"Incoming Traumas!" A nurse informed the ER.

April's ears immediately perked at the information and she snapped into action. "Page Doctor Karev, Yang, and the interns for the bay, and page the other attendings for incoming traumas." She turned to another nurse, "Get the ORs staffed and prepped." She turned back to the nurse at the desk, "I'll be directing traffic in the bay if anyone needs me."

She got gowned and gloved for the first round of Aid Cars. Alex Karev was quick to join along with Yang and the remaining interns. While the other attendings mostly ignored the junior doctors, Kepner began to instruct them.

"Remember, be on your toes and don't waste your time fighting for a patient, we're gonna be slammed."

Silence fell upon them as the first set of Aid Cars arrived. Doors opened loudly as paramedics vaulted out and brought the surgeons up to date as their patients were wheeled in. Being the first cars, these were the most serious cases.

"Daniel Crow, an athlete from the bus. He was hypertensive on the scene with full-body lacerations we were able to control major bleeding in the field but he has a GCS of nine. He was most responsive to spinal movement."

They handed the chart to Karev and two interns who carted him inside. "Who's the on-call neuro?"

"Lexie Grey," April loudly informed him as the next trauma came in.

"Male, eighteen to twenty-one. Unconscious on the scene and transport," the EMT introduced.

"What's his GCS?"

"Five. He was tachycardic in the car but stabilized once we got here. It was touch and go for a while there."

"Okay, I'll take this one, Yang, take the next trauma."

April carted him in with a few interns as they took one of the rooms to work on him. "Wilson and Edwards, get to work on the lacs, he can't have holes in him if he wants to recover." She looked around the room, "Grey - Lexie! This one takes priority."

Lexie's head popped up before working on Alex's patient and she followed April's group instead. "I'll be back."

They all crowded the athlete and worked on him with interns taking care of the open wounds while April and a trauma nurse got him hooked up. Lexie began checking his pupillary responses and inspected his skull for fractures or lacerations.

"His responses are concerning," Lexie confirmed, "Get him an MRI right now and page me with the results." She pulled off her gloves and went back to Karev's room just as a major trauma came in with Yang. Lexie immediately followed the athlete they wheeled in who had a foreign body in his skull. "What the."

"We'll see what we can do about the bleeding and getting him into a CT, ASAP," she informed her.

Lexie nodded and continued to Alex. "What's going on in here?" As she went through her checklist, she explained, "He seems fine all things considered."

"EMT said he has spinal pain. I'm thinking a herniated disc."

She checked his reflexes along the arms and legs. "Take him up for an MRI. Make sure you let Kepner go first, her guy's head got scrambled. Page me when you're done."

Lexie watched the next few traumas and performed her tasks when needed. As a new possibly most emergent trauma came in. She watched Kepner perform CPR on him as they wheeled them both into an open room. Lexie raced in after her.

"I thought you were in the other room?"

"He's Jackson's now," she quickly explained. "Athlete with an intracranial hemorrhage and severe lacs."

Lexie checked his pupillary responses while Kepner and Yang worked on him.

"His abdomen's hard as a rock," April announced.

"He's in and out-" Yang began before she was cut off by the sound of the monitor flatlining. "Dammit. Get the defibrillators charged. Give him a shot of epi." The staff worked diligently on him until a beep signaled the paddles were ready. "Clear!" She waited until everyone had moved their bodies away.

"I'm gonna get an OR booked."

"God, I hate car accidents," Grey mentioned.

"Especially buses."

Once his heart started beating again, they went back to work. "No seat belts," Lexie continued. "It makes me second guess driving to work but then I'd have to take a bus."

April nodded as her call was answered. They were able to slow his external bleeding and planned to finish what they could in the operating room when he started coding again. Kepner hopped on to begin compressions while they fled to the elevator. The doctors talked over each other as they bickered over who should go first.

"I'll do some burr holes to relieve pressure," Lexie stated. "It'll only take a few seconds then you can take care of his internal bleeding. I'll be on standby if anything starts happening in his head."

"Then I'll work on his heart," Yang began.

"No, his gut is full of fluid, we need to find the bleeding," April argued.

"Won't help if he's flatlined on the table."

"If he's bleeding from his thoracic cavity then you can take over, but his stomach is distended, so I want to get in there to stop whatever's causing it."

"Fine, but I need to get at his chest immediately after."

"There was no shrapnel in his upper body?" Brooks questioned.

"That's not always the cause of heart issues, you should know that."

The elevator doors opened and they sprinted through the hallway until he was taken into O.R. One. The Anesthesiologist was quick to put him under while everyone else scrubbed in. Lexie was first in line and began assessing her instruments with Brooks by her side.

"You've been on Shesherd's service the past month, right?"

"Yes," the intern confirmed.

"So you know what the steps are?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I'll take the lead, but I want you to talk through the procedure." They were gloved by the nurses and Lexie began laying out her instruments. "Start now."

"Trim the-"

"No," Lexie immediately cut her off as she grabbed the trimmers.

"Find the source of the bleeding?"

"Almost. Dr. Quentin, is the patient under?"

"Yes."

"Now we find the source of the bleeding and trim."

"Right," Brooks nodded.

Lexie felt around the athlete's scalp and carefully shaved down the area before disinfecting it. "Next."

"An incision is made"

Lexie followed her directions and cut through the skin and fascia until she could see the skull.

"We drill a small hole in the skull until we get to the dura."

"What does that feel like?" Lexie turned on the loud drill which her intern spoke over.

"You push hard enough to break through until the skull gives and stop before entering the brain."

"Perfect." Her drill suddenly bore through the skull so she pulled away and placed it on the table.

"Then you cut open the dura and drain it or insert a tube."

"Good. Now that I'm in here, I'll just drain it and sew him back up," she explained as she followed through on the steps. "April, you're up." Lexie directed Brooks away from the patient's head and watched the fluids drain while the other doctors worked on his internal injuries.

"Sounded like Dr. Shepherd there," April smiled.

Lexie grinned back as April took her spot at the athlete's abdomen. "Page me if he begins bleeding again."

Grey scrubbed out and went back to the pit where she began her rounds with the less severely injured patients including the driver who had a head contusion and concussion. She cleared him and continued on. After hearing that Kepner and Yang were still in surgery, Lexie went to the gallery to watch.

"How's it going down there?" she asked her sister.

"April was right, so they're trying to stop the bleeding in his abdomen."

"Still?"

"How's it looking down there?"

"A lot of families being reunited. No deaths yet," she noted. "I don't know about this kid."

"April's got control of the blood so I think they're almost ready to close up."

"Good."

"Nice work on the burr holes."

"Thanks," she laughed.

Her pager went off again, so Lexie looked at it but stole one more glance at April who looked up to give her a nod. Grey heard her call to close up the patient before leaving. She entered the room where films lined the walls and centered on the ones Jackson and Alex stood around.

"My guy's got a DIA."

"Looks like a grade one," she diagnosed. "Let's get him prepped for a craniotomy so I can relieve the pressure in his head. Alex, go."

"Herniated disc, like I thought."

"Give him pain meds for now, I'll perform a microdiscectomy first thing tomorrow morning. I want to see how serious it is and talk with him. Page me when he's ready, I'll be in the pit for checkups."

Lexie fixed her coat and went downstairs. By the time she made it back to the pit, she watched as Mark stitched up the patient with the foreign body in his head.

"They removed it?"

"It was superficial," he explained.

"Jackson would be jealous," she commented on his facial stitches.

"I agree."

"I really can't see them, nice. When you're done, I'll start my assessment. Has he woken up?"

"Once, but he's asleep now." Mark pulled one last stitch and cleaned off the blood and gel. He gently nudged his shoulder. "Mr. Hart." The patient slowly stirred awake. "Dr. Grey is here to check out your head." he gathered his supplies and left Lexie to work.

"Hi, how's your head feeling?"

"It hurts, everything hurts, honestly."

"Okay, can you follow my finger with your eyes?" She proceeded down her checklist. "Well, I would say you have a minor concussion, so take it easy, and rest up once you get home."

"I thought you shouldn't sleep if you had a concussion."

"That's for major concussions and even then, it's only within the first twenty-four hours. Since you're not severely concussed, you need fluids and sleep. I'll prescribe some painkillers. You shouldn't drink or use cannabis until your head feels fine."

Lexie scribbled something on her notepad and went to the front desk to hand it off to a nurse. She walked around the pit for a while longer before going to check on her surgical patient at Kepner's request. When she arrived, Kepner stood at the foot of his bed to update his sheet.

"How's he doing?"

"Still under, but there was no further bleeding from his head. Can you check his responses again?"

Lexie pulled on a pair of gloves and assessed her work before going down her checklist on the unconscious player. "He looks good. How are the others?"

"Fine. Some are cleared to go home already."

Lexie took a seat at their bedside. "Where did his bleeding come from?"

"Left upper quadrant. We found a piece of glass that went straight through his skin but it got stitched up. So, once we pulled it out, the bleeding slowed and we were able to close up."

"Damn."

"Ross worked too fast," she criticized.

"Like you haven't done that before."

Kepner dropped the clipboard to her leg and looked at her colleague with annoyance.

"No, I wasn't talking about the fire, that's not what I meant. You know I've - I haven't actually done that before."

"You worked on her, too."

"I didn't mean to bring that night up."

Kepner leaned against the counter and looked over the patient's information. "I just don't want to screw up again."

"I mean, you haven't yet. You became Chief Resident and now look at you, second-in-command of Trauma."

"You all gave me a hard time those years," she reminisced.

"Yeah, but you found your voice."

April smiled. "So how much longer before you're a true neurosurgeon?"

"One more year."

"From what I've seen, you look ready."

"Thank you."

"I'm so tired, but I have rounds in an hour."

"That's enough time to rest," Lexie offered. "You could also pass it off to an intern."

"No, I shouldn't. I want to be available when someone comes for him."

"Exactly, come on." Lexie took the clipboard and placed it back on the foot of his bed before beckoning her to the on-call rooms. "Sleep is vital and you look like a mess."

"What?"

"It's from your scrub cap."

"You mean I've been running around for the past forty-five minutes looking like this?" April checked herself out in a mirror and rolled her eyes. "I braided my hair specifically to avoid this."

Lexie collapsed on one of the cots, not bothering to kick off her shoes as she closed her eyes. "I'm so annoyed I didn't get to pull that glass out of this one guy's head."

"It was in his head?"

"Only the scalp, that's why they didn't call me."

"Which is better, a foreign body or burr holes."

"Burr holes are less intimidating, but a foreign body is always fun to talk about over drinks."

April finished rebraiding her hair and sat on an adjacent bed. "Well, we don't have a drink, but what's the best thing you've pulled out of a person?"

"Oh… Probably an arrow. This kid shot his dad on accident and the arrow was completely embedded in his skull but he came in walking and talking like nothing happened."

"I'd probably say that guy with the knife in his head, you know the one who wanted to go to the Huskies game? But his friend did that for us."

"Oh, yeah," she laughed along. "That was gnarly. So what was your best?"

"Um… maybe a piece of you know those reinforcement poles at construction sites? It was planted in this guy's leg. We got it out but he had to get a new femur."

"Why?"

"The metal infected the leg and when it went through, it completely shattered the bone past repair." April took a deep breath and relaxed on her bed. "I'm so exhausted."

"Then sleep."

"Hard when you're here."

Lexie chuckled. "I'll be out of your hair soon, I have surgery."

"That's not what I mean," she yawned and turned on her side. "You know, I mean it when I say you're impressive."

"I know, I think I'm finally getting a big head like Derek."

"I… um. I've been watching you in the OR, not in a creepy way or anything like that, but it's amazing."

"If you're not careful, you'll inflate my ego."

She looked at Lexie again to impress upon her her words. "I don't think I've ever been more impressed."

"Not even by Jackson?"

"Lexie."

"What?"

"Um, you know Callie, or no, that's not- I'm not great at this."

"Oh! Wait, I don't think I understand."

April huffed a little out of frustration and got up, sliding her shoes back on. "I can't sleep, I'll do it later."

"Wait!" Lexie jumped up and placed her back flat across the door. "Talk to me, please."

"Lex, I should just go, we have stuff we need to get done."

Grey furrowed her brows. "Just spit it out."

"I-I can't, I don't. I never do. It's usually a mess and it just comes out like a big ball of whatever."

They stared at each other, pure concern on the young Grey's face. April bit at the inside of her lip as she built up any courage but she just felt like a first-year resident trying to speak up in a room of other potential doctors too brash and smartass to let her voice be heard. Know-it-alls like Lexie would talk over and belittle her until they screwed up and she had to cover for their mistakes. Just the thought of her often pompous and righteous attitude gave her the push she needed to light a fire in her stomach.

She quickly dove in and pressed her lips against Lexie's. Her heart raced as she waited for her to kiss her back. April pulled away to assess the damage only to see her colleague's shocked face. She took a few steps back but Lexie immediately reached out to grab a handful of her scrubs and yank her in close.

She placed her hands on April's jaw and leaned against the door as they kissed. Their bodies collided with a hollow thump against the old wood but Lexie knew it would have signaled to others to not interrupt them. Her face felt hot from her nerves and she knew her cheeks and ears were probably flush red. Her head rushed as she recalled her prior encounters with Alex, Jackson, and Mark, but nothing felt better than this moment. There was a proximity, she knew, that caused this attachment to April and it made their moment together so much more intimate and intense than her usual encounters.

Kepner pressed hard against her so their hips crashed together. Through the scrubs, she could feel April's chest heave and her lithe muscles flex. Lexie wanted to reach under her shirt and grip her waist, but grabbing at her felt too harsh and masculine for what she was used to. Instead, she let her hands drift from her jaw and hug her silhouette until they fell to her ribs. Even that felt odd in a new and curious way. Grey's fingers wrapped around her scrubs and tightly gripped the fabric until her knuckles pressed into her old roommate's torso and they rubbed against the soft muscles of her upper obliques.

April pulled away for a breath, but the moment she sucked in the clear cool air, Lexie smothered her with another hot kiss that seared through her core and ran up her spine in a lightning strike. She reflected on the flashes of their time together in the Grey House. There weren't any lingering glances but they danced with Meredith and Cristina sometimes and shared hours in Joe's Bar after their triumphs or failures. Even when they bickered or hated each other, they reconciled faster than Lexie did with her own sister. They could never stay mad and often kept it up to maintain party lines.

Lexie's pager blared between their bodies, so she instinctively ripped away which slammed her head into the door. "Crap." April went to soothe her head. "My-my surgery."

"Oh, yeah."

"So, I guess I'll leave. Um, but you should get some rest," she awkwardly giggled.

Hearing her laugh made April's heart flutter again as she tried to think of something more to say than, "Yeah."

An odd silence fell between them, so Lexie gently kissed her again and slipped out of the on-call room. She rushed to the operating room before anything could get to her. She joined Jackson to scrub in.

"How many of these have you done?"

"None this serious, only grade ones, but he seems by the book from his scans. I know exactly where I need to relieve the pressure with a temporary drain. Easy." Lexie took a deep breath.

She entered the operating room to be gowned and gloved for the second time that night. All she could think about was Kepner as she stood with the surgical nurses, Jackson, and Brooks.

"Have you seen a craniotomy?" she asked the intern.

"Yes."

"Good, you'll get to watch another. I'll talk you through the steps. This one will be just like our burr holes earlier tonight." Lexie stood at the patient's head where she had a perfect view of the gallery where her sister, Derek, Mark, and now April sat to watch. "It's a beautiful day to save lives, people. Let's make some magic."

She began her first incision which she talked Heather through. Momentarily, she would glance up at the observation room to gauge her mentor's reaction. She pushed through to the location marked by the MRI and found a pool of blood. Lexie looked back up, making direct eye contact with her again. She couldn't let it get to her, not when she was so deep in the patient's head and pulled her focus back to the procedure. It was amazing to her how much the human brain could perform and what it could make us do. Lexie looked back up at April and felt sure she could take the final step and began to close up. She cautiously suctioned out what they could before replacing his skull and inserting a drain.

Lexie stepped away from the patient.

"Amazing," Brooks breathed.

"What's the time on that?" Lexie asked.

"Three hours and twenty-three minutes, doctor," the surgical nurse stated.

"I think I just beat Derek! Woo!" she gave Brooks a high five and stripped out of her operating gown and gloves. "Well done everyone. Let me know when he's settled into his room and I'll be up to do my first set of cognitive exams."

Lexie looked back up to the gallery where April no longer sat. She took a breath and went to scrub out with the others.

"Dr. Shepherd looked proud if that's what you were wondering," Brook informed her.

"Huh, oh yeah. I'm just glad it went well."

"So what's next for him?"

"Patients with DIA can recover but we'll have to wait. For now, he doesn't have blood in his brain but I need to know what his mobility is before we can go further. Go, sleep when you can, I want you to check in on him every two hours and page me when he wakes up. I need to know the extent of his brain trauma when he can use it. I think I'll run an MRI after my surgery tomorrow."

"Can I scrub in?"

"I don't want to play favorites, so check the OR board to see if you're in or not." Lexie finished scrubbing. "I'm going home, go to Dr. Shepherd with any questions."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good work in there, Brooks."

"Thank you."

Lexie nodded and walked around the ICU until she found Kepner. "Did you see my surgery?"

"Yeah, nice job! Like I said, impressive."

"Um… can I talk with you?"

"Only if you can keep up."

"Never mind, I don't want to distract you."

April quickly changed tactics to keep her longer. "I get off in an hour, want to go for drinks at Joe's?"

"I've seen him too much this week."

"Well, I'm still at Meredith's."

"You live in that frat house? Who's with you?"

"Just me and Alex, but he's moving out and I'm looking for a place."

As they checked in with an unconscious patient, Lexie felt her heart race. She just wanted to kiss her again and she wanted to be sober when she did it. Her head rushed at the thought of being with her and anxiety overtook her at the inexperience. She carefully reached out but pulled back a the last second, a move that did not go unnoticed.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait," April panicked as her friend went to leave and pulled her back. "This isn't gonna be weird, right?"

"No, I just - this isn't anywhere in my expertise."

"You think I know anything, either?"

"No," she guffawed.

"Okay, I get it. The whole virgin thing again."

"You just like the title, don't you?"

April playfully slapped her arm and glanced out of the room before suddenly pecking her on the lips. Lexie quickly took advantage of the moment and placed a hand on the back of her neck to deepen the kiss, but her colleague was quick to rebuff her advances before anyone could see their unprofessional behavior.