Till Death Do Us Part

Locked Up

Derek's POV: A few days after I get back, we send the kids back to school. We kept them out for a few days, because of the circumstances, but we had them go back today. Today, I am going to tell my story of my kidnapping. We get back home, and we sit on the couch. Mer is wrapped in a big blanket, and is sitting with her legs up, holding a cup of coffee. She hasn't gotten a good nights sleep since I got back a week ago, partially because of the baby growing inside of her, partially because she has been so stressed, and depressed, that she hasn't slept well in months, and is just now getting slightly better sleep. "Derek, are you going to tell us what happened or not," Mer says as she leans against me. "Yeah, just give me a sec," I say. What happened was a long story, and it was not fun. "So, I had a fellow in my study. Her name was Renee Collier. One day, after a long day of work, we had a breakthrough. And she kissed me. I pulled away and said 'I am married, and I love my wife and I love my kids,' and she got really mad. The next thing I know, I woke up in a basement, and I hear her on the phone. 'Just sign the damn death certificate,' she says. She is talking to a coroner, and is bribing him to say that I am legally dead. I am locked up in a small room, with a glass door, and I can see that she is out there yelling on the phone. She eventually hung up, and she came over to me. 'You love your family, huh?' She says. 'See how much you can love them when you are legally dead,' She had always seemed kind of odd to me, but a lot of neuro fellows are, you know, long hours, and dedication. She kept me in that basement for a few months, and then brought me someplace else, and I stayed there for three more months, until I found a small piece of metal. There were windows, and after she left one day, I smashed open the window. It was barely big enough for me to crawl through, but I did it. It turns out, I was right by a police station, and I got out onto a fire escape. I was in a small apartment building, and she had kept me in a small room in a luxury apartment. I climbed down the fire escape, and I ran to the police station, and told them I had been kidnapped, and my death was faked. There was a lot of commotion, but eventually, they caught her, and now she is in jail, awaiting her trial that will take place here in a month. Then, I was able to get on a plane, and I took a taxi home." I say, explaining the whole story. I hug Mer, and she starts to cry. "Derek, did you at least have enough food and stuff?" Amelia says. "Yeah, I actually had pretty good conditions, and I had a television and stuff. I could almost imagine I was in a hotel, except for the fact that she would chain me to the bed if I tried to escape," I say. "The only thing that kept me sane was thinking about escaping, and getting back to Seattle." Mer buries herself farther into me, and I hold her. 

Meredith's POV: As I lay in Derek's arms, he strokes my head, and I cry as I think about Derek being locked up. I was mad at him for dying, and leaving us, but he had been kidnapped. Forced into a small room, held there for months. He must have been so scared, and I can't even imagine what other thoughts were going through his brain. I sit up, and hug him. He holds me, and we are all silent for a while, processing all of the terrible things that have happened in the past 6 months. "Thank you for escaping," I say to Derek as I hug him. He hugs me tighter and then let's go, and kisses my forehead. "I couldn't have survived any longer there, because I knew my family needed me," He says. He kisses my forehead again, and we get up and make some food. Derek is making sandwiches for everyone, and I stand next to him the whole time. I haven't been more than 10 feet away from him since he came back. I can't let myself be more that that far apart. I gave up on him. I thought he was dead. I didn't see his body, and the funeral was closed casket, so we never knew any different. I feel ashamed that I didn't see the truth, even though I know that it was not my fault. He uses the knife I once considered using to slit my throat to cut up some apples. He wraps his free arm around me, and rests it on my stomach, where our daughter is growing. She reminds me of the good. I drink some water, and we all sit at the table and eat in silence. I sit next to Derek, and his hand never leaves my grasp. He looks at me, and I smile. His face has gotten thinner, and his stubble is longer than normal. I threw out his shaving kit. He was dead. I hadn't brought myself to get rid of any of his clothes, or other things. It still smelled like him. A hint of pine, and sandalwood. He was in the woods all the time, and his aftershave also smelled like sandalwood. I would go with him tomorrow to get the things he would need. After we eat, Amelia goes into her room, and falls asleep. Cristina had been back at work for a couple of days. Derek and I go into our room, and I fall asleep on his shoulder. The first time I have slept not out of necessity since he was gone.