1.

The phone rang. From the sofa, Lexie turned her head slowly to look at it. She got to her feet and walked deliberately into the bathroom, in the opposite direction to the ringing phone. From the bathroom she could still hear the familiar beep as the phone switched to answerphone; 'Lexie. I'm serious.' Meredith's voice rang out, stern and direct. 'If you don't get your ass back to this hospital soon you are definitely out of a job. Christ, Lex, anyone else would be already! Look,' her tone softened slightly. 'It's been like a month and a half since Mark came back to work – again – and you just stopped showing up. What's the matter with you? Call me.' In the background Lexie could hear Derek's voice as Meredith finished speaking. 'Yeah, like that's gonna happen.'

'What's the matter with you?' The only part of Meredith's message Lexie had really heard. She looked at herself in the mirror above the sink. Her once sparkling eyes had gained a dull emptiness that made them look almost grey. Her hair hung, limp and greasy in curtains either side of her face. Her skin itself was a white, almost green, colour. Her teeth were yellow through the mass amounts of caffeine she had taken to swallowing which had also given her hands an almost permanent tremor. She looked at this stranger through her puffy, bloodshot eyes and quite honestly could not see the Alexandra Grey who was once going to become a world class surgeon. She bowed her head, not wanting to face the facts anymore and the watch on her wrist began to bleep.

Lexie had made the, somewhat misguided, decision to barricade herself in the apartment that had once belonged to her and Mark on the day that Callie had opened the door to her apartment, at exactly the same time as Lexie. Callie had backed into the hallway her arms around Mark's neck and straight into Lexie. Callie had instantly spun round to apologise. 'Sorry.' She's gasped. 'Mark's coming back to work, I just got a little overexcited. Sorry.' She repeated. Lexie had just nodded. Unable to find the words. Mark had then said the one phrase that guaranteed Lexie would never leave her bubble. 'Can we give you a lift?' He'd asked, casually. For a second, Lexie had just stared at him. What were they now? Neighbours? The thought was almost impossible. Time had not passed. Not enough time had passed; it was all too much, too comfortable, too soon. She shook her head and muttered something about forgetting a paper and retreated into the flat and that was the last anyone had seen of her. Of course, Mark still had a key but after she stuffed the keyhole with chewing gum, around her own key, his became redundant.

Since this time she had amused herself with stalking, listing and timing the sounds and routines of the things she heard around her; specifically, Mark and Callie. The reason her watch had bleeped was that it was time for them to come home. On Fridays their shifts finished at exactly the same time. Christina tended to stay at Hunt's and Mark and Callie would have 'alone' time. Lexie sat herself back on the sofa and cocked her head slightly to listen as she heard their footsteps on the stairs. They were laughing about something.

'Then you should have told him he was wrong!' Mark said, his voice breaking with laughter.

'I tried.' Callie was laughing too, 'but he just wouldn't hear of it. He wanted me to build him a new penis out of titanium!'

'It's not a bone!' Mark was laughing again.

'Yes. Thank you, Mr Plastics man. I believe I learnt that to get my fellowship.' Callie was suddenly mock stern.

'I'm sorry.' Mark was teasing her too. 'Will you ever forgive me? Please?' Lexie closed her eyes as she heard them kissing and then a giggle as Callie was pushed backwards against the door.

'Where are the keys?' Mark whispered. More giggling and then a gasp.

'Why would the keys be in my bra?' Callie squealed. Suddenly there was a silence. Lexie sat up a little straighter. After a while Callie spoke.

'Mark? What are we going to do about her?' Her tone was hushed but Lexie could still hear. More silence, Mark clearly didn't have an answer. 'I'm serious.' Callie spoke. 'No one's seen her since, well, us. If it weren't for the fact that she makes so much noise making coffee at all hours then we wouldn't even know she's alive. She doesn't return calls or even pick up the phone. Everyone's worried and Meredith is significantly pissed…at me. Apparently nothing is ever the fault of Mark Sloan.'

'or…her husband is fighting my corner.' Mark reasoned.

'Can I be in your corner too?' Callie pleaded.

'Anytime.' Lexie could hear the smile in his voice and then the sound of more kissing. This time it was finished abruptly by Callie speaking again; 'Stop. Do you know how long it's been since she was seen? Since she left that apartment?' More silence. 'A month and a half.' More silence.

'Oh.' Mark seemed to be lost for words. 'What are we going to do?' In the longest silence yet, Lexie actually stood up and walked to the door to look through the peephole – she could only see the back of Mark's head as he stood looking at Callie who had her back to their front door.

'Nothing.' Callie finally whispered.

'Nothing?' Mark queried.

'She's ultimately hurting, I understand that, but she's also taking this whole thing too far. She lost you. For me, it would be the end of the world. I know. But I've loved and lost before and now, because of that I suppose, I have you. Life goes on Mark. For some reason, she is forcing life to stop for her, but it doesn't work like that. Life. Goes. On.'

'So we do nothing.' Mark nodded as he spoke. Callie nodded back and turned to open the door, having found the keys in her pocket. 'Have I ever told you I love you?' Mark whispered after Callie, following her in. Callie giggled and walked further into the flat. Mark stopped on the threshold and turned to look back at the door. Lexie didn't move. She knew she couldn't be seen. For a few seconds she stared at him as he stared at the door, not seeing her. It felt familiar. Lexie walked away from the door. Mark had stopped seeing her before they'd broken up. In fact, she collapsed back into the imprint her body had made on the sofa, had he ever seen her?

So, i've been gone a long time. I'm really sorry. My life is so hectic and i can't guarantee this fic will have regular updates but i promise to keep it ticking over. Please review, much appreciated ... always! xx