Meredith was standing in the hallway looking through the window at Mark talking calmly to Lexie. Derek was standing right behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist. It had been exactly one week since Lexie started her chemotherapy. They were waiting for the results of the tests they'd run today, telling them how the treatment was going.

"She's gotten worse", Meredith mumbled in a barely audible voice.

"You don't know that", Derek said and hugged her tighter. "There are a lot of side effects which is why she looks worse. That doesn't mean the treatment's not working."

Meredith inhaled deeply.

"No, I have this feeling, and it's not a good one", she said, on the edge of tears. "She's gotten worse, I can feel it."

They heard steps coming their way and looked up to see the oncologist at the other end of the hall. They quickly went inside.

Most of their friends had wanted to come, but they'd all agreed it'd be best if only Lexie's closest family was in the room when she was delivered the news. They didn't want her to have a big audience in case she was given a death sentence.

As soon as the oncologist stepped inside the room, Meredith knew her fears were confirmed. She reached out and grabbed Lexie's hand, and she could feel her squeezing it tightly. They both needed someone to hold onto. Derek put his arm around her shoulders and she noticed Mark was holding Lexie the same way.

All four of them stared at the oncologist and he cleared his throat.

"Some of the tumors have shrunken", he started. "But the difference is barely noticeable. You still have around the same number of leukemic cells in your blood, and what I'm most concerned about is a tumor in your right lung. It has doubled in size since the last scan and you have an alarming lack of oxygen."

Meredith looked at Lexie. It was obvious she was trying to hold up for their sake, but she was scared, terrified.

"You will need to start radiation therapy immediately", he added.

She felt Derek's gaze on her and she turned her head to look at him. They shared a moment of understanding and mutual sadness.

You can't start crying, she exhorted herself. You're not the sick one.

The oncologist excused himself and left the room to let them be alone.

"You can't give up yet", Mark said, his voice hoarse from held back tears.

Lexie shook her head. Tears filled her eyes but she stubbornly wiped them away. Meredith had never been very good at the whole pep talk thing, but she knew it was needed in this situation.

"Lexie", she said, causing her sister to look up at her. "It's hard right now, I know that, but you just have to stick through it. You will get better, okay?"

She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince; Lexie, herself or Mark who looked like he was ready to break down.

Callie was waiting at a respectful distance from Lexie's room. Arizona was there with her, along with the rest of Lexie's roommates, Cristina and Dr Webber.

Suddenly they saw the door burst open and Meredith came outside. She walked towards them in a rapid speed, only noticing them when she was a few feet away. She stopped and seemed to consider turning around and going the other way. Her watery eyes showed them all that something was wrong.

They stood in silence for a few moments until Cristina finally dared to step out and walk up to her. She put her hands on Meredith's shoulders, trying to calm down her fast breathing.

Callie suddenly felt extremely bad for just standing here watching this devastated woman who might just have found out that her sister with certainty was going to die. She had to look away, so she met Arizona's gaze instead. She knew they were both thinking the exact same thing. Poor Mark.

"What did he say?"

April was the one who dared to break the silence.

"Is it..." she continued. "Is she..."

She couldn't even complete sentence, and somehow, that made it so much worse.

Meredith inhaled shakily and looked at the group of people watching her. She was on the edge of a breakdown, everyone could see that.

"No, I mean..." Her voice was so unstable she could barely speak. "They will still try to treat her but... it's... It's not working."

She looked back at Cristina, her so called person.

"It's not working", she whispered to her, but everyone could hear her.

When Cristina pulled her into a hug it became too personal for Callie to watch.

"Let's go", she whispered to Arizona, and they walked away from all the sadness.

Mark was sitting in a waiting room. Lexie was undergoing radiation therapy and he couldn't picture himself doing anything other than just waiting for her. Derek was there with him, and Cristina was sitting with Meredith.

"I feel helpless", he sighed. "There really is nothing I can do to her. I can't help her. I'm just... useless."

"No you're not!" Cristina blurted out as an obvious fact.

He was confused. Both by the fact that Cristina tried to pep talk him, and by the fact that she actually claimed that he had any kind of impact on how Lexie's treatment was going.

She saw his confused expression and sighed.

"I have lived in the library for the past week", she explained. "Researching countless alternative treatments for her. We can't say it's over until we know for sure there's nothing more to try."

Everyone looked at her in shock.

"You have?" Meredith asked, touched by the commitment her friend had put into this.

"Of course I have", Cristina said, more tenderly than usual. "She's your sister, and I'm your person. It's my duty to do that for you. And I like Lexie. I don't want her to die."

"That's kind of brilliant Yang", Mark said, with a sudden hope that hadn't been there for a while. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? We'll help you, right?"

He looked at Derek and Meredith who both nodded eagerly.

"We can probably get even more people to help", he continued. "It will be a lot faster that way."

"These shelves are all oncology", Cristina explained. "Research and innovative treatments start here... and ends here. As you can see it's a lot of files, and I've only had time to read through like a twentieth of it, but now that were so many we should be able to go through it all."

Basically everyone they knew who had been able to sneak away from work was there. Cristina, Meredith, Derek, Mark, Alex, Jackson, April, Bailey, Callie, Arizona and Dr Webber.

"We can look on the internet", she added. "Oh, and while we're at it, we might as well ask Lexipedia herself. Maybe she read something useful back in 1994 or something. Kepner, go talk to her!"

"Sure", April said and quickly left the room.

She was excited that they had found a way to help Lexie. She ran through the halls getting annoyed looks from nurses she passed. When she reached Lexie's room she had to grab the doorframe to stop her speed.

Lexie raised her eyebrows at her when she stormed inside. She looked tired so April tried to be a little less... April.

"Hey", she smiled and walked inside.

"Hey", Lexie answered and then coughed. "What's everyone up to. I haven't seen anyone around all day."

April smiled wider.

"Well, Cristina has gathered everyone at the library", she explained. "We're researching every kind of treatment out there for you."

"Really?"

Lexie lit up.

"Yeah", April continued. "Cristina told me to ask you for ideas, but I think she was just trying to get rid of me. "

"She wants me to plan my own treatment?" Lexie asked sceptically, but then laughed. "There were some interesting research from page 381 to 450 in this huge book by Dr K. Miller. It's yellow and... huge. You can't miss it."

April shook her head in amazement.

"I still don't understand how you do that."