Something New

Chapter Sixteen

It's about 4:00 AM as Derek watches Maya examine Meredith in the ambulance. They're speeding through the city, and now the paramedic is finally getting the chance to do the exam Meredith wouldn't let her when she was awake.

The blonde is covered by a blanket, and Derek's stomach does flips when Maya rolls up the t-shirt Meredith has on, revealing horrible irritated burns and purple and blue bruises covering her midsection. 

Meredith's nose is obviously broken, so Maya quickly pops it back into place, determining that the swelling on the rest of her face should just go down with time and proper treatment.

He looks away as Maya continues, unable to observe every injury his girlfriend had taken over the past five days. The days where he hadn't been there to protect her as he'd promised. The days he worked to find her while she was repeatedly raped and beaten in a hellhole by a psychopath. 

Finally, the ambulance screeches to a halt and before it's even stopped moving the back doors are pulled open. He glances up and finds the faces of three doctors standing in front of him. None of them are looking at him though, they're looking at the unconscious woman on the stretcher. 

Cristina pulls away, covering her mouth with her hand. She can't bear to see her best friend like that. Alex is shocked, frozen to the ground where he's standing. Bailey is the first one out of her daze, getting everyone together with her sharp voice.

They pull Meredith out of the ambulance and rush her inside to a trauma room. Derek stays standing outside, not sure what to do with himself. He takes in the outside of the emergency entrance and finds Cristina sitting on a bench, head in her hands.

After debating for a second, Derek walks over and sits next to her.

"How does someone do that to a woman?" Cristina asks after sitting in silence for a few minutes.

"He's a serial killer psychopath, he's incapable of remorse and-"

"I didn't ask for a fucking lecture. That was a metaphorical question. Meredith is...she's everything. She's the strongest, most incredible woman I know, despite having been to hell and back. Why did this happen to her?" She cuts him off.

"It's my fault," Derek whispers. Her head snaps up to look at him. "It's my fault." He repeats himself louder. "William Dunn was targeting my team, specifically me. If Meredith had never met me...none of this would have happened to her. It's all my fault."

In a split second, Cristina is standing in front of him. Her eyes are bloodshot and held sadness a moment ago, now holding anger and a bit of disgust. "It's your fault?"

Derek can't look at her, instead studying the ground. Cristina's fists clench and unclench and she turns and walks away. She goes back into the ER, finding the trauma room that Meredith is in, still sedated. 

Derek stays on the bench, replaying the day he's had so far over and over again. Before he realizes it, he's sobbing. People come and go, not paying him much attention as people crying at the hospital aren't that uncommon. Derek finally has a chance to fall apart.

Alex stands in the back corner of the trauma room, unable to take his eyes off the woman on the table. Bailey is ordering nurses around, demanding that this be kept under wraps to try and preserve Meredith's privacy as much as possible.

Only specific people would be on her case and only the best surgeons from each department would work on her. Jackson and Callie walk in at the same time, and after getting their minute to stare in shock get to work.

A nurse hands Callie x-rays, which she studies for a moment before announcing, "Five broken ribs, a tibial spiral fracture, and an impact fracture on the radius."