So I know Chapter 6 was kind of boring, but it has a purpose so I had to post it! Hope you guys like this one!


Chapter 7: Save Me

And none of these
thoughts are real
So why is it that I feel
So cut up and so bad
I need to take control
Cause my mind is on a roll
And it isn't listening to me

Derek slowly opened his eyes, searching for the source of his disturbance. As he took the dark room in, he remembered where he was and quickly took in the sound of Meredith's sobs. He sat up abruptly and walked over to her bed where she was lying on her side, facing the wall.

He kneeled next to her, not sure if she'd ever taken notice of his presence. Hoping to not scare her, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. She froze instantly and Derek moved his hand away. "You okay?" he asked quietly, knowing the answer without a response.

She took a few deep breaths and wiped her eyes without looking back at Derek. She was waiting for him to move, to leave, to just do something. But he didn't. He stayed in his place, his hand hovering close to her, afraid to touch her again.

Derek didn't know what to do. He'd never taken care of someone who looked so miserable before. Of course he was a Doctor who treated some of the worst medical cases possible, but this wasn't something he could fix with a scalpel. He didn't have a plan as to what he was doing. He was out of his comfort zone, but he knew for a fact that she was so much farther from her own.

Before Derek could make another attempt to get her to talk, she sat up on the bed. He looked at her, seeing the tears smeared on her delicate face. She avoided his eyes as long as she could. When he finally caught her gaze, she forced herself to stand up and move over to the table.

She grabbed her lab coat and placed it on before dropping the cell phone in her pocket. Derek stood up and walked over to her, "We should talk about what happened."

She looked up at him for a moment and could easily tell that he wasn't used to reaching out to people like this, but she wasn't used to people reaching out to her either. She shook her head as she headed to the door, "No, I'm fine. We don't need to talk about this. No one needs to."

She stopped at the door and looked at him, as if she asking him to promise her. He wasn't sure what to do. He'd never planned on going to the Chief; it wasn't his place to begin with, but he had been planning on finding the source of her reaction. That look in her eye made him certain that she never wanted to speak of this day again: regardless of the circumstances.

Derek just sighed and nodded, giving into her. She didn't give him a grateful look, just one of relief. Without another word she turned around and left Derek alone.


Meredith walked through her door and dropped her things absently on the nearby table. She slugged into the kitchen and found a glass. She cleaned it off for about ten minutes, seriously having doubts about the sanitary level in the kitchen. She turned the sink on, happily finding crystal clear water. She filled the glass and took it back out into the foyer. She grabbed her purse and headed into the living room, crashing on the couch.

She pulled her purse open first without even looking it, making this seem like a ritual for her, despite her new surroundings. She pulled out the pill bottle and popped the cap, dropping two in her hand. She stared at them for a moment, as if they were foreign objects. For an onlooker, it would have seemed impossible for her to have had been the best neurosurgeon on the east coast. In fact, they'd probably doubt she'd gone through college.

Dismissing her traveling thoughts, she dropped them in her mouth and swallowed the glass of water, attempting to wash away their bitter taste. She sat back in the couch for a moment, analyzing her day. She still didn't completely understand why he'd been there when she woke up. At first she'd figured he had just wanted somewhere to sleep, but the way he acted led her believe otherwise. He wasn't acting like her colleague or her competition. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

Her hand ventured back into her purse, pulling out her cell phone. She scrolled through the address book, looking at random numbers. She went through them all and then did it again in reverse order. No matter how many times she went through it, the same number always made her want to stop and hit send.

After passing it seven times, she finally stopped at it. She looked at it for a moment. The simple word meant so many things to different people and in this situation it was slightly ironic. Home at one point in time had been the apartment that that number belonged to, but somehow, that had changed at some point in the last year. She didn't know how it happened, but she did know that Seattle wasn't her home either.

She dropped the phone next to her purse on the cushion, her eyes still glued to it. A huge part of her was screaming at her to just call and get it over with, but another part was telling her to stick to her promise. She had to be loyal to it for herself if not anyone else. She just had to and at this point in time, she hadn't fulfilled her part of the promise.

Knowing the effects of the pills, she placed the glass on the wooden table and lazily made her way upstairs. She passed the two rooms that she's swore she'd never again step foot into and found the guest room. She didn't even bother changing; instead she just collapsed against the soft mattress, trying to not think about the emptiness of it all.