A/N: Someone recently reviewed this story asking why I haven't continued this and I thought that was an excellent question... Special thanks to Olivia Rollins for motivating me to finally update & finish this fic! Please let me know what you think! (Which obviously also applies to everyone else...). Since it's been more than two-and-a-half years since I've worked on this story, a lot has changed. For starters, I finally know how to spell redhead (not red-head!), and I've decided to follow my intuition and refer to Meredith's hair color as brunette, not blonde, even though that seems to be very unusual in English speaking fanfiction. (Seriously, though: she's not blonde - but I'm getting slightly of topic...)
So where were we? Right. In Addison's bathroom where hell has just broken loose.
Enjoy & review!
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
Derek couldn't help but stare at the tiny, fragile person crouched down in the corner of the shower stall – that was: until Addison groped him by the arm and dragged him out of the bathroom…
"Get the fuck out of here!" She yelled exhaustedly, repeating it over and over again. She had meant to say something more meaningful, something like "Do you have any idea what you've just done?" or "Do you know how much it took for her to trust me enough not to run?" – but empty profanities were all she could come up with right now. Before Derek had even begun to understand what was going on, he found himself standing in the hallway again, shooting a final disbelieving glance towards Addison before she slammed the door into his face.
"Meredith?" The redhead said softly, kneeling down on the wet bathroom tiles a few seconds later. Because the scalding hot shower was still running, the tiny bathroom was starting to fog up, she noticed. "You're ok. I'm not gonna hurt you" Adison assured the shivering woman while slowly moving toward the shower faucet. "I'm just gonna turn the shower off, okay?"
Still huddled up on floor, Meredith didn't respond and Addison couldn't help but quietly muster her. Under the harsh bathroom light, the bruises on her porcelain skin looked even more prominent than they had the night before.
It was only when Meredith looked up that Addison quickly averted her gaze, a silent apology in her eyes. The young interne still hadn't said a word though. Not knowing what else to do, Addison grabbed a towel to cover the younger woman's shivering body. "I'm not gonna hurt you, Grey" She repeated but when Meredith indeed did not flinch from her touch when she gently draped the towel over her, she was pleasantly surprised.
Neither of them spoke when Addison helped Meredith stand up and get dressed. Now that they were sitting on the couch, the brunette to literally cling to her. Even though Addison hadn't expected that, she didn't let it show. "I'm so sorry this happened" The brunette whispered after a while, and neither of them knew whether she was referring to Derek's outburst or the entire situation. Meredith's absentminded nod might have just been in Addison's imagination.
"I... I can't talk about…" The brunette gulped, then rephrased: "I can't talk. I'm sorry". The last part was whispered almost fearfully and Addison was surprised by her own, immediate response: "It's okay. You don't have to". A few moments of comfortable silence had passed when Addison finally brought up the courage to ask the question that had been on her mind all morning:
"How can I help?"
"You're helping already" Meredith whispered, subconsciously snuggling against the redhead. Less than five minutes later, the young woman had fallen asleep from the sheer exhaustion of the previous night.
With the sleeping woman propped against her shoulder, Addison couldn't move. The only thing left to do was stare at the ceiling, succumbing to her tormenting thoughts. One idea in particular was weighing heavily on her mind: What if she'd been all wrong last night?
Maybe this wasn't the last thing she needed.
Maybe it was the exact opposite.