AN: Thank you for the lovely reviews.
"Were you expecting a warm welcome?" Meredith asked Lexie.
"No. I don't know. I didn't really want to think about it. I just hoped it might be normal-ish. It was like Mark wanted to be cold but like he still cares."
"But you're dating Felix, right?"
"Yeah. I'm just saying, I worry about Mark sometimes; I want him to be happy. That's all." She said, her voice wavering a little more than she would've liked. "But Felix is amazing, I love him, Mer." She smiled at her sister. "Which sucks, because I don't know what's going to happen now, I can't just expect him to pick up his life and move to Seattle for me."
"I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out."
"You're sounding happy, how's everything with Derek going?" She asked, rather relieved at being able to change the subject. Lexie wanted to put off thinking about her and Felix's future for as long as possible, and steering the conversation away from herself meant steering it away from Mark. Being back here brought everything back to the surface, and she didn't want to be thinking about that right now either.
"It's perfect. I've only told Derek and Cristina this, but I'm pregnant." Meredith grinned.
"Oh my god, congratulations!" She giggled excitedly. "That's really great news," Lexie sighed softly.
"Everything okay?" Meredith asked with concern.
"I'm fine, I just… Missed it here more than I realized. It's good to be home."
"So you didn't know that Lexie was coming?" Mark asked Derek at their table in the cafeteria.
He sighed. "For the fifth time Mark, no. I didn't know she was coming and I didn't know she was being offered a job."
"Did you know that she has a boyfriend?" Mark said, pretty sure he already knew the answer to that question.
"Yeah, I knew that. I thought it'd be easier for you if you didn't know, especially because Lexie wasn't around." Derek explained to his friend.
"I get it." He sighed. "I'm glad Lexie's here, really. Mer's pregnant and she misses her sister, it's good. But I didn't think I'd feel like this. I haven't moved on to another woman, but I thought that when I saw her again it'd be different. I'd be different."
"And are you?" Derek asked.
"She's different. She's happy and in a relationship. But I don't think that I've moved on as much as I thought I had. I'm in love with her, and now I'm going to have to deal with seeing her every day, and the worst thing is… She's moved on."
"Don't you want that? It's been so long since you were together, don't you want her to be happy?"
"I do – that's all I've ever wanted for her. That's just a lot easier to say when I'm not seeing her with someone else." Mark said. "If you asked me a week ago if I was happy, I would've said yes. I have an amazing career, and I have a family. I have Sofia. My life is almost perfect, and usually that's enough. But now that I'm going to see her everyday, it's a constant reminder of what I've lost."
"What's going on?" Callie sat down with Arizona, looking at the serious expressions on their faces.
"Lexie's here." Mark muttered.
"Little Grey?"
"Yeah, she – " He stopped, noticing Meredith and Lexie walking into the cafeteria.
"Aren't you going to come sit down?" Meredith asked Lexie who was standing by the door to the cafeteria, hesitating.
"Oh, well…" She looked over to the table where she could see Cristina, Alex, Jackson and April. Like old times. Then her eyes travelled across the room to the table where she could see Callie, Arizona, Derek and finally Mark. He was trying and failing to subtly look over in her direction without her noticing. "I need to see the chief, and I haven't seen Felix since this morning, so I'm gonna go."
"So it has nothing to do with Mark?" Meredith asked.
She sighed. "Just… tell them I said hi, and I'll see you before I leave, okay?"
"Okay." Meredith said. "But I was thinking about that, Felix has to stay in the hospital, right? So why don't you stay at my place?"
"In the dream house? I have never stayed there before, and it'd be nice not to be by myself. I'll meet you when your shift ends."