Chapter 4: At the Tip of Her Tongue

Izzie, Alex, George, and Callie sat uncomfortably in the living room. George and Callie took the green plush couch, leaving Izzie and Alex to share the matching loveseat. Their intruder, Detective Henry, didn't take the seat they offered him. Instead, he paced before the group, hands behind his back, a pondering look on his worn face.

"Let me see if I got this straight. This house, that all four of you occupy, belonged to Meredith's mother, Ellis Grey, until she passed away last fall leaving this," he gestured to the house they currently sat in, "and her small fortune to her only daughter, Meredith." They all nodded silently at the disturbed detective. "To your knowledge," he went on, " she's never met with the attorney to sign papers to finalize the transfer of property, and she hasn't shown up at the bank to claim her…" he glanced down at a small notebook where he kept his notes, "…2.3 million dollars."

Detective Henry stopped pacing and rubbed his chin. Things just weren't adding up. Ever since he'd gotten the call from the doctor to look into possibly locating this Meredith Grey, things hadn't made sense. He turned back to the four pairs of eyes that were watching him intently. He made eye contact with each one of them before returning to his pacing. They were telling the truth. That he knew without any doubt. He was in this line of work for almost 30 years now, first with the Seattle PD, then breaking off to begin his private practice almost ten years ago. He was good at reading people, and these people sitting in front of him were very easy to read. It wasn't hard to see the pain and sadness they felt. They all felt abandoned by one of their family members. He could also see a trace of anger in their eyes. The way she left was cruel, half a note, no call or letter after that. She had just disappeared into thin air. That was what was making the detective uncomfortable.

After a few awkward moments, the silence was broken once again by the detective, "Did she leave any belongings behind? Any papers or books? What about her farewell note everyone has talked about, did you happen to keep it?" He knew it was a long shot, but that's how some of the harder cases were solved. Long shots.

The four of them exchanged glances and no one spoke. Each of them were dealing with conflicting emotions. They hadn't asked who had hired the detective. They didn't need to, they all knew there was only one man who could, all these years later, still haunted by Meredith's sudden goodbye.

George silently decided that an investigation couldn't hurt. He forgave Meredith. Even though it was an understanding between all of his close friends that no one brought her up, he thought about her constantly. "Um yeah, actually," George quickly glanced at Izzie and she nodded, wordlessly agreeing that they should help the detective. "We put all of her stuff in boxes when we realized she wasn't coming back. We just recently put the boxes down in the basement when we found out my wife was pregnant and decided to use Meredith's old room for a nursery." Callie grabbed one of George's hands in a show of support. He stood up, letting go of his wife's hand, and motioned for the detective to follow him.

They all decided to follow as George led Detective Henry to the back of the house and down the dark staircase to the basement. George found the light switch and quickly flipped it up, letting the single light bulb illuminate the dusty room. The place was cluttered with dusty boxes and covered furniture, most of it belonging to Meredith's mom. Cobwebs decorated the corners and Izzie let out a dainty sneeze as the musty air tickled her nose. In the corner closest to them sat three boxes. It was obvious they were recently placed down there, still clean and freshly taped. The dust yet to claim them as victims. Each one of the men grabbed a box and hauled it up the stairs, the girls following closely behind.

When they returned to the living room, they heaved the boxes on the floor and George and Alex sat back to see what the detective would do next. He retrieved a small silver pocket knife from a pocket in his pants and slowly cut the tape on the first box. He opened it to reveal women clothing.

"Two of the boxes are just some clothing she left here, and from her locker at work. The other one contains books and papers, and yes, the note she left is in that one." George informed the detective.

At this Alex raised his eyebrows towards George. He hadn't known they'd kept the note. He really hadn't paid much attention when they'd packed her belongings, letting George and Izzie handle it all.

They all lapsed back into silence as the detective once again sliced the tape with his tiny knife. This was the box the detective was looking for. He kneeled down on his knees, reached in and pulled out a couple medical research books, setting them to the side. He shuffled through some papers until his eyes rested on what he'd been searching for. He sucked in a quick breath and reached for the small cream-colored book. He opened the first page and let out his breath relieved. It was her diary. He shuffled through the box a little more until he found an old notebook of paper and George explained the note was folded inside it, just how they found it five years earlier.

That was one of the things that made the detective uneasy. She didn't hand the note to her friends, or even laid it on the table for them to find. They simply stumbled across it as they searched her room when they hadn't heard from her. The detective rocked back on his heels and slowly took the folded paper out. It was folded once in half. It was addressed to Derek. She started by confessing of her love for him. It then went on to say she did not regret what had happened between them. Detective Henry immediately assumed she was referring to what had happened at their doctor "prom".

Before taking on the case, he made Doctor Shepherd tell him the whole story of him and Meredith. He didn't let him leave anything out as painful as it was. Meredith's note then continued with how she needed space and if things were meant to be she'd be back. That was it. He could tell that there were a couple sentences that followed but then been erased. He held it to the light but couldn't make out what it said. There was nothing else on the paper. No closing. She hadn't even signed her name. The experienced detective knew right away that this was an unfinished letter, but didn't say a word to the curious onlookers as he silently refolded the old piece of paper in half and stuck it back in the notebook. By glancing quickly, he noticed a lot of other random bits of information written in there as well, to do lists, reminders. He stood up and stretched his back. He spent too long here and had other things he needed to get done. He grabbed the diary and notebook and informed the group he was going to hang on to them for a while longer. Izzie was a little uncomfortable with the thought that he was going to go through her diary. She and George hadn't even opened it, thinking it was the biggest intrusion into privacy.

The detective headed towards the foyer and turned to thank the four new acquaintances for their time. He promised to return the few things he took in a couple of days and disappeared out the front door.

"Excuse me, Mary?"

The woman, who was most definitely not named Mary, looked up from the place she sat on the floor, papers spread around her in every direction.

"Yes?" she answered Alice, the older woman who was quickly becoming her friend. Mary was working in this small office for two and a half weeks and was nearing the completion of her assignment. Alice, as usual, was amazed at her speed and accuracy and her ease in dealing with all the medical jargon.

"I need to get these files to a social worker upstairs, and I can't leave. I was wondering if you'd mind?" Alice held out a small stack of vanilla-colored files towards the woman she called Mary.

"No problem." She jumped up from where she was sitting all morning and took the files. Alice instructed her where she'd find the office and she hurried on her way.

Only minutes later she found what she was looking for and slowly opened the heavy wooden door. She stepped inside and was immediately greeted by a brown-haired woman. She looked to be in her very early 30's.

"Can I help you?" The brown haired woman asked getting up from her desk to greet her visitor.

"Um, Ms. Jenkins sent up these files," she answered handing the files over to their rightful owner.

"Oh yes, of course. Thank you….?" She paused waiting for her to give her name.

"Mary." There it was again. That awful, twisting feeling, in the pit of her stomach. Would she ever get used to the not knowing.

"Mary," the dark haired girl repeated furrowing her brows. "I'm sorry you just look so familiar. Do I know you?"

"Um… sorry… I don't think so," Mary stammered. "Who… What is your name?" She tried to be polite knowing that it wouldn't make a difference either way. The likeliness of anyone knowing her in this strange city was quite slim.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she answered extending a hand in her visitor's direction. "I'm Allison. I'm a social worker for the city of Seattle. I've lived here for almost 6 years, moved here from Arizona. How long have you lived here?"

"Oh, only a few months." She replied to the inquisitive social worker, taking her hand to shake.

"Really? Well, how do you like it so far? You know I had an awful experience shortly after I first moved here, but it's made me who I am today." Allison professed.

"Oh? How's that?" She really didn't want to stay and keep up the small talk, but for some reason she was strangely curious about what the woman meant.

"I was walking in the park one day, about three weeks after I moved here and was attacked. I fought back with every ounce of my strength and got pretty banged up in the process. It was an attempted rape but because of my determination he failed. I actually ended up hurting him, and when he came to the hospital to be helped, they caught him. It was a very scary experience that I nearly didn't survive. Both of my parents passed away in my early 20's and so I was all alone in a strange city. I owe my life to some very talented and compassionate surgeons at Seattle Grace Hospital. Because of them I made a complete recovery and vowed to do something to help those that might be in the same situation that I found myself. I became a social worker."

Astonishment filled the blue-grey eyes that usually only held confusion and uncertainty. What an amazing story. She searched Allison's face and for the first time saw the slight hint of a few scars. Some were long and traveled down the length of her cheek. Others small. She also noticed some on her hands and arms. They weren't too obvious; time had smoothed them out for the most part. But if you looked closely, you could see them.

"I don't know why, but I feel like we've met before. Are you sure you don't remember me?" Allison brought her attention back to her earlier question.

The hesitant woman searched Allison's face once more. Did she know her? Had they met before? Her stomach turned again, but this time she felt something different. Almost hopeful, optimistic. She felt like the answer was on the tip of her tongue. She was so close. Maybe she did know this woman. She tried to slow the racing of her heart and took a deep breath. She was being ridiculous.

"I'm sorry I don't think so." She said once more, and with that turned on her heals and left.

Meredith was so close to opening up one of her memories! What do you think will happen next?