Chapter 11

Derek catches sight of Meredith's beautiful hair blowing in the warm breeze. The sun captures her face making it glow. She brings her hand up and sweeps a loose strand of hair from his face. Her touch is soft and gentle. He wraps his hands around her waist, enveloping her in a hug. He kisses her gently on the lips before slowly and gently kissing her neck. When she giggles, he begins to kiss her neck more passionately.

Suddenly, Meredith's giggles turn into screams. With his heart racing, Derek pulls back and releases his grip on Meredith. She is gasping for air and she begins to fall to the ground. Derek lunges to catch Meredith in mid-fall but he is held back by something unseen. He struggles against whatever it is that is pushing him from her but to no avail. By now, Meredith is staring at him, begging for his help. Her breathing becomes so shallow that her eyes close and she stops her desperate pleas for help.

Derek is in the air, watching his wife die. The invisible force still pulls him slowly away from Meredith. He turns around to fight whatever has him but he is only punching air. He turns his attention back to Meredith when he sees Scott hovering above Meredith's body with a knife in his hand. Derek screams as Scott drives the knife in Meredith's chest.

xoxo

Derek startles awake in a cold sweat. He shoots up into the sitting position, trying to catch his breath. His dream was so real that his is shaking. Sadness envelops him as he realizes that his dream is not that much different from reality. Tears begin to sting the back of his eyeballs but he refuses to let them escape.

"You're awake," Bailey says as she enters the room. She has his chart in his hand but does not bother to look at it. "Good news," she says, "you can go home."

Derek stares down at his cast and looks at Bailey. "I just had a nightmare about Meredith. She was dying right in front of me and I couldn't stop it."

Bailey sighs. "We all miss her. We all have been doing everything we can. Yang has been talking to Terry and Robins and Torres have been looking after Zola."

Derek smiles a sad smile. "Thanks."

After Bailey leaves the room, Derek quickly gathers himself and scurries out of the hospital room, vowing to only be in there when he is the doctor attending to the patient. He meets Cristina and Callie in the hallway. Callie hands Zola off to him. Derek gladly accepts the baby and kisses her on the forehead. He runs his broken hand, still enveloped in a cast, along Zola's back. "Have you been behaving yourself?" he asks, not expecting an answer.

His answer comes from Callie. "She cries a lot." She pauses. "She misses Meredith."

Derek looks to his feet. He pulls Zola tighter to his body. "I know. I miss her too," he says with a sad voice and sad eyes to match. His gaze lands on the two women standing before him. "We're going to find her."

The first thing that Derek does when he gets home is call Terry. Terry came to visit him a few times while he was in the hospital to ask him questions. Derek has racked his brain 24/7 to think of anything that Scott may have said that would tell him where Meredith is. But there's nothing. It's like his brain is clogged.

Zola begins to wail from her crib upstairs. That nap didn't last long, Derek thinks as he climbs the stairs to the second floor. He scoops the baby in his arms and presses her against his chest. When Meredith does this, the sound of her heart calms her down and she drifts to sleep. But for Derek, the baby continues to wail. Zola has already been fed and changed and there seems to be nothing that can quiet her down except for Meredith.

After almost an hour, Derek finally calms Zola down enough so that he can safely put her in the crib without any further whimpering. Immediately afterwards he goes into the kitchen for something to eat. His appetite has not been great lately but he needs to eat something anyway. He grabs some leftover Chinese food that he and Meredith enjoyed before she was kidnapped. He leans against the counter as he takes a big forkful of chicken chow mien and raises it to his lips. Before the food has a chance to pass Derek's mouth he stops. He immediately drops the fork and runs to the trashcan. He lifts the roses that Meredith got from Scott a few weeks prior. Nobody has taken the trash out because of all of the things that have been happening with Scott. He silently thanks God and plucks the card from the roses. He stares at the address. The address of the flower boutique listed on the card is not local. The flower boutique is located in the Cascade Mountains. Thinking of a possible long shot, Derek grabs his phone and calls Terry anyway.

"Powers."

"Hey, this is Derek. A few weeks ago, Scott sent Meredith flowers and I just looked at the card and the flower shop is in the Cascade Mountains. Does Scott have any property up there?"

Terry thinks for a moment. "No, he doesn't. His mother died when he was young and he has no contact with his father. He has lived in Seattle all his life. As far as I know, he's never even been to the Cascade Mountains."

Derek sighs.

"Give me the address on the card. I'll look into it."

xoxo

Meredith vigorously scrubs her body from head to toe. The combination of the hot water and pressure from her loofah causes Meredith's skin to sting. The various cuts on her body also stings but she welcomes it. It's the first time she has really felt anything since Scott took her.

She turns off the shower and steps out of the tub, wrapping a towel around her body. She exits the bathroom to a bedroom where she finds clothes that Scot laid out on the bed. It is a light blue dress. It buttons in the front and ties in the back. She slips the dress on to find that it is too big for her. The dress stops just below her knees. She emerges from the room with wet hair and red skin from the hot water. She looks around and sees Scott in the kitchen cooking. She stops at the doorway.

Scott glances over his shoulder and returns his attention back to his food. "Tonight I'm making something extra special for our engagement," he says. He motions for Meredith to sit at the dining table. Meredith slowly makes her way to the table and sits down. Scott has set the table with hand painted china. A dozen red roses rest in the middle of the table. He brings to the table two plates of fillet mignon with mashed potatoes, and broccoli. He turns around and grabs the gravy to place on the table. While sitting next to Meredith he says, "be careful. The gravy is hot." He begins to pour gravy on his mashed potatoes and a little on his steak. He methodically cuts a perfect square piece from his steak and takes a bit. He closes his eyes as the steak rolls around in his mouth. "Hmm… Hmm… this is delicious." He opens his eyes and sees Meredith staring at him. She has not touched the food. "What's the matter with you? You sick or something? Eat! This is our special dinner."

Meredith jumps at the sound of Scott's booming voice. She looks at the steaming bowl of gravy. Then she glances at the kitchen counter on the far side of her to find Scott's car keys resting. Meredith takes a deep breath and quickly grabs the bowl of gravy. She throws the gravy and the bowl in Scott's face.

Scott leaps from his chair screaming. He desperately tries to get the burning liquid off of his face.

Meredith races for the car keys. She grabs them and lunges for the door. When she gets outside, the cold nips at her body. But the only thing on her mind is getting to the truck. She finds it very difficult to run through snow. Although the driveway and sidewalk leading to the door has been shoveled, ice has accumulated and she slips. She lands hard on her tailbone and it shoots a sharp pain throughout her body. She screams in pain and glances towards the cabin. She sees Scott emerging from the cabin, looking angrier than ever. While Meredith is closer to the car than Scott is to Meredith, she leaps off the ground and runs as fast as she can to the car. The driver's side door opens easily and Meredith jumps in the car. When Meredith places the keys in the ignition, she hears Scott yelling at her to stop. She jolts her head to her left and sees Scott standing next to the car with a gun pointed directly at her. Meredith's heart beats even faster as she stares down the barrel of a gun. She throws her hands in the air and abandons the keys in the ignition.

"Get out of the car!" Scott orders.

Shaking not only from the cold but also in fear, Meredith slowly opens the door and gets out. Scott violently grabs her upper arm and stomps towards the woods, not the cabin. Meredith repeatedly loses her balance and falls to her knees but Scott keeps going, dragging her.

Snow and ice collect in Meredith's shoes and splash up her dress.

"I've tried to be nice," Scott rages, "but you just leave me choice."

As Scott drags Meredith through the snow, deeper into the woods, they uncover rocks and sticks buried under the snow that easily scratch Meredith's bare and cold legs. Some wounds begin to bleed and others just fester.

Meredith tries with all her strength to break away from Scott's grip. She knows what is coming next. She begins to scream for help.

Scott lets out a bellow. "Nobody can hear you," he says firmly. He throws Meredith on the ground and points the gun at her.

Meredith begins to cry. She gets on her hands and knees and crawls towards Scott. "Please," she begs, "If you love me you'll…"

"If I love you, what?! If I love you I won't kill you!" Scott tightens his grip around the gun. He begins to laugh. It's the kind of laugh that comes from the throat giving it an eerie and devilish sound.

Meredith stops and backs up. She sits in the snow with her knees to her chest, resigning herself to die. She closes her eyes and braces for the shot that will end her life.