Meredith ran down the stairs of her apartment building and out into the streets of the city. It wasn't a bad place, but there was always something weird about empty streets at night and early morning. Besides, if anyone tried anything stupid, she always carried mace, her cell phone, and a pocket knife.

She had quite a walk ahead of her and frankly she didn't feel like driving. There was something refreshing about being out of the house and in the night air. It almost reminded her of Fell's Church. When they were younger, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline and herself used to play ghost in the graveyard at night. There was just something about being out in the night that made her feel like she was home.

She made herself aware of the environment as she followed the sidewalk. His place was only two blocks down from Edison Street. She walked one more block and crossed the street. At the corner, she could see his building. Meredith had never been to his place before and she could bet that besides Stefan, no one else had been there. . It was about six stories tall, with huge tinted windows that overlooked the city. The building was modern, dark and looked like the perfect place for a vampire to live…a rich vampire to live She could tell from the security system that the building wasn't cheap.

With her right hand on the rail, she walked up the front stoop of the building. Meredith scanned the well-lit panel for a list of names of the residents. There weren't any. It seemed that the people who lived there wanted to live in secrecy. She pressed the red button in the center to be let in. It was followed with a beep and a man's voice.

"Yes, can I help you," the man asked politely.

"Could I speak to Mr. Salvatore, please," Meredith replied.

"One moment," he said, followed by a pause.

She continued to stand facing the large door while the request was being forwarded up to his room. Then she heard someone behind her. She quickly turned around and found no one there. But then she heard someone again, laughing or joking about something and this time it was next to her. Mere turned towards the sound to find no one once again. She again to look at the place she had first heard the sound, ready to fight if it was someone who meant harm. Then she felt hands on her back shove her hard and her bodied careened out of control. With her hands prepared to brace the fall, she found herself falling face first down a flight of stairs. Then, as soon as it had begun, it was over and she was lying on back on the hard sidewalk. She couldn't think of where she had been hit during her plummet, but her hands went instinctively for her stomach.

"Mr. Salvatore, I think something happened outside! I was watching on the security cameras and she just fell down the stairs!"

"Call for an ambulance," he yelled.

Mere could here footsteps pounding down the stairs closer to her. She felt hands on her head, trying to get her to look at whoever was holding her.

"Mere…can you hear me? Can you look at me?"

She lolled her head to the side and looked up to see Damon with concern.

'Yes, I can hear you,' she thought but was unable to say.

'Just don't move, ok,' he said telepathically.

He took off his jacket and put it over her and watched her carefully until the sirens of the ambulance were close. Then Meredith went unconscious.

"She took quite a nasty fall," the doctor told the group. Damon had called Stefan once he reached the hospital…who told Elena, who told Bonnie, and so on. So, it turned out they were all there.

"What about the baby," Elena asked.

"The baby is fine. She's lucky though. If she wouldn't have braced herself at all, then she would have lost the baby for sure."

Damon pulled Stefan to the side. In his hands was a video tape marked 'June 21 2003.'

"I want you to have a look at this. There's a VCR and television in the lounge. Just take a look and see what you think. I'm going to go in and check on Mere."

Stefan nodded and walked towards the waiting room as Damon moved quietly passed the hospital staff to Meredith's room. She was comfortably lying in the bed, arm rails up, with an I.V. attached to her arm. There were also monitors attached to her stomach to watch how her child was handling the trauma.

Damon brought a chair to the side of the bed and sat down. He put a hand on her leg and just watched her. Her body had several bruises and there was a gash on her face from the fall. Then, she opened her eyes.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey, Mere."

She looked around the room in a daze and looked back at Damon.

"Where am I," she asked.

"You're in the hospital," he said. "You were in an accident. You fell down the stairs of my apartment."

He could tell that Meredith was trying to figure out what had happened, replaying the events in her head.

"I tried to catch myself, but I couldn't. I didn't fall on my own, something pushed me," she said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Damon. There was…someone else there. I felt something and heard a laugh. I was turning to find out what was going on, and then I felt someone push me. Don't you believe me," she asked.

"I do. You're right, you were pushed by…something. It showed up on the surveillance video tape. You can clearly see that you were pushed, but there was nothing behind you," Damon said matter-of-factly.

"Nothing? Then what the hell was it?"

Damon shrugged as he leaned back in the chair and rested his feet on her bed. She looked at him jokingly and pushed his feet off.

"Don't mess up the merchandise, Damon."

She raised her arms towards him for a hug. He looked at her reluctantly and leaned into her, his arms wrapping around her form.

"Why were coming to my place that early in the morning anyway," he asked.

"I came to say…" But she couldn't say it, just like he couldn't say it. Then again, there was no need. Holding each other close, they knew that anything hurtful had been put to rest.

"You're free to go," the doctor informed Meredith. Meredith sat down in the wheel chair. Elena took the helm.

"Thanks, Doc. I'll call you if anything else happens."

Elena started to push her down the hall towards the exit. The automatic doors opened and Stefan was waiting at the car with the door open. Elena and Stefan helped her in the passenger seat. Elena tried to belt her in, but Mere slapped her hand away, and did it herself.

"Gee, Elena, I'm not crippled. I can do it myself."

"Do you want to be," Elena asked, jokingly punching her friend in the arm.

When they were all buckled up, Stefan drove the group towards his house in the suburbs. Elena helped Meredith move into the house and into a comfortable chair while Stefan grabbed some stuff from the trunk. Once everyone was settled, Stefan called Damon, who came right over to his brother's house. The party sat in the living room together discussing the events that had occurred some days before.

"Alright, Mere, I want you to watch this video," he said as he placed the video cassette in the VCR.

The girls watched the surveillance tape in horror. Stefan and Damon had watched that tape over and over trying to figure out how it happened. She had either really lost her equilibrium or she was pushed; they couldn't come to any other conclusion.

"She looks like she was pushed," Elena said.

"I told you guys," Mere jumped in, "I felt something push me. I didn't lose my balance. I have great balance!"

Elena shook her head in agreement.

"She's right; the rest of us used to fall all over our own feet when we were kids, but Mere had the balance of a gymnast. Plus, her belly's not that big where she would have fallen over."

Stefan rewound the tape and turned up the volume.

"Listen carefully this time."

Elena and Meredith closed their eyes and listened. Right before Meredith was pushed, you could her someone laughing.

"That's it," Mere yelled. "That's what I heard! Someone was…giggling. I turned to see where it came from and there was no one there!"

Damon was focused.

"Do you think you were followed that night," he asked.

"I don't think so," she said, trying to remember that night. "The streets were pretty empty, but I was always aware when someone else was around."

Stefan and Damon looked at each other and the girls knew they were talking using telepathy. Elena rolled her eyes and started talking to Meredith.

"Do you feel any better?"

"I feel…Ok. As long as I'm physically ok, I don't care about the emotional stuff right now."

"Do you want to stay with us for a while?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I would really feel more comfortable at home."

The girls hadn't realized but the brothers had stopped 'talking' and were listening to their conversation.

"Meredith," Stefan said, "I would feel better if you stayed here. That way, I could keep an eye on you."

"Listen Stefan, I really want to go home. All of my stuff is there and, well, it's my home."

Stefan opened his mouth to disagree, but Damon jumped in.

"I think she should go home. It will be more comfortable for her right now. Plus, we can still watch her. All of us should take turns going over there and watching her."

"I'll call Bonnie and Gena to see if they want to help," Elena added.

"That sounds like a good idea," Stefan said. "Damon, I think we should go and follow her route to your place and see if there is anything suspicious."

Damon stood up and was already moving towards the door. The boys left the cozy living room with Elena and Meredith still sitting. Elena reached over and rubbed Meredith's arm.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"You know, Elena, you're going to drive me nuts! But, I am a little hungry. That hospital food was gross."

"Well, you wait right here and I'll make you something to eat."

While Elena was making her friend a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she picked up the phone and called Gena.