Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for a crazy mind.

A/N: This isn't the best, and I'm sorry it's short but it serves its purpose and the real aftermath comes later, so I'm sorry in advance. And guys, guess what? Only three more chapters left after this! Eek. Anyway, please let me know what you think! (:


Owen walked up to the police officer that was standing outside the cubicle. Glancing slowly at the cubicle and then back at the officer, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do we have?"

The officer looked at Owen and after a moment replied, "Woman, mid-20's. Found at home, beaten by her father." He glanced back at the curtain before looking back at Owen who was nodding slightly. "He's in custody, but she insisted one of us come with her. Just in case." His sympathy showed and he sighed slightly. "Poor girl. I'll be waiting here until you're finished, 'cause then I gotta get a statement from her."

Owen nodded again and turned around, pushing through the curtain, his eyes cast downwards as he snapped on his gloves. "I'm Dr. Hunt. What do we–" He stopped when he saw that it was Lexie sitting on the bed, her face bloody and bruised. For a moment all thoughts drained from his mind before he quickly looked up to see Mark standing next to her. Carefully, he looked in between them, trying to reserve his judgments before he knew what exactly had happened.

"Dr. Sloan," he said slowly before looking at Lexie, his voice softer, "Lexie." Moving closer to the bed, Owen stood still as he asked, "How can I help?"

Lexie looked at Owen for a moment, unsure of what to say, before she looked up at Mark. Reaching out, she placed her hand in his and murmured, "Can't you fix it?"

Mark didn't look at her when he replied stiffly, "I can't…Sorry." Finally, he looked down at her, her face still beautiful despite the paleness and contrasting bright colors that marred her features. Swallowing, he backed away, his hand easily slipping from hers. "I…I need to go speak to…" He stopped abruptly before muttering, "I'll be back."

Lexie frowned as she watched him storm out of the cubicle. Looking up at Owen, she forgets momentarily about her injuries. "What's gotten into him?"

Owen looked over his shoulder and then back at Lexie. He merely shrugged before he took a seat next to her bed. Setting up his equipment, he looked at Lexie from the corner of his eyes before saying, "I'll clean you up, and then the police want to talk to you." Instantly, Lexie tensed and so he calmly continued, "I'll drag Mark back for that. You don't have to do this alone."

Nodding, Lexie stared ahead as she felt Owen bring a cool pad to her skin, attempting to remove the fresh and dried blood from her cheeks. "Okay," she said, her eyes glazing over slightly. He'll be back, her mind repeated as she sat perfectly still. "Okay…"


Storming through the hallway, Mark was on a mission. He needed to find Derek and he needed to find him now. Nearly breaking out into a run, Mark burst through Derek's office door to find it empty.

"Damn it," he muttered as he swiftly turned around and accidently bumped into someone. He is about to shout at them until he realized who is standing before him. A cold trickle of dread surrounded him as he breathed, "Meredith."

Meredith raised an eyebrow in concern before she looked to either side of her. "Yes?" She replied, not sure as to why Mark looked so surprised to see her. She laughed slightly and eyed him up and down before asking, "Are you alright?"

"Yes! Er, yes…" He stopped, wondering if he should tell her about Lexie. He briefly wondered if she would care. The thought seemed slightly ridiculous to Mark – they were still sisters after all – however he knew Meredith and Lexie hadn't seen eye to eye recently. Swallowing nervously, Mark asked, "You haven't seen…Derek around anywhere, have you?"

"He's in surgery." Meredith looked at him suspiciously. "Can I help you with anything?"

"No, no," he said quickly before he paused. Sighing, he looked up at the ceiling before glancing down at Meredith again. "Busy?"

"No," Meredith replied slowly, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Mark, why are you–"

"It's Lexie," Mark said bluntly, unable to stop himself. He had to tell someone; otherwise this feeling inside him was going to eat him alive. "She's hurt," he said, his voice rough and unrecognizable to his own ears. "Thatcher. He…"

And when his voice trails off, unable to explain the details, unable retell and choke out all the sordid details of what happened to the woman he loved; Meredith simply stared at him, her face showing her shock, her body numb.

It only took a moment before Meredith jerked into action. She turned around and over her shoulder called, "Is she still in the ER?"

"Yeah," Mark said, rushing to her side. He shook his head, still relatively in shock. "Meredith, look–"

"What did he do to her?"

At first Mark is taken back by her sharp tone, the underlining anger evident, but then he realized that Meredith had never been a fan of their father. Regardless of her feelings for her half-sister, he realized that in Meredith's mind, Thatcher was the enemy here; she could put her reservations against Lexie aside for the time being.

"I'm not exactly sure," Mark answered, unsure of whether or not to divulge all the details about Lexie's relationship with her father. He knew Lexie didn't feel comfortable with people knowing, and if he told Meredith everything…Well, Mark knew he couldn't. It was something Lexie had to be strong enough to do.

Unhappy with his lack of information, Meredith shook her head impatiently, increasing her pace. "Right," she said dryly. Rushing through the doors of the ER, Meredith scanned the room and when she sees the policeman outside a cubicle, she rushed over, ignoring Mark's efforts to slow her down.

Without thinking, Meredith whipped open the cubicle curtain and when her eyes fell on Lexie's the breath she had been holding left her chest.

The bruises shining bright against her pale skin caused Meredith's stomach to sink, her food stirring in the pit of her body as she saw the trail of colors that marred her sister's skin. And as she stared at Lexie, the only thought that ran through her mind was the fact that it was her father who had done this. It was her father who had harmed her sister, it was her father who had caused her to be here, and it was their father who, although he may not have treated Meredith well in the past, he had always cared for Lexie, he had always taken care with her, and yet now…It was their father who had done this.

The sound of sheets rustling caused Meredith to snap out of her haze. Casting her eyes to Lexie, Meredith opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead she stared at Lexie, her heart bursting against her chest as Lexie looked between Meredith and Mark.

"Hey," Lexie whispered, her voice laced with nerves as she regarded Meredith. Her eyes then darted to Mark, as if silently asking for help. "Erm…"

"I'm sorry."

The words fall out of her mouth, causing Lexie to shake her head in disagreement. Turning to Mark, Meredith lowered her voice slightly as she said, "Could you give us a moment alone, please?"

Without a word, Mark backed out of the cubicle, leaving the two sisters in silence.


"Hey, Mark!" Callie called as she saw him leave the cubicle. Walking over to him, she placed a hand on his arm and looked up at him, her concern clear. "Hey, I just heard…"

"Yeah." Mark replied, his voice void of any emotion. He continued to stare ahead, his eyes fixed on Lexie's cubicle.

Callie followed his line of sight before she gently rubbed his arm. "She's okay now," she murmured quietly.

Mark nodded curtly before moving away from Callie's touch. "I know that," he snapped, his voice stiff. "I know that." He paused for a moment, his jaw clenching and then he sighed, the coil that had been wrapped around his thoughts breaking, and suddenly everything came out in a flurry.

"I didn't do anything!" Mark growled, his eyes narrowed as the words fly out of him. "I didn't think sooner. I didn't…" He paused and immediately his posture tensed. "He was there, all day. And I didn't even think something was wrong. Instead," he laughed bitterly, "Instead I was blaming her. I thought she was doing it on purpose. That she didn't want to talk to me." He shook his head, as he looked at the curtain. "She couldn't talk to me. She was there, with him, and all she wanted was…And I wasn't there, because I'm so…selfish."

Touching a gentle hand to Mark's arm, Callie spoke quietly, "Mark…This isn't your fault. You didn't know. There was no way you could know…"

Mark shook his head, but this time he didn't deny the comfort from Callie. Instead he continued to stare forward, his mind racing as he muttered, "I didn't move sooner. If anything happened to her–"

"Stop it, Mark," Callie said forcefully. "She's fine, Mark. You got to her. In the end, you got to her and now she's safe."

"And you think that's all that matters?"

Callie let out a heavy sigh before turning Mark so he could look into her eyes. "That is all that matters." Dropping her voice, Callie looked up at him with concern as she gently repeated, "Lexie is fine, she's safe now because of you. Thatcher is in jail, and that is all that matters. She's safe now, Mark. Thanks to you."

They stared at each other for a moment before Mark took a step back. Shaking his head, he turned back to Lexie's cubicle. "I could have been there sooner. I could have stopped it sooner! She wouldn't be like this if I–"

"Mark."

Callie and Mark turned around at the sound of Derek's voice. Mark stared at him, his face showing no emotion and Derek sighed moving closer. Carefully, he placed a comforting hand on Mark's arm. "Don't beat yourself up over this," he said calmly, his eyes steady on Mark's. "Lexie is fine now. You did nothing wrong."

Anger flared up in Mark and he snatched his arm away from Derek. Shaking his head, he stepped away from them. "You don't know, Derek. You weren't there," Mark growled, his face twisted in pain. "When she didn't answer her phone, I should have known something was wrong. I should have put it together but I didn't and look at what happened! She suffered because of me."

"No, Mark, you didn't hurt her, Thatcher did," Derek reasoned, stepping closer to his friend.

And then, before he knew what was happening, something inside of him snapped and the flood came, all of his emotions and fears pouring out in a rage that couldn't be contained. "But I didn't stop it when I knew about it! I knew, I knew he could come home at any moment and I didn't think! I didn't try harder and she's in there because of me. Because I failed her!"

"Wait…You knew…" Derek stopped himself and suddenly he glared at Mark, not understanding the situation. "You knew…How long has Thatcher been doing this?" When Mark didn't answer, Derek let out a humorless laugh. "He's been hurting her and you didn't think to tell us?"

Mark's face hardened instantly. "Lexie didn't want people to know. It was none of your business, Derek. We were handling the situation."

Derek scoffed and shook his head. "Yeah, and you did a brilliant job of that!"

Sensing that this would do no good for either of them, Callie tried to intervene. "Derek…"

As if he didn't hear her, Derek snapped, "Didn't it ever occur to you that you should have moved her out of that house?"

Fire shot across Mark's expression and he growled, "Don't you dare tell me what I should have done, Derek! You didn't know because Lexie didn't want to tell anyone. It wasn't up to me; I was just respecting her wishes! But that's just so surprising, isn't it?"

"You should have done something, Mark. You could have at least told–"

"Who? Meredith? Is that what you were going to say?" Mark shakes his head. "Like she would have given a damn."

"She's her sister!"

"And look at how she's treated her, Derek!" Mark shook his head in dismay as he stared at Derek. "You think she's perfect, don't you? She's the one who didn't want to know Lexie, not the other way round. Lexie felt alone, Derek, she didn't think she had a family because of the way Meredith treated her!" When Derek doesn't reply, Mark calmed slightly and stressed, "I am the only one who cared enough to listen. I didn't just brush her aside, because I care about her. I didn't just want to get into her pants, Derek, because I would give anything to protect her and I didn't. I couldn't protect her and I promised her that I would!"

"Mark…" Callie moved closer to him, her hands carefully landing on his arm, soothingly rubbing him.

Staring at Derek, Mark's voice softened as he reminded him, "We talked about it, Derek. You thought something was wrong but you didn't act. No-one did, except for me because I…care about her. I know that concept seems foreign to everyone but I genuinely care about Lexie, so to know that she was in that house, with him…"

Cutting himself off, Mark swallowed thickly as the toll of the day began to choke him. Shaking his head, Mark said quietly, "Do you know how much this hurts? Do you know how much it killed me knowing she was in there and I was stuck outside? And now you're blaming me for not telling you sooner? Don't you think I'm blaming myself enough already?"

Silently, Callie wrapped her arms around Mark, pulling him against her side as he sighed heavily, his face tired and his eyes blurry as he stared at his stunned friend.

Unable to speak, Derek looked in between Mark and Callie before finally finding his voice. "Mark, I didn't…I'm–"

"Save it, Derek," Mark muttered before looking over his shoulder. "Just…I need to see Lexie."

As Mark walked away, Derek stood silently staring after him. He watched Callie shake her head and sigh before he turned to her, his voice small when he asked, "He really cares about her, doesn't he?"

"You think?" Callie replied, glaring at Derek.

Derek groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm sorry! I didn't…"

"You didn't think, yeah, that's something you and Mark have in common." Callie rolled her eyes as she stared at Lexie's cubicle. She turned to look up at Derek, her face softening when she said, "He loves her and he's already beating himself up about this. He doesn't need you telling him he's in the wrong. He just needs his friends now. They both do."