Chapter 24: Cracking the Code

Derek slammed through the door on the first floor, making it down the five flights of stairs in record time. His eyes frantically searched the sparse crowd of friends and coworkers mixed with black uniformed SWAT team officers and FBI agents, until he found what he was looking for.

Carwyn sat on a chair in the lobby, Mark on one side Addison on the other, as Izzie kneeled in front of her. Izzie seemed to be doing a pediatric trauma assessment as the lead detectives hovered over her anxiously. Derek could feel Carwyn's fear and anxiety from across the room as he hurried over in large strides.

His daughter's face was still and expressionless, her eyes wide and lost. The crowd parted as Derek neared, granting him access to his little girl. Izzie stood, letting Derek take her place in front of the unblinking child. Derek kneeled and grasped Carwyn's two small hands in his large protective ones.

Carwyn stared straight a moment unseeing, until recognition slowly dawned, and she seemed to snap out of her terrified trance. She lunged her small body into Derek's arms, and he stood with her, holding her tight against his chest. He felt her small arms wrap forcefully around his neck and he buried his face in her soft hair. Derek breathed her in, she shared the same scent as her mother and Derek felt his heart flutter a little in his chest. His baby was safe. He had her in his arms and he momentarily thought he'd never let go.

He heard Carwyn whimper softly in his ear and for the first time since running to her escape, Carwyn started crying. Derek soothingly stroked her hair and whispered gently. He told her everything was going to be okay. She was safe now. Her daddy had her and he would never let anyone take her from him ever again.

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind him snapped him out of the moment and reminded him that he and Carwyn were not alone.

"I'm sorry Dr. Shepherd, I don't mean to interrupt… but we're running out of time." It was Agent Mulder who was watching the father and daughter closely, anxious for any lead on the whereabouts of the wanted man.

Derek nodded slowly. He could clearly see how traumatized Carwyn was from the whole ordeal, but knew they were playing against the clock. They needed to find Meredith.

"Carwyn princess?" Derek murmured softly, trying to coax his daughter to loosen the death grip she held on his neck.

"Sweetheart… look at Daddy." He tried again.

Derek moved away from the intimidating crowd and took a seat on one of the empty chairs. Carwyn's hold slowly relaxed, and she pulled back slightly, to look up questioningly into her daddy's face. Derek swallowed all the emotions that were flooding through his mind and focused on reassuring his daughter. She needed to know she was safe. She needed to forget her fear so she could help them find her mother.

He gave Carwyn an encouraging smile before he began. "Carwyn? Do you know where mommy is?"

Worry flashed across the four year old's face as she glanced around the room at all the people, frozen on what the small child had to say.

Derek tenderly placed his hands on each side of her tiny face and forced her to look in his eyes. "Carwyn. It's okay. It's just me and you. I love you very much and you're safe now. I also love your mommy… and I want her to be safe too. Do you think you can remember what happened? How did you get away? Do you know where mommy is?"

Carwyn stared back into her daddy's deep eyes with uncertainty. Derek sighed and was about to push further when something changed in his daughter's expression. A light went off somewhere behind her dark eyes and her face softened.

"What is it Carwyn?" Derek asked forcing his voice to remain steady.

Carwyn bit her bottom lip, painfully reminding him of her one of her mother's adorable habits. He could see the little wheels spinning in her head as she tried to remember something. Then suddenly, to Derek's surprise, Carwyn reached in her small front pocket and retrieved a silver cell phone.

Derek gasped as realization dawned that it wasn't just a cell phone, but Meredith's cell phone.

"Mama said to give this to you." Carwyn's small light voice rang out through the unusually silent room.

He furrowed his brow as he accepted the phone from his daughter and turned it over in his hand a few times. Why had she given away her phone? Why hadn't she instead tried to call for help? Questions swarmed around Derek as he slowly opened the phone, trying to wrap his head around what this might mean.

He absentmindedly scrolled through the numbers, fifteen missed calls from him, no outgoing calls in the last few hours. He then pulled up her messages and noticed a saved text labeled: 4 D.

This confused him more, but he opened it none the less. He stared at the jumbled letters as he tried to make sense of it all.

C cret rum bas mnt

I luv U D

Derek handed the phone over to the anxious FBI agents who now stood hovering over him and Carwyn. Carwyn rested on his chest and he rubbed her back soothingly as he played the letters around and around in his head.

"That bad man took me daddy."

Derek looked down surprised. "I'm so sorry honey. I bet you were so scared. I'm sorry."

"I don't like the dark daddy. It's scary."

This peaked Derek's attention. "I know Princess. Is that where mommy is? In a dark room?"

He felt her nod against his chest, and didn't think she was going to elaborate until he heard her small voice. "Yep. Down those stairs in the dark."

Understanding hit the crowd of men at the same time and they jumped into action. The agents started radioing their men and directing them down in the basement. The SWAT members who stood idly around leaped to their duties, all headed downstairs.

Agent Mulder handed Meredith's cell phone back to Derek as he moved over to his makeshift desk at a table in the room and began scouring over a copy of blueprints they had acquired of Seattle Grace. The agents discussed something as they radioed further commands to the men downstairs.

Derek turned his attention back to the message Meredith had left on her phone and was quickly joined by his friends.

"What do you think it means?" Burke asked first.

"I'm not sure…" Derek replied slowly, desperately struggling for understanding.

He looked back down once more and was about to snap the phone shut when comprehension slapped him across the face. It wasn't a code or a mysterious riddle. She was spelling out in bold letters where she was.

"Secret room basement!" Derek shot out, causing his friends to look at him surprised.

"What? You think she's in a secret room in the basement?" Alex asked skeptically.

"I don't think… I know. That's what this first part says." Derek held the phone out so they could see for themselves.

"Okay… then what's D? I love you D?"

"I'm D!" Derek said rolling his eyes, producing soft laughs at his childlike excitement.

Derek stood with Carwyn still in his arms and crossed over to the deserted table that held the hospital blue prints. It was still open to the basement lay out and was highlighted and marked to all the areas the SWAT was currently searching.

Derek was immediately joined by the rest of the men, Mark and Richard directly beside him.

Mark shook his head unsure. "I don't know… Karev and I searched it pretty good. I don't know what we could have missed."

The men stared silently at the large sheet of paper for a moment before the retired chief spoke. "What's the date on these plans? Something doesn't look right." He scratched his head confused for a moment before snapping his fingers in the air.

"These plans were made after they remodeled the hospital back in '95. Look here…" He pointed to the area labeled storage, "…this is where the old morgue was located. It was made up of one large room and a few offices. It's not even marked on here. I'm almost positive it's still down there… "

Everyone exchanged a glance full of renewed hope. Derek felt his hands start to shake with anticipation. They were going to find his Meredith.

"Carwyn? Will you sit here with your Aunts' while daddy goes and finds mommy?"

Carwyn nodded, feeling the heaviness of the situation, and let Addison take her from her daddy's arms.

The men stole one last glance at the women who watched on anxiously, before turning back to one another.

Derek nodded and brought his hands together in a loud clap. "All right," he declared. "Let's go get my girl."