Derek woke early the next morning. He did not want to disturb Meredith. She had woken up once during the night in pain and he had given her pain medication and held her until she fell back asleep. He knew she needed her rest. He called Lexie who agreed to stay with her so he could go to the hospital. By the time he showered, Lexie had arrived. He quietly showed her where the pain medication was and told her to call him if Meredith needed anything.

"I will not be gone long. I just want to check on Mark." Derek said. "Thanks for doing this Lexie." He did not feel it was necessary to let her know that he also planned on a visit to another patient in the hospital.

"No problem, Dr. Shepherd." Lexie replied, happy to know Meredith had someone who obviously cared for her so deeply.

"My name is Derek outside of the hospital, okay?"

"Okay, Derek. I promise to take care of her." Lexie added as Derek walked out the door with a smile on his face. Seeing Meredith and Lexie bond, even though it had been a slow, painful process, warmed his heart. Meredith needed family. She deserved family. Family that cared for her and treated her the way she deserved to be treated. Seeing Lexie in such distress when Meredith was missing yesterday had shown him just how much she cared for her sister.

He decided to walk to the hospital since it was only a block away. He went to ICU first to check on his friend. Mark's condition remained unchanged and Izzie was still by his bedside.

"Morning, Iz" Derek said as he walked in the room. "How are you holding up?"

"Tired, but okay. How is Meredith?" Izzie felt bad that she had not been there for her friend, but knew she would understand and probably would not have wanted too many people around anyway.

"She is sore and tired, but resting well." Derek said. "I appreciate you staying with Mark so I could take care of her. It makes me feel better to know that he has you by his side. Have you slept at all?"

"I have napped on and off. The nurses brought me a pillow and blanket and I reclined in the chair."

"Why don't you take a break and I will sit with him for awhile?" Derek could see Izzie needed to get out for a bit.

"Are you sure? Who is with Meredith?" Izzie asked. She kept glancing at Mark, not wanting to leave his side, but knowing that she needed a break.

"Lexie is with her. She was still asleep when I left. Go get something to eat and drink and take some time for you. I will sit with him for awhile." Derek sat down in the chair next to Mark and studied his friend.

"Thanks, Derek. You will notify me if there is any change?" Izzie asked.

"You will be the first person I contact, I promise." Derek gave her a smile. It was sweet to see someone care so much for Mark. He just hoped Mark returned her affections. He looked down at his friend as Izzie left and sighed. The weight of everything that had happened over the past few days was starting to hit him. He wanted, no needed Mark to wake up. They were best friends and though they had been through their share of troubled times and they did not always agree on choices each of them made, he knew they would always be lifelong friends.

As a neurosurgeon, he knew that even when people were comatose they often heard what was going on in their hospital surroundings. He decided to talk to his friend, even though he could not respond at present. He chuckled to himself when he realized he really did not want him to respond. "You know how I told you to enjoy the journey…..that it is not always about the destination? Well, I realized that I was doing the exact same thing….I was so focused on getting the future that I want, that I stopped enjoying what I had in the present. I stopped focusing on building my relationship with my soul mate. I was more concerned with building a house. I focused more on the dream and lost track of the fact that the dream is nothing without the woman I love…….Meredith." He smiled as he said her name. The sound of her name always made him smile. "She is it for me, you know? I am going to develop my relationship with her……at whatever pace she is comfortable with….because she…..well, she makes my life worth living….with or without a house and marriage and kids. But I really believe those things will come. First I have to regain her trust. I have to be there for her…..even if she tries to push me away. I won't let her this time. I love her so much. Hurting her was the worst mistake of my life. I am no better than her mom or dad was to her. But I am going to show her that true love can make it through anything…..and that she deserves to be happy…..and loved." Derek choked back tears and he looked at his friend. "You deserve that too, you know. I know of a certain woman who seems to care a great deal for you. Maybe it is time for you to stop chasing after your latest conquest and start going for what is real. I know you have it in you, man. I have seen it. You loved Addison. Really loved her. More than I ever did. I know that things will never work out for you two but…..I hope you will give love a second chance. A real chance. Of course, first you have to wake up. I know you will lecture me about my reunion with the girl who is still an intern in your book, but I can take it. You can lecture me about her and then I will give you grief about Izzie. That is what we do. You're my brother…..you helped me grow up in the midst of four hormonal sisters. I survived that because of you! I would have drowned in estrogen without your support. I still need your support. And I promise you have mine."

Derek was tired of sitting so he stood up and walked to the window, watching the clouds roll in again. It looked like another snowstorm was getting ready to begin. He was glad they did not live here. Too much snow and darkness for his liking. Rain was cleansing. He enjoyed the rain. It always seemed to renew the earth and his spirits. Washed away old scars and hurts and brought a sense of freshness. Snow seemed, well, like an obstacle. It never had a chance to disappear before it came falling down again. It covered the terrain and hid the scars of the earth, not allowing them time to heal or renew.

"You always were a daydreamer." Derek was interrupted from his thoughts by a voice that made his heart leap for joy. He turned around to see his best friend studying him with amusement.

"Yeah and you were always the smartass." Derek laughed as he approached his friend. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad….I don't think…..I mean, I am not hurting anywhere. Damn….." Mark stopped suddenly.

"What? What's wrong?" Derek asked, trying not to panic.

"I will never live this down, I swear."

"What?"

"George O'Malley saved my life. George. Stuttering, stumbling, rambling George. Not exactly what you would call your typical hero." Mark laughed the more he thought about it.

"Yeah, well, it could have been worse. It could have been Abigail." Derek retorted. They both laughed aloud at the thought of the petite woman pulling him out of the water and carrying him to safety.

"Izzie…..is she….I mean" Mark started and felt embarrassed when he did not know how to continue his question.

"Do you want to see her?" Derek asked with a smirk on his face. He was realizing that his friend had already fallen harder than he would admit.

"I, well…..yeah….if she wants to see me." Mark replied, quickly regaining his confidence and ending with, "but of course I know she wants to see me. I mean, what woman doesn't?"

"I will call her." Derek smiled as he left the room. He also needed to notify Dr. Long who would be ecstatic to see Mark awake and alert. He quickly had the nurse page Dr. Long and called Izzie on her cell phone.

Izzie answered on the first ring. "What is it? How is he?" Derek could tell she was in a state of panic.

"Relax Izzie. I just need you to come back to the ICU when you get a chance. Someone here wants to speak to you." Derek replied and before he could say anything else, he realized Izzie had hung up the phone.

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Meredith was hurting. She was dreaming. Or was she remembering? No, she was definitely remembering. Remembering what Andrew had put her through. Remembering things he said. Remembering things he did. She was screaming. She wanted to wake up from her nightmare but did not know how. She was still halfway asleep but she still felt the pain. An unbelievable amount of pain. She started to moan, as she woke up. Lexie was shaking her and trying to wake her up. The pain was intense. It was all over her body. She felt like someone had beaten her up. Then she remembered what had happened. She opened her eyes to make sure she was back at the hotel and not still trapped in Andrew's cabin. She noticed the space that Derek occupied right next to her was empty and cold. Where was he? "Lexie? Where's Derek?" Meredith asked as she tried to sit up but quickly lay back down due to the pain.

"He went to the hospital to check on Mark, but should be back soon. He told me to call him if you needed anything and he would come right back. Do you want to call him?" Lexie asked, anxious to do whatever her sister needed. She could tell Meredith was upset and figured Derek would be able to calm her like no one else could.

"No, I just…..I….hurt." Meredith said, trying to fight back tears.

"I can give you pain medication, but Derek could probably help to, so let me call him." Lexie grabbed her phone and the pain medication.

"No, Lexie, it is okay. He will be back soon. I really. I just…..I need a woman to talk to. Derek is great, but he wants to fix everything, and he cannot fix this. I have to work through what happened to me. I need to talk about it but some of the things I need to share will break Derek's heart. Can I talk to you?"

"Of course." Lexie was honored that Meredith would talk to her about anything.

Meredith sat up with Lexie's help. Lexie gave her a drink which she accepted gratefully.

"You seemed to be having a nightmare." Lexie looked at Meredith questioningly.

"It was, but unfortunately….it was real. I was remembering things that happened to me….." Meredith stopped as the memories started to overtake her again. She took a deep breath and regained her composure.

Lexie sat down beside her sister and put her arm around her to offer her support. Together the sisters bonded as one told her tale of terror and pain while the other comforted her and joined her in tears of sorrow.