Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of its characters.

Don't hate me for starting another story, please. I just wanted to have a story where I can write my characters together. This will be a semi-short, very fluffy fanfiction. I am overwhelmingly joyus Mark and Lexie are FINALLY back together. I just wanna spread the love. :) Read and Review! Let me know what you think!

Whisper Hello, I Miss You Quite Terribly

Lexie Grey disliked very few things. It was in her nature to possess as much crippling optimism as one singular person could possibly hold. Any innate inclination towards distaste of any new situation she experienced was overlooked in order to find the best possible outcome, which eventually, with most things, she could find. However, there were some material items and abstract concepts that she just couldn't bring herself to be okay with.

Clowns were one thing she couldn't find happiness in, they were just creepy and taunting and masked and creepy… and creepy. Guns were another; maybe before Mr. Clark destroyed her safe haven with the mere tug of a trigger Lexie was okay with the idea of the handheld weapon. Or maybe she had disliked them from the start? She couldn't quite remember anymore, all events that preceded the hospital shooting fell into a gentle haze. She could recall feelings and emotions from specific events if she focused all her energy into the act, but it was like her mind shut down those five years ago when the barrel of that gun was placed in front of her face, and she had trouble evoking concrete memories, especially vivid, in-depth ones. The last thing she disliked, the very thing that shook her to her core with terror, was December.

She knew it was weird, she knew it was childish, but she had a very real, very absolute fear of the month of December. Maybe it was because of what it represented, family and communion, both of which she had none. Maybe it was because it reminded her of what she was lacking, reminded her that she was lacking everything. Maybe it was because it brought back to faint memories of leaving Seattle Grace five years ago, leaving her sister, leaving her friends, leaving her life, leaving him. But, if she was being honest with herself, it was probably the compilation of all those factors, and the pain that she was so accustomed to accompanying them.

Five years ago, Lexie Grey decided she needed a fresh start; she needed a place that didn't immortalize her sister and her sister's dead mother. She needed a home that wasn't completely dysfunctional, a role model that wasn't a lost cause and too busy drowning his own sorrows in tequila to see her pain, and a relationship that didn't form and break on the basis of secrecy and sex. Lexie Grey needed stability, for once in her life, Lexie Grey convinced herself she was taking control. She had moved to Chicago and began finishing her residency with a remarkable vigor and passion. She didn't have the dramatics that surrounded Seattle Grace, of which continuously distracted her from advancing her career. She didn't have the fearless sister that every attending wished they had in their OR, the prodigal child to be constantly compared to. She didn't have a previous relationship with an attending hanging over her head, a relationship that ended because she wasn't good enough or open enough or old enough to understand his choices. At Chicago Presbyterian she had a fresh start. She was completely focused on advancing her career, completely capable to tackle any obstacle she came across, and completely and utterly lonely.

In the right mindset, Lexie would have declined her sister's offer to spend Christmas in Seattle. Lexie had spent the last five years making a life of her own, avoiding every possible reminder of her past. During Thanksgiving, as well as Christmas, every year, she worked. Chicago Pres was different than Seattle Grace in that the residents in Chicago had lives outside of the hospital; they had families they wanted to go home to, they had plans for weekends and holidays, leaving vacancy in the hospital for Lexie to fill as much as she possibly could. This Thanksgiving, while on call, Lexie received a call from Meredith at seven at night. Though both ends meant to keep the conversation short, Lexie didn't hang up until she got a page from the hospital at midnight. Meredith told her about Seattle, expertly avoiding subjects that might make Lexie rush a goodbye. And in the warmth and subtle understanding that Lexie felt enveloped with every time she spoke with her sister, Meredith asked Lexie to spend December in Seattle, and Lexie accepted. As far as family was concerned, both Grey's had sparse; Thatcher was living in a rehabilitation center in Florida, Molly moved to Boston for her husband's job. However, the difference between Meredith and Lexie was that Meredith had made and maintained a family with the Seattle Grace staff, while Lexie was simply alone.

As Meredith and Lexie talked, a pang stabbed at Lexie's heart. Suddenly, all she desired was to be in the presence of family, people who knew her, people who understood all that she had been through. She left Seattle to escape, run from all the people who knew every single detail about her personality, her past, her pain. But sitting crossed legged on a bed in the on-call room of Chicago Presbyterian, all Lexie wanted was to be known. She longed to feel as though she wasn't alone.

Lexie talked herself into getting on the plane the evening of December 1st. Though, she had been able to thoroughly convince herself Seattle would be good for her during her phone call with her sister, she found all the reasons she wanted to stay in the safety of Chicago vastly outweighing all of the reasons she should leave. As her plane landed and she walked to pick up her luggage, Lexie was suddenly overcome with the weight of her past. Her hands started to shake and she gripped her the bag that was slung on her shoulder with all her might. Her knuckles turned white as she retrieved her luggage and made her way to a taxi.

Seattle greeted Lexie with a slight snowfall, a white so thin you could still make out the colors of the trees, roads, signs, and everything else it covered. The cab took her to the doors of Seattle Grace, she paid the driver as he emptied her luggage from the trunk. Standing at the doors that led into a vault that held all of the memories she could ever wish to remember, all of the memories she needed to give her hope, to bury her in embarrassment, to instill happiness, to cause her in pain, Lexie wished she had never left the comfort she had created hiding away in Chicago.

Lexie took a deep breath and pulled her pea coat tighter against her shivering body, she contemplated the risks and the benefits of running away at this point. Unfortunately, any hope for escape was squandered as a voice came up behind her, "You going in anytime soon? Or are you going to wait until they have to treat you for hypothermia?"

Lexie turned to be met with a startling pair of blue eyes, she sighed at the realization that running into her past was inevitable and she was just going to have it. "Hey Avery."

The handsome surgeon smiled, taking one of Lexie's two bags, "Hiya little Grey."

Lexie rolled her eyes with a smile at the use of her old nickname, she picked her remaining bag up and followed Avery into the hospital.

"How was your flight?" Avery asked, striking conversation as they waited for the elevator to arrive.

"It was good," Lexie nodded awkwardly, looking around the hospital. "Very little turbulence."

Avery chuckled at her discomfort, "They're not here, you know." Commenting on the brunette's wandering eyes.

Lexie blushed a bit, focusing her gaze on her luggage as they entered the elevator, "Who's not here?" She asked in clarification.

Avery ran a hand over his shaved head, "All of them. I mean, Meredith is upstairs, finishing up some post-ops, but Shepard, Yang, Hunt, Torres, Karev, Bailey, the Chief, Robbins, Altman, Sloan they're all not here, they're gone already."

Lexie released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, at the mention of his name, her stomach erupted in pathetic little butterflies, she was ashamed and excited at the reaction the simple allusion to his presence could cause within her. "They're gone already."

The elevator opened and the two residents walked onto the surgical floor, "So how have- um, how have you been?" Lexie asked hesitantly. She didn't mean to be rude, but she also hadn't known him too terribly well before her departure. She knew he had lost friends in the shooting, and she knew she wasn't around for the aftermath of it all to come crashing down upon everyone. She knew he had begun to live in Meredith's house and that him and her sister had become friends, but she didn't know where she stood in the matter. If she was a taboo subject at Seattle Grace, or if she was just that girl who quit after a gun was aimed at her head. And with either of these rules, she had no idea what boundaries she did and did not have.

Avery smiled, his perfect teeth shining in all their glory, "I've been good. I live at Meredith's now, with Karev and April."

Lexie nodded, "I heard. I guess that means I'm back in the attic."

Before their conversation could continue, a voice called Lexie's name. Lexie turned to be greeted with her sister's waddling form headed towards her. Five months pregnant and still expertly maneuvering herself around the surgical floor, Meredith surprised Lexie by enveloping her into an embrace. Though this act of compassion started Lexie a bit, she let herself melt into her sister's presentation of support. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Lexie was where she belonged in this very moment.

"How was your flight?" Meredith asked, leading her and Avery to a nearby nurse's station.

Lexie smiled as Avery answered quickly for her, "Good, very little turbulence."

Meredith raised an eyebrow at Avery's response, but soon distracted herself with a few post-op charts. "Well, Avery can handle the rest of my post-ops if you're ready to go."

Lexie nodded, as Meredith took Lexie's bag from Avery. The sisters made there way out to Meredith's car and Lexie couldn't help but smile at the role reversal. Meredith chatted incessantly, happily in fact, as Lexie struggled coherent, meaningful responses. Meredith talked about Cristina's impending marriage to Owen Hunt, about her and Derek are finally putting the finishing touches on their house and how that project had been postponed yet again for some time, and all before they even reached the beat up jeep.

Lexie threw her bags into the trunk and went to grasp the passenger's side door handle before Meredith stopped her with her voice and a guilty look on her face. "So, I know you're probably going to hate it. I know that. But do you think, you might want to stop by Joe's. Everyone is there, I'm not sure if I was supposed to tell you that. But they're there and they're waiting to see you." Meredith rambled, shoving her hands into her pockets.

Lexie tried to smile, but she couldn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes, she had people waiting to see her, people who cared how she was and where she was and who she was. She had people who cared. She nodded, mumbling something about the cold making her eyes water, and the sisters proceeded to walk across the street to the bar Lexie had associated so many heart wrenching memories with.