The Great Escape

AN: So, a big thanks to all of you who reviewed chapter 10 – you know who you are.

And, a super big thanks, to all of you who constantly review my stories – you guys also know who you are. It means a lot that you do review, and it really helps in the writing process.

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Grey's Anatomy… if I did, I would know what is happening on the season finale… and rest assured I would never have Derek be the jerk that he is being right now.

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Chapter 11: Nos Da Cariad

"Hold on to St. Christopher,

The sky is murderous red.

Go to sleep my one true love,

Our glory lies ahead.

Then we'll be running."

- David Gray

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Derek's body lurched at the sound of the Chief's pager beeping. The Chief exited his room, and was followed closely by Bailey and Cristina. Derek watched helplessly, knowing that he should be the one going to Meredith. He drew a shallow breath and attempted to push himself up from his bed, but he was quickly met with opposition.

"Stay still," Burke said as he tried to push Derek's body back down.

Derek fought beneath Burke's hands and his heart pounded wildly in his chest. "I have to go to her."

Burke pushed harder against Derek's body and looked around at the others, his eyes begging them for help. "Derek, you have to get into surgery."

"She needs me," Derek said as he continued to strain against Burke's hands.

Addison stepped forward and placed her hand on Derek's shoulder. She gently applied pressure and attempted to reason with him. "You can't be there for her if you aren't healthy, Derek. You just can't. So, you have to get healthy before you can help her, because she will need you when she wakes up."

Derek stopped wrestling against their hands while he considered what Addison had said, his mind reeling with thoughts. He knew Meredith would need him when she woke up. After all, she did kill someone, and it wasn't just a medical mistake, this was an actual murder. She actually shot someone. Not to mention the fact that she was stuck in there alone without him. As Derek continued to remember all the things that had actually happened inside of the store, his body relaxed further and he let his body fall back down onto the hospital bed.

"They've got her, Derek," Addison continued, knowing that she had finally struck a nerve. "They will take care of her. So, right now, you need to let us take care of you."

Derek closed his eyes as the memories continued to flood his brain, and he wished he couldn't remember. He wished that this wasn't reality; that this was all just a dream. He didn't want to remember Meredith firing that gun, and he didn't want to remember being separated from her.

"Derek," Addison pushed, "we really need to get you to surgery."

Derek opened his eyes and was instantly met with Addison's face. He hesitated for a moment and then asked, "I can't see her at all?"

"She's probably still unconscious, Derek," Mark said before Addison could say anything.

"She'd want you to get the surgery," Burke added. "She'd want you to get better."

"You don't think I know that?" Derek snapped. "I left her in there, alone. She was all alone. I need to see her face. I need to see that she's breathing. I need to see her for myself."

Addison stepped forward. "Derek, you can't. We've lost enough time. We need to take you now."

"Addison, I need to see her," Derek begged. His eyes pooled with tears, but he refused to let them fall.

Addison glanced quickly at Burke and Mark, and they both nodded their heads. She pulled open a drawer and quickly grabbed what she was looking for. Her heart thudded in her chest, and she found herself hoping that Derek would be able to forgive her for this. She looked down at Derek and saw that his eyes were filled with unshed tears. He begged to see Meredith again, but Addison shook her head and grabbed his IV line. She pressed the syringe into the IV line, but by the time Derek realized what had happened it was too late. He was out.

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The gurney pushed through the Seattle Grace hospital doors. The Chief and Bailey quickly grabbed hold of the gurney and began to move Meredith to a room. While they moved quickly to a room, Bill and Lisa walked closely behind relaying all information to them. Once they reached the room, Bill and Lisa stopped outside. This is where their journey with Meredith ended; they had done all they could. The door closed in front of them, and left them standing in the hallway. The sound of many footsteps jarred them out of their thoughts. They looked at each other, knowing that it was time to leave, and began to make their way down the hallway.

Izzie, Cristina, George, and Alex passed Bill and Lisa as they ran towards Meredith's room. As they neared the door, they slowed down, hesitating for a moment outside of her room. Inside they could see Meredith's fragile body laying limply on the gurney. Her blood stained her clothes and her eyes were still closed. The Chief and Bailey were working fast beside her, but Bailey stopped when she saw the eyes of her four interns watching intently outside. Bailey said something to the Chief and then walked towards the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bailey asked as she opened the door.

"How is she?" Cristina blinked, ignoring Bailey's question.

Bailey stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind her. She looked at each of her intern's faces, and she pursed her lips. "You can't be here. This isn't an exhibit. You have patients to see and jobs to do. So, go do your jobs."

"We can't leave her." George said as he stepped forward. He briefly glanced inside of Meredith's room, but could only see the Chief hovering over Meredith. The thought of losing Meredith tugged on his heart. He had just lost his father; he couldn't loose one of his best friends as well.

Bailey placed her hands on her hips, trying her best to scare them away. "You cannot stand out here in the hallway and wait. You have patients, and unless you want to spend the next month in the pit without surgery privileges, I would leave now."

Cristina, George, Izzie, and Alex remained still. No one moved. No one blinked. A duel of silence engaged between the interns and Bailey, neither budging, until Izzie opened her mouth. "Dr. Bailey, you can't ask us to leave. We won't be doing our jobs right, we'll be too worried. Isn't it just better if we stay here?"

"All of you," Bailey sighed and gave in. She knew they were right. They would be distracted. They didn't need to be killing anyone in the process. "Stay out here. Don't get in the way. If you get paged, answer it. I will let you know as soon as I know what's going on."

They all let out a breath they weren't aware they had been holding, and watched as Bailey turned and entered Meredith's room. The sound of Meredith's heartbeat briefly filled the hallway before the door closed again and left them with the everyday sounds of the hospital.

"She's going to be okay," Izzie said aloud.

"There's a lot of blood," George whispered. "She's lost a lot of blood."

Izzie shook her head. "She'll be okay."

"Stop it," Cristina breathed. "Just stop. You don't know that she's going to be okay. You just don't."

"Her heart is beating," Izzie argued. "She's going to be fine."

George tore his glance away from Meredith's body and looked at Izzie. "You don't know that."

"She will be fine," Izzie said forcefully.

"Izzie, stop," Alex interrupted. "We're just going to have to wait and see. Okay?"

Izzie gave Alex a dirty look and turned away. She pressed her body up against the wall and let her back slide down it. When she reached the floor she kicked her legs out in front of her and rested her back against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried to limit the thousands of thoughts that were swarming around in her head like bees around a beehive.

George and Alex joined Izzie on the floor, knowing that if they watched the Chief and Bailey work on Meredith any longer, they would be sick. Cristina continued to pace up and down the hallway. She wasn't prepared for the possibility of loosing her person, of loosing the one person that seemed to understand her best. She wasn't prepared for any of this.

"Does anyone have any idea what happened?" George asked, interrupting the silence.

Izzie and Alex shook their heads, but Cristina didn't say a word. George stood up from his seat on the floor and walked over to Cristina. He placed a hand on Cristina's arm, stopping her from moving. "Do you know what happened?"

Cristina ripped her arm out of George's grasp. "Don't touch me."

"Cristina," George decided to try again, "do you know what happened?"

Cristina hesitated for a moment. She didn't want to talk about what was going on. She needed a distraction; she needed something other than reality. But, she knew that Izzie and George wouldn't stop asking until they got the answer they were looking for. So, she decided to say as little as possible. "It's all over the news."

Izzie stood and joined George. "What is? What happened?"

"Go watch the news," Cristina demanded before she began to pace again.

Izzie and George looked at each other and turned, but as they began to make their way down the hall, the door to Meredith's room opened.

"What's happening?" Cristina asked Bailey instantly.

"She needs surgery," Bailey explained, "She has glass shards all over her body. We're going to need to repair some of the shards that have caused internal bleeding."

Cristina immediately began to ask Bailey several questions causing Bailey to put her hand up, signaling for her to stop. "Yang, I don't know what happened in there, or what the glass shards are from. You four need to make yourselves busy. Stock closets or trays. Help out in the pit. Anything. But, get out of my sight. I will page you when we are out of surgery."

Bailey walked away and left them alone in the hallway. Izzie walked back towards where Cristina was standing. "Her body is covered in glass shards?"

"What do you think happened in there?" George muttered audibly, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Cristina ignored both of them and watched as the Chief and two nurses made their way towards the door with Meredith. The door opened and the Chief and two nurses pushed the gurney holding Meredith out of the room. Cristina looked down at Meredith's broken body, hoping that her eyes were open, but they weren't. The Chief moved quickly through the hallway, refusing to stop to talk to any of them, and within a matter of seconds they were gone. Cristina closed her eyes and walked away from the rest of the interns. The remaining three stood in the hall quietly, all in disbelief that Meredith's life was hanging in the balance.

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Meredith moaned as her body awakened. Every muscle, every organ, and every bone throbbed with pain. Surges of pain spread throughout her stomach and back causing Meredith to groan in pain. Her body flinched at the memories of earlier in the evening. The sound of the gun shots flying past her body. The feeling of her hands after she fired the gun. The image of Pete's body lying on the floor, blood pooling out from under him. Everything came flooding back, and what she hoped had been a dream was really reality. She had killed a man. She had seen Derek fall to the floor when the bullet pierced his skin. Derek.

Meredith's eyes opened instantly at the thought of Derek. She hadn't seen him since they had pushed him out of the store. She had no idea where he was or if he was alive. She blinked rapidly, attempting to clear the fuzz from her eyes, and when she could see clearly, an unfamiliar face greeted her. She tried to move, but quickly realized that something was restricting her movement. She glanced down and saw the metal around her wrist and around the bed rail.

Meredith pulled her hand slightly, ignoring the pain. The chain of the handcuffs rattled as she moved her wrist, trying to break free. She looked up at the man in the room, this time taking greater notice of the badge he was wearing on his belt. Meredith took a deep breath and tried to hold in her tears. She thought the nightmare was over. She took another glance at the man standing in front of her and asked, "What is going on?"

"I need to ask you a few questions, Dr. Grey," the man said, his voice gruff.

Meredith swallowed, hard. "Who are you?"

"My name is Detective Hughes," the man said as he stepped forward.

Meredith glanced around the room again. No one else was in the room. She needed to press the button. She needed someone to tell her what exactly was going on. "I didn't do anything, Detective."

Detective Hughes shook his head. "That's not what Julie Walters says."

Meredith's mouth dried and her breath escaped her. The nightmare wasn't over.

Wow. So, I'm really sorry that this took longer than usual to get out. I know I said that I would be updating more frequently, but things happen. Weddings happen, bridal showers happen, thank you notes happen, etc.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We've got some intern interaction going on, and we've got Meredith waking up in handcuffs. Does this mean trouble for her? Is she going to end up in jail? What do you think?

Like it? Love it? Hate it? And everything else….

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