A/N: First of all, you guys are absolutely amazing. Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed my last update; I appreciate it so much. I'm glad you all like the story and aren't too upset with me about what I did to Meredith. I was going to post this update on Sunday, because I try to leave three or four days between updates to preserve my banked chapters, but your reviews made me so happy that I decided to updat early :) Here is the aftermath of Halloween, I hope you all enjoy it and it is what you were hoping for. I wish you all a healthy and happy new year!

Chapter 18

"How's she doing?" Mark asked as he entered Meredith's hospital room. Derek turned around to face his best friend, too shaken up by what had happen to even try and wipe the tears from his eyes. It was six in the morning, and Meredith had been unconscious for over seven hours. He couldn't believe that she had been drugged, that her asshole of a lab partner was going to drug her and sleep with her, rape her, and worst of all, he couldn't believe that he wasn't there to prevent it. Yes, he swooped in at the last moment to stop him from actually having sex with his fiancée, with his Meredith, but he should have been there from the beginning to make sure he had never had a chance to slip something to her.

"What does it look like? She's still the same," Derek snapped. He was worried, no, terrified for Meredith. The rational part of his mind knew that sedatives and date rape drugs wore off eventually, but it wasn't helping now. She looked pale, her hair was a mess from the party and the assault and the paramedics moving her. And then there was the bruise. A huge black and blue bruise had formed on Meredith's right cheekbone and under her eye, and the sight almost made him sick. It was bad enough that Steve had drugged her, had kissed her and touched her, but he had hurt her. He had hit or punched Meredith, and she was hurt.

"Sorry man, I was just asking," Mark said, plopping down in the seat next to Derek.

"He hit her," Derek said softly, reaching for Meredith's hand and stoking the top of it with his thumb. "He drugged her, and she's so tiny. She wouldn't have been able to fight him off well or for a long time. He didn't need to hit her. He didn't need to hurt her like that." Derek's heart was breaking for Meredith. He had never felt more guilty or terrible about anything in his life. He should have protected her. She had needed him, and he had come too late.

"You better not be feeling guilty or responsible about this," Mark said suddenly, and Derek whipped around to glare at him.

"Why the hell wouldn't I?" Derek practically shouted. "She's my fiancée; I'm supposed to be there to protect her. I should have insisted that she wait for me to get out of work before we went to the party. I should have gotten out of work on time; I was fifteen minutes late because I wanted to talk to the family myself, and I should have made an intern do it. This wouldn't have happened if I had been more careful, if I had confronted Steve about the way he was treating her rather than just drag her out of the bar when I first met him! It is all my fault."

"Derek," Mark began gently but firmly. "You don't get to blame yourself for this. You've let Meredith go to plenty of parties on her own, and she's always been just fine. And even if you tried to insist that she wait for you to get out of work, do you really think she would have listened? Meredith does what she wants, and if she wanted to go to that party early, she would have convinced you that it was okay anyway. I know this doesn't help, and I want to beat the shit out of that kid for touching Meredith too, but you need to pull it together soon. She's going to wake up soon, and she's going to need you here to tell her that everything's okay. As much as she may not want to admit it, Meredith is going to need you to be her knight in shining armor, and you're going to have to deliver. So stop crying and put a smile on that ugly face of yours."

Derek let out a short laughed, his mouth twitching into a small smile. "I'll try," he said, turning his attention back to Meredith.

They sat there in silence for another hour, Derek holding Meredith's hand tightly and silently praying that she would wake up soon.

Suddenly, he felt her hand twitch in his. Derek's head shot up and he studied Meredith, trying to determine whether or not she was actually waking up. His eyes widened as he watched her shift on the bed, moving slowly.

"Mark," Derek said, yanking Mark from his dozing. Mark looked at Meredith, noticing the way her head moved and eyes fluttered, and stood up. "I'm gonna leave you two alone for a little while. I'll call Mom and the girls."

Derek nodded his acknowledgment, not taking his eyes off of his fiancée. He scooted closer to her in the chair, pressing a kiss on her forehead. "Mer, can you hear me? Wake up when you're ready, but I hope you'll be ready soon. I really need you to open your eyes. I love you."

XXXXXX

Everything around her was dark. She couldn't see or hear anything, all she could feel was her head pounding. Meredith was disoriented as she slowly regained consciousness, first realizing that she was awake, and then that she was in pain. Next she heard a voice. Derek, she thought. He was talking to someone, a man, Mark maybe. He should have protected something. Something was his fault; that was all she could get from the conversation, just snippets. She wanted to find out what was wrong, and why he felt guilty, but she was just so tired.

After an unknown amount of time, she felt less tired. She wanted to move. Putting in her best effort, she tried to squeeze the hand wrapped around hers. When she didn't get a response, she tried moving any part of her body, though it took more energy to attempt. It must have work, because Derek's voice cut through the darkness. "Mark," was all she heard, followed by mumbles. Meredith felt lips press against her forehead, and she knew they were Derek's. She listened to his voice as he pleaded with her to wake up. As her eyelids fluttered open, she slowly focused on Derek, moaning softly in recognition.

To be honest, he looked terrible. His hair was sticking up all over the place, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. His eyes were full of tears as he looked down at her, filled with hope and fear as he stared at her.

"Mer?" he said, almost asked, as if he wasn't sure she was really there, really awake.

Meredith cleared her throat in an attempt to speak. "Der," she whispered, squeezing his hand again, this time with more strength.

"Oh thank God!" Derek choked out, relief flooding his face as tears trailed down his cheeks. He leaned in to her, kissing her ever so softly on the lips before resting his forehead against hers. "You don't have to talk yet," he said. "I'm just glad you're awake. I love you."

She lay in bed for a while, simply staring at him before attempting to talk again. She hadn't really realized where she was right away, but as she slowly came to determine that she was in a hospital, she wanted to know how she got here. She couldn't remember it fully, just bits and pieces that felt like a nightmare, so she had to ask.

"Steve?" She whispered, unsure of what Derek would say. She watched his reaction; whatever color he had gained in his face since she woke up drained, and emotions flashed through his eyes; first anger, then guilt, sadness before they shifted back to emotionless. He squeezed her hand so hard it hurt, but then relaxed his grip when he realized what he was doing.

"Sorry," he mumbled, letting go of her hand. "What do you remember?"

Derek was avoiding, and Meredith knew it, but decided to play along, at least for a little while.

"Um, I was at the party with Sadie," Meredith began, concentrating on the memories floating around in her brain. "She was with me the whole night, but then Jack asked her to dance with him, so I told her to go ahead, that I would be fine. I knew you were coming soon anyways. So, I was standing by myself, and then Steve came up to me. He offered to get me something to drink, and we talked for a few minutes, but everything started getting all fuzzy and dizzy. I must not have looked well, so he took me to a bedroom off to the side. Then he kissed me." Crap, he kissed me, Meredith thought, looking at Derek with panicked eyes, knowing he was going to be livid. "I'm so sorry Derek, I swear I didn't kiss him, he kissed me. I promise that I would never do anything like that. I'm really sorry, and I feel terrible."

"Don't feel bad," Derek said, but his eyes and voice were emotionless. He did, however, take her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "What happened next?"

"I think I tried to get away. I told him no, and started to leave, but then," Meredith reached up and touched her cheekbone, wincing in pain. "I think he hit me, or punched me, because this hurts. And he grabbed me, and pushed me up against the wall and-" she had to stop, tears were filling her eyes and she had to take a moment to breathe. "He touched me," she choked out. "He was feeling me up, and he had my hands pinned above my head so I couldn't move. And then he was gone, he wasn't holding me down anymore. And then…then… ugh I don't know, everything just goes black after that. Do you know what happened?"

Derek stared at her, his face still void of all emotion. She began to get worried. Maybe he hadn't thought that Steve had kissed her unwillingly, that she had wanted it. He may be done with her, and might want to break up with her or something, and she couldn't help but freak out.

"Derek?" she whispered, her voice shaking as a machine behind her began to beep, indicating her rising heart rate. This seemed to wake Derek from his trance, and he immediately jumped into action.

"Mer," he said, moving to stand over her. He squeezed her hand tightly while running his free hand through her hair, making shushing and soothing sounds. He pressed his lips against her cheek, speaking into her cheek. "I'm here Meredith, and it's okay. I love you."

When she eventually calmed down, Derek stepped back slightly, staring at her as if his heart was breaking. He was silent for a moment before he inhaled deeply and began to speak.

"He drugged you," he began flatly. "He roofied you and was going to rape you. I got to the party and couldn't find you, so I tried calling you, but you didn't answer. I found Sadie, and we started searching. I looked everywhere, but I missed that damn bedroom the first time around, so it was the last room I checked. I came in as he was unbuttoning your pants. At first I thought that I had come just in time, and I was relieved. Angry as hell, but relieved. I thought you were okay, so I went to go beat the crap out of Steve, and I wasn't even thinking of you. It wasn't until you almost collapsed that I realized he drugged you." At this point, Derek was holding back tears, his words coming out choked as he tried to remain calm. "I thought he had just hit you to make you stop struggling, I didn't know he drugged you. God Mer, I'm so sorry, I should have paid attention to you first. I should have checked on you right away, and I shouldn't have let you go to that apartment without me."

Meredith studied Derek closely, and her heart broke a little bit for him. He was staring at her in desperation, guilt written clearly across his face. It was almost as if expected her to shout at him, to tell him to get out, to break up with him. She squeezed the hand that was still entangled in hers, and pulled his arm towards her weakly.

"What Mer?" Derek asked, worried.

"Get into bed with me," she said softly, giving him what she hoped was her best smile.

"I don't know Mer, you need to get better," he began, trying to pull his arm back. "You just woke up, and you're probably really tired and weak because of the drugs, so-"

"Derek, get into bed with me know," Meredith demanded, pulling his arm back towards her. "If you want me to feel better you will climb into this hospital bed and hold me because I can promise you that that is the only thing that will make any of this better."

"Mer-" Derek tried again, only to be cut off.

"Derek, I just woke up after being unconscious for I don't know how long. My face hurts because some creep punched me, and then tried to rape me, and now, I don't even know where that creep is, which scares me. I'm terrified Derek; I'm really, really scared, and the only thing that will make me feel any less scared and help me to relax is you." She looked up at him again, determined, but Derek didn't miss the hint of fear in her eyes. He knew she was really scared, and he had to make her feel safe. "Please Der," she begged softly. "I need this."

Derek wordlessly kicked off his shoes and climbed into the hospital bed, careful not to pull at any wires and tubes. Once he was lying flat on his back, Meredith shifted so that she was laying on her side, her head and torso lying on his chest as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Derek responded by wrapping one arm around her waist, holding her tightly to him. His other hand trailed up and down her back, tracing circles and patterns through the opening of her hospital gown.

"Thank you," Meredith whispered after a few minutes.

Derek bent down to kiss her forehead. "For what?" he asked.

"For saving me," she responded simply. "For finding me just in time, and protecting me, and catching me when I collapsed. But mostly, thank you for being here, and thank you for being you. You're my knight in shining…" her voice trailed off as she tried to think or the proper word.

"Armor?" Derek supplied an answer.

"Yeah, whatever. You're my knight in shining whatever and I love you."

"I love you too Mer, so much," he whispered, kissing her lips softly. "And for the record, I am your knight and shining whatever, and I always will be. You can count on me Meredith Grey."

Meredith smiled against his chest, cuddling closer into him. Though she was terrified of what she had gone through the night before, and was more scared that it might happen again, she couldn't help but feel perfectly safe in the arms of Derek Shepherd.