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Okay, so just in case you haven't already guessed...this story is about to take a kind of dark and twisty turn, so be forewarned!

"Hey," Meredith grinned as she entered the apartment a couple weeks later, kicking her shoes off and walking over to the couch where Derek lay, a textbook propped open on his chest.

"Hey," he replied, leaning up to kiss her. "How was the test?"

"I rocked it," Meredith giggled, moving towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. "I was the first one done, and I wasn't stuck on a single question."

"That's my girl," Derek laughed.

"So where are we going tonight?" Meredith asked.

"It's up to you, really," Derek sighed. "But honestly, Mer, I'm not feeling that well."

Meredith was at his side in a flash, her hand pressing against his forehead. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Did you throw up? Do you have a fever? Are your glands swollen? Mono's going around, I swear to God, if you gave me mono…"

"Meredith, calm down," Derek laughed. "I don't have mono, I had it in high school. And I'm fine, just a sore throat. We can still have date night, and just…eat ice cream or something."

"Are you sure you feel okay?" Meredith asked, chewing on her lower lip. "Cause now that you mention it, you look a little pale…"

"Meredith, I'm fine," Derek sighed, standing up and walking over to her. "You don't have to be so overprotective."

"I learned from my crazy husband," Meredith sighed as she leaned up to kiss him.

"Hmm," Derek sighed. "I'll go pick out a movie, how about you get dressed in your pjs and grab some ice cream? We'll have sundaes for dinner."

"Okay," Meredith giggled. She turned to walk up the stairs, quickly changing into a pair of Derek's boxer shorts and one of his sweatshirts. She thought for a moment before she ran a brush through her hair and rubbed some lotion over herself, knowing that even though she didn't have to wear fancy lingerie to make Derek want her, it was still nice to have a little bit going for her. She bounded back down the stairs, smiling as she saw Derek pulling the ice cream out of the fridge.

"You want the usual?" he asked.

"Yup," Meredith giggled as she walked to the table and picked up the mail. "But tell me when it's time for the chocolate sauce because you never put enough on."

Derek rolled his eyes as he began scooping the ice cream, listening as Meredith tore open a couple envelopes. "Anything good?" he asked.

"Bills," Meredith rolled her eyes. "And a letter from Addie."

"Good," Derek smiled, bringing the ice cream out of the kitchen. "Okay, here's…Mer? What's wrong?"

Meredith was staring down at a piece of paper, clutching it tightly in her hands as her face turned paler by the moment.

"Meredith," Derek breathed, setting the ice cream down on the table and gently prying the paper out of her hands. "Oh my god."

He was holding two pictures in his hand, both of which made his stomach churn. The first was of Meredith, clad only in a towel as she stood at the end of their bed, clothes thrown over the bed.

The second made him see red and want to throw up at the same time as he stared down at a picture of the two of them, wrapped in each other's embrace as they made love. He swallowed hard as he stared down at it, taking notice of the pure ecstasy on Meredith's face, which he was sure hadn't gone unnoticed by whatever creep had sent these pictures to them.

"Derek," Meredith breathed, reaching out to clutch his arm. "There's…someone's…"

Derek threw the pictures onto the table as he stormed over to the window, staring out at the surrounding buildings. "There's hundreds of apartments across the street," he said. "The roof…anyone with a halfway decent camera could zoom right in."

"What if…" Meredith's voice shook as she appeared behind him, not wanting to be separated from him right now. "What if someone knows how to get up to the balcony?"

Derek shook his head as he moved to the couch, pulling a blanket off of the back of it and hooking it over their empty curtain rod. "There's no fire escape on this building, Mer," he said softly, pulling her into his arms. "The only way onto the balcony is through the apartment, unless you scale the building."

Meredith felt tears come to her eyes as she clung to him tightly. "Someone's watching me," she whispered. "Us…someone's watching us, Derek."

"They're not going to anymore," Derek said firmly. "I'll put a blanket over the upstairs window too, and then first thing tomorrow morning we're going to buy the thickest curtains we can find to hang up there. And we're going to call the cops."

"Derek," Meredith sighed, pulling back to look into his eyes. "Don't you think that's a little much? What can they do? There's no return address on the envelope."

"They need to know," Derek insisted. "I'll tell the super too. Because if…they just need to know."

"In case something happens," Meredith said softly.

"Mer," Derek sighed, pulling her into his lap as he moved to sit on the couch. "This is your home. You need to feel safe here. I don't want you to feel like you can't walk around in a towel when you get out of the shower or be uncomfortable when we make love. There's a crazy person out there, and if the police know it, maybe they can catch him before anything bad happens."

Meredith breathed in deeply as she clung to his shirt. "Okay," she said softly. "Just… don't leave me alone here?"

"You don't have to be alone," Derek shook his head. "You can come to campus when I have classes or have Beth and Nathan over. I don't want you to be alone either."

"Okay," she whispered.

"Meredith," Derek breathed, squeezing her tightly. "I swear, I will never let anyone hurt you."

"Derek," she whimpered. "Can you just hold me? Not talk, just…hold me?"

"Of course," Derek whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he rocked her slowly, praying that all of this would just go away.

XXXXX

"Derek," Meredith shoved him gently the next morning, staring down at him. "Derek, you have to wake up."

"What's wrong?" Derek asked, sitting up quickly as he looked around the room, his eyes landing on Meredith. "Mer, what's wrong?"

"We have to go to the store," she said. "We need curtains. And I want to call a locksmith. We need a better lock for the door."

"Meredith," Derek groaned, his voice scratchy. "I know you're scared. But we're safe here. We have the blanket over the window and honestly…I feel like shit right now."

"Oh," Meredith said, biting her lower lip. "Do you want me to make you some tea or something?"

Derek smiled as he squeezed her hand. "I'd love that, Mer," he said softly.

"Okay," she whispered, leaning down to kiss him softly before she slid out of bed, making her way down the stairs. She felt a little stupid as she walked down the stairs with her back pinned against the wall, half expecting someone to jump out and aim a gun at her head.

"Get a grip, Mer," she muttered to herself as she made her way into the kitchen, brewing two cups of tea, adding extra honey to Derek's to sooth his throat. She walked carefully back up the stairs, frowning when she saw that Derek had passed out again. For as long as she'd known him, he'd only been sick once and he did tend to sleep whatever illnesses he had away.

"Derek," she whispered after making a quick trip to the bathroom for the thermometer. "Wake up."

"Mer, you're fine," Derek groaned. "There's no way anyone can see in here."

"I know that," she whispered, running her hand over his hair. "I need to take your temperature."

"I'm not sick," Derek said, his voice hoarse and scratchy.

"Do I have to call your mother?" Meredith threatened. "Because I'll do it."

"No you won't," Derek mumbled from under the pillow.

"Oh really?" Meredith asked, reaching over him to grab the phone. She'd dialed three numbers before the phone was pulled from her hands and her husband sat up, looking miserably at her. "Oh, Der," she whispered, running a hand through his hair. "Just let me take your temp, and then you can go back to sleep."

"Hmmm," Derek mumbled in response around the thermometer, frowning as it beeped. "One hundred and one," Meredith sighed. "Not bad, but you've definitely got something. Do you need to go to a doctor?"

"No," Derek shook his head. "Just you."

Meredith smiled as she helped him lay back down. "Only if you call me Dr. Shepherd," she whispered.

Derek laughed hoarsely, but before he could reply, the curtain rod fell from above the window, causing the blanket to fall with a loud thud. Meredith shrieked and moved closer to Derek, and he moaned as the sudden onset of daylight hit his eyes.

"Okay," Meredith said, taking a deep breath. "Derek, I have to get a curtain rod and curtains. We can't have some creepy stalker looking in at us all the time."

Derek groaned as he lifted himself up. "I'll go with you," he sighed.

"No," Meredith shook her head, pushing him back down. "You're sick. I can go. Do you want Beth and Nathan to come over to make sure…to keep you company?"

"I don't need a baby sitter," Derek sighed. "But maybe Nathan should go with you."

"Derek, I'll be fine," she sighed.

"Just…make sure no one's following you," he sighed. "And be careful."

"I'll be fine," she whispered, leaning down to kiss him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered. "Hurry back."

"I will," Meredith swallowed hard as she moved to her closet, dressing quickly and glancing at Derek one more time before she made her way down the stairs and out the door, making sure it locked securely behind her. She moved quickly down the hall, wanting to get the curtains and get back as fast as humanly possible before anything bad could happen.

XXXXX

Nathan walked slowly up the stairs after his early morning practice, his muscles groaning in protest with every move they made. Today was one of those days when he wondered why the hell he had decided to be a basketball player instead of going into journalism like his parents had told him to. He shook his head, hating the fact that he knew his parents were right, yet again. He hated when that happened.

As he stepped into the hallway where his apartment was, he frowned when he saw an unfamiliar man stepping out of Derek and Meredith's apartment. He glanced back at the stairs for a moment before stepping towards the man.

"Hi," he said cautiously. "Do you mind if I ask what you're doing in the Shepherds' apartment?"

The man smiled warmly. "They're out of town this weekend," he said. "I'm just a friend, they asked me to stop by and make sure everything was okay."

"Oh," Nathan said with a nod. "Okay, I didn't realize that they weren't here this weekend. Thanks for making sure everything is under control."

The man nodded at him before he walked quickly towards the stairs. Nathan frowned slightly as he turned back to his apartment, shaking his head as he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"Hey," Beth called from the couch. "How was practice?"

"Long," Nathan groaned. "Hey, did you know Meredith and Derek were gone this weekend?"

Beth frowned. "No," she said. "I would have thought they would have said something."

"I just saw some guy coming out of their apartment, and he said he was watching their apartment while they're gone."

Beth shrugged. "Maybe they had to go home at the last minute or something," she sighed. "And they didn't have time to tell us."

"I guess," Nathan sighed. "Do you know if we got the refund check from the credit card company yet?"

"I'll go check," Beth replied, leaning forward to kiss him quickly before she stood and made her way towards the door. She stepped into the hall and frowned when she saw Meredith struggling up the stairs, two curtain rods and several shopping bags dragging behind her.

"Meredith," she gasped, running to help her.

"Thanks," Meredith breathed as Beth took a couple bags and one of the curtain rods from her.

"What are you doing here?" Beth asked as they stopped outside Meredith's apartment.

Meredith frowned as she dug through her bag through her keys. "I live here," she said.

"I know that," Beth rolled her eyes. "But you were supposed to be away this weekend."

"What?" Meredith asked, looking up at her.

"Nathan said he just saw someone coming out of your apartment because you asked him to watch it," Beth replied.

"Beth, we were never going away this weekend," Meredith said. "The only person in the apartment…..Derek!"

She dropped all her bags on the floor and unlocked the door with shaky hands, pushing it open and rushing for the stairs. "Derek!" she shouted as she entered their bedroom, her eyes widening at the sight before her. "Derek!" she screamed.