Happy New Year's Eve Everyone! Well, I am sure none of you are surprised that tonight's chapter is rather brief. I am hard at work at the next couple which, as I am sure you can guess, are the really emotional ones and will take most of my time. In the meantime, here is the next chapter to get you through.

Also, I want to say something because I got a very lovely private message about my story. The author of it said that I needn't worry because Mark seemed in character to her. Now, this subject has been one of great debate even with myself as I write. Is Mark truly in character? The answer, of course, is no. The character of Mark is solely dependent on what we see on the show. And as Mark has not been in a longer relationship on the show, any idea of what Mark will be like in one (a relationship) is purely speculation. Therefore, of course he is not in character. This story is merely my speculation on what he would be like in a relationship with Lexie. Now, I happen to think that he has it in him to be the character I have written, but that is strictly within my story. As for the show, my Mark cannot exist yet because his and Lexie's love story on Grey's is just beginning. I like to think though, that there is an element of Mark in my portrayl of him that makes him seem recognizable to my readers.

Anyway, getting off my soapbox, I hope you enjoy!

*

Meredith sat at her kitchen table sipping the coffee that Izzie had set before her. Her head was pounding and her mind was fuzzy, but she took sip after sip, trying to find her way back to sobriety.

"Why didn't you call me?" Izzie asked. "I would have come to get you. There was no need for Lexie to go to all that trouble."

"Oh, I am sure she didn't mind," Meredith said.

Izzie looked skeptical, but said nothing.

"Besides," Meredith said, "I thought you and Alex were going to get together and…talk."

Izzie shrugged. "What is there to say? He wants me to have the surgery and fix the bulging vein in my brain. I would rather not. Talk over."

Meredith thought to herself that she was too drunk to be having this conversation. "Izzie, you need to do all you can to get well."

"Why?" She shook her blond curls. "I am only seeing my dead fiancée, whom I know is dead, so I don't see what the problem is. It is not like I don't know I am seeing things. As long as it doesn't affect the medicine, I don't see the harm."

"You are lucky," Meredith said. "Any other hospital would refuse to let you practice until you get it fixed."

"Well, the Chief knows it is not dangerous."

"Not to anyone but you," Meredith muttered.

"Feeling more sober?" Izzie asked.

"Somewhat," Meredith responded. "I am still a little woozy."

"You'll be better soon," Izzie chirped, being all bright and shiny.

"Oh, I am in hell," Meredith said, putting her head on the counter.

Their pagers went off then. Izzie looked at hers and frowned. "It's all hands on deck. There must be a lot of car accidents because of this rain."

"I can't go to work like this," Meredith said.

"Looks like it's another banana bag for you," Izzie said with a laugh.

"Great."

Izzie helped her up from the stool, and they walked into the hall. "Alex!" Izzie called up the stairs. "We are heading into the hospital!"

"Me too," he yelled back, coming down the stairs as he pulled a sweater over his head. "Wow," he said, when he saw Meredith. "You look like crap."

"Little voices please," Meredith said, swaying as she stood there.

Izzie and Alex laughed, and the three of them head out into the night.

***

"Tell me who she is."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"You are no fun," Derek said to Mark as they drove to the hospital in his sports car. "Why won't you make my night a little brighter and tell me who she is?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Yes?"

"No," Mark said, causing Derek to sigh with frustration. Mark grinned to himself. Despite the fact that this was a dangerous situation, he sort of loved goading Derek the way they used to.

"Whoever she is, I need to know," Derek said.

"Why?"

"Because I need to write the Pope and tell him I have a candidate for sainthood."

"Haha," Mark muttered. "How do you not know that I am the one who is a saint for putting up with her?"

Derek scratched his chin. "Are you?"

"No," Mark said with a laugh. "She is the saintly one."

"Give me a hint."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"It could be my Christmas present, which by the way, I'm still waiting for."

"First, Christmas was two months ago, second, I got you a present."

"Tickets to a Mariners game, big deal. I want info."

"You are such a girl," Mark said, rolling his eyes. "No means no, Derek."

Derek crossed his arms. "Spoilsport."

"You know it."

Temporarily stymied, Derek crossed his arms watching as Mark's low slung car zoomed across the wet pavement. "You drive too fast."

"Well gee Mom, I didn't know you cared," Mark said sarcastically.

"Well, you do."

Mark grinned, happy to have his friend back even if it was just for a moment.

***

Cristina yawned as she stood in the ER, waiting for something to happen. She had been the first to get here, probably because she had been in the steam room with Owen. She had started going there a lot; it was a nice diversion from her life to have it there. Sometimes she went with him, sometimes without. But that little room had changed her life completely. It started out simple. One kiss here, then another there. Before she knew it, she and Owen were up against the wall and steam wasn't the only thing that was rising.

He was in surgery now, and Cristina couldn't help but think that the ER was lonely without him there. She was used to seeing his determined face as she worked on a patient.

Bailey came up and stood beside her. "There are two ambulances inbound. Car accident."

Cristina nodded, and knotted the ties on the back of her yellow smock.

It was time to get to work.

***

The headlights, which had shined so brightly in her eyes, were out now. The remainder of them had scattered on the pavement along with crushed metal and broken glass. The rain continued to fall out side of the car, and now part of it was falling within the car as well. Lexie could feel it on her face, but she couldn't seem to summon the strength to open her eyes or to lift her hand to brush the drops of water away.

Everything seemed hazy as she was held in place by the seat belt. She was dangling, so the car must have been on its side or upside down, but Lexie couldn't be sure. When she was finally able to open her eyes, the lights were so bright that she slammed them shut again.

She moaned, and then struggled to open them again. The streetlights looked as though they had fuzzy blankets draped over them, and the rain seemed to be reflecting all of it.

"Miss! Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Lexie knew someone was trying to talk to her, but she couldn't seem to put her thoughts together well enough to speak. What had happened? She tried to go back, to even five seconds before, but it was all blank. She had been trying to get home, home to Mark, and then…

"I am calling an ambulance!"

She could smell something. There was an odor that was permeating through the air of the call. What was it? It was a coppery, tangy smell. Lexie pried her eyes open yet again and looked down at her body. She suddenly felt a pain in her side that she hadn't noticed before, and a stabbing sensation in her back and chest. Lexie slowly dragged her hand down to her waist, and when she pulled it back, it was covered in a dark, shiny liquid.

It was her blood.

"There on their way! Just hold on!"

Lexie started to drift off again. As her mind cleared out, she thought of Nick, that patient of hers who had bled out with her hands on his neck. There had been blood everywhere and at the time Lexie had never seen so much that it had scared her. She was a doctor, she knew what all this blood on her hands meant.

She had an hour, maybe a little longer.

She wasn't going to make it.

Lexie wanted to protest; she wanted to open her mouth to speak and yell. This wasn't fair, she was still so young. She had meant to do so much more! She had never seen China, and walked on the Great Wall. She had never preformed a solo surgery, well, a successful one anyway. She had never married Mark.

Mark. There was so much that they hadn't had a chance to do. Lexie's scattered thoughts wondered if he had known how much she wanted to be his wife. How much she had wanted 'forever' with him.

She had never had children, and she had wanted them, so badly. She had wanted four, two boys and two girls. She had wanted to see them grow old, and marry themselves.

She wanted to open her mouth to yell at the unfairness of it all, but she could not. She could not, for the darkness was beckoning to her. It was calling her name, just as surely as if it knew her. She was not long for this world; she knew that.

"Just hold on!"

But it was too late.

The darkness was calling.

*

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