Title: Come Fly with Me

Pairings: Mark/Lexie storyline with appearances by the whole gang.

Warning: May have adult themes throughout the story. Will let you know at each chapter.

Summary: Lexie just confessed she's still in love with Mark (starts after 8x22), and now the doctors of Seattle Grace are leaving for Boise to operate on conjoined twins—the plane crash happens. This is my take on the story and what I would have loved to have seen had Slexie survived. Includes some storylines from the show which may not be exact to the original plot.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to the show and the fans of GA.

A/N: I'm back! I hope for any of you that enjoyed "Always Been You" (ABY) that you will like this. Not sure yet how many chapters this might be…but I don't think it will be as many as ABY.

About this chapter:

Warning: None.

A/N: Similar to the show…all my chapters in this story will include a title to a song. Usually, the song title I am using is one I listened too and even helped with the creative juices when writing the chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Timeline Note: This will also include a lot of flashback scenes in each chapter from before the flight, present day (during the crash), and sometimes after. Enjoy.

This chapter's song is "Don't Forget About Me" by Cloves

Chapter 1 – Don't Forget About Me

Wednesday – 2:00pm (In Flight – Somewhere between Boise and Seattle)

One. Two. Three.

Three seconds.

Three seconds was all the time Lexie had to count. Three seconds to process that her life and those of her friends, colleagues, and family members on board the plane, lives would never be the same again. Would she live? Would she die? Would any of them be lucky to survive?

Lexie turned her head to the right in the seat next to her, Mark Sloan her on again and off again love of her life looking back at her.

Three seconds…before everything went black.

Sunday – 8:00pm (Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital)

Lexie paced outside of Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital back and forth unable to quiet her mind. All day, all day she had been on Derek's service with her stomach in knots. Every time Mark had come in the room—or vice versa—the conversation seemed to stop around them. The awkwardness was killing her. Slowly.

Had Derek told Mark about what she had said to him when he had gotten home to relieve her from her baby-sitting duties with Zola from the night before?

"Mark says he misses me…but I miss him," she confessed, her voice pained. "I really miss him." There was a note in her voice that started to crack and tears started to form at the back of her eyes.

Derek looked at her with that sympathetic big brother look, and that made her chest ache even more. His hand came to her back as he started rubbing circles slowly in an attempt to make her feel better. In that moment, it made her think long ago of a time when her mother used to do that to her when she was upset. So much loss and heartache, it felt like it was slowly suffocating her.

"Mark thinks I am still in love with Jackson…but I try and tell him that I don't. I try to tell him that I still love him," she continued her hands balling into fists right in front of her. Her lip started to quiver as she tried to get out her next works. "I try and open my mouth…and nothing comes out," she cried, her voice breaking.

"It's going to be ok, Lexie," Derek assured.

She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks now. "Will it?" When she looked back at her brother-in-law, this time he couldn't be so certain. "Because this time…this time I think it's certain that I have lost the only man I ever truly loved."

Derek pulled her into his shoulder as she shed her tears and fears that Mark Sloan was lost to her.

She left that night, and told herself that it was time that she would need to move on. That Mark had wanted a family. Someone that wanted to be his wife and have his baby and grow old with forever. She hadn't wanted it at that time, foolishly giving it up instead of sticking around and working out her feelings and talking things through. She still didn't know if she wanted those things right in this moment, but she knew she did want them, and she wanted them only with Mark Sloan.

This happened because of you, she thought.

Then she remembered Mark's advice when they were standing in the hall after working a case with him.

"If you're not over him, you should tell him," he said to her, with a hopeful smile.

Here she was…standing here pacing outside trying to work up the courage to do that very thing. Tell the man she loves that she isn't over him. That she still loves him.

"Lex."

She turned around at the sound of his voice, and their Mark Sloan stood in the flesh. He was dressed in dark blue jeans, his black leather jacket, with his phone in his hand that he had just checked and placed back in his pants pocket.

"You did great in there," he praised, having worked with her again on a case today in conjunction with Derek.

"Thanks," she said nervously, her stance rocking back and forth.

He arched a brow at her. "You, ok?"

"I love you," she blurted out. "Whoa—oh my, god…that just came flying out," she said, her hand coming to her mouth. She looked up to him and his eyes were opened wide, flashing with astonishment. "I love you…I just did it again," she laughed her hands on her cheeks. She licked her lips, and smiled. "I love you...I just do," she breathed.

She had just opened the flood gates and now it was coming out all at once. Her heart was beating rapidly, her stomach was in knots, but for the first time in days—weeks even—she finally felt empowered to express her feelings for the man she never stopped loving.

"I do…I just love you," she repeated. "I have been trying not to say it, I've been trying so hard to just mash it down and ignore it…and not say it." She didn't know where she was going next with her words…but she didn't care. She just wanted him to know everything. "Jackson is a great guy. And he liked me," she paused, her mouth falling open as if that was such an unbelievable thing that someone like Jackson Avery would like her. "You know…he really liked me. But it was never going to work out, because I love you."

His face was still frozen in a state of shock. She was wondering if he was actually hearing anything that she was saying to him in this moment, but she couldn't stop herself. If this was going to be her final chance to make him understand that they were the true endgame, that they were meant to be…she had to drive that point home. She had to make him understand.

She stepped forward. "I am so in love with you." She was struggling to get out the words in a poetic way that would make sense. "You're in me…it's…it's like you're a disease. It's like I am infected by Mark Sloan." She laughed a humorless laugh, her voice starting to quiver, as her eyes started to fill with water. Mark shoved his hands in his pockets. "And I can't think about anything or anybody…and I can't sleep, I can't breathe, I can't eat…and I love you. I just love you all the time—every minute of every day. And…I…I. Love. You."

His brows knitted together; his eyes focused directly on her. She didn't even think he had blinked since she started her massive confession, his lips parted like he wanted to say something, but the words just weren't coming from his lips. She let her hands fall to her sides. She just made the biggest confession of her entire life and he still hadn't uttered a word.

"Mark?"

Julia.

She appeared out of nowhere, standing in between her and Mark. A stab to the heart that she was the here and now, and that Lexie was the forgotten past.

"Hey, you," Julia said, as she placed her hand on his arm. "I thought we were meeting around front?"

Mark glanced at his girlfriend and then back at her. Lexie's mouth opened like she wanted to say something, anything, but the words just didn't seem to want to come out. She wanted to stop him from make the wrong decision, that she could see was starting to cross his expression.

Choose me, she thought.

She tried to tell Mark that with her eyes, clinging to the hope that this wasn't the end for them. She knew Mark was serious about Julia and considering taking them to that next step—possible consideration for forever—but he had to know that decision would be the wrong one. It was Mark and Lexie that worked. Even with everything thrown their way seemed to say otherwise—unknown daughter, baby with lesbian friend, age—they were still the endgame.

"Sorry about that Jules," he said, turning his attention back to her.

Julia smiled. "No problem, silly. You ready to go?"

Mark looked back at Lexie. She shook her head, her eyes already brimming with water. Her eyes pleaded one final time. Don't. Don't go. Stay with me.

"Yeah," he said.

Julia outstretched her hand. Mark looked down at it, before taking her hand in his. Lexie felt her heart break into two.

"See you later, Lexie," Julia said.

Mark's glance flickered back to hers. "Thank you for telling me," he said.

She felt her heart shatter into pieces. There was nothing in that response that indicated that he still felt the same way about her. That he needed time to process and get back to her. There was nothing but the confirmation that Mark Sloan was leaving her behind and walking away with his future.

Sunday – 8:15pm (Seattle Grace Mercy West Parking Lot)

"Everything ok?" Julia asked, once they reached their cars in the hospital parking lot.

"Huh?"

She laughed. "I said, is everything ok. You seem distant and far away. Like something is on your mind."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's just been a long day," he said.

She stopped, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Is this about this morning? About me telling you I want a baby with you? Did I scare you and now you're looking for an out?"

"What? No."

She bit her lip. "Are you sure? Because I know that was so out of left field. I know we haven't even talked about living together, and there I go talking about having kids with you," she rambled nervously. "It's just…I really like you, Mark. Like, really like you. I know you wanting a family is really important, and I want you to know that wanting a family is important to me too."

He smiled, but he knew even as it did, it didn't really reach his eyes. He didn't want to be having this conversation right now with Julia, when his mind and heart were still back in the parking lot with Lexie and her confession about her feelings for him.

Lexie loved him. Still loved him. After all this time, all that had passed in between…she had still loved him. Part of him held a little anger at that. He had loved her for so long. Came to her many times telling her that he loved her and wanted her, and it was her that asked him to let her go. He remembered the last time he had told her about his feelings when she was still with Jackson. He was trying to do the right thing by letting her go, because he could tell she was happy with Jackson. Even though it had killed him to know this, he had given Jackson his blessing and said he would step aside—for her.

"You have to stop. You have to stop talking to me, and checking on me, and talking to my boyfriend," she said exasperated. She sighed. "I love you. I am always going to love you. But I don't want to love you. I want to be happy. Jackson makes me happy. If you keep pulling at me, I'll come back to you."

He swallowed and nodded. "You're right." There was a somber note in his voice that told her this time he understood. That he was going to do as she asked and let her go. "I'm letting you go, Lexie." He looked behind her in the opposite direction. "That means you gotta walk away."

He stuck his hands in his lab coat pocket and watched the woman he desperately wanted—but could no longer have—walk away. This time, this felt their good-bye felt so final.

Now, she was telling him that she loved him. She loved him still. Why now? Was it because she really did love him, or was it because she saw how happy he could be with Julia, and it was the jealously of that coming forward because things hadn't worked out with Jackson?

"I just love you all the time—every minute of every day."

These were the words he had wanted to hear even after the day she had first broken up with him. Left him. After she spent all the time with Karev who never really deserved her. Understood her. Loved her. He was still hung up on his wife—Izzie—to know what a good thing he had and let slip through his fingers.

That had been the first time had come to her and told her that he still loved her and wanted her after their initial breakup. That they could both have everything they knew they desperately wanted. He didn't want to sleep around and really get to know anyone else, because who he really wanted was her. Karev wasn't the kind of man who would give Lexie everything she wanted, no matter how much she deluded herself into thinking he could.

"Lex."

He had approached her at the nurse's station, waiting for Alex while he had gone to drop something off really quickly. She turned around to face him, pulling her purse up on her shoulder. She could tell that something important was on his mind.

"I'm still in love you with you. I tried not to be, but didn't work. I want another chance." He paused. "I'm in love with you," he said.

Her mouth fell open; slightly agape, her eyes softening as she realized what he was saying to her. She hadn't expected him to say this to her after the last couple of contentious weeks between them.

"Mark, I…I…have a boy—boyfriend," came her reply.

"I know. I'm saying you can have a husband."

He turned to walk away and give her the opportunity to ponder his declaration and understand that it still wasn't too late for them.

As he stared back up at Julia who was expectantly awaiting his reply, both his heart and mind were conflicted. Julia, who wanted everything he wanted and was so eager to give it to him. To want to make him happy. Yet, even knowing this, he wasn't standing here jumping for joy at the notion.

"Mark?"

He closed his eyes. "Julia, I'm sorry, it's just been a really long day, and I had an extremely stressful case. It's just taken everything out of me. Do you mind, if we just call it a night and pick this up tomorrow?" he asked.

He was taking the cowards way out, but after what Lexie had just told him, he needed time to himself without Lexie or Julia around to process his thoughts and feelings. He hated when he looked up and saw her face fall, that she was truly worried that things weren't solid between them. He hated himself even more that he couldn't offer her any promises or comfort that she had nothing to worry about.

"Uh, sure. I understand," she conceded dejectedly.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he said, leaning down to put a quick kiss on her lips. Even that didn't feel the same as it once had.

She nodded, unable to say any words. He saw her eyes turn glassy, and it was like a punch in the gut, because the last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt her. He never wanted to hurt Lexie either. He was coming to realize that no matter what he did from this moment forward…one of them would have a broken heart, all because of him.

Sunday – 8:45pm

Lexie pounded on the door incessantly, until the light on the porch flickered on, and the front door opened.

"Lexie?"

She was aware of what she must looked like to Derek as he stepped aside and let her in. After her disaster confession to Mark—his unrequited response to her said confession—Lexie stormed to her car and immediately drove to the first person that had given her the encouragement to do so.

"This is all your fault," she accused, charging into the house.

He shut the door behind her. "What?"

"Mark rejected me," she answered as she paced the front hall of his and Meredith's house. "I went there, like you said, and told him how I felt. That I still loved him. That I wanted him. That I wanted us. I put everything on the line and he rejected me," she cried.

Derek's eyes widen. "He actually told you he wasn't interested?"

She stopped, turning to face him, a tear rolling down her cheek. "He didn't have too. Julia showed up and instead of saying anything…he just left with her. He made his choice and he chose her," she exclaimed.

Derek's expression looked pained when he looked back at her, no doubt seeing that her face conveyed that she was crumbling outside just as much as the inside.

"Lexie, it was probably because Julia showed up in an extremely awkward circumstance. Just give it sometime. Remember what they say, "if you love something set it free, and if it's meant to be, they will return to you,"" he said.

She shook her head and sucked in her bottom lip. "You didn't see what I saw," she countered, wiping away another tear.

"What was that?"

The feeling of failure settled into her tone and reply. "Mark has moved on. He's moved on from me for good," she cried, her back hitting the hallway as she started to fall towards the floor as her face crumpled into full on tears.

Derek was at her side, coming to sit down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, as he pulled her to his chest, and held her as she cried.

Sunday – 6:00am (Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital)

"Julia wants to have my baby," Mark blurted out to Derek as they stood at the main nurse's station.

"Um, what?"

"Exactly," Mark replied, to his friend's shocked expression. "We were having breakfast this morning—you know I was trying to calm Jackson's nerves for the test—and she out and says, "we should have a baby.""

"What did you say?" he asked after he recovered from his initial shock.

"I didn't know what to say. Before I could even think of something to say, she got all flustered, made up an excuse and left."

Derek blinked. "I can't say I saw that one coming."

He stared at Derek, slack jawed. "You? It came completely out of left field for me."

Derek crossed his arms. "Ever since Sloan came into your life all you have said is that you wanted a family. You had Sofia, but you still wanted a true family of your own. Now, the woman you are dating is flat out telling you that she wants you, and to have your baby, and you think it's out of left field?"

Mark rubbed his jaw. "We don't even live together yet," he pointed out. "I would think that would come first."

"Well, if she wants a baby, maybe that is your sign that she is looking for that next step with you," Derek observed.

"Should I have a baby with her?"

His forehead creased. "Why are you asking me if you should be having a baby with your girlfriend?"

"Your good with this stuff, and…"

Mark let the sentence drift off when Lexie Grey started walking up towards them. A line appeared between her brows that she could tell that her appearance had stopped whatever conversation they were having, but he plastered a half-smile on his face anyway.

"Dr. Grey," he greeted.

She licked her lips. "Dr. Sloan." She turned to Derek. "I'm on your rotation again today." she informed.

"Well, I guess I will see you later," Mark said, before walking away.

Wednesday – 1:45pm (In Flight – Somewhere between Boise and Seattle - 15minutes before the crash)

Lexie sat by herself towards the front of the plane. It had only been about an hour a half flight the previous morning to Boise to work on the conjoined-twins case. Between all the doctors involved the surgery had lasted close to ten hours. They had spent the night at the hospital until the plane could charter them back to Seattle Grace Mercy West in the early afternoon.

It wasn't as if she was going to get any sleep anyway. Not with things still unsettled between her and Mark with no apparent resolution anytime soon. It had been two days since she had confessed her true feelings for him and he had been avoiding her since then. He could barely form a few complete sentences at a time around her, and she didn't even want to get started that he was doing everything he could to avoid having her on his service.

She was the last to step onto the plane. Mark was towards the back by the single restroom. Arizona sat directly across from him; her gaze already focused out the window. She had been in a rather cankerous mood ever since she had found out that her protégé and Lexie's own ex-boyfriend—Alex—was very much considering going to Hopkins instead of staying in Seattle.

Derek and Meredith sat in the two seats in front of Mark, laughing and talking about something Zola had done before they had left and some upcoming cases that Derek was excited to work on. Cristina sat in the single seat across from them, her eyes closed with her earbuds in her ears bobbing to whatever music was streaming in her ears.

She told herself when she stepped onto the plane to not even spare a glance in Mark's direction, but that would be like asking herself not to breathe, or for her heart to beat. She glanced in his direction, his head lifting at the exact moment to meet her gaze head on. She turned away; her face hard as she sat at one of the two empty seats at the front of the plane right behind the door to the cockpit.

They were thirty minutes into their flight, when out of her peripheral vision, she saw a tall figure to her left appear at her side. She closed her eyes, already knowing who it was without even needing to look. She would know his outline anywhere, and even if she hadn't his clean soapy smell that had a slight hint of some kind of mint filled her nostrils. She never got tired of that smell. It was one of the things she had missed most about him when she no longer shared his bed or was held in his arms.

"Do you mind if I sit?" he asked.

She kept her eyes forward and offered no response. He spent the last two days ignoring her, she was about to do the same, no matter how childish that seemed within this close space.

"Are you not going to talk to me?" he asked once he sat down.

She crossed her arms over her chest. It took everything in her to not look in his direction. She jetted her chin out and decided to take the inflight safety card next to her and read the material—that consisted of five pictures for safety protocols—like it was the most entertaining thing in the world.

She wanted to smack the grin right off his perfectly chiseled face when he said, "We both know you have read that before, and thanks to your eidetic memory, you already know the information and it's stored away."

She huffed, but kept the card in place in her hand. She had half the mind to get up and go and take the seat where he had vacated. At least then, it was a single seat and he wouldn't be able to follow her, but that would mean that she would have a reason to go and hide. She had no reason to hide. He had been the coward that couldn't be bothered to at least tell her that he either wanted her or not.

"I know your mad at me, Lex. So, if you don't want to talk, then I will and you can listen," he said.

She dropped the card on her lap, and turned towards him, he eyes blazing with anger and a little bit of hurt. "Are you kidding me?" she whispered harshly, careful that her sister and brother-in-law were directly behind her. "You practically ignore me for the last two days, and now you expect me to just jump at the chance when you want to talk?"

"Lex—"

"Don't," she snapped cutting him off. "You had your chance to talk to me two days ago. We have nothing left to discuss."

She knew that was a lie. She had only wanted to discuss this very thing with him since her very emotional confession, but the longer he ignored it, the more she had come to terms that he didn't feel the same way any longer. It was one thing to consider it…but somehow hearing the words come directly from his mouth would shatter her far greater than anything else. She figured him coming to her was he finally figured out how he was going to tell her that, and she couldn't handle that right now.

She suddenly felt so jealous of Cristina, Meredith, Alex, and the rest of the residents. They were all considering and fighting over multiple offers that could possibly get them out of dodge. What she wouldn't give at this moment to possibly have an offer to leave Seattle and Mark Sloan behind. Then she didn't have to walk in to work every day and crush her heart into further pieces a little each day at knowing he would never be hers again.

"I…"

Mark's words trailed off when a big jolt of turbulence had everyone gasping and letting out a shrill. A few seconds later, another sudden drop, and then another. Lexie's hands gripped at both sides of the seat, the safety card falling from her lap onto the floor.

"Is this normal?" she asked, breaking the silence for the first time.

"Yeah, sure," he said nonchalantly, but his face told her differently.

She could tell he was using his casual but assertive doctor voice. One that he used on his patients who were often scared or worried about going under the knife for surgery. Mark was always so confident with an extremely successful case percentage, that it almost always put his patients at ease. It was a gift of his, one that she always admired more then he knew. One that had helped her more times that she could count when she had encountered some of her toughest cases to date.

The door to the cockpit swung open. With Lexie being in the front row, she was able to see clearly as she titled to the left and made direct contact with the Captain. His face betrayed the calmness that he was trying to convey. Something that all pilots prepared for, but hopefully never had to actually encounter.

She heard the co-pilot's words into his headset before the Captain even uttered direction to her.

"May-day, may-day, may-day. This is Charlie, Tango, Foxtrot 2173. We are going down. I repeat, we are going down," the co-pilot repeated.

The Captain looked to Lexie and nodded the confirmation before he opened his mouth loud enough for everyone in the cabin to hear. "Fasten your seatbelts, and brace for impact. This plane is going down," he informed.

Lexie was aware that her seatbelt was still fastened, but she heard the others behind her check theirs, and then Mark next to her as his hand grabbed hold of the one in his seat and tighten around his waist.

She swallowed, as his eyes looked up to meet hers. Her lip trembled as his eyes said everything that both of their voices betrayed. His right hand reached for hers, their hands interlocking and holding on to each other's tightly.

Her gaze stayed with his as their heads leaned back against the headrest of their seats. She knew as they stared into each other's eyes that this would be it. This would be her final moments with the man that she loved. If this was going to be her time, at least she would go out sitting next to the man she loved, him with him looking back at her like she had hoped he still felt about her.

Three seconds.

The plane crashed.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.