This was a really hard chapter to write. I knew what I wanted to say, but writing it down is much harder. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 14: Ends with Goodbye

Once inside the car she looked at the dashboard clock and realized that she had taken too long at Meredith's house; morning rounds would start in a few hours so that didn't give her much time to get into Mark room to heal him before she could say goodbye. Arriving at the hospital, Lexie quickly made her way to Mark's room, where she shut the partition shades and walked to his bedside. She was startled by how much worse he looked in just one day!

"Okay, let's try this again." She whispered before putting her left hand on his forehead and the right over his heart. Focusing she began to draw energy from deep inside herself until the cool tingly feeling rushed down her arms and send an electrical shock through her fingertips into his body. Removing her hands, she rubbed them to together to make the tingling sensation go away and then began turning off the machines alarms so they didn't go off when he woke up. Since she was still learning how to control the strength of her powers, she wasn't sure how long it was going to take before Mark began showing signs of improvement. Hopefully, he would begin to wake up before morning rounds which would be in two hours; otherwise she wasn't going to be able to talk to him before she left Seattle. A half an hour later, she was still waiting patiently, but there still weren't any signs of improvement. Confused by his lack of response, she pulled his chart from the end of his bed and began to review all of the medical procedures that had been completed since his arrival from Boise Memorial. According to the file, all of his surgeries to repair the damage done to his body were successful, but neither Doctor's Altman nor Bailey could find a reason why he was not responding to treatment. At the bottom of the chart, was a notation of 'Dying from a broken heart?'

Shocked, she looked at the comatose man lying on the bed. 'He wants to die.' She thought, assuming that her healing powers won't work if mind and body didn't cooperate. Angry that he had given up, she moved back to his bedside and took his warm hand in hers before leaning down to whisper into his ear.

"Damn you, Mark Sloan! You don't get to do this to me! You don't get to decide to die, because I had to leave…. So you better listen to me, mister and get your ass back here to talk to me!" She said in a quiet angry voice, and then softened her tone as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Please… Mark," she begged. "I love you… you need to fight. Please follow my voice and come back." Still not seeing a response, her temper flared again.

"Damn it, Mark! Stop trying to take the easy way out! Fight, Damn you! Fight for me!" His fingers twitched in response and she smiled as his skin began to change from the white-grey color associated with death to a healthy pink; moaning softly he began to make choking noise around the intubation tube.

"Shhh, it's going to be okay…. I'm going to get this out of your throat, so you can breathe on your own." She said as she gently removed the intubation tube and watched him cough a little to catch his breath. Moving to the table, she grabbed a cup of water and held the straw next to his lips.

"Here take a sip." She whispered, and then looked out the window behind his bed to see the sun begin to rise. She didn't have much time.

With his eyes still closed he slowly began to drink the cool water and felt instantaneous relief to his scratchy throat. Very groggy, his heavy eyes struggled to open but widened as the blurry figure of the dark haired woman standing next to him came into focus, her pale skin bathed in a heavenly glow as the sun shined though the window. He smiled knowing that his angel had finally arrived.

"Lexie, you came back for me." He rasped, his heart leaping in joy as he watched her lean over him and felt her loving fingers gently run through his hair.

"How could I not come back," she said choking back a sob, "I had to make sure you weren't going to do something stupid like die for me…. I love you too much to let that happen."

Mark tried to sit up, to get himself in a better position and clear his head, but his body was too weak to move after being in a coma for so long. Finally he gave up and just sat there, looking at her adoringly.

"I watched you die, Lex," said Mark choking back the powerful memory of her lying trapped underneath the wreckage of the plane. The woman standing before him was beyond beautiful, perfect even; everything from her long dark hair to her flawless skin looked untouched by the crash. But it was her sad eyes that showed the true depth of what she had endured. "How is it you're here? Please tell me I'm not dreaming"

She ran her hand through his hair again, playing with little errant strands, then down his face to lovingly stoke the bristles of his beard. 'God he is so handsome,' she thought as she looked into his hopeful blue eyes and wished things could have ended differently.

"There is so much I want to tell you Mark, so much I want you to understand. But my time here is limited and I need to leave in a moment, I just had to make sure you where alright."

"No Lexie please, you can't go!" cried Mark trying to sit up again, this time more forcefully but Lexie had put her hand gently on his chest to hold him down so he didn't hurt himself. Unable to move, he stopped struggling and covered her hand with his so he could hold on to her.

"I love you so much, more than anything in the world," he said as tears ran down his face and his breathing became ragged. "Watching the life drain from your eyes as you died was the worst moment of my life. Please, don't make me lose you again." He begged.

Lexie felt as if her heart would shatter into a million pieces from his pain and wished she could stop it by telling him the truth about her new life; but to do so would put his life at risk from the Volturi. Looking behind his bed, she could feel the rays from the sun streaming through the window and knew that it was making her skin shine from its light. As much as she hated lying to him, she knew that she had to make him think that this was a dream caused by the coma. Removing her hand from his, she moved away and without him noticing injected a sedative into his IV drip to put him back to sleep. Moving back to his side, she cupped his face with her hand.

"Mark, I love you so much that leaving you behind feels like my soul has been ripped in half and as much as I want us to be together; you can't follow me. So cry for me and be angry that I left; but I'm asking …. No begging you... not to give up. There are so many people who need you in their lives...Sofia...Derek...Callie and so many more. What happened with the crash... my death... if you leave now it will break them, so please do what couldn't; stay and live for me."

"Lex….I don't know if I can," he slurred as he fought to keep his eyes open on the woman he loved, "you made me a better person and without you….. I can't …. I just can't breathe."

"Oh Mark…for those moments when it becomes so unbearable that you feel like you can't go on. I want you to close your eyes and imagine me lying in your arms with my head resting on your chest and with every breath you take, you'll hear me say I love you." Leaning in she gave him a kiss on his soft lips and watched as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I love you." She whispered and moved away. Picking up his chart, she notated the time the intubation tube had been removed with her initials and realized that he was her last patient; this would be the last time she could call herself Doctor Alexandra Grey.

Moving toward the door, she could hear the interns and nurses in the far hallway talking as they gathered to start their rounds. Looking at Mark one last time, she slipped out of his room and made her way toward the back stairwell; once inside she knew that the 5AM shift had arrived and everyone from Doctors to cafeteria workers would be moving through each floor to get to their designated jobs. Leaving the way she had come in was no longer an option, so she began running up the stairs until she reached the Helo pad on the roof and found a place to jump down off the building undetected and quickly made her way to the car to leave the now filled up parking lot. As she began pulling out of the parking lot, she looked back to the hospital that had been her home for the last four years and felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes; wiping them away she pushed down her emotions and drove to her hotel. Once there Lexie quickly packed up her luggage to check out for her return trip to Forks.

A hour and half later, she pulled in front of the Cullen home and numbly made her way inside to find Carlisle and Esme standing in the kitchen. Upon seeing them, all of the pent up emotion Lexie had been holding in since leaving Seattle came rushing out like, a damn had burst and she began to sob uncontrollably over everything she had just left behind. Rushing to her side, Esme wrapped arms around the girl's shaking body and felt her return the hug.

"Shhh," Esme said softly as she stoked Lexie's hair. "It's alright sweetheart… just cry it out. You'll feel better when you're done."

After a several minutes, Lexie's opened her eyes and looked over Esme's shoulder to see that Carlisle had moved up behind them and was patiently waiting for her tears to subside.

"Carlisle, could you please book me a flight to England as soon as possible?" Lexie asks her voice still husky from crying, "It…. It hurts too much… I've said my goodbyes… now I've got to move on."

Reaching out, he cups her tear stained face and smiles lovingly at his new daughter.

"Of course, Lexie, if that is what you need to do… then I'll call the airlines today." He watched as she nodded and laid her head back down on his wife's shoulder and allowed her to continue to hold her.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital; everyone had gathered outside Mark's room waiting for Bailey to begin the necessary protocols for life support removal. Getting off the elevator, she gave a heavy sigh and made her way to room 210. Sadly she acknowledged Derek Shepherd and Callie Torres as she walked past into Sloan's room, but gasped when she saw him lying peacefully in his bed.

"Who the hell removed him from life support!" she yelped and rushed to his side to begin listening for a pulse. Hearing Miranda's yell, Callie and Derek rushed inside and could see that Mark was no longer intubated. Shocked and upset, that someone had let Mark die alone, they both began demanding an explanation when the morning nurse ran it.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Bailey shouted as she closed her eyes to listen for a heartbeat through her stethoscope and then broke out in a big smile as she heard a steady thump coming from his chest.

"He's alive and breathing normally!" she said looking back at a shocked Shepherd and Torres, then moved to pull his chart from the end of his bed. Looking at the last entry, she gasped and dropped the chart onto the floor.

"Miranda, what's wrong?" Callie asked and bent down to pick up the Chart off the floor and was about to look at it when she heard Mark sigh and begin to mumble; moving closer she leaned down to hear him whisper, "Lexie".

Also hearing the name he whispered, wide-eyed Bailey licked her lips and pointed to the chart. "Those are Little Grey's initials."

"No…. that's not possible." Callie said and opened the chart to look inside before numbly handing it to Derek. The three of them looked at each other in shock, because the last entry was indeed signed in Lexie's familiar handwriting with her initials ACG.

Okay, so I know a few of you may be upset that Mark and Lexie didn't end up together (yet), but the story isn't over. I'm doing 20 to 25 chapters based on how this story is playing out in my head, so be patient... and as always I appreciate the great reviews... they make me smile.