Holiday in Handcuffs

Chapter 3

To say that Derek was freezing would be an understatement. He had been standing in the cold and snow for thirty minutes, trying to make a call on his cell phone, but he couldn't get a good signal. His car, now embedded into the snow, was completely out of commission. He blamed Addison. If it wasn't for her screwing his best friend and then running off to a remote island to marry him, Derek wouldn't have been seething about it in his car, and therefore, he would have been able to pay attention to the road, instead of loosing all control and sliding into a freaking snow embankment. Yes.... this was all Addison's fault.

As Derek stood shivering, his tightly wrapped wool coat doing nothing to provide any real warmth, he frustratingly kicked his front bumper and cursed loudly, just as a car passed him, spraying cold ice on the bottom of his pants. Now, not only was he cold from the snow falling on his head, but the bottom of his pants were now wet and his toes were a numb, throbbing pain from the contact to his front bumper. This was really not how he envisioned the start of his Christmas holiday. And to top it all off, it was already turning dark. His mother was probably already pacing the foyer and peeping out of the window, just waiting for his car to turn into her driveway at any minute.

He cursed under his breath again and began to weigh his options. He could either start walking towards the next town, or he could wait for another car to pass so he could flag it down and hitch a ride. He really wasn't too keen on the idea of hitchhiking. The whole idea sort of frightened him. What if he was picked up by some kind of freaky murderer person, or something? That's not really how he wanted his life to end. But, really... if he thought about it, maybe getting picked up by a murderer and shot to death was a better alternative to standing out here and slowly freezing to death. At least being shot at would be quicker. Less painful.

His shook his head at those thoughts. Maybe the freezing snow was already getting to him. It was Christmas. The time for joy and reaching out to show compassion. Surely, someone would be by to offer a friendly ride. And, it just so happened, that as he was thinking about this, he heard the sounds of a car approaching. He turned around to see a car coming from the opposite way he was heading. As the car began to slow down, Derek swore he had seen that same car just pass him up a few minutes ago. Maybe, whoever it was, had a change of heart and decided to come back to rescue him. His heart leaped in his chest. It was definitely fate.

The approaching car slowed down to a roll and then stopped. The driver slowly slid the window down, and Derek found himself staring through the snow and into the blue-green eyes of a woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties. He gave her his signature smile, the one that all the nurses at the hospital had dubbed his dreamy smile, and took a step forward towards her car. The woman smiled back at him and rolled her window down a little further.

"Need some help?" She asked, squinting her eyes at him as the snow continued to fall down around them.

"Yes, actually. I seem to have hit an ice patch and ran my car into the snow bank." He replied. He didn't have to tell this stranger the whole truth, now did he? What kind of man would admit to running his car into a snow bank because he was seething about his ex-wife and, therefore, not paying attention to the road? Definitely not Derek Shepherd. He'd never admit to something like that.

"Where are you headed?" The woman asked.

Derek wrapped his coat tighter around his torso. "Westfield." He answered.

The woman nodded. "You're in luck. I'm headed just North of there." She replied. "Hold on." She told him as she rolled her window up. She drove a few yards ahead and then made a u-turn, heading back in his direction.

Derek pulled his suitcase from his trunk and grabbed a few other items from his car, before locking it up tight and shoving his keys in to the pocket of his coat. The woman pulled her car up next to his and waited as he threw his things into the back seat and then slid into the passenger seat. Once the door was shut, he turned to her.

"Thanks." He said, pulling off his gloves and shoving his hands in front of the vents, letting the warm air from the heater warm his icy fingers. "I was worried that I'd have to spend Christmas on the side of the road." He chuckled.

"It's no problem." She replied, throwing him a nervous glance. She shifted in her seat, pushing her body against the driver side door and putting as much distance between them as she could. Derek wanted to calm her by telling her that he wasn't an ax murderer or anything, but he figured that starting off a conversation like that would probably not go over to well. Instead, he began with a much softer approach.

"I'm heading to my mother's house. For Christmas." He explained as he glanced at the tiny woman sitting behind the wheel. She looked rather nervous and unsure as she drove through the snow, her eyes darting back and forth between the road and his shivering body as he tried to shake off the cold and warm himself with the heater. "We have big Christmases in my family. Huge tree. Lots of presents. Hot chocolate, songs by the fire. You know, all the good wholesome family Christmas type stuff." He rambled on, trying to get her to understand that he wasn't some sort of freak who was planning on murdering her.

She nodded her head in response. "So, do have one of those... blinking Christmas tree sweater, reindeer antler headband wearing families?" She asked with an amused expression.

Derek laughed. "No. We're not that extreme. But, my mother does make us all wear Santa hats when we sing carols by the fire." He told her, blushing at his own admission.

"Right." She replied as she stole a quick glance at him before turning her attention back onto the icy road.

They continued down the road in awkward silence for a while, the faint sounds of heavy metal wafting through the speakers. Derek thought it extremely odd that this woman was listening to such a distasteful sound, but it was her car, and she was doing him a huge favor, so asking her to change the channel to something less... heavy, for lack of a better word, seemed a bit inappropriate. As the minutes ticked by, and the silence carried on, Derek began to relax a little. He was finally feeling a lot warmer, so he leaned back a little in his seat and took to looking out of the window at the falling snow. Even though the darkness impaired him from seeing past the headlights of the car, the ambiance of winter and Christmas fell around him, and he smiled to himself.

"I love the snow." He commented after a while. "Well, when it's not embedded into my front bumper, that is." He laughed. He looked over to the woman behind the wheel and smiled at her. "You know, I've been in this car with you for the past ten minutes and I haven't even introduced myself. I guess being stranded on the side of the road has affected my manners." He said. "I'm... HOLY SHIT!" He screamed as he jumped in his seat and grabbed onto the door handle of the car.

No, this was definitely not how he envision the start to his Christmas Holiday. And suddenly, freezing to death in the cold and snow didn't sound so bad after all.

Anything was better than staring into the barrel of the gun that was currently pointed at his head.