Sorry it's been awhile… yet again. I'm pretty sure I could win a "worst updater" award. Haha. But I'm not sure I can update after this for a couple weeks because this week is homecoming week so I'm going to be pretty busy between setting up the school for our class day, and the game and dance and such. Sorry!

Disclaimer: If I owned Grey's... I'd, uh, own Grey's :P


I woke up the next morning with Derek's strong arms wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me close. Smiling, I gently try to remove his arm, but sigh as he holds me even tighter. "Derek," I murmur. Turning around, I smile at his sleeping form and give him a small kiss on the lips. As I'm pulling away, Derek shifts and pulls my lips back to his, giving me a deep kiss. "G'morning," I manage to get out.

"You know what? It is a great morning."

I giggle as he wraps his arms around my waist and gives me a quick kiss. "I have to get ready for school."

"And I have to make you breakfast… stop distracting me!"

"But…" I begin as he cuts me off.

"No buts… go get in the shower."

"Fine," I groan as I get out from under the covers and walk through my cold bedroom. "I expect breakfast when I get out."

"And breakfast you shall receive," he smiles.

"Why are you so damn happy in the morning?"

"I'm normal… this is normal. You're not a morning person?"

"Who is?" I ask with my eyebrows raised.

"Me."

"Ahh," I laugh. "Go make my breakfast."

"Demanding."

"It's hot." He nods his head in agreement and goes downstairs to get started on my breakfast as I get in the shower.

I walk down stairs and a delicious aroma fills my nose. "Mmm, what are you making?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes."

"So you can cook?"

"Uh, pretty well," he laughs.

"I can't cook at all. I think it runs in the family." He laughs as he places two pancakes on my plate.

"Maybe I could teach you."

"I think its genetic but you could try." He pours syrup on my plate and I moan as I take a bite. "Mmm, you can cook."

He laughs as he takes a bite of his own, "Yum, I can."

"Haha," I say sarcastically. "So I start school in 45 minutes and it takes 5 to get there. Uh, could you possibly go see my counselor with me this morning? I just want to get it over with and Adam goes to my school so something might happen if I don't and I just think it would be best if…"

"Meredith, we can leave after you finish eating," he interrupts.

"Okay, thanks," I sigh.

"No need to thank me," he smiles.

20 minutes later, we were walking up to the office together.

"I- I can't do this," I begin to turn away as he pulls me back.

"Mer, we've gone over this. This needs to happen, you need to be safe… I need you to be safe."

"Okay, I can do this…" I tell myself more than him. He nods his head.

I knock gently at my counselor's office door and she quickly answers.

"Meredith, what can I do for you?" She smiles.

"I - uh – we need to talk," I mumble.

"Okay," she nods seriously, "come in." Derek and I walk into her office and sit in adjoining chairs. "You are?" She asks nodding towards Derek.

"Um, Derek Shepherd."

"And what's your relation to Meredith?"

"He's a friend," I cut in for him.

"Okay, what are you here to talk about?"

"Well, uh, just… Uh, I…"

"Mer," Derek said softly, "you can do this."

"Well, there's really no easy way to say this," I mumble. "But I don't know who else to go to and I know you'll probably go to the police or something but I didn't want to go straight to them because that's awkward and just…"

"Mer," Derek cuts in.

"WHAT?" I snap at him. "Okay, well I'm dating someone and he's, um, he's been hitting me and I just… I can't take it anymore. It's getting dangerous and I don't feel safe."

"Adam?" She asks softly.

I nod my head, "since his mom died."

She puts her hand over mine and sighs, "Meredith, you should have come to me sooner. But I guess that's easier said than done. Well, we're going to fix this and yes, there's going to be police involvement but do you, well, I hate asking this, but are there any marks?"

I nod my head and grab a Kleenex, wiping off the makeup that's covering the faint bruising on my face. Then I lift up my shirt sleeves and pull up the bottom of my pants.

"Oh god," she breathes. She looks at me one last time and picks up the phone, "Hi Sophie, yeah can you get Adam Malone in here once he gets to school? Yeah, thank you." She asks Derek and me to step out of her office for a second and I knew she was calling the police department. Five minutes later, she called us back in and questioned us further, mainly asking everything I had already told Derek. Five minutes after first period started, Adam walked into her office, stopping to glare at me first.

"It's okay, Mer… It's all going to be okay," Derek rubs comforting circles on my hand. I lean gently into him and before long, the police walk into the office and the secretary leads them into the counselor's room. They come back out shortly after and take me into another room for questioning. They ask me all the questions I had answered before, and I showed them the marks. As we walk back out, Derek stands. "What's going to happen?" He asks the officers.

"Well, we're going to take Mister Malone into custody and he's going to have further questioning, then later today, Miss Grey will have to come downtown and make an official statement but with everything we've seen, he's no longer going to interfere with Miss Grey and a restraining order will be effective immediately. We're going to have to decide where he will continue his schooling but since he's an adult, he will be tried as one and jail time will be served. As for today, Miss Grey will need to stay at home and wait for us to call her in, but she shouldn't go to class today. And Miss Grey will need to visit the school therapist once a week."

I look down as Derek thanks them for me and shakes my hand. I am turned around as they pull Adam out of the office, but I can feel his glare burning through me. As soon as they leave, I collapse in Derek's arms and he comforts me.

"Come on, I'll take you home," he whispers in my ear. I nod and lean against him as we walk towards his car together.

Build me a home from a cardboard box
Many windows never locked
This is how we used to play
Shorter nights and longer days
With faith we would not fade away

But we are okay, we are alright
We sing very loud

Yeah, we're singing
We are okay, we are alright
Close our eyes, close our mouth
Yeah we shut our eyes though we're in doubt.

Love it or hate it, R&R! :)