The end is just the begining

Part thirteen - Why me?

Warning: awkwardness

The tears on Meredith's face were clouding her vision, but as soon as she heard his voice, she knew who it was. Alex. But why Alex? Why was he the one being her knight and shining armor?  Slowly her tears faded, and she looked over at him, worried. Alex looked back with the same look on his face. He watched her calm down before saying anything. He gave her a small smile as he began to speak, trying his best to be comforting.  

"Mer," Alex finally spoke, he sighed as he spoke and sat next to her on the stairs. "I know you're scared, but you're okay." 

"No, I am not," Meredith spoke stumbling on her words. They both looked up to see George looking down at them. He too looked worried. Alex and George exchanged awkward glances, unsure what to say to one another. Meredith could feel the awkwardness growing as the two sat there. 

"The men left the hospital, she's scared." George stammered, looking over at Alex. They just nodded, as if he already knew. 

"I know." He muttered under his breath. 

"Look-" George tried, but was cut off by Meredith. 

"I need coffee," Meredith mumbled, pushing Alex just enough that he got out of her way. She wobbled over to the kitchen, her phone in her hand. When she was alone, she began to look up what was going on. She found nothing. 

Still in the kitchen, Meredith had gotten a phone call from an unknown number. Foolishly, she answered it. Her eyebrows furrowed as she said a soft hello to the person on the other end. Alex had walked in as she was on the phone, he watched her facial expressions as she spoke. Curious as to who she was talking to at this time. 

"Hello, Meredith," A crisp voice spoke on the other end. She cringed, the voice was too familiar. Tears sprung from her eyes. She began to shake as the voice continued "I hope you're hiding, we're coming." 

"N-no," She stammered looking over at Alex who began to walk slowly closer to her "You can't. You'll never find me!" Meredith almost yelled into the phone. At that point, Alex grabbed the phone, put it to his ears, and listened. 

"Yes, we will." The voice chuckled. 

"Listen, dude," Alex growled, his hand gripping the phone in his hand. Anger is taking over. "You'll have to go through me first and you'll sure as hell won't be able to." 

After that, the phone call ended on the other end and it was silent. Alex sighed and looked over at Meredith who now had tears streaming down her face. She looked scared and lost at the same time. Alex put her phone in his pocket and pulled her in for a hug. He felt bad for her, he wanted to protect her. 

"It was them wasn't it?" George spoke softly. No one had noticed that he was in the kitchen with them. He must've come in after Alex. All Meredith could do was nod, she was speechless.  

Just then a knock was heard, it made all of them turn their heads in the direction of the door. They were all even more on edge, not knowing what was going to happen. The door had creaked open, but thankfully it was only Cristina. She calmly came through the door, seeing everyone in the kitchen she walked in to join them. 

"Hey," She spoke softly walking over to Meredith "It's okay." Meredith stepped back from Cristina and Alex. 

"No, It's not okay!" Meredith stammered her voice becoming raspy. She looked around the room "Stop saying that!" She yelled, her fists balling up. She looked at the three worried people in front of her. 

"Mer-"

"No, I-I can't with this. Everything is not okay! I was hurt in ways I can't even explain. You all keep saying it's okay. It's not!" She yelled, her voice shaking, she began to walk out of the room but was stopped by Alex's hand reaching out and grabbing her elbow. 

"We get it you're scared," He whispered, looking her into her eyes "But don't take off again. Tell us what you need or want." 

"I don't know!" Meredith yelled, raising her hand in the air in defeat. She looked around the room, trying to think of something, anything. But nothing could come to mind "They can't find me here can they?" She spoke, her voice now soft. 

"I-I don't think so," George stammered, unsure of what to say to comfort her. "This is a different house than when you were younger." 

"Right," Meredith mumbled, looking down at the floor. They all slowly sat down at the kitchen table. All awkwardly looking at each other. Alex spoke after a few seconds passed. 

"Would you feel more comfortable if you went somewhere else?" He offered 

"Like a road trip?" George chimed in 

"Or Derek's trailer," Cristina spoke "It's secluded and off the grid. You'd feel safer."  

"Right," Meredith mumbled, continuing to look at the ground "I don't get why it has to be me in this situation. I wouldn't want this to be put on anyone else, but why me?" 

"I'm sorry Mer," Alex whispered "You don't deserve to be scared." He told her, gently rubbing her shoulder. Trying his best to comfort her. 

After a few seconds went by, everyone's pagers began to go off all at once. All besides Meredith's, she looked over at everyone as they grabbed their pagers and looked at what it was. They all looked worried at each other. 

"Buss crash," Cristina muttered

"That's awful," George winced, slipping on his jacket. 

"Are you okay to drive to the trailer?" Alex spoke, putting his pager back into his pocket. His facial expression was soft, much less than the others. Who looked worried and scared. 

"Yeah," Meredith mumbled, putting on her jacket as well and grabbing her keys "I-I should be fine." She stammered, following the others out the door. She looked outside, feeling the cold weather brush her cheeks. She watched as they all left for their cars, except Christina. She stayed and waited for Meredith to get in her car as well. But she didn't she stood there frozen. 

"Meredith?" Christina finally spoke snapping her out of her daze "What can I do?" 

"I-I don't know," she stammered "But go, you're going to get in trouble if you don't answer your pager." 

"It's you, they'll under-"

Before she could even answer a black Mercedes pulled up, stopping her from continuing. Neither of them recognized the vehicle. A tall man stepped out of the vehicle, his hair combed back and he was in a suit. He adjusted his coat and looked over at them. That's when Meredith knew, she knew who he was. Fear had struck her at that moment and she froze like a deer in the headlights. 

"Run," Meredith stammered, shoving Christina back into the house. They both ran back into the house and quickly out the back door.  But they were greeted by another man on the other side. This time a man in ragged clothing. His beard was grayer than his hair, his shirt and jeans ripped. 

"Hello, Meredith," He spoke softly.  

"No!" Meredith screamed, slamming the door and grabbing Christina's arm. They both ran upstairs and hid in one of the bathroom closets. Trying to catch their breath as they looked up numbers on their phones.