Warning: This chapter contains very touchy subjects.
Okay, so I'm very sorry for this chapter. And I know you'll all be mad, but it has a reason behind it. Also, I've realized that a lot of you don't remember who Drake Hansen is. It will be mentionned later on in this chapter, but I thought I'd help you guys out a little bit. He's not from the show, he's a character that I created and that we meet through Izzie at the beginning of the story.
SORRY !
Meredith was in her last year of college, final exams were in full swing. Soon, she'd be out of here, and starting her life as a surgeon. Med school was just around the corner. And she almost felt, excited.
She had just finished her last exam, and was heading out with a group of friends to the regular bar to celebrate. The usual crowd was there, along with a lot of others from her classes, people who had also just finished their college years. It was a night for celebrating.
She wasn't quite drunk, but she wasn't sober either. Let's just say a few more drinks would have put her over the top. But the memory was as vivid as can be.
A man she knew from one of her classes grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her towards the exit.
"Where are we going?" she asked, not quite nervous, but not comfortable with the situation. He just pulled her to one of the many cars in the parking lot. He locked the doors and got really close, to close for her likings.
"Meredith Grey," he whispered. "I heard you're known for sleeping around."
Meredith knew what was going on. "Maybe," she answered, being totally honest. "But only with guys that catch my interest." She was attempting to be flirty, but the man in the car didn't take it that way. He pulled her closer.
"Am I your type?" he asked, almost angry.
"Not really," she answered teasingly. But what happened next she did not expect.
"Well that's really too bad, cause I'm going to get what I want anyway."
Meredith didn't have time to react. He had already ripped off her shirt, leaving her in her tank top.
"What are you doing!" she screamed. He didn't react. He was trying to get his way around the zipper on her jeans when she pulled up her strength. She kicked him, hard, just in the right place and swiftly unlocked the door and ran out. And ran. She felt angry, and hurt. But mostly, she felt strong. She got herself out of a bad situation.
She had never seen Drake Hansen since that night. He hadn't shown up for graduation, or even to say his goodbyes to his class. Meredith had felt relieved, and then she had just forgotten.
The memories came flooding back. Meredith was dumbstruck.
"Remember me?" he asked, in an almost amused tone of voice. He took a step in the doorway and closed the door behind him.
"Get the hell out of my house," she said, trying to sound angry, but her voice was shaky. She couldn't pull it off.
"Or what?" he asked.
"I..I… My husband… he'll hurt you."
"Married?" he asked, a little shocked.
He grabbed her left hand for proof and saw the rings. Meredith thought that would get him to back off. She thought it might be enough to make him change his mind.
"Hmmm," he said as he examined them. All of a sudden, he grabbed a hold of both of her rings and ripped them off her fingers, making Meredith flinch in pain. It tore the skin right off. He threw them across the room. "That has never stopped me."
He pushed Meredith onto the couch. She was shaking, wracked with sobs. He kept her down with his arms. He was strong. She was trembling, scared not for herself, but the child she was carrying.
Her baby! Instinctively, she went to put her hands over her stomach, but she realized soon enough that her arms had been pinned down to the couch. She couldn't move. She could feel the fear, fear of what this was doing to the baby. It was already going to be hard enough...
"My baby," she whimpered slowly. Drake stopped all of a sudden, and Meredith hoped that this new information would get him to stop. But it didn't seem to make much of a difference.
Out of tears, out of hope, and mostly, out of strength, Meredith stopped fighting. She didn't want to be in this situation, and if it weren't for her child, she would fight to get out of it. But she was sure that giving in was the only way. And although it hurt, physically and emotionally, she'd do anything for her baby.
Nothing would ever put her in more pain.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Richard looked up at the clock as he and Adele were sitting at the kitchen table. Supper had been ready for close to an hour, but Meredith had never came. Six o'clock had come and gone, and as he looked up to the clock again, it red six fifty-four.
"Maybe she forgot," Adele said, knowing that her husband was worried about his daughter. But she knew Meredith wasn't one for forgetting. And she knew that her husband knew that. "Traffic?" she tried suggesting. But nothing worked.
"I'm calling Derek," he said as he got up. "If anybody knows anything, it'll be him."
Adele didn't argue. She was worried too.
"Hello?" Derek answered.
"Derek, it's Richard."
"Wanting to know about the fire?" he asked. He had expected getting a call from Richard about what had happened. But he didn't think it would take him this long.
"No, Meredith called and told me what she knew. And we invited her over for supper."
"Oh that's good to know. Tell her I'm heading home now," he answered, not thinking anything of it.
"Derek, she never showed up."
There was silence at the other end of the line.
"Derek?"
"Yeah, I'm here." There was a short pause. "She didn't tell me she was going anywhere. I tried calling her about half an hour ago and she didn't answer, but I thought she might be sleeping or something."
"I talked to her at about one thirty and she said she was going down for a nap. Do you think maybe she's still asleep?"
Derek brushed it off. "Probably." Then he remembered why she hadn't been at work with him. The bad feeling. "Richard, Meredith didn't mention anything about a bad feeling when she talked to you on the phone, did she?"
"No. I don't think so. What kind of bad feeling?"
"A 'bomb blowing up in front of your eyes' feeling. She told me she had the same feeling she had the day of the explosion when she woke up this morning."
It was quiet.
"I'm heading over there right now," Richard said without a second thought.
"I'm leaving as we speak," Derek said as he pulled his lab coat off and grabbed his keys from the corner of his desk.
Richard hung up, and after telling Adele where he was going, he headed out the door. As he drove, he just hoped everything would be okay.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Mark was heading towards the main doors, planning on waiting for Lexie, then heading home, when he remembered he was supposed to call Meredith.
He pulled out his phone and dialed the very familiar home number. After leaving a short message, the usual 'call me back when you get this,' he searched his contacts for her cell phone number. But there was still no answer. Just as he was hanging up, he saw Derek coming towards the doors, seeming in a rush.
"Have you heard from Meredith lately?" he asked, trying to seem casual. He turned quickly towards him.
"No. Why? What do you know?"
"I tried calling her, at home and her cell and she didn't answer," Mark answered. But he realized he had said too much.
"Why were you calling her?" Derek asked, worriedly.
Busted.
"Bad feeling?" he answered sheepishly.
"You're coming with me," was Derek's answer. "I want the truth, but I don't have time to waste."
Mark nodded and followed Derek to the parking lot. When they got in his car and were pulling out, he cracked.
"Jackson told me that Cristina had a bad feeling about Meredith's bad feeling. Something about it not having anything to do with the fire. But she's at home, right? I'm sure nothing bad happened. We need to stop being so negative."
"We've all turned negative, Mark," Derek answered. "It's like today is international negativity day."
Mark snorted. "Yeah, and Karev was the only positive one. What's happening to our world?"
Derek nodded. "I'm worried. Really worried Mark."
Mark nodded. "Me too."
They pulled into the driveway, and just as they were getting out of the car, Richard pulled in.
"Nice timing," he pointed out as he reached them.
"Meredith's gonna have some questions when we all walk in and she's just sitting there reading or something," Mark commented.
But Derek didn't hear him. He was already in the doorway.
"Meredith?" he called out. But there was no answer. He ran into the living room, where the first thing he noticed was her clothes on the ground.
"Why are these here?" he asked out loud.
As he picked them up, he noticed the small blood stain on the couch.
"What the…" he trailed off. "Meredith?" he called out again.
He ran up the stairs, and that's when he heard her. She was whimpering.
"Meredith!" he exclaimed as he ran into the room. She was wrapped up in her blankets, in the fetal position. That was a bad sign to begin with.
"Dddd…..der…..derek," she said between sobs. She turned around to face him. That's when she noticed the puffiness of her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She just cried even harder.
"Meredith…" he pulled off the blankets and noticed that the clothes that had been downstairs had been what she had been wearing. She was indeed no longer wearing any clothes. But what tore him apart were the marks and bruises on her body. "Wha….what happe…happened?"
She just buried her head into his chest. She couldn't talk. And he wouldn't make her.
Mark made an appearance just at that moment.
"She needs to go to the hospital Mark," Derek said, on the verge of tears himself. "Can you grab her some clothes from the closet?"
Mark just nodded and grabbed what he could find.
"What…?"
Derek shook his head. "I don't know. Or I hope I don't know."
Mark looked at the now only partially naked Meredith. He noticed the bruises.
"Do you think…?"
Derek shook his head and let out a few sobs. "Oh God, I hope not."
Derek tried picking her up off the bed, but realized he was to run down to do it. Mark offered to help, and Derek couldn't say no. He couldn't do it alone.
When they were back in the yard, Richard just stared wide eyed at the scene that unfolded before him. Mark came out first, carrying a very pale, broken looking Meredith, followed by an equally as bad looking Derek. He didn't ask. He didn't speak. He just got into the driver's seat of his car as Mark put her in the back and settled himself in the front. Derek joined his wife on the bench in the back.
"Hospital," was the first, and only word spoken since leaving Derek and Meredith's room. Richard just nodded, still not sure what was going on, but sure that Mark and Derek had an idea. But the hospital didn't seem like quite the place to go, considering the attention that would be brought on the couple.
"Page Bailey," Richard instructed. "And Addison. Tell them to meet us at the east exit. The room right beside the door is empty. We won't attract people's attention."
Mark nodded and did as he was told. Richard stole a quick glance to the couple in the back. Meredith was still as pale as a ghost and the tears were still streaming down her face like waterfalls. But she made no sound. Derek was looking at her, a broken expression on his own face. What was going on?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXX
"You were paged here too?" Miranda asked as she met Addie at one of the many isolated exits. She had no clue what was going on, but Mark had paged her 911.
"Yeah, Mark," was all she said.
"Any idea what it's about?" Miranda asked. Addie shrugged.
"No idea. But I have a bad feeling…"
Just then the doors opened and in came Mark, a broken Meredith in his arms. He was followed by a very pale Derek and a worried looking Richard.
"What the hell happened?" Miranda asked when they had placed her on the bed.
"Derek found her bruised up and whimpering in her room," Mark explained. Richard had stayed in the hallway, trying to calm Derek down before he let him see his wife.
The two women exchanged looks, and then looked back at Meredith.
"Meredith, did somebody hurt you?" Addie asked.
They were all thinking the same thing, but none of them wanted to believe their thoughts were true.
Meredith nodded.
"This person that hurt you, was it a man?"
Meredith nodded again.
"Crap, oh crap," Addie muttered under her breath. They knew it. The three people now standing at Meredith's bedside knew what had happened. "I need an ultrasound machine and Bailey, you need to do a pelvic exam," Addie instructed, wishing this was all just a nightmare.
She spun around when she heard the now heart wrenching whimpers coming from her friend.
"Derek…"
"She was raped? Wasn't she?" Derek was broken. He knew it since he had seen her in their bed.
"You shouldn't be here," was all Addie answered. Richard put his hands on his friend's shoulders and pulled him out of the room. Mark closed the door behind them.
A nurse came back with an ultrasound machine. So much for their secret. Once one nurse knew, the hospital would know.
"Looks like this is the end of the secret," Addie said, directing it to Miranda.
"Oh no it's not," the nurse said. "Not yet."
That's when Addie really noticed who the nurse was.
"Catherine, thank God."
"I'm the only nurse who can keep secrets around here, so you're lucky to have me."
Addie nodded as she spread the cold jelly on Meredith's stomach.
"Is my baby okay?"
It was the first words Meredith had said since she had been in the room. Addie took a look at the screen and let out a breath.
"Your baby's heart rate is lower than it should be, but considering what it has just gone through, it's in a good place."
Meredith nodded as a few more tears ran down her cheek.
"He was looking for Izzie," Meredith said, out of the blue.
"Who was?" Mark asked, wanting to kill this guy.
"Drake Hansen. I went to college with him…" Meredith couldn't go any further.
"We'll find him Meredith. We'll make sure this doesn't happen again."
Meredith just nodded while Miranda checked her pelvis. "It doesn't look like there's any cracks. Just a few bruises."
Mark was the first one to notice her finger.
"We need to bandage it up," he said when the others had seen the skinless, and ringless finger.
He had put himself in charge of doing that, since it was his area. The three doctors all worked at doing what they were good at, and Catherine just helped when someone needed it. Meredith was in good hands.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
After pulling Derek out of Meredith's room, Richard decided the waiting room wasn't the best place to be. It would draw attention. He settled for heading out the door they had just come in and sitting on the bench beside it.
"It's going to be okay Derek," he tried comforting her.
"She was raped Richard! She'll never be okay."
Richard felt sudden sadness. He knew it was coming, but it just didn't feel real.
"She'll get through this," he tried convincing Derek. And himself for that matter.
"She'll always have the memory of some dirt bags hands on her, his lips on her body, his…" he was now in full fledged tears once again. "She'll never get completely through this."
Richard pulled up some strength. "You need to stay strong Derek." It was an order. "Meredith needs you to be strong, and your baby needs you to be strong."
"Oh God," he whispered. "The baby, the baby. What will this do to the baby?"
Richard shook his head. "I don't know Derek. But you still need to be strong, for your wife if anything. You guys have been through worse than this. She's been through worse than this."
Derek nodded as he wiped away a few tears.
"I'll be strong," he promised.
"Good."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Cristina was still worried for her friend. There was no way her feeling was about the fire. Nobody was hurt, and there was no way her being at the hospital would have made a difference. She needed to figure out what it was.
She made her way to the lobby, looking for someone who could give her some answers.
"Lexie!" she exclaimed as she got closer.
"Cristina," she answered.
"You haven't talked to Meredith today, have you?"
Lexie shook her head. "No but I think Mark was going to call her." She had talked to Mark before they went into surgery, and he had said something about checking up on Meredith.
"And where is this fiancé of yours?" Cristina asked looking around.
Lexie shrugged. "I don't know, but we were supposed to meet here and head out for supper. But he's nowhere in sight."
"Maybe he forgot you," Cristina said with a chuckle.
Lexie shook her head. "The car's still parked in the same place it was this morning."
"Have you tried paging him?"
Lexie nodded. "I've tried calling his cell too, but there's no answer."
"Surgery?" Cristina suggested.
"Not on the board."
They were quiet. But Cristina wasn't giving up.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
"Everything is going to be okay Meredith," Addison said as she laid her hand on her patient's. "Physically, there's nothing more than a few bumps and bruises. It's your emotional stability that worries me. It could affect the baby's stability. So until you've started to recover from this terrible traumatic experience, there's no work. None. You don't need to be on bed rest, but the stress levels at Seattle Grace are too high for my likings."
Meredith just nodded, thinking about how she could not lose this baby. She'd do anything for this baby.
"Should we let Derek in?" Mark asked. He knew his best friend needed to be with his wife right now. This was going to be a long road for him too.
Addison nodded.
Mark left the room and when he didn't see any sign of him in the hall, he opted for the door they had come through. He knew Derek wouldn't have gone to the waiting room, because he knew that people would stare at him wondering what was going on. And that would defeat the purpose of doing their best to keep this on the down low.
Richard and Derek were sitting on the bench when Mark walked out. When Derek heard the door open and close, he looked up and stood up when he saw his friend.
"Is she okay? Can I see her?"
"Physically, she's okay. But this will take a lot of time to recover from this emotionally. Addison will give you more details. You can go in and see her."
Derek ran in and Richard hesitated before getting up.
"I think we should give them some time, and then you can go see her. They need to be alone for a little while."
Richard nodded. "I know."
Mark headed back into the hospital, leaving Richard to his thoughts. He then remembered he was supposed to be taking Lexie out for supper, and that she was probably still waiting for her.
"Crap."
He walked as fast as he could towards the main entrance. When he got to the lobby, he noticed Lexie and Cristina sitting in a deserted corner.
"Lexie, I'm sorry."
Lexie and Cristina looked up when they heard his voice.
"What happened?" Lexie asked, almost mad. "What's your reason for leaving me here and not answering my calls?" She regretted her tone of voice when she noticed that Mark's eyes looked…wet. Had he been crying? "Mark, what's going on?" she asked, in a softer voice, one full of concern.
"Cristina was right."
Cristina jumped up. "Where's Meredith? What happened to her?"
"I…I can't tell you here. Too many people."
He led them to an empty on-call room. He knew that Cristina and Lexie had a right to know. They'd find out eventually.
"Richard, Derek and I all headed over to Meredith's after finding out she never showed up at Richard's for supper," he started from the beginning. "Derek found her in their bed, in a ball, whimpering and badly bruised up –"
"Oh no," Lexie shook her head.
"A man by the name of Drake Hansen, he… he…" Mark couldn't finish the phrase.
"Where is she? Is she hurt? Is she going to be okay?"
"She's in the hospital. Addie and Miranda have taken good care of her. The baby is fine, and other than bruises and bumps, Meredith is fine physically. But emotionally…"
"Can we go see her?" Lexie asked in a quiet voice.
"Derek is with her now, but we can head down that way and wait until they've had some alone time."
The two girls nodded and followed Mark to the deserted corner of the hospital. Addie, Catherine and Richard were in the hallway.
"How is she?" Cristina asked, to no one in particular.
Addie decided to speak up when no one else did. "It's going to be a long time before she can get over this, and she'll probably never forget it, but Meredith is strong, and you all know that."
"How's Derek?" Lexie then asked.
"Him, I'm not too sure," Addie continued. "He can't stand to see Meredith in pain. And this is affecting him even more since he has blamed himself for everything that has hurt Meredith. He's saying how he should have stayed by her side until her bad feeling went away. But he doesn't understand that he can't blame himself for everything. He needs to realize that things happen for a reason, even though it may not seem like it. He's got to learn that life isn't fair."
They all just nodded silently, until Catherine spoke up.
"Meredith said something about how he was looking for Izzie…" she trailed off.
"Somebody should contact her, see if she knows anything."
Mark nodded. "I'm on it."
"I'll go with Mark," Lexie answered. And they disappeared.
"Why do bad things always happen to Meredith?" Richard suddenly asked. "Why can't she just get a break? She's had a crappy life as it is. God, I wish we could put her in a bubble that would keep her away from harm."
"Well," Addie started. "I'm ordering her to always have her pager on her and there's an emergency button programmed on it. I don't want to have to get her a babysitter, but if something else happens, it may be necessary."
"Let's just hope nothing else happens," Cristina said in a whisper.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Do you have your phone on you?" Mark asked as he and Lexie went to find a place to make a very tough phone call.
"Yeah, where's yours?"
"It stayed in Derek's car. I just kind of forgot it there. We'll have to swing by the house before we go home to pick it up."
Lexie nodded. No wonder he didn't answer.
As they made their way to Mark's office, they noticed a person that could help them out on their investigation.
"Karev," Mark called out when he noticed him at the nurse's station. "I need you in my office, now."
Alex looked at Lexie, and when she nodded, he obeyed and followed them, not saying a word until they had gotten to their destination and shut the door.
"Okay, am I in trouble?" he asked, a little worried.
Mark didn't bother answering. "Has Izzie ever told you about someone by the name of Drake Hansen?"
Alex went pale. Mark knew he was on to something.
"Alex, I need you to tell me what you know so that we can get him and kill him for what he's done."
"Izzie… he… the night I brought Izzie back… when I went to get her… in the rain," he looked at Lexie, knowing she understood. She had been at the house. She nodded. "He's the reason she came back here. That she called me. He… he…" Alex couldn't finish.
Mark just nodded. "That's what we thought."
Alex shook his head. "That's not all. It's not the first time. She went through it for almost a year, when she was in high school. He forced her. And he got her pregnant."
Mark and Lexie's jaws dropped.
"She has a daughter. A teenager now. And he's the reason she exists."
Mark nodded. Alex then clued in to something he didn't realize before.
"How do you guys know of him? Is he here?"
Mark looked down. "He… he…"
Alex cracked. "Oh no, is it Izzie?"
Mark shook his head. "It's Meredith."
Alex looked confused. "What?"
"He had been looking for Izzie. Stopped at Meredith's. He had gone to college with Meredith. And from there… we don't know anything other than he hurt her. And you know what…"
Alex just shook his head. "I don't want to hear it. He's hurt two people I love. I can't handle this." And with that, Alex left.
Lexie turned to Mark, her tears threatening to spill out. Mark just pulled her to his chest.
"It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
After Mark had told him he could go see her, Derek couldn't think of anything but being strong for his wife. His beautiful wife, who was now broken and would go back to being dark and twisty. The mother of his unborn child was in a hospital bed, suffering from injuries that were much more scarring than what you could see. Sure, there were a few bad bruises, but it didn't nearly compare to the inner pain this would cause her, scars that would never heal, no matter how hard you tried.
He put on a brave face as he opened the door and Miranda, Addie and Catherine cleared Meredith's bedside and left, giving him sympathetic glances. He tried not to pay any attention to them, so his gaze shifted away from them, and landed on the patient herself.
"Oh God Meredith," he said as he felt the tears slip down his cheeks. He brought his shaking hand up to wipe them away, but they just kept coming, so it was pointless.
He didn't know if he should just sit in the chair beside her bed, or hold her like he wished he could. But he didn't want to hurt her. She was obviously in enough pain. So he just stood by her bedside and held her hand.
"Derek…" she whispered. "Please." She shifted her body a little bit, giving Derek the hint.
He lifted the blanket slightly, and managed to slip into the tiny hospital bed without shifting her around too much. She instantly cuddled herself in his arms and took both of his hands in hers.
"I'm here Meredith," he choked out.
"Our baby… our baby's okay Derek," she whispered as she let go of his hands to place them on her stomach. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the head.
"You're both okay. Everything will be okay."
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I know you must all hate me now, but I promise, things will get better... I needed this for another part of the story... I'm sorry, again...
