Meredith walked down the dark corridor. She knew that it was late, but could rely on him being here. After all of this time, she knew that this was where he would always be until all crazy hours of the night, despite the fact that he had a wife at home.

She knocked at his door before hearing the promting to enter. Slowly she turned the door knob and peeked into the room. There he was with piles of files stacked around him in a way that he always seemed to be.

She watched as he slowly lifted his head, his eyes meeting hers and a small gasp escaped him.

He hadnt really expected her here so soon, after all, the drive would have taken her forever, and it was a trip that she had described as time to pick up the pieces to see if they could fit back together without him.

Meredith moved into the room and on reaching his desk, she crumbled. She couldn't hide the damage that this was doing to her, and knew that crumbling in front of him was safe as it was something he seemingly understood.

Derek moved out from behind the table, picking her up and carrying her to the empty couch, taking a seat while still focusing on holding her close and soothing her.

There had always been something about Merediththat had him wanting to keep her safe, wanting to protect her and yet, he ahd never been able to define what it was.

He knew that they couldn not stay like this, no matter how much he wanted to hold her close. All it took was the wrong person to walk in and see them like this and it would spread like wildfire.

Derek held her until her tears finally ceased and then he lowered her to the couch.

"I'm okay.' she finally uttered and he moved to brush her hair back from her face.

"You're not" he said quietly, and let out a sigh, "but you will be." he tells herwith a promise and leans in and kisses her forehead.

Meredith moved to brush the tears from her eyes, and struggled to take a deep breath.

"so you're here" he finally said after giving her a moment to gather herself.

"i'm here" she murmured and tried to smile.

"good" he said with a sigh and moved from the couch beside her to tidy his things for the ngiht.

"you know its not going to be easy." he told her as he picked up up his laptop bag, putting the strap over his shoulder.

Meredith nodded, and struggled to stand, grabbing for her tote bag. "things never are." she told him.

Derek smiled softly at her and moved to grab her hand, "come on mer, lets get you settled."