A/N: So, here is my latest Grey's fic...finally! I hope that you all will enjoy it! The focus of this story is going to be on Meredith & Lexie's relationship, so there probably won't be any major romantic pairings, although I am toying with the idea of some Mer/Der, depending on how well Shonda fixes their relationship in the rest of season 4. In terms of the timeline of the story, this takes place in the second half of season four. Right now, everything up through 4.12 is considered to have already happened. I may or may not tie in events from the rest of this season's episodes, depending on how they work with my plot.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far!
"I'm being blind, aren't I? I always said that I wouldn't be one of those girls who spent her time pining for a guy who was only going to end up hurting her. Is that what this is? Alex is always going to hurt me, isn't he?" Lexie asked as she looked over at Meredith, knowing that she probably wasn't going to like her sister's answer.
Meredith sighed, and briefly turned her attention from the road to her sister, noting a familiar hurt in her eyes. "Is this the exit, Lexie?" she asked, momentarily diverting her sister's attention.
"Yeah, that's it."
Meredith signaled her lane change and slowed her speed as she cautiously exited the busy highway. Settling back into the drive, she gave some thought to how to address Lexie's problems with Alex.
"Look, Lexie, Alex is a good guy," Meredith said. "He puts up this tough guy exterior and he can be a real ass sometimes, but deep down, he's really a good guy. The problem is, he does stupid things, and people always end up getting hurt. I'm not sure what it is – it isn't that he doesn't care, or that he wants to hurt you, but I think he just gets scared and messes up. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to change any time soon."
"I guess I know that. I keep telling myself it's over, but somehow, I keep winding up back in his bed. Pathetic, right?" Lexie laughed dryly.
"Must be more like genetic…even after Derek and I broke up, I couldn't keep myself away, you know that. And we all know that situation ended badly," Meredith cringed slightly as the memory of her last fight with Derek slowly crept into her mind. She quickly turned her attention to the winding suburban streets she was navigating and pushed unpleasant thoughts of her ex-boyfriend out of her mind.
"It's the last one on the right," Lexie said, pointing to a small but well maintained one story home near the end of a cul-de-sac.
"Cute. A little too 1950s for my taste, but cute," Meredith commented.
"Well, we can't all be housing half the hospital, now can we?" Lexie teased, happy that she and her sister had finally reached a point in their relationship where they could share this sort of banter.
"Remind me again why I came with you?" Meredith asked, pretending to be insulted.
"Because you care too much about me to subject me to four hours of suburban happiness on my own. Besides that, I think there was something about your therapist saying family bonding will be good for you."
"Fine," Meredith grumbled as she parked her car. "At least I'll have something to talk about in my session next week."
Lexie laughed at Meredith's reluctance.
"Hey, we aren't that bad. At least Dad won't be here…that you'd really have something to talk about," Lexie said.
"I guess it could be worse," Meredith agreed. "But seriously? Who throws a six month birthday party anyway?"
Lexie shrugged. "Molly does. Come on, we're already late, let's go. Don't forget to grab the present from the back!"
And with that, Meredith reluctantly followed Lexie up to the house, wondering just how she was going to make it through an afternoon of family togetherness.
Four hours later, Lexie and Meredith silently climbed into Meredith's Jeep. When they finally glanced at each other, there was no holding themselves back as they both burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
"Oh. My. God," Meredith gasped. "You did not tell me that our sister is a freaking Stepford wife!"
"Well, I haven't seen her much since I moved back. How was I supposed to know that having a baby would make her go all psycho Martha Stewart?" Lexie laughed, trying to hold back the joy she felt at hearing Meredith refer to Molly as 'our sister' instead of her usual 'your sister'.
When they finally managed to get themselves back under control, Meredith started the car and they began the ride home.
"You know, at least we got some really good cupcakes out of it," Lexie commented.
Meredith laughed again. "Yeah, don't tell Izzie, but I think those might just be better than hers." After a brief and awkward pause, Meredith quietly added, "Plus, I kind of had fun."
"You did?" Lexie asked, slightly surprised.
"I did. Molly's really nice. Don't hold me to it, but I might even consider doing the whole happy family togetherness thing again sometime."
"Seriously?" Lexie asked. She was glad Meredith was driving, because right now she was in enough shock that she'd have probably driven off the road by that point.
"My therapist would be so proud. Maybe I'm not as dark and twisty as everyone thinks I am," Meredith commented, earning another laugh from Lexie.
"Hey Mer, you up for drinks at Joe's tonight?" Izzie Stevens asked as she changed out of her scrubs after another long shift a few weeks later.
"Sure, why not?" Meredith replied as she entered the locker room. "Just give me a few minutes to change. Cristina, you coming?"
"Is dark and twisty Meredith still downing tequila?" Cristina asked.
"Nope, I think tonight I'll just go with a few beers. Give the hard stuff a rest," Meredith replied.
"Okay, I'm in. As long as I don't have to carry you home again, I'm good," Cristina answered.
"Very funny," Meredith laughed.
"Dr. Grey?" Olivia said, tentatively sticking her head into the residents' locker room and ignoring the sharp glare she received from Cristina, which she knew was her way of asking the nurse just what she thought she was doing daring to enter the residents' space. "There's a phone call for you from Mercy West."
"Dr. Bailey's on call tonight, Olivia, and I think Dr. O'Malley as well. Have one of them handle Mercy West," Meredith told her.
"I'm sorry…they asked for you specifically, Dr. Grey," Olivia said.
Meredith sighed. "Alright, I'll be there in just a minute. Izzie, Cristina, you guys go on ahead and I'll meet you in a few minutes, okay?"
"Hello?" Meredith snapped into the phone, annoyed that Mercy West was probably about to ruin her first night off in weeks.
"Dr. Grey?" a timid female voice said on the other end.
"Yes, who is this?"
"My name is Sarah Hawthorne, I'm an ER nurse here at Mercy West."
"What can I do for you Ms. Hawthorne?" Meredith asked wearily. "I'm not on call tonight, but I can get the on call resident for you if you have a surgical transport for us."
"Um…actually, Dr. Grey, I'm afraid I'm calling with some news about your sister, Molly Thompson."
Meredith took a sharp breath, grabbing the counter at the nurses' station for support.
"Hold on one moment," she said into the phone. Covering the mouthpiece with her hand, she shouted across the hall to Olivia, "Olivia, find Lexie, get her here now!"
Olivia looked up, wondering when exactly she became a personal intern pager, but the frantic look on Meredith's face as she listened to whatever the woman on the other end was telling her silenced her objections, and Olivia headed off to find the other Dr. Grey.