Hello, readers. Thank you for the amazing reviews on the last chapter and your patience with me in getting this chapter out. My computer is still broken, and I don't like to take advantage of my work computer, if I can help it, so updates have been harder to get out lately. Hopefully, my computer will be fixed soon so things can go back to normal. In any case, enjoy this next installment.

Cristina woke up slowly to the familiar hum of the hospital. She tried to jerk her arms, apparently an inherent reaction in her now, but found that she was restrained. Why am I restrained again? she thought as she jerked her arms again. The panic started to set in then. I can't speak. I can't sit up. I can barely move my mouth enough to eat, and now the one thing; the ONE thing I had the remotest amount of control over is strapped to a bed. She started to tear up as she jerked violently again in her bed. Why is this happening to me? Why can't I move? Why can't I talk? Where the hell is Owen? Then the images returned.

"And then the back of the plane it-it came off!"

….

"Okay, do it," she said looking resolutely into Mark's eyes. He nodded and braced himself on her shoulder, straddling his legs to garner more leverage against the ground. He grunted and then…"AHH!"

….

"My legs and pelvis are crushed," she said, each word interrupted with quick, heavy gasps. "And I can't feel my other arm, so I'm not sure it's even there anymore, and my chest feels like it's going to explode, so it's probably a massive…hemothorax,"

….

"She knows it won't help," Lexie said, her voice small and weak.

….

She leaned into the pilot's pit, picked a pen from the cupholder to his right, stabbed him in the leg with it, and simply said, "I'm sorry," then strode out with the backpack.

….

"No," Meredith whispered, her eyes bulging from her head. "No!" she screamed, her face contorting in agony. She dropped to her knees and wailed then. She bawled uncontrollably for her sister.

….

"Cristina," she said, crying. "I think Derek is dead. He would've come for us by now. He definitely would've come for us by now."

….

As Derek took a final step forward, he faltered and fell to the ground, unconscious. Meredith gasped, terrified. "Oh my god," Cristina uttered as they ran to him.

….

A muffled cry bellowed through the forest as she made the first puncture. "Please pass out. Please pass out."

….

His body had gone limp, and his skin was deathly pale. "Mark?"

….

With one swift push, Meredith broke through the pericardial sac, and blood began spewing out of the tube. Mark groaned in both immense pain and relief as the sac drained of the excess blood.

….

"Grab the flare gun!"

"It's not working!"

"Shoot it again!"

"Give it to me."

"Oh, my God! No, no! Come back!"

Derek looked at the flare gun momentarily before hurling it into the woods.

….

"See, and I had planned on just killing him," Cristina grunted sarcastically, plunging her fingers down Mark's throat.

….

Her eyes widened. "Are those-"

"Maggots," Cristina finished, shaking her head.

….

She could see the outline of a limb in one of their mouths, and her rage boiled over…She mustered the courage she needed, and ran screaming down the hill.

….

Cristina started to panic, fearing that as soon as she set eyes on one, the other would see it as an opportunity to pounce. As she pivoted from one to the other, she started to shake.

….

It seemed only fitting that Cristina take guidance from Lexie in that moment…She was back in Seattle, winning her hospital the game against Seattle Pres, and no one could convince her otherwise.

….

"Baseball…" she trailed off then, her knees crumpling beneath her.

….

"Seriously?" she asked him, her words beginning to slur. "Another effusion, Mark? We talked about this. Just because you lost Lexie doesn't mean you get to die on us. Man up."

….

Suddenly, Mark gasped a huge gulp of air as cream-tinted, opaque liquid spewed out of the tube. "Okay, done."

….

"I'm fine. I just gott-gotta find" she gulped, her voice a raspy whisper. "something to drink."

….

"Urine?" Cristina nodded, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the plane.

"I had to convince myself it was lemonade." She sighed. "At least it wasn't plane fuel."

….

"Oh my God!" She jumped to her feet, feeling a burst of energy overwhelm her. She ran directly under the plane and waved her good hand, screaming along with Arizona and Jerry.

….

"You can't leave them! You can't-" she gasped for air as the man restrained her wrists to the gurney. "leave them," she cried then. "Meredith!" she screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Derek!"

….

Her eyesight started to fade into blackness, and her hearing grew dimmer and dimmer by the second. What is happening to me? She wanted to panic; to blink; to speak, but she couldn't. Her body wouldn't let her. What the hell is happening?

"Cristina." A familiar voice broke her from her trance. She could feel a small tear trickle down her cheek and onto her shoulder. Her arms, now bruised from her violent, repeated yanking on the restraints, slowed to a stop as she heard the wheels of an IV stand squeak nearer and nearer to her bed. Her vision hadn't improved since the day before, so she could only see the vague outlines of her room.

She felt the edge of her bed sink as Meredith's blurry face came into view above her. She looked over at Meredith with the only expression she could muster, the same blank expression she had given since she woke up in her deranged state nearly three days ago. Mer, I don't know what's happening. Why am I restrained again? Where the hell is Owen? I can't take th-"

"You attacked Shane," she said simply, matter-of-factly, pulling the bed table upright. What? I-I-no I didn't! I would've remembered that. You're lying. You're- "When you woke up, you started to panic, and Shane was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You grabbed a needle of Lidocaine from the instrument tray and flung it at him." She shook her head, and Cristina looked at the ceiling. That's not possible. This is the first time I remember being awake. I would have remembered that!

"I'm going to sit you up now," she said resolutely. Cristina felt the bed inch its way up and the view of her room change. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to scream. She wanted to do something other than stare, but she couldn't. Meredith saw the slight change in Cristina's demeanor and sympathized. "The tray shouldn't have been there anyway. Shane should've known not to leave it unattended to begin with, and Jackson should've caught it." Don't patronize me, Mer. I'm a grown-ass woman. I should've known not to throw loaded needles at interns…although, that does sound like something I'd do.

"Owen wants you to eat, so that's what we're going to do." Cristina saw the outline of a food cup on her bed table and started to thrash in her bed. No, no, no, no. This is ridiculous! I- "Cristina, stop." Meredith spoke to her in her characteristically calm voice as Cristina jerked her head from left to right, her arms aching from the beating they were enduring. No, YOU stop, Meredith! This is crossing a line, and you know it. Just- "They were going to send you to psych." Cristina stopped in her tracks. Meredith took the opportunity to hold her wrists down. She continued, out of breath. "They were going to send you to psych, but Owen stopped them, so you need to calm down and show everyone that you're normal, for Owen; for me; for Lexie." Meredith released her wrists then, confident she would cooperate. Mer, I- "You have to survive this, because I won't lose both of you."

Dammit. She wanted to break down more than she ever had in her life. The irony didn't fail to escape her, that she could hold it together better than anyone she knew; that she rarely felt the need to break down, but the one time that she physically couldn't, it was the only thing she wanted to do. Cristina looked at Meredith as a tear escaped and fell to the bed. Meredith knew Cristina wouldn't want her sympathy. It just wasn't their thing, sympathy. It didn't do anyone any good, so she looked Cristina in the eyes and nodded understandingly. "Okay," she said picking up the spoon. "Let's do this."

….

It took just short of an hour for Meredith and Cristina to finish eating, but once they did, they both felt quite accomplished. Meredith set the tray back in place on the side of the bed and laid down next to Cristina. She put her hands on her stomach and took a deep sigh. She turned her head toward Cristina briefly then looked back up at the ceiling. "Lexie's dead."

Cristina wished she could comfort her friend, but even if she could, she wouldn't know what to say. She had just lost her sister to a plane crash. How could anyone even respond to that? That feeling couldn't be soothed with words of condolences or hope or distraction. That was a hurt only time could heal. Nonetheless, Cristina turned her head toward Meredith and stared, trying to communicate in the best way she was capable of. Meredith, you have to get out. You have to go to Boston and get the hell out of this glorified death camp before you end up like Lexie or O'Malley or Adams or Percy or any of the other countless victims of this God-forsaken place. Do not get stuck here and end up dead because I will come out of this eventually and I cannot live without you. You-

"Grey?" Bailey's voice broke the silence as she entered the room. "Wh-" she huffed her annoyance. "What are you doing in here?" She extended the last syllable in her characteristic way as she grabbed a wheelchair and strode toward the bed. "You've been playing Cast Away all week, and you think it's a good idea to be walking around like you're damn Wonder Woman." Meredith sat up and allowed Bailey to help her into the wheelchair. She pointed a finger at Meredith. "Don't move," she said sternly, making Meredith smile.

Bailey moved toward Cristina's IV and began replacing the bag. Meredith noticed the label on the bag read "Lorazepam." "A sedative, Bailey? She just woke up a few hours ago."

Bailey continued her task as she looked over her shoulder at Meredith. "And now she needs to sleep again. She stayed up for four days straight, Grey. If she's going to recover, she's going to have to sleep." Just as she was about to attach the last component, she stopped. "Don't move," she repeated to Meredith.

Meredith, amused, tilted her head up. "Where are you going?"

"I forgot the feeding tube." She was almost out the doorway when she heard Meredith respond.

"Don't worry about it." Bailey stopped in her tracks and looked at her, confused.

"Wh-" she exaggeratively questioned, then looked around the room to see the empty cartons of food and used utensils on the counter. She looked back at Meredith incredulously and shook her head. "I swear, you doctors are the worst patients. Doctors have nightmares about patients like you," she mumbled, reattaching the bag on Cristina's IV. She walked back over to Meredith's wheelchair and began turning it around. Before she had a chance, Meredith flashed a mischievous smile at Cristina and winked. The last thing Cristina heard before she drifted off was Bailey's dramatic berating. "I swear, if I come back in here in an hour and you're in here, I'm putting a seda…"