It was almost an hour later when Addison finally heard the bathroom door being opened. She had decided to wait for Grey in the living room, not wanting to put any more pressure on the blonde by standing right in front of the bathroom door.
Hesitatingly, Meredith entered the room, unable to look at the other woman. She had been wordlessly standing in the middle of the half-furnished room for quite some time, when Addison finally got off the armchair, realizing Grey wouldn't go any further on her own accord.
"You are safe here, Grey", she whispered, guiding the interne towards the couch. Noticing she was shivering badly, Addison handed her a thick blanket Meredith immediately wrapped herself in, although both of them knew the shivering was not caused by coldness.
Meredith was hiding.
Hiding in the huge sweatshirt and sweatpants she had borrowed, hiding behind the woolen defensive wall she had just been given, and most of all hiding from what had happened and from what was still about to come.
Addison, who had sat down on the sofa herself, couldn't help but stare at Meredith. She was broken, severely broken, and Addison had no idea how to fix her. How to help her. How to treat her.
Should she just give her some time of her own, or should she stay with her, proving she was not alone? What was the right thing to do? Was there even a right thing to do, or was everything just wrong?
Dammit! She was a doctor! It was her job to fix things, and theoretically, she knew how to fix this. She knew the official procedures, knew how to do a rape-kit, knew how to examine someone carefully, knew how important it was to make her feel safe.
The problem was that being a doctor didn't get her anywhere as long as Meredith didn't want to be a patient! And somehow, although she was obviously hurting, a doctor wasn't what Meredith needed the most right now. Instead, she needed someone who was more than only one of many patients to, needed someone who cared, someone who would hold her all night, whispering into her ear that she'd be fine again, someone... someone Addison was not sure she could be for her...
It was when Meredith's sobs became so loud that it was impossible not to hear them, impossible to sit next to her thinking instead of doing something, when Addison Montgomery-Shepherd realized that she didn't have a choice. Someone had to pick up the pieces and hold together what was left, because obviously Meredith couldn't repair the damage on her own. She was sitting there hunched up, her legs pulled to her body and encompassed with her arms, falling apart.
Addison couldn't just watch, couldn't let this happen!
With her head resting on her knees, Meredith couldn't see the other woman approaching her, and flinched, when Addison gently touched her arm.
"I'm not going to hurt you", Addison whispered, slightly squeezing the younger woman's hand. Meredith nodded, not knowing what to respond. But somehow, she believed her...