You're Like Coming Home

59.

"Derek," Meredith repeated his name over and over as she ran to the bed, shaking him violently. "Derek, you have to wake up right now."

Derek groaned as he looked up at her, squinting slightly. "Mer...what's wrong?" he asked hoarsely.

"Derek," she breathed in relief, holding him close to her. "Oh, thank God. You're okay? You're not hurt?"

"Hurt?" Derek asked. "Meredith, what..." His eyes widened as he looked around the room, swallowing hard as he looked at the window that was now covered in pictures of Meredith. Meredith getting dressed, Meredith making coffee, Meredith walking to class, studying...almost every minute of every day was documented on their window, and Derek turned to look at Meredith with wide eyes. "What happened?"

"He was here," Meredith whispered, her entire body shaking as he clutched him tightly. "Derek, he was here while you were sleeping. He could have hurt you, and...we have to do something."

Derek pushed himself out of bed, ignoring his pounding head as he started tearing the pictures down. "We have to get rid of them," he said, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Derek," Meredith said softly, moving quickly to grab his hands and preventing him from tearing down any more pictures. "We have to call the cops. They need to see them just how they were put up."

"Meredith you want people to see this?" Derek asked, holding up a picture of her as she stepped out of the shower, completely naked as she started to wrap a towel around herself.

Meredith felt her blood run cold as she looked at the picture, tears building in her eyes. "Derek," she whispered. "Derek, I'm scared."

Derek sighed as he let the picture fall to the floor as he pulled her close to him, wanting to protect her with everything he had in him. "Mer, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he whispered. "I promise."

"Derek," she whispered, clutching her tightly. "Derek..."

"Oh Mer," he whispered, crushing her against his chest. "Let's go downstairs."

Meredith sniffled as she nodded against his chest, remaining close to him as they walked down the stairs. Derek sighed as he saw Beth and Nathan standing in the front hall their faces creased with worry.

"Are you okay?" Beth asked Derek, rushing over to the two of them.

"I'm fine," Derek sighed, rubbing Meredith's back slowly. "A little shaken, but fine." He looked down at Meredith for a moment and whispered, "I'm going to call the cops now, okay, Mer?"

"I'll go with you," Meredith whimpered."

Derek sighed as he made his way to the phone, an arm still wrapped securely around Meredith's waist. He spoke gently into the phone for a few moments before he hung up and gently walked Meredith into the living room, pulling her onto his lap as he settled into the armchair.

"What the hell is going on?" Nathan asked as he and Beth sat down as well.

Derek sighed. "Someone's watching Mer," he said.

"Watching?" Beth asked.

"We found pictures in our mail yesterday," Meredith whispered. "Of me and us, just being...us. And now....while Derek was sleeping, he came in and completely covered our picture window with pictures of me. They were here while he was sleeping and he didn't wake up. Derek always wakes up."

"Oh my God," Beth breathed. "It's a good thing you've called the cops. They should know how to handle this."

"I hope so," Meredith whispered. "I can't deal with this right now."