Thank you for everyone who read and reviewed the first part of TWTC. It means so much to me!
The Ways That Count Part Two
"You could have told me about the kid." Alex told Meredith as soon as she got home, later that evening.
"Kid?" Meredith asked, confused. "What kid?"
"Lexie's kid." Alex clarified.
"Lexie doesn't have a kid."
"Yes she does. I saw her with my own eyes." Alex grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. "She's three. Her name is Ava."
"Lexie has a daughter?" Meredith searched her brain as she struggled to remember if Lexie ever mentioned anything to her about a child. She sighed, maybe she really should start listening to her.
~~*~~
"Do you want a hard or soft shell taco?" Lexie asked as she finished mixing the hamburger meat and taco seasoning together.
"Soft." Ava answered she climbed onto her chair. "Can I have cheese and olives on it?"
"Of course." She sprinkled cheese and olive slices onto the soft shell taco. "Do you want chocolate milk?"
"Yes, please." Lexie poured her a glass of milk. "Thank you Mommy." Ava took a bite of her taco. "Do I get to go to school tomorrow?"
Lexie smiled at Ava's name for daycare. "Not tomorrow sweetie. I have a long shift tomorrow, so you are going to go to Renee and Mike's to play with Becca and Corbin."
Renee, Mike, and their children lived in the second half of their duplex. Renee, being a stay home parent, would watch Ava on days when Lexie's shift exceed 8 hours. It worked about better then Lexie could have ever imagined. Becca was six and Corbin had just turned four. Luckily the three children all got along.
"Am I gonna spend the night?"
"I think so. But if it's a slow day I'll be home early." She paused. "Do you like spending the night at Becca and Corbin's?"
"Yeah. But Becca doesn't have a nightlight. And I get scared of the dark." She took a bite of her taco. "Wanna play barbies after tacos?"
~~*~~
"Lexie." It was the next day when Meredith walked up to Lexie as she walked out of the locker room.
She groaned, "Really, Meredith. I do not want Alex. You don't have to worry about it."
"It's not about that. Alex told me about Ava."
"Yeah?"
"And you didn't." Meredith told her. "Why didn't you tell me that you have a child?"
"I have tried." Lexie argued. "But you were always too busy" She shook her head, "Or just didn't care enough to listen."
"Alex told me she's three."
"She is. Well she'll be four soon."
"So you were what, 21...22 when you had her?" Meredith asked.
"20. I skipped third grade." She sighed, "I have to go. I have rounds." But she didn't move. "Meredith...Would you like to meet her?"
"Um...Yeah. I mean, I think so. Maybe."
"Well when you have a solid answer let me know."
She raised an eyebrow. "A solid answer?"
"I don't let people come into Ava's life if they are just going to walk out of it." She explained. "She's had enough of that already." She paused. "I'm late for rounds."
As she turned the corner Mark Sloan was as well. And once again walked right into Dr. Mark Sloan. The papers he was carrying fell to the floor. "Sorry." She mumbled as she bent down to pick them up.
"Dr. Grey." Mark smirked. "I'm beginning to think you like running into me." He paused, "Not that I'd blame you."
She handed him back his papers, "Yeah, I love making an idiot out of myself."
"You have something in your hair..." His fingers brushed through her hair, picking out the piece of lent. He caught himself when his hand nearly lingered there, almost touching her cheek. He quickly pulled it away.
She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."
"Well I have a surgery I need to prepare for. A tympanoplasty." He paused. "Did you know that biggest complication for a tymapanoplasty is complement loss of hearing?" He winked at her, and left.
~~*~~
"Three! You're late." Cristina snapped. "Get over here."
"Sorry Dr. Yang." She quickly apologized. She looked around, "Why are all of the residents and interns here?"
"Dr. Sloan is going to pick an intern to assist him in a surgery." Cristina answered, "But maybe I should take you out of the running because you were late."
"Don't." Meredith interrupted Cristina, "It is my fault she was late." She gave Lexie a small smile.
"Thanks..." Lexie mumbled.
"Okay." Mark Sloan cleared his throat, "This is a teaching hospital, so therefore I'm required to teach. In an hour I will be preforming a tymaphanoplasty. I'm going to ask one question about the surgery and the intern who can answer the question first, gets to assist me." He locked eyes with Lexie, "What is the biggest complication in preforming a tymaphanoplasty?" Lexie's hand shot up. "Yes, Dr. Grey."
"Complete loss of hearing."
"Very good." He handing her a chart. "Come with me and we will go over the procedure."
"You told me the answer." Lexie grinned as they walked down the hall together.
"I don't know what you are talking about Grey." Mark played dumb.
She laughed, "Yes you do." She paused. "So do should I be running into you more often? Maybe I should since it gets me the in on a surgery."
He shrugged, "It is just a tymaphanoplasty."
"You don't find that exciting?" She asked. "You are an ENT. Shouldn't it be exciting to you?"
"I've done enough of them since I became an ENT." He smiled at her, "It's nice to see an intern excited about an ENT surgery. They are usually more into Nero or ortho." He rolled his eyes, "And don't let me even get started on how the others feel about Plastics."
"I've read about a lot of surgeries. I've seen videos of a lot of different surgeries. Some of the most interesting surgeries I came across were with Plastics." They turned into his office, "I'm not really into the boob or nose jobs, but facial reconstruction. It's fascinating really." She smiled, "Surgeons like you change people lives. You can make people speak again. You can make them here. You give them their lives back."
He sat at his desk, "You'll have to be on my service more often."
"Why did you tell me an answer?" Lexie asked again.
"Out of all the interns you are least annoying. But don't read too much into it. It's not really a complement."
"Well that's better then feeling sorry for the single Mom. I hate when people do that." She fidgeted with the chart in her hands.
"I didn't know you were a single mom." He told her.
"Oh." Her cheeks turned red. "Sorry...Never mind."
"Where's the guy?" He didn't know why he asked that. He knew it was not his business.
She shrugged, "Beats me. He wasn't ready for..." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "You know..." She forced a small smile, "Shall I go prep the patient?" She asked, effectively changing the subject.
~~*~~
"You did great in there." Mark commented as he walked out of the OR with Lexie.
"Really?" She asked with a smile. "You think so?"
"Yeah. I do. You are going to make one hell of a surgeon." There was a pause. "We have a little while before we have to do any post op. Can I buy you lunch? Or do you eat lunch in the daycare with your daughter?"
"Normally I eat with Ava, but she's with her babysitter today." Lexie told her. "So, yeah, I'll have lunch with you."
Fifteen minutes later Mark and Lexie were sitting in his office, each with a lunch tray of pizza and cheesy garlic bread. "So what made you want to become a doctor?" Mark asked.
"Well, when I was nine I broke my collarbone and the whole experience at the hospital just fascinated me. Ever since then I just knew this is what I wanted to do." She took a bite of her pizza.
"How did you break your collarbone?"
"Oh. My sister, Molly threw a stick out in front of me when I was rollerskating. I ran over it, flipped over, fell...Molly is really evil when we were growing up?" She took a drink of her Pepsi, "How about you? When did you decide you wanted to be a surgeon?"
He shifted nervously, "Wanted to make my parents proud."
She smiled. "That's sweet. Did you?"
"I don't know. I haven't talk to them for...Fifteen years?"
"Oh...I'm sorry."
He shrugged, "Not your fault." He picked at his bread, "How old is, um, Ava?"
"Three." She smiled, "But she'll be four a few months."
"You had her all during Med school." He shook his head, "I don't know how you did. Med school almost killed me. I cannot imagine having a kid and doing it at the same time."
"My family helped out a lot. And I had some really great friends in Boston. I probably would have never been able to do it if it weren't for them." She wiped the grease from the pizza off her fingers onto her napkin. "Even now I get a lot of help. I live in a duplex and the family on the other side of me has two kids around Ava's age. Renee stays home with them, so she watches Ava on days I have a longer shift."
"You should be proud of yourself, not a lot of people could do what you are doing."
"It's not always easy. You know, the days where Ava cries when I leave her..."
"So her father..."
"Not around. He's made a few brief appearances in her life...The last time was like..." She paused for a moment. "A year and half ago?"
They were interrupted by the sound of Mark's pager going off. "I think our patient is awake. You ready to see if the surgery worked?"
"Yes." She grabbed the patient's chart. "Lets go."
TBC...?