Sorry this chapter took so long...I got half way through the chapter and got writers block. Once it passed, I re-read what I wrote and didn't like it, so I started over. Hope it turned out okay this time. ;)

Chapter 20: Do This Right

Finishing up, they both stepped back from the OR table and sighed in relief after a successful conclusion to the surgery; they had saved the patient.

"Very nice, Doctor Scott!" Derek said impressed with the young Neurosurgeon's amazing skills.

"Thank you, Doctor Shepherd. It's been a real honor to work with you." She smiled back at him behind her mask.

For Allison, it had felt like coming home working with Derek again; five years ago she was the resident he had handpicked to learn Neuro but now she was the teacher. When they had originally reviewed the patient's CT scans, Derek had planned to do a standardized approach to fixing the Subdural Hematoma, but she had suggested a newer one being used at St George that was less evasive and would provide a quicker recovery time for the patient.

For Derek, it had been comfortable; almost familiar to work with Doctor Scott and after seeing her perform that complicated procedure, he was more determined than ever to offer her a position in Grey Memorial's Fellowship program. Of course he would have to talk to the rest of the board members for approval and knew that her strong resemblance to Lexie would be a negative factor in offering her a position, especially for Meredith and Mark.

Returning to the scrub room they Doctors removed their caps and gowns and began to clean up from the surgery, taking a towel Derek dried his hands and turned to face the young resident.

"I'm sure by now you have visited several of the best Neuro programs this country has available and each of them have probably offered anything and everything in the hopes that you will accept their job offer…..so I'm just going to ask you, Doctor Scott. What type of fellowship program are you looking for?"

Allison stopped drying her arms and continued to watch the nurses clean up the OR for a few moments before speaking.

"I want to be admitted into a program where I can be challenged, not coddled like a prized thoroughbred." She began turning to face him with her arms crossed over her chest and her head cocked slightly. "I would like to work in a hospital that is more interested in helping a patient to survive than receiving accolades or an award created by a pompous arse." She watches him chuckle and then continues.

"I want a program where I can teach what I know to others, yet still learn something new by researching innovative ways to treat a patient or adaptation of a procedure. I want to be the Doctor that a patient comes too when everyone else says no it can't be done and be backed by a program that's willing to accept those risks. Money and fame are not important to me, Doctor Shepherd and I want to be in a fellowship program that will always put the patient first."

Derek smiles knowing she is definitely a person he wants on his team. "Well then, Doctor Scott we'll have a lot to discuss before you head home tomorrow. Why don't we take a quick break in the cafeteria, before we back to the ER to see if they need any more help?"

As they head out of the OR, the two surgeons continue to talk about Grey's fellowship program; it becomes clear to Allison that Derek is trying very hard to convince her to stay. But unlike the other Neuro Heads, who only told her what she wanted to hear; she knew from personal experience that Derek would follow through with his promises. It would be so easy to accept the fellowship offer and once again be surrounded by the family and friends she had left behind; to finally come home. But could she keep up this painful lie? How could she possibly handle the next two years working with the people she had known in another life and continue to pretend she was someone else? The most painful thing about returning to this hospital would be to work around her sister again; it was selfish to think that coming here wouldn't affect Meredith. Would she accept Lexie's, Allison Scott persona as a new person or would seeing her face everyday remind her of the little sister she had lost in that plane crash? Mentally shaking off the dark thoughts and questions for another time she refocused on listening to Derek's fellowship pitch as they stood in front of the elevators.

When the doors opened she watched as Derek stopped mid-sentence and smiled in happiness when it revealed his wife, Cristina Yang and Miranda Bailey standing inside. Meredith returned his smile, but her eyes widened in shock when Allison followed him onto the elevator. Making his way to her side, he gave her a supportive hug then a quick kiss on her lips before beginning the introductions.

"Doctor Scott, I'd like you to meet my lovely wife, Doctor Meredith Grey and Doctor Miranda Bailey, both are General Surgeons and Cristina Yang, who is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon."

"Ladies, this is Doctor Allison Scott; my fellowship candidate visiting from England." Derek said completing his introductions.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all and…" Allison began politely but was interrupted by Cristina.

"Holy Crap, you really do look like 3!" Cristina exclaimed, "But with a British accent."

Embarrassed by Yang's outburst, Miranda elbowed her out of the way and stepped forward to fix Yang's blunder. She was just as surprised by how much Allison Scott resembled Lexie Grey, but she was going to make damn sure that it was not going to let it affect how she was treated in this hospital.

"Welcome to Grey Memorial Hospital." Miranda stepped forward smiling at the young woman. "Please excuse, Doctor Yang's lack of filters on her mouth; she tends to say things without thinking first."

Allison gave her an understanding smile and could tell that Cristina was actually embarrassed by her outburst. It was good to see that short commanding woman still had the ability to control the people around her, including the unruly attending. Looking away from the two women, Allison refocused on Meredith, who had been standing frozen by Derek's side watching the scene in shocked silence.

Meredith felt Derek nudge her forward from behind and she mentally shook off the stupor that had locked up her brain. The young woman standing in front of her really did look like her sister, yet not exactly like her. Of course there were the obvious differences; Lexie would have been 33 on her next birthday, this girl looked to be about 24 or 25. Doctor Scott's eyes were an odd golden brown color, where her sister's eyes had been the color of her favorite dark chocolate candy bar. And of course then there was the most obvious difference, Doctor Scott looked perfect… her hair, the flawless skin, even the perfect teeth…. She looked like a model. Lexie had been a natural beauty, but like most residents she sometime looked…messy, like she just didn't have time to run a comb through her hair or put makeup on. Realizing that she had been staring at her far too long, Meredith took a deep breath and offered Doctor Scott a smile.

"Doctor Scott, I'm sorry for staring…it's just…Cristina's right you look like….." Meredith stops when her throat tightens up with tears.

"Your sister, Lexie Grey?" Allison says completing Meredith's explanation. Four sets of eyes swing in her direction in shock.

"Who… told you about Lexie?" Derek asked, a little angry that someone had discussed his family with her.

"Oh.. Well… I met some of your residents the night before the boards and they were gossiping about the Attending's that work here." Giving Meredith a sheepish look, Allison continued. "Your personal life seems to be one of their favorite topics to gossip about."

"Oh, they are so going to be doing rectal exams for a month." Meredith mumbles loudly between clenched teeth, but still hears Bailey and Yang chuckle at her threat.

"Hmm, maybe that's why they call you Medusa?" Allison asks, and then watches as her sister gives a slightly evil smile about her nickname.

"Nice." Allison snickers before continuing, "Anyway out of curiosity, I had asked about the hospital's name change and they told me that it was a way to honor your sister, Doctor Lexie Grey, who had been killed in a plane crash." Facing Meredith, she mentally cringes at her next lie.

"I had no idea, that I resembled her until Doctor Hunt mentioned it when we met during surgery earlier today." Allison gave Meredith a look of sympathy. "I'm so sorry if my presence reminds you of your loss."

Meredith smiled at her and wiped away a stray tear that had rolled down her cheek before saying, "Thank you… I'm not going to lie; seeing you was a shock, but I'll eventually get used to it and I'm sure that if Lexie was still here, she would think this whole situation pretty cool." Then Meredith did the unexpected and held out her hand to shake. "So why don't we start this conversation the right way."

"Welcome to Grey Memorial Hospital, Doctor Scott. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Doctor Grey, but you can call me Meredith." She says as the young doctor's cool hand returns her greeting.

"Thank you, Meredith, please call me Allison" She said happy that her sister had accepted her new persona.

Reaching their destination, they all exited the elevator and entered the cafeteria. Paying for cup of hot tea, she sat down with the rest of their little group and pretended to drink it while listening to them discuss the Mall explosion and some of the trauma victims that had come through the hospital today.

"I still can't believe what happened today; I was just at that Mall last week to buy some new shoes for Tucker." Miranda said still in disbelief, "Have the police discovered what caused the explosion?"

"Not yet… and since they haven't ruled out terrorist attack, the whole city is under a curfew." Cristina said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"You were there, Allison. What do you think happened today?" Derek asked and she watched as all eyes turned to look at her.

"Oh my God! You were there today?" Meredith asked wide eyed.

"Umm… yes. It was only 9 o'clock when my flight arrived this morning and it was too early to check into my hotel or come here for my interview. So I stopped at the Mall to shop a bit…..I had just finished up and I was about to get onto an elevator to retrieve my rental car from the lower level, when the explosion ripped through the floor in the middle of the Mall. The floor collapsed and a huge fireball shot up and then out through all of the levels, the people who survived the initial explosion around the crater were then killed in the flash fire. I was far enough away from the initial blast and ducked inside a store to avoid the falling debris and fire. After it was over, I crawled out and began assisting the injured." Allison answered as she looked down at her cooling tea; once again slightly changing the story so that it explained how she had remained uninjured.

Looking up, she could see that the Doctors were leaning forward in their seats to hear the rest of her story.

"As for your question Doctor Shepherd, I personally think that the explosion was caused by a break in one of the natural gas pipes running under the Mall. The fire ball lasted far too long for it to have come from a bomb."

The Doctor's all sat back in stunned silence at the end of her story; they were amazed that this young doctor seemed to be unfazed by how close she had come to dying today. Suddenly the silence is shattered when Shepherd's pager goes off and he looks down to see that the ER is paging. Standing up he looks over to Doctor Scott and gives her a tired smile. "You ready for the next round of incoming?"

She returns his smile, "Always." She says and follows him back to the ER.