Warning: Rated T for strong language.

A/N: These next couple of chapters might be split in between both points of view. You will know when it changes. :)

Also, just giving you a warning. I will most likely not be able to update tomorrow. I have a big family outing and will be out most of the day…so hopefully this will hold you over.

Bookworm6879 – I know what it's like to like a good book (not saying my story might be) and hate when you have to wait for long updates…so I try and commit to keep it going.

Mojotom – I know…I would have loved to drag out their separation longer…but you already know me too well. I am trying to wrap this one up so I can move on to my next story…which brings me too you next question…

Yes- I am planning on writing another story. For those of you that have been with me from the beginning and loved ABY…my next story idea I think might be the best yet (and I haven't even started it yet…lol)! So…stay tuned.

Don't worry…all your questions will be answered in your post. Glad I got you thinking and I am glad you still picked up on some things that have been left out. Are you sure you don't want to be an agent, Mojotom? ;)

Anyway….here you go!

Chapter 21

Lexie

Lexie was halfway through her shift, her mood considerably brightened now that she and Mark had made up. While her mind was still screaming at her that after he had walked away the first time, she was making the wrong decision, her heart had immediately told her she was right. Without Mark, it just didn't beat right. How was it supposed to truly beat without him, anyway?

Meredith shot her a skeptical gaze. "You seem awfully happy from the last time I saw you a couple of days ago," she observed.

Lexie gave her a genuine smile. "Because I am happy," she replied.

Meredith gripped her by the arm, recognition dawning in her features. "You took him back, didn't you?"

Her mouth actually fell open. Had she been so easy to read. "How did—"

Meredith groaned. "You really took him back?"

Lexie tore her arm away that was now being gripped more tightly from her sister's grip. "We talked it through," she said defensively.

Meredith sighed. "You forget that Derek and I were around right afterwards, Lexie. I've never ever seen you so down and broken hearted. I don't want you to make a huge mistake by taking him back."

She looked around the hospital hallways, making sure no one was listening in and lowered her voice. "We talked about this. If it is a mistake, then it is mine to make."

Meredith closed her eyes. "Please don't make me say I told you so. I really don't want to have too."

"You won't. I know you won't."

"Hey, Baby Grey…you have a patient in the ER exam room looking for a word with you," Karev hollered.

"I do? Did they say it who it was?"

He sneered. "How the hell should I know. Answer your pages and maybe you would know." He stormed off not waiting for any other questions.

Her brows furrowed. She hoped everything was ok, but the fact that Mark was coming to see here again, suddenly made her worry. Maybe there was nothing to worry about, and he just wanted to see her. The ER was slow and all her post ops were done…maybe she might be lucky enough that she could cut out a little early and they could really make up. After all, she had always heard that make up sex was the best kind of sex.

"I better go," she said suddenly.

Meredith nodded. "Go ahead. I'm going to go and call Derek and threaten to cut off his balls if he allows his best friend to hurt you again."

Lexie grinned, before turning and walking away. She briskly made her way back towards the ER, and off to the private rooms just outside of the packed ER beds. Luckily, it still wasn't too busy, which made her all the more hopeful that maybe she could ask Chief Hunt to let her go a little early.

For a second, she stood there completely dazed in the doorway of the private room. Who was on the other end was not Mark Sloan. It was also someone she did not recall ever treating before. Her brief onceover of the man standing in the room made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

She gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I must have the wrong room," she said at last.

"Hello, Dr. Grey."

The hair on the back of her neck definitely stood up now. Those three words were accented in a broken English. Right away she could discern his accent was that of Russian. Alarm bells went off in her head. She needed to somehow find an excuse to get out of this room and get word to Mark. Surely, he wouldn't do anything in a crowded hospital. Someone would notice.

"Why don't you shut door, Lexie," he said.

She swallowed. "Who are you?"

"Door," he repeated, this time not a request and a warning that he did not like to have to repeat himself.

Even though the last thing she wanted to do was to shut the door and find herself alone in a room with an actual crime lord, her gut instinct told her it was best to play along. The fact that he had come all the way to her place of work, told her that he was bold and cocky, mixed with a little bit of confidence that he wasn't at all worried that he could be caught.

She twisted and shut the door behind her, taking the moment to steady her resolve. The last thing she should do was give whomever this was any indication that she was scared.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

"My name is Dimitri Belsky." He paused, his eyes flickering with amusement. "Your expression already tells me that you know who I am."

She debated her strategy of lying to him, but then decided against it. "Your Russian mob."

He looked her up and down with a crude leer that suddenly made her want to cower and hide. "Is true. I've heard a lot about you."

"What do you want?"

He grinned. "You."

Had she been walking; she would have clearly stumbled at that response. "Not interested. Now, unless you are here for any medically related reason, we have nothing further to discuss," she said flatly.

She turned to open the door and get the hell out of there, but his meaty palm smacked the door to the room, keeping it shut. She could feel the closeness of his chest to her back, his warm breath on her neck, his words so close to her ear that it made her shiver with uneasiness.

"You're not going anywhere."

His words were dripping in that note that indicated this was the kind of man that was cold and shrewd and was used to getting his way. He was dangerous—that was certain. She was certain he was one if not directly responsible for what happened to Mark, and she knew enough from her conversations with Mark that they had been humiliated and stripped of many of their profits and business dealings after they had failed to kill him.

This was about revenge. He was here as a way to get to Mark. A sinking feeling formed low in her gut. This was everything Mark had warned her about from the day they had met. He had been on this operation for the last nine years and never had to worry about anything or anyone getting in the way of the job, and now that was no longer true.

She was singlehandedly jeopardizing everything he had built and worked so hard for because he loved her. Because she had now become a liability to him. She knew he would do whatever it took to ensure she was safe…and the man standing behind her knew it too. Mark's words from a few days ago, ran through her mind.

"Being a mobster—because that is what I am—I have constant enemies. Anyone I care about is someone that could be hurt just because of who I am. Being with me, means that they are no longer just my enemies anymore, but they have become yours too. The thought that I might not be able to protect you…"

She tried to steady her voice. "What do you want?"

His hand that had been on the door lifted; coming to the side of her face to take a piece of her hair in his fingers, his head lowering as he took in a long sniff, before letting it fall to her shoulder. She tried not to shake at the way, his breath, touch, and words brushed over her skin. She was revolted just being in his presence.

"You're going to come with me," he divulged. "I've got plans for you."

She shook her head slightly. "I'm—I'm not going anywhere with you."

He turned her so that she was looking him directly in the eye. He made no move to back up and give her space. He was far too close—a more intimate type of position, making her have to turn her head so he wasn't so close to her face.

"Oh, I think you will," he said arrogantly.

The way he said the words, the way his lips formed a wicked grin, made her skin crawl. He wanted her to ask why he was so arrogant that she would, and she didn't want to give it to him…but she knew she had no choice. At this point, she was seriously debating to just scream. Someone would hear her, and she was sure he would be stopped before he could possibly take her from the hospital.

She narrowed her eyes, finally forcing herself to look back at him. "What makes you so sure?"

His smile made her stomach lurch. "Because...if you don't come with me willingly and quietly…then I will kill every last person in this hospital. Their deaths would be on your hands."

She stared at him trembling with wide eyes. "You wouldn't…"

His hand went down past his waist until it reached inside his pocket, producing a small black square keychain looking device with a blinking red light. "Is true. You're wasting time. If you don't leave with me, my men have been instructed to blow. If you so much as scream or make any attempt to warn anyone…then I will blow the ten pounds of C4 we have placed here in this hospital."

She gulped. "You…you would be so willingly to die?"

He straightened, his expression turning prideful. "For my bratva, I would do anything." He looked down at her. "The question is…will you."

The bastard was so smug, she wanted to slap the look off his face. Of course, she would do anything to save the patients of Seattle Grace, her friends, and family. At this point, she didn't even really care about what happened to her, what she cared about was Mark.

This was going to destroy him if anything happened to her. Even if she made it out of this alive—because she had to have hope and be strong enough to believe it—she knew this was going to push him over the edge. The only thing he ever wanted to do was to protect her. He also wanted to love her, but if it came between loving her or protecting her, protecting her had always won out. It was why he had walked away from her the first time.

"It's not as if I really have a choice," she replied bitterly.

The one corner of his mouth lifted. "There is always a choice," he clarified.

"Not this time there isn't," she said haughty.

He arched his brow. "So, you come…you give me no trouble?"

She closed her eyes, sending out a silent prayer that everything would work out. "Yes, I will come with you. I won't give you any trouble," she repeated obediently.

She hated the own words coming from her mouth, but something Mark had once said came to the forefront of her mind: we're playing for the long haul now.

Dimitri's face looked positively glowing at the fact that she was willing to become a pawn in his game. It wasn't like he really gave her that much of a choice. If she wanted to protect everyone in the hospital—everyone she cared about—then her life alone would have to be worth it in the end.

Dimitri leaned in, his finger tracing down her cheek. Her stomach twisted into a bunch of knots at just the single touch from him. It was cold and felt all wrong. It felt nothing like the warmth and protectiveness she had with Mark.

"You and I are going to have a lot of fun together."

The innuendo was not hidden in his meaning. This wasn't just about getting one over on Mark. This wasn't just about making him angry. This was something extremely personal. Even as the head of his bratva he had been in the wrong and caused himself to be in the situation he had been in…Dimitri was looking at her like it was an eye for an eye. Mark took something from Dimitri and now he was going to take something from him.

Lexie didn't want to think about how much this was going to damage Mark. After all these years in him still harboring the guilt of his mother's death when he had nothing to be guilty of…and now the possibility that she could be injured or worse die too—made her want to pitch her stomach all over the hospital floor.

"People associated with Sloan's only end up hurt or dead."

Those words of his kept rolling in her mind as she tried to shrink away from Dimitri and his revolting touch. She didn't care what the dangers she faced ahead…she just didn't want Mark to have to suffer. With her new determination set, she was going to make sure she came out of this unscathed. For Mark. For them.

"Let's get this over with," she replied, her tone seething with disdain.

Dimitri stepped back, giving her the simple instructions that an SUV would be waiting for them just outside of the hospital entrance. He was that smug, that he was going to practically prance her through the entire hospital as some kind of trophy before ultimately taking her away.

Dimitri's heavy footsteps, pushed her down the halls of Seattle Grace. She forced down all of her fears, knowing that the lives of the people she loved, and everyone here within Seattle Grace depended on her being believable that everyone's life wasn't in her hands alone all while being taken against her will by mad man. As they moved away from the ER wing, she stilled as her name was called.

"Grey, I've been paging you. Would you freaking answer your pages," Karev hollered, his tone laced with irritation.

Dimitri who had been following closely behind her with his hand on her back letting her know he was constantly there, leaned in as she came to a stop. "Get rid of him." he warned.

Lexie sighed. "I'm in the middle of something important."

Karev's eyes narrowed as he looked to her and then to the man standing behind her. "What? This guy? He seems to be ok, and we have two incoming trauma's that need your consult."

"Dr. Karev, I'm not available at the moment. See if Dr. Jim Stevens can assist."

"Shadow Grey?" He looked up at the man behind her suddenly with a questioning gaze. "What's going in?"

"Get rid of him," he repeated his patience feigning. "You know what will happen if you don't."

She turned her head over her shoulder. "I know," she hissed quietly. "Let me handle this."

He gripped her lab coat in warning. "Be careful what you say. I'm listening."

Lexie took a step forward. "Karev this is a pretty important case I have right now." Alex looked to her and then the man behind her. She willed his attention back to her. "I don't have the time right now to explain it all…but Meredith knows how important this case is to me."

Alex looked back at the man behind her. "Your condition must be pretty severe if Dr. Grey is refusing to help incoming trauma."

Lexie tried not to wince. For a moment, she thought Dimitri was going to continue with his cocky grin, but he schooled his expression before giving Alex a single nod. "It is."

Even with the two words, his Russian accent was still thick. Lexie was hoping it was enough for when she was sure that Mark would come looking for her.

"I have to go Dr. Karev." Lexie stressed.

"Fine, go," he waved her off, his mouth twisted in annoyance, before he turned and walked away.

They made it the rest of the way out of the hospital with no other interruptions outside of a couple of glances in her direction from nurses or doctors. It wasn't surprising considering the man that was looming over her and looked every bit of the danger that he was.

As they walked out into the parking lot, almost instantly a black SUV pulled up. Dimitri opened the door, pushing at her back to climb into the vehicle.

"Get in," he ordered.

She paused, only for a minute, looking back at the hospital and all of her friends and loved ones.

Come find me.

She climbed into the car hoping this would be the last time she would see any of them.

Mark

Mark stormed into the hospital daring anyone to try and stop him. Derek was close on his heels, but he couldn't even see past the red behind his eyes to focus on anything else.

He found exactly who he was looking for marching right up towards him. "I need your security room. Now."

Chief Hunt turned, his jaw dropped, his eyes expanding. "What the—"

"Your security rooms. Now!" Mark repeated more urgently.

"No. Who the hell—"

Owen didn't get to respond, before Mark pushed him against the wall. "I am only going to ask you one more time, to tell me where your damn security rooms are."

"Mark!" Derek hissed.

He was standing in the middle of their hospital with their Chief against the wall, but he didn't care. He was not the calm man he had once been. The only thing on his mind right now was getting the information he needed to get Lexie back.

He was an agent. He understood that every minute in a kidnapping case counted. If they didn't uncover the clues or whereabouts within the first twenty-four hours, the chances dwindled more and more as the seconds ticked by. Seconds he knew that Lexie didn't have based on what he already knew.

When Derek had gotten the call from Meredith in hysterics after her friend Alex Karev had come and told her what he had…she had immediately contacted him. Derek had never heard her so panicked then in those few moments on the phone.

Derek had told him that Meredith was a lot like him in many ways. Closed off, emotions kept under wraps, but that once you let someone in—if you did—they would protect and be with you for life. Lexie and Meredith were Mark and Derek's people now, and he would stop at nothing now to protect them. He would petition the entire damn agency if that is what it would take to get her back safely.

Mark had to give Owen Hunt his respect that the man didn't waver nor cower at him even with his back pressed against the wall. Owen's eyes raked over Mark's, flashing with outrage. His expression told him that he remembered exactly who Mark was.

Owen groaned. "Get out of my hospital, or I will call security."

A crowd was already forming around them. Mark spotted Meredith and another doctor he remembered that he worked on him when he came in weeks ago—Jackson Avery—both him and another man who he assumed by Lexie description as Alex Karev were glancing back and forth between him and Owen and moving forward.

Derek positioned himself in front of Owen and him as two security guards started pushing people out of the way and moving towards them. He knew Derek was reaching into his pocket to pull out the one thing that would make everyone rest easy and get the situation back under control.

Derek held up his badge, his arms out to ease the situation. "Everyone calm down. We are Special Agents of the FBI. Everything is under control. Please go back to your jobs."

Mark was aware of a few people's eyes on him and Derek specifically, but it was Owen that he was focused on first. Owen looked at him questioningly, before Mark nodded. They stared at each other—Owen looking to see if there was a shred of a lie in his gaze or words. Finally, after a moment, he nodded.

Mark released his grip, and stepped back. Owen smoothed out his coat, cleared his throat and repeated the same sentiments as Derek had just done. Slowly everyone but a few remained behind. Owen turned back to Derek and Mark.

"You two are agents of the FBI?"

"We are," Mark answered. His calm demeanor returned. "I need you to show me your security rooms, now." he pressed.

"Alright, come with me," Owen said.

"We need Dr. Grey and Dr. Karev as well," Derek added.

Owen nodded. "Alright."

Owen led them into another portion of the hospital until he stopped in front of a larger room where he used his hospital keycard to let them in. Once the door opened, two additional security guards sat behind the desk, and nodded once Owen came in the room.

"Chief Hunt." Greeted the one guard Mark assumed was senior.

"These are Special Agent's of the FBI. They need access to our security footage. Give them whatever they need." Owen directed.

"Yes, sir," the man replied.

"What are you looking for?" Meredith asked.

"A number of things," Derek replied. "Timeline for when Lexie was last seen, and whether we have him on camera. Anything that can help us with our next move."

"You don't know where to start?" she accused.

"We have an idea," replied Derek.

"That's where you two help us," Mark added. He turned back to the man. "I want all footage from the last twenty-four hours on every camera," he said, turning back to the security guard.

The security guard looked at him as if he was about to argue just how much footage he was requesting, but snapped his mouth shut seeing the look on Mark's face.

"Who took her?" Meredith asked. "It was one of your mob people, wasn't it? This is all your fault!"

"Mer, stop it," Derek intervened, gripping a hold of her shoulders.

She pushed him off, her expression contorting in anger. She lunged at Mark, but Derek caught her again, pulling her until her back was against his chest, his arms holding hers in place. "Why her? What did they take her?"

Mark closed his eyes. "It's classified. We can't—"

"Bullshit," she interjected, thrashing in Derek's arms.

"Let her go," Alex chimed in, coming towards Derek.

"Enough!"

Everyone was surprised when the order had come from Owen who was looking at all the faces in the room. Lexie talked highly of him, and he understood why. It was partly the reason they had rushed him to Seattle Grace with his injuries. The man was an Army Medic. A solider. Someone who lived by rules and followed orders when it was needed. He and Derek needed that now.

"All this arguing and blaming isn't going to help anything. Now, frankly, I would like to know what the hell is going on in my damn hospital. So, if either of you could tell me, that would be great."

Mark sighed. "One of your doctors, Dr. Lexie Grey, was taken a few hours ago."

"By who?" Owen asked.

"The who is not important. Derek and I are both agents of the FBI. We have been in a deep undercover operation for the last nine years." He paused and looked about the room. "I don't need to tell you that anything that we discuss in this room needs to stay here. Otherwise, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"Why Dr. Grey?" Owen asked.

"Because of what she means to me," Mark answered.

"Wait, you're the guy Baby Grey was seeing?" asked Karev.

Mark turned his stony gaze on him. "Don't call her that." he snapped, knowing how much Lexie hated Karev calling her that.

"So, you're not really the mob?" Owen asked.

"I am undercover. I am everything that you know about me. It's just the FBI knows everything and every move coming out of the illegal crime organization," he answered.

"You work for the FBI but you're like an Al Capone. No freaking way," Karev exclaimed.

Derek released Meredith now that she had calmed down and turned to Alex seeing that Mark was ready to use him at his punching bag. "We need to know everything you saw and said when you saw Dr. Grey. You were the last to see Dr. Grey, right?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, she seemed in a hurry with the big dude that was practically glued to her side."

"What time was that?" Mark asked.

"About three hours ago," he replied automatically.

Mark gave directions to the lead security guard to pull up the footage from the last four hours around the information that Alex had last seen her leaving the ER section of the hospital.

Mark turned to Meredith. "You said you think Lexie passed a message onto you through Alex. Why?"

Her anger at him didn't lessen, but she knew her best bet was to put aside all of that for now and give them what they needed so they could safely bring her home.

"She told Alex that she couldn't help the incoming trauma cases because she was working on a really important case. Lexie shares all of her cases with me. I know she wasn't working on anything. As soon as Alex told me some guy seemed to be making her nervous, I knew something was wrong," Meredith answered.

"Tell me exactly everything that happened," Mark instructed. "Leave nothing out. No detail is too small. Everything," he repeated to Alex.

After further back and forth questioning between Mark and Derek, they had confirmed their fears. Lexie had been taken hostage by Dimitri Belsky. Mark ground his teeth, calling upon all of his agency training to keep his focused. There was a reason that the agency didn't allow anyone to work personal cases…it could very much cloud their judgement.

Mark focused back on the footage. The security guard was able to pull the two different camera angles in the hospital. His hands formed fists at his side once he saw Dimitri's bulking presence. He saw him first enter the hospital, where April—who he learned from Owen—showed him to one of the rooms.

A few minutes later, Lexie appeared. They couldn't see what transpired inside of the room. They had been in there for close to five minutes before they reappeared again.

Mark had to keep his calm seeing the terrified look on Lexie's face. She was trying to put on a brave face, but he could see the terror in her eyes. He could see the fear in her eyes, but something was off. The fear wasn't for herself, but from what he could sense…something else. Her eyes kept darting around the hospital, her lips forming a frown as she looked at patients and doctors.

Mark looked back at Alex. "Your sure that she said nothing else to you?" Alex nodded automatically. "Could you see if the man was holding any weapons?"

"Nothing. All I can tell you was that he was right on top of her. He only spoke to her when I had first approached. He looked angry for being held up."

"What are you thinking?" Derek asked.

The camera continued to play until Alex appeared in the screen. He immediately saw what Alex had mentioned about Dimitri's displeasure and the close proximity along with whispering something into his ear.

"Show me the other camera angle," Mark said to the guard.

"Mark?"

He turned towards Derek as he waited for the security guard to cue up the feed. "Lexie's smart. She would have tried to find a way out. To not go with him," he answered.

Derek crossed his arms against his chest. "Maybe she didn't have an open window without hurting the patients."

"Exactly," Mark agreed. "Without hurting the patients." The security guard announced the footage was ready and started playing it. As soon as it got to the same angle when Alex arrived, he asked him to pause it. "See. That right there. Dimitri is holding something."

"A gun." Derek guessed since most of the footage was still obscured.

Mark shook his head. "No. Even if he threatened with a gun…there's no way he would have been able to get her out in time before security or even the cops got here."

Derek sighed. "She went willingly, which means he said or did something to prevent her from refusing to go."

"Wait. What are you saying?" Owen interjected.

Mark and Derek looked at each other. "I'm saying, there is a possibility he threatened more than just the safety and well-being of herself if she didn't go with him."

Owen's brows scrunched together. "Is my staff and patients at risk here?"

"I don't know. If my hunch is right…it's possible." He turned back to Derek. "We need a speech reader down here immediately, and I want this entire place lockdown until then." He turned back to Owen. "I know this isn't ideal, but I need you to ensure we keep everyone calm until we know what we are dealing with."

Owen stared at him as if looks could kill, before he exhaled and walked over to the phone on the wall to call in a specific hospital code.

Mark and Derek looked back to the footage, watching, rewinding, and watching again. He was not a lip reader, and when Dimitri leaned close to whisper in her ear, it made him see red.

He was certain that Lexie's message to pass to Meredith was that she would pick up enough to get to him involved. It was directed for him. A challenge to come find her.

He just had to hope that he wasn't too late.

A/N: We are almost to the end folks. Hang in there! :)