"Alright, what's wrong?" Mark sighed, dropping his fork onto his plate and leaning back in his chair. Lexie looked up in surprise and shrugged. Truthfully, she had been trying to get a hold of Alice for the past week and had heard nothing. That, combined with all of the hormones pumping through her system, had left her unbelievably moody.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired." The surgeon replied quickly. Mark rolled his eyes, smoothed his beard, and tried again, knowing that Lexie wasn't going to get over whatever it was without talking about it.
"Lex, I know you. What's going on?" He asked patiently. Lexie chewed on her bottom lip and put her own fork down.
"I miss Alice. It's like...it's like I'm not even looking out for her anymore. She was so worried I was just dumping her when I suggested LA, and maybe I did. Maybe I pushed her away." The brunette rambled. Mark watched as she continued to work herself up and folded his hands under his chin.
"You certainly did not dump her. LA was for her own good and she's been doing so well over there. But how about I call Amy and see if Alice wants to fly in for a visit. I guarantee if you talk to her, she'll calm you down about all of this." He suggested easily. To his relief, Lexie smiled and shook her head.
"You always know what to do. Thank you." She leaned across the table, careful of her growing baby bump, and kissed Mark lazily.
"I know I do." He smirked before pecking her on the lips again quickly. With that, Mark stood up and fished his phone out of his pocket. He dialed Amelia's number quickly and then glanced at Lexie.
"Hey, make sure you call Jo and let her know Alice is coming." He advised. Lexie nodded, suddenly remembering that Alice did in fact have a sister, and pulled out her own phone.
—-
Jo jolted awake in the on call room to the sound of her cellphone ringing and scrambled in the darkness to find it. The brunette frowned in confusion when Lexie Grey's name flashed across the smartphone's screen before a bolt of panic shot through her body. Thoughts of Alice immediately raced through her brain and she fumbled to unlock the screen.
"Hello? Lexie? What's going on?" Jo asked worriedly, throwing her blankets off and standing up.
"Nothing's going on. You sound worried; is everything alright?" The surgeon on the other end of the line replied easily. Jo shut her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief at the relaxed tone of Lexie's voice. She sat back down on the edge of the bottom bunk and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, shaking her head at her own panic.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was sleeping and the phone kind of scared me. What's up?"
"Oh, sorry for waking you. I just wanted to let you know that Alice is going to be coming in for a visit on Friday and if you want, you and Alex can come pick her up at the airport with Mark and me." The older surgeon offered. Jo brightened up immediately. She had been debating asking Alice to come and stay again for a bit, considering the girl's last visit had been a bit stressful for her. But since Lexie was doing the asking, she could take advantage of it guilt free.
"We would love to. I'll make sure Alex doesn't work, but I'm pretty sure he's good for Friday. What time does her flight get in?" Jo fished a pen out of one of her pockets and clicked it, ready to jot down the time on her arm.
"I think Mark said 4, and then I figured maybe we could have a big dinner together with Callie, Arizona, and some of the others? Or we can just get pizza." Lexie suggested. Jo quickly scribbled "4:00 Friday" on her left forearm before replying.
"Pizza sounds good. We can just have everyone back at our house if that works for you guys." The brunette's tone was hopeful and Lexie smiled at the subtle eagerness.
"That sounds perfect. I'll let Alice know. Thanks." The pregnant woman replied.
"No problem. We'll see you Friday." Jo hung up the phone and sighed happily. The surgeon crawled back under the blankets and pulled them up over herself. Despite her excitement, sleep soon overtook Jo and she drifted back into unconsciousness.
"Hey kiddo; good news." Amelia popped her head through the guest room door and found Alice sitting at her desk, highlighting through a packet of notes. The teenager looked up in surprise and set down the bright yellow marker. She waited curiously for the blue eyed woman to continue.
"Lexie just called and you're heading back to visit on Friday! Surprise!" She grinned, walking the rest of the way into the room. Alice smiled weakly in response and Amelia frowned in concern; immediately picking up on the fact that Alice wasn't exactly jumping up and down in excitement. "Alright, what's wrong? You look like you're trying not to throw up."
"It's nothing. I just...I messed up last time I was there and Jo found out and it was just really not a good visit." Alice admitted, her voice laced with self-deprecation. Amelia's features softened as she realized what was going on. Sighing, she sat down on the bed, across from Alice, and patted the spot beside her. The teenager reluctantly stood up and sat down next to her.
"Do you want me to tell Lexie you can't come home right now?" Amelia offered hesitantly. Alice shook her head.
"No. I want to go, I just don't want to screw anything up again or embarrass myself in front of Jo." The two of them thought in silence for a few seconds before Amelia came up with something else.
"Do you want Addy and I to come with you this time?" Alice looked up from the floor at the suggestion and nodded a bit sheepishly.
"Yeah, actually. Would you guys mind?" She asked tentatively. Amelia smiled reassuringly and shook her head.
"Of course not. I'll text Lexie and let her know and then I'll find a hotel room for the three of us, okay?"
"This is all pretty last minute, are you sure Addison isn't going to mind?" The teen questioned, thinking about the absent surgeon who was away for a conference for the next four days. "She'll be fine with it, I promise. I'll go make the arrangements and then how about you meet me in the kitchen and we'll see what we can manage for dinner? Addison will NEVER let us live it down if we get take out every single night that she is away." The neurosurgeon rolled her eyes and stood up to leave.
—
An hour later, the pair sat at the kitchen bar with a massive stack of pancakes each and looked down on the huge mess that was the kitchen in front of them.
"Well, shit." Alice snickered, shaking her head at the array of pans, bowls, and pancake mix that littered the countertops.
"Hey, at least it's all edible- enjoyable, even!" Amelia tried to be optimistic, earning a playful glare from her younger companion
"Hey, what's your excuse? My extent of cooking lessons came from a bunch of busy surgeons. You on the other hand, from what I have heard, have put Mama Shepherd to shame.
"What? Oh, spare me. The cooking gene in that family went exclusively to Derek- where else did you think Addison learned like she did?" The older brunette shot back, pausing to take a huge bite out of her stack. Alice shrugged in response, poking at her rapidly cooling dinner with a fork. Under Amelia's reproachful stare, she finally cut off a small piece and ate it, staring at the remainder with reluctance. "Alice, you've gotta eat, especially since you went for a run today."
Alice put her utensils down and met the surgeon's stare with irritation.
"Since when did you take it upon yourself to be my life coach? I'm 17; hardly incapable of making my own day-to-day decisions. To be honest, I'm getting really freaking tired of you trying to micromanage every single second of my life."
"Micromanage? Really now, Alice? How about you consider the fact that I'm just doing what I can to keep this all from turning into a shit-show? You yourself have admitted that you can't do that alone." The spirited surgeon shot back; it was never her nature to be the one to diffuse a confrontation.
"Bullshit!" Alice hopped off the stool and stormed around the island to dump the contents of her plate in the trash before throwing the pretty ceramic plate into the sink with a crash. "Why don't you just admit to yourself that all I'll ever be to you is a chance to have a do-over for your own teenage years that you so royally fucked up, huh? You look at me and all you see is yourself, 15 years younger- a carbon copy of Hurricane Amy, and your fucking surgeon's ego won't relent until you are the one to swoop in and make everything right again." By this point, Alice was shouting so loud that she wouldn't be surprised if half of the neighborhood heard her. She grabbed her phone and stalked over to the door, not even coming to a stop as she jammed her feet into her Keds and pulled her car keys out of the bowl. Hurrying to escape Amelia who was hot on her heels, she booked it to her car, starting it up in record time. She threw the gearshift into reverse as she hit the locks, and within seconds she was gone, leaving a very livid and also worried Amelia on the cobblestone driveway.
Once out of sight from the house, Alice slowed her car down to the legal limit- the last thing she needed right now was a ticket. Mulling over her options, she decided on calling Elle. She quickly found her friend's name in the list of contacts on her Bluetooth, and moments later the senior picked up.
"Alice, hey!" She sounded pleasantly surprised. The two had kept their interactions pretty low key since the party, mostly Alice's doing.
"Hey. Look, I know this is super last minute but can I come hang at your place for a bit? Amelia and I just... I just need a break from my house for awhile." Alice bit her lip, waiting on Elle's answer as she sat at a green light, unsure of which way to go.
"Definitely, c'mon over." She replied easily, and Alice hit the gas.
"You rock. See you in ten." She ended the call, navigating her way to her friend's house with ease.
—-
Before Alice could knock on Elle's front door, the older girl flung it open, effectively scaring the shit out of her guest.
"Sorry! I heard your car pull in." She apologized with a laugh after watching the way Alice leapt back in surprise. The younger girl recovered herself quickly and brushed it off with an embarrassed chuckle. "So...are you going to come in?" Elle continued, propping the door open wider. Alice quickly nodded and stepped inside, internally cursing herself for being awkward already.
"Thanks for letting me hang out for a bit. Amelia and I...we butt heads sometimes." The younger of the two admitted. Elle led her through the seemingly empty house, which was tastefully decorated in a darker style similar to something she'd expect from Callie. The two girls started up the stairs together, towards Elle's room.
"No problem. I can picture Amelia being a little aggressive, considering the time I met her. Were you guys fighting about serious stuff or...?" Elle left the question open ended as she opened her bedroom door and then shut it behind the two of them. Alice turned around to look at her and shrugged. It was then that she noticed the shaved patch on the side of the girl's head.
"When did you do that?" Alice changed the subject quickly and gestured towards the new style. Truthfully, now that she had noticed it, she found it a little attractive.
"Oh," Elle ran her fingers over the streak of short hair. "A few days ago. My mom was pissed." She grinned.
"I see why. It's hot." Alice fired back smoothly. The younger girl watched Elle blush and then smirk at the compliment.
"Well thank you. Now what were you and Amelia fighting about?" Alice sighed as she realized that she hadn't avoided the question at all. The teenager sat down on the edge of the bed and thought through her answer carefully. Her eyes came up to meet Elle's questioning ones with hesitation and she took a deep breath.
"If I tell you some stuff about me, please promise you aren't going to judge too harshly. Or tell anyone." Anxiety plagued Alice's voice and Elle's eyes widened in surprise. Nevertheless, she nodded and came to sit down beside the younger girl, prompting Alice to continue. "Elle, I'm an addict. I mean, there's a lot more to that story, but the bottom line is that I am a drug addict. Oxy, heroin, really anything. I came to LA to get clean after I overdosed in Seattle. And I have been clean, for the most part at least. That party was my first slip up since I got here and ever since then, I feel like Amelia's been trying to coach my entire existence just to make up for her own mistakes. And let's just say my opinion was not well received." Alice explained nervously. She folded her hands in her laps, a signal that she was finished, and waited for Elle's response in tense anticipation.
"Me too." Alice frowned in confusion at the reply.
"You too what?"
"I'm an addict too. Heroin actually. I'm 13 months clean." The senior clarified. Alice attempted to hide her shock.
"Wow. I...I had no idea. So that's why you don't party then?"
"Yep. Listen, Alice, I obviously don't understand your entire situation but I think you need to go back and talk to Amelia. When I was getting sober, I needed people. I had my older brother and my parents. I don't know what your family situation is, but Amelia seems like an aunt or something to you. Let her try to help. Maybe she does want to fix her mistakes through you. Let her." Elle advised. Alice bit her bottom lip in contemplation. She knew that the older girl was right. Beyond right actually. But admitting that to Amelia after the fight that they had just had seemed a bit more daunting than she was prepared for.
"You're right. Shit. I was such a bitch." Alice admitted, shaking her head at herself. She stood up off of the bed and glanced towards the door uncertainly.
"Go home Alice. Say what you need to and let me know how it goes." The older girl prompted. Elle stood up off of her own bed and opened the doorway. She pulled Alice down the stairs before the dark haired girl could talk herself out of going home and brought her to the front door. Alice was just about to let herself out of the house when Elle reached out and took a hold of her arm. The older girl didn't hesitate before pulling her lab partner into a hug.
"I'm here for you, okay? If things ever get to be too much at home, or you feel like you're about to do something, or you're in a bad situation, call me. I mean it." Elle told her gently. Her tone left no room for doubt at her sincerity and Alice pulled back and looked at her gratefully.
"Thank you." She said softly. Elle smiled gently in response and then easily shoved her out the door.