The car came to a stop and everyone jumped out.
The three of them paused at the scene in front of them.
There were blue and red police lights flashing in the night sky.
The smell of fuel and burnt rubber was still fresh in the air.
By-standers watched as men and women in uniform rushed back and forth in front of them.
Policemen were constantly pushing the crowd back to stop them from getting too close.
An officer ducked under the yellow police tape infront of them and Owen stopped him. "Excuse me," He stuck out his hand. "Major Hunt." The officer looked at him and shook it. "Lieutenant Darby."
Owen nodded. "What happened here?"
"Two civilians were hit by a drunk driver. The force was so bad that their car wrapped around that tree over there." He pointed toward the tree that seemed to be swarmed by cars and people. "The driver got away. Coward." The police officer said with disgust.
Cristina took Meredith's hand into hers.
"And the civilians?" Owen asked.
"The girl didn't make it. The impact of the tree basically split her body in half. And if that didn't kill her, she smashed her head against the windscreen when the car rolled." The officer said it like he'd seen it a million times before.
Cristina covered her mouth with her hand. Meredith was silent.
Owen had to ask. "Who was in the car with her?"
"His license indicated that he was a doctor. She was, too, by the way. Kinda ironic, isn't it? Two doctors."
Owen didn't comment. "What was his name?"
The officer thought about it for a moment. "Mark something."
"Mark Sloan?" Cristina asked.
"Yeah , that's him. You know him?"
"The girl was her sister and Mark was our friend." Owen said softly.
Officer Darby removed his hat. "I'm sorry for your loss, Ma'am." He directed at Meredith but still she didn't say anything.
"And Mark? Did he make it?" Cristina asked.
"He's conscious but unstable. He might not make it through the night."
Owen looked down at Cristina.
"Go." She gave him permission.
He ducked under the police tape and sprinted toward the scene, his trauma training kicking in.
"I'm truly sorry for your loss." The officer repeated.
Cristina nodded her thank you and he left.
She looked at Meredith. Her face was pale and expressionless but Cristina could see the tears forming in her eyes.
"Mer?"
There wasn't any answer.
An ambulance van started and it got there attention. It moved, revealing Sloan's car and like the police officer described it, it was literally wrapped around a tree.
The car was upside down and the passenger's side was completely smashed against the tree.
It looked as if they had extracted Lexie already and Cristina searched for her body.
And then she found her and by Meredith's gasp, she knew Meredith saw her, too.
She was laying on the grass. Her face was colourless and her eyes lifeless. The bottom half of her body was already in a body bag but her top half still hung out. There was so much blood visible, even in the darkness of the night.
Her eyes were looking directly at them.
Meredith let go of Cristina's hand and wrapped her arms around herself.
Cristina looked back at the car and saw Owen helping the paramedics with Mark who appeared to still be awake.
She wondered if he knew about Lexie.
She looked back at Lexie and watched as a paramedic zipped up the rest of the body bag.
Suddenly, Meredith walked away and Cristina followed her.
Meredith took her hair into her hands , dropped to her knees and threw up.
Cristina crouched down, rubbing her back and holding her hair as Meredith continued to hurl.
When she was done, she sat back against the car behind her.
"You should be helping." Meredith finally spoke up.
"Owen's got it. I'm staying here with you."
"Okay."
Cristina watched Owen walk towards them and she stood up.
"Meredith, they want to know if you want to drive with Lexie to the hospital."
Meredith looked up at Owen. "I am not driving in a van with my dead sister."
Owen nodded.
"How's Mark?" Cristina asked.
"He has a broken leg and arm. He has a very deep laceration in his head and it looks like we have some internal bleeding."
"Do you think he'll make it?"
"I honestly don't know."
"Someone needs to call Derek." Meredith said from the floor, not looking at them.
"I'll do it." Cristina volunteered.
"I have to go back. You're okay, right?" Owen asked Cristina.
"I'm okay."
Owen nodded and ran off again.
"Wait here. I'm going to call Derek." Cristina told Meredith but she wasn't even sure Meredith heard her.
She took out her phone and dialed Derek's number. He answered on the third ring and she took a deep breath in. How was she supposed to tell him?
"Derek?" Her voice sounded weird.
"Hey, Cristina, sorry we had to kick you out like that." She could hear the smile in his voice. "But I guess karma came back for me because I got paged like an hour later." He laughed.
"Yeah, Derek?"
"Don't worry. You and Hunt can use the house any time. If you guys still do that? I mean-"
"Derek, stop talking!" She cut him off.
"Okay?"
"There was an accident..."
"Where's Meredith?" She could hear the panic in his voice.
"Mer's fine. She's here with me. She wasn't the one in the accident."
"Then who was?"
She waited a minute, gathering courage. "Mark and Lexie."
He was quiet. "How are they?" She could tell that he was trying to remain calm.
"Owen's helping out with Mark. Things aren't looking good." She heard his intake of breath.
"And Lexie?" He said softly.
"She... uh.. she didn't make it."
He was quiet.
"Fuck." She heard him say on the other side. "Fuck!" He said louder.
"How's Meredith?"
"I don't know. She hasn't reacted yet. She threw up but that's all."
Cristina looked down at Meredith on the floor. She was just staring down at the ground, not moving. Cristina turned her attention to Owen. She watched as he instructed his newly formed team.
Yelling orders and taking charge.
"I'll be right there!" She heard Derek say after a while.
"No. Stay there. Lexie's body will be there soon and Mark will be there not long after. You need to be there to meet them."
"Okay." He sounded defeated. "Can I speak to Meredith?"
She walked over to Meredith and handed her the phone. She stood there for a while but there wasn't much to hear because Meredith wasn't talking.
It was past midnight and the cold night air snuck in beneath her leather jacket. She pulled it tighter against her body and folded her arms across her chest.
She walked towards the scene and ducked underneath the yellow tape.
She looked around. She wondered if there was anything she could do.
She looked down at her shoes and realized that they were covered in blood. Most likely Lexie's. She looked back up at the car.
She suddenly had a flash back to her nine year old self in the same situation. Except, she was alone and their weren't any paramedics or a single person to help her. She was alone with her dying father, covered in so much blood that she wasn't even sure whether it was hers or his.
Her eyes began to cloud over as she remembered the feeling of when his heart stopped beating against her bare hands. She remembered the panic she felt when she realized he was no longer breathing. She remembered the way she called out his name repeatedly, trying to get him to come back to her and she remembered the smell of the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders and the hardness of the seat in the ambulance as they drove to the hospital while she sat next to the body of her dead father. She remembered Carl, the paramedic who had repeatedly told her that she had done everything she could. Of course she didn't believe him.
Owen suddenly touched her elbow and she jumped.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Yes, i'm okay." She pushed her hair back.
Owen knew she wasn't being honest but he decided not to push. "Okay, well, we got Mark out and they're about to transport him to Seattle Grace. We have to go so that we can meet them there."
She nodded. "Let's go."
She walked over to her unsteady friend , helped her up from the ground and got into the backseat with her. Meredith rested her head on Cristina's shoulder as they drove.
Owen looked back at them every now and then, just to check if they were okay.
Meredith wrapped her arm around Cristina's waist and hugged her close. "I need you to not die. Don't die , okay." It was more of a command than a request.
"I won't." Cristina looked down at her and then made eye contact with Owen in the rear view mirror. "I won't." She repeated.
/
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