Author's Note: This chapter was a little bit of a struggle for me so I may come back and fix some things that just don't sit right for me. But, in the meantime, i'll post this for anyone who might be following.
Lexie was in the middle of her rounds in the hospital's free clinic when the page came at last that Dean McCready was out of surgery and in recovery. It had been 4 hours and Sam had remained at the forefront of her thoughts, gaining her several dirty looks from nurses and Dr. Hunt who took her distraction personally. She'd spent the majority of her 4 hours apologizing for silly mistakes and far off looks. When the page came, she used the excuse to pass her patient's chart over to another intern and took off towards the surgical wing, determined to get Sam in to see his brother. She hardly expected what she found.
The surgical waiting room was empty when she went to check on Sam. The hallways around the recovery rooms were empty as well and Lexie approached the ICU nurse's station perplexed.
"Have you seen a really tall guy waiting around for news on a Dean McCready?" She asked the staff nurse behind the desk. Karen was her name, she remembered. The young girl blushed suddenly and leaned in closer to Lexie.
"He looked so forlorn. I had to let him in to see his brother. They're in curtain 3." Lexie and Karen had been in a similar situation before and Lexie fixed her with a knowing look before nodding. Karen ran through Dean's vitals which were not the best, but not critical. Karen apologized again for breaking the rules and Lexie just smiled at the nurse then walked over to Dean's cubical.
She found Sam with head bowed, clutching his brother's hand. Dean was still unconscious and a respirator worked to pull air in and out of his lungs. Lexie contemplated leaving the brothers to each other but something pulled her bodily into the curtained nook.
"Hi, Sam," she said softly, stopping the hand that instinctively went to touch his shoulder.
"Dr. Grey." He said softly then swung tired hazel eyes her direction and offered a weak smile. "Sorry. It's Lexie, right?"
"You got it." Lexie busied herself with checking Dean's vitals all the while casting concerned glances Sam's way. Dark circles had formed under his eyes and the poor guy looked like he was about to keel over from exhaustion. His brother would be out of it for some time and Lexie contemplated smuggling Sam into one of the doctor's on-call rooms. She turned to offer the suggestion, but found Sam fast asleep in the plastic ICU chair he occupied. Lexie found it endearing that this was the 2nd time the poor kid had fallen asleep in her presence and she couldn't help a small smile. Those ICU chairs were famous for their lack of comfort, but Lexie closed the curtain on the sleeping figure and went in search of Karen.
"What a dish, huh?! Too bad about his brother. I heard Bailey talking about the train wreck she found in there and all the previous scars, too." Karen gushed as Lexie made her way over to the station.
"I know! I just about died when he showed up in the ER, no pun intended. When does Bailey come back around?"
"I'll page you when she's back." Lexie thanked the nurse and began the trek back to the free clinic with her mind on the McCready brothers. She didn't get far when a grizzly bear of a man walked smack into her nearly knocking her down.
"HEY!" She exclaimed indignantly. "What are you doing?!" Large bear claws wrapped around her forearms and kept her upright.
"I'm sorry, miss," came a gravelly voice, "But can you tell me where Dean McCready is?"
Would these brother's be the bane of her existence?
"I just came from his room, he's in the ICU," Lexie eyed the gruff man before her. He was older but didn't look as if he could be related to Dean and Sam. He was a mess, scraggly unkempt beard, wild eyes and crumpled clothing. Whoever he was, he was obviously eager to see Sam and Dean. "Who are you?"
"Bobby, the boy's Uncle." He said simply, appraising her. So he knew that there were two of them and hadn't Lexie overheard Sam having a conversation on his cell phone with someone named Bobby? Something in Lexie's gut told her that he was telling the truth.
"Come on, I'll take you to them." Lexie led Bobby back the way she came and with a look to Karen letting her know everything was ok and Bobby was with her, led him past the nurses' station and into Dean's curtained room. As soon as she brought the curtain back, Sam was on his feet, taking up a defensive stance in front of his brother's bed. Lexie let her arms drop to her sides in surprise but she was ignored as Sam moved to embrace Bobby. The hug was fierce and Sam pulled back with tears once again at the corner of his eyes.
"He's going to be okay, they think, but he hasn't woken up yet." As if suddenly remembering Lexie was also there, Sam pulled himself up taller, brushed the tears away and cleared his throat. "At least that is what Dr. Grey here tells me." The grizzly bear eyes were on her again and she tried not to flinch under their harsh gaze.
"We're monitoring his condition. He's not breathing on his own just yet, but we believe he should make a full recovery. His surgeon will be in soon to explain everything to you. I'm going to have to have one of you wait in the ICU waiting room though, they don't let more than one person in at a time in the ICU and even I don't have enough weight with the nurses to get you out of that rule." Both men nodded solemnly at Lexie and then a silent conversation passed between them as Bobby and Sam's eyes met. Bobby leaned over the prone figure in the bed and whispered something in Dean's ear. Lexie couldn't be sure but it sounded like...
"Son, its Bobby. Sam and I are here for you, okay? You come back to us soon. We're not going anywhere."
Bobby straightened and patted Dean's hand before moving away from his bed.
"Sam, we'll take it in shifts. Sit here for a while more than come get me when you need a break. I'll sit with him so you can go get something to eat and get cleaned up. I'm guessing we won't have any trouble from your job?"
"No, the job's been finished. There's nothing left to do here." The exchange seemed strange to Lexie, as if an entirely separate conversation was taking place that she knew nothing about.
"Will you show me the way to the waiting room?" The grizzly bear was speaking to her again and snapped Lexie out of her thoughts.
"Of course, right this way."
Lexie deposited the bear into the waiting room and returned again to the Clinic to let them know she was on the unexpected case. Luckily the clinic had been quiet all day and there were only a few people around to take care of. After finishing up with the few patients, the clinic was closed and Lexie checked in on Dean once more. Bailey had been by and had left instructions for Lexie to keep Dean on the respirator and page her if anything happened. Lexie, on call for the rest of the evening, finished a few charts, handed over a few cases to other interns just coming on shift, then collapsed in an on call room to get a few hours of sleep, her pager clasped in one hand. She could have gone home, but something about the brother's she had devoted her entire day to, kept her at the hospital.
The night passed with no pages and Lexie awoke perplexed by strange dreams she couldn't remember. She showered, logged back into work and made her way back up to ICU to check on her favorite patients. She found Dean's room occupied by the grizzly bear and did her exam in silence under his intense scrutiny. The ventilator indicated that Dean was breathing normally and on his own again and Lexie made a mental note to indicate on his chart and talk to Bailey about removing the vent. She left the room and busied herself with going over his post op notes and was startled by what she read there. Bailey's hastily scratched notes indicated a long hard life for Dean McCready and she blanched at some of Bailey's findings. Broken bones, ruptured internal organs, scar tissue galore. It was a wonder Dean had made it out of surgery alive. However, if there was a surgeon to do it, Bailey would be it.
An alarm began to go off behind the counter that had Lexie hurrying back to Dean's room, a new ICU nurse not far behind. She pulled the curtain back to find a seriously concerned Sam trying to calm a flailing Dean who, it had a appeared, was waking up and not happy about it. Lexie made to move toward the bed but a stern look from Sam stopped her dead. "I've got this," it said. She hadn't even seen the grizzly and Sam switch shifts.
"Dean? Dean! Look at me! You're okay. You're in the hospital." Dean continued to struggle against his brother. "HEY! Eyes on me! You're in the hospital, Dean. You were stabbed and weren't breathing on your own so they've got you on a vent. You're okay, they say you're going to be fine, dude. Relax or you're going to pull your stitches." The effect Sam had on his brother was almost instantaneous. As soon as Sam was able to get Dean to focus on him, the other brother began to relax. Arms stopped flailing and the heartbeat on the monitor began to slow. After only a moment Sam had Dean under control and quiet once again.
"They're going to take that tube out soon, but until then you need to breathe through it, okay?" Sam asked softly. Lexie thought she could perceive the slightest nod from Dean. Sensing her opening, Lexie approached the side of Dean's bed.
"Dean, I'm Dr. Grey. Are you in any pain." Dean's eyes flicked in Lexie's direction then immediately back to Sam. Something unsaid passed between the brother's and Sam spoke for Dean.
"He's okay for now, but he really wants that tube out of his mouth." As if summoned Miranda Bailey chose that moment to darken the entrance way of the curtained space. Her deft fingers and dedicated ICU staff had the ventilator removed from Dean quickly and they were gone as soon as they had come. Before breezing on to other patients, she offered cursory words to Sam that while Dean had suffered some pretty severe damage, no vital organs had been hit and they got to him soon enough to avoid any long term issues. In other words, he was expected to make a full recovery.
The relief in the room was palpable and when Lexie returned to the room to check once more on Dean's pain, Sam's head was close to his brother's. Whispered words brought a ghost of a smile to Dean's lips. She didn't dear spoil their moment.
Sam didn't pay much attention to anyone else over the next several days. Dean continued to improve and he always had someone at his side in the ICU and even the regular room they moved him to 3 days later. Sam and Bobby took shifts sitting with their fallen family member and Lexie tried not to take it personally that Sam barely even acknowledged her presence anymore. It was like that some times. People clung to a reassuring force while their loved ones were in peril but once the peril had passed, they only had eyes for the patient. She instead contented herself with chatting with the floor nurses about the hunk in curtain 3 who loved his brother and was very easy on the eyes. Life was again back to normal for Lexie Grey until the day the cops showed up on her floor.
