Back To Seattle

Chapter 7

He'd barely managed to sleep any before he was wide awake again. Meredith was still curled up against him as she slept, and he watched her as she slept peacefully. His fingers ran over her hair, pushing a stray stand behind her ear that had fallen out of her ponytail. After the night she'd had, he was happy to see her looking so peaceful as she slept. She had to have been exhausted.

He was glad he'd already made the decision for neither of them to be working the next day. He knew she said she'd work it after having to change her shift last minute, but there was no way, even as her boss, he could let her work. He studied the peaceful look on her face, previously laced with pain and hurt while she'd been awake, his mind coming up with all sorts of assumptions as to what had happened to her that night.

He did want to know what had happened to her. He wanted to know how she had gotten injured, how she had been left with an open head wound and the bruising on her back that spread over her hip. He didn't want to push though. If he pushed, it seemed she would just run further away, close herself off even more. She'd told him she trusted him, and he didn't want to lose her trust, because he was pretty sure she didn't really have anyone.

He didn't just expect her to talk though, and he thought maybe, the best way to help her was to tell her more about himself. He'd tell her about Addison, about the way he'd walked in on her with another man, his best friend. He'd tell her about the divorce that had been finalised just hours before he'd met the amazing woman sleeping beside him. Regardless of anything else going on, he wanted whatever this was, or could be, to work with her and the only way to ensure that was to make sure he was honest with her from the start.

"Derek..." he heard her soft murmur as she moved slightly, a slight frown on her face.

"I'm here," he whispered, his fingers gently running over her cheek as he sighed softly.

"Hmmm," she hummed softly, her back stretching slightly as a wince left her lips.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Time... hospital," she mumbled, her hand finding his.

"You're not working today, it's just after midday," he told her, but her eyes were still closed so he wasn't sure she was even taking in the information.

"It's warm," she sighed, releasing his hand as she pulled off her jumper, leaving her in only her bra, and he had to control his anger as he saw the bruises on her skin.

"Meredith," he breathed, his fingers tracing over her upper arm, over the purpling bruise, "how... what..."

"What?" she opened her eyes now, looking up at him and he watched as her eyes widened slightly in realisation at what she'd done, just as she pulled back from him and grabbed at the blanket to hold around her, "shit, I... I didn't mean to..."

"No, no, it's okay," he tried to calm the panic he could see in her eyes, just wanting to hold her again.

"I think maybe you should... you should go," she mumbled, turning away from him.

"Meredith, I'm not... If you really want me to go, I'll go. If you're telling me to go because you don't want to tell me, or because you're scared, I'm going to say something, or... I don't know. But do you really want me to leave?" he asked, sitting up a bit more but keeping his distance, not wanting to make her anymore uncomfortable.

She turned slowly to look at him and he offered her a small smile. He really didn't know what to do. He could see a tiredness in her eyes as she watched him, studying him as if trying to guess his next move, her shoulders slumped from an invisible stress. Her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she kept her eyes on him, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to know what she was thinking. He swore then in that moment, Meredith Grey was the most breath-taking woman he had ever laid eyes upon.