Chapter 3

                                    

                                          
"Meredith?" Ellis frowned as she entered the ER and saw her daughter laying on the examination table
"I'm sorry. I thought you knew" Richard said as he was checking out Meredith
"What happened?" Ellis asked as she was concerned but couldn't get herself to walk closer to her and comfort her
"Mommy?" Meredith whimpered softly as she was barely conscious
"Dr Webber will take good care of you" Ellis quickly said and focussed her eyes on Meredith's chart that was now in her hands
"Her teacher brought her in. She collapsed during gym" Richard told Ellis
"Did you eat something this morning?" Ellis asked Meredith
"Dunno" Meredith muttered
Ellis walked out of the room and returned with Carolyn a bit later
"Oh sweetie-" Carolyn walked towards Meredith and brushed her fingers through the tiny girl's honey blonde hair "Are you feeling a bit better now?" She asked
"Dunno" Meredith closed her eyes
"What do we got?" Christopher, Carolyn's husband walked in as he was the PEDS doctor on Meredith's case
"Awww" Meredith whimpered as Carolyn lifted her to reposition her
"Your hips again?" Christopher frowned
"Doctor Shepherd, I assume you'll run several tests. Page me when you're done" Ellis said sternly but looked one more time at her daughter before walking out of the door
"No! Don't touch" Meredith sobbed as Christopher wanted to inspect her hips
"It's okay sweetie. Carolyn's gonna hold your hand while you're gonna be a big girl. We're gonna help you in a gown and then we can start by taking some pictures to see if you maybe hurt a bone" Christopher slowly explained and helped her in a gown after she agreed
"I'll be here the whole time. I'll be holding your feet" Carolyn promised
"Don't leave!" Meredith whimpered again
"Here sweetie, focus on my hand that's holding you. I'm not leaving" Carolyn promised
After the scans they brought Meredith to a room. Carolyn had set up everything to take some blood so they could run larger tests
The scans had shown a small fracture in her leg but had nothing to do with the pain in her hips so they wanted to run more tests
"Okay honey, I'm gonna draw some blood" Christopher warned Meredith who was whimpering in his wife's arms
"I bet Amelia, Mark and Derek will wanna come over once you're back home" Carolyn tried to distract Meredith as Christopher inserted the needle 
"Want mommy!" Meredith whimpered
"I know honey, but your mommy had some things to do, she'll be here in a few hours" Carolyn rubbed Meredith's back
"Let's check if she has any issues with her bloodwork" Christopher said as he handed the blood samples to a nurse
"Hurts" Meredith whimpered
"I know honey, it will be better soon" Carolyn rubbed the young girl's back
"We should do a full body scan" Christopher frowned and someone get me an ultrasound" He ordered
Carolyn's fingers went through Meredith's soft, honey blonde hair 
"Awww" Meredith complained as Christopher checked out her hips with the ultrasound
"There's an inflammation here. A pretty bad one" Christopher frowned "But there's no reason why it would be here"
"What do you think?" Carolyn asked concerned
"I have no clue. I've never really seen this in girls her age" He sighed
"I'll take her for that full body scan" Carolyn offered
"I'm coming as well. Meredith, you will be okay sweetie" Christopher smiled
...
"Dr Grey, we found a small fracture in Meredith's upper leg and a pretty severe inflammation on her hips. The tests I've done so far haven't shown any reason why that would be the case. Either we can admit her and continue the tests tomorrow or you can take her home, see if the cortisone injections helped and if it stays the same or gets worse just bring her in" Christopher explained
"I'll take her home. The meds will be fight the inflammation, she'll feel much better in a few days" Ellis nodded
"Just- Just so you know, my wife and I are always available to watch Meredith. Our kids like her, we like her and we can keep an eye on her" Christopher said
"In that case.." Ellis' left eyebrow was lifted "Could you watch her tonight and tomorrow?" Ellis asked
"She asked for you, maybe it will be nice for her to spend some time with you" Christopher suggested
"Hmm.. fine. What time are you and your wife done working?" Ellis frowned
"We should be out around 4, or Carolyn at least" Christopher replied
"I'll drop her off by then. I can take her home now" Ellis said
That wasn't what Christipher had meant, he knew the little girl needed her mother but it was of no use, Ellis would never change
Ellis stood up and went to Meredith's room. She sighed as the girl was sound asleep, being exhausted after all these tests and being poked for hours
"I'll carry her towards your car" Christopher suggested as Ellis collected Meredith's stuff, not bothering to take the picture Meredith drew earlier home so Carolyn quickly took it and put it in her pocket
Christopher carried Meredith towards Ellis' car and strapped her in, before he walked back to his wife he placed a soft kiss on Meredith's forehead 
Christopher and Carolyn watched together as Ellis drove off home
...
Carolyn and Christopher had just knocked on Ellis' front door
"Hi" Ellis breathed
"Hi. Is everything okay?" Carolyn frowned "You haven't brought Meredith yet"
"She just wet herself during a nap" Ellis sighed "I called my cleaner" Ellis rolled her eyes
"That's not of her usual behaviour, it happened this morning as well" Carolyn sighed "Christopher?" She looked at her husband
"I really wanna do some more tests" He sighed
"We'll see. Come in for a minute, she must be ready soon. She went upstairs to grab her bag" Ellis said and let them in
Carolyn and Christopher took a seat on the couch. Amy, Derek and Mark took a seat on the other couch as Ellis went to the staircase to call out for Meredith once again
The little girl walked down a few minutes later and slowly made her way over to the other kids. She seemed to have a hard time getting herself onto the couch as her body was aching
"Did you bring your bag?" Ellis asked as she stood up after checking her watch
"I'll go grab it" Meredith softly said, the little girl had small dark circles underneath her eyes and Carolyn's worry was growing
Derek, Amelia and Mark followed Meredith
"Thanks for watching her. I have a very important surgery" Ellis said as she put on her coat
"No worries-" Christopher said as he heard the kids scream for them
They ran into the hallway and saw Meredith laying on the ground, her skin was pale and her breathing was shallow. Ellis quickly checked Meredith's pulse and acted as is the little girl was a random patient
"Oh Meredith" Carolyn gasped as she took the kids to the living room, they didn't have to see their friend like that


Hope you like!! Thanks to my co-writer _Ktje_