After what felt like hours sitting in the waiting room, Officer Conrad finally came out and told Derek that Meredith was ready to see him again.

He stood in the doorway for a few seconds and watched her. She had turned to face the window of the small room and he could only see her silky blonde hair peeking out over the sheets.

"Meredith..." he saw her tense up and knew that she heard him, but she didn't turn around. "I um... I want you to know... I'm here for you. Even if you don't want to see me, I'm here. Whatever you need, I can give you. You just... need to talk to me. Please." He said gently.

"I'm sorry." She whimpered. Derek took a small step into the room.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for." He assured her.

"I was scared. It wasn't your fault... none of it was." She continued as if he hadn't said anything.

"Scared of what?" He asked, feeling like he might actually find out what happened to her.

"Scared of you. Scared that you would hate me. Scared that I would... lose you." She said quietly. Finally, she turned over to look at him, but still didn't meet his eyes.

"Is that why you didn't want to see me?" He took another step toward her.

"No... that was a different fear." She said cryptically. He was alarmed by the darkness that flushed through her eyes when she spoke, gone just as fast at it had appeared. "I was afraid that you would hate me." She repeated.

"I could never hate you." He shook his head, eyes full of sincerity.

"You don't know the whole story." She looked down at the ground.

"Then tell me, Meredith. I promise you, there is nothing that you can tell me that would make me hate you. Nothing." He insisted.

"I ran away!" She blurted. He raised his eyebrows but stayed silent. She took a moment and composed herself. "I had a miscarriage. I kept thinking... this baby was the only reason you wanted to marry me. And I lost it. I screwed it up. I thought you would be mad at me for killing your baby. So I ran. I bought an apartment under a fake name. I only planned to stay for a little while, but then I saw the news broadcasts and I thought everyone would be angry with me for sending George to prison for no reason."

"No one is angry with you. I'm just happy you're alive. I'm sure everyone else will be too." He tried to comfort her.

"I got depressed. I felt like I could never come back. The longer I stayed... the more reasons I thought of that everyone would hate me for being alive." She sighed.

"You don't know how happy I was to find out you're alive. I thought I lost you, Meredith-" She cut him off suddenly.

"Cut the crap, Derek!" She shouted. He froze, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "You're lying to yourself. I know it because I did the same thing. You keep telling yourself that you're not mad at me and you just hope that the anger will go away, but it won't! It'll only get worse. I spent three months telling myself I couldn't love you anymore because you could never love me the same way again, not after I ruined everything. I didn't let myself think about you for three months, Derek. I knew that if I thought about you, I'd only miss you and I'd convince myself to come back to you and you would hate me. And do you want to know what happened?" She asked.

"I'm not mad-" she ignored him.

"I finally let myself think about you when I was dying. I was laying on the ground feeling the life draining out of my body, and I finally let go of all of my fear. And you know what? It hurt so bad, Derek. It was like all that time, a whole mountain's worth of missing you built up. And at that moment when I finally let myself feel it... the mountain crushed me. It crushed me and all I wanted was to see you again before I died."

XxXxX

Meredith didn't know how long it had been since she had taken a drink of water or eaten anything at all. It could have been hours or it could have been days. She didn't care anymore. She had nothing left to live for.

Nothing had changed for weeks. She would sleep for hours at a time, wake up, and lay there until she could fall back asleep. Sometimes she would cry. She didn't really know what she was crying about, but she just cried. It made her feel a little bit better.

She heard the lock on her door jiggling and sat up slowly in bed, ignoring the nausea that overcame her from the quick movement. No one had entered her apartment in forever. Who was trying to get in?

The door swung open and she slowly got out of bed to see who it was. Her legs were weak and she could barely stand.

"Hello?" She called when no one announced their entrance. She walked over to the door and was surprised to find that no one was standing in the doorway. She closed the door cautiously, looking down the hall for anyone who might have run away.

As soon as the door was closed, an arm wrapped around her stomach tightly and she felt something cold pushed against her throat. She yelped in surprise as the unknown person pulled her backwards into the apartment.

She tried to push him off of her, flinging her arms behind her fruitlessly in an attempt to scare him away. She landed a blow to his face and he backed, disoriented, directly into her nightstand. She saw her phone fly under the bed as her attacker adjusted his grip and got his footing again.

"Do not make a sound." Meredith's blood ran cold and she froze as the familiar voice spoke gruffly in her ear. She felt herself trembling as the man's warm breath tickled her cheek. This couldn't be happening.

Her brain finally started working again and she used all of her strength to turn suddenly and push him down to the ground, spinning and beginning to run in the opposite direction. His knife dragged across her forehead on the way down and she felt blood begin to trickle down her face.

His large hand clamped around her ankle and she collapsed, landing on her wrist and stifling a scream when she heard a crack. He quickly climbed on top of her, using his legs to pin her down.

The light from her window shone directly on him, casting a shadow across his entire face. The only thing she could see were his bright blue eyes...

"This is what you get, Sunshine." His voice spat bitterly. She gasped in surprise as pain shot through her abdomen and she looked down to see his knife embedded deep in her stomach. He pulled it out quickly and she sucked in a sharp breath, still in shock from the injury. Before she could think, he had stabbed her twice more and stood up, kicking her multiple times and running away.

She felt her ribs break when he kicked her and cried out loudly, which only seemed to make him more angry. She thought he was finally done, but his leg reached back again, this time aiming for her face. His shoe made contact with her temple and her entire world blinked for a few moments. When she opened her eyes again, he was gone.

She coughed and felt blood splatter her chin. Strangely, the only thing she could think of was Derek. Why hadn't she told him instead of running away? Why hadn't she stayed with him where she was safe? Now, her breathing was getting shallower and all that she wanted to do was hear his voice again.

She remembered something. Her phone was under the bed. She could see it, just a few feet away. Slowly, painfully, she reached for it. Her fingers touched the cold glass and she pulled it toward her, turning it on and cringing at the red bloodstains on the screen.

"9-1-1, What is your emergency?" A woman asked.

"I... I've been stabbed." She choked.

"I need you to stay calm, ma'am, I'm sending an ambulance to your location now. Can you tell me the address?" She asked. Meredith heard the panick in the lady's voice.

"I-I'm in apartment 396... I think... the door is open... he ran away... please help..." She felt herself getting winded from just talking for a moment.

"Okay, ma'am, just hang on, the ambulance and the police are coming. Just a few more minutes." The woman said.

"I have... to hang up now..." Meredith said. She knew what she needed to do.

"Just a few more minutes, they're on their way." The lady didn't seem to hear her. She hung up anyway.

Voicemails

From: Derek

Three Months Ago

"Hey honey." His voice filled her ears and she gasped. She hadn't realized how much she missed him. "You're probably asleep, which is good. You need your rest. Um, I'm going to take off work early and bring you dinner. I'm thinking that soup place down the street that you like so much. Anyway, I hope you feel better soon. I'll see you at home. I love you."

Beep.

She smiled. I love you too.

XxXxX

"I passed out when I heard the sirens coming. When I woke up... I thought it was all a Dream. But you were sitting there, and I saw your eyes..." She trailed off and Derek was filled with concern at the fear that consumed her pupils.

"Meredith..." she didn't interrupt him and he took the cue to continue. "Why can't you look at me?" Her lip quivered at the pain in his voice as he took a few more steps closer to her so that he was just an arm's length away from the bed.

"His eyes... they were so blue... they haunt me every time I close my eyes. I see them when I blink... in my dreams... and you... you. Your eyes used to be my favorite thing about you. I could just get lost in them. But now... all I see is him... standing over me... with the bright blue eyes..." Tears flowed onto her face and she stared at a tile on the floor, darkness swirling in her pupils.

"It's okay. You're okay, you're allowed to be scared. You don't have to do anything until you're ready. I'm here for you." He stopped her so that she wouldn't spiral into more stories that would only traumatize them both even more. He would never admit it, but he was slightly disappointed. He had hoped it was something he could fix. He had hoped there was something he could do to take her pain away.

"None of this is your fault." She mumbled again. They were silent for a moment and a thought occurred to him that sent goosebumps jumping up and down his skin.

"Meredith... did you know the person who did this to you?" He asked, praying that she said no or even just shook her head. She gave him no answer, keeping her gaze fixed on the tiles of the floor and letting silent tears drip down her cheeks. Seconds morphed into decades and milleniums of deafening silence and finally, she broke through the barrier of tension building in the room.

"Are you... mad at me?" She asked softly, her voice a mouse's squeak in a football stadium. He stood for a moment trying to think of an answer.

"No. I'm not mad. I'm a little bit hurt that you didn't think you could come to me. I know I've done a lot to make you think you can't trust me, but I really want you to feel like you can tell me anything. I want to be your safe place. I... want you." Meredith furrowed her eyebrows and he closed the distance between them, tentatively taking her hand in his and searching her face for any sign of discomfort.

"I know that you're afraid. I know that you feel like everything is falling apart. But I'm telling you, you still have me, Meredith. What happened wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong. The baby wasn't the only reason I wanted to marry you. I want to marry you because I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Baby or no baby, I want you." He stared into her eyes even though she couldn't look up at him.

"Baby or no baby?" She repeated and he heard the tears breaking through her voice. His face was sticky from crying as well. He reached his hand up and stroked her hair softly.

"We could have 12 kids or none. We could live in a mansion or a cardboard box. We could be the most famous surgeons in the world or we could clean bathrooms, I don't care. As long as I'm doing it with you, I'll be happy doing anything." He said. They were speaking so quietly now that no one would be able to hear them from more than five feet away. Their faces were inches away, feeling the breaths exiting each other's lungs.

Her green eyes looked up at him. Instead of fear or darkness inside of them, they were engrossed with love. His heart skipped as her hand reached up and grabbed his cheek, pulling him closer to her still.

A single second ticked by and their breaths synced. Time seemed to slow as their lips finally met in a gentle, tender kiss. Neither dared to break the embrace that they had dreamed of for three months. Life seemed to be breathed directly into their bodies from each other, as if one thrived on the touch of the other.

Their love was the universe, stretching far beyond human comprehension and growing exponentially with every second that ticked by. When they were finally brought together after so long apart, they were completed, the final piece to the puzzle, the other half of the story.

They were giants, standing high above the world and casting shadows on their enemies. The things holding them back were ants, small and easily conquerable. Nothing could break them so long as they stayed within each other.

But, like all good things, their kiss came to an end.

And they shrunk once again. Ants became skyscrapers and the universe condensed to a single cramped hospital room with two wounded doctors sitting on a thinly-sheeted bed.

And the seconds ticked on.

XxXxX

I am so sorry that I didn't post anything last week.

The next chapter will hopefully be up soon.

Kisses!

-E