Chap 11

A/N: Okay, so I know I said this was going to be the last chapter, but I didn't like the transition between the last scene and the one that I made into the start of Chapter 12, so there's going to be at least one more chapter. Enjoy this one!

Three hours ago, she'd been sitting in a board meeting, thinking of how happy she'd been, daydreaming about making love to Meredith, and now, Addison was sitting beside her hospital bed, attempting to pray. She didn't know how to pray. Her family were WASPs; they only went to church on Christmas, so she never learned how to pray. Aside from when Archer was sick, she'd never really tried before, and hadn't again after he'd gotten better, if she were honest with herself. When Callie had prayed next to her, she'd talked to God out loud. She wasn't sure she could do that. But as she sat by Meredith's bedside, she silently begged whatever higher being there was for some kind of sign. She wasn't sure what she was even wanting a sign for, if she were honest. That Meredith would wake up? That things could return to a semi-normal state? She didn't know, really. All she really knew was that she felt so lost. And it was worse than when she had sat by Meredith's bed after her near drowning. At least then she'd been awake, she knew she'd be okay.

She wanted Meredith to wake up, so she could see for herself that she was going to be okay. She'd read and re-read the chart and then read it a third time, making sure she was understanding everything. She still wasn't sure what had happened in the room. Owen had shown her the security footage of the hallway, and he'd made the decision for Meredith to press charges. It had happened in his hospital, so he had the right to do so. Whatever else had transpired in the room was a mystery to all but Derek and Meredith, but judging by Meredith's injuries and Derek's lack thereof, it wasn't a hard case to crack.

"How is she?"

She looked up at April's voice to find the Trauma surgeon standing in the doorway.

"She's still asleep," she answered, "She uh, hasn't woken up since earlier. Bailey said to page her when she did."

"Do you need anything?"

Besides Meredith to wake up? She wanted to ask but held her tongue. She was feeling a bit sore from sitting in the same spot for nearly 3 hours, and she was sure she needed to eat something, but she refused to leave Meredith's side. Alex and Arizona had taken any incoming cases, and unless there was an emergency they couldn't handle, she wouldn't be paged.

Lexie had gotten pulled away into a surgery, and for a while, Amelia had sat with her. In fact, the door probably saw more doctors come in and out of it than it had in the past two weeks.

"I don't know how to pray," She said finally.

April tilted her head to the side, "How to pray?"

"My family are WASPs."

April smiled softly and entered the room, sitting in the chair on Meredith's other side.

"Praying doesn't have to be any big or grand gesture. You don't even have to close your eyes if you don't want to. You just talk, out loud or in your head." She closed her eyes then, bowed her head and clasped her hands, "Dear God, please let Meredith wake up soon. Addison is going to really nuts here. So if you could just give us a sign, anything at all, we would really appreciate it. Amen."

She waited until April opened her eyes before speaking, almost skeptically, "It's that easy?"

April smiled, "It's that easy." April's pager went off, and she smiled apologetically as she stood, "She'll wake up when she's ready, Addison." And then she was out the door.

She watched her go and then turned her attention back on Meredith. Was it really that easy? She wasn't convinced, but it didn't hurt anything to try. She looked around, and then up at the ceiling. That was where God was, right? She wasn't sure.

"God?" I have no clout with God. He doesn't even know who I am. "I know I'm bad at this. And I know I'm Satan and all, but I really need Meredith. I need her in my life. I know I'm screwed up and that I don't deserve her, but I need Meredith, and I need her to wake up so I can tell her that I love her. Okay? I mean, uh, amen."

Meredith didn't want to open her eyes. The morphine was making her feel a little loopy, but even with it, she was aching. She felt a hand in hers and looked over carefully. Addison sat beside her, her right hand holding her left tightly, like she was afraid she'd disappear if she let go. She wasn't looking at her, rather, she was looking up at the ceiling. She blinked slowly, trying to clear the fog in her head.

"God? I know I'm bad at this. And I know I'm Satan and all, but I really need Meredith. I need her in my life. I know I'm screwed up and that I don't deserve her, but I need Meredith, and I need her to wake up so I can tell her that I love her. Okay? I mean, uh, amen."

She felt the blush blooming along her cheeks. Addison was praying, and though she didn't quite believe in the whole prayer thing, she was touched that Addison was doing it. She cleared most of the fog in her head, tried to gather her thoughts. How could Addison think she didn't deserve her? How could she believe she was screwed up?

"Addie?" She questioned softly.

She watched as Addison blinked and then looked at her. She smiled in spite of the pain. God, she never looked more beautiful.

"Meredith?" Addison looked almost confused for a second, as if she was surprised she was even awake, and then she sat up in the chair, "Oh my God, Meredith!" She fumbled for her pager, and she saw that her left hand was wrapped in gauze; a pang of fear shot through her. Addison sent off a quick page and then turned her attention back to her, carefully stroking her hair.

"What happened to your hand?" Talking hurt, if she was honest, but she needed to know.

Her last conscious thought had been of Addison, of trying to get her colleagues to do something about Derek, and now, Addison's hand was bandaged.

Addison shushed Meredith gently, relief still flowing through her, "I'm fine. Callie said it may bruise, but I didn't break anything."

"What happened?" Meredith couldn't quite stop from flinching in pain, and she noticed.

"Derek confessed," I should've done more, ya know? I was so angry. So I hit her. And then I just couldn't stop, "He confessed to everything. And I lost my temper." There was still a part of her that was embarrassed by that, even if she didn't regret it, "I punched him, broke his nose," She took in Meredith's heavily bruised face. She knew they would fade, that her broken bones would heal, and yet, "He hurt you, Meredith, and I wanted to kill him."

"Where is he now?"

She wanted to lie to her, she did, but she couldn't, she wouldn't, "He's in police custody. Owen pressed charges on your behalf."

And she waited for Meredith to argue, to come to Derek's defense. Because that's the kind of person Meredith was. She was a martyr, she would put the blame all on herself. She was waiting for Meredith's excuses, how she'd brought it on herself. So maybe she was a little shocked when all Meredith did was reach her good hand out and cup her cheek.

"You're not angry?" She questioned.

Meredith shook her head and then flinched at the action. She was about to answer when Miranda came into the room, followed by Owen.

"Meredith Grey, I swear to all that is Holy," Bailey began, not looking up from her chart, "You are going to be the death of me yet." She looked over the chart then, just as Meredith was pulling her hand back, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got the shit beaten out of me by my jealous ex-husband."

She took in Addison's stricken look and fixed the blonde with a glare, "Let's try that without all the dramatics, Medusa."

"It hurts to talk and move," She pretended not to notice when Addison took Meredith's hand between hers.

"I'll adjust your pain meds," At least Meredith wasn't calling her pretty like the last time she was on morphine. She looked at Addison, "You need food, Addison."

"I'm not…" She glared at the redhead — honestly why were Attendings so stubborn? — which shut the woman up. Addison pressed a kiss to Meredith's uninjured hand, "I'll be right back, alright?"

"Alright," Meredith replied with a smile.

As she followed Addison out of the room, she spoke softly, so only Addison could hear, "I know you'd rather be in there with her, but Owen needs her statement, and I don't think you want to hear it."

Addison sighed softly, "No, I don't, but I should hear it anyway."

She saw Owen sitting in the chair Addison had just vacated, opening his tablet. She knew what would happen next. The Seattle PD would be contacted through the device and Meredith's statement would be taken via video conference, with Owen in a supportive role for Meredith. It wasn't as ideal as an immediate statement, but given Meredith's injuries, it was the best they could do.

She ran her hand supportively against the sleeve of Addison's white coat as they made their way to the cafeteria, "He won't get away with this."

Addison nodded, "I know."

"She didn't mean to be so flippant," She added, and Addison looked at her, confused, "Meredith, what she said about how she was feeling. She says and does things that seem normal to her because they are."

Addison smiled, "I know. She's all dark and twisty."

"Yes, she is." She agreed, "Now, let's get some food in you before you pass out."

"I'm not going to pass out," Addison answered, but she doubted the woman knew how shaky she was. Adrenaline and fear could only do so much; she knew that from experience.

Owen tried to keep him face impassive as he listened to Meredith recount the events in the on-call room. It made him sick to his stomach, listening as she explained in detail what Derek had done.

He'd had an ortho resident set the disgraced surgeon's nose in his office, not allowing the resident to stick around, not giving Derek the opportunity to explain. Derek had used his white coat to wipe up the blood.

"Derek tried to choke me out, at first. Bashed my head against the wall the more I struggled." Meredith explained.

Derek's explanation came back to him as he thought back to the blood on the wall in the now-sealed off on-call room.

"I just needed her to shut up. She wasn't helping. My patient was still dead. And she kept talking."

He couldn't help but feel guilty. He had the opportunity to fire Derek after he verbally assaulted Meredith in the stairwell but hadn't. He'd recognized the signs of Derek's downward spiral but had allowed Meredith's martyrdom to sway him.

"He said he was going to go after Addison," Meredith was saying when he focused back on her testimony, "And I reached out for him, for his pant leg. I had to stop him."

"She actually tried to stop me." Derek's words in his office came back to him, "The bitch grabbed my pant leg. I should've kicked her teeth in for touching me with her filthy hands."

He'd debated putting Derek in the psych ward for a few days, but ultimately, he decided on calling for the arrest. Besides, the man was charming; who's to say he wouldn't have been able to charm his way out of the trip to the psych ward? Trained psychologists or not, they could still be fooled.

"I thought he was going to kill me," Meredith confessed, "But I still," She stopped and he saw the tears in her eyes then, the one lone drop that slid down her bruised cheek, "I just kept thinking that if I could at least delay him, maybe I could keep him from getting to Addie. And as long as Addie was in her meeting, he wouldn't try anything."

"She's pathetic, you know? She wants to be this badass surgeon, but all she worried about was Addison. A whore trying to protect a whore. It's ironic. She laid there and took it."

Meredith shuddered, "I shouldn't have put myself in the situation. I knew he was frustrated."

"That's not your fault," One of the detectives finally said, the voice coming in clear over the tablet, "It doesn't give him the right to hurt you."

Meredith nodded.

"He started kicking me again. Told me he'd tell," For the first time since she'd started talking, Meredith's voice wavered, "that he'd tell Addison how hard I tried to stop him. The next thing I remember is waking up with my coworkers trying to help me."

"It was so freeing," Derek had explained, and he was disgusted by the delight in his eyes, "Just taking out my frustration on her. So what if I wanted to do the same to Addison? They both deserved it and more."

He was glad his office had audio and video feed, that security was able to get a copy to the police quickly. He shuddered to think what Derek would've done to Addison had he been given the opportunity. Though with the way she'd hit him when he confessed to attacking Meredith, he put the odds on the neonatal surgeon.

"Thank you for your time, Dr. Grey," the other detective said, "We'll contact Dr. Hunt if we need any more information." Meredith nodded.

A few minutes later, he ended the conference call.

"Let me adjust your morphine for you," he said as he got up.

"No," Meredith objected as she carefully laid back down, "It's fine."

"You've been flinching non-stop for the last 30 minutes."

"I'm fine," She answered and then flinched again. Why was she being so stubborn? There was a knock at the door, and Meredith fixed him with a glare, "Come in."

When Addison and Bailey re-entered the room, he sighed softly. Finally, people who could talk some sense into Meredith. Addison immediately went to her bedside, and he watched as both women relaxed.

"All good in here?" Bailey asked.

"I've got it from here," Addison said before he could even open his mouth.

Bailey nodded, "You heard the lady."

He followed her, not quite convinced. As he shut the door behind them, he spoke, "She wouldn't let me adjust her morphine, Bailey. She's still in a lot of pain."

"And she will be," Came the shorter woman's immediate reply, "but Addison will take care of it."

"Addie?"

"Hm?"

They'd been sitting in relative silence since Bailey and Owen had left, and it had been driving her nuts.

"Can you hold me?" Meredith's voice was so small, and it broke her heart even more.

"Scoot over," she requested.

She had to position herself in a way that wouldn't aggravate Meredith's ribs. She slid off her shoes and moved onto the bed, adjusting her position slightly. Meredith immediately sought her out, her fingers clinging to the front of her shirt, burying her face into her neck. She gingerly wrapped her arms around the blonde and sighed softly, Meredith echoing the sound.

"It was horrible, Addie," Meredith's breath was warm against her neck, "He just kept hitting me, and I couldn't do anything. I tried to fight him, but he was so strong."

"You're safe now," She reassured her, gently stroking her hair, "He's never going to touch you again."

"He was going to come after you next. He told me. And I couldn't," Meredith took a shuddering breath, fighting back tears, "I couldn't lose you."

"I'm right here," She answered, "I'm right here. You haven't lost me. Shh, it's alright, Mere."

"Can you hit the morphine button please?"

She smiled softly, reaching her hand out to hit it once, "They should've put it on your left side."

"Mhmm," Meredith muttered as she attempted to scoot closer. She held her slightly tighter as a compromise, "I love you, Addison."

She smiled, "I love you too, Meredith."

She found herself slowly drifting off to sleep as Meredith's soft snores filled the room.

"They're cute," Alex said as he and Cristina watched the pair sleep through the window.

"Cute, please," Cristina rolled her eyes, but he saw her smile, "Since when does Meredith cuddle?"

"Why are you guys just standing outside?" Lexie questioned as she made her way over to them.

"Because Satan and Medusa are sleeping," Cristina explained.

Lexie looked confused, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Nicknames," Alex answered as Lexie looked through the window, "Keep up, Little Grey."

"I need a picture," the younger Grey squealed quietly, pulling out her phone.

"Why are you three standing around for?" The three jumped at Bailey's voice and quickly scuttled off before she'd even made it to the door. The woman rolled her eyes and then looked through the window. Addison held Meredith carefully, mindful of her ribs, and Meredith had her body pressed as close to Addison as possible, her good hand clutching tight to the front of Addison's shirt. She laughed softly, "Satan and Medusa. A couple of teddy bears is more like it."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll be getting into the trial next chapter. Please review!