The scraping of Lexie dragging her feet was the only sound to be heard. Mark silently followed her, trying to figure out what to say. She anxiously kept pressing re-dial, trying to find Avery. Trying to comfort him. But he was nowhere to be found. She stopped in front of his house, hoping to find him there but he wasn't. She concentrated hard, trying to see if there was a night light in his room from the window. She knew Avery's deepest secret. He was afraid of the dark. Therefore she knew he wasn't home. She slapped her hands to her side as her head swung down. She felt defeated. Mark studied her movements, & saw how compassionate she was about her friends. He thought it was... cute. He took a few steps closer to her, wanting to console her. But as she turned around and her face bumped in to his iron clad chest, all she wanted was for him to leave her alone.

She puts her hands in the air, wanting to hurt him badly. Her hands stop in at his face, as if she were restraining her own self. His eyebrow twitches curiously as he just stands there, staring at her.. Her hands start to tremble as they move closer to herself. She placed both of her index fingers lightly onto her temples. She let out a growl, as she rubbed them clockwise.

"I'm," he says slowly as he points his finger at her, "starting to get the feeling you're angry." Her eyes narrow, thinking of ways to kill him silently. She turns around and storms off. He follows her calmly putting his hands in his pocket. He leans toward her as he tries to keep her pace.. "Where are we going?"

She continues to growl as she stares at him from the corner of her eye. She closes her hands into fists, trying not to swing his way although she knows she will miss. "I AM, going home to speak to my sister. YOU are going somewhere else, that I could care less about."

"So, since you don't care. I'll go with you."

She looked at him with a disgusted face & he smirked with pleasure.

As she reached the house, she saw a familiar face coming their way. Her face lit up with joy, although she hadn't found Avery. If she could get Mark, who had seemed to be like a leech, off of her then she would feel much better.

She jumped, "Derek!" She ran to him and hugged him very tightly. He held back because he didn't understand what was going on. As she let go she eagerly spoke, "Get him away from me. If you don't help me now, you will never see Meredith again."

He looked at Mark, and in response Mark shrugged his shoulders. Derek Chuckled, "I'll see what I can do."

She stepped back, to realize that Meredith was around him. "Where's my sister?" She had a suspicious tone, which he knew she should, sooner or later.

He smiled, "I dropped her off an hour ago."

"Then why are you here," she responded.

He raises his hand and shows her Merediths' purse. Lexie made the O shape with mouth and grabbed it from him. "I'll take it to her. I need to talk to her about Avery. Please do me this favor tonight, and I'll make sure she never stops talking about you." She goes up the steps and closes the door behind her.

Meredith sat at the edge of her bed gazing out her window. The mild breeze touched her face as she closed her eyes. The memory of Derek calling her his Cinderella leeched its way into her brain making her heart beat a rapid pace, her fingers grasped the edge of her bed. She touched her neck softy only to realize she still wore her mothers necklace, the necklace her mother stole from Meredith's grandmother. She vowed only to wear it on special occasions but the thought of her mother dulled her senses and for only one false moment she forgot about Derek.

"No," she weakly said to herself. She understood that her mother was different from them all, she wouldn't be able to accept what she had given herself. Her elbows became weak and her back sunk inwards. She bit her lip to control the pain & to control the anger, she tried to close her eyes to make the thoughts go away, but this became impossible. Water leaked from her eyes and sunk deep into her royal blue dress. Meredith became...hopeless.

The doorknob began to turn and Meredith heard it turn although her back was facing the door. "Lexie" she asked weakly, "Is that you?" The door opened but no one said a word. Meredith turned her face slightly only to see the persons figure, and as she had done so her heart began to race again. She turned away and stared out the window again and ever so often did she look down.

"Mer," Lexie said sincerely.

"Hmm," she responded.

"Were you asleep?"

"I wish," she murmured.

"If it's a problem, I can come back later."

"Lexie, it's almost two in the morning. If it wasn't important , you wouldn't be here. Spill."

Lexie picked up the bottom of her dress and walked her way into Meredith's room. "Well, I can't find Avery," she said hesitating after every word.

Meredith's eyebrows rose just like Lexie's had, this made them look exactly alike. "What do you mean you can't find Avery. He was with you."

"Well he got upset because Cristina left with that older guy, and then he got even more upset because of that other older guy that likes me. So he left."

"Well, did you check his house?"

""No. His house light are off. He would have left his light on. He's afraid of the dark."

Awkward silence filled the room. Meredith stared at Lexie as if she were crazy, and after a slight moment Meredith walked to her phone. "I'm going to take care of this." She dialed a number and let it ring. Cristina picked up the phone and spoke as If she knew who it was. "You should watch this. Some girl can contort her head into 360."

After hearing Cristina's voice, Meredith completely lost sight of why she called and became interested in the conversation, "Really? Does she have bones in her neck?"

"Yeah that's the crazy part." Cristina responded, "I have a feeling she's like part owl or something."

"That's cool, does she have really big eyes that pop out-" Lexie dug into Meredith shoulder blade, "Ow," she pierced her eyes into Lexie's. She kept her hands on her shoulder and Meredith continued to speak, "Cristina, you have to go and find Avery."

"Why? Where is he?"

"Because he likes you & I don't know."

"But why? Its so late."

"Well you left him for a guy whose hair is the color of Ravioli."

"It's not the color of ravioli!"

"Either way you still have to find Avery."

"Why? He'll show up."

"Put it this way, if you don't do it, he'll end up going missing. He'll be on the news and Lexie over here will tell reporters that it was your fault he ran away. Cops will be after you and you'll be a fugitive. You don't want that do you?"

She let out a sigh, "Fine I'll go, but only because if I don't you wont leave me alone. Lexie knows I know 18 different pressure points that would make her whole system shut down. She wont try anything."

A few minutes later, Cristina found her way to the park which Avery had shown her earlier. He was sitting in front of the light show he had created. Cristina stopped before walking to him and just watched him. She had remorse for him, because she never knew how sad he was. She took a deep breath and sighed. She found her way to him and spoke.

"Hey stranger," she said as she found a seat next to him. His face was stunned but covered it up immediately.

"Hi," he said gloomily. He scooted an inch away from her.

"Why do you sound like that?"

"It's nothing," he responded quickly.

"Is it me?"

He stood quiet.

She sighed and laid back. She looked at him and spoke, "There's nothing special about me. I don't know why your whining."

He rolled his eyes and leaned forward. "You just don't get it," he shook his head, "Everything about you is special. The way you smile. The way you're assertive. You don't take no for anything. You're rock solid on the outside, but on the inside your like butter. I can be take care of you, Cristina. I just don't know why you can't see that..."

As he continued his speech Cristina became in tune with what he said, she became confused as well. She didn't know if it was him she was falling for or his words. She couldn't see herself with him but she just couldn't shake this feeling that he was doing something to her.

"Have you ever been in a relationship before," he said to her.

She looked him in the eye and responded, "Yes."

"What did he do to you to make you so cold?"

"He died."

Avery stood still.

"You have to know when to love and when to ignore people."

"Are you ignoring me?"

"No."

"Do you love me?"

"No."

"Do you at least like me?"

She hesitated, "Yes."

Avery never asked why because he didn't want to hear an answer that wasn't what he wanted. They spent the night talking about things they never could before. This is a start of a perfectly good friendship.