Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 !-- /* Style Definitions */ , , {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.2in 1.0in 1.2in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} 1 {page:Section1;} --

"Derek," Meredith repeated his name over and over as she ran to the bed, shaking him violently. "Derek, you have to wake up right now."

Derek groaned as he looked up at her, squinting slightly. "Mer…what's wrong?" he asked hoarsely.

"Derek," she breathed in relief, holding him close to her. "Oh, thank God. You're okay? You're not hurt?"

"Hurt?" Derek asked. "Meredith, what…" His eyes widened as he looked around the room, swallowing hard as he looked at the window that was now covered in pictures of Meredith. Meredith getting dressed, Meredith making coffee, Meredith walking to class, studying…almost every minute of every day was documented on their window, and Derek turned to look at Meredith with wide eyes. "What happened?"

"He was here," Meredith whispered, her entire body shaking as he clutched him tightly. "Derek, he was here while you were sleeping. He could have hurt you, and…we have to do something."

Derek pushed himself out of bed, ignoring his pounding head as he started tearing the pictures down. "We have to get rid of them," he said, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Derek," Meredith said softly, moving quickly to grab his hands and preventing him from tearing down any more pictures. "We have to call the cops. They need to see them just how they were put up."

"Meredith you want people to see this?" Derek asked, holding up a picture of her as she stepped out of the shower, completely naked as she started to wrap a towel around herself.

Meredith felt her blood run cold as she looked at the picture, tears building in her eyes. "Derek," she whispered. "Derek, I'm scared."

Derek sighed as he let the picture fall to the floor as he pulled her close to him, wanting to protect her with everything he had in him. "Mer, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he whispered. "I promise."

"Derek," she whispered, clutching her tightly. "Derek…"

"Oh Mer," he whispered, crushing her against his chest. "Let's go downstairs."

Meredith sniffled as she nodded against his chest, remaining close to him as they walked down the stairs. Derek sighed as he saw Beth and Nathan standing in the front hall their faces creased with worry.

"Are you okay?" Beth asked Derek, rushing over to the two of them.

"I'm fine," Derek sighed, rubbing Meredith's back slowly. "A little shaken, but fine." He looked down at Meredith for a moment and whispered, "I'm going to call the cops now, okay, Mer?"

"I'll go with you," Meredith whimpered."

Derek sighed as he made his way to the phone, an arm still wrapped securely around Meredith's waist. He spoke gently into the phone for a few moments before he hung up and gently walked Meredith into the living room, pulling her onto his lap as he settled into the armchair.

"What the hell is going on?" Nathan asked as he and Beth sat down as well.

Derek sighed. "Someone's watching Mer," he said.

"Watching?" Beth asked.

"We found pictures in our mail yesterday," Meredith whispered. "Of me and us, just being…us. And now….while Derek was sleeping, he came in and completely covered our picture window with pictures of me. They were here while he was sleeping and he didn't wake up. Derek always wakes up."

"Oh my God," Beth breathed. "It's a good thing you've called the cops. They should know how to handle this."

"I hope so," Meredith whispered. "I can't deal with this right now."

Derek hugged her tighter and pressed his lips against her temple. "We'll figure it out, Mer," he whispered.

Before she could say anything, the buzzer rang and Derek stood to answer it, running a hand through his hair. "NYPD, we received an emergency call."

"Yeah, come on up," Derek said as he buzzed them through. He waited by the door and opened it as soon as there was a knock, gesturing for them to step inside.

"Derek Shepherd?" the first cop asked.

"That's me," Derek said.

"I'm Detective Geer, this is my partner Detective White," he explained. "You mentioned someone following your wife?"

"Yes," Derek nodded, reaching an arm out to Meredith as she came to stand next to him.

"We're going to need all the details," Detective White informed them.

"Have a seat," Meredith sighed, gesturing to the table. "We found out yesterday. There were pictures mailed to us, and we were freaked out, but we figured we could just buy thick curtains and keep them closed, and that would be it. This morning, I didn't want to wait, so I went to the store, even though Derek was sick and he didn't feel like going. When I got back, our neighbor Beth said that her husband had seen someone coming out of our apartment, saying that he was watching it while we were away. So I ran in and Derek was still sleeping and I thought…" her voice trailed off into a sob as she leaned into Derek, reliving those horrible few moment where she had thought her husband was injured."

"I didn't hear a thing," Derek said, squeezing Meredith tightly. "But apparently…someone came in and completely covered the picture window in our bedroom with pictures of Meredith."

"Alright," Detective White sighed. "I'm assuming you're the neighbors?" he asked, looking at Nathan and Beth.

"Yes," Nathan nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to need you to speak with Detective Geer, while I go see what we've got upstairs."

"Of course," Beth whispered.

"It's this way," Derek murmured, leading Meredith and Detective White to the stairs.

The detective sighed as he looked at the wall of photos before him. "This isn't good," he sighed. "Someone definitely has been watching you, Mrs. Shepherd. I'll dust for some finger prints and run it through the system, see what I can come up with."

"They don't…we don't have to leave them there do we?" Meredith asked.

"No, we'll bring them with us when we're through," Detective White sighed. "They look like they're all taken from the same angle, so we should be able to figure out where they've been taken from. We'll monitor your building and the ones across the street, make sure there's no strange behavior. In the meantime, get those curtains up, make sure your door has a secure lock, and keep an eye out while walking through the city. We'll keep you posted on anything we find."

"That's it?" Derek asked. "You're not going to find him?"

"Mr. Shepherd, we can't bring everyone with access to the buildings across the street in for questioning," Detective White said firmly. "We're going to run the fingerprints through the system, and monitor both buildings. There's not much else we can do."

"The hell there isn't," Derek snapped. "My wife is in danger, and all you're going to do is sit around and watch for some psycho that's out there? I want her to have twenty four hour police protection."

"Derek," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry Detective, my husband can be a little unreasonable at times. Thank you for your help."

Detective White nodded. "It's my job," he said.

"Let's go back downstairs," Meredith murmured, tugging on Derek's hand.

"There has to be more that they can do," Derek sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You know there are procedures they have to follow," she replied softly. "They're going to watch our building and we'll make sure everything is safe."

"How the hell did he even get in?" Derek asked, moving towards the front door.

"Probably picked the lock," Detective Geer cut in. "It's not very strong. I'd replace it, and get a couple more as well."

"We'll do that," Derek nodded.

"We'll alert the super of what's going on," Detective Geer continued. "Security in the building will likely intensify, but I'm sure you're okay with that."

"Of course," Meredith said as she watched Detective White come down the stairs, a plastic bag in his hands.

"Alright, I've got some prints, and the photos are gone," he said. "We'll make sure to keep you updated with any new developments. We've got a description of the man leaving your apartment, and we'll cross reference that will any fingerprint results."

"Thank you detectives," Meredith murmured as she showed them out the door, closing it and locking it immediately.

"Do you want us to do anything?" Beth asked softly from where she and Nathan still sat at the kitchen table.

Meredith smiled softly. "Thanks, but there's not a lot you can do," she said.

"Well, we'll make sure neither of you are ever alone here," Nathan said firmly. "And if you're ever to spooked to be here, our place is always open to you."

"Thanks," Derek said. He took a deep breath before he said, "Let's put those curtains up."

Meredith frowned as she looked up at him. "You're still sick, Der," she whispered. "Rest, I'll take care of them."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Meredith giggled. "Positive," she said. "I think we've established since the first time we met that I'm better at hanging curtains than you are."

"Shut up," Derek said, but was relieve to hear her giggle. He prayed that this whole thing would blow over soon and they could return to a normal life.

"We'll help," Beth nodded. "Derek, you go rest."

Derek laughed as he moved towards the couch. "Alright, I know better than to ignore a woman when she uses that tone of voice."

Meredith rolled her eyes as she reached for the curtain rods she'd just bought. As long as she was able to distract herself from this, she would be able to tide herself over until there was more news on her crazy stalker person.

XXXXX

"Mer? The chain's on!" Derek called into the apartment a week later.

"Sorry," Meredith sighed as she hurried towards the door, closing it quickly as she unlatched the chain and opened it again.

"Hey," he said as he stepped through the door and kissed her quickly. "Hi Beth."

"Hi Derek," Beth said from her place on the couch.

"We made cookies," Meredith said proudly, holding a plate up for Derek to take one.

"Should I be scared?" he asked cautiously as he examined the cookie.

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes. "Beth supervised."

"I'm impressed," Derek laughed as he took a bite. "They're actually good."

"Thanks," Beth laughed as she stood up. "Alright, Mer, now that you've got your body guard back, I'm going to go see my husband."

"Thanks, Beth," Meredith sighed. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Beth smiled as she squeezed her hand and walked past them to the door, closing it gently behind her.

"So," Meredith sighed, turning to look at Derek. "How was your test?"

"Good," Derek nodded. "I think I did pretty well."

"Good," Meredith giggled, leaning forward to kiss him. "We should…celebrate."

"I like that idea," Derek murmured against her lips, backing her up until she was pressed between the counter and his body. She hopped onto the counter and wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him deeply before they were interrupted by the ringing of the phone.

"Damn it," Derek moaned, his lips moving to her neck. "Let it ring."

"Derek," she sighed, reach across the counter into the kitchen to pick up the phone. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Shepherd?"

"Yes?"

"This is Detective White from the NYPD."

"Detective White," Meredith repeated, causing Derek to pull back and look at her expectantly. "We weren't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"We've got a guy in custody," Detective White responded. "We're still questioning him, but we're about ninety five percent sure this is our guy. I thought you and your husband might like to know so you can relax a bit."

"Thanks so much," Meredith breathed. "And um…please keep us updated?"

"Of course," Detective White assured. "We'll be in touch. Have a nice night, Mrs. Shepherd."

"You too," Meredith said before she hung up the phone, turning to Derek. "They've got him," she said.

"Wow," Derek breathed, wrapping his arms tight around her and burying his face in her hair.

"Hmm," she nodded. "We're safe again."

"We are," Derek nodded. He sighed as he rested his chin against her shoulder for a moment before he stepped back and pulled her off the counter. "Get dressed, we're going out to dinner," he said. "I want to celebrate."

Meredith giggled as she moved towards the stairs, finally feeling relaxed. She could breathe again. No one was watching her anymore, she and Derek were finally safe.

She chose to ignore the words that Detective White had spoken that were rolling around in her head.

Ninety five percent sure…

Okay, did you guys honestly think that I was going to kill Derek? Come on now...