Mark was lying in his bed, waiting. He wanted nothing more than to get up and sit beside Lexie till she woke up, but he trusted Callie to get him when that would happen.

One hour passed, then two, and then he couldn't sit still anymore. 'Screw it' he thought as he stood up.

It hurt a little in his chest, but he could bear it. He sneaked out of his room, making sure he wasn't seen by anyone, right into Lexie's, which was next door.

He carefully closed the door behind him so it wouldn't make a noise.

The anaesthesia hadn't worn off yet, so she was just lying there. She actually looked kind of peaceful.

"Hey, Lex." he said softly, as he grabbed a chair and sat down next to her bed.

The time didn't pass faster there, but just watching her was enough. He observed how her chest rose and sank slightly with each breath or watched the heartbeat monitor attentively, like it was his favourite TV show.

He did that for hours, till she finally opened her eyes, and it was like the pressure he had felt in his chest before was finally lifted.

"Mark?" she said weakly, still waking up.

He could see that she was still confused about where she was and what had happened. "It's okay. We're in the hospital."

He took her hand and squeezed it.

"The-The plane... it crashed, and- I thought I was dead." she remembered.

"Yeah, but you're not. You're still here." he smiled.

She gave him a warm smile back, and then the memories came flashing back one after the other.

"My legs a-and my arm..." she worried, remembering how much they had hurt.

"They're still there. You're fine. They fixed you up." he told her and lifted up the blanket so she could see them.

"That's good." she said, relieved.

"W-What about Meredith, Derek, and the others?" she worried.

"They're all okay." he assured her.

"H-How am I still here?" the brunette wondered. She remembered the depth of her injuries; she was so sure that she was going to die; there was just no way she survived that.

Before Mark could answer her, a doctor came into the room. "You're very lucky you have such capable friends that were able to take care of your injuries until the rescue team arrived."

Both their eyes shifted to the doorframe.

"I'm Dr. Milton. I am taking care of you, Dr. Grey." a rather short blonde female informed her.

Then she looked at Mark. "You should be in your own bed, by the way. You shouldn't take a cardiac tamponade that lightly; you know that, Dr. Sloan."

"You what?" Lexie cut in, worried.

"I'm fine." he insisted, shooting her a look that he wasn't going to leave.

"Whatever, I'm not your doctor." Dr. Milton agreed, a little annoyed.

Then she shifted her attention back to Lexie to give her the post-op. "You had severe injuries on both your legs and your pelvis, but we were able to set most of them, even though I'm not sure if you'll ever move your right leg again, but Dr. Torres insisted on keeping it on, so that's on her. Your left arm was badly broken, but a cast will do it. You're looking at a very long and enduring recovery, but you'll eventually be alright."

Lexie gulped; that was a lot to take in. She shouldn't be feeling any pain at the moment since she was hooked on heavy medications, but when she heard the doctor list up her injuries, she could feel a sharp pain rushing through her limbs.

"O-Okay, thank you." she told her, still processing.

"I'm going to check on you in the evening and discuss how we will proceed with the treatment." Dr. Milton informed her.

The brunette just nodded, and then she left.

Mark saw the worried look on Lexie's face and knew she was scared and probably overwhelmed by everything that happened and will happen in the future.

He squeezed her hand. "Everything's going to be fine." he promised.

Tears started to form in her eyes. "How do you know? I'm a mess, and I don't know if I can do this! This is just too much!" She started crying.

He gently wiped the tears away from her cheeks. "I know, but you're strong. If anyone can do this, it's you."

"I'm broken, literally." she corrected him sadly.

"Lex, you're not alone."

She looked up at him, only now meeting his gaze. His deep blue eyes gave her some kind of comfort.

"I'm not gonna leave your side." he added, not breaking their eye contact.

"What about Julia?" she finally brought the question up.

"I broke up with her."

She knew she had bigger problems than her stupid love life right now, but that sentence made her feel hope—hope that he actually meant what he said to her when she was dying.

"D-Did you mean it? What you said in the woods? It's fine if you just said it because you thought I was dying, but I need to know."

"I meant every single word, Lex. I love you, and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you." Mark assured her.

Her eyes lit up with love. 'He was actually serious about everything he said—about the marriage, about the kids, everything.'

She smiled lovely; for a second, she forgot about the pain and the machines to which she was connected. Mark actually wanted to be with her, and he wanted a life with her.

"I love you, too."

"I-I know this is not going to be easy, but we're gonna get through this, and then we're gonna be happy, Lexie." he promised her.

That lit a spark of hope inside her. This would pass; it might take a lot of time, but it would pass, and then they would build the life that they wanted.

He leaned in and gently kissed her. And it felt like the kiss lasted forever. It was slow and filled with so much love.


A few hours later, Lexie was sleeping, and Mark was too, but on the uncomfortable chair next to her bed.

He hadn't noticed that Meredith had joined him an hour ago. She was watching over her sister, just happy that she had made it through all this.

He woke up when Lexie's doctor walked in.

"Good, you two are here as well." she said. "I need to talk to you about your transport back to Seattle."

Mark gently woke Lexie up, then Dr. Milton continued.

"Due to Dr. Grey's and Dr. Robbins' conditions, we have to fly you over."

All three had a panicked look in their eyes. None of them wanted to go back on a plane ever again, and definitely not tonight.

"No." Lexie was the first one to speak up.

"I know it's not easy for you, but"

"No, I'm not gonna go on a plane. Forget it." the brunette insisted.

"Dr. Grey, I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

"I do. And I'm not going."

"What if you sedate us?" Meredith suddenly had an idea.

"We can do that, of course." she agreed.

"Still. I- I just can't."

Mark and Meredith shot the doctor a look, and she understood that they wanted to talk to Lexie alone.

"I'll come back later." Dr. Milton announced and left to check on the others.

She had been to Arizona's room before to inform her, and the situation was pretty much the same as in Lexie's room.

"No, Callie, I'm staying here. I'm not gonna get on a freaking plane again!" the blonde shouted.

Before her wife was able to reply, Dr. Milton knocked on the door. "How's it going?"

"She doesn't want to go. Is there any way we can avoid flying?" Callie tried.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there is no other option of transportation for Dr. Robbins and Dr. Grey."

The Latina sighted. How was she going to get her wife on that damn plane?

Meanwhile, Meredith and Mark did their best to convince Lexie.

"I can't do it!" she argued.

"Lex, please, you-"

"Mark, I said no." she cut him off.

"They will sedate us. Everything's gonna be fine." Meredith tried.

"Do you know how many planes crash? Last year, the statistics said 1547 planes a year, and this year, it increased to 1628!"

"Lexie!" her sister shouted.

"What?" she shouted back.

"You have to get back to Seattle. And in order to get there, you need to go by plane. You didn't survive this whole mess for nothing!"

That had silenced her. "But..."

"Please." Mark begged.

She sighted, closed her eyes, and weighted her options for a moment.

"Fine."