"Lexi, I just got the last round of labs back. Meredith's counts are dropping to dangerous levels. She's at tremendous risk of infection. If they drop any lower, we'll have to discontinue chemo for a few days to give her a chance to rebound," Izzy explains, as Lexi sits next to her, listening intently.
"But that will give the cancer a chance to advance, and prevent us from getting her into remission…won't it?" Lexi worries.
Izzy nods. "But it will be worse if she gets a terrible infection and can't fight it. If we give her a few days off, we can come back and fight it. If she gets sicker, it can be fatal," Izzy explains.
"Thank you, Izzy – I mean – Dr. Stevens," Lexi says.
"You're welcome…but why are you thanking me?" Izzy asks.
"Because I've learned more from you than from any other doctor since I've been here…" Lexi explains.
Izzy raises her eyebrows in surprise and says, "Wow! Thank you! That means a lot to me. What makes you say that?"
"You see the whole picture, and you're able to be clear-headed, but not detached. I mean, I know all the interns think you're crazy and call you that awful nickname, but they're wrong. You may not have that competitive edge that everyone else has that makes them all mean and hard and cold and clinical, but you know your stuff and you're so calm, and I mean, Meredith is your friend and still, you're able to…I don't know…I just think you're a really good doctor, and I hope I'll be able to be that good one day," Lexi rambles nervously.
Izzy narrows her eyes. "What nickname?" she asks.
"Oh…I thought you knew about it. I thought maybe George…I mean…it's nothing. It's stupid," Lexi stammers.
'Lexi!" Izzy demands.
Lexi looks away. "They call you flatline…you know…because of that guy and the wire and that's why they make the beeping sound when you walk by," she says, to the floor.
"Flatline? Flatline? That's what they call me? Damn interns!" Izzy says, stomping off angrily.
"But I think you're the best resident they have!" Lexi calls, desperately after her.
(Break)
Lexi runs into George, knocking all his files out of his hand.
"Woah! You're a little wired. What's wrong?" George asks.
"Meredith's counts are dropping and now I've insulted Izzy and I just can't do anything right!" Lexi says, pacing back and forth.
"Relax. Everyone insults Izzy. I'm sure she's used to it by now," George says.
"George, I told her what the interns call her," Lexi says, seriously.
"You did? What's wrong with you? You didn't tell her about the little 'beep beep beep' thing we, I mean, they do, did you?" George asks.
Lexi nods. "And don't act like you've never done it!! You have! I've seen you!" she says, accusingly.
"You have too! And I can. She's my best friend. I know it doesn't mean anything! And she was never supposed to know about it!" George says.
"Yeah…well, she does. And Meredith looks like crap. And I'm having a really bad day. Come with me to her room…please?" Lexi says.
George nods. "Let's go. I haven't been up to see her yet," he says.
(Break)
Christina marches up to Izzy and says, "You may think you're a big shot because you are managing Meredith's case, but I have something better!"
"Seriously, Christina! I don't have time for this. Lexi's going to take the next round of labs soon and these next labs are crucial. If her counts drop anymore, I'll have to suspend chemotherapy for a few days which isn't a good thing. I'm tense and I'm stressed and I don't have time for your games," she says.
Christina waves the sparkle pager at Izzy. "Look what I have!"
Izzy stares at her for a moment like she is an alien. "You're happy about that? Have you seen Meredith? Have you seen her today? Have you held her hair back while she vomits all day? Have you watched the poison drip through her veins? No. You haven't. You are just happy that Meredith gave you her sparkle pager? What's wrong with you? You are so twisted, Christina…seriously!"
Christina is silent for a moment and then she says to Izzy, "You know, when you talk about your patient and her counts, you're not really talking about a patient. You're talking about Meredith Grey. And when you say things like 'suspend chemotherapy' and 'run labs' and 'counts dropping' I hear you, but I don't see Meredith's face in the story. I see Meredith in this sparkle pager, so if I need this to hold on to a piece of Meredith, right now, then excuse me! She's my person. My only person. You have a lot of people, Izzy. You have George, you have Meredith, you have Alex. You will talk to anyone. You don't keep secrets. I do. But not from Meredith. She's all I have…I can't lose her. So instead of standing here, judging me for holding her sparkle pager, you get your ass in there and run her labs and find a way to make her better," Christina says, pushing by Izzy and storming away.
Izzy stands there, numbly, realizing the enormous amount of pressure that is on her.
(Break)
Lexi and George enter Meredith's room. She is sleeping and does not stir when they come in.
"Mer?" George says.
She slowly opens her eyes. "George! Hi!" she says.
"How are you feeling?" he asks.
"I've been better," she says.
"Do you need anything? I'll tell the chief that…" George begins.
Meredith shakes her head. "I'm okay. I have everything I need," she says.
Izzy runs into Meredith's room and sees Lexi and George standing there.
"Lexi, I need the next round of blood work in a little while," Izzy says.
"Beep…Beep…Beep…" George whispers. Izzy glares at him.
Lexi is horrified. "George! Stop it! Don't!"
Izzy opens her mouth to say something, but is interrupted by the sound of Meredith's laughter.
"I…can't …believe…you told her!" she says to George, laughing hysterically.
"I didn't! Lexi did!" he says.
Meredith turns to Lexi. "Wow! You're not the little goody-two-shoes I thought you were," she says, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
"I'm glad you're so all finding this joke so funny," Izzy says, sounding angrier than she actually feels, "But I need you, Lexi, to get some blood from Meredith's port. George, I need you to take that blood work down to the lab and tell them to rush like hell to get it back. And then I need you to get it back to Lexi who will get it back to me. And Meredith…I need you to…umm…stop laughing at me and concentrate on getting better!" Izzy says, as she closes the door behind her.
"Maybe I'd better…ummm…" George says as he points to the door.
Lexi nods at him and looks at Meredith.
"Ummm…I am a goody two shoes…" Lexi says.
"What?" Meredith asks.
"You said I wasn't a goody-two-shoes like you thought. But I am. I'm totally a goody two shoes. I got straight A's in school. I never cut a class. I was popular and perky all the time. I never did anything wrong. Well…until I started stealing things from the hospital, but that's only after I started working here. Something about this place corrupts you…you know? Anyway…Alex said that I should stop turning you into the sister I wanted and get to know the real Meredith Grey. I'm trying to do that. I don't want you to turn me into anyone I'm not in your mind. I am a goody-two-shoes. I always will be. I'm not going to be all bad ass like you and Christina. I'm more of the Izzy type," Lexi rambles.
Meredith takes a moment to respond. She runs her hand through her hair and gasps when she looks in her hand. "Oh my god!" she exclaims.
"What? Are you okay? Should I page Izzy?" Lexi panics.
Meredith doesn't say anything. She simply holds out her hand which is holding clumps of hair.
"Oh…Meredith…I'm so sorry…I didn't think it would happen this quickly," Lexi stands there nervously. She instinctively wants to hug her sister, but holds herself back.
Meredith stares straight ahead.
"Ummm…what can I do? Do you want me to page Izzy again?" Lexi asks, for lack of anything else to say.
Meredith holds out the clump of hair and shakes her head. "Don't page Izzy. You want to be my sister? Help me," Meredith says, unemotionally.
"Sure. Anything," Lexi says, nervously.
"Get an electric razor from the supply closet. Shave my head," Meredith says.
(Break)
Dr. Bailey stops Izzy in the hallway.
"Dr. Stevens, how's it going?" she asks.
"It's going. I am on my way to pick up Meredith's labs," Izzy replies, tiredly.
"You know, part of being a good doctor is knowing when to take a break. You haven't left this hospital in days," Dr. Bailey says.
"I know, but there is so much to do. We're supposed to start radiation next week and I have to coordinate with…" Izzy is cut off by Dr. Bailey.
"Just make sure you're taking care of yourself and your interns as well as the patient!" Dr. Bailey says.
Izzy nods and rushes off to check on Meredith's labs.
(Break)
Mark sees Alex in the hallway.
"Karev. You want to work with me on a good plastics case?"
"What's the catch, Sloan? You're never nice to me?" Alex says.
"I'm turning over a new leaf. Besides…there's a girl involved. A girl involved on both our ends," Mark says.
Alex stares at him, "I'm in. What are we doing?"
(Break)
Lexi stands in front of Meredith holding the razor. She turns it on.
"Hurry up! What are you waiting for?" Meredith snaps.
"I…I don't know if we should do this. I don't think it's a good idea to…" Lexi stalls.
"Just do it, Lexi! What's the problem?" Meredith snaps again.
Izzy opens the door and sees Lexi standing there with a terrified look on her face. "What is going on here?" Izzy asks.
"Dr. Stevens! Thank god you're here! Meredith wants me to shave her head and I don' think we should do that without…" Lexi begins to ramble, but Meredith cuts her off.
"Without what? Written orders from Izzy? Just shave my head, Lexi!" she yells at the terrified intern.
"Okay. Knock it off, both of you! Lexi, take these labs and read through them. Make sure you understand everything in them. Meredith, if you want your head shaved, I'll do it," Izzy says, calmly taking the razor from Meredith's hand.
"Thank you, Izzy. At least someone here isn't scared of an electric razor. I thought we were all doctors here," Meredith says, rolling her eyes at Lexi.
Lexi opens her mouth to say something in response, but Izzy shoots her a warning look.
"Go read the labs," she says, sternly.
Lexi walks out of the room. Izzy sits down next to Meredith.
"You sure you want me to do this?" she says.
Meredith nods. "I'm not going to sit here and wait for my hair to fall out in my hands everyday. I'm in control here! And for someone who is so desperate to help me, Lexi sure didn't. Some long lost sister!" Meredith complains.
"Meredith…I can't believe you'd ask her to do that," Izzy says. "Do you know how hard that must have been for her?"
"Just do it, Izzy," Meredith says, tiredly.
Izzy runs her hand through Meredith's hair once and notices how much of it falls out. She turns on the razor and holds it in her right hand, while her left hand holds Meredith's hand.
(Break)
Izzy holds up a mirror when she has finished. "Here you go. You look pretty good bald! Yay!" she says, falsely cheerful.
"He's with Rose, he's with Rose, he's with Rose," Meredith chants, numbly, as she stares at herself in the mirror.
Christina barges into Meredith's room without knocking.
"Meredith! I wanted to tell you about…" she stops dead in her tracks when she sees Meredith bald and staring in the mirror. She looks at Izzy accusingly. "What did you do to her?"
"Meredith asked me to shave her head, so I did. Doesn't she look great? Sort of like a prettier Sinead O'Connor?" Izzy says, giving Christina a warning look.
"It's okay, Christina. I asked her to," Meredith says, weakly.
"No! It is not okay. She shaved your head! This is not okay. Izzy is crazy! She can't be in charge of your treatment plan. She can't! She's crazy," Christina says, glaring at Izzy.
Izzy stares at Christina sympathetically. She knows this is hard for her, and that her anger is not really directed at her. She knows that she is scared for Meredith and has no ability to express it, so she says, "I know this is hard for you, Christina. I understand."
"Hard for me? Seriously, Izzy. You don't know what you are talking about!" Christina says, slamming the door to Meredith's room as she storms out.
"Don't take it personally. She's just upset," Meredith says, "And I can't even go after her," she adds, resentfully.
"I don't take it personally," Izzy says. She stops herself short of adding, I just resent that she is so selfish that she can't see that you are the one with the problem here.
"Thanks for shaving my head," Meredith says.
"You look great!" Izzy says, turning on the cheerful voice again.
(Break)
Lexi bumps into Christina outside Meredith's room.
"Do you know what that lunatic did to your sister in there?" Christina says with her hands on her hips.
Lexi stares angrily at Christina. "My sister? My sister? Now you want to call her my sister? You don't get to make any sister references here. I came here desperate to connect with my sister who hated me. I thought maybe when I was assigned to be your resident you might help me connect with her since you were supposedly her person…whatever that means to the two of you…but instead, you did everything you could to drive more of a wedge between us. Now, you want me to turn on Izzy, who has done nothing but help me, and especially Meredith. I'm not on your team, Christina. I'm not playing your games. Izzy has been by Meredith's side during this whole ordeal so far. Izzy has brokered peace between Meredith and I. No…it isn't perfect, but we're making progress. Izzy shaved Meredith's head. She did what I didn't have the strength to do. What have YOU done? Take the sparkle pager? Is that your contribution? I'd hate to have a 'person' like you," Lexi explodes as she bursts into tears.
Christina stands there, stunned while Izzy comes running over, having heard the argument. "Lexi. Come with me. We have a lot of work to do before our meeting with Dr. Bailey later," she says, putting her arm around Lexi and leading her away.
Christina stands there in shock as the two of them walk down the hallway.
(Break)
"Dr. Stevens. I need to see you and Dr. Grey, immediately," Dr. Bailey says.
Izzy nods. "I know. I saw the labs. I was just about to go over them with Lexi."
"You do that…and then we need to talk. This isn't working, Stevens," Dr. Bailey says, gravely.
Lexi looks at Izzy with terror in her eyes. Izzy says, "Let's go into the office and go over these, Lexi. There's a lot of information in here, and I want you to take an active role in figuring this out with Dr. Bailey and I. We need to make sure you are fully informed."
As they walk away, Dr. Bailey mutters, "Good job Stevens. I've taught you well…these are the things chief residents are made of."