Mark leans over Meredith and pushes the frozen Derek out of the way.
"We've got to find a point of entrance and exit. Stevens…come here!" he says.
Izzie kneels beside Mark and looks for the place where the bullet enters. She and Mark rip the sweatpants Meredith is wearing and see a wound in her leg the size of a bullet hole which is bleeding profusely.
"It's the leg. There's a lot of blood though. We need to stop the bleeding. Lexie, get me a clean towel or shirt or something," Mark says.
Lexie is frozen. She wants to move, but her legs won't allow her to. Derek is in a trance, staring at Meredith so Mark stands up. "Stevens, apply pressure. I'll find something we can use," Mark says.
Izzie applies as much pressure as she can, but it never seems to be enough. No matter how hard she presses, more blood seems to pour out.
"I can't hold her much longer. We need to sedate her," Alex says, still trying to restrain the kicking Sadie.
"We can't sedate her, Karev! Figure it out…that's your job. We're taking care of Meredith over here," Mark snaps.
"I want to see Amy! Where is she?? Is she alive?" she screams.
Alex holds Sadie by the shoulders and stares her in the face. "If you come with me and sit quietly in that chair I will bring Amy to you and you can see her. But if you so much as attempt to move from that chair I'll make sure you never see Amy again…okay?" Alex says, firmly.
Sadie smiles like a little girl. "Okay. I'll sit," she says as Alex leads her to a chair in the corner of Meredith's room.
"Amy. Come over here…" he says, motioning to Lexie.
Lexie's legs feel like lead and she cannot move them. Alex gives her a raised eyebrow look pleading with her to come. He motions towards Meredith who is lying on the floor and whispers to Lexie, "This is the only way…you have to do this."
Lexie looks at Meredith, bleeding on the floor ,at Derek with silent tears streaming down his face, at Izzie so focused, at Alex, so strong, and at Mark, taking charge and knows she has to step up to the plate. She forces her feet to move and walks towards the seemingly pacified Sadie.
"Hi Sadie…" she says, for lack of anything else to say.
"Amy! I did it. I killed her. And when I see him, I'll kill him next. No one's going to hurt you again. I'm going to take you away from here. It will be just us and you'll be safe. I'll help you with all the things you don't know how to do. No more tutors and teachers and stuff like that. It will just be us. I'll help you. I'll keep you safe," Sadie says.
Alex motions to Lexie to respond. She doesn't know what to say, so she simply says, "Thank you…you're a good sister…I'm lucky to have you."
The irony of the situation was not lost on her. Her sister wanted nothing to do with her, and Sadie, no matter how crazy she appeared thought she was her sister who had obviously been lost to her some time ago and was desperate to have her in her life. There was a small part of Lexie that enjoyed pretending to be Amy, to feel like the younger sister that someone wanted.
Sadie grabs her hand, and Lexie's first instinct is to pull away, until Sadie says, "Don't worry, Amy. I told you…we're safe now." Lexie decides it will just be easier to play along until the ambulance gets there. She squeezes Sadie's hand.
The paramedics burst through the front door. "Coming up! Is everybody okay?" they call as they rush up the stairs.
"She's lost a lot of blood. It may have hit an artery," Mark says, as they lift Meredith on to a stretcher.
Derek rushes behind the stretcher and says, "I'm going with her!" No one argues.
Lexie starts to head towards Meredith but Sadie pulls her back. "No Amy. Don't worry about her…she'll just hurt you again. It's better this way…" she says.
Lexie sighs. Ironically, she's probably right… She waits until the paramedics grab Sadie and inject her with a sedative before strapping her down to a stretcher.
"Amy! Help me! Don't let them take me!" she says, before the sedative takes effect and she closes her eyes.
Lexie steps away and Mark walks towards her. He wraps his arms around her, and she dissolves, sobbing into his chest. "Shhhhh….it's okay," he says, rubbing her back and holding her tightly.
Izzie looks at Alex and says, "You saved Meredith's life."
He shakes his head. "Nah…I just used a few wrestling moves. It was you and Sloan who did the important stuff. Come on…let's get down to the hospital to see how Meredith is doing."
Izzie starts to follow him then stops. "Wait!" she says.
"What?" he asks.
"I have to make a quick phone call. Someone has to tell Cristina…she'd want to know," Izzie says.
"We'll call from the car. Come on. Let's just get there. Sloan, Lexie…you want a ride?" Alex asks.
Mark nods, and starts to lead Lexie to the car. He notices she is shaking and sobbing so violently that walking is too much of an effort. He picks her up and carries her in his arms. She does not fight him. As they approach Alex's car, Izzie looks at Mark, concerned. "Is she okay?" she asks, motioning towards Lexie.
Lexie takes a few deep breaths and begins to calm down. "I'm okay. I'm sorry…it was just the shock of everything…and I…I just can't believe what just happened…" Lexie says, still not fully coherent.
Izzie puts her hand on her arm. "I know. I can't believe it either," she says. She looks at the tiny two door car and says, "Mark, sit up front with Alex. Lexie and I will be fine in the back."
As Izzie and Lexie climb in the back, Izzie says, "I think I better call Cristina now."
Lexie shakes her head. "Let me call her. I owe her at least that much," she says.
Izzie smiles and hands Lexie her cell phone.
Lexie dials Cristina's phone number and gets her voice mail. "Hi Cristina…it's Lexie Grey…I wanted to let you know that something really bad happened to Meredith. Sadie shot her. She's on her way to Seattle Grace in an ambulance. I just thought you should know…and Cristina…I'm really sorry….about everything," she says, before hanging up and handing the phone back to Izzie.
(Break)
Cristina walks into the hospital after receiving a note requiring her to attend a meeting with the chief. She assumes he wants to reprimand her again for the incident that did not occur, yet she almost welcomes the meeting despite the fact that it will probably not be pleasant. Being away from the hospital has been torture for her. She is surprised to find Owen waiting for her in the lobby.
"What are you doing here?" she asks.
"Waiting for you…" he replies.
"Why?" she asks, surprised.
"Because I thought you might need to see a friendly face after your meeting…" he says.
"Oh." Cristina says, for lack of better response.
They stand there, awkwardly and Cristina says, "I have to go now. I don't want to give the chief any reason to be more angry than he already is."
Owen takes her hand. "Let's go. I'll walk up with you and wait for you, and then we'll get something to eat," he says.
"Why?" she asks.
"Because we might get hungry. Stop asking questions, and just accept that I'm here," Owen says.
Cristina shrugs nonchalantly, but cannot help smiling. "Okay…" she replies as they walk up to the chief's office together.
Cristina feels her cell phone vibrate, but does not answer it as she approaches the chief's office. She steps inside.
"Dr. Yang, please have a seat," he says, looking uncomfortable.
She sits, obediently and waits for him to lecture her. Instead, he says, "I'm so sorry."
Cristina feels a rush of panic. She assumes he is about to tell her that the board is kicking her out of the program. She wants to protest but cannot force her voice to make a sound. The chief continues.
"I should have listened to you from the beginning. It has come to my attention that you never threw a scalpel at Sadie. I could sit here and tell you all the reasons why our evidence led us to believe that you did, however, the only thing that matters now is that I made a terrible mistake. I know it and the board knows it. Effective immediately, you are reinstated to full hospital privileges," he says, seriously.
Cristina takes a moment to process this information and feels her cell phone buzzing again. She wonders if it's Owen calling, and she feels mildly annoyed that anyone is bothering her right now. She obviously does not answer it or even look at it.
"Thank you sir," Cristina says. She thinks for a moment and then asks, "How did you find out the truth?"
"Dr. Grey. Dr. Lexie Grey came to me. It took tremendous courage for her to do that, Dr. Yang. I have yet to decide what action to take with the interns, but suffice it to say, there will be harsh penalties for the deceptive nature of their acts," Dr. Webber says.
Cristina is quiet. "Sir…if you wouldn't mind…Could you let Lexie Grey off the hook?" Cristina asks.
The chief looks at her, confused.
"It's just that I'd like this whole incident to be behind everyone. Lexie Grey is an outstanding doctor, and she shows tremendous potential. I'm in this business for the medicine. Not for the other stuff. Suspending Lexie Grey would interrupt her education, and as her resident, I don't want to see that happen," Cristina says.
The chief smiles at Cristina. "I'm proud of you, Dr. Yang."
"Thank you, sir," she replies, barely able to contain her elation.
Her cell phone goes off again as she steps out of the room. She looks for Owen. He is gone. She checks her pager. Owen has paged her. Got paged to the ER. Meet me down there, if you can…if not I'll call when I get off. Good luck. Cristina takes a moment to listen to her cell phone messages. She hears the first message from Lexie and her face turns white. She runs to the ER as quickly as she can.
(Break)
Owen pushes Derek out of the way. "Meredith Grey. Gunshot wound. Clean entrance and exit of the bullet. Victim has lost a lot of blood. Blood type, B negative. We need two units of B negative stat!" he says to the nurses who surround him. They scurry to find blood for Meredith while Owen tries to stop the bleeding.
Izzie stands next to him and Owen says, "Dr. Stevens, Karev, help me pack this wound. The entrance and exit is clean and it doesn't look like any arteries are involved. Pack it up and stop the bleeding and she should be fine," he says.
Izzie and Alex work together on Meredith's leg and finally, the bleeding stops. Mark stands between Derek and Lexie. "Shepherd. She's going to be okay," he says, putting his hand on Derek's shoulder. The relief on Derek's face is evident. Pulls Lexie toward him into a big embrace and the two of them smile as tears stream down their face.
"It's okay, man. We're both going to have our Grey sister," Mark says, slapping Derek on the back.
As Izzie hangs the blood and Alex starts an IV drip into Meredith's veins, Derek rushes over to Meredith and strokes her face. "I love you, my dark and twisty, Meredith Grey…" he says.
Izzie and Alex step back and see Cristina rushing towards them. Izzie grabs Cristina and stops her. "She's okay. I promise. She'll be okay," she says.
"What happened?" Cristina asks.
As Izzie and Alex tell Cristina the whole story, Lexie and Mark come over. Cristina turns to Lexie. "Thank you for calling me. And for going to the chief…" she says.
Lexie shakes her head. "Please don't thank me. What I did was awful. I was lonely, desperate, pathetic and absolutely selfish. I had no business signing that letter or reading anyone's diaries. I'm so sorry, Cristina. But if it's any consolation, I'll probably be kicked out of the program tomorrow…so you won't have to look at me every day…." she says.
Cristina smiles. "I don't think you will," she says.
Lexie looks puzzled. "What do you mean?" she asks.
"I'm taking my interns back…" Cristina says.
Izzie laughs. "And that's probably worse than being suspended! You're Cristina's resident again!"
Meredith begins to stir. "Derek? What happened?" she asks, knowing she remembers but not wanting to.
Derek kisses her gently. "Just rest. It's okay. We'll talk later…" he says, stroking her face.
"I love you…" she whispers.
"I love you too," he replies.
"Derek?"
"What Mer?"
"Is Lexie okay? She didn't get hurt, did she?" Meredith asks.
Lexie hears Meredith ask the question and promptly bursts into tears and runs to Meredith.
"I'm fine. But thank you so much for caring. Mer…I'm so sorry about…" Lexie begins.
Meredith shakes her head. "We almost got killed. The little stuff doesn't matter, Lexie. I'm just so glad you're okay. Thank you…you were really brave in there…." Meredith says.
The two sisters hug tightly until Meredith pulls away. "Iz? Come here for a minute…" Meredith says.
"I'm so glad you're okay…" Izzie says, hugging Meredith.
"Thanks for everything…you really took care of everyone. Me…Lexie…even Cristina. Thank you so much," she says.
"You're welcome. Get some rest, Mer. I – I can't believe what happened. I just can't believe we all… I mean…she…I just can't believe it," Izzie says.
Meredith hugs her. "Thank you."
Cristina approaches Meredith. "I'm just going to tell you that I may need to pick a new person. One that isn't so prone to life threatening calamities on a regular basis. You're a lot of work, Mer," she says, holding Meredith's hand.
"Shut up," Meredith says, smiling.
"I'll leave you to McDreamy now. I have plans with McStormy "McStormy?" Meredith asks.
"Yeah…you know…Desert Storm? McStormy. Please try not to have any more near death experiences…" Cristina says.
"I'll try," Meredith agrees. "Hey, Izzie! You need to give Alex a McName!" she says.
"McSexy?" she replies, kissing him.
"Hmmm…I could live with that one…" Alex says.
"McVomit?" Mark whispers to Lexie who laughs.
****
SO…IT MAY SEEM LIKE EVERYTHING IS TIED UP AND NEATLY PERFECT HERE AND A PERFECT PLACE TO END THE STORY, BUT NOPE! There's more to come!! We still don't know what happened to Sadie…And there's also some unresolved stuff here so don't worry…there's a few more chapters and I have a GREAT idea for an epilogue. Keep the reviews coming!!! You guys are awesome and I promise to keep this story going at least until Grey's comes back in Jan!!!
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!! Thanks to those of you who reviewed last time!!! You guys are awesome!