A/N: Hi! It's me again with the third chapter of Over You. Sorry that my updates have been a bit random—between working 50 hours a week at two jobs and trying to fit in family/friend time, updates can take a while sometimes. There will be one more chapter of this story for sure, possibly two depending on how I feel like ending it. I'm thinking of maybe having a chapter at the end with a bit of Lexie's perspective from whatever afterlife she's in, but I'm not sure if that's where I want the story to go. What do you guys think? Would you like to read something like that? Let me know in a review. (:

I'm also going to be working on a MerDer one-shot soon, and I'm in the midst of planning a longer fic with multiple characters and pairings. I do have more ideas for Meredith/Lexie stories, but I've done two with them and I really want to get a MerDer one written, so that will be top priority after this is finished.

As usual, here are review replies (SPOILERS FOR SEASON 12 MENTIONED):

Patsy — Thanks so much! That was one of my favorite episodes, too, and definitely one of my favorite scenes with Meredith and Lexie. I've always wished Meredith would've stopped Lexie while she was walking away (or even just brought it up again the next day or something) and said five things about herself. There were a lot of times where Lexie opened up and Meredith was shown as just staring at her silently, and I always hoped/wished Mer would eventually have more of a response. She never really did, but I guess that just makes for some good writing prompts. (: Anyways, thanks again for the continued support!

mandyg67 — Thank you very much! I wish they would've shown more of Lexie, too, particularly her relationships with others. That swing scene was fun to write, but I definitely had some feels while writing it. Thank you again! (:

Chicha3maddy (SPOILERS FOR SEASON 12 MENTIONED) — Thanks so much for the kind and thoughtful review! I completely agree. The show does a great job portraying Meredith's grief process after Derek's death, and even other characters are shown as being heavily affected. I realize Derek was a more prominent character in the series than Lexie was, as he was in 12 seasons straight. But still, I feel like everyone's emotional reactions to Lexie's death were far more short-lived. Meredith was shown as being completely heartbroken when she found out Lexie died, and then she woke up after being rescued, frantically asking for Lexie. She was pretty depressed for a few episodes, and she appeared to be still sensitive to her name when Alex made a reference to her and Jackson, but beyond mid-season 9, she's never really mentioned. There are a lot of characters I feel like should've had more of a longer-lasting grief cycle, but especially Meredith. I loved Lexie's growing relationships with other characters, and I agree with what you said about the show almost acting like she never existed. ): ANYWAYS, thank you again for the nice review! I hope you continue enjoying this! (:

Sarah — Thank you! I'm glad it had an impact on you. (:

Guest 1 — Wow, thank you so much! It's always awesome to hear when someone gets really into your story. So thanks! I'm not sure if I could pick an absolute favorite (because there are so many characters I love), but Lexie is definitely in my top three favorites from the whole show. And I totally agree that there wasn't enough Meredith and Lexie! I feel like there should've been more, considering how much Lexie and Mark are shown together. I loved them together, don't get me wrong; but I always felt like they should've showed more of the bonding between the sisters since they're family and all, and it was such a big plot twist at first. Thanks again for the review! (:

Guest 2 — Thank you for the review! I will update as regularly as I can. (:

Guest 3 — Thank you very much! (:

Living alone here in this place
I think of you and I'm not afraid
Your favorite records make me feel better
'Cause you sing along with every song
I know you didn't mean to give them to me

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the cold breeze feeling even colder on her wet, tear-stained cheeks. She wiped the moisture away with the sleeve of her sweater before standing, willing the pain in her chest to go away. Standing up, she quietly opened the front door and slipped back inside. Derek wouldn't be home for another couple of hours, provided he didn't have some impromptu, urgent surgery; but Cristina would be arriving with Zola within an hour or so. As she passed the living room, she saw the book Lexie had given her, still open and in the place she had left it before going outside. She thought about closing it and putting it back on the shelf, out of sight and as out of mind as possible—and she almost did just that. But instead, she picked it up, put her thumb in the page that was opened to hold the spot, and carried it with her upstairs. She almost went straight to her bedroom, but as she walked past, she saw the attic door out of the corner of her eye and stopped in her tracks. She contemplated just continuing on, but as she turned to look at the closed door, she found herself slowly gravitating towards it. It had been almost a year and she had only opened that door a handful of times. For the first few months following Lexie's death, Meredith had avoided the room at all costs. It was almost as if she was afraid of it—of the painful loss associated with that dusty old attic that Meredith just couldn't bear to let herself feel. But almost a year later, as her hand met the doorknob, she didn't feel so afraid anymore. The room was still associated with Lexie, of course, and it always would be. But it didn't give her that same sense of crushing sorrow that it had a year ago.

Despite the fact that it was an attic used to store Christmas decorations and old furniture and random boxes filled with God-only-knows-what from Meredith's childhood, Lexie had made living there work. It was out of necessity at first, seeing as every bedroom in the house was inhabited and the attic was better than the "crapartment" or getting stuck living with some stranger; but even after all of their previous roommates had moved out and an actual room became available, Lexie had insisted that she didn't mind the attic, liked it even. She had gotten used to the pitched ceiling and unfinished walls and slightly dingy appearance, and had arranged the room in a way that was actually quite quaint and homey. She liked the large windows, too, and so did Zola—that was where they spent most of their time together, in that old attic perched in front of the big windows that looked out into the backyard. It wasn't a particularly spectacular view, but Lexie—ever the cheery optimist—had simply loved the light that the windows let in, and she had loved that Zola liked the windows so much.

Once, shortly after Lexie's death, she had found Derek in the attic with Zola. He sat on the bed surrounded by Lexie's belongings, little pieces of herself and her personality that she'd left behind. Little Zola was perched in his lap, and he was quietly telling their daughter all of the wonderful things about her Aunt Lexie—the aunt that had loved Zola so much but would never get to see her grow up; the aunt that Zola would probably have no firsthand memories of. Derek hadn't meant for Meredith to see or hear them up there, but Meredith had come home early and heard Derek's voice from the hallway. She had intended on being quiet in case Derek and Zola were both sleeping, but her noiseless entry had allowed her to be a silent witness. She stood just outside the doorway, unable to be seen from inside the room but able to hear everything Derek said. That day, as Meredith listened to Derek tell Zola about Lexie, tears streaming down her face and a sob caught in her throat, she swore to herself and to her sister that she would never let Zola forget who Lexie was. She couldn't talk about Lexie at the time, not without getting too emotional to form sentences. But eventually, when she was ready, she would tell Zola stories and show her pictures and remind her how much her aunt loved her.

Now, with the book from Lexie in her hand, she slowly turned the handle and opened the door. Other miscellaneous boxes and objects had been shoved into the attic throughout the months since Lexie's death, but most of Lexie's things remained where she had last left them. The clothes that were hanging in the closet and lying on the floor had since been folded, tucked away in cardboard boxes, and stacked neatly in the corner of the room, but other than that, the room was pretty much as Lexie had left it decoration-wise. Neither Derek nor Meredith had seen any particular reason to move it, and although the latter could not bring herself to step foot into the room until months later, she hadn't wanted any of her sister's things moved or toyed with.

Meredith stepped into the room and flipped on the light. The curtains on the windows were pulled back slightly, the way Lexie always kept them—open enough to let some light in, but closed enough to prevent the room from heating up too much. She crossed the wooden floor to the bed and gingerly sat down, not wanting to disrupt the neatly-made bed. Re-opening the scrapbook, she continued to flip through it, picture after picture and memory after memory flooding her senses. She eventually came to the last page where an older photo of Lexie and Meredith was glued. Lexie's hair was newly-blonde in the picture, her dark roots not yet beginning to show. She remembered the day Lexie had dyed it, actually. She hadn't told anyone she was planning on ditching the brunette, so imagine Meredith's surprise when she came home to find Lexie leaning over the tub with hair bleach.

It had been a long, tiring day-turned-into-morning, and all Meredith wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and sleep for as long as humanly possible. Derek had gotten off a few hours before her and was already sound asleep, and their other roommates were either still at work or presumably catching some shut-eye before their next shifts. Taking care not to be too loud, she tiredly climbed the stairs. Upon reaching the top, she was surprised to see the light on in the bathroom and hear someone running water. The door was half open, so out of curiosity, she peeked inside to see who was still awake at nearly two in the morning. She immediately scrunched up her nose at the strong smell of hair bleach that greeted her.

"Lexie?!" Meredith exclaimed, surprised to see it was her sister, of all people, who was awake at this ungodly hour. She was leaning over the bathtub struggling to apply the hair bleach to her dark strands. Patches of her hair were already turning blonde, but other parts were still her natural dark brown. Startled by the sudden voice, Lexie jumped and nearly hit her head on the bathtub's faucet.

"Oh! Uh, hi, sorry, am I being too loud?" she asked rapidly, momentarily setting the bleach down on the floor.

Meredith shook her head. "I just got home, but no, you're fine. But why on earth are you still awake? Don't you work in like five hours?"

"Yeah, I do, but I couldn't sleep. So, uh, I'm dyeing my hair."

"I can see that," Meredith replied pointedly, surveying the bathroom and its contents. "Why the sudden change? You haven't ever mentioned wanting to dye it."

"I, uh, does there always need to be a reason? I mean, I just, um, wanted to dye it, I guess. Ya' know, change things up and, uh, yeah!"

Meredith gave her sister a quizzical look, then a thought crossed her mind. "Is it because of Mark?" she questioned simply, stepping more inside the room and leaning against the counter.

"What?!" she asked, feigning incredulousness. "No, no, of course not! That's, uh, that's crazy, why would you even think that? I don't care what Mark thinks, who cares? I dumped him, remember?"

Meredith said nothing, but she was unconvinced and her expression must have given that opinion away.

Lexie blushed slightly and her gaze fluttered downwards. Knowing Meredith wasn't buying it, she sighed, setting the bleach down on the floor in front of her. "It's sort of about Mark," she admitted, looking up again to meet her sister's gaze. "Not directly, really, but I... I don't know, I guess I just wanted a change of some sort, to kind of represent a clean slate. I'm not doing it because I think he'll like it more or whatever... I don't really care about that. I'm doing it for me, because I want to, I swear. I wanted something new and different, ya' know?" Her blush deepened as she continued stuttering, clearly embarrassed of what she was admitting. "To feel like... I don't know, a new person almost. And, and I know that sounds really dumb, but... Yeah..." Her sentence trailed off and she looked at the ground again.

Ah, now Meredith understood. She had dyed her own hair several times throughout her life, thought mostly in high school. It really was an identity thing, as juvenile as it sounded. A new hair cut or color could almost make one feel like a different person. "It's not dumb, I understand."

"Really?" Lexie asked, again raising her head to look at Meredith. Her dark eyes silently begged for understanding or affirmation of some kind, though she tried to hide it. Did Meredith really understand why she was suddenly dyeing it? Or was she just saying that to make her feel like she wasn't crazy?

"Yeah, I've dyed my hair a time or two. When so many things are going on in your life outside of your control, it's nice to change something you know you have control over, even if it's just your hair."

Lexie smiled, relief flooding her senses. So she really did get it. "Thanks," she said simply, and Meredith smiled in return.

Meredith glanced down at the bottle of bleach, then up at Lexie's patchy hair. "You've never dyed your hair before, have you?" she asked, though it was more of a statement than a question. It was pretty obvious by the uneven coloring that Lexie had no idea what she was doing.

"Heh, no... No, I haven't," Lexie confirmed with a sheepish look.

Meredith laughed. "Want some help?"

"I mean, yeah, I could probably use it," she replied with a laugh. "But it's pretty late, don't you want to get to sleep? I'm sure you've had a long day. I can manage by myself if you wanna go to bed."

"No, it's okay," Meredith replied, again glancing at Lexie's hair. At the rate she was going, Lexie wouldn't get to sleep at all if someone didn't help her. She knew how to box dye hair, so she might as well help her out. She liked spending time with her sister outside of the hospital, anyways, even if it was way past her adult bedtime.

Lexie grinned appreciatively, happy to both get some help with her little project and spend some time with Meredith. "Thanks, I have no idea what I'm doing."

"I can tell," Meredith chuckled as she slipped on a pair of gloves and picked up the hair bleach. She squeezed some out and began working it into Lexie's hair, trying to avoid the parts that were already lightening. She put more product in some places and less in others, hoping the parts with less bleach would show a bit of her natural color and end up looking something like highlights. Soon enough, all of her hair was covered in the bleach, and Meredith took the gloves off, setting them on the counter. "Now you have to leave the bleach in for about twenty minutes so it can do its weird chemical thing and turn your hair blonde."

Lexie set a timer on her phone, and for the next twenty minutes, they talked about their days and whatever else came up. They ended up leaving the bleach in for a little longer because Lexie said she wanted it lighter than Meredith's.

"I mean, the darker blonde looks good on you, but I don't want people to think I'm trying to look exactly like you or anything."

Meredith just laughed and rolled her eyes. "I doubt anyone would think that, but okay, give it another five minutes. But then we need to wash it out, it's really bad for your hair."

Another five minutes went by and Lexie, satisfied with the color, began washing the chemical out of her hair. After several rounds of conditioner, she towel-dried her hair and examined it in the mirror. To Meredith's relief, she had managed to hide the patchiness and make some parts look like slightly darker highlights.

"Wow, that looks different," Lexie commented, running her hand through it and trying to decide how she felt about it.

"Yeah, it's definitely different," Meredith agreed. She hadn't meant that comment in a bad way, but Lexie suddenly seemed doubtful.

"Oh God, did I really just spontaneously dye my hair blonde? I didn't even think about the color or anything, I just randomly drove to the store and bought the first thing I saw." She studied her reflection in the mirror before turning to Meredith. "Does it look bad?" she asked anxiously, suddenly a little self-conscious. "I mean, I know it's different, but does it look okay?"

"It looks nice, Lex," she answered honestly. "You pull off the blonde thing pretty well. Welcome to the club," she added with a playful laugh, briefly holding up a chunk of her own blonde hair.

Lexie relaxed a bit and smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Mer, and thanks for the help."

Her eyes lingered on the picture for a moment longer before she slowly shut the book and set it down beside her. It was times like that that kept Meredith smiling, fond memories of times she was able to be there for Lexie, even in the smallest way. Perhaps she was simply using those memories—of times where she had Lexie's back, where she caught her before she fell—to make up for the times she wasn't there for her. There were a lot of times she hadn't been there, and a lot of times where she could've done more but chose not to because... Why? Because she was afraid? Afraid of what, exactly? Every excuse she could come up with just didn't seem adequate when Lexie was dead. Meredith had left Lexie in her last moments—the very last time she would ever be able to be there for her, and she had left. To her, that seemed unforgivable. She knew, deep down, that Lexie wouldn't ever hold that against her. If she could talk to each other now, she was sure that Lexie would instantly forgive her with open arms. But maybe that's what made it harder at the moment—knowing that, regardless of how poorly Meredith had treated her at first, and no matter how many times she failed as Lexie's friend and sister, Lexie would still forgive her. Sure, she might be made a little while, but she could never stay mad for very long. She cared too much, loved too much, and had far too big a heart to hold a grudge. She knew Lexie would never want her to feel bad about not being there when she died, but when that thought crossed her mind, the only thing she could see was the image of her sister's small, broken body crushed under that huge, unforgiving plane; chest rising and falling in a rapid panic; wild eyes taking in her current predicament. All she could think about was how scared Lexie had looked that last time she had ever seen her alive. She was in pain and terrified, and Meredith had left. She'd promised she'd come back, of course, and she had every intention of doing so. She wanted to tell Lexie she loved her, that she was a good sister and she was so glad she had forced her way into her life. She wanted to tell her how proud she was of her for how much she had grown over the past few years, both as a surgeon and as a person. She wanted to apologize one last time for all of the instances she had failed her or disappointed her, and for all of those months she spent ignoring her and pushing her away. If she could turn back time, she would have stayed by her side, held her hand, and told her all of those things she felt so deeply but had rarely (or never) said out loud. But shock—shock, that absolute bitch—had clouded her senses, and at the time, Meredith truly believed Lexie would be okay. She was awake and she was moving, so she'd be fine. She wasn't, as it turned out. She wasn't fine, not at all.

She hadn't noticed as her mind wandered, but at some point, tears had begun to fall again. She inhaled a shuddery breath and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Trying to distract herself, she silently surveyed the room, and eventually her gaze landed on a pile of CDs that Lexie always kept neatly stacked on the side of her desk. She slowly stood and crossed the room to where the desk sat in the corner. She mindlessly skimmed the album titles before reaching out and pulling an unlabelled one out of the stack. It had no album art, but instead had a white piece of paper taped to the front. In Lexie's handwriting, a dozen or so songs were listed, presumably the ones that were burned onto the disc. Meredith had never seen most of Lexie's things as something particularly significant—they were, after all, everyday things like CDs and books and random pictures—but now, as she stood alone in her house surrounded by things that had meant something to Lexie, Meredith found that those things were beginning to mean something to her, too. She carefully extracted the disc from its plastic case and slipped it into the CD player beside the bed. As the first song began to play, Meredith returned to the bed, CD case still in hand, and leaned against the wall as music filled the room. She again studied the case in her hand, beginning to recognize some of the songs as ones Lexie had loved. She closed her eyes for a few moments, and she could almost hear Lexie's voice as she sang along. The girl actually had a pretty nice voice, too. She couldn't play musical instruments for the life of her, but she could sing pretty well.

Music. Loud music. And a headache. A bad headache.

Those were the only two thoughts Meredith had as she slumped on the couch, hand on her forehead as if that would stop the pounding in her skull. Upstairs, Lexie was playing music loudly, very loudly, which usually wouldn't bother Meredith; but today, she had a massive headache that was only getting worse with every grueling pulse of the stereo. Unable to take it anymore, Meredith grunted as she stood from the couch and stomped up the stairs, fully intending on yelling at her sister to turn the music down. She noticed the door to the attic was cracked open, and she was about to burst through it when she stopped short. She peeked through the ajar door to see Lexie jumping and dancing around to the beat of the song, singing the lyrics and looking happier than she'd seen her in a while.

"Girl, you got me thinkin' 'bout diamonds, and gettin' down on one knee, maybe two," she sang with the track, bouncing around as if she was singing to somebody in particular. "People may stop and stare, but I don't even care, no, just as long as I'm with you!" And suddenly, she couldn't quite bring herself to angrily barge through the door like she had planned. She was about to turn around and leave Lexie be, in fact, when Lexie either sensed someone watching her or noticed movement through the slight opening of the door. "Girl, you've got me actin' real crazy, chasin' tail like—Oh!" she exclaimed, scrambling to the CD player and pausing the song (not before tripping over herself a couple of times, though). Meredith suppressed a chuckle as she opened the door a bit more and stepped partly inside the room. Lexie's cheeks turned bright red, and she awkwardly fiddled with her hands. That was almost embarrassing, she thought, as the time Derek—who was supposed to be Alex—walked in on her naked and trying to be sexy. Almost, almost as embarrassing, but not quite. That one was still a chart-topper. Her sister's husband had seen her almost naked and trying to pose like some French girl. God.

"Hello, Lexie," Meredith greeted, barely suppressing a laugh but unable to withhold a wide grin.

"Ha, uh, hey there, Meredith," Lexie replied, face getting redder by the second. She nervously bounced on the balls of her feet. "I, uh, didn't think that you were, you know, home."

"Well, I'm home, and I have a headache," she added pointedly.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Was I being too loud? I was being too loud, wasn't I? Sorry, I, uh, it won't happen again! Now shouldn't you be getting some sleep or something?" she rambled, trying to rush her sister out of her room so she could die of embarrassment in privacy.

"It was a little loud," Meredith admitted, "but it's fine." It took everything in her not to burst out laughing at the sight of her mortified little sister dressed in an over-sized t-shirt, Harvard Medical sweatpants, and large slippers shaped like cat heads. "That was cute," she added with a slight hand motion, referencing the solo dance party, "and cute outfit."

"Oh, shut up," she muttered with a scowl.

"No, really, do you do that often?" she continued, gaining personal enjoyment from tormenting her sibling.

"You're the worst," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Meredith like an upset toddler. "If you tell anyone, I swear to God I'll—"

"Relax, Lexie," she laughed, interrupting before she got a chance to legitimately get angry. "I'm just giving you a hard time. I won't tell anyone, but I'm pretty sure everyone within a ten-mile radius heard you."

Lexie rolled her eyes and pretended to pout again, but she was having a hard time holding back the smile. "Whatever," she gave in with a chuckle.

"Well, continue on then," Meredith motioned, but Lexie stubbornly shook her head.

She still looked sheepish as she stammered, "Oh, no, I'm, uh, I'm good. I was, um, just finishing up with... Yeah, I'm done now."

Rolling her eyes, Meredith walked further into the room and stepped past Lexie, pushing the play button on the CD player.

"Ooh, I got this rocket in my front left pocket," she sang back at Lexie, causing her younger sister to smile and laugh. "Ready to explode like a bomb!"

Giving up on acting offended, she joined in, and they both danced around and laughed for the rest of the song, trading lyrics and moving around to the beat. Lexie had seemed kind of quiet and lonely lately, so it was nice to see her happy and bouncing around like her usual, energetic self.

"Ugh, I just remembered that my head hurts," Meredith groaned once the song came to an end and she was reminded of the pounding behind her forehead.

"Oh, sorry, dancing around probably didn't help." Lexie turned the volume down on the CD player as the next song started. "You should get some sleep," she added more somberly, the bright light in her eyes from moments before dulling just a little. Meredith almost agreed and turned away, but right before she was about to open her mouth, Lexie's gaze flickered downwards just once, and Meredith couldn't help but notice she looked a little dejected. Her and Mark were having some form of problems again, though she wouldn't say much about it.

"Wanna watch whatever really crappy Lifetime movie is on TV with me before I go to bed?" she offered. "I'm not really that tired right now, anyways." She was pretty tired, in reality, but she figured she could stay awake for another hour or two to keep Lexie company.

"Sure," Lexie replied with a warm smile, eyes subtly lighting up a bit. "I'd like that."

They both turned and headed down the stairs. "You count the moments of awkward sexual tension and I'll count the cliché one-liners."

"Ugh," Lexie whined jokingly, "why do I always have to count the awkward sexual moments?"

"Because it's funnier watching you squirm."

"Gee, thanks."

"Anytime."

A/N: This chapter was getting long, it's getting late (technically early now), and I don't want to keep you guys waiting any longer for an update, so I'm just going to end this chapter on the flashback/memory. I left it on a happier note, at least! Since I split this chapter more than I was intending, there will for sure be two more chapters, possibly a third depending on how I decide to end it. But for now, that is the end of this chapter. Sorry for any typos or mistakes—I can barely keep my eyes open but I'd like to just post this chapter right now while I'm thinking about it. If you have a minute, I would love if you left me a review letting me know your thoughts—I love hearing from people who read my work. Whether it's positive or something I could do better, I'd love to hear it. Hope you enjoyed! (: