Disclaimer: don't own the show. Hope you guys enjoy this one!

Meredith lay on the bench in the resident's lounge, one leg bent at the knee, the other resting flat, her arm on her head, the other hanging limply.

She felt dead. Every bone in her body ached. Every muscle in her back was crying.

Last night, after the drinks with Michael, Meredith had returned to the hospital, hoping that it would take her mind off things and that eventually, she'd pass out in one of the on-call rooms.

Meredith had always loved the hospital at night. Even when her mother had dragged her along as a child. The peace. The calm. The warm tones every corner she turned. It was a different place altogether, too empty, never loud enough.

But not that night.

An hour into her arrival, there had been a multi-car pileup leading to an influx of patients who required life-saving surgeries.

She'd been in surgeries all night and she'd lost them all. Every single one.

The father of three.

The college kid who had a month until her graduation.

The newlyweds on their honeymoon.

All of them; some hadn't even made it to the OR, succumbing to their injuries in the ER.

Meredith wondered, yet again, what could have been had she headed home after drinks. But after the talk, she'd had with Michael she knew that her mind would never rest, would never let her rest so she'd made a split-second decision, crossing the street to the hospital.

And she had regretted every moment of it.

Maybe she should have just agreed to Shepherd's offer. Maybe then, she wouldn't be here, now. She also, would have avoided the talk with her ex-boyfriend.

Meredith had first met Michael around three years ago, rather Meredith had been introduced to Michael by her mother three years ago.

His father was on the board of directors of the hospital, Seattle Grace being one of the many hospitals he had a share in. His father, Carter Holden, was also an old friend of Ellis' so when she'd learned that his son was a second-year ER resident in the hospital her daughter worked at, she had jumped at the chance. Ellis had pestered her, repeatedly calling her from Boston and setting up dates and Meredith had been vexed, to say the least. Her mother had never shown such interest in her dating life, instead, Ellis had always believed that Meredith's taste in men was dreadful so being set up with a man she found pleasant was, she knew, a disaster waiting to happen.

So Meredith avoided her calls, going even as far as standing him up on the charity event she had assured her mother she would attend with him. She did it to spite her mother just as much to display her dissent.

Ellis had been livid, ready to take the red-eye to Seattle. She wondered sometimes if her mother would ever see her as anything but the problematic, angry teenager she had been.

But then, Meredith had relented, meeting the famous Michael Holden at a bar downtown, a half-hearted apology on her lips. She had expected arrogance and snarkiness. He was, after all, the son of one of the richest men in the country and nobody stood him up but, Michael had been..sweet. A gentleman.

And before she knew it, Meredith was meeting him for drinks. Again. And again.

They'd been doing this for the past three years now, getting together and then, breaking up a few months into it. The longest they'd lasted together was a little over seven months until Meredith had broken it off six months ago. Invariably, they fell into bed together the months they weren't together. The longest they had lasted was the past six months until she had caved.

So, when he had asked her for drinks last night, Meredith had simply assumed that it was another of their trysts except Michael had only wanted to talk, about them, about their relationship, about how he wanted more.

He had made attending last month and had numerous offers waiting for him from all over the country and he needed to know where she fit into that equation.

It had made her head spin, sure she enjoyed Michael's company, she always had. He made her laugh, he respected her and the sex, too, was great but they weren't even together anymore. He had hinted at marriage and a future.

Meredith Grey barely even dated so she had avoided him and made an excuse to leave.

She knew he had seen through her act.

She knew he loved her.

But Meredith had needed time. And space. So she'd fled.

She sighed, replaying his words in her head when she heard rustling around her. She opened one eye to peek at the disturbance only to be met with Derek's stormy blue eyes, his eyes fixed to her, his ugly red backpack slung over his shoulder.

"What?", she muttered, without her usual distaste.

"You're in my way."

He had been decent, almost good the day before. Almost. He had even presented her with a subtle apology which was unheard of in the 'Grey and Shepherd Chronicles of Detestation' so maybe, maybe she could reach for the olive branch he had extended her.

And as much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, she needed a break today. A break to just breathe and, Shepherd not testing her would most definitely help her case. So she quietly got up and shifted to the edge of the bench, straddling it.

She watched as Derek pulled off his brown Guns 'n Roses t-shirt to don the blue scrub shirt. She tried to catch a glimpse of his back, the region right below his shoulder blade but his undershirt hindered her exploration.

He paused, eyeing her. "You shouldn't look at me like that, Grey."

"Excuse me? Like what?"

"Like you've seen me naked. Your boyfriend might have a problem with that.", he twisted, a smug smirk on his face.

So the olive branch had never really existed.

She should have known, should have understood that it had been another one of his mastered pretences.

Meredith gritted her teeth before taking a few deep breaths, her brain already formulating comebacks and strategies against him.

She stiffened, mirroring his smirk, "How's John?"

"Who?"

"John. You know, the stick up your ass. How is he? Are you sure he can still breathe? I mean, he seems so far up today, you should make sure if he's still breathing."

"Huh. Funny."

Before they could go any further, he was hounded by a couple of guys, bickering about the game last night, reining him into the conversation. She recognized Jackson as one of the guys.

Sometimes when they argued, they lost track of their surroundings with only each other filling their senses so, it wasn't a surprise that Meredith hadn't noticed that the small room had filled with the other residents, changing, talking, discussing.

Derek gave her a last funny look as he let the discussion continue in his periphery.

Meredith, on the other hand, ignored him and moved to the other side of the room to join her sister and George.

"Alright, people! Listen up.", Bailey entered the lounge, pausing all conversations as she stood at the threshold, a folder in her arms. "Everyone but the fifth year's clear the room."

Her declaration was met with confused gazes but no disagreement as all the other residents filtered out. Meredith met Cristina's gaze who shrugged indifferently, the reason for this impromptu gathering unknown to all of them.

"Okay, so as you all know, soon one of you is going to be appointed as the Chief Resident."

Meredith's heart palpitated at her words.

How could she have forgotten?

She stole a glance at Derek, who stared right back at her, a challenge in his eyes. He clearly hadn't forgotten about it.

"And as you know, the monitoring for that begins now. Of course, all that you have done, achieved in the past four years will be considered but these next few months will be essential. As of...today everything that you do matters, as does everything that you don't. Clinical trials, research, breakthrough surgeries-all encouraged. But also keep in mind, any strike against you now, might just do you in."

Bailey's eyes scanned the room, imperceptibly stopping over her and Derek.

"Well, may the odds be in your favour.", she waved her hand, motioning for them to get on with their work.

Meredith stood rooted to her spot as Cristina and Alex talked around her.

Chief Resident was hers.

She had worked tirelessly for it.

She would never, not in a million years, let Derek freaking Shepherd take it from her.

Her mind was already concocting plans for clinical trials and ways to present them as she wordlessly followed her friends out to the hall.

"Mer, coffee?", Alex asked.

"What? Coffee. Yeah."

"Where are you?"

"Probably coming up with ways to decapitate Shepherd if he wins Chief Resident.", Cristina murmured as Alex called on his intern to fetch three coffees from the deli two blocks down.

"Um, yeah. Basically."

Alex rolled his eyes as they moved towards the gurneys. They still had a few minutes to spare before their day properly began.

"I'm surprised you're not acting like them.", Alex mumbled to Cristina.

"I'm a surgeon, not an administrator. I have better things to do. Have you seen the list of surgeries I plan to do with Teddy this year? No time for the plebian running around."

Meredith didn't pay much heed to their conversation, her brain barely functioning without her daily dose of caffeine.

"And I mean, Mer's only doing it to go against Shepherd."

"That's not true. I want it. I want to be Chief. "

"Sure you do."

"You're gonna hate it."

Her friends replied simultaneously. She met their eyes with pursed lips as the intern scrambled to them with the coffee cups in his hands. She hurriedly grabbed hers, scaring the intern as she headed towards the nurses' station to grab her post-ops, leaving the two with smirks on their faces.

She knew what the interns and residents called her- Medusa. The mythical monster with snakes for hair. The one who could turn you to stone.

Most days, Meredith revelled in its power but other days, days when her head wasn't quite on her shoulders, she felt a dull pang in her chest at the name, so she ransacked her brain for the intern's name.

Shaun, she finally recalled. Shaun Ambers.

She heaved a sigh of relief, collecting her post-ops. She knew any of her residents or interns could do it but today she needed the monotony, craved the repetition, the simplicity.

Just as she was about to find a quiet corner for the rest of her day, her pager started beeping incessantly. She could make out the same beeping sound all around her, indicating that whatever it was, it had to be big.

So not a quiet day, after all.

By the time Meredith reached the ambulance bay, most surgeons had gathered around with some helping each other gown up, others, mostly the attendings, staring ahead with a pensive look. She grabbed a flimsy gown, halting beside Lexie and Cristina. She spotted Derek helping April gown up who then, flanked Hunt as he stood at the centre, ready to address them.

"Okay, so-", Owen stopped, taking a deep breath. A somberness filled the air, thickened around them. ,"At approximately 9 this morning, a man entered a supermarket and indiscriminately shot at the people present there. "

Meredith felt her sister's sharp intake of breath, watched the woman in front of her send out a prayer to the universe. Her eyes momentarily locked with Derek's across from her, an anguished look in his eyes.

"We don't have a lot of information as of right now except, that there have been a few fatalities already. We don't know how many people have been injured or if, the gunman has been captured." Lexie grabbed her hand, squeezing it intermittently as the distinct sound of sirens reached them. "This will be hard but, I know that all of you will do your very best. For these people."

They formed their usual arrangement wordlessly, taking positions to greet the ambulances approaching them with the ER staff carefully interweaving into their formation.

A supermarket on a Thursday morning.

She assumed, hoped that it had been relatively empty. It was a Thursday, people had to get to work, kids were in school, families preferred the evenings for their grocery runs.

But then, there was the emergency tampon run. The early morning milk run. The families with kids too young for school. The college students who didn't have a class until the afternoon.

The more she thought about it, the less she could focus. The white ambulances seemed almost blurry, their sounds muffled.

She needed to stop, needed to look at the situation objectively. Needed to look at the situation like her mother.

Detached. Indifferent. Cold.

"What have we got?", she yelled over the noise as the paramedics pushed open the doors.

"Just need someone to call it. We lost her en route."

Meredith glanced down at the young girl on the gurney, her dark hair pooling around her shoulders, her naked torso covered by a white sheet, blemished with her blood.

She looked young, too young. Meredith noticed a small tattoo on her collarbone, half covered by the sheet.

It looked like a peace sign.

The fucking peace sign.

"What's her name?", she found herself asking, without reason, without thought.

"Elizabeth Greene."

"How old?"

"23, according to her ID.", she recognised the paramedic, he was sweet, had two young kids. "But we're pretty sure it's a fake one."

Meredith closed her eyes, Lexie sniffling slightly beside her.

She knew she should have moved on, that she was spending too much time on someone they'd already lost, there was nothing for her to do here yet, she couldn't seem to let go.

The wailing in her periphery brought her back. She couldn't do anything for Elizabeth but she could do still help, she had to, however hard it may be.

"Time of death..9:58.", the paramedics nodded as they moved away from her.

Meredith clenched her fists, fixing Lexie with a hard look, "Make yourself useful, Dr Grey."

She scrambled to the ER avoiding the hurt visible on her sister's face. And the concern.

Blood, that was the first thing she noticed. The ER was covered in blood, the red stains on the alabaster floor, splashed onto the cream walls where the patients were laid.

The dark red of the clothes discarded, cut off from people, from bodies.

"Grey! Need a neuro consult.", she propelled herself towards the voice as her eyes caught sight of a white shoe in the corner, soaked with blood.

A white-shoe so small it made her sick to her stomach.

Meredith entered the trauma room to meet the Chief as he stood over a frantic middle-aged woman.

"She seems to have a concussion, I'm pretty sure it's mild but I just need you to confirm it once."

Meredith moved towards the woman as she constantly tried to throw off the nurses.

"Ma'am, I'm Dr Grey, I just need to look over your head once."

"No. No. No. Not until I can see Marty, not until I know he's okay. I need..I need Marty..my Marty. He got shot. He got shot. A Thursday..a Thursday and he.."

"She's going to start hyperventilating, we need to put in a central line. ", Hunt yelled.

"Wait. What's her name?"

"Elaine.", the intern she recognised from the morning, replied., "Elaine Washington."

"Elaine. Elaine, look at me. Concentrate on my voice. Look..look at me.", Elaine continued her incoherent muttering.

"Elaine.", Meredith noticed the purple bruise forming on her dark skin as the woman finally met her eyes.

"I'm Meredith. Focus on my voice, Elaine. And keep your eyes on me.", she moved closer to the woman, gently coaxing her back as her breathing exacerbated. Elaine firmly grabbed her hand as Meredith guided her, their eyes glued together.

A few minutes later as Elaine's breathing normalised, Meredith began her neuro exam after asking for her permission to do so.

"She's good.", she declared, the room suddenly roaring back after the stillness that had surrounded them. The nurses moved around Elaine as Hunt prepared to take her in for surgery immediately. She hadn't been shot instead, in the panic, an aisle of sporting goods had fallen on top of her, practically crushing her, leading to multiple internal injuries that required immediate care.

"Hey, Elaine. Do you want to tell me about Marty?", Meredith asked noticing the panic building in her eyes as the staff bustled around her.

"Yeah. Yeah, Marty. Martin's my husband. He..he got shot.", her voice broke, a tear running down the side of her face.

"How did you two meet?", her eyes met the trauma surgeon's who bobbed his head at her.

"Um, we met in high school. 27 years ago."

"Wow, that's a long time."

"Yeah.", she huffed out a laugh, wincing in sync. "We were fourteen. Two of the eight Black kids in this rich private high school in New York.", Meredith encouraged her with a small smile as the trauma team continued their evaluations., "We were both there on scholarships and he was..the only person, in probably the entire world who understood me. Still is. Anyway, we dated through high school, ended up in different states for college. He went into the IT sector, the techie, the dork. I wanted to go to law school so when he got a job here in Seattle right after college, I moved here for law school. And well, now here we are 20 years and 2 kids later."

"Meredith, please, I just need to know that he's okay, that he's here. He's my husband. My best friend. I can't go into surgery if I don't see him first. Please."

"Elaine I-", Meredith looked at Owen, a plea in her eyes. He cocked his head towards the door, resignation in his eyes.

Meredith knew the possibilities, understood that there was reason to believe that Marty hadn't made it to the hospital alive or that, he was already in surgery or that he'd been taken to a different hospital.

But there was also the possibility that he was here, that he had made it, that he hadn't been taken into surgery just yet. And she needed to believe. She needed to believe that Elaine wouldn't lose her best friend today.

"I found him.", Shaun approached her, his hands on his knees as he heaved. "He's in trauma room 3 with Dr Shepherd."

Martin was here. Alive.

She took off in the direction of the trauma room, mouthing a thank-you to the intern. Upon arrival, she was met with Shepherd and his team working on a man lying prone on the gurney.

"This is Martin Washington?", she asked.

"Yes. What do you want?", Derek replied.

It seemed that he had been shot in the back, presumably the spine hence requiring the neurosurgical assistance.

"His wife wants to see him before she goes into surgery."

"There's no time.", a fourth-year interjected.

Meredith ignored him and continued staring at Derek.

Please, she seemed to say

Of course, he replied.

Sometimes she wondered how they could read each other so well. Was it the years they'd spent studying each other? Or was it something else entirely? Something beyond their comprehension?

Whatever it was, it was intimate. Almost like they were lovers.

She let go of her train of thought and instructed Ambers to get Elaine. The fourth-year knew enough not to question either of them.

"He's mostly out of it, though.", Derek whispered.

"That's okay. She just needs to see him."

She knew he understood, understood the need, the urgency.

For whatever reason, in that moment, Meredith Grey trusted Derek Shepherd.

"Marty! Marty, I'm here."

"He's unconscious right now, Elaine."

"Oh.", she deflated., "But he's going to be okay, right?", she looked at Meredith.

"There's a bullet in his spine, but we're going to get it out now, ma'am. He'll be fine, then.", Derek answered for her. Elaine reached for her husband, tears streaming down her face as she gently ran her fingers over his eyelids.

"He was asking for you.", Derek suddenly said., "When he first came in, he was disoriented but he kept asking for his 'Ellie'. "

"That's me. His Ellie.", she softly caressed her husband's cheek, pressing two of her fingers to her lips and then pressing them to his cheek. A remnant of a kiss.

"Please, take care of him. I need him alive. Please."

Derek nodded, gesturing for them to move so that they could take Martin to his OR. Elaine watched him go, her eyes fixed to the back of her husband's head until he disappeared in the crowd.

"That guy, he's good, right? Meredith?"

"Dr Shepherd is, one of the, if not the best residents the hospital has had in a long time, Elaine. Martin's in good hands."

"Off to my surgery then, I suppose. "

"Yes, we need to move as well.", Hunt replied.

"I'll see you after surgery then. Okay, Elaine?"

"Wait, what? Meredith won't be in my surgery?"

"Oh, I'm not a-"

"I could use the extra hands, Grey. Come on."

Relief washed over Elaine, Meredith too felt her breathing ease at the idea of seeing her through.

She would be fine, Meredith knew. They would fix her bleeding and she would go home to her kids.

It was Martin she was concerned about. He was already unconscious, he had been shot in his spine, he could lose sensations in his legs or might have already lost too much blood to make it.

But then she had meant it when she had reassured Elaine.

She did, believe in Derek.

And because of that, she knew Elaine did too.

It was a little after five in the evening when Meredith got out of her third surgery for the day. The day was finally coming to an end with most surgeries on the victims of the shooting done.

Before she had scrubbed in with Izzie on her patient, Martin was still in the OR so now, she made her way to the OR board for an update.

If his name was still on the board, something had gone wrong.

If his name wasn't on the board, either he had made it or he hadn't.

Meredith found herself praying to a God she didn't believe in, as she exited the elevator and strode towards the whiteboard.

Martin Washington had to survive. He had to.

Their children couldn't be orphans.

The universe wouldn't be that cruel, it couldn't be.

Two hours into their surgery, Elaine had coded twice and the second time around, they had failed to bring her back. Hunt had to physically remove Meredith from Elaine, it was too late, he had whispered.

The damage to her organs had been more extensive than they'd predicted, much more extensive. Meredith had been sure that Elaine would make it, from the way she had presented clinically. She had been alert, aware of her surroundings, in relatively less pain and yes, she had had internal bleeding but that would be repaired, they would repair it.

Until they hadn't been able to.

Until her body had given up.

It was Martin she had been concerned about but, it was Elaine they had lost.

As soon as she had come out of the surgery with Izzie, a nurse had informed that the Washington children were waiting for news in the clinic. They had arrived with an aunt.

Thirteen and Fifteen, that's how old the kids were. A boy and a girl. A son and a daughter. Motherless now.

She had walked over to the clinic to inform them but just as she'd laid her eyes on them, the boy, the younger one with his head on his sister's head, his hands fidgeting with the strap of his backpack, she had fled. Unable to tell them, to give them the worst news of their life.

She needed more answers first, more information.

Her eyes scanned the indistinct scribblings on the board, repeatedly checking to make sure she wouldn't miss it.

But Martin's name wasn't on it and neither was Shepherd's.

"Hey, do you know where I can find Dr Shepherd?", she asked the scrub nurse she'd seen around.

"I think he was on the second floor."

"Thank you."

That didn't narrow it down but she had a lead now.

They'd lost six people in the hospital premises since the morning. Six people from the shooting. Six who had somehow made it to the hospital. Meredith had been too terrified to watch the news, to find out the actual figures. The ones who had lost their fights on the way, in different hospitals, in different ambulances.

Elizabeth Greene, the nineteen-year-old college student from Oregon.

Samuel Adams, the father of a two-year-old and an infant on an emergency diaper run.

Susannah Hoffman, the eighty-one-year-old who had survived the holocaust.

Abigail Spencer, the pre-schooler with pigtails.

Ahmed Khan, the teenager who had skipped school to buy his girlfriend a birthday gift, just as he had done for her for the past two years.

And Elaine Washington, the lawyer and mother of two. Martin's Ellie.

Six people. The man had killed six people. Six families affected, destroyed.

Meredith wrapped her arms around herself tightly, spotting Derek leaning on a chair, his mind elsewhere.

Martin. She had to focus on Martin right now.

"Hey. Martin?", Meredith bit her lip, her voice breaking at his name.

"He made it.", she pressed the balls of her hands against her eyes forcefully at his words.

He had made it. Martin had survived. Their kids wouldn't be orphans.

"Elaine?", Derek mumbled, moving away from the chair to face her. She quietly shook her head at his words, afraid that actually saying the words would render her immobile.

"Damn it.", he yelled, jamming his palm into the arm of the chair, flinching imperceptibly at the impact.

They stood in silence for a moment, the light reflecting their wet eyes.

"I don't know..I don't know if he'll walk again." Derek looked at the ceiling, his body heavily depending on the chair as if the ground was suddenly too unstable to stand on.

"Is he awake?"

"Yeah, he woke up for a bit but then the meds took over."

"Did you do an exam?"

"No."

"Is he awake now?"

"I don't know."

Meredith waited for him to lead. When they'd reached his room, they were informed by the nurse that Martin was in fact, awake. He had woken up a few minutes ago and had asked for water and his doctors.

"Hey, Martin. I don't know if you remember me but I'm Dr Shepherd."

"I remember you, Doc."

Meredith stood to the side letting Derek deal with his patient. Martin looked paler, his eyes sunken, his body disappearing into the big white bed.

But alive, Martin was alive.

"I'm going to do a quick exam. Is that okay?" At the patient's consent, Derek moved to his feet. Meredith held her breath as Derek asked Martin to move his fingers, his feet, his legs and rejoiced when he flew through the exam.

Martin had all sensations in his legs, he would require extensive physical therapy to reach where he had been before but, for now, he could walk.

She shared a small, victorious smile with Derek almost ready to exit the room when Martin interrupted them.

"Hey, Doc?"

"Yes, Martin?"

"How's my Ellie?.", Meredith felt the pit in her stomach deepen, a pain moving through her. She watched Derek's face fall as the tears returned to her eyes.

"She's still in surgery.", she cut him off.

"Oh. Alright. And our kids?"

"They're here, they're waiting for you.", a grin appeared on his face, he sat a little straighter at her words.

"Can I see them?"

"I'll see what we can do."

Martin thanked them over and over again when they finally left, breaking Meredith's heart everytime, making her sick everytime.

"I..I shouldn't have done that.", she confessed to Derek as they made their way to the clinic.

"I lied to him."

He shook his head slowly, pushing his hands into his pockets, a frown on his face.

"No. No..you did the right thing.", he looked right at her, a deep pain emanating from him as he finished, "Just for a little while longer, just a little bit, today won't be the worst day of their lives."

She remained silent for the rest of their journey, going over his words. Soon she would be the person to give them the worst news of their lives, they would always remember that, remember her. Their world was about to fall apart and she had a part to play in it.

The abrupt onslaught of cacophonies indicated their arrival into the clinic. It had been turned into a makeshift waiting room with several family members waiting for news about their loved ones.

She spotted the two teenagers easily, this time the two were engaged in a conversation with an older woman, who Meredith assumed was the aunt, nervously tapping away on her phone.

Derek looked at her as if to say, shall we?

"Dr Grey! Dr Grey.", Shaun interrupted them, panting.

"Ambers, what's wrong?"

"The police said..the man..the man who shot..I think he might-"

"Shaun. Shaun, calm down. Take a breath first and then tell me.", he bent his body forward, refilling his lungs. The intern was a big guy with almost a foot on her with thick dark curls framing his face.

"The police came over.", he began and Derek angled his body towards him, listening keenly. "They had identified the shooter- Anthony Davenport-and cornered him at his home but he managed to escape again. But they shot at his leg."

"How the fuck did they lose him again?", Derek muttered, raking his fingers through his hair.

"I don't know, Dr Shepherd. The chief of police came over to give us his description and that soon the news channels will be flashing his picture so he can be caught."

"Okay, thanks for telling us but right now we-"

"No, Dr Grey. No, I think he's here."

"What?", she could feel her chest throbbing.

"Yeah. Behind that curtain.", he replied pointing towards bed two. "A guy came in with a bullet to his calf, a nurse called me to check him out. He..he matches the description perfectly. Long blond hair, around six feet, a blue backpack with him. I think he has changed but it's him. It has to be. I didn't know what to do so I-"

"No, no you did the right thing. Good job, Shaun."

"Did you call 911?"

"No.", he looked crestfallen as he answered Derek's question. She shared a look with him, they needed to figure out a way to get this man under arrest without alerting him first.

"Don't worry about it. You did good. He can't know that we know.", he added as an afterthought. They moved to the nurses' station to retrieve the phone.

"Shaun, go back to what you were doing, we'll call the police."

"What if he leaves? If we don't help him. What if he leaves?"

Derek stared at her, the phone in his hand.

"I can pretend to treat him. I am his doctor.", the intern said weakly.

"Shaun, no. Give us..give us a minute. We will figure something out without putting you in danger.", the colour seemed to return to his face yet the fear in his eyes persisted.

She pushed herself towards Derek, their bodies paralleled, she could almost feel his heart beating in sync with hers, the fear surrounding him matching hers.

"Okay, so let's call 911 and see what they have to say.", he started.

"Yeah, that seems best right-"

A sudden wail forced them to turn their head towards the source.

"Nobody come near me!", the man, Anthony, yelled, his arm wrapped around a woman's neck, the other pointing a gun at everyone around him.

"I will shoot her! Anyone comes near and I will shoot her!", he yelled hysterically. On a closer look at the woman, Meredith recognized her as Sarah, the woman whose husband she had worked on with Izzie. After hours under the knife, he had made it but now, his wife was facing the same man who had hurt him.

Her chest ached at the discovery.

Yet another family.

She couldn't let him destroy another family. She had to do something. Something.

But before she could even formulate a plan, she had been yanked down behind the station. Derek faced her, his hand clenched around her wrist, a frantic look in his eyes.

"Stay here, Meredith. We have to stay here.", she stared into his indigo eyes and wondered yet again, how they were so in-tuned with each others emotions, and intentions.

They never used first names, as a rule. It was too personal, too close, too intimate.

The clinic had suddenly gone silent with Sarah's whimpers and the man's periodic threats the only sounds around them but the only thing Meredith could focus on, the only thing anchoring her was Derek's breaths, his uneven breaths, her eyes fixed on the way his chest rose and fall.

They were both crouched down like so many others, behind a big gray desk, relatively safe from the violent man.

Unlike Sarah. Sarah who had almost lost her husband today.

Meredith gulped, meeting Derek's eyes, hoping he would understand what she was saying as she silently removed his hand from her wrist and upturned it, pressing her fingers to the underside of his wrist, the area baring his pulse, while the whole time her grey eyes held his blue ones.

She then, stood up and moved towards the gunman.

"Hey! What the fuck, lady!", his eyes held a fear she hadn't expected, his other arm twitching slightly as Meredith approached him with her hands in the air.

"Look, Anthony-"

"No! No! I will shoot her! If you come any closer, I will!"

"Anthony, listen to me please.", she halted, taking a look at the man with wispy light hair covering his face, his right calf stained red. She glanced at Sarah, her cheeks wet, a plea in her brown eyes.

"Her name's Sarah. The woman you're holding, her name is Sarah. Sarah Paulson. She has a husband, Ryan; they got married only six months ago and she found out a week ago that she's pregnant. Eight weeks, she's eight weeks pregnant.", She yearned against all odds that he would be a little apprehensive shooting a pregnant woman yet even as she thought of it, she knew that chances were that it wouldn't be enough. This man had killed a child, a father, a mother, a teenager.

But then maybe it was because to him, they hadn't been people, with real lives and families, maybe this time would be different.

"Evan, if it's a boy and Celia if it's a girl.", she gave him a second to absorb the details. She could feel Derek watching her, somehow she knew that he would be right behind her if had a chance to do so.

"Sarah deserves a second chance, Anthony. Her baby deserves one. Just like you. Just like you do. We all deserve second chances, Anthony."

Anthony closed his eyes and for a second Meredith was sure that he was going to shoot Sarah but instead, he loosened his grip on her until his hand rested atop her shoulder which he then used to push her. Push her away from him and onto the nearest bed. Meredith watched as she crawled over to the people behind the bed as an older woman embraced her.

Meredith from the corner of her eyes noticed Derek slyly crawling towards her and an unexpected fear gripped her.

She looked up into Anthony's blue eyes, a frazzled look in them with the gun pointed to her head now.

"Anthony, please put the gun down", she attempted gently, trying to squash the tremble in her voice.

"No. No."

"Anthony, you're..you're a good man, I know that. And you deserve a second chance. Just let me help you. Let me help you."

"No! You won't help me! You'll just give me to the police. I don't want to go to jail.", his voice quivered and in that moment he looked young, too young. Almost like a child.

He had clasped both his hands around the gun now, but Meredith could see his resolve faltering, could foresee him putting the gun down. Or maybe at least this would buy her some time before the police arrived. Or so she hoped.

Meredith readied herself to begin another round of their conversation when she noticed Shaun trudging towards the shooter, his hands arranged to manoeuvre the gun out of his hands.

Meredith felt herself mouth the word 'no' over and over again but Shaun had his eyes set on his target, ready to pounce on the man, to help her.

She closed her eyes when Shaun's hands grabbed Anthony's shoulders, resigned to what was about to happen.

A clear loud shot went off, the sound ringing in her ears as she fell to the ground, strong arms wrapped around her.

The first thing she noticed when Derek's body fell atop hers was the blood.

It was the same colour as Derek's ugly red backpack.

A/N: so there you go! A semi-cliffhanger but this chapter was too long so I had to split it into two. Don't worry i'll put the next part out soon.

Again, amazed by the reviews! Thank you all so much! They mean the world to mean and so so sorry for taking so long to update.

Tell me what you guys think of this, then. I love hearing from y'all!