You're Like Coming Home

63.

"Who are you?" Addison asked loudly, hoping Meredith would hear what was happening and use the upstairs phone to call for help.

"I don't have time for questions," he said as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a roll of tape. "Now don't take this the wrong way, I don't have anything against either one of you. But I don't think I trust you enough to not run off and call your big tough boyfriends to come to the rescue. So even though I hate to do it...I'm going to have to keep you quiet."

Beth pulled on Addison's hand as they slowly started to edge towards the door. "Don't try and get away," he sighed. "I'm not here to deal with you, and if I have to waste my time, I'd get very...angry. So let's just cooperate here, and neither of you will get hurt. Okay?"

He reached out to grab their joined ands, clutching them tightly as he ripped some tape off the roll, covering each of their mouths before anything else. "Can't have you screaming for help."

He quickly taped them both into one awkward position, hands tied together behind their backs and both of their feet together. When he stepped back to look at his work, the girls cowering together in the corner of the living room, he smiled and moved towards the stairs. "If you'll be so kind as to excuse me, I've got some business to take care of," he said as he approached the stairs.

XXXXX

Meredith turned off the sink and smiled at herself in the mirror. She felt good about herself. For the first time since this whole thing had started, she felt good about herself and she was really looking forward to a night with Derek, to sex and wine and...him. They'd been constantly together for the past couple weeks, scared of what might happen, but they hadn't been themselves. Instead, they'd turned into some weird pod people who were afraid to live. But Addison was right, tonight she and Derek needed a night to just be them.

She smiled as she heard footsteps on the stairs. Apparently Addison had finally let Derek up to her. She'd heard some loud voices over the running of the water as she'd washed her face, and she laughed slightly, knowing that Addison would have gone to great extremes to make sure Derek didn't get to her until she was ready. Her best friend was nothing if not bossy.

She looked in the mirror one last time, fluffing her hair and adjusting the lingerie before she turned to the door. She briefly wondered why Derek hadn't already knocked and told her to come out because she already looked beautiful, but she shook that thought out of her head. He was probably just hanging his coat in his closet or something.

"Hey, Der...." She said as she opened the door, leaning against the frame for a moment before terror ran through her body. She straightened quickly, crossing her arms over her chest and glanced down the stairs. "Dr. Brown," she said with a shaky voice. "What...what are you doing here?"

"Oh Meredith," he breathed as he approached her. "You look...stunning. I knew you felt this way about me. I knew it, you were just pretending to love that husband of yours."

"I....what?" she asked, stepping back into the bathroom as he advanced towards her. "What did you do to Derek?"

"He won't get in our way now," Dr. Brown said, smiling as he stepped into the bathroom as well. Meredith gasped as she backed into the wall, her eyes full of panic as she realized that there wasn't anywhere else for her to go. She was trapped. "We can leave, Meredith. Right now, we'll leave, and be together. I know you want to."

"I don't want to," Meredith argued, her arms wrapped protectively around herself. "Where's Derek?"

"Don't lie to me," Dr. Brown snapped. "I hate it when people lie to me. And I know you don't love him Meredith. I watch you. When you're with him, you're picturing me. I know you are. That's why I sent you all those pictures. So you can know that it will work for us. I promise, darling." He reached out to touch her cheek, but Meredith pulled back, trying to squirm from his grasp.