As time is called she turns in her exam and goes to exit the room. Stepping out she spotted her sister "I killed it. I don't want to brag, but I crushed that exam. I'm going to be a resident." Lexie says proudly.
With a heavy sigh, Meredith speaks. "Lexie - there's been an accident."
In some ways Lexie's spent the last few months expecting this. Her father had drank himself into oblivion to the point of hurting her, she knew deep down that Thatcher Grey would always hurt himself and someone else. "How bad is it?" She asks with a calmness that would almost come across as cold if she hadn't spent the last few months mentally preparing herself for this moment.
Cautiously, Meredith begins to explain. Lexie in a situation involving Mark in danger was a new experience to Meredith, and she wondered if Lexie really did just know how to to internalize everything to avoid completely panicking. "He's touch and go right now, Derek's trying to stabilize him right now. You should probably come to the pit." Knowing Lexie, Meredith struggles to understand the reaction she's witnessing. Part of her just assumes that seeing Mark in danger will cause a stark shift in he demeanor.
Nodding, Lexie processes all of this information still not realizing Meredith's talking about her husband not her father. "Let me guess the cops need me to explain Dad's drinking and I'm needed downstairs because he hurt someone." She concludes not seeing any other possible option.
With an inhale, Meredith shakes her head slowly. In this moment she understands Lexie's calm, Lexie assumed Thatcher had gotten in an accident, not Mark. "Lexie…" Meredith starts again, "Thatcher didn't get into an accident."
Before Meredith can keep going Lexie cuts her off. "Then who?" The instant the question falls from her lips Lexie realizes exactly why Meredith's here waiting for her. The words "touch and go" from moments ago ring loudly in her mind. "No." She shakes her head as tears fill her eyes. "He can't be, he's supposed to be at home. I'm supposed to go home and meet him." The fact Lexie's standing is a pure miracle, but somehow she is.
"He's in Trauma room 1. Derek's with him, someone ran a red light. Derek and Bailey are trying to get him stable enough for scans before they take him to the operating room, Lexie you need to come now." Meredith explains. Her pager goes off with Mark's new location. "He's stable and in CT," she updates.
Nodding Lexie can't ignore the feeling that she's shaking uncontrollably. She tries to move her legs forward, only to find herself frozen in place. Shaking her head Lexie places her trembling hand on her chest to try and steady herself. "I can't. He can't." She stutters.
Always calm in a crisis Meredith takes a step forward. For a moment she finds herself surprised by her own sisterly attitude. Even though she grew up as an only child, Meredith can't help but admit she likes having a little sister and didn't want to see her hurting. "I know." She takes Lexie's hand in her own. "But you want to see him. Even if it's bad, you want to see him. I'll stay with you the whole time." Meredith promises.
Silent the entire way, Lexie follows Meredith. Normally they wouldn't let wives back here, but she has medical privileges in the hospital. Lexie moves into the CT scan booth quickly, placing herself behind Derek. Mark's in the other room but before Lexie looks at him she want the medical information first. Once the scans pop up Lexie leans against the back of the wall. "That's a big bleed. In the frontal lobe. I can see it from back here." Lexie's voice stays monotone as she regurgitates what she sees.
In her mind Lexie doesn't understand how all of this could happen. They spent months working together to make their relationship work, and now he laid in a hospital bed. In moments like this she wishes she could shut her brain down, make it so she didn't know that the frontal lobe controlled behavior and personality. Her husband could be gone. Everything that made Mark, Mark could have disappeared.
That thought alone made her want to go to Joe's and never move herself from the bar bench.
"I'll go in from the side, clear the bleed, relieve the pressure. He'll stay in the ICU for at least a week and we'll have someone watching his intracranial pressure consistently for the first 72 hours. I can get this." Derek doesn't like to make promises, but this is as close as he'll get. After watching the two of them struggle for months, Derek doesn't want to watch it end like this.
Even knowing the low chances Mark has Lexie nods. "Where do I sign?" She knows they need a consent form and if Derek says he can do it she knows it's the best chance. "Do whatever you can, I want to take my husband home. Don't make me a widow Derek please." Lexie pleads. In this moment she's not speaking to her superior, or her sister's boyfriend, she's asking the guy who stood next to Mark while she walked down the aisle. She's asking the guy who called her two hours after Mark dumped her to warn her that chances were high Mark would come around the next afternoon to apologize for acting like a jerk.
Nodding Derek knows he needs to still cover all the bases. "Lexie based on where this bleed is and his other injuries there's a chance" Before he can even finish Lexie cuts him off.
"There's a chance he could not wake up or that even if he does he could need round the clock care or he could be perfectly fine but every trace of his personality could be gone. I know. I also know that if you don't operate he's going to keep bleeding into his brain and he will die." Lexie's voice trembles as she speaks thinking of all these options and what they could do to Mark. "I know the risks and I know what his chances are. Derek go ahead and operate." She all but pleads with Derek.
Calling down to the OR, Derek warns them they're coming. The orderly begins moving Mark back onto the gurney. Moving from the booth to Mark's bedside, Lexie takes the briefest of moments with him. "I love you," she whispers to his unconscious form, a hand running through his hair. She tries not to take notice of the bruises and cuts on his face. "Please come back to me." She pleads, unable to kiss him because he's been intubated she presses a kiss to his forehead.
"Lexie I'm going to take him down to the OR now." Derek says entering the room.
Hesitantly, Lexie takes her hand off the gurney. Watching Derek wheel her husband away Lexie steps into the hallway. Leaning against the wall she watches Derek continue to head down the hallway, tears in her eyes. All she wants is for Mark to be okay. She wants to take her husband home and not wonder if she'll get Mark back. "It took us so long to get back together. We wasted so much time." Lexie says wiping at her eyes as Meredith stands next to her in the hallway. "I can't lose him."
Meredith doesn't say anything, just runs her hand up and down Lexie's arm.
AN: Oh no! review and let me know what you thought!
