Where We Might End Up - a Grey's Anatomy AU

Gotta Run Away, Gotta Get Away

Late Evening
Meredith's Room

Meredith stared at her sister, who was acting unusually quiet, sitting at the recliner beside her bed. Lexie's had consistently been the sharer - the talker. But tonight was different. Lexie walked inside the room uttering merely a 'hello' before she planted herself at the couch. Then there was silence. Maybe she was too tired, Meredith thought, evidently through her constant sighing and her frowning and pressing of her forehead. The only time Lexie had acted this way was when it was about Mark and lately, about Lexie's favorite attending.

Meredith didn't want to admit it, but she's missing the old Lexie, the one who smiles a lot, even if it's annoying and making her think if it's possible for anyone to be so happy like her. She didn't want Lexie to be dark and twisted like Cristina and her - Like anyone in the hospital, honestly. She grunted. - It was their fault. Sometimes, she wished that she could strangle Derek's friends for making Lexie too dark.

Lexie sighed, Meredith looked back at her. Meredith decided not to ask what happened. Lexie would share it if she wanted to. So, the only thing that she could do is wait, leaning back on her bed, as Lexie moved to a more comfortable position, pulling up her knees and hugging it as she stared out of the window. As Meredith waited for her sister to share her day, her eyes began closing. She tried to keep it open, but she couldn't. She was beginning to drift off when the door suddenly flung open. Cristina's voice rang in the quiet room.

"I just came out of the surgery with Owen - it was a... uh, penetrating chest injury and subdural hematoma," Cristina strolled inside the room. Meredith jerked up, startled. Lexie looked behind her, at Cristina.

"You do know that visiting hours are over?!" Meredith exclaimed, "God! you're giving me a heart attack." She put her hand on her left chest, feeling her thumping heart.

"Oh, boo! I know you're dying to hear anything surgical," Cristina interrupted her. She then realized Meredith was not alone. Lexie's there. She glanced at Lexie and arched her eyebrow. Cristina shook her head as she recalled she was telling Meredith a story, "Anyway..." She looked back at Meredith and continued, "...so, I stepped inside the OR room after scrubbing in," She paced, "...it's one of the guys who was involve in the car accident... The guy's chest is mangled, but we kept him stable."

"Okay? - Well, I guess... made you bored? That it?" Meredith suggested. She slumped back as her heart went calmer.

"This is where it gets interesting," Cristina looked at her as she added. Meredith leaned in, sitting cross-legged at the bed.

Meredith had to admit, though. Cristina was right about her being 'dying to hear anything surgical.' The person who was supposed to visit that afternoon suddenly became 'indisposed'. He was supposed to fill her in with his surgeries and also to bring her lime Jell-O.

Lexie turned towards Cristina as she listened to her story, "... as we packed up the guy's chest cavity, Eric came in, telling us to stop because he's about to drill into the guy's skull. Before we could react, he drilled a hole into the skull and zip - zap..." She snapped her fingers, "... he made not one, but two."

Upon hearing his name, Lexie cringed and stuffed her head down against her knees.

Cristina noticed Lexie getting uncomfortable with her saying the neurosurgeon's name. She continued as she stared at Lexie, "Eric said he needs to make two burr holes for the evacuation. The hematoma is isodense with the brain so, he made two burr holes - anteriorly and posteriorly. He irrigated on one burr hole and evacuated on the other...," Cristina moved her hands as if holding a suction on one and an irrigation on the other, "He did it alone, with no help from a resident. Imagine what he looks like - freaking terminator - He closed after putting the drain and went out, saying nothing. He just walked in there and out," Cristina waved her hands before she slammed on the couch, "... makes me wonder if I could try neuro again..." She trailed as she acted like thinking deeply, "Nope... still in love with cardio."