I know I didn't update for almost a month. I had a lot of (good) things happening in my life right now, and I was pretty busy.


Mark's apartment

Every night, Mark watched Lexie fall asleep, and every morning, Lexie watched Mark wake up. It was one of their favorite things. This morning when Lexie woke up, she saw Mark's face, like every morning. She smiled when she saw that he was still asleep. She always loved to see him asleep. He looked so peaceful and happy, and she missed seeing his face for so long. She smiled. She had never told him that, but he looks so cute when he sleeps. She knew he would have denied it.

She stroked his cheek softly, and after a few moments, Mark woke up.

"Good morning," Mark said, smiling.

"Good morning," She said back, and kissed him on the lips.

"I didn't mean to wake you up," Lexie told him.

"I glad you did," he said and kissed her.

The kiss deepened until Mark started kissing Lexie's neck.

"Mark, stop," she said, laughing, and pulled away. "I have to be at the hospital by 8:00."

"8? You got lucky."

"I would rather start my shift at 5 a.m. and go into surgery."

"The paperwork can wait. Why don't we take advantage of that and stay in bed for a little while?"

"Maybe you are right," she said, kissing Mark.

A moment later, they heard a knock at the door.

"Did you hear it?" Lexie asked after she pulled away.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Mark said, trying to kiss her again. His "plan" didn't work out because they heard another knock. Mark groaned, and they both got up from the bed, put their robes on, and opened the door.

They found Callie holding Sofia in her arms.

"I know I should have brought her to daycare today, but I am really late," Callie said. "I know I promised I would let you both have the night and morning to yourselves, but I really need your help."

"Callie, really, why are you so nervous?" Mark asked, trying to calm down his best friend.

"Well, Arizona told me she wants to get back to work. So today we are going to talk to Owen about that. I'm really excited."

"Callie, everything is okay; we've got her," Lexie said calmly with a smile.

"Thank you so much!"

"You don't have to thank me. You know how much I love spending time with Sofia," Mark said, looking at his daughter.

Callie looked at the two and smiled. "We duplicated a key to our apartment for you."

"What?" Lexie asked. She was surprised. She was spending a lot of time with Sofia, and of course, it meant that she had to spend more time with Callie and Arizona, but she made a key just for her. Callie welcomed Lexie. Callie knew how much Mark loved Lexie, and even if they hurt each other, like she and Arizona did, they still couldn't live without each other. Lexie knew what a key meant. It means that she is part of the family now.

"Well, Mark will be back to work next week, so you won't be able to use his key, so we got you another one. I have to go."

Lexie watched Mark close the door with Sofia in his arms. She was terrified, and Mark noticed that.

"Is everything ok, Lexie?" Mark really hoped that it didn't scare Lexie.

"Mark, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes. You can ask me anything."

Lexie took a deep breath and asked, "Did Callie give a key to Julia?"

"No." Mark knew what the question was about, and it wasn't just about the key. "Look, Arizona, Callie, and Sofia loved Julia. But she wasn't a family. I really tried to feel like she was, but she really wasn't."

"OK," Lexie told him with a smile.


The nurses station

"Grey, what are you doing here?" Owen asked her.

"Doing stupid paperwork, like I was doing in the last few weeks."

"Well, Shepherd is about to move a tumor. I think it's much more interesting than paperwork," Owen told her with a smile.

"Really? I can get into surgery?"

"Yes, you are."

"Thank you, Owen," She said and hugged him.

After she pulled away from very uncomfortable Owen, she ran into the hallway and bumped into Derek.

"What is all the fuss about?" Derek asked with a big smile.

"I got cleared for surgery! I can finally back operate!" Lexie said with a lot of excitement and disappeared into the hallway.

"Did you let her get into the OR?" Derek asked angrily.

"She is ready, Derek."

"She isn't," Derek insisted.

"This is my hospital. Lexie is ready to go into surgery. She got cleared by a few psychiatrists."

"I don't care what they say. I know her, and she's not ready."

"She is going to be fine, Derek. You have to let her go." Owen said before he left.


The hallway

"Amelie! I finally got cleared to be in the OR!" Lexie stated as she ran.

"Slow down! You want to hurt your leg?"

"Sorry, I'm just really excited!"

"Derek told me you are the best resident that he has ever had."

Lexie smiled at the compliment. Lexie always loved to hear how good she was. Maybe because sometimes she had a hard time believing that.

"Someone here got laid last night."

"Shut up, Amelia."

"So how was it?" Amelia asked her.

"Amelia!"

"You can tell me anything you want. I swear I'll not judge you."

"So, I can talk to you about anything, and you won't think that I'm weird or crazy?"

"Yep."

"Believe me, you don't want to hear anything that comes out of her mouth," Alex said.

"Even you can't ruin my mood, Alex. I had an amazing night, and I was spending the morning with Sofia."

"I don't want to hear about this," Alex said.

Just then, Jo showed up but was far enough away to not hear them.

"Really, Alex? Are you sleeping with another intern? Stop doing that!"

"You were an intern when I slept with you."

"Did you sleep with Alex? I thought you had some boundaries?" Amelia asked curiously.

"I'm not proud of that one."


The scrub room

"What are you doing?"

"I am being a superhero."

"What?"

"When we are operating, people don't see us as humans. They see us as gods. They don't think we can make mistakes like everyone else. When I am holding a scalpel, I am a hero."

Lexie put her hands at her wrist, feet shoulder width apart, and said, "We are superheroes."


The cafeteria

Amelia and Lexie were eating lunch together.

"So you basically remember everything you read."

"Kind of."

"How?"

"Photographic memory. As a child, my mother was amazed by my memory. I could remember everything."

Meredith was watching Amelia and Lexie eating and laughing together, and that made her feel something. Like someone was trying to take her place. It was jealousy. Meredith was always afraid to lose someone, but this was different. She thought she had lost her sister for good, in the most horrible way, but she didn't, and she couldn't lose her now. Meredith didn't like Amelia. She felt like she had just come into her life. And now? Now Amelia was trying to replace her as Lexie's big sister. Amelia had no right to just come in, get into her life, and steal her sister, so she decided to sit with Lexie and Amelia. Well, more with Lexie.

"Hey! How are you?" Meredith asked.

"I'm grea-" Amelia tried to say before Meredith interrupted her.

"Great!" Meredith replied with a smile. "How are you, Lexie?" she added, looking at her sister.

"I'm good," Lexie replied with a smile.

"Only good? You got laid. I would have said you're fantastic," Amelia said, thinking Lexie told Meredith.

Meredith looked at Lexie and Amelia discussed.

"You and Mark got back on the road? How did you not tell me that?"

"Since when do you want to hear about my sex life?"

"Ohhhh, are you talking about last night???" April asked and sat at the table.

"You told Amelia and April about that? You told a girl that lost her virginity only a few months ago and not your sister?"

"Hey! I'm right here!" April stated.

"I just assumed that you wouldn't want to know that," Lexie said, ignoring April's comment.

"Meredith, is everything okay?" You are acting weird," Lexie asked her.

"I'm fine," Meredith insisted before her pager went off. "I have to go," she said before she rushed out of the cafeteria.

"Something is wrong with her," April told them before she left.

"I have to tell you something," Amelia said with a smile. "I have a thing with Owen."

"What do you mean by 'a thing'?"

"Is something wrong?" Amelia asked her.

"Did you hear he was married to Cristina?"

"Yes, he told me. They got divorced."

"But I think there is still a lot going on between them."

"So, are you taking Cristina's side?"

"No! I'm just telling you that you really shouldn't get into this. Cristina is Meredith's best friend, so Meredith will take her side."

"I don't care what Meredith thinks."

"You live with her."

"So I'll just move out and find a house," Amelia said.

"She's your niece's mother and your brother's wife. If you don't want to have anymore family drama, stay away from Owen," Lexie told her.

Then it hit Lexie. She and Mark didn't listen to Meredith and Derek when they told them to stay away from each other.

"You know what? Screw Meredith. Do what the hell you want."

"I like you so much more now," Amelia said with a grin.


On-Call room

After Amelia and Lexie checked on the patient, Lexie decided to go and rest for a little while. She came to the on-call room and found Callie sleeping. After she closed the door, Callie woke up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. My patient is doing fine, and Amelia told me that I can go to sleep."

"Don't worry. I need to wake up," she said with a smile, "Congratulations on your engagement! I am so happy for both of you," Callie said.

"How do you... Mark! Mark told you this!"

"Of course he did. We are best friends. I'm going to go now to check on a patient," she said and left the room.

Lexie called Mark. They didn't say anything about telling people. She didn't tell anyone! He answered immediately. Probably because he had nothing else to do.

"Did you tell Callie about the engagement?" Lexie asked, annoyed.

"Come on, Lex. Callie is a family," Mark said, trying to calm Lexie down.

"I haven't even told Meredith! She'll kill me if she finds out that Callie knew before her."

"I bet she wouldn't mind. She would just be happy for us."

"Of course she would," she said and rolled her eyes.


Near the nurses station

"Meredith, I have to tell you something," Lexie said with excitement.

"Derek already told me that you finally got back into the OR. I'm so happy for you!"

"Well, yes, but there's more—I'm engaged!"

"What? Mark proposed?!"

Well, not exactly... I just told him that I want to marry him after we..."

"I am really happy for you, but I really don't want to hear the details."

"Sorry, Mer," she said with an apologetic tone.

"I'm getting married!"

"To McSteamy! Wait, is that what makes us Mcsisters?"

"Probably."

"You are going to have Mcbabies!"

"It's going to take a little while, but yes!"


Meredith's house

Meredith and Derek were finally moving in to the dream house. A lot of boxes were all over the house. Lexie came to help, but Derek didn't let her. It's annoyed Lexie. Mostly because Derek's hand was in much worse condition than her leg, which had already healed, but she stopped fighting after she realized that resting on the couch was better than helping with the boxes. So she and Amelia sat on the couch together, doing nothing, while Derek worked.

"Can you please help me with the boxes? We have left so many to move," Derek said, looking at Amelia.

When Lexie was on her way to get up, Derek said, "Sit down, Little Grey. It's too heavy, and you could get hurt."

"Seriously, Derek? I'm fine!"

"Mark will kill me if I let you do this. Come on, Amelia, get up and stop being lazy."

"What an ass," Amelia whispered as she got up.

"I heard that," Derek yelled.

Amelia took a box and walked to the car. When she was about to leave the house, she realized that something had fallen. She lifted it and saw that it was an album. She thought it was Derek's, so she opened it. But it wasn't Derek's. She saw a picture of a little boy with a familiar smile. She had already seen the smile so many times before. It was Sofia's smile. The boy in the picture was Mark Sloan.

Amelia burst into the living room, plopping down on the couch next to Lexie. "You have to see this!" she exclaimed, holding up the album. Lexie's eyes widened as she recognized the little boy in the pictures. "Oh my god, is this Mark?" she giggled. Amelia nodded, and they both laughed even harder.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Mark walked in. "What's so funny?" he asked, looking between the two of them. "Lexie, what are you doing here? I hope you didn't overwork yourself," he added, surprised to see her.

"I didn't let her do anything; don't worry," Derek reassured him as he entered the room. "Amelia, come help me."

Mark sat down on the couch next to Lexie and saw the photo album in her hands. His face fell as he realized what she was looking at. "How did you get this? Give it to me!" he demanded, trying to take the album from her.

"No way! This just makes me want a mini Mark even more," Lexie teased, holding the album out of his reach.

Mark's expression softened as he looked at the pictures with her. "Look at this one, Lex. I was such a cute baby. Don't you want one of these?" he joked.

Meanwhile, Amelia was flipping through the album and laughing at the pictures. "Oh my god, Mark, you had a really cute butt as a baby," she teased.

"Give me that!" Mark said, trying to grab the picture from her.

"No way! Callie is going to love this," Lexie said, holding the picture out of his reach.

"There are some things we don't show even to our family," Mark said, finally snatching the picture away from her.

"You're such a baby, Mark," Amelia teased as he stormed out of the room.

Lexie turned to Amelia with a mischievous grin. "Did you get a picture of that?" she asked.

"Of course I did," Amelia replied with a laugh.


The nurses station

"I can't believe this!" Jackson yelled.

"What happened?" Lexie asked.

"Mark's replacement is an ass, more than Mark! I don't know what to do. When will Mark come back?"

"Don't worry, he will be back soon," Lexie tells him.

"I talked to Owen. He told me he wasn't strong enough to get back to work."

"He is. I promise you. If he is strong enough to drive me and Callie crazy, he is strong enough to come back to work," she said with a sigh.

"Are you ok?"

Yes, Jackson, I'm okay!" She said, obviously annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I'm... it's just that since the plane crash, everyone has been worried about me," Lexie said. "I mean, Arizona lost her leg, Derek almost lost his career, Mark almost died, and I'm the one everyone is worried about."

"I think it's because we all kind of knew Mark was going to make it and that Arizona and Derek wouldn't lose their careers. But, Lexie, they told us you were dead. When we saw you alive, we didn't see that as a mistake. We saw that as a second chance. When I saw you there, alive, you have no idea how much relief I felt. Your father was a mess, Lexie. He told your sister and was crying so hard. I was the one who told him it was all a misunderstanding. For us, you were back from the dead."


Mark's apartment

"Come on, Sofia! I know you can do it. Just take one little step for Daddy so he could tell your mommies that he was the only one to see you taking your first step."

Mark stopped when he heard a knock at the door. When he opened it, he saw Meredith with Zola.

"Look who is here, Sofia!"

"Hey Sofia! Do you want to play with Zola?" She asked as the two toddlers giggled. "By the way, I've heard about your engagement. I am so happy for you two. You both deserve to be happy together," she added.

"Thank you, Meredith. I can't believe it's actually happening. In the plane crash, I thought I lost her forever, and now we are going to get married."

"I can't stop imagining what would happen if Lexie was really dead."

"Me too; I think I would have died too. I had Derek, Sofia, Callie, Jackson, and Arizona to stay with, but I missed her so much. It broke me in a way I've never thought was possible."

"I get it. Lexie is a really special person. You know, when we first met, I thought she was really annoying because she was always there. It took me a while to understand that she was just acting like a family, and now I feel like I'm losing her," Meredith confessed.

"You aren't losing her, Meredith. She's never going to leave you. Even when you beg her to leave, she will never leave you," Mark said.

"She did leave me. She died in the woods. Four days, four freaking days that I thought she was gone. We had no food or water; it was cold; you were in a critical condition; and we heard the wolves. I was so scared. But when I thought about my dead sister, I wasn't scared; I was lost. If I hadn't Zola, I think I would have died there."

"You told her that?" Mark asked her.

"No, why should I tell her that?"

Mark took a big breath and said, "After you went to look after Derek, Lexie asked me for something. You know what the first thing was?"

"What?" Meredith asked curiously.

"She asked me to tell you that she loved you and that you were a really good sister."

Tears streamed down Meredith's face.

"You probably didn't hear right, because I am a bad sister. While she was dying, I went looking for Derek instead of being with her."

"Did you really think she was dying? You saw her alive, and that was enough for you to think that she was going to be fine. You had to think that she was going to be fine," Mark told her sympathetically and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Mark," she said, smiling at him.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Lexie came in. She was shocked to see Meredith.

"I'm going to get some groceries," Mark told Lexie, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Lexie! How are you? Meredith asked after Mark left.

"Fine," Lexie answered suspiciously. Something was wrong with Meredith, and she wanted to know, "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Zola wanted a playdate with Sofia," she replied. "I saw you bonding with Derek's sister. That's great!" Meredith said with jealousy.

"Meredith, if something is wrong, just tell me."

"Nothing is wrong, I-"

Lexie cut her off and said, "Meredith!"

"I don't like to talk about my feelings," Meredith told her.

"Meredith, I know it's hard, but you have to if you want to feel any better."

Meredith took a big breath and said, "I am afraid that Cristina will leave again. When she left, I was alone. So alone. You and Amelia are getting really close, and that makes me angry," Meredith confessed.

"So? You think I'm going to leave you too? What made you think that way?"

"You and Molly haven't been so close since you met me. I know I have no idea what happened between you two, and I have no right to judge, but I'm still learning how to be a sister," Meredith said.

"Meredith, no matter how close I get to Amelia, you are my sister, and you'll always be. No one can ever replace you. When Molly got married, I felt like she had left me. We aren't close like before, but it wasn't because of you. It just happened. She settled down and had a baby. That's fine. But you are different, Meredith. I don't know why, but it's different between us, and not in a bad way," Lexie said with a smile.

"Don't you ever die again, do you hear me? I need you. Zola needs you. Mark needs you. We all need you."

"I promise I'll do my best."


At night

"I'm coming out of a really giant calm, and the bridesmaids dress like mermaids. We both ride on a pony to the sunset," she said as she snuggled against Mark's naked body.

"How is the pony connected to the mermaids?" Mark asked and laughed.

"I was four. I don't think I really thought about that. Did you have a funny dream of a wedding? Because I really started to consider my wedding dream at age 4. I have no idea for our wedding," Lexie said.

"We can figure it out later. We are both happy now. Let's just keep it that way."

"I'm just a little anxious."

"I've noticed that. All the chocolate is gone," Mark said and laughed.

"Don't judge me! This is huge! I'm getting married, and I'm becoming an attending next year."

"I know a method that can make you relax really fast," Mark said with a flirting smile.

"You better not flirt with me like that at work."

"We are not at work now."

"We aren't, but tomorrow I have to wake up early, so I have to go to sleep now."