Echoes of Resilience

5

Four hours have passed since Derek was arrested and the hospital has erupted into madness. Rumors spread within minutes of his exit from the hospital, many of them questioning how much Addison might have known. Was the divorce because of the girl in the shed? Has Addison been trying to get her out and wasn't successful until today? Did she truly not know anything? How could she be married to someone for so long and not know just what they were capable of?

The sun has long set when Meredith begins to stir, she doesn't remember the last time she felt safe enough to actually sleep. She wishes she could say she slept soundly before the night in the bar but the truth is she hasn't felt safe enough to truly sleep since the night her mother slit her wrists on the kitchen floor. After that she was scared that she'd go to sleep with a mommy but wake up an orphan.

A small smile makes its way across her face when she registers the feeling of someone's hand in her hair. Addison kept her promise and stayed with her, she didn't leave. Slowly, Meredith turns her head and opens her eyes to see the redhead smiling down towards her.

"Oh look who's awake, how'd you sleep honey?" Addison continued to play with Meredith's hair with one hand while using her free hand to grab a bottle of water off of the floor next to her. "Here sweetheart, you need to make sure you stay hydrated."

Meredith took the water and began to greedily drink it, quickly sucking down half of it before Addison gently took it out of her hands not wanting her to choke on it. "Sorry, Derek didn't always let me have water in there and I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I started drinking." Meredith apologizes so quietly the redhead has to strain her ears to be able to hear her. Knowing that Derek refused her even basic necessities fills the redhead with a rage she was unaware she was capable of feeling. A part of her wanted to go down to the police station and find Derek herself and make him pay for what he did, but she made Meredith a promise that she wouldn't leave her and she is not about to break it for anything, especially not her pathetic excuse of an ex husband.

"You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, sweet girl, I just don't want you to choke." Addison pauses to take a breath before she tells Meredith about Derek's arrest, unsure of how the blonde will react and a little afraid that with Derek behind bars she won't want the redhead around anymore. She can't explain it, but she doesn't want to leave Meredith even with Derek no longer being a threat. Something inside of her is urging her to stay by the young woman's side and never let her go, but if Meredith sends her away she will not fight her no matter how much she may want to. "Honey, the police arrested Derek while you were sleeping. They said they would be back later on tonight with updates and probably some follow up questions for you, but you should know that Derek confessed. He admitted to abducting you from the bar and to drugging your drink, he's going to go away for a really long time. You're safe now, he can't get to you anymore." Addison could see Meredith physically relax as she assured her that she was safe and that Derek confessing means there's no way for him to get out. Her time in the shed and her time with Derek is over, it'll be a long road to truly and fully recover from the abuse she endured but knowing the redhead believes in her makes Meredith believe in herself.

"He doesn't think he did anything wrong. He thinks that he took an opportunity that was fairly presented to him and that I should feel grateful that he took that opportunity and not someone really dangerous. I spent nine months in that shed with him telling me how lucky I was and that I should be thanking him when in reality I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill him or just kill myself. There were so many times I wanted to hit him back, I wanted to fight and not just take the rape and the beatings but I knew if I did he would just snap my neck and move on. What was the point of fighting back when he would still win? I did once, the one time I fought back I was unable to get up to go to the bathroom for a week. Derek brought a bucket to go next to the bed for when I had to use the toilet. After that I stopped. If I wanted to live I had to follow his instructions." Meredith pauses, unsure if she wants to disclose the reason she fought back that one time. She knows that keeping it all in will drive her insane, but saying it out loud almost feels like too much. Yet she knows she has to. "I only fought back because I was pregnant. When the test came up positive his eyes went dark and he lunged at me, I pushed him off and kicked him which did nothing but add to his rage. He beat me until I lost the baby, yet now he wants me to have a baby?" Her entire body is shaking and the tears won't stop, the feel of gentle hands in her hair the only thing keeping her from fully falling apart.