Driving Sideways

46.

Meredith stood there for a moment, her face was flushed from her one sided argument with Derek. Her mouth hung open for a moment as she looked into the eyes of the man who still held her arm. "I...I..."

"Meredith... are you alright?"

"I...I have to... I need..."

"Meredith... what are you doing here?" He asked as suddenly she pulled her arm from his grasp, turned in a circle and swung open the on call room door, slipping back inside, she closed the door on his face.

"Meri?" Derek asked as he sat up, watching the shocked look on her face as she tried to breath long, deep breaths. "Meri, are you alright?" Derek asked as he leapt from the bed and approached her quickly, taking her face in his hands as he brought her eyes to look into his. She looked terrified, the crystal blue-green of her eyes held no sparkle, her mouth was moving open and closed as she stared blankly at him. "Meri, talk to me... what happened? What... what's wrong?"

"My father is out there..." She whispered, her eyes lifting to his as she allowed a tear to escape her eye.

"Your father is out there? Did he see you? Did he recognize you? Meri... are you alright?"

"Derek... I... Derek..." She whispered as she shook her head.

"Come over here..." Derek said softly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Come over here..." He whispered, leading her to one of the beds. She walked willingly and sat down beside him, looking over to the bed across from her as they heard a knock on the door.

"Don't let him in." Meredith whispered.

"I won't..." He whispered as he moved quickly toward the door, clicking the lock on the door, someone knocked again. "I'm expecting Mark to come by soon... and Richard will probably check in..." Derek said softly. "Are you alright? I mean... did he recognize you or something?"

"He... I... I saw him this morning..." Meredith whispered. "Why is he here? I mean... he didn't know about the... maybe he... I don't know... Derek..."

"You saw him this morning?" Derek asked.

"My mother... she... she went to his house this morning. I followed her to his house, she took a cab... and I followed her there... and he... he was so mean..." Meredith whimpered, looking at Derek as she shook her head. "He was so mean to her... he was so mean..." She repeated.

"And you talked to him?"

"I had to... I had to, Derek... he was just so mean to her... she didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve to be talked to that way. I love her... I love her so much, and she can't die, Derek... she can't. I need to tell her how much she means to me... she can't die, Derek... she can't die!" Meredith exclaimed as she grabbed him tightly, wrapping her arms around him as he wrapped his around her. "I don't want her to die, Derek!" She cried.

"I know, baby..." Derek said as he held her. "I know... I know..." He rocked her as he kissed her softly, holding her so tightly in her arms. "It's okay... it's okay, baby... it's going to be okay... Meri... Meri, you can't run away from me..." Derek whispered as he pulled from the hug and looked her in the eyes. "You can't run away from me, baby... you need to talk to me... you need to talk to me... please don't run away from me... please don't leave me alone. I need you, Meri... this was so hard for me, so very hard... I need your support. I need you to tell me that I did well. I need you to tell me that she's going to be alright because when I was in that operating room, all I could think about was how I couldn't disappoint you... how I couldn't disappoint her... Meri, I need you..."

"I'm sorry..." She whispered as she rocked him, burying her head in his shoulder as he rocked her, holding her, loving her, kissing her.

After a few moments, there was a rhythmic knock on the door and Derek looked up. "That's probably Mark..." Derek whispered.