Disclaimer: Shonda Rimes owns Grey's Anatomy. If I was Shonda my nickname would be something like OMGImShonda not GraveDancer.

Thanks for all the great reviews of this story. It was so short and yet people loved it so that definitely made me smile. I have a lot of this one already written in my head so updates should come quickly enough.

This chapter is all Meredith again. You will find out more about exactly how bad things are for her and what she's planning on doing about it. You will also find out why Derek isn't around protecting her. Next chapter will be about Derek's life and what he's been up to.

Enjoy!

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Meredith took a deep breath as she looked at her friends who had met her in the locker room after work. "I'm leaving?"

"What? You're leaving?" Izzie.

"Why the hell are you leaving?" Cristina.

"Seriously?" Alex.

"Where are you going to go?" George.

Meredith took another breath. She knew the questions would come. "Yes. I am seriously leaving. I'm going to New York." She chose to not answer Cristina's question as it was the hardest.

"New York?" three out of the four people yelled.

"You didn't answer my question. Come on, Mer what are you running from? Or more likely running to?" Cristina asked, laughing slightly.

Meredith gave her best friend a steely look, wishing that she could get away without revealing the whole truth, but realizing that it would be impossible to keep quiet. "I'm not running to Derek." Another deep breath. "I'm running because of Chris."

Izzie's looking confused now which Meredith assumed would happen. Part of her wishes she could have ran away without having this conversation, without having to explain herself. But her friends have always been there for her and she owed them something. Anything. And the truth would probably work best. "What did Chris do?"

Meredith shrugged, wanting to downplay the pain. "Besides treating me like a punching bag, not all that much."

"WHAT?!" Izzie and George yelled in unison.

"He hit you?" Alex looked mad. More than usual mad.

"And you didn't tell us?" Cristina demanded.

"I didn't know how to tell you, what to say." Meredith felt tears starting to prick at her eyes. And that's the last thing she wanted. If she was going to save herself she needed to be strong. Weakness would not get her anywhere.

"McDickass hit me, want to come help me castrate him would have been a good option." Cristina spat out.

"Cristina!" Izzie hissed at her for being insensitive. But Meredith didn't mind too much, right now she needed her friends to be normal.

"When did it start? Has he been hitting you the whole time?" George asked reaching for her hand. She was grateful for that.

"About a year ago," Meredith whispers, looking down at her feet. She felt Alex sit down beside her and pull her against him, even as he hit the bench on the other side with his fist.

"This has been going on for a year?" he demanded of her.

"Mer . . ." Izzie starts.

But Meredith decides to cut her off. She needs to explain it all before she lets her friends react. "No. Yes. Kind of." Meredith's voice sounded a whole lot shakier than she planned, so she takes another deep breath and hoped it would come out stronger. At the rate she was taking deep breaths she was going to pass out soon. "The first time it happened was a year ago. I . . .I said Derek's name in my sleep and Chris didn't handle it well. After that it was 6 months before it happened again. I had convinced myself it was a one time mistake, but than I was really late for work. And well yeah."

"And then it became more and more often, didn't it?" Alex gently asked, all the anger out of his voice.

Meredith silently nodded, not even trying to hold back her tears. Alex's arm felt too good around her. George's hand clasping hers felt strong and comforting. "This last month . . . this last month . . ."

"Mer, don't. You don't have to tell us. Don't worry. We're here, we don't need details." Izzie said supporting.

All of a sudden Alex sprang off the bench and punch the locker closest to him, cursing under his breath. "Bastard. Wait till I see him again . . ."

"Alex!" Izzie hissed under her breath.

It didn't seem possible but Meredith was crying harder now, the sobs wrenching through her body.

And then arms were around her. Cristina. Cristina was hugging her, telling her to relax, to calm down, gently telling her to shhh. Cristina.

Cristina's eyes caught her and she laughed. "Shut up. I'm your person."

Meredith buried her face into Cristina's shoulder and eventually started feeling a little more normal.

"Thanks guys," Meredith choked out about ten minutes later, her friends all still gathered around her protectively. "And Alex, don't, don't hurt him. I'm leaving, that's enough."

"You don't have to leave, Mer, we could, I don't know. But we could. I mean, there must be something we can do." George pleaded with her.

"No George, I think leaving is for the best. I need to get away. I need to take care of myself. Without you guys saving my ass. Without tequila and inappropriate men. I'll come back." Meredith explained,

"Sure you will." Now that Meredith had pulled herself together Cristina was back to herself.

"I will. I'm going for a year. I'm transferring only for the year. It's a good, good opportunity to learn from someone else. Dr. Pitt actually."

"Dr. Pitt?? He's the best neurosurgeon in the country!" Cristina exclaimed, as everyone else looked shocked and impressed all at once.

"That's why I'm going."

"No it's not. You don't care about the best Mer. Hell, you spent over a year training under the second best. And under in so many ways."

"You really don't need the extra training Meredith. Dr. Shepherd taught you well." George said.

"He taught Derek." Meredith whispered. She knew her friends would beg her not to go, but she didn't think it would be this hard to ignore their pleas.

Cristina was laughing now. Damn Cristina was laughing now. "One minute, you're moving to New York City, where McDreamy lives. You're going to be a resident in his field so you know that might get this attention. And you're going to work for the man that taught him. You expect us to believe this has nothing to do with Derek?"

"I'm not running to Derek," Meredith responded in a determined voice.

"It has something to do with Derek," Izzie gently stated.

"It always has something to do with Derek." Alex laughed.

Meredith didn't answer. She just looked at her hands as he friends talked around her. George still held one of her hands but things had calmed down considerably. They'd be okay. She's be okay. And she wasn't going to New York for Derek. She wasn't. Okay, maybe a little. But not to get him back, not to run after him. She needed to be in the same city as him. Right now she needed to feel safe.

Derek had always made her feel safe.

I'm not 100 sure how much I loved this chapter. It felt awkward to me, I don't know why. Just that it feels a little awkward. I like the idea I had behind it, but it was hard to write. So I hope it turned out okay. Let me know what you think.

And this will probably be updated again in a bit. I'm at school in between classes. And I don't have class till 4. I have a test to study for but that shouldn't take too long. So it will be updated later this afternoon probably. And a Derek in New York chapter. Yay for that!

Read. Love. Review.