Okay! Here's the next installment of the fic!

The air was thick with tension when Lexie walked through the door into her sister's house. It was silent, as if the place had been abandoned.

"Hello?" she called out.

There was a cacophony of footsteps from upstairs. Within moments, Cristina appeared. No sooner had she landed in the foyer she grabbed Lexie's arm in a death grip and dragged her up the stairs.

"Took you long enough, Three. I – have you been drinking?"

Lexie rolled her eyes. "I wasn't expecting my sister to have a crisis."

Cristina groaned. "You smell like tequila."

"Alex drove me, if that's any consolation. Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Derek called me. She's locked herself in her room and won't come out. She won't talk to him and all she said to me was 'I want Lexie.'"

Lexie drew a sharp breath. Why would Meredith ask for her? Cristina was her person. It was obvious Cristina was wondering the same thing.

They made it up the stairs and down the hall. Derek popped up from where he was sitting on the floor. His eyes were red and puffy, like he'd been crying.

"Please," he rasped, "help her, Lexie. I don't know what I did, but just tell her I'm sorry. I'll do anything, I just want my wife back."

Lexie just nodded. She exchanged glances with Derek and Cristina before approaching the door. She knocked gently. "Meredith?" There was a click of the lock. Lexie let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She gave Derek a reassuring smile before entering the bedroom.

It was dark. Only the moonlight filtered in through the window. Meredith was scrambling into the bed where she had apparently been burrowing all this time.

"Lock the door," Meredith quietly instructed.

Lexie did as she was told and lay on top of the sheets across from the older Grey. They stared at each other for a few minutes.

"Meredith, what's this about?" Lexie finally asked. "Everyone's worried sick about you. Derek thinks he's done something wrong."

At the mention of Derek fresh tears streamed down Meredith's already tear-stained face.

"Oh Mer, I'm sorry," Lexie brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her sister's face. "What did he do?"

"He didn't do anything!"

Not knowing what to do, Lexie held Meredith tight while her body wracked with sobs. When Meredith finally calmed down, Lexie thought she heard her sister say something. "What was that?"

"I'm pregnant," Meredith whispered.

"Really?" Meredith nodded. Lexie grinned. "Mer, that's wonderful." When she got no response she frowned. "It is wonderful, right?"

Meredith shook her head. "He's going to hate me! I lost our first baby and now he's not going to want this one and he's going to leave us and I'm going to turn into my mother and fuck my kid up so bad she tries to drown herself!" She was gasping for air.

"Shh." Lexie rubbed her back, waiting for her to calm down. Once Meredith's breathing pattern was regular again she continued, "Now listen to me. Derek is not going to leave you. He loves you, baby or no baby. You're Mer and Der."

"I can't tell him."

Lexie smirked. "I think he's gonna notice when you're the size of a house."

"No, I mean I can't tell him about the first miscarriage."

Lexie sighed. "For what it's worth, I think you should. He needs to know why you've been hurting so much. It's not like it was your fault."

"I told gun to shoot me." Lexie gasped at her sister's statement. "I told him to shoot me and then I lost the baby."

"Meredith, it's not your fault. You didn't shoot anyone. You didn't kill anyone. You didn't kill your baby. He did."

"I hate him."

Lexie nodded. "Me too."

"Okay," Meredith stated.

"Okay?"

The blonde sat up in bed and turned the lamp on. "I'm ready.

Lexie smiled. "Want me to send Derek in?"

Meredith nodded. As Lexie made her way to the door, Meredith stopped her. "Lexie." The brunette turned. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Lexie beamed.

Derek heaved into the toilet a third time. Unable to contain his stress, his body released it the only way it knew how.

Something was wrong with his wife. Something had happened that day and no one would tell him what. Now she was suffering a complete nervous breakdown and he was powerless to do anything. Derek hated feeling powerless. It made him feel like a twelve year old again, watching his father killed in front of him. He'd thrown up that night too.

He felt a hand on his back and one stroking his hair. It was Lexie. She smiled sympathetically.

"She wants to see you now." She handed him a cup of water.

Derek stood up, taking the cup she offered. He swished some water in his mouth and spit before making his way to the bedroom. The walk down the hall felt surreal, like one of those dream sequences you see in the movies. Yang was leaning against the wall, watching him. He nodded to her as he passed.

When he opened the door, Meredith was sitting up in the bed, her hands clasped in her lap. He was pretty sure she'd been wiggling her toes under the sheets before he'd arrived. He closed the door behind him but remained close to the exit. Meredith offered a tight-lipped smile. They remained in silence a few minutes.

"I'm pregnant," she finally stated.

Derek remained silent. He refused to get his hopes up until he knew where she stood on the issue.

"This isn't the first time," she continued. "That I've been pregnant, I mean. I was pregnant that day. I was pregnant and then Gary Clark shot you and held a gun to Cristina's head while she tried to save your life. They unhooked the wires so he'd think you were dead and leave. I watched you die. I watched you die and then our baby did." She was in tears by the ends of her rant.

Derek didn't even feel his legs move but he was at her side in an instant.

"I told him to shoot me," Meredith sobbed into his shoulder. "I told him if he really wanted to hurt you and Lexie and the Chief, he should shoot me."

"Meredith," Derek held her tighter.

"Please don't leave me. I didn't mean to lose our baby," she pleaded.

"Shhh." Derek could swear his heart was breaking. "I will never leave you," he told her firmly, "and this was not your fault. I just wish you'd told me sooner. We could have grieved together."

"I didn't want you to worry about me."

"I will always worry about you. You're my wife. I think I worried about you before I even met you. You can't take that away from me. Let me help you."

Meredith sniffled. "So you're not going to leave me to raise this baby a la Ellis Grey?"

Derek chuckled. "No way in hell." Suddenly he grinned. "We're having a baby."

Meredith beamed back. "We're having a baby." Her smile faltered. "What if it happens again?"

"Gary Clark is dead. He' snot coming back. And as for this baby," he rested his hand on her still flat tummy, "he or she is going to be just fine because I am taking care of the both of you from now on."

Meredith sighed. "Derek, I don't need you to take care of me."

"Yes you do. And even if you don't, too bad, it's happening." Meredith could feel his eyes stripping away all her inhibitions and fears. He continued, "You've taken such good care of me since that day and I thank you for that. But now it's my turn. It's my turn to take care of you, so let me."

Lexie held the mug to her lips and blew on her coffee. Her conversation with Meredith had definitely sobered her up, but with her car still at the hospital she had nowhere to go anyway, so she'd found herself in Meredith's kitchen making coffee.

She heard a footstep. It was Cristina. She leaned against the doorway, her arms crossed and an unreadable expression on her face.

"Hey," Lexie greeted. "There's coffee if you want any."

"Why did she ask for you?"

Lexie shrugged. "I don't know."

"I'm her person. I could have helped her."

"Look," Lexie shifted uncomfortably, " I know what happened that day. I know about the miscarriage." Cristina remained silent. "She's pregnant again now, and I think she was afraid it was going to happen again. I think she just … needed to be with someone who wasn't there with her on that day."

Seeming to understand, Cristina nodded. "It's hard to be around her too," she stated, mostly to herself. "Do you need a ride?" she offered.

Lexie smiled. "That would be great. Grebo's probably wondering where I am." She downed her coffee, ignoring the incredulous expression on Cristina's face.

Only the desk lamp shone in Mark's office when Callie approached. "You're gonna go blond like that," she smirked.

He looked up from the stack of charts he was working on. "Did you tell her?"

Callie sighed. "I did."

"And?"

"She seemed disappointed but I think she understood."

"I hate that I couldn't be there."

"I know." Callie sat across from him. "She's a doctor, too. She knows emergency surgeries come with the job."

"I want to marry her. How do I convince her to marry me if I can't even keep a date?"

"Mark, you're being too hard on yourself. Besides, Lexie's not ready yet."

"She's ready," he grumbled stubbornly. " She just doesn't know it yet."

Callie rolled her eyes. "Come on," she stood up. "You need to eat and sleep at some point tonight."

"What did she look like?"

"She was beautiful, Mark," she lied. In truth, she hadn't gone to see Lexie at all. She didn't want Mark to be hurt and the only way she thought she could keep the younger doctor from hurting him was if she kept Lexie away from him.

So I'm not 100% sure how old Derek was when his dad died so I just picked an age; if you happen to know the exact age please tell me!

Also, I swear I am not a Callie-hater! I love Callie! The story's just kind of taken over at this point and really, her intentions are good though misguided. Don't worry, though, our pair will find their way back to each other. :-)