„DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"
Meredith was having a nightmare. The third one within the past few hours, to be more precise.
Neither of them knew how the interne had been able to fall asleep in the first place. Maybe it had just seemed easier than facing Addison's questions any longer? Even though she had stopped asking about what had happened as soon as she had realized that Meredith was not ready to talk about it yet - the questioning, pitiful look in Addison's eyes had been hard to take. Maybe Meredith had just been too exhausted to fight sleep any longer?
No matter what: It had been a huge mistake.
After the first nightmare, when Addison had still been sleeping in her own bedroom and hence had not woken up, Meredith had immediately ran towards the bathroom, ripping her clothes off and hopping into the shower, letting the boiling hot water burn her skin. When the other woman's sobs finally turned into screams, Addison had been wide awake, running towards the bathroom, turning off the water, getting Meredith out of the shower by tightly wrapping her into a towel and escorting her outside, holding the other woman in her embrace.
Addison was sure she had crossed a line that moment. One did not simply comfort one's husband's ex-girlfriend by hugging her that tightly - and much less if she was naked!
But it hadn't mattered anymore: Too many lines had already been crossed that night, so when Addison had insisted on staying with Meredith after she had redressed, the interne had not objected - not even after finding out Addison's version of "staying with her" was meant quite literally...
Somehow, Meredith had felt protected lying there spooned by Addison, who was telling her again and again that she was safe now - and eventually, Meredith had believed her - until the nightmares had dragged her into the darkness again...
The next time, Meredith had not been alone though: Having learned from her mistake, Addison had not left Meredith's side again, so when she had noticed the younger woman was tossing and turning, a simple "Meredith? Wake up! It's just a dream. It's over. You are safe here!" had been enough.
But this time, it was different: No matter how hard she tried, no matter how loud she screamed, Addison could not wake Meredith by only using her voice, so after a while, Allison gently touched Meredith's shoulder, carefully trying to wake her up without hurting or scaring her.
She failed.
Still unable to say what was real and what was not, Meredith slapped Addison's face, trying to defend herself from the attacker. The red-head whirled backwards. When Meredith realized what she had done, she jumped to her feet and fled towards the bathroom, stammering out an only scarcely audible "I'm sorry".
Addison sighed.
She was not quite sure why exactly the blonde had fled into the bathroom this time. Nevertheless, Addison knew she had to catch up with Meredith before the younger woman would be able to lock the bathroom door! The lock sometimes jammed, so Meredith had not been able to lock the door the first time, but since the lock was not only wayward, but also unpredictable, Allison would rather be fast enough to access the bathroom without having to kick in the door!
However, when she crossed the corridor, an acute sound made Addison freeze. She stared towards the apartment door in confusion. Barely anyone knew she was living here - and even if some people did: Why would they decide to step by at 8am on a Sunday morning? Before she could speculate about their early-morning-visitor any further, a second noise caught her attention - the noise of the bathroom door being slammed shut and successfully locked...
Hell! This could not be happening!