia pointed out. "Okay. Now I want to see my son." Carolyn said. "Yeah, follow me." Amelia told her, knowing that Derek's mother will eventually find out about Meredith being pregnant. She has her ways, ways that tell her when someone is pregnant. When they reached Derek's ICU room, they both saw Derek lying there and Meredith curled up half on a visitors chair and half on Derek's bed. When she heard them entering the room, she jumped up in surprise.

She hasn't heard them coming. "Hello, Meredith." Derek's mother adressed her in a soft voice.

"Mrs. Shepherd. This ..." Meredith started, trying to cover the awkwardness.

"I'd be more happier if this would be a different situation without anybody being injured." Carolyn concluded. "Please, call me Carolyn, Meredith. You're family." Amelia and Carolyn continued to talk silently while hovering over Derek. Meredith mostly just sat there, holding his hand and watching the monitors. The cardiac monitor beeped in rhythmically and she was glad over that.

But somehow, that changed. Suddenly, he went into some

"Where are the kids?" Meredith's thoughts raced. She'd totally forgotten about them.

"Meredith, it's okay." Alex' voice said, he was watching her concernedly. "It's not … where are they, I've …" Meredith stammered, jumping up. "It's okay, Mer. Carolyn and Amelia have them, they've went home to get them to sleep. But I know that Zola kept asking where you were." "Amelia has taken them home?" Meredith wanted to know. "Yeah, she asked me to tell you." Alex explained. "So they're home?" Meredith asked, wanted to be sure that she heard everything correctly. "Bailey and Zola are at home, yes, together Amelia and Shepherd's mother."

"Good." Meredith nodded relieved.

She hoped they would be able to take him off of the ventilator soon, although a few days ago the settings were pretty high. Also he kept having arrhythmias. Maggie was right with her suspected diagnosis 'cardiac contusion' which was the reason for him to keep going into arrhythmias.

"Derek. Come on, wake up. I am waiting for you." Meredith begged him to open his blue eyes.

But nothing happened. Everything stayed the same as it is. She laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. His thorax rises and falls with each breath, though he was still intubated and the ventilator helped him breathe since he couldn´t do it on his own. Meredith spent four whole days on his bedside, she´s refusing to leave the room. What if something happens when she's not there? What if he ... what if he wakes up and she is not there? If she leaves Derek's ICU room only to eat something.

"Meredith, have you been here all day and night?" Carolyn's gentle voice woke her up.

Meredith jolted awake. First she was confused but then she saw Derek's mother standing there, looking at her worriedly. "Uh, yeah, I think I did." Meredith answered, she was rubbing her eyes before her hand automatically reached for Derek's hand. It was warm and that was giving her hope. "How are you holding up?" She asked. "Did you eat?" She watched the general surgeon with genuine concern.

"When do I have time for that?" Meredith replied, her eyes landing on Derek's heart monitor.

In the moment, he was stable. "I can't leave him." She said without taking her eyes from Derek. "You've been sitting here all day. I'm sure he won't mind you taking care of yourself. I can sit with him while you're taking a shower or something." When Meredith thought about that, taking a shower didn't sound that bad. She'd changed her scrubs but she never went home.

"I ... I have to admit that that sounds good." Meredith said, looking up. "I'll sit with him. You can take the time you need." Carolyn offered. Meredith was surprised of the kindness that Derek's mother showed toward her.

"Systolic's down to 72. What the hell is happening? He was stable." Meredith called out frantically as soon as she saw his heart rate and blood pressure going down. He became hypotensive. Then the monitor set off an alarm. "V-fib." Meredith called out frantically.

No, this can't be it. Within seconds, Bailey and Maggie Pierce were in Derek's ICU room and taking over. Luckily, they had the crash cart on standby. Within seconds they've put a backboard under his back and started with resuscitation. Meredith was frozen, her eyes were on the monitor, this wasn't supposed to be happening. He was supposed to live. "He's crashing. Meredith, get out." Miranda told her while grabbing the paddles and waiting for a nurse to charge them. "No, I'm not leaving him." Meredith had tears in her eyes. Derek was crashing.

He was crashing and all she could do was standby and watch it happening.

Her life has turned into a horror show and there was nothing she could do besides stand by and watch it play out.

Maggie had started CPR. "I am charging to 120. Clear." Maggie stopped for a moment and when the monitor still didn't pick up a rhythm. Derek's lifeless body jerked up and Meredith choked back sobs that threatened to come up. There was still no change. "No change, he's still in v-fib." Maggie called out, refusing to give up.

She wasn't about to let her sister's husband die on her with Meredith watching. They charged again and this time it worked. "Charge to 200. Clear." Derek responded, finally. Meredith gasped as she saw the sinus tachycardia on the heart monitor. They've got him back.

"Sinus tach." Bailey announced, while she was staring on the monitor.

"Damn it." Maggie said, suddenly she knew what was going on. She'd been fixated on fixing the right ventricle but she hadn't looked for traumatic VSDs. Maybe it's what's causing him to go into heart failure. It can happen in patients with cardiac contusion. "What's going on?" "I need to do chest films and repeat echo now." Maggie took over the lead. "Make it fast."

"Wait what is going on?" Meredith interjected, scared out of her mind. "No time to talk, Grey. We'll update you as soon as we can." Bailey called back, as they released the brakes and pushed Derek's bed away. Meredith just stood there, not realizing what had happened to him. She just stood there until Alex came by, he wanted to see how Meredith and Derek were doing. But he didn't expect to find Meredith alone in an empty room about to cry. He feared the worst. "Meredith, what's going on? Where's Derek?"

"They took him down to the OR. His heart can't take the shunt volume, they need to close it. He coded, Alex." Meredith stammered, her eyes wide.

"Okay, sit down." Meredith listened to him and took a few deep breaths. She was desperately trying to compose herself. What should she tell Amelia and Carolyn? She should call 'em, that's the right thing to do.

"I have to call them." She mumbled, tears running down her cheeks.

Derek's life was on the line and she was totally freaking out.

"Everybody take a breath." Owen stopped it.

He was running this, he was the lead surgeon on this case, this was Shepherd, one of their own. They needed to save him. "I mean it. Stop what you're doing and every one of you take a deep breath and centre yourself. There's no room for mistakes here. We rush, we make mistakes. So, everybody, take a breath." That worked. All the surgeons, who are about to go in on Derek, stepped away from the OR table and took a deep breath so that they can work efficiently.

He was right, rushing things would only complicate it all.

"We need more lap pads in here." Owen ordered while having his hands in the patient's abdomen. "More please." He added. "I've got bleeders everywhere." "Let's get control of that liver laceration before he gets unstable." Owen ordered. He was interrupted by the anesthesiologist. "His body temp has dropped to 32 degrees. He's getting hypothermic."

"I need a retractor in here." Bailey called out, waiting for someone to hand her the asked instrument.

"His pressure is dropping."

"Oh no, don't do this Derek. You can't leave the people you love and who love you." She tried to tell him.

"Still got active bleeding coming from somewhere." Owen said. "Then let's recheck the retroperitoneum. "Clamp. Give me a tie, please." Owen commanded, while working on controlling the remaining bleeders. Then he found the source.

"I've got a lumbar vein avulsed in the vena cava. Two Allis Clamps." In this moment, as soon as Owen Hunt said these words, Bailey called out: "Ventricular rhythm, damn it, he's bradying down." All doctors looked at the cardiac monitor that was beeping loudly in distress.

"Pressure's down. Systolic is 55." Bailey said. "Damn it, we need to page Pierce. She is the cardio attending on call and the best we have in that specialty." Owen and Bailey were working on controlling the abdominal bleeding.

They've already managed to get control of the splenic bleed with a partial splenectomy. Luckily, they were able to salvage part of it. Also, they fixed the liver lac that had been bleeding profusely but was now under control.

"Pulse is down 40 and dropping. Push one of atropine and …"

"CVP and arterial pressure shot up. It might be an air embolus. Pull back on the PA catheter." "Hang more units of FFP and factor VII." Then there was a flatline. At this point, Maggie was there, quickly assessing the situation.

"I'm opening him up. Ten blade now." She said, making the first cut. All attendings were determined to save Shepherd's life. "We're losing him." Owen called out. "Starting cardiac massage." Maggie announced. "Push three of epi and another one of atropine." Someone called. After what was feeling like an eternity, Derek's heart came back. The attendings and other OR personnel breathed a sigh of relief.

"Systolic is 70 and rising." Owen said and shortly after, he had some happy news to share: "Got it. Bleeding's under control."

"ICP's stable." A resident said that was monitoring his intracranial pressure in case it rises which it hopefully not will.

"Get him up to ICU now." Owen ordered when they finished the surgery. Then he turned to Bailey and Maggie: "Will you tell him? I'll go with Derek." "Yeah, sure." Bailey answered, Maggie only nodded.

But then, when she sleeping, she felt a light touch on her hand.

She jolted awake, looking at Derek´s face. And really, he opened his eyes.

Meredith could not believe it, she thought she was dreaming, but she wasn't dreaming. This was real. Derek is awake and responsive. Weird sounds were greeting him when she opened his eyes just a little bit. The light was very bright when it hit his eyes. Immediately he squeezed his eyes shut to protect them from the light.

Derek tried to recognize where he was. He tried to look around but somehow it was difficult. When he tried to breathe, Derek felt something blocking her trachea. Panic shot through his veins and she tried to make someone help him.

"Derek?" Someone whispered, stroking his hair. Meredith saw him move a little bit and she jolted up. Derek was waking up. This was a very good sign. "Derek?" She asked quietly. When he recognized her voice, he searched with his eyes for her and tried to speak. Then he noticed the ET tube in his mouth and immediately began fighting it. "Derek. Calm down. Everything is going to be okay. I´ll page Bailey, she will be here in a minute." Meredith was happy about him fighting the intubation, it means he can breathe on his own.

"Bailey will be here any minute." Meredith tried to get him to calm down.

"Grey, you paged?" "He is awake." She said grinning, not able to hide the smile that was covering her lips. He was finally awake.

"Can we take him off of the ventilator?" After giving him a quick exam Dr. Bailey made the decision to extubated him. He coughed as she removed the tube. "He is ready to be taken off of the ventilator. Prep for extubation." Meredith looked over to Bailey, a small hint of a smile was on her face. "Really, he is ready?" She wanted to know, she didn't want to rush things that might set him back further. "Yeah, he is. He's breathing over, doing more work than the machine does." Bailey smiled at the young doctor reassuringly and Meredith reached for Derek's hand.

"When I remove the tube I want you to breathe out when I start removing it. On my count ..."

Derek blinked to show him that he understood what she wanted from her. "One, two, three." She counted and slowly and carefully removed the tube. But still, it was uncomfortable either way for Derek but he got through it. "Do you remember what happened to you, Derek?" Dr. Bailey asked after she removed the tube that helped him breathe. "Dr. Shepherd. We're all glad to have you back." She said.

After checking his vitals again, she left the room to give them their privacy.

"Meredith?" Derek asked.

"You remember what happened or why you are here?" Derek looked between Meredith who looked worried and the other doctors in the room. Why were they staring at him? Then it came back. The memories of the almost fatal car crash came back. He remembered helping the people who were in the other cars that overturned and flipped, forgetting about him.

"Yeah, I ... re ... remember." He finally croaked.

Meredith was there, she was tired.

The days worrying and hovering over Derek and monitoring his recovery - process took more toll on her than she anticipated. "Mer." Derek said, his blue eyes were gazing at his wife. He saw that she was exhausted.

"Mer, you don't need to sit here every minute. I can tell that you're tired and about to drift off." Derek watched her closely. Although he was now confined to a bed, it doesn't mean he can't read Meredith like a book. "I'm fine." Meredith insisted. Derek didn't believe her but she was saved by his mother who appeared in the doorway.

"I left the kids with Amelia." She said. "They keep asking about you." She then continued.

"We haven't told them about you being in an accident." Meredith nodded wearily, for a minute she felt light-headed but soon it disappeared. Derek watched her with a frown. "You haven't?" She said. "That's good, I think." She murmured unsure. Then, out of sudden, she felt the need to throw up. She stiffened noticeable before mumbling a quick excuse and running away. She felt Derek and Carolyn looking after her.

"What's going on with her?" Derek asked worriedly, he was trying to sort out his thoughts. Carolyn knew what was going on or least she assumed something. "I'm sure it's nothing. If it's serious they have tons of doctors running around here." Carolyn assured her son. She seemed to know something. "But what if …" "Derek Christopher Shepherd, what have you done?" Carolyn sat down on a chair next to Derek's bed.

Derek looked at his mother for a second, he assumed Amelia had called her after she got the news of him being in a ferocious car crash. "Uh, what are you talking about?" He tried to avoid the topic. "You almost killing yourself." He got as an answer. "Oh, that." He muttered suppressed.

"I didn't intend on doing that. It's not my fault that one crazy driver sent his car and another car flying while trying to overtake." Carolyn smiled softly.

"I know. We're just glad you didn't die. That poor girl sat by your bedside for days … She was worried crazy about you, we all were." Suddenly, Derek felt tired and Carolyn saw that.

"Just rest. We won't leave."

/

Meredith immediately ran for the next bathroom, she made it just in time before she had to throw up. Their unborn baby really didn't like the food she had. Maybe she should tell Derek. After all, this baby was still alive. She should tell him, this was good news after all.

Derek smiled at his wife but soon his smile disappeared when the pain hit him. Meredith noticed that too and said something to Bailey who was still there. Her Derek was awake and responsive and he remembered what happened. Relief flooded through her veins and she let out a breath Meredith didn´t knew she was holding.

"Just rest, okay?" Meredith whispered, she saw that Derek was tired and in pain. Derek nodded relieved, staying awake for long was hard and right now he was barely managing to keep his eyes open. The analgesics were starting to kick in and making him drowsy. Slowly, his eyes closed. But that was okay. Sleeping was good. He needed to do that to recover. He was alive and that was all that mattered to her right now.

Suddenly, Amelia appeared in the doorway. She looked just as tired as she was. "It looks like he's better. Bailey told me they extubated." Meredith nodded in reply. "They did. He's actually back." Her gaze wandered to the heart monitor and checked her rhythm.

"That's great." Amelia breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the couple was interrupted by Amelia who came running as soon as she heard that Derek has woken up and promptly walked in on them kissing. "Oh, really?" She asked. The broke the kiss instantly when they heard Amelia Shepherd entering the room. Meredith looked aside, avoiding Amelia's glance.

"Meredith?" He asked, his voice hoarse. He had woken up again. He tried to look at her but it was difficult. "I am here." She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Don´t ever do that again, Derek Shepherd. I thought I lost you forever." She scolded him, gently tracing her fingers over his arm. "I love you." He just replied, his voice still hoarse from the intubation. Meredith smiled and squeezed Derek´s hand. "Give me a real kiss." He demanded playfully. Meredith leaned over him and kissed him softly on the mouth.

"Me too. I love you." Bailey watched Meredith and Derek interact, then: "I hate to break up the party but some of us have to work." "Well, he can't exactly do brain surgery in that state." Meredith stated. "I am well aware of that, Grey. I've operated on him, like six days ago."

"I need to show you something." Meredith said when Derek was noticeably stronger. She was lying next to him, careful so that she didn't hurt him but he just told her that she could never hurt him. His blue eyes looked at her and she was so glad to see them looking at her. Then she held up the ultrasound image and Derek's eyes went wide in realization and a smile formed on his lips.

"Seems like your sperm already decided whether we get a third one or not." Meredith grinned happily.

"Oh god, I have to say I love my sperm. We're having another baby."

Derek smiled widely and Meredith leaned over him and they both started kissing. Their lips touched and Derek's heart monitor sped up a little. But that was due to emotions and not some kind of medical emergency.

"Derek." Meredith snuggled against his body. "Hm?" Derek gave back, half sleeping and half awake. "What happened?" Meredith asked, referring to the accident. "How did it happen?" She wanted to know. Derek opened his eyes and looked at Meredith for a second, then he looked away.

"There was a lot of traffic, so I decided to take a shortcut. There was no reception or anything, just a rural and deserted road to the airport but you know that I never made it to the airport." He began to explain, he grimaced slightly and winced as he shifted a bit to the left. "Are you okay, do you need more analgesics?" Meredith asked as soon as she heard him wince.

"No, just you." He answered, for a moment a dreamy smile flashed over his lips and they both forgot why they were here.

Meredith just listened to him.

He could take all the time he needed to take to relive those life-changing moments.

After a while, Meredith asked: "What happened?"

Derek turned his head to her.

"Suddenly, there was this car, always swerving and speeding. It wanted to drive past me and luckily, nothing big happened besides me saying 'I'm ten miles over the speed limit, that's not fast enough for you?' And then it happened. The driver was trying to overtake another car and this time, it went horribly wrong." Tears glistened in Meredith's eyes, already knowing that the following seconds would tell her what happened to Derek. Derek stared into nowhere for a moment before continuing to tell his story.

"They flipped and overturned. I tried to brake but then I realized that I wouldn't be able to stop the car before the other cars crashed down on the roads … so I swerved, I needed to … otherwise I would have been killed instantly." He shuddered slightly when he remembered what happened.

"I'm so glad you didn't die, Derek." Meredith confessed. "Hey." He said, cupping her cheek with his hand. Electricity shot through her cheek and she felt the warmth coming from him and instantly she relaxed.

"I'm here. And I won't ever go. I want to die when I'm 101 in your arms. We'll get our lifetime." He said, smiling his big McDreamy smile Meredith adored.

„I am glad to be alive, to be here with you and the kids. Speaking of them, where are they?" Meredith's mind went back to the kids. Amelia and Carolyn had taken them to the park now that Derek was awake and stable which was a relief for all of them. "Carolyn and Amelia took them to the park. She loves spending time with them, I think." Meredith answered. Derek nodded. "She always loved taking care of her grandchildren. Most of them are older than Zola and Bailey. School age or older." He said. "Hm." Meredith replied.

"Do you want me to get the kids?" Meredith asked.

Immediately Derek's face brightened and he nodded vigorously.

So Meredith was going to get to Zola and Bailey. Derek looked forward to his children. He had not seen her since the serious accident at the time, or only very briefly. Therefore, he could not wait until Meredith came back with Zola and Bailey. After a few minutes Meredith was with the children there. Zola crawled immediately Derek's bed. Meredith smiled happily, for that moment she was careless, the merciless reality would overtake morning fast enough. Derek reached out his arms for Zola.

Zola said joyfully: "Daddy." "Zola." Derek called out. "Come here." Zola looked at him.

"You all better now, Daddy?" She asked with a serious face expression.

Derek's gaze wandered to Meredith. "I am all better now, Sweetie. The doctors here fixed me all up. I'm as good as new." Derek told her, while he pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Didn't you wear a seatbelt?" Zola asked with an innocent voice. Meredith gaped at her oldest daughter. Did she really just asked that kind of question? Zola did.

Derek stammered, taken aback by his daughter's question: "I did but sometimes you can get hurt even if you're wearing your seatbelt. But still, wearing a seatbelt is very important or you could get hurt more badly than if when you wear one."

"And then you need surgery." Zola concluded.

"Could be." Derek answered, amazed by how smart his little girl was.

Five Weeks Later

Derek has been discharged and they could go back to a semi normal life. Meredith was now showing. Only slightly, but she had a little baby bump. Finally, they had gotten their life back on track after everything that happy. Meredith was more than thankful for the fact that her husband was still here alive. That her family hadn't been ripped apart.

Then, two weeks later, he was back at work, wearing his blue ferryboat scrub cap and was scrubbing in with Meredith on a trauma patient. They had to work simultaneously. But it was great to be back.

"CT shows a slow bleed, small epidural and subdural. I need to get in there. Is he under?"

"There's also a lot of blood in the abdomen. Seems like we have to go in at the same time." Meredith smiled at her husband who replied it. Derek's life was pretty much back on track. He had a gorgeous wife and gorgeous children and a third one on the way. His job at Grey Sloan as neuro attending (with Amelia being his boss, which wasn't so bad after all." And he was home - having the time for the most important thing: his family.

Washington D.C. and the brain mapping thing had been the wrong choice.

"We're ready for you." The anesthesiologist said.

Say it.

Meredith waited for him to say it.

"It's a beautiful day to save lives. Let's have some fun."

Every one in the operating room clapped, this was his first surgery after his accident. Derek smiled under his scrub cap. He knew he'd been incredibly lucky, he knew this could have turned out completely different.

"I love you." He mouthed to Meredith. "I do, too." She mouthed back and then they both made the first cut.