You guys are the absolute best! Your reviews put a huge smile on my face and I love that you all are responding so positively to this story. Big special thanks to Jime_GA_Lover, BekaRoo, polkadot-scalpels, and LexieMcSteamy who have always delivered such positive reviews on almost every chapter since I started my first story. Thank you for keeping my spirits high. This is for all of my readers!

It had been two days since Lexie's operation and she clung to Meredith like a life raft. She wouldn't let Meredith even leave the room for anything longer than a pee break and she was putting up trying to get on her feet.

"The longer you put it off, the worse it is going to be." Calle tried to warn her.

But Lexie still followed her own accord. It was day number three and Meredith was still at her sister's bedside.

"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked her groggy sister as she brought her a small cup of water and a straw.

"Like a was crushed by a plane." She spoke with a hoarse voice as she took a small sip and cringed as she swallowed. "Sorry. That wasn't very funny."

"You're right." Meredith placed the cup on the table next to her. "It wasn't. We came so close to losing you. I mean, we literally thought you were dead."

"I know. But thank you, for being here. You have truely gone above and beyond." Lexie smiled weakly.

"You're my little sister." She patted her arm. "Of course I'll be here."

Meredith paused awkwardly.

"You know, Mark has been here every minute, too." She looked for a reaction. "He hasn't even been home. Derek had to force him to shower and change clothes here."

"I know." Lexie sighed. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was...when I was dying, Mark told me about all these plans. Plans that he had, that he wanted to fulfill with me." She explained.

"What kind of plans?" Meredith asked.

"Marriage, kids, the whole enchilada." Lexie gestured with her hands.

"That's great!" Meredith beamed. "That's what you wanted, right?"

"Of course it is." Lexie fidgeted with her blanket. "But...at the end of the day, Mark is still with Julia. I can't change that. I'm not going to expect him to come running to me, just because of this...accident."

"I understand where you're coming from, but I think you have it all wrong." She tried to console her.

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Lexie asked sweetly. "Callie wants me to try the crutches out today and see if I can walk around a little bit. I thought you and Derek might keep me company."

"I would love that, but I actually have to grab Zola from the daycare and Derek has an appointment with a surgeon who wants to look at his hand." Meredith told her.

"Oh." She was obviously upset. "I can do it by myself."

"Maybe Mark can do it." Meredith chirped, proud of herself. "Come on, Lexie. You need to get on your feet. If you get umcomfortable, just page Callie and tell her you want to take a break."

Lexie sighed hesitantly. "Okay. Wish Derek luck with his hand for me. You can send Mark in."

"Okay." Meredith gave her a small kiss on the top of her head. "Good luck to you as well."

Lexie was nervous. She knew Mark had the same feelings as she did and that gave her the smallest bit of relief, but she was scared that Mark would be furious with her for making him wait so long to see her. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, she just didn't want to be apart from the sister she didn't say goodbye to.

Mark slowly opened the sliding glass door, carefully poking his head in.

"Knock, knock."

"Hey. Come on in." She smiled, trying to push herself up and then cringing in pain.

"No. Don't. Take it easy." He suggested, walking over to her bedside. "Meredith said you're supposed to try walking today."

"Just a little." She answered. "Callie suggested it. I have some crutches over there. Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

Mark grabbed the crutches and continued to help Lexie sit up on the side of the bed. Slowly and steadily she got to her feet with a small moan of discomfort.

"You okay?" He asked, cautiously. "Do you need to sit?"

Lexie closed her eyes and exhaled sharply. "No. My legs are not unbearable, my arms just hurt."

"Why don't you lean on me?" Mark offered.

"It's okay. My arms aren't going to get less sore unless I work on it." She smiled.

They slowly made their way out to the hall and began walking.

"I meant everything I said, at the crash." He spoke up.

"So did I." She replied, cringing as she stepped.

"Good." He smiled at her. "I really want to make this work."

"I do, too." She stopped where she was and turned to face him, causing Mark to slowly move in to kiss her. "Julia."

"What?" Mark asked.

"Julia. You're still with Julia." She finished.

"Yes, but..."

"There's no 'but', Mark. I can't be kissing you when you're still dating another woman." Lexie protested. "It's not fair to her, or me...or you!"

"Lexie-"

"I think I'll go the rest of the way, alone." She said, scratching her nose.

"What if you fall?" He asked concerned.

"Oh, look." She smiled. "There's Callie. She can walk the rest of the way with me, can't you, Dr. Torres?"

"Uh...sure." She answered, confused.

"Umm...okay." Mark put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the tile. "I'll be by later tonight to see how you're doing."

"Okay." Lexie answered.

"Okay, Grey." Callie took her arm to lead her back to her room. "You wanna fill me in?"

Later in Lexie's room, Callie sat next to Lexie, who was propped up in her bed, as they conversed.

"Wait, so, are you saying you don't want Mark?" Callie asked, skeptically.

"No, I am saying that as long as Julia is involved, I can't...I won't do that to her." She looked down for a moment. "I don't want to be the other woman."

"I respect that." Callie said. "Did he break up with her?"

"I don't know." She replied. "I can't worry about that right now. All I want to do is go home. My legs hurt, my back hurts, everything hurts."

"There's gonna be quite a bit of that for a while, I'm afraid." Callie chuckled. "At least you are here."

"At least." Lexie paused. "I'm pretty beat, I think I might try to sleep for a while."

"Okay. If you need anything, just hit the call button and have them page me." Callie got up and walked to the door. "Don't worry about Mark. I'm sure he will be back."

"Me, too."

Later That Night...

It was around midnight when Lexie woke up. She had slept all day and unfortunately, her body didn't hurt any less. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying desperately to drift back to sleep. It was less painful when she was out of it. After a frustrating ten minutes, she decided to adjust her position and rolled over.

"Oh, my God!" She jolted when she found Mark sitting in the chair beside her.

"Sorry."

"How long have you been sitting there?" She asked, trying to catch her breath.

"A couple hours." Mark replied. "Give or take...another couple hours."

Lexie chuckled. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to-"

"No. You were right." He told her. "I don't want to hurt Julia any more than you do. Which is why I ended things with her tonight."

"You did?" She couldn't help but be slightly surprised. "I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing to say. It's not fair to string her along when I don't love her like I love you." He smiled. "I am so ridiculously in love with you. It's pathetic how much I think about you and when I thought that you had-"

"Mark." She noticed he couldn't get the word out. "I'm here. I didn't go anywhere."

"But that's just it. To me, for a little while, you did." He explained. "And that little while was far too long for me. I don't want that to happen again."

"Okay." She whispered.

"Promise me." He began to grow frantic and teary eyed. "Promise me, you won't ever do anything like that again, okay? I can't lose you. I won't make it. Do you understand?"

"Okay." Lexie agreed, taking his hand. "I promise you."

"Thank you." He paused. "So when are you getting out of here?"

"Meredith is making arrangements at the house. Switching rooms around, so that I don't have to go upstairs." Lexie explained.

"Well, you know, I have an elevator." He arched his eyebrow. "And my apartment doesn't have any stairs."

"I don't want to make you take care of a cripple." She giggled.

"Don't say that. You're not crippled." Mark looked her in the eye. "If you were serious about starting a life with me, what better time to start?"

"I was serious."

"Then come home with me." He begged. "I can take care of you."

"I know you can." She replied.

"Then what's the problem?" Mark asked.

Lexie just stared at him. "Can you pick me up Wednesday at 4:15?"

"I'll be here."

Thanks for all the love again. 'Wow' doesn't cover it, but it is the best word I have right now. I love you all and thank you immensly for all the continued outpouring of love. Yay! Read and review! XOXO