Till Death Do Us Part

Trial

3 Weeks Later

Merediths POV: Today is the trial of the woman who kidnapped Derek. We wake up early. The trial is supposed to take a while, so it starts early. "What tie should I wear?" Derek says, holding up a green tie and a blue tie. I grab the blue tie, and tie it around his neck. "Always go with blue," I say. "It matches your eyes." I am wearing a white shirt and blue dress pants. We drive to the courthouse after dropping the kids off at school. I hold Dereks hand as we walk inside. We go through security, and I sit behind him, who is next to his lawyer. The woman who kidnapped him, Renee Collier, is wearing a nice outfit, and she is handcuffed. "All rise for the Honorable Judge Kane," the bailiff says. We all stand up, and the Judge sits down. "We are here today for the trial of Renee Collier, on charges of kidnapping," she says. "Ms. Collier, how do you plead?" "Guilty," my husbands kidnapper says. There are a lot of witnesses, and statements that are given, and after a few hours, the judge has come to a sentence. "Ms. Collier, you are sentenced to 25 years in prison," she says, and bangs the gavel. We walk out of the courthouse, and I hug Derek. "Derek, it's over," I say. "It's all over." I drive us to the waterfront, and we get on a ferry. I lean my head on his shoulder, and we watch the seagulls fly above us. I wrap my arm around his shoulder, and we relax. Amelia is picking up the kids, and Derek, Cristina,  Alex and I are going to Joes after they get off work. "Thank you, Mer," he says. He has been silent since the judge gave the sentence. "For what Derek?" I say. "Just for waiting for me, and still being here," he says. I grasp his hand, and kiss his cheek. "Of course Derek, you are the love of my life. I wouldn't move on that quickly. If you had been dead, I would have moved on eventually. It would be painful, and I would have hated it, but I would have. And I would feel like I was disrespecting your memory, but I know that's what you would want for me," I say, and Derek smiles. "But I am glad you didn't, because who knows what this would be like," he says. "It would be the same. No one could ever replace you. Even if I was with someone, I would drop them like a hot potato, because you are my one big love," I say, and I kiss him. The ferry gets back to the harbor, and we drive to Joes, where Alex and Cristina are already there. I sit next to Cristina, and Derek sits next to me. I drink water, and Derek gets a scotch. We sit for a while, and talk, and then we drive back home, and fall asleep. 

Derek's POV: My nightmare is finally over. I can lie in bed with my wife, and hold her, without worrying that am going to get taken from her. I hold her, and kiss her neck as she drifts off. Our baby is due in 2 months, and we are going to be outnumbered by our kids. We are going to name the baby George Mark if it is a boy, and Ellis Alexandra if it is a girl. I am so relieved that Renee is in jail. While I was locked up, she kissed me, and did a lot of things to me that were so terrible I blocked it out of my memory. I started seeing a therapist, and I have made some progress. I hate myself for letting her do it to me, and even more because I kissed someone who wasn't Meredith. She doesn't know. I never want her to know. My thoughts keep me up for hours, until I finally fall into a restless sleep. I have dreams that I am back there, dreams that I did die, and I wake up the next morning to Meredith kissing my lips. I am sweaty. "Derek, are you okay? You look sweaty," she says. "Yeah, fine," I lie. "Just hot," "Okay," she says, and I kiss her. We walk out of our room after getting dressed, and we take the kids to school and go to work. After a big MVC comes in, and my patient dies, I feel myself starting to break down. I go to my therapists office, coincidentally the same one Mer saw, and I knock on the door. She walks up, and opens the door. "Dr. Shepherd, are you okay? Do you want to talk?" Dr. Wyatt says. "No, and yes," I say, and I walk in, and sit down on the couch. "I lost a patient. First one since I've been back. I feel like I am breaking down." I say. "Well, I am not all that surprised." Dr. Wyatt says. "You went through something really, deeply traumatic. This is normal. I would be surprised if you were functioning normally and feeling good. All of your feelings right now are 100% valid, and you are doing the best you can," We talk for another half hour, and I feel myself coming away from the edge of a breakdown. I walk to the attendings lounge, where Meredith is already sitting, drinking coffee. "Hey," she says. "Hey," I say. I come up behind her and kiss her neck. "You ready to go home?" I say. "Yeah, let's go," she says, and we walk out of the hospital, and drive home. On the way, we get some pizza, as a treat for the kids. We eat dinner, and watch a movie with the kids. Then, we just go to sleep. After a long couple of days, that is all that I need. Sleep.