6

                                    

                                          
Meredith was laying down on the couch. She was receiving her meds through an IV at home. Carolyn and Christopher would come over in a bit with Charlotte
"So I was thinking, maybe we should take her to the zoo restaurant?" Derek suggested as he took a seat next to his wife on the couch. He had brought her a warm cup of tea
"Sounds good to me." Meredith nodded and cuddled into her husband's side after taking a sip
"We can get her a cake with the zoo animals and then in the evening go out for dinner." Derek said as he started stroking his hands through Meredith's long blonde hair
"I think she would love that." Meredith nods softly
"I bet. Should we ask her or keep it a surprise?" Derek asked, Meredith groaning as she wanted to reposition
"Think she'd like a surprise more." Meredith coughed
"Okay. I think it's time you'll take a little nap" Derek quietly said 
"Hmm.." Meredith nodded
"I love you." Derek leaned in and kissed her lips. He watched her drift off slowly in his arms
...
An hour later Meredith woke up. A few coughs left her body but after some deep breaths it was okay. She heard several voices and remembered their parents would drop off their daughter
Meredith got up, her blanket wrapped around her as she walked towards the kitchen
"Hey." Meredith softly smiled from the doorway
"Mommy!" Charlotte smiled and walked over to hug her mother
"Hi. How was school?" Meredith asked as she hugged her daughter, fixing the girl's blond hair that was messed up
"Boring. But Elisa and I had fun!" She explained
"Addison asked if they could take Charlotte to the theme park. Apparently Elisa finally convinced Mark to go." Derek laughed as he explained to his wife
"Eliza has him wrapped around his finger." Christopher said and hugged Meredith
"Hi dad. Hi mom." Meredith smiled and went to hug Carolyn 
"Hey" They smiled
"Mommy, can you do my hair tomorrow morning?" Charlotte asked 
"Of course. What do you want me to do?" Meredith brushed her fingers through her daughter's blonde curls
"Space buns?" Charlotte looks up at her mom
"Sounds very good." Meredith nods with a soft smile. She was about to start another round of IV antibiotics but wanted to wait a little longer
"We put some food in the fridge for you. We have to go now, we're going home." Carolyn smiled
...
Meredith was receiving her treatment while waiting for Derek to finish dinner. The feeding tube was helping a little but it went slow. Too slow to Meredith's liking
"Mommy?" Charlotte walked in
"Yeah sweetie?" Meredith pushed herself up, stifling a cough or two
"Can we go shopping tomorrow?" Charlotte asked with a huge smile
"Oh sweetie, I don't know yet." Meredith said
"But you're off? You don't have work and you've been promising it for weeks!" Charlotte stood up
"I know, Char.." Meredith sighed
"I hate it! Things never go the way you say they'll go." Charlotte sighs and runs off to her room
"Charlotte!" Meredith tried to stop her daughter but her IV reminded her she was stuck. "Fuck." She muttered and sat down. She knew Charlotte was in her teen years now and they couldn't always do what they wanted because of her health. Suddenly she felt guilty and remembered the many talks they have had about if it was a good or bad decision to have a kid with her disease
"What happened?" Derek walked in
"Nothing." Meredith sighed and laid down
Derek sighed and let her know his wife was stubborn. "Char?!" Derek yelled, hoping his daughter would come
"Daddy?" Charlotte walked into the kitchen a little later
"Hey monkey. Did something happen between you and mom?" Derek asked his daughter
"Hmm.." Charlotte sighed
"What's wrong honey?" Derek pulled her in for a hug
"I wanted to go shopping with mommy." Charlotte explained
"Oh sweetie, I'm sure that's what mom wants but she needs to listen to her body. We don't want mom to get sick, right?" He hugged her
"I know.. But I just want to spend time with mom." Charlotte explains
"I know sweetie." Derek sighed and hugged her tight. They were disturbed when they heard Meredith starting to cough violently and Charlotte was scared to see her mom after she walked away earlier
"I'll go check on mom. The food is ready anyway." Derek kissed Charlotte's forehead and walked to his wife
"Sorry." Meredith said as she was coughing up the thick mucus
"Want to nebulize before dinner?" Derek asked as he rubbed her back softly while she cleared her lungs again
"No. Just need my inhaler-" Meredith coughed again
Derek got up and grabbed her inhaler, handing it to her and watched as she took the puffs as she needed to
"Charlotte's angry at me." Meredith then said
"She isn't angry. I talked to her. Now let's go have dinner, you two can have some girlstime." Derek winked
"Thanks." Meredith hugged him and made a poor attempt to get up, so Derek wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her
"Mom brought us spaghetti. Perfect for you." Derek kissed her head and they walked to the kitchen, Charlotte already sitting down
"Hi monkey. I'm sorry, about earlier. I know i promised and I shouldn't have done that." She placed her hand on top of Charlotte's small hand
"Sorry, I shouldn't have walked away." Charlotte jumped up and hugged her mom. "We can wait until you feel better." Charlotte nodded
"Thanks monkey." Meredith smiled and took her meds with some water

Sorry for the delay. I broke my arm a bit ago so writing is very painful. I'm glad I finished this chapter for y'all. Two more weeks in this cast and then hopefully they can remove it so I'll be back to writing!!