"I'll page Alex to come get the kids, okay?" He asked her

Meredith gave him a small nod and fell back asleep. She looked absolutely exhausted

"Mer?" Derek checked but she was already back asleep. He returned to read the mails on his ohone before he got disturbed by a knock on the door

"Hey, how is she?" Alex asked as he looked at Meredith who was asleep with the 3 kids on the hospital bed "She looks tired" Alex pointed out

"She had a small fever earlier, they gave her more antibiotics because of her right leg. Her femur bone broke in a nasty way, slightly ripping through the skin and now it seems to be infected"

"Shit" Alex mumbled

"She should be okay with these meds" He gave Alex a hopeful smile even though he was scared that this wouldn't be the case "I'll wake up the kids" Derek said as he woke up Zola first who immediately got up

"Ellie, wake up" Derek picked her up and gave her to Alex. She started to get a lot bigger now but she's still tiny for her age.

"Bails" Derek tried to wake the guy who was nuzzled into Meredith's embrace.

"Alex, page Miranda and Link, now" Derek stated and immediately pulled Bailey out of the bed, gently placing him on the ground when Alex took his hand before Derek woke up Meredith

"What's wrong" she groaned, not even opening her eyes

"Mer, you're burning up" Derek said as he hovered over his wife, immediately throwing off her blanket and cutting open her casted right leg.

Alex left the room with the kids, they didn't have to see this

"Shepherd, what's wrong" Miranda asked as she ran in

"She's having a high fever, this is bad!" He started tl panic

Link ran in and immediately started checking out her leg.

"Bring her to an OR, I need to clean this" He yelled

"Mer!" Derek broke down as they prepared his wife to get her into surgery

Derek stood there, frozen in his spot.

"Derek, let's go sit in the waiting room" Miranda offered

Derek shook his head "Leave me alone, please" He started sobbing

Miranda nodded and left the room

Derek sat there on a chair for god knows how long until someone knocked on the door

"Derek" Richard spoke up

"This isn't fair anymore" Derek scoffed

"Things have never been easy for the two of you" Richard stated

"As if I didn't know that" Derek snapped "I'm sorry Richard. I didn't mean to snap at you" Derek sighed and rested his head in his hands

"Link is an amazing doctor. He'll clean out the wound and then we'll put her back on antibiotics" Richard told him

"I do know that.. it's just, i can already feel something else going wrong. Why can't she just take a break from all the tragedy and all the shit in her life"

...

"Derek?" Link's voice was heard

Derek, Richard, Miranda and Amelia stood up

"We cleaned out her wound, for now we placed an external fixator. We don't want to put a cast on her leg because we wanna be able to keep her leg sterile. We also wanna bring her to the ICU for further treatment" Link told him

"She's okay, right?" Amelia asked

"She is. I can take you to her room. I requested only female nurses and maybe we should call Callie Torres to take over for the meantime" Link suggested

"I'm gonna make the call" Miranda said

Derek made his way to Meredith's ICU room and entered with Amelia

After a few hours they saw Meredith stirring a bit before she started to fight the intubation.

"Mer, calm down. Cough on three please" Derek helped her

"1..2..3.." Amelia called and got out the intubation when Meredith coughed

"Shh, you're okay" Derek kissed her forehead

"What.. What happened?" She asked as she stopped coughing. Amelia immediately handed her a glass of water with a straw

"An infection in your leg. They brought you to surgery and cleaned it out" Derek told her

"Doctor Grey" A nurse said as she knocked loud on the door

Meredith flinched. She didn't see her coming and got scared by the unfamiliar voice and knocking on the door. She moved a bit and immediately winced in pain

"Shh, I'm here" Derek kept her in his embrace

Meredith was breathing a bit heavy and Derek just held her. She buried her face in his chest

"Can I check your stats?" The nurse asked

Meredith seemed to be even more scared then before the surgery, maybe the traumatic event is finally getting to her

"I'll check them" Amelia said and Derek gave her a sad smile

"I love you, she's gone" Derek whispered

Meredith nodded a bit but kept holding a firm grip on Derek's shirt

"Addie will visit later and Miranda said she would call Callie to place her on your case. Are you okay with that?" Derek asked

Meredith nodded again

"The kids are making cards for you to decorate the room a bit" he told her as he rubbed her right arm.

She slowly let go of Derek's shirt and grabbed the marker to write on the white board

'Love you' she wrote

"I love you too Mer. Take a nap, I'll stay here" He said and kissed her head

Soon enough, light snored filled the room

"She's gonna be okay, Derek" Amelia said as she rested her hand on Derek's shoulder

"I need her, Amelia. I need her" He broke down

"She isn't going anywhere." Amelia re-assured him

"I love her so much" He said as he looked at her, slowly kissing her hand and adjusting her pillow so she would stay warm.