You're Like Coming Home

67.

Meredith sighed as she turned over in bed that night, reaching lazily for Derek as she tried to fall back asleep. As she reached for him and found him thrashing beside her, she now realized what had pulled her out of her deep sleep in the first place.

"No," Derek whimpered. "Don't...No! Meredith!"

Meredith woke completely as she leaned over her husband, who was obviously panicking in his sleep.

Nightmares. He'd had them for months after his father had died, and now he was having them again. But he couldn't continue to toss and turn like this, because he would hurt his shoulder even more.

"Derek," she whispered, leaning over him and gently running her hands through his hair. "Derek, wake up. You're having a nightmare."

"Don't hurt her," he whimpered, tears streaming down his face even in sleep. "Me instead."

"Derek," Meredith whispered, tears filling her eyes as well. "Derek, please wake up." She knew he was dreaming about Dr. Brown and everything that they had been through the week before, and she wished she could make it stop. She just needed him to wake up, because he was obviously being tortured over this dream, and she hated seeing him like this. "Derek," she said his name more forcefully, shaking him gently. "I'm here. I'm here and I'm fine."

"Meredith...Mer," his voice suddenly became stronger, and his eyes fluttered open to look at her, confusion and fear mixed in his dark blue eyes.

"There you are," she smiled softly, running a hand through his hair as she leaned down to kiss him lightly. "It's okay, Der, you had a nightmare."

Derek inhaled deeply, pulling her close and burying his face in her hair. "You're okay," he whispered.

"I'm okay," she repeated. "Der, what happened?"

"We were back in the office," Derek whispered. "And he...he was trying to...he'd taped me to the chair and he was taking your clothes off. You were screaming, and I couldn't help you and I had to watch as he..."

"Oh, Derek," she whispered, squeezing his hand tightly. It seemed that she wasn't the only one afraid to have sex again. "I'm fine. He didn't hurt me. At least not like that."

"You were screaming for me," Derek whispered. "And I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything to help you."

"It was a dream," Meredith whispered softly. "A scary one, but...it didn't happen. And I'm sure if it had happened, you would have flown into one of your protective caveman stunts and busted through that duct tape."

Derek laughed softly. "You think you're secretly married to the Hulk?" he asked.

"Well, you do turn into a green monster every now and then," she giggled. "But don't worry. The jealousy's cute. Until it gets annoying."

Derek sighed as he tightened his arm around her. "Did I wake you?" he asked.

"Kind of," Meredith said. "I was half awake and then I felt you moving and got worried about your shoulder..."

"Oh," Derek nodded, looking down at his shoulder.

"Does it hurt?" Meredith asked, reaching out to lightly run her hand over it.

"A little," Derek said. "No more than it did when we went to sleep."

"Hmmm," Meredith nodded. "I love you, Derek."

"I love you too."

"Sleep now?" she whispered.

"Sleep's good," Derek nodded.

"Wake me up if you have another nightmare," she murmured as she closed her eyes again.

"Hmmm," Derek nodded, pressing his lips to the top of her head, doubting that he would go back to sleep again that night. Meredith's desperate pleas for him in his sleep were too much for him to bear, and he couldn't listen to them if he didn't have to. So he would just lie there, cradling his wife in his arms as she slept and make sure that he would do everything in his power to protect her.