What Should Have Been From The Beginning

Unsettled

After what Meredith kept referring to as a 'long arse flight', and many occurrences where she would wake up forgetting where we were and I would have to inform her that we were on a plane still, we finally arrived back to Seattle Airport at 8pm. The plane had landed and with a half-asleep, jetlagged Meredith lugging behind me, we walked towards baggage claim hand in hand.

MEREDITH'S POV

We eventually and thankfully arrived in Seattle. I had slept pretty much the entire journey and been kept warm by Derek's arms. We landed and got off the plane as quickly as possible. We were both understandably exhausted so we lethargically walked towards baggage claim hoping it would be quick and simple without any fuss. I had my fingers intertwined in Derek's and not once did I feel unsafe or insecure in the airport until we arrived at our luggage. I was slightly dragging behind but Derek would slow down when he realised and pull me closer to him, placing his arm over my head and resting it on my shoulder. With our hands still locked together and my engagement ring on full show, we continued walking on. The airport had an eerie, unwelcoming atmosphere to it and was somewhat empty. As we left the tunnel from the plane, there was only about 20 people in the lounge where it would normally be packed at this time of night and after about 2 minutes I had a gut instinct that something was going to go wrong. I didn't know what it was or where it spouted from but I didn't bother informing Derek of it because I knew it was probably just my mind going crazy from the jetlag and sleep deprivation. As we approached the luggage belt, an airport worker came behind and asked if we needed any help with collecting our baggage, whether we needed a trolley to load our suitcases onto. We kindly dismissed however, the man continued to lurk around behind us. I noticed that he had only stepped back a few steps behind us and I also noticed that, unlike all of the other workers on the floor, his uniform didn't display the airport logo.

'Hey. Meredith.' I unpurposely ignored Derek, fascinated by a daydream I was in. I imagined the worst throughout this daydream and I couldn't direct my mind away from thinking the worst possible scenario. Every terrifying thought went through my head. Terrorist. Stalker. You name it and it had entered my mind. I kept checking behind me, watching the man to see his next move and every time I changed my view from the luggage belt back to him, his head would quickly change direction from looking at me to looking away. I could tell he was staring and I felt his eyes pierce through the back of my skull whenever I wasn't viewing him.

'Meredith...' Derek and I's hands were now separated to allow him to grab our suitcases but when he realised my attention was elsewhere, he grabbed my hand tightly and squeezed my fingers to redirect my attention to him. I still hadn't spoken a word as my mind was increasingly wandering through dangerous territory and I could feel my heart rate quicken. I looked back again, only to be startled and discretely gobsmacked. I tried not to show my now increased fear, when I quickly swung my head around to the front and began pacing to pick up my suitcase from out of Derek's hand. When I looked back for the last time at that location, the worker had edged closer to us, with only about 1 metre separating our bodies. Derek was completely unaware of his presence, focusing more on checking our luggage and not only was he now uncomfortably close to Derek and I, when I looked back, his eyes locked immediately with mine. I got a sickening, uneasy feeling from him and my eyesight only moved from his eyes when he lifted up his left hand and wiggled his ring finger back and fourth in my view. He didn't wear a ring on any of his fingers and once I realised he was referring to my engagement ring, chills ran down my back. His eyes bled evil and didn't release any form of kindness or compassion.

I quickly walked ahead, gripping Derek's tighter hand than I ever had and without making a situation of what had happened and hoping this would be the last time I ever saw that being, I didn't speak a word until we got to the doors to get into our taxi.

DEREK'S POV

'Meredith, what's wrong?' I demanded. She was making me uneasy by the lack of emotions she was showing. She once again didn't answer me until we had gotten into our cab and were on our way back to home.

'Are you gonna tell me what that was all about?' I felt Meredith grab the inside of my thigh and I watched her throw her head back into the headrest. Her breathing became faster but then she began to take deeper breathes to try and calm herself down.

'Hey, hey.' I put my hand on hers that was grasping my leg and used my other to cup her cheek and trace her jawline with my thumb, which I knew would instantly secure and settle her. Her big, green, undeniably captivating eyes looked straight into my soul and I noticed the pure fear that filled her body right now. I didn't urge her or rush her into speaking but instead kissed her long, on the lips, until I felt her breathing steady and normalise. We both pulled away and I pushed her bangs out of her face, behind her ear. Her hand, still on my leg, tightened and she spoke with a shaky voice.

'I had this feeling, when we were walking to baggage claim, that something was going to happen. Then we got there and the man asked us if we needed help.' She had taken her hand from my leg and was now intertwined through my fingers. 'I looked behind me because I felt uneasy about something and that man was staring at us, but quickly looked away when I looked at him. I looked back again a few seconds later and he was stood like a metre from us but he pointed at my ring and he didn't look like he was complimenting it. He had an evil look in his eyes and this unsettling expression, I don't even know what he was insinuating. And then I checked to see if he was behind us before we got in the car and he was. He followed us. Why? Why did he follow us? What for?' Once again her breathing started to become rapid and all it took was me to pull her in closer and wrap her in my arms for her to calm.

'Okay, did he say anything to you?' I asked kissing the top of her head.

'Well I didn't hear it and I tried to read his lips but I couldn't understand. He stood just before the doors, looking at me, looking at my hand and he was shaking his hand with a weird grin on his face.' She had tears rolling down her cheek and all I could feel for her was sympathy and I felt like I had failed her. I didn't notice and I didn't protect her from this but now I could protect her and that was the most important thing. I put my hand on her head and rested her face on my shoulder. I rubbed her arm and played with her hair and told her 'we will sort this when we are home'.