Please forgive the short chapter. I am having some slight writers block. If you have any ideas, PLEASE give them to me. I need some help. I would love it if you would review, comment, criticize, etc. And, once again, PLEASE give me ideas. I need help. Please enjoy this new chapter. Lots of love-Olivia
Five Days Later
Meredith stood there in front of Lexi, her happy face examining every inch of her little sister's face, scouring for a hint as to what the brunette was thinking. It had taken forever to track Lexi down. True, they had been together multiple times that week, but, Lexi later found out, that Meredith had not wanted to talk about this matter in front of their multiple roommates. Why she didn't, Lexi did not know. It had taken a while, but Meredith had finally cornered Lexi in the resident's lounge after everybody else left for rounds.
Lexi had no idea why her sister had been so set on talking to her alone. What could possibly be so important to her that she couldn't even tell her best friend, Cristina? Meredith told Cristina everything. Literally, everything. The two have sleepovers in the bed, while their husbands are in them for crying out loud! The fact that Meredith had refused to talk in front of her best friend, her twisted sister, really worried Lexi.
"Finally. I got you alone." Meredith breathed out a deep sigh of relief. She grabbed Lexi's hand and pulled her into an empty exam room. Lexi stumbled behind her, slightly scared to be alone with her sister. What the hell was going on? Meredith gently let go of Lexi and closed the door behind them. She quietly closed the blinds, making sure that nobody could see them talking.
Meredith turned to Lexi.
"I have to tell you something, extremely important." Meredith told her, a stern expression on her face. Her brow was creased, but her eyes were happy. It was really confusing. "You cannot tell a soul. Not a single soul, well except for Derek, of course."
Now Lexi was extremely scared. Part of her wanted to hear what Meredith had to say, and the other part was to nervous to listen. But, she had come this far, so she timidly shook her head, accepting the responsibility that Meredith was bestowing upon her.
"Okay. You know how Derek and I have been trying to get pregnant for a while now?" Meredith asked her expectantly.
Lexi's eyes got as wide as golf balls.
"No. I'm not pregnant." Meredith quickly added. cutting off what Lexi was about to say, obviously knowing where the brunette's mind was headed. "I still have a hostile uterus and life seems to absolutely and utterly hate me, but that is not the point. So, since Derek and I can't get pregnant, we decided on a different option."
Lexi looked at her skeptically. She was looking over every inch of her sister, as if trying to find something different. But, the only thing unnatural with Meredith was the large smile on her face.
Meredith rarely smiled, rarely.
"Derek and I have decided to adopt."
"Oh my gosh. Congratulations! I'm so happy for you two." Lexi was now smiling wide, showing all her teeth. But, her smile faltered when she noticed that Meredith was not done. "What is it?"
"The child that we decided to adopt," Meredith took a huge breath and swallowed. "Natalie, the girl who saved April's life."
Lexi was speechless.
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She was now trying to digest what her sister, her nervous, unwilling to move forward, unwilling to commit sister, had just told her.
Meredith and Derek had decided that they were going to adopt Natalie.
Natalie, he twelve year old.
Natalie, the girl with one leg.
Natalie, the girl who saved April's life.
Natalie, who lived in the street.
Natalie, whom they had known for a week.
Alexandria Grey had heard some pretty crazy things in her life, but this topped her list.
She thought her ears were deceiving her.
"What?" She gaped at her sister, who was beaming from ear to ear. "You're going to a-adopt her? Natalie?" Lexi was convinced that she had heard it wrong. Surely they were going to adopt Natalie, a baby or at least a toddler, not an almost teenage girl?
Meredith just shook her head playfully, her smile still on her face.
"Yeah. We are." Her voice was full of excitement. Her eyes had an ecstatic glint to them. Lexi knew Meredith was genuinely happy about this, because Meredith never, ever smiled, let alone beamed. "We know it's sudden, and soon, but, I really like this girl and Derek really likes this girl and..." She trailed off, awkwardly looking at Lexi, as if expecting her to finish the statement. Lexi stared blankly at her.
"And?" Lexi pushed her older sister to continue.
"And she reminds me of you." Meredith said plainly, eyeing Lexi slightly. "I feel like she is what you were like when you were young. Except, you didn't live on the street and get hit by a truck." Meredith chuckled softly. Lexi just kept staring, not at anything in particular, just staring into space.
Meredith slapped Lexi's shoulder, knocking her out of her trance.
"Lexi?"
"Why does she remind you of me?" Lexi asked her quietly.
Meredith laughed again. "She skipped third and fourth grade, she has a photographic memory, she is extremely kind, and," she looked at Lexi with a goofy expression. "she's funny as hell."
Lexi looked like she was about to cry.
"You like her, because she's like me?" Lexi was touched. Completely and utterly touched. She never realized that Meredith cared that much about her. I mean, she knew that Meredith liked her, and they hung out together all the time, but this touched Lexi on another level.
This was something that real, true sisters did. Real, true sisters.
Meredith nodded her head slowly and looked into Lexi's stormy gray eyes. They were full of love and understanding.
"Of course I Lex. You're my sister. I love you."
"I never knew you cared about me that much." Lexi smiled, taking Meredith's tiny hand in hers and squeezed it tight. Meredith pulled her in, and wrapped Lexi in a hug. She wrapped her arms around the brunette and lightly squeezed her.
Lexi breathed deeply as the two stood there, soaking in the moment. They took in all the feelings in of that moment, the joy, the love, the sisterhood, the happiness. They drank in all they could, memorizing every detail they could.
"So, when are you going to tell Natalie?" Lexi asked, pulling out of the hug.
"Derek and I are going to tell her after we talk to the social workers. We can't adopt until tell us that we are ready. But that leads me to another thing." She gave Lexi a wary look. "Derek and I are moving out. We're moving to our new house in the woods."
"Oh." Lexi's smile faded. She knew that Derek and Meredith would move out eventually, but she hadn't expected it so soon. Suddenly, a multitude of thoughts flooded her mind. Would she have to move out? Would she be homeless? Would she have to live alone with Alex? Would she have to move back in with Mark?
Meredith seemed to sense her uncertainty, because she quickly answered Lexi's questions.
"You don't have to move out Lex." She quickly told her. "We want to give the house to you."
Lexi almost fell over.
"You're giving the house to me? Really?" Lexi wasn't really talking to Meredith. She was mostly just talking into space, trying to understand what Her sister had just said. She just zoned out of the conversation. A bomb could have gone off, and Lexi would not have moved. She was just fixated on what had just happened.
"Of course we want you to have the house. There is no one we'd rather have." Meredith put a hand on Lexi's shoulder and gave her a light shake. "But there is one thing you have to do. It is your choice of what to do with the others."
"The others?" Lexi was thoroughly confused.
"You know, April, Jackson, and Alex. It's your decision if they get to stay."
"Oh. Well, of course they can stay. I would never kick them out." Lexi quickly dismissed the idea of kicking her friends out. What kind of terrible person would she be if she kicked her friends out. An extremely terrible one is the answer.
"But, you can't tell anyone." Meredith said seriously. "Not a single soul."
"Why?"
"Because you are the first person we've told. The very first person."
"You haven't even told Cristina?" Lexi didn't believe that, because as she said earlier, those two told each other absolutely everything.
"Not even Cristina. You are the very first person I wanted to tell."
"Why?" She was starting to sound like a broken record.
"Because telling you, it, it, it just makes it, I don't know, real." The sincerity with which Meredith said this really told Lexi that she was serious.
"So, do you promise me that you will not tell anybody?"
"Don't worry Mer. Your secret is safe with me."