MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I promised you Christmas chapter and here it is. It´s a bit longer and a bit drama. Not really a single thing of medicine, but a Izzie Stevens that is a Christmazilla (I tried to make her funnyXD). Hope you guys enjoy it because the next one will be very, very sad if everything goes right.

Anyway here you have it. I wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. May all your dreams come true and I hope you stay healthy and happy. I love y´all

Very extraordinary Christmas

Oh happy holidays.

Or whatever.

Because holidays aren´t as relaxing as they should be.

You have to buy presents for everyone,

cook for the dinner party and decorate the whole house.

It´s stress. Pure stress.

"I´m not gonna do a Christmas party here." Meredith went downstairs followed by Derek who tried to convince her.

"Oh come on. When I was a child we celebrated Christmas like this every year. My mother cooked, while my dad dressed up the Christmas tree with me and my sisters. And then we had to go to our rooms and wait for Santa. It was the best time in the year where all came together." he retold from his memories.

"Derek...? We are all adults. Nobody´s gonna go to a room and wait for Santa." Meredith looked at him surprised by his childishly behavior.

"I mean not only Santa but...just to sit together and enjoy delicious food you cooked." Derek came closer and grabbed Meredith by her waist and pulled her closer to his.

"I can´t cook. And I won´t cook. You can cook." she still wasn´t happy about his thought.

"Fine, I´ll cook. And you decide whom we´ll invite." Derek kissed her on the cheek and went to the kitchen to check what they have in storage.

"But I didn´t..." she was left speechless and looked around confused. "How did that party happen?"

In which color should I decorate the tree?

Whom should I invite?

What should I serve to eat?

And most importantly – which brand of eggnog?

"Hey Iz, Mer called. Derek´s planning a Christmas party and we should get the tree." Alex pointed on his phone walking over to his fiancé who was sitting on the bed in the small trailer.

"Oh I love Christmas. Right Denny? Mommy loves Christmas." Izzie played with her son´s feet.

"I know...So how about we three make a vacation to the woods today and search for the perfect tree and then buy some decoration?" Alex sat down next to her on the bed and Izzie smiled at him.

"I think that sounds good." she replied and put her hands on his cheeks. "But don´t you have a shift today?"

"Nah...I´m gonna say I´m sick." Alex scoffed and Izzie giggled. She slowly leaned in and gave him a soft kiss.

"Happy holidays." she meant after she ended the kiss.

"Happy holidays." he answered still smiling and fascinated by his little family.

As much as I would like to say, that I hate all these things,

I also have to admit that the party afterwards,

with all my friends and loved ones is really nice.

But seriously,

A relaxing evening at the couch with a bottle of tequila would also be nice.

"Hello, Madison." Arizona came into a patient´s room with Santa Clause´s hat on her head smiling as bright as sun does.

"Good morning doctor Robbins." the little girl laughed at her doctor brightly. "But you aren´t Santa" she noticed still happy about Christmas time.

"You´re right." Arizona agreed and turned her head towards Lexie who followed her into the room.

"Where is Alex?" the child asked when she noticed that there was another doctor instead of him.

"Alex is at home spending time with his baby and girlfriend. But doctor Grey is also a very good doctor." Arizona explained and Lexie smiled at the child and it´s mother. The mother stood up and went to Lexie to explain the situation to her.

"Maddie has a neuroblastoma. Doctor Robbins and doctor Shepherd are gonna operate her." she whispered to Lexie and she nodded.

"She looks like a tough girl." Lexie noticed, looking at the 5 year old child playing with Arizona´s hat.

"She is. Sometimes she´s stronger than me. I don´t know how she does that but she only sees the positive in every situation." the mother´s eyes welled up talking about her daughter. Lexie put her hand on her shoulder and gave her a comfortable smile.

"I assure you, doctor Robbins and doctor Shepherd are the best surgeons you could possibly get." Lexie promised and the mother smiled.

"Thank you. You really are nice." she scoffed wiping away a tear, before going back to her daughter and grabbing her hand.

Arizona and Lexie left the room after a brief explanation of the surgery, and went to the nurse´s desk to fill in the data to a chart.

"You did great, little Grey." Arizona complimented her.

"Thank you. It´s really hard you know...working with kids that have such a nasty illness." Lexie explained a bit overwhelmed.

"Yeah I know. I felt the same way when I started in peds. But with some time you start to see the world like the children and that´s...a happy place." Arizona mentioned to the intern and smiled at her encouraging.

"Well, I spent most of my internship in plastics so...there aren´t a lot of children." Lexie remembered the time when she started working here. Unbelievable that it was almost a half year.

"Have you thought about pediatrics?" Arizona asked. "I think you would make a great surgeon." Lexie smiled at the compliment when she suddenly saw Callie walking towards them and stopped.

"I...I should go." she stuttered and walked away before Callie even arrived.

"You´re working with little Grey?" she asked when she stood next to Arizona, who was looking rather surprised about her girlfriend standing there.

"I do. She´s a really good intern. The best I would say." Arizona admitted and turned to Callie. "What do you want?" she asked smiling and Callie replied it with her bright smile.

"Well, Derek invited Mark and me to their Christmas party tomorrow and I wanted to know if you would like to come with us." Callie smiled holding Arizona´s hand who slowly raised an eyebrow.

"A Christmas party with Mark? I don´t quite know." Arizona hesitated and her girlfriend sighed.

"Come on...this will be fun...we can dance to some Christmas music, eat nicely, drink eggnog." Callie tried to convince her and Arizona rolled her eyes before smiling.

"Okay, okay, okay. I´m going with you. But you won´t drink any eggnog! I don´t want our baby to have any deformations." she ordered and Callie nodded agreeing.

"Yay!" she replied excited kissing Arizona on the mouth quickly before going away again.

"Mer! Mer! Oh my god you won´t believe what happened." Cristina ran towards her best friend when she saw her walking down the hallway.

"And you won´t believe what happened to Derek." she replied still annoyed by the Christmas party.

"Teddy lets me do a solo surgery. Isn´t that great?! I can do a open heart surgery alone!" Cristina told her excited.

"Derek behaves like a child. He wants to bring Santa to my house." Meredith ignored Cristina continuing their walk.

"Mer? Are you even listening? I´ll fly solo today." Cristina tapped her on her shoulder.

"Hm what? Oh congratulations." Meredith shook her head to get rid of the thoughts about an old, creepy stranger sitting in red clothes at her table.

"And what´s going on with Derek?" she asked and Meredith rolled her eyes.

"He wants to do a Christmas party tomorrow. With all our friends and so on. Like he did when he was younger." she explained bored.

"A Christmas party? You are not doing parties...except tequila parties." Cristina scoffed and Meredith giggled.

"Yeah I have to invite everyone so...congratulations you just got invited to a Christmas party." Meredith mentioned towards her friend.

"I´m Jewish." Cristina tried to get uninvited but Meredith looked at her begging.

"Please come! I can not survive this without you." she begged her and Cristina rolled her eyes.

"Fine. I´ll bring the tequila." she eventually agreed.

"Well, there´s another tiny problem with that." Meredith stopped and looked Cristina deeply in the eyes smiling brightly. "I can´t drink tequila."

"What? Are you on a diet or something? I can also bring other stuff." Cristina meant thinking about her little house bar.

"No, no...that´s not...I planned to tell you earlier but I didn´t know how...I..." she looked around and came a bit closer so nobody could hear them. "I´m pregnant." she whispered and Cristina´s eyes opened widely.

"Oh..oh my god...Mer that´s fantastic...wait it is fantastic right? We want this to happen, don´t we?" Cristina asked unsure but Meredith smiled and nodded.

"Yes, yes. We want this." she replied happily.

"Wow...congrats." the two women hugged excited. "Okay um...I will bring some tequila for me and juice for you." she laughed and so did Meredith. "Mer, I´m proud of you. You are finally getting shiny and bright and not all dark and twisty."

"Thanks..I guess." Meredith arched an eyebrow and both continued giggling.

"Richard?" Derek knocked on the door to the chief´s office and entered it without waiting for a reply. "Oh sorry I didn´t wan to disturb you." he quickly added when he saw Ben sitting in a chair in front of Webber.

"No no, we were just finished." the former Mercy West doctor meant standing up.

"Great. I wanted to invite you Richard. To the Christmas party Meredith and I will host tomorrow night." he came a bit closer ignoring Ben who remained on the place he was. "I know we two have gone over a rough path lately, but I know how close you and Meredith are. And Christmas is the time of forgiveness and love. So what do you say?" he ended his speech eventually standing in front of the desk and Richard took off his glasses, folding his hands together.

"I would very much like to come." he admitted and Derek smiled.

"Ah Christmas. We always celebrated it at home but since my parents are too old to have a party, and my siblings are all over the country we don´t do it anymore. Sadly." Ben interrupted their eye contact.

"Oh I´m sure you can come to the party too." Richard meant focusing on Ben and not noticing Derek´s warning eyes. "One plate more or less doesn´t make a difference." he turned back to Derek who faked a smile. "Am I right?"

"Indeed." he murmured still with the faked smile but an angry voice, turning towards his new colleague. "If you want to."

"Thank you doctor Shepherd, I will follow your invitation." Ben nodded and went towards the door, while Derek was still pressing down his anger.

"Oh shall I bring something? Eggnog or pastries or something?" he asked clearly amused by Derek´s anger.

"No we´re fine thank you." he replied giving Richard a mad look.

"Well, then see you tomorrow night." Ben meant before leaving the office and the two men behind.

"Henry hi." Teddy walked through the hallway speaking into her phone. "Yeah I was wondering if you would like to meet tomorrow? Having a little Christmas party together?" she continued and and waited for his response. "Well, I mean...I thought you don´t have friends and I don´t have friends left because Cristina is at some kind of party at Meredith´s so why not?" she shrugged forgetting that he couldn´t see her at all. "Oh you don´t have to give me a gift...No really. I take something from this good diner and we´ll eat at yours...is 8 okay? Fine then I´ll see you tomorrow. Bye." she hung up smiling after he agreed to their little party.

"You took Mark with you?" Izzie asked Alex whispering harshly, when they were walking into the woods behind the trailer followed by Mark.

"I had to. Or did you want to find a tree and carry it to Mer?" Alex replied whispering so Mark couldn´t hear them.

"Karev! This one´s good." Mark stopped in front of a tree and pointed on it when the couple turned around.

"Okay. Have fun." Izzie kissed Alex on the cheek and went back to the trailer.

"Looks good. Izzie will have a lot of fun to decorate it." he meant walking over to the attending.

"Well, then...give me the ax." Mark reached out his hand so Alex would give him one of the two axes he took with them. After both had an ax in their hands and finished discussing where they should start to hew, the men started to get the Christmas tree ready.

The next day

It was the 24th of December and Meredith and Derek were sitting in the kitchen together with Alex and Izzie, who brought the tree a half hour ago and stayed to drink some coffee.

"So I invited Mark, who brings Callie and Arizona with him, Richard and this new Mercy West doctor Ben Warren or something." Derek counted the people he told about the party.

"Um...I did invite Cristina and Bailey." Meredith added and Izzie almost choked on her coffee.

"Bailey? Why did you invite her?" she wondered.

"She was our supervisor last year. What should I have done? Also I thought you two were friends?" Meredith asked defending.

"We were yeah. When I had nobody. God this feels like an eternity ago." she remembered the time Alex and her had been broken up.

"Okay...then we have Lexie and Jackson, who probably will bring April with him, and you two." Derek pointed on Alex and Izzie. "That makes a total of 10 guests and us." he counted and Meredith put her hand on her forehead.

"I think the last time this house has seen so many people was when Izzie threw that `Meet my friends´ party in our first year for your then – boyfriend." she remembered and everybody chuckled.

"I think there were like 50 people and 30 of them we did hardly know." Izzie sipped from her coffee retelling the story. After a while talking about the old days, Derek took a new list and started to make a shopping list.

"Okay. You need to buy those things and I will prepare the house." he meant and held the list to his fiancé.

"What? No! I don´t have time my shift goes until 5 pm. You wanted to do this, you go shopping. I can decorate the house." Meredith argued with him.

"Mer..." Alex raised an eyebrow. "When you decorate the house it will look all...dark and twisty and the tree decoration will be stuff you stole from the hospital like gloves and scalpels and surgical masks."

"So what?" Meredith shrugged. "We´re all doctors. This would be the right way to celebrate Christmas." she explained and Derek sighed looking to Alex and Izzie.

"You know what? I´ll decorate the house." Izzie meant and everybody looked at her. "Derek can go shopping, and Meredith attend her shift. I love Christmas and I would be happy to decorate this, dusty...old...house. Alex can help me, and we can spend some time in a real house with a real, big bathroom." she offered and Derek smiled nodding slightly.

"Then so be it." he replied and Izzie smiled as bright as the sun, while Meredith just rolled her eyes.

"Cristina hey, do you have time?" Teddy ran towards her resident smiling happily. "I have a open heart surgery you might be very interested. You did great yesterday on your solo surgery."

"Damn it!" Cristina cursed whispering.

"Um..." Teddy arched her eyebrows. "I thought you would be more enthusiastic, than that."

"I would be, if Meredith didn´t have ordered me to come earlier to her house today for this party." Cristina explained annoyed.

"Right the Christmas party. Well, um...then I will just find another one to help me. It´ll be hard because almost everyone helpful is invited to this party-" Teddy thought loud.

"Aren´t you?" Cristina asked a bit shocked. She really hoped Teddy would come.

"No, I never received an invitation." she meant a bit sad about these circumstances.

"Oh um, I´m sure you can come. I mean I almost live there so, I´ll invite you." the resident meant.

"Are you sure that´s a good idea?" Teddy wanted to make sure before she could get excited. But Cristina just waved with her hand as it would be no big deal and nodded.

"Okay then, I´ll see you there. Can you write me down the address?" Teddy put a piece of paper and a pen in front of Cristina, but as soon as she wrote it down, Teddy remembered her little orphan – party with Henry.

"Oh no...I already made plans with Henry, I just remember." she held her hand against her forehead mad.

"Oh bring him too. The more the better, right? And one person more or less, won´t hurt anybody." Cristina was still feeling like the host.

"Great. We´ll be there around eight." Teddy said as a goodbye when she left her favorite resident.

"No Alex a bit more to the left...the other left." Izzie ordered Alex who was putting bows onto the handrail.

"Is this really necessary? No one will look there." he replied exhausted by her commands.

"Alex? Of course it´s necessary. These bows are essential." she explained him when he rolled his eyes. Derek opened the door exhaling exhausted ,when he stepped in with three big brown bags under his arms and took them to kitchen followed by Izzie. She watched him as he unpacked them and raised her eyebrows higher and higher the emptier the bags got.

"Haven´t you bought popcorn and cranberries?" she asked concerned when all bags were emptied.

"Why would you need that?" Derek asked helpless and Alex also came to the kitchen in the meantime.

"For popcorn – cranberry festoons? Are you guys mocking me? What´s wrong with you." she switched her eyecontact between Alex and Derek.

"I think we can survive without them." Alex tried to calm her down, by putting his hand on her shoulder but she pulled away.

"Are you kidding?" she asked seriously. "What is Christmas without any popcorn – cranberry festoons?"

"Should I drive again and buy some-" Derek asked but Izzie´s shocked face interrupted him.

"Of course." she meant harshly, and even the attending got anxious that she would jump on him and scratch out his eyes because he didn´t buy popcorn and cranberries. He quickly took his car key and left the house.

"Can we please now just decorate the tree?" Alex asked tired by decorating rooms and places nobody would look at.

"Have you put the fairy lights on the curtain rail?" she sighed questioning his enthusiasm for Christmas.

"Um...what?" Alex wondered which insane idea she had again.

"Alex? Do I have to do everything on my own?" Izzie replied shocked and went to the living room where a dozen of boxes with decoration was standing.

Meredith came home together with Cristina, and was really surprised by how her mother´s house looked like. It was like walking through a winter wonderland, full of bows, and glitter, and candles.

"Wow...what happened to this house." Cristina asked overwhelmed when she stepped into the living room, where Alex and Derek where sitting with each a beer in their hands.

"Izzie happened." Derek replied almost traumatized.

"Oh, did Izzie break your will?" Meredith gave Derek a soft kiss on the cheek, but he still looked pitiful.

"Alex? Derek? Why are you sitting there, drinking beer?" Izzie asked nervously with Denny in her hands. "The table is not ready yet."

"Iz, the guests are coming in two hours." Alex sighed letting his head fall back.

"Right. That means, less than two hours to finish this house. It looks pitiful." she looked around acting embarrassed.

"Okay, Izzie. I think you should sit down now and drink a tea or something. The house looks wonderful." Meredith promised when she sat her friend and her baby down on a chair.

"But the table." she whispered.

"Cristina and I will make it. Give the boys some rest." she assured holding back her giggle.

The two hours went by quickly and Izzie was with Denny and with Jackson and Lexie sitting on the couch by the fire talking, while April really had to behave herself to not join them. Meredith, Alex and Derek were working in the kitchen. Cristina talked with Webber about his surgeries he had in his younger days and how the medicine changed throughout the years. When Miranda left her car and went towards the door she suddenly met Ben outside of the house.

"Oh no." she murmured as she recognized him.

"Doctor Bailey. Didn´t expect you here." Ben meant charming as always.

"Doctor Warren. I didn´t think they´d invite you either." she replied already annoyed by him.

"Well, I guess then that that´s a good way to finally get to know each other better." he grinned and she scoffed.

"Hardly." she replied going to the door where Derek opened them.

"Miranda!" he said happily but his mood changed quickly when he recognized Ben behind her. "Doctor Warren."

"It´s also a pleasure for me." Ben smiled as they stepped in and Derek rolled his eyes.

As everybody was talking in their small groups Meredith went to the door, because it knocked again.

"Doctor Altman? Henry?" she asked confused when she saw them.

"Hey. Um...we brought some wine...as a thanks for the invitation. I wasn´t sure what you would serve so I just bought white and red one but I also have-" Teddy searched in a bag when Henry, who noticed Meredith´s confusion cut her off.

"Teddy." he cleared his throat and she looked up and now noticed it too.

"Oh...Cristina didn´t tell you, did she? She invited us...but um...we can go if...if you don´t want us here." Teddy stuttered uncomfortable.

"No...No..I was just curious. Come in." Meredith opened the door more widely so they could come in and they did so smiling brightly. "You can hang your coats here and keep your boots on." Meredith showed them before going back to the kitchen.

"I´ll open." Lexie screamed to the kitchen when she was heading to the door to open it.

"Keep calm. Everything will be-" Callie meant to Mark but stopped when the door opened and Lexie stood there a bit shocked about Arizona, Mark and Callie standing there.

"Mark...hi...you´re here...and Callie and Arizona are too...great." Lexie faked a smile. Callie nodded slightly and looked into the house.

"May we come in?" she wanted to know and Lexie stepped aside.

"Yeah...sure...come in." she opened the door a bit more and the three gave her a small smile as a thank you. After the "family" was in the living room, Lexie closed the door and leaned her head against it.

"Hey is everything alright?" Jackson asked worried when he came to her with a beer in his hand.

"Yeah. Everything´s great..it´s fantastic." Lexie lied throwing her arms into the sky. "Do you know where the eggnog is? I need it ASAP!" she asked not waiting for the answer and going back to the kitchen. As soon as she found Meredith discussing with Alex, she walked over to her.

"I know how to cut vegetables. I´m a surgeon!" Meredith tried to make him clear but Alex shook his head.

"Even the way you hold the knife is wrong." he tried to make her stop but Meredith continued cutting the carrots roughly.

"See I can do thi- Ouch!" she suddenly screamed mid-sentence when she felt the sharp knife in her skin.

"Told ya." Alex couldn´t resist smiling when he put a band aid around her thumb.

"Haha...you´re very fun-" she replied mad but Lexie´s hand on her shoulder cut her off.

"Meredith? May I talk to you for a second?" she asked stressed, and her sister nodded and handed the knife over to Alex.

"Do it better!" she meant harshly and Alex scoffed.

"I will." he replied. Meredith and Lexie went to a more quiet place to talk while Alex looked at the carrots and onions biting on his lip when April came to him.

"Kepner. Here cut the vegetables!" he gave her the knife and left with his beer bottle.

"But I have to decorate-...son of a bitch." she wanted to tell him no but murmured the rest of the sentence when she noticed he was gone.

"Lexie, what´s wrong?" Meredith asked confused when her sister finally stopped dragging her through the house.

"You invited Mark?" Lexie asked nervously walking around.

"Derek did. Why? Is it a problem for you?" Meredith wanted to know not less confused than before.

"No...no...I´m totally fine...I´m great...I think it´s fantastic that my ex and his two lesbian friends, which are the mothers of his baby are here...I mean...That sounds fun." Lexie explained sarcastically.

"Lexie you could have told me...I thought it was fine by now...I thought you were over him." Meredith told her sorrowful.

"I am...I am totally over him...I´m totally fine...You know what I´m gonna go downstairs and prepare the eggnog I feel like we could need some." Lexie tried to change the subject and left Meredith, who was still confused and a bit speechless over the reaction.

The music was playing in the radio and everybody was sitting by the table. Meredith was at the head, next to her Derek, Lexie, Jackson, April, Richard, Ben and Miranda. On the other side of Meredith were Mark, Callie, Arizona, Izzie, Alex, Cristina and on the two edges at the other end Henry and Teddy.

"The house looks wonderful Izzie." Meredith complimented on the decoration Izzie put up the whole day.

"Thank you. I tried my best, with the old stuff I could find." she replied looking around proudly.

"And Kepner, the turkey tastes lovely." Meredith meant after chewing it, and April blushed.

"You´re welcome. But you should try the potatoes. They are good." she handed over the bowl.

"And Henry? How long have you and Teddy been a couple?" Arizona asked sipping from her wine.

"Oh no we´re not..we are not together." Teddy stuttered blushing into a deep red. "We um...we´re just friends." she stated and Henry sighed disappointed while Arizona nodded.

"I think we should make a toast." Derek stood up and raised his glass with everyone´s eyes following him. "To us. To family, friends, to all the great surgeries we had this year and the battles we won." he meant with his eyes wandering from Meredith, to Mark, then to Bailey and last to Izzie. "I´m glad you all could come and that we can celebrate this evening together. Cheers." he continued followed by a cheers from everybody and glasses clinking.

"Yeah, what a great evening." Lexie murmured drunken and mad. When she put her wine glass down it slipped through her fingers and fell on the table breaking in dozens of pieces. "Damn it." she cursed and wanted to pick them up but cut her hand. "Ah!" she quickly pulled it away noticing blood running down her hand.

"Here let me help you." Jackson meant taking his napkin but Lexie pulled away.

"I´m fine." she almost screamed and now everybody noticed she had a few glasses too much. She stood up and went to the kitchen pressing her napkin on the wound. Jackson stood up to follow her and Mark wanted to but Callie held him back.

"No..let him go." she whispered while everybody was still distracted with Lexie´s disappearance.

Like I said the holidays are stressful and even if the parties are nice,

some can´t cope well with stress.

But if you can also enjoy the little things in life,

the quality time with your friends and family,

the stress is worth it.

Lexie was holding her hand under could water, which splashed the pain and the blood away. She pressed her lips together but tried to hold her tears back down. However, a few found their way down her cheek.

"Are you alright?" Jackson asked behind her and Lexie inhaled with a shaky voice.

"Yes. I am. Go back and enjoy the food." she tried to not sob but failed.

"If I did anything wrong, just tell me." Jackson came closer but Lexie showed him with her good hand to stay where he was.

"Please. Jackson go! I´m fine." she got mad but he wouldn´t go away.

"Lexie, really. I´m here for you." he came on step closer when she suddenly turned off the water and turned around pressing a towel on her hand.

"Jackson!" she screamed and even the people in the living room could hear the following words clearly. "I don´t need your help. I don´t want your help. I. AM. FINE. And all you can do now is to turn around, go back to the table, finish your damn meal, and leave me alone." she shouted to make him clear. Her words hurt him a lot and everyone on the table was quiet and felt awkward. April put her head in her hands, rubbing her forehead, while Meredith continued chewing her food awkwardly.

"Okay. You know where to find me." Jackson meant underneath his breath and went back. Lexie leaned against the sink for a while before she took the tequila bottle she saw on the shelve and took it upstairs to sit down in Izzie´s and Alex´ old room trying to empty it.

And it´s also not about the presents you get,

or how the tree is decorated,

or much money you spent on wrapping paper.

Because a smile is sometimes worth more than a high end perfume.

Or just a good advice or to listen to someone´s problems.

"Thanks for coming." Derek and Meredith meant before closing the door after the last guest left.

"That was exhausting." Meredith brought the last bowls and plates to the kitchen followed by Derek.

"But wasn´t it fun?" he asked grinning.

"Hardly. With my sister having a meltdown, the mood went from up here to down there." Meredith explained showing it with her hands, when she put the dishes into the sink.

"Go. Go to Lexie and talk to her. I´ll finish here." Derek wrapped his arms around Meredith´s waist and they locked eyes.

"Okay. I´ll wait for you in bed then." she answered flirty and gave him a soft kiss, before pulling out of his hug and walking upstairs to the room Lexie sat.

"Hey. Are you okay?" she asked opening the door facing a total wreck, sitting on the floor with the bottle on her lips.

"I´m feeling much better now." Lexie admitted and made some space so Meredith could sit down next to her. "You want some?" she asked holding the tequila over to her sister who shook her head.

"No, thanks." she replied and they remained quiet for a while.

"You know, when I was a kid we celebrated Christmas very big." Lexie remembered. "The four of us. Dad, my mom, Molly and I. It was the best time of the year. And even when Molly and I were adults, we came together every year and celebrated it. Well, that stopped two years ago."

"When she died? Susan?" Meredith asked and Lexie nodded.

"I really wanted this night to be good. I missed Christmas with my family and friends. But...I ruined everything." Lexie started sobbing.

"No you didn´t. What would a good family event be, when not even one had a meltdown." Meredith comforted her sister who had to smile between her sobs.

"Was it only Mark´s appearance or is there anything else?" she eventually asked and Lexie sighed.

"I feel like I´m letting Jackson down." she admitted and Meredith arched her eyebrows.

"How? He looks like he´s totally in love with you." Meredith wondered and Lexie rubbed her forehead.

"We are a couple for about a month now and...and we haven´t...you know...been active yet." she tried to explain and Meredith nodded slowly as she understood what Lexie meant. "And I mean look at him. He´s hot and dreamy and he could have any girl, if he wants to. And yet, he´s stuck with me who always finds an excuse to not have sex."

"Why? I mean...Is there a reason or are you just afraid he would break your heart like Mark did?" Meredith wanted to know and Lexie shook her head.

"No...He´s a good guy. He would never hurt me this way. I just...I just don´t..." Lexie stuttered and her sobs got more. "I´m just not ready to let Mark go. I miss him. And I tell him every time to leave me alone, and to forget me, but the truth is...the truth is, I don´t want him to forget me." she tried and Meredith put her arm around her.

"Oh Lexie. I know, it´s not what you want to hear but, Jackson is great. Even Derek believes it now. And Mark. I mean yes there are a lot of things, that he was your first and that´s why you will never forget him. But he is starting a family. With two grown up women. You are a fetus, you´re only 24 and he´s 41. Maybe it´s better for you to stick with Jackson." Meredith explained her point of view.

"Maybe you´re right." Lexie looked at her with wet eyes. "Maybe I should just banish every memory he and I had ever mad,...everything that we went through."

And the thing with presents is that:

Sometimes they are really useful, and you love them.

Derek was just about to go upstairs when he heard a knock at the door.

"Hm? Did anyone forget something?" He asked himself loudly when he went towards the door. His eyes couldn´t believe what they saw when he recognized his sister Amelia in front of him, looking like a mess with mascara all over her face and red, wet eyes.

"Amy?" he asked confused.

"Derek. Something terrible happened." she sobbed before falling in his arms, crying out loud.

However, sometimes you don´t want them.