Nick was wheeled out of his room by many nurses as well as Dr. Sloan, leaving Lexie standing there in a large puddle of Nick's blood. Her doe eyes were wide open, watching as they rushed her patient down the hallway. She swallowed hard, hoping to dampen her dry throat. Her mind was racing, and she glanced down at her blood covered hands. Her scrubs weren't even blue anymore, they were drenched with half of Nick's blood. That really was the last thing she thought would happen, for the artery in his neck to bust the way it did. Yes, Dr. Sloan said it was possible, but she just wasn't expecting it. They were there, talking to each other, and laughing, and the next thing Lexie knew, she was being saturated with Nick's blood.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Lexie knew she wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with the patients, but she didn't exactly mean for it to happen. She had only known him for a day. Nick was just so kind, and he was funny. He certainly had a great attitude for a man with an exposed artery on his neck. She also couldn't help but feel bad for him, after he told her his ex-girlfriend left him because of his situation. What kind of person would leave the person they love because of something like that? It wasn't right.
Nick basically asked her out seconds before his artery blew, and Lexie was pretty sure her answer would have been yes. Now, he was being sent to an O.R. and she didn't know if she would get the chance to go out with him. She would feel so terrible if he died under her care, she'd feel terrible if he died period.
As Lexie stood there, now all by herself in the room, she glanced around at all the blood. He lost so much. Dr. Sloan was probably expecting Lexie to follow him to an O.R., but Lexie couldn't scrub in on this case, she didn't want to. She didn't want to watch him on the table if he did in fact die, she didn't know how well she would be able to handle it.
The young intern finally left the room, leaving behind bloody foot prints in the hallway. She went to the bathroom and got herself cleaned up, wiping all of Nick's blood from her pale skin. She felt her eyes start tear up at the thought of Nick dying, it was possible. She should have tried harder to stop the bleeding, she should have paged Dr. Sloan faster. She should have done a lot of things, like telling him that she liked him. That was something she could have done.
The feelings that Nick gave Lexie almost completely made her forget about the fact that she knew Alex had a girlfriend. The man that she thought liked her was sleeping with someone else. So not only was she being cheated on, she was about to lose a patient and a man that was very sweet to her, all in the same day. Life sucks.
Over an hour later, Lexie sat in the room Nick used to be in, staring at the blood on the floor that no one had yet to clean up. A deep sigh was released from her chest, she was holding it in for a while now. She couldn't help but think about what it would have been like to go out with Nick, she couldn't help but think about a lot of things. It wasn't like Lexie to get attached to someone so quickly, especially a patient.
Lexie shook her head, rising from the chair she was sitting in and hurried out into the hall, "Could someone please come and clean up the blood in here?" She needed it to be cleaned up. She didn't want to look at it anymore. A few nurses looked her way before one finally came forward with a mop.
"Grey," the chief said, getting Lexie's attention, "Sloan is in the conference room, he wants to see you."
That must have meant he was out of surgery. He probably wanted to know why he didn't see her in the O.R. or why she ignored him when he paged her. Of course Lexie knew she could get in trouble for this, but she didn't care. She just hoped Nick wasn't dead.
Lexie made her way to the conference room, her head hung down, walking slowly. She wasn't in any hurry to get yelled at, or in any hurry to receive bad news. Approaching the door, she hesitated before going inside. "Yes, Dr. Sloan?" She asked upon entering the room, her tone filled with guilt. Mark turned in his chair and he looked at her, and he was silent for a moment. The silence was killing her, she wished he would hurry and tell her something.
"You did a very brave thing. You were the one in the room when his artery busted, and you were able to stop his bleeding for a while. You were brave, and I'm proud of you."
He looked as though he had more to say, and her lifeless expression didn't change as she waited for him to say something else, "But, what I want to know is, why didn't you scrub in? Even after I paged you, you didn't come. You missed a very educational surgery."
That still wasn't the information Lexie wanted, she needed to know if Nick was still alive. He didn't act as though he lost the patient, but she still couldn't be sure. Looking down at the floor, Lexie shook her head, thinking of how exactly to answer Sloan's question, "Um… Dr. Sloan, I just couldn't scrub in," she glanced up, giving him eye contact now, "I felt like I hadn't acted quick enough when trying to stop his bleeding, and as I was trying to stop the bleeding, it took me a while to page you, and I just… I felt like I didn't deserve to scrub in," of course she wasn't going to tell him the real reason she didn't scrub in. She wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with the patients, and she didn't want to get into any trouble with the chief of surgery, "Um, what about the patient? Was the surgery successful?" Lexie held her breath. She wasn't sure if she was going to like what she was about to hear.
Mark smiled at her, and with a nod of his head he spoke, "You're damn right it was. Like I said, you were brave. You were the one in the room when his artery busted. You saved this man's life. Wish you would have scrubbed in. You did deserve it," he paused, handing Lexie a clipboard, "Here is his charts."
Lexie's flat, lifeless expression almost instantly turned into an expression of exhilaration when she took the clipboard from Sloan's hand. The first thing she looked for was his new room number, he was bound to be in bed waiting for her to come and see him. "Thank you, Dr. Sloan" she said, her tone more giddy and cheerful now that she knew things were going to be okay. No more exposed artery for Nick, he had no more risk of it busting again and soaking her with half of his blood.
After leaving the conference room, Lexie rushed to the elevator. She couldn't wait to see Nick. She had so much to tell him, things she thought she would never be able to tell him. She was so excited that the elevator wasn't opening fast enough for her, so she took the stairs to go up two floors of the hospital. Alex was the last thing on her mind now, she was no longer thinking about how he was sleeping with her and another woman at the same time, and she was no longer thinking about what a jerk he is.
Finally making it to the floor Nick was on, she slowed down, catching her breath and trying to keep composure of her eagerness. His door was wide open, and there he was, laying in bed staring at the wall. A large smile formed on Lexie's lips as she peeked into his room, "Hey," she paused as his focus went to her as soon as she spoke.
"Hey look, it's my guardian angel," Nick smiled at her, "you saved my life. That's what the doctor told me. After I thought you couldn't get any better."
Lexie let out a soft chuckle as she entered his room. His complexion was much better than before, and his neck was all bandaged up. She approached his bed and smiled down at him, "Your chart looks great. You don't have to worry about that artery busting ever again."
Nick smiled at her, reaching for her hand, "So, about your revenge on that jerk boyfriend of yours," he paused, his smile turning into a grin, "I think going out with me would a good way to get back at him, even though I don't have my super cool exposed artery anymore."
Lexie giggled at his statement, "And I think your ex would be pretty jealous too. Knowing that you're all better, and that you don't need her anymore."
"So was that a yes?"
"That was definitely a yes."