To when I return

15. It all fell down

Lexie was working with April. They have a tumor removal later at the afternoon. Well they were supposed to have tumor removal later that afternoon. As they walked into the crowd the chief started to talk: "There was an accident at highway. A plane has crashed there and caused over 100 cars pile-up. Seattle Grace Mercy West is first hospital to take in victims. It's all hands on deck. Get ready." The words 'plane crash' were echoing through Lexie's head. There was a plane crash. She was turning into cold mode. She can feel later. She needs to save lives now.

Everyone saw that day that something wasn't right. Well everyone who had known her as kid. Lexie had been youngest of six. She also had been the most girly one out of all, and the one who felt the most. Even these days she was kind and polite with patients and co-workers. Yes she was scary, and hard on interns and residents, but she was clearly still the same person. Now, on the other hand, she moved from patient to another like a robot. It was weird. Somehow she became the one that can push the emotion away in situation like this. She was the one who was in control of the situation. Even Ellis had hard time not to feel something when she saw how bad the situation was. Lexie just pushed through.

Most of the hospital headed to Joe's after their day was over. It was hard day for everyone, and everyone was tired. Lexie wasn't an exception. She was there too some sort of drink in front of her. "What do you think she's drinking?" Cristina asks her friends.

"Tequila? That's what she used to drink back in the days." Meredith answers.

"I'm going to talk to her. She's alone. She shouldn't be alone after day like this." Amelia says.

"Why do we care? She was clearly fine doing the job. She did it even better than Ellis." Cristina points out.

"Because I do." Amelia walks away and sits down at the bar next to Lexie. "What are you drinking?"

"I ordered it 10 minutes ago and I haven't decided yet is it worth to drink." Lexie answers numbly.

"I was going to head out for a meeting. Want to join?"

"I haven't been in one in six years."

"But you clearly need one now. Or are you saying that you don't have tequila in front of you."

"I'll drive." Lexie finally says after being quiet for a moment.

"Amelia. I thought you would show up today." Richard greets them as they walk in. "And Dr. Grey?"

"Chief." Lexie turns her eyes to the floor. 'Well this is embarrassing.'

"It's great to see you Amelia. What I've heard, it was rough day at the hospital" Lexie hears a familiar voice. "And you brought a friend?"

"Yes. This is Lexie." Amelia introduces her.

"Grey?" the woman asks, and Lexie looks up.

"Hey Ollie." Lexie smiles for the first time after they were told about the plane crash. Even if the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Welcome back. How long has it been?"

"16 years."

"Well again, it's good to see you. You three should take a seat. We are about to start." Ollie says giving warm smile to the three doctors.

"After you" Richard says and offers room for Amelia and Lexie go first.

"Today we have very special person joining us." Ollie starts and looks towards the surgeons. "Her name is Lexie and some of you might recognize her from years ago. Can you please tell us something?"

"Uhm sure. So I'm Lexie. I'm a recovering alcoholic. Been 16 years sober. I was the first under aged person Ollie has ever been sponsor for. It lasted for couple of months before I moved to Boston to go to college." Lexie tells. "Also if I sound nervous, it's my first meeting in six years."

They go around the group and everyone tells something about their day. When it's Lexie's turn to speak she just answers "There was a plane crash. I also almost broke my 16-year long sobriety." Richard and Amelia went deeper into the details of the crash and how terrible it was, Lexie just sat there half listening, half zoned out.

When they left Lexie dropped Amelia home and drove home herself. It was around 9.30 pm when she arrived. "Where the hell have you been?" Mark asks when Lexie enters the bedroom. When Lexie doesn't answer and just walks past him to go to the bathroom, he gets up from bed and follows her "You shut your phone off on day like this? I had to call Jackson just to know you're alive. I also know you left the hospital hours ago, so I'm asking again: Where were you?"

"First I went to the bar that's across the street from hospital, then I went to a meeting." Lexie answers quietly. After changing clothes and brushing her teeth she just climbs into the bed, takes the prosthetic off and turns her back towards Mark's side. Mark gets back to bed after her and keeps staring at Lexie's back. She must have felt it because she turns around. "What?"

Mark just keeps looking at her. She didn't know how to read the impression he was wearing. "You were at bar before meeting?" He finally asks.

"I'm tired, Mark. You can attack me with your judgement tomorrow." Lexie says and turns back to face away from her husband. Mark sighs and turns to lay on his back. He only hoped that she would open up a little, but after he had told her about the job he got from Seattle, she had started to built up her walls again.

The next day Lexie had left to work before Mark woke up. She was heading to cafeteria for lunch. There she found Amelia arguing with Meredith and Cristina. "What if I left the bar with her? It's none of your business."

"You said something to her that made her come with you. Just tell us where you went." Meredith says.

"Or did you two commit crime and that's why you don't want to tell us?" Cristina asks.

"She dragged me to a meeting." Lexie joins the table.

"You're an addict?" Meredith asks.

"Alcoholic." Lexie answers simply.

"So you weren't fine after yesterday? You were like a robot. Moving from a patient to patient with an ease." Cristina questions.

"Save lives now. Feel later. That's what I do. Specially when case is as personal as it was yesterday." Lexie tells them.

"You being afraid of flying shouldn't make you a wreck." Cristina answers lousily.

The silence falls."It shouldn't you're right." Lexie sighs. "I just knew the doctors who died at Boston – Portland flight. It's rough for anyone who worked at Mass Gen back then."

"I didn't think of that." Cristina says.

"How did Amelia knew to drag you to a meeting? It's not like you've really talked to any of us before now." Meredith points out.

"Because Lexie was there when Christopher was born." Amelia answers.

"Christopher is seven." Cristina says.

"We know" Lexie says.

Greetings from my physics class part 2. I'm not the best student here... Anyways. We'll be hitting 1k during this chapter and that's just... Wow. Never saw this happening. Thanks for everyone. And like always, hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's messy but I did my best. :)