Never Expect The Unexpected: MERDER AU

Chapter 15

Meredith stood at of the closed doors and waited for her means of transportation to arrive. She humiliated herself in front of someone she should never be embarrassed around. Someone who enjoyed playing chess. Who drank scotch with Valentines chocolate because he liked the way it tasted.

Everything was going fine until he made the mistake of lifting her shirt, just enough so that the cool air could hit it. Just enough so that she'd be reminded of the one thing she never wanted to think of, but couldn't seem to get out of her mind. It was out of her mind until his idiotic man brain decided to try and take off her shirt. She couldn't tell him what had happened. She couldn't let him kiss her because he looked at life like a fairytale, and she figured once he knew the entire story he would paint her as the villain.

As if the universe couldn't hate her any more the elevator doors opened and there he stood. Dull and lifeless with his eyes closed and his body resting against the back wall of the elevator.

He didn't say a word as she walked in and pressed the lobby button, a part of him hoping she would talk to him. He waited for her to speak as she silently stood a few feet in front of him. When she didn't, when they were a few floors away from their destination he finally worked up the courage to speak.

"Meredith." Nothing in return. You could hear a glass being broken on another floor if you wanted to. It was so silent he could hear her heart pounding in her chest. He felt as if every beat was growing louder against his eardrum and all he wanted to do was comfort her. He had no reason to. That wasn't his job. He wasn't actually her boyfriend.

"Meredith..." He tried again. "You could at least acknowledge my existence."

"I'm..." She finally opened her mouth and all she could let out was one word. Meredith wanted to tell him. She hadn't told anybody and she wanted to. But she couldn't. She couldn't bare another person knowing the thing she was most ashamed of.

*Ding*

The elevator sounded and the doors opened. Her limp body made its way to the exit when he reached for her arm, pulling her back and pressing the emergency alarm.

"Meredith."

"Derek." The hurt in her voice only made him want to comfort her more. But it wasn't his place. He searched her face for answer but failed as she wouldn't look up at him.

"Talk to me." He waited. Derek didn't want to pressure her. He didn't want to force her into sharing intimate details about her past but he didn't know how else to help her. He'd never seen her this disheveled and weak. It wasn't the Meredith he'd known and he hardly knew her.

"Meredith."

"I can't." Tears filled her eyes and when she looked up at him he was a blur. She could hardly see his face but the sadness in it made her want to run and never turn back.

"Meredith." He tried a final time.

"Derek...please." That was all he needed to know she wasn't ready to talk to him. He watched as she pressed the emergency button and waited for the doors to reopen.

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