Chapter 14: He Met

Derek smoothly moved the table in the den out of the way. He then put the fireplace on to rid the room of the soft chill that was created form the coldness outside. He grabbed a pillow off the couch and sat down on the floor. He guided Meredith to sit in front of him. He spread his legs a little as she sat in front and wrapped his arms around her stomach. She relaxed into the touch. His chin rested comfortably on her shoulder. She sat cross-legged and placed the box in front of her. She stared at the box, daring it to open itself. He watched her face but didn't dare say anything.

A moment of panic arose in her face, but he held her tightly. Soothingly, he lightly kissed her shoulder and reached for the lid on the box. Her eyes watched his hands and she watched as the boxes contents came into view for the first time in years. There on top lied a blue blanket. Her breath caught in her throat. She froze. She wanted to run far away and hide. He could feel the tenseness in her body and his heart ached at the pain she might be feeling.

"Meredith," he said softly. She didn't say anything in return. Her eyes didn't move from the soft blue blanket.

"Meredith," he forced her face to look at him. He kissed her forehead lovingly and quietly said "tell me about Sean. Let me meet Sean."

"You want to meet Sean?"

"Yes, I want to know all about him." She nodded. She grew quiet as she contemplated what to tell him.

"Sean Richard Grey." He listened. He never talked and watched as a glimmer of something he had never seen in her eyes appears. "Sean Richard Grey." She hadn't said his full name in so long. She turned back to the box and shaking, she pulled out the blue blanked that sat on top.

"This was his blanket. He took it everywhere with him. His best friend." She picked at a stain and tears filled her eyes, "he spilled chocolate ice cream on it one day. I couldn't get it out. He cried and cried and cried and cried."

She reached into the box and pulled out a soft brown teddy bear with a red polka dot bow tie. "Richard bought him this the day he was born."

One by one items came out of the box, some cars, few pictures, some clothes and some toys. Derek gently looked at everything one by one. As each piece was taken out of the box Meredith got a little gigglier and told him about memories the two had created together. She laughed about times when they played in tents in the house, pretending to have a campout.

In the bottom of the box was a black album she had never seen before. She gently pulled it out and opened it up. Her hands shook so much she could barely turn the pages. Derek's hand swiftly covered hers and they turned to the first page with a picture of Sean. As they went through the pages, she found pictures of her and Sean and Alex, Izzie, Christina and Richard. A single tear fell from her eye and she quickly brushed it away.

"I threw all these out."

"You threw them out?" There were pictures of Meredith and Sean the day he was born through every birthday party and everything in between.

"I was so upset that I boxed up this stuff and threw all these photos out." Together they turned the pages and reached the end. On the very last page there was a picture of Meredith, Sean and Santa in a hospital room at the pediatrics Christmas party. Derek could see the sadness in her eyes in the photo. He could only assume that was Sean's last Christmas. Below the picture, smoothly written was:

With Love,

Izzie Stevens

"Oh my," her hands traced the letters. She turned to look Derek straight in the eye for the first time since they had started. She didn't know what to say. There was no way for her to repay Izzie for this. No ounce of gratitude could be given for this one memento of a life she had chose to forget.

"I need to find Izzie." She hurried.

"Now?"

"Yes now." It was late and she knew it. But she needed to find Izzie. But Meredith also new that with the hours Izzie worked, she'd be home baking.

"Now? It's midnight."

"You can stay here or come with Derek, either way I'm going now."

She turned off the fireplace quickly and grasped Derek's hand. They quickly through on their jackets and shoes and ran out the door. Meredith clutched the album tightly in her arms. Derek slid past her and opened the passenger side door of his car for her to get in.

She paused in front of the car. "Meredith, I'll take you to see Izzie but you have to get in the car." Derek laughed.

She looked at him, smiled softly and got in the car. He ran to the other side and got in. The drive was silent. His one hand rested on the steering wheel and the other held Meredith's hand. If it hadn't been holding her hand, her fingers would have been fidgeting the entire drive. Her eyes never left the windshield and the album was glued to her chest as Derek raced through town to get her to the hospital. She guided him through town to Izzie's apartment.

She rushed out of the car to the main door and buzzed Izzie's apartment. Derek followed soon after.

"Hello."

"Izzie let us up."

"Meredith do you know what time it is."

"Yes, let us up."

"Us? Who's us?"

"Us. Open the damn door Izzie."

"Ok. Hold on." Soon enough the door buzzed and Meredith darted through it. She was climbing the stairs so fast Derek had to climb two at a time to keep up with her. Soon they arrived at her door and Meredith knocked loudly. Derek leaned against the frame and tried to catch his breath.

"Open up Izzie."

"Good God Mer, what has gotten into you" Meredith ran into the apartment. Sure enough the smell of chocolate cupcakes filled her senses. Derek followed slowly and stood quietly in the doorway.

"Hi Alex," she said when she walked into the living area. He nodded sleepily in her direction. Meredith placed the album on the table and took off her jacket. She turned to Izzie who had a puzzled look on her face. Derek stood silently behind her with a slight smile on his face.

"I needed to say thank you."

"Thank you?"

"Yes, I needed to say thank you."

"Meredith, its midnight. I worked a double yesterday and I'm dead tired. You're going to have to be clearer."

Meredith took a deep breath and picked up the album and held it close to her. Izzie took in a quick breath and immediately knew what she was talking about.

"I needed to say thank you." She repeated.

"You opened the box." Izzie said dumbfounded.

"Yeah. Tonight, well basically just now. And I found this. Where did you get them? I was pretty sure I had tossed so many of them. I didn't know you still had these."

"Wait what's going on?" Alex seemed extremely confused. "What is that?" He asked, pointing to the album in her hands.

Izzie and Meredith sat on the couch together where Izzie took the album from Meredith and showed it to Alex.

Alex sat shocked and looked through all the pictures. "I saw you throw them in the garbage. I couldn't let you do that. I knew that one day you'd regret that decision. So I put them in the album and sent it to Christina. I knew she'd put it in there for you and you'd get it when you were ready. When did you open it?" Izzie said from where she sat next to Alex.

"Well I knew you were busy and Derek came by for dinner," Izzie's head turned to look at her with her eyebrow raised, "and the next thing I knew it was open and wait…" she looked around quickly. "Derek?"

He had been standing behind them quietly, knowing this was a family type moment and didn't want to intrude. She felt his hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. He watched her turn around and continued her story. "Anyways, we opened it and I went through it. I found this and I couldn't wait till tomorrow to say thank you" She gave her friend a hug and watched as Alex looked through the pages.

Meredith reached up and grabbed Derek's hand that was still sitting on her shoulder. She shuffled over a bit and Derek sat behind her. The four of the continued to talk for a little bit reminiscing over Sean and telling stories to Derek about a time Meredith had tried to forget. The pain was still there, but with Derek beside her, it felt okay to move forward and the pain seemed a little dimmer.