A/N: I'm getting into the writing mood again. I have so many ideas for this story right now, I can't stop myself from writing! I really hope you like the idea I had for this chapter. I thought adding something into the story that actually happened in a character's childhood on the show would be… interesting. Also, I plan on bringing some new students to the school. (Reed, Jackson, April, and monkey dude, I always forget his name… Charles!) But I'm not sure when that will be.

Chapter Eighteen: Just a Normal Night…

It was Monday, yet another day of school that Cristina had to miss because of her gunshot wound. At first, she thought she could use the vacation. Now all she wanted to do was go back and see all of her friends. One thing she wasn't looking forward to was all the make up work she would have to finish. Waking up in a crabby mood wasn't unusual for Cristina at this point, but when she noticed she had a text message from Owen, it made her feel a little better.

Do you know what day it is today? Cristina read the text on the screen of her cell phone. She thought about the question for a moment. Okay, so it's not his birthday. It's not her birthday, and she didn't bother to think harder on it before texting back, Monday? Her answer amused her and a chuckle pushed passed her lips as she pressed the send button.

It didn't take more than a couple of minutes for Owen to text back, Very funny, and very true. But not what I meant. It's our one year anniversary. Cristina cocked an eyebrow with a half smile on her face. How did he know that and she didn't?

You actually kept track of that? Pressing the send button, it didn't take long for her to receive a new message from him once again. "God, is he like sitting there waiting for me to text back?" She said, thinking out loud as she read the message.

Of course. And since you can't get out of bed, I figure I'd bring over a movie and we can spend the day together after school. Cristina smiled, thinking that she had a very sweet boyfriend. She was lucky to have him.

That's perfect xo, She replied, setting her phone back down on her nightstand before laying down and turning over on her side. Her eyes were fixed on the television screen in her bedroom which was turned off. There was nothing good on weekday mornings. It was just another "perk" of not being able to go to school.

Later that morning, Meredith seen Lexie sitting across the room of their Spanish class. The girl had been good with keeping her distance, especially after Meredith told her she wanted nothing to do with her. But now, Meredith had to warn her sister (yes, she now thinks of Lexie as her sister) about the manwhore who is Mark Sloan, "Lexie," she called her name over the hum of the other students' chatter.

Sitting down at her desk, Meredith watched as the young brunette turned her head. Their gaze met, and Meredith motioned for Lexie to come over to her. The younger Grey cocked a confused eyebrow, then hesitantly stood from the desk she sat in and made her way across the classroom and approached her older sister, "Um… yeah?" She asked.

"Sit down, I need to talk to you," Meredith told her, pointing to the desk next to her.

Lexie was careful with her movements, as if Meredith was a wild cat ready to pounce on her prey. She slowly sat down in the desk beside Meredith, then looked at the other girl, giving her her full attention.

"I hear that you and Mark are… a couple?" Meredith asked, just wanting to hear Lexie's side of the story despite everything else Meredith had heard.

"Um, yeah. I mean, I guess so. We've been going out… why?" The brunette's eyes narrowed curiously, waiting for Meredith to explain.

"Have you heard about him? Like, has anyone told you anything about him?" Meredith asked.

Lexie was beyond confused, and her expression made that very clear. Shaking her head, she replied, "No…"

Meredith was silent for a moment, not sure of how to explain it. So the best way to put it was to just be straightforward with her, "He's a player," she said, noticing the confused expression on Lexie's face suddenly vanish until she didn't have much of an expression at all. Just blank, "he sleeps with girls then leaves them, and he'll do or say just about anything to get into their pants."

Lexie's eyes narrowed again, "Well, I haven't slept with him yet. I mean, I have slept with him… but it wasn't sex. It was just sleeping," Lexie started to ramble, "with clothes on…"

"Lexie," Meredith hushed the girl from speaking, "I'm just trying to warn you. He's not a nice guy, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Lexie's face twisted and she shook her head, "You don't wanna see me get hurt? Since when do you care about me?" A bit of attitude backed up Lexie's tone, "And I don't know what you have against Mark, but he's one of the sweetest guys that I've ever been out with. So I don't care what you have to say about him," with an icy glare, Lexie stood from her seat and made her way back to the other side of the classroom, leaving Meredith on the other with her mouth slightly agape.

That could have gone better, She thought.

After fifth hour, Meredith found Derek standing in line for his lunch tray. She still hadn't apologized for snapping at him a couple of days before. She tapped his shoulder and let her expression fill with remorse as he turned to look at her, "Meredith," he paused, "are you actually going to speak to me now?"

Meredith sighed and looked into his eyes, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that… and I should've called you sooner to apologize. I just… didn't want to admit that I… care.. about Lexie," still, admitting it out loud to Derek made her wince, but it managed to put a smile on his face.

"I knew you did," he said with a smug expression.

"Yeah, well, I think Lexie is pissed at me," she sighed, glancing down at the tile floor.

Derek's brows furrowed, "Why? What did you do?"

"I tried to warn her about Mark, and she just got upset. She started defending him as if she really knows him… and they did not have sex," her tone grew more stern at the last part of her sentence as she frowned up at him.

"My bad. I wasn't in the room, so I wasn't for sure. But one can only assume when they see a girl leaving a guys house early in the morning."

"Anyway, I don't wanna think about it. You wanna get together tonight? Hang out?"

Derek shook his head, "I'd love to, but I can't. My parents are taking me and Amelia out to dinner tonight."

"What's the occasion?" Meredith cocked an eyebrow.

"I just think they want to have an evening with their kids. It's either that or they are appreciating what joys we are to have around," a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips and Meredith smiled, "That's nice."

"Yeah."

Arizona found Callie eating alone at their usual table and sat down across from her with that smile on her face that Callie found so charming, "Hey you, what you are so smiley about?" Callie grinned.

"Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? My mom really wants to meet you," Arizona asked.

Callie was happy that Arizona wanted to let her into her home and her life, but it was a pretty big step. Especially since Callie never had a girlfriend before, and she wasn't used to parents actually being okay with that kind of lifestyle. She knew her father wouldn't approve. But, Callie nodded. If her mother wanted to meet her, then Callie couldn't turn down the offer, "Sure. I'd love to."

Arizona flashed an excited smile in Callie's direction, taking her hand and giving it a small squeeze before Mark made his way to the table, "I can't eat this crap anymore. Who wants my tray?"

Neither Callie or Arizona looked too enthused about eating Mark's food, but a smirk appeared on Callie's face after she thought about a few nights ago, "How did things go with you and Little Grey after we left your house the other night?" She said, her tone of voice getting lower as if she expected Mark to have gotten him some.

"I slept with her," she said, and both Arizona and Callie shook their heads with a matching smirks before he continued, "I literally just slept with her. She didn't even take her socks off."

"Wow," Callie chuckled, "I'm impressed with this girl. Usually all you have to do is wink at a girl and she's willing to get naked."

"Yeah, well not Lexie."

"Is that good… or is that bad?" Arizona asked curiously, taking a bite of her apple.

"Actually, it's good. She's different in an intriguing kind of way. And to be completely honest, I'm really looking forward to spending more time with her. Getting to know her better, and I'm willing to do that without taking her clothes off."

Both Arizona and Callie's eyebrows lifted, and they were speechless, "Yeah, you heard me correctly," Mark said. Callie let out a chuckle in disbelief, "Okay. Yeah, well I will believe it when I see it."

Addison and Teddy joined them at the table on Arizona's side, sitting down beside one another. All Arizona and Callie could do was grin at one another at the thought of the secret crush the two girls had on one another. "Since when are we bringing new people to the table?" Mark asked, letting his eyes fall upon Teddy as he was referring to her.

"Since right now," Addison paused, "So shut up."

A smirk appeared on his face, "I need more guy friends."

Arizona giggled at his statement, then turned her attention to Teddy, "So, how have you two been?" She asked, looking at Teddy as if she was supposed to know what that question really meant.

"We've been… good," Teddy smiled in her direction, letting her hand rest on Addison's knee from underneath the table, "Well, I've been good," she said, realizing she had just accidentally answered for the redhead.

Arizona noticed where Teddy's was placed, and she couldn't help but feel good on the inside. Like she had something to do with this. Addison smiled, placing her hand over Teddy's, "I've been good too," she paused, Teddy's gaze meeting with her own, "Really good."

Callie and Arizona looked at one another with large grins on their faces, and Mark was the only one sitting there looking as lost as ever. Until it finally clicked and he blurted out, "Oh, holy fuck. Did you two get it on?"

That's when everyone else's smiles faded quickly and they turned their heads to give him a look as if to say; did you really just say that? "What?" Mark asked with a shrug of his shoulders, "I was just curious. Seems like everyone is having sex around here but me."

"Hey Lexie," Mark said, creeping up behind the young brunette after school before she left the building, swinging his arm over her shoulder. She jumped slightly as he startled her, then let her eyes meet with his, and she didn't look too happy, "You okay?" He asked her, "Is it Meredith again?"

Lexie stopped walking, and then let her eye avert from his down to the floor. She was letting Meredith's word get to her. "Lexie?" Mark asked, removing his arm from over her shoulder and then stood in front of her, placing both of his hands on her upper arms gently, "What's wrong?"

"Are you a player?" Lexie finally uttered, her gaze meeting his once again. He didn't answer her. He just let out a sigh. He didn't really think of himself as a player, but that's what everyone knew him as, so he wasn't going to deny it in front of Lexie. He didn't say anything at all. Lexie just shook her head and frowned slightly, wiggling out of his grip, "I am so glad that I didn't have sex with you."

With that, she walked passed him and left the school building, leaving Mark standing there with a hurt expression on his face as the rest of the students passed him by.

Later that day, Callie's dad dropped her off at Arizona's house. He thinks that Arizona was only a new "friend" that invited her over for dinner, and she wanted him to keep thinking that, "Bye, daddy," she smiled at her father as she got out of the car.

"Bye, mija. I'll be back to pick you up around nine," he said before Callie made her way to the front door. Seeing Arizona's mother open the door, she glanced back to her dad's car, giving him one last wave before he drove away.

"You must be, Calliope," the woman smiled sweetly, already pulling Callie into a hug.

"You can call me Callie," she replied. Yes, her name only sounded good coming from Arizona's lips.

"Callie," she corrected herself, pulling out of the hug, "well, I can't wait to get to know you. Ari has told me wonderful things about you."

Derek, his sister Amelia, and their parents left the Italian restaurant later that evening when their dad noticed he was running low on gas. So he pulled into a gas station and began to fill the tank. Derek sat in the back seat with Amelia, watching as his sister leaned her head on the car door. She closed her eyes as if she was going to go to sleep.

"Well, thanks for dinner," Derek finally said to his mother in the passenger seat and he smiled at her when she turned to face him, "it was nice."

"Your father and I figured you two deserved some kind of dedication dinner. You both get such good grades, and we couldn't be more proud of you."

"Mom," Amelia chimed in, lifting her head from the car door, "do you think I'm deserving enough to get a new cell phone," a grin formed on her lips, "Mine is so old."

Derek rolled his eyes with a small smile on his face, turning his head to look out the window when he seen something peculiar. His brows furrowed as he noticed his father come out of the gas station, and two guys walked up to him. "What the hell?" He muttered under his breath, realizing that the men were hassling him. And just as he was about to get out of the car to see what the problem was, that was when he heard it. The gun shot. His heart sunk into his chest, and he heard his sister shriek behind him, "Daddy!"

Derek bolted out of the car just as then two men started to run away, and Derek wasn't quick enough to stop them. No matter how badly he wanted to catch the two of them, he needed to focus on his father now, who was bleeding on the pavement. People peeked through the windows of the gas station, and some took their cell phones out to call 911. Derek was on his knees, his hands placed over the gun shot wound that was in his father's chest. Amelia and their mother soon joined him with tears streaming down their faces, "Oh my God. Oh my God," the two of them cried.

Derek didn't know what to do at first, "Dad?" He said, shaking his to try and get him to wake up, but he was out cold. "Dad, come on. Stay awake," he shook him harder, but it didn't do any good.

"Derek," Amelia whimpered, "is he dead?"

"No," Derek answered, "we gotta get him to the hospital."

It was just a normal night… that turned into something fatal. Something horrible. Something completely and totally unexpected.

I don't really like the way I wrote this. I'm just tired, so forgive me for the suckiness of this chapter. Also, the Alex/Izzie storyline will be continued in the next chapter. And I have the beginning of the next chapter already written, and I LOOOVE what I have so far. Especially the C/O stuff. And I hope you will like it too.

-Shelby.