After a few days of being on heavy painkillers and sedatives Meredith woke up in the middle of the night. Her room was dark, she could barely see a thing and started to panic

Derek woke up by the sound of the monitors that were keeping a watch on his sleeping wife.

"Mer?" He sat up right and turned on the lights. She was even more terrified and Derek tried to grab her hand but it was too much. Bailey ran in by the sound of beeping and asked what's wrong

"Sedate her again!" Addison said

Bailey nodded and turned around to go grab the sedative

'Bailey is grabbing a sedative, you're okay" Derek wrote down on the white board. Meredith gave him a nod while her eyes were only showing fear.

After a bit, Bailey ran in and injected the sedative into Meredith's IV and closely after, her eyes started drooping.

Derek slammed his fist against the wall "Fuck all of this!" He started crying

"Derek" Addison sighed and put her hand on his shoulder

"Don't.. please" He begged her with a very tiny voice, his eyes showing vulnerability

"I'm so sorry, Derek" Addison said

"I'm sorry too. I never should have let her go" He murmured

"Derek, this isn't your fault! Don't blame yourself" Bailey spoke

"Derek?" Alex walked in and saw the hopeless expressions

"Yeah?" He turned to look at Alex

Alex was shocked by how Derek looked. He was pale and his eyes were red from crying, tears still streaming down with every breath he took

"I stopped at your house to pick up some stuff for the kids. We'll take them for as long as needed" Alex said

Derek nodded "Thanks" He whispered

"Maybe tomorrow you should go and see them. Take your mind off from everything that's currently happening" Alex said

"No! I'm not leaving her alone" Derek said

"Derek, listen to Karev" Bailey said

"Addi, Alex? Can you guys stay here?" Derek asked

The two of them nodded

"Okay" Derek sighed and went back to watching his wife

...

Meredith woke up in the late morning. The rain dripped on her window as she was waking up. A few seconds later her eyes were wide open, noticing Derek that was writing on the whiteboard

'Morning'

Meredith nodded and started staring at the door. After a couple of minutes she started to wiggle a bit but soon regretted it because of the pain she felt.

Derek reached out his hand as Meredith had no clue what to do.

She was scared, she felt humiliated and for now she lost the ability to hear or speak. After a few seconds she carefully took Derek's hand with her right hand as she nodded

Derek slowly came closer and waited for her approval. She nodded again and Derek took place in the chair next to her bed. She was looking right into Derek's eyes as a few tears escaped her eyes. Derek was almost scared to wipe them away. Scared that she would be scared of his touch. Slow and gentle, Derek grabbed a tissue. He notices that unexpected movements scare her. He handed her the tissue and she accepted it. She wiped away her tears as carefully as possible because of the bruises on her face.

Derek took her hand back in his as he felt the tiniest squeeze in his hand, he turned his head towards Meredith and she started sobbing

Derek was hesitating and Meredith almost looked ashamed, as if she felt guilty.

Derek couldn't see her this way so he decided to take the risk and got closer, grabbing her arm and carefully pulling her in his embrace, being careful of her jaw and casted limbs

He felt her body relax in his arms and after a bit he slowly pulled away. His fingers stroking her hair

'I'm sorry' He wrote on the whiteboard

'No, Der. I'm sorry' She wrote as he turned the whiteboard towards her

'Mer, you've done nothing wrong. You're safe now' He wrote back

She looked at her lap for a bit, not knowing if she wanted to change the subject

'Kids?' She wrote

'They're fine. Alex got them. I'll go see them later' Derek wrote back

'Miss them' She wrote back

'I'll let them make some drawings and once you're a bit better, they can come in. How does that sound?' He wrote

She nodded and patted the bed

He hesitated and she noticed so she patted the bed again. Derek carefully climbed in the bed with her as she rested her head against his shoulder

'Sleep. I'm staying here' He wrote

'Wake me if you go' She wrote back

He nodded and kissed the top of her head. She flinched at first but immediately after, her right hand grabbed his and she fell asleep.

...

"Karev, I'm waking her up first" Derek said as Alex entered the room

"Addison will be here soon, don't wake Mer"

"She asked me to wake her and so I'm doing that" Derek said

He gently stroked her hair before slightly shaking her.

She gasped as she woke up. She looked as if she was about to freak out. Her eyes focussed on Alex but it seemed as if she didn't recognize him

Derek tried to distract her and get her attention

"Mer!" He snapped his fingers

She looked away and into his direction

"Mer?"

She nodded

"Mer!" He laughed "You can hear? You- you hear me?" He gasped

She nodded and started sobbing

"Shh.. you're fine" Derek whispered "Are you okay if Addi and Alex stay here?" Derek asked

She flinched a bit at hearing Alex' name but she immediately composing herself and nodded with a small and sad smile

Derek nodded back and kissed her head before helping her lay down again.

"You good?" He asked as she nodded

"You sure that I can go?" He asked

Meredith nodded again

"How's she doing?" Bailey asked as she ran into the room.

Meredith almost jumped out of the bed as she winced in pain

"Shh, it's okay. it's okay, you're okay" Derek said as he pulled her into his arms

Meredith nodded and let Derek help her lay down again

"I'm so sorry, Meredith." Bailey said "And I see your hearing returned? I'm happy" She gave a small smile