Oh my goodness! The flood of reviews was intense (and totally welcome!). Now get ready for this upcoming chapter. It's...well, I'll just let you read it. I meant to post it yesterday but it just wasn't turning out how I wanted it. Even now I'm a little nervous haha.
Anyways, I'll let you get on with it. Enjoy! And please review to let me know what you think!
Lexie snuggled her teddy as her father tucked her into bed and sat at the foot. "What story should we read tonight?" he asked her, "would you like to read Rapunzel again?"
"No Daddy! Make one up, those are the best!" Lexie giggled. She loved the way her dad would incorporate herself and Molly into his stories.
"Well, once upon a time there lived two princesses in an enormous castles. Their names were Princess Molly and-"
"Princess Alexandra!" Lexie interrupted and her dad just smiled at her and continued the story. The girls went on a dangerous quest involving dragons, sword fights and falling in love.
"...and then they lived happily ever after with their husbands and had many babies." Thatcher finished.
"No! Gross, I don't want babies. They smell funny and drool lots!" she shrieked remembering the last time her Aunt Clara was over with her new cousin, "I never ever ever ever want babies!"
"One day you'll change your mind, pumpkin." Thatcher smiled and kissed his daughter on the forehead.
Lexie wiped her dad's kiss off with the back of her hand. "Nope! Never!"
"Goodnight sweetheart," he switched the light off and began to close the door.
"Dad, can I ask you a question?"
Thatcher sighed, "Sweetie, you've already had a glass of water. You can't be thirsty again."
"No, I was just wondering...did you name me and Molly after the princesses?" she asked, knowing deep down that it wasn't true but desperately hoping anyways.
"Molly was named after your mom's best friend from when she was growing up, they're still very close. You remember her visiting last year, don't you?" Lexie frowned in the darkness. She knew the names weren't a coincidence.
"Yeah...who was I named after, Daddy?"
Thatcher hesitated "Well pumpkin, that's a long story. I'll tell it to you another time."
Lexie thought hard for a moment before coming to the conclusion that she really was named after a princess, and Molly wasn't. Her dad just didn't want to make Molly jealous. That was nice of him.
"Now it's time for bed, goodnight Lexie."
"Daddy wait! One more thing. Can I have a glass of water?"
Meredith was in that lovely stage of sleep in between awake and dreaming. Her comforter was molded perfectly around her body and her mattress never felt more like a cloud. This was the best she had felt since Lexie had disappeared. The police kept trying to convince her that her sister left on her own, and there was no foul play simply because they had no evidence. Well except her ID in her purse they found in her car, it's not like you can get very far without any kind of ID. All her clothes were still in the attic, along with her credit cards and other valuables. Meredith even went so far as visit Molly to see what she knew, but the police already contacted her and she knew even less than anyone in Seattle did.
Screw the police. Meredith was constantly checking for Jane Does at Seattle Grace and Seattle Presbyterian and the nurse's at the other hospital even began calling her every time an unidentified female came in. Meredith would rush over to see if it was Lexie but so far it never was. She even checked in the morgue but thankfully that was also unsuccessful. After the night she and Mark spent together two weeks ago, Meredith was even more determined to find her little sister.
Suddenly, Meredith bolted up totally awake. She had just recalled a conversation she had with Lexie about a month before her disappearance. It wasn't even a full conversation really, and at the time Meredith was preoccupied with a critical patient to pay much attention to it. She just brushed it off as nothing. Lexie came to her and said she had a stalker.
Maybe it was nothing. Frantically Meredith tried to locate the phone in the dark, knocking over the lamp in the process.
"What is going on?" a groggy Derek mumbled from the other side of the bed.
"No time! Where the hell did the phone go?" Meredith said as she felt her fingers wrap around the cordless phone. She quickly dialed the number. "Hello? This is Meredith Grey, I think I have some news on my sister's disappearance..."
She told them everything she could remember about the short conversation with her sister, and they told her they would look into it. Meredith hung up the phone angrily.
"They're so useless!" she shouted and Zola began crying from her crib.
"Great..." Derek stumbled out of bed and went to comfort their daughter. The alarm clock beside the phone buzzed loudly signalling the real start to their day. Meredith groaned and headed down to the kitchen to make coffee and her groggy husband followed her.
Derek quietly made pancakes for breakfast while Meredith took in just how empty her house was. She missed her strays. "Maybe we should get a cat for Zola" she suggested and sipped coffee out of her favourite mug.
Her husband shook his head and flipped a pancake. "We're not pet people, especially not cats. If anything we'd get something weird like an iguana. We're iguana people," he laughed and passed Mer their daughter's breakfast.
"We're not getting our one year old a lizard!" she protested and broke the pancakes up into manageable chunks, "Speaking of which, I'll go get her and make sure she's fed before daycare."
As Meredith stood up she could feel something bad was about to happen. She walked into the living room strewn with stuffed toys, blocks and ripped apart books to find Zola not in there. A second later, she heard Zola's giggle from the stairway. Meredith ran to the stairs to find that someone left the baby gate at the bottom step open and Zola already halfway up. The baby stopped when she heard her mom approach and turned around.
"Ma!" she greeted and stretched out her arms.
"Oh my god, Zola honey stay there. Don't move." Meredith tried to keep her voice steady but frantically called "Derek! The baby gate was left open!" she began climbing and Zola kept reaching for her. As if in slow motion, the one year old teetered on the edge of the step and lost her balance. Meredith watched in horror as her daughter fell down the stairs and landed with a deafening thud.
Her heart stopped and for a second the house was completely silent. Then Zola began to scream.
Lexie frantically searched through the boxes for something, anything that would help her get out of here. So far there was nothing. Well, she did find out she was not alone in the attic. She found a family of mice huddled in one of the boxes and she became attached to her roommates. Lexie even went so far as naming all of them. The big one was Timmy, the other big one was Barbara, the chubby one was Mr. Tibbles and she called the small sassy one Bailey.
She tore through the boxes desperately. That day that Wyatt slapped her was the turning point. He began showing up more rarely, and when he chose to he was all riled up just looking for a reason to be mad at her. Last night was different though. Maybe it was night, it could have possibly been early morning. Regardless, it was dark outside.
Wyatt shook her awake and stood silently over her bed. Once he was satisfied that she was sufficiently awake, he said "Alexandra, I have been kept awake for weeks because I have a decision to make. You are a horrible horrible naughty girl and you will ruin our baby. So, once she is born I will raise her properly."
Lexie's mouth went dry. "Wh-What will happen to me?" she almost regret asking. Whatever it was wouldn't be good.
He sighed in feigned regret. "Some people should be alive right now, but you are instead. That will be resolved when the time comes. Of course the child may be just as naughty as you. I must choose whether to rid the world solely of you, or to destroy that demon inside you as well." Slowly he retreated back to the main house and Lexie listened to his footsteps leave. She lay frozen until she heard the lock click and then she sprang out of bed. There had to be something here that she could use.
Now the sun was up and she was no closer to finding anything to help her get away. Eventually she came across a shoebox filled with newspaper clippings, and she almost tossed it aside when one of the headline caught her eye. She pulled the clipping out of the box and read it.
Tragedy Strikes - Local Girl Killed By Rogue Car
Local resident, Alexandra Wyatt (5) was hit by a car late last week. After three days in critical condition, she passed away last night surrounded by her parents, brother and extended family. The driver of the car remains unnamed, but our sources say it was a surgeon driving home after a shift of over 36 hours with little sleep. Alexandra was treated at the very hospital where the driver works.
Lexie stopped reading. Holy crap, she thought and dug through the rest of the clippings. All of them articles on Alexa's death, and all of them describing the driver as a surgeon who spent too long awake. There was a distinct possibility that the surgeon was Meredith's mother. She took a moment to process this information before tossing the box aside and going back to looking for a weapon or blunt object to break down the door. Something in her gut was telling Lexie that once Wyatt returned he will explain he'd rather kill her soon rather than later so he doesn't have to raise her 'demon'.
Several boxes later she found it filled with old baseball glove and pictures of Wyatt as a child. Under all that junk were trophies. Bingo. Lexie chose the one with the heavier base. Never in her life had she been so happy to see sports equipment. But Lexie was abruptly brought out of her bliss as she heard the lock clicking from the bottom of the stairs.
She slowly stood from her spot on the floor and moved to greet Wyatt at the top of the stairs. It felt like he took longer than usually for his sorry face to appear, but finally it did.
"I'm sorry, Alexandra," he began and his eyes flickered to the baseball trophy as hers noticed the kitchen knife in his hands. Not like a butter knife, but one of those big ones you see used on the Food Network. "Put that down and come over here, we'll make this quick. I have to go grocery shopping soon."
Lexie shook her head. "I'm going home Wyatt."
Wyatt 'tsk'ed mockingly. "If that's what you would like to call it, that's fine. Goodbye Alexandra." He approached her calmly.
Instinctively she began to back up but soon realized she had nowhere to go. All that was behind her is the window. As he got closer, Lexie swung the trophy up and brought it right down the middle of his face landing with a satisfying crack.
Wyatt shrieked and clutched his face. Blood seeped out between his fingers and the knife clattered on the attic floor. His previously knife wielding hand reached out towards Lexie and Wyatt lunged for her.
In a split second decision she spun around and bolted for the window. It felt like she was running in slow motion, and the Chariot of Fire song should be playing in the background. Lexie tucked her head behind her right shoulder right before she felt it break through the window. She fell for what seemed like forever. Funnily enough she didn't feel herself hit the driveway, or the cuts from the glass. All she felt was relief as the woman clad in fuzzy pink slippers and a matching housecoat across the street getting her mail screamed in horror.
Holy balls that was intense, huh? Not a great day for Grey ladies falling down/out of stuff. Don't forget to review!
