in which lexie is attacked by a patient
Lexie should never have turned her back to that patient.
To be fair, she hadn't known that he was deranged. Nobody had. However, that did not help ease Lexie's regret.
She only had her back turned for less than a minute. Lexie was busying herself with organizing the medicines on the tray so that they wouldn't mix it up later. However, that cost her.
The next thing Lexie knew, she was up against the wall, gasping for air. There was a pair of hands tightly wrapped around her neck, cutting off all air supply. She wheezed and clawed at the unhinged patient in front of her, gasping for air when he finally let go.
"You killed her," the patient sneered, bending down to pick Lexie up again. "You killed my daughter."
Lexie hadn't a single idea what the patient was talking about. She only knew that if she did not leave, things were about to become much worse. However, she could do nothing about being held in a chokehold by someone much stronger than her. All she could do was put up a futile struggle.
"L-let me go," she rasped out, her tone pleading. "Please--"
"Shut up. You don't deserve to live. You killed her." He threw her against the wall violently. Lexie could have sworn she heard a loud crack before blows started raining relentlessly down on her. Not having the energy to scream, Lexie could only moan in pain, desperately hoping for somebody to save her.
After what felt like an eternity, the punches ceased. A familiar voice demanded somebody to bring them a gurney. Lexie wanted to open her eyes to see who it was, but she was just so tired. Soon enough, she felt herself drifting from reality. The voices around her became nothing but senseless words floating about in her head as she slipped off into a state of unconsciousness.
"Come on, Lexie... stay with me," was the last thing Lexie heard before the darkness swallowed her whole.
***
Meredith Grey was not having a good day.
First of all, five minutes after she arrived at the hospital, somebody spilled coffee all over her. That would have been fine if the offender had not blamed it on her lack of awareness. He was the one who hadn't been looking at where he was going, and yet he dared to blame her.
Secondly, a patient had thrown a tantrum in front of Meredith earlier. Due to her little tantrum, the patient began to grow nauseous, throwing up all over Meredith, thereby forcing Meredith to change her clothes for the second time that day.
If things hadn't been bad enough for Meredith, Lexie had accidentally messed up one of her many paperwork. She'd spent ten minutes screaming at Lexie for that. She wasn't really mad at Lexie. Meredith simply needed a punching bag, and Lexie had unfortunately suffered the brunt of her frustration. Meredith had planned on finding Lexie and apologizing to her, but with all of the surgeries she had to attend to, it slipped her mind. She'd only remembered to do so after another four-hour-long surgery.
"Hey, have you seen Lexie?" Meredith asked Cristina, who had been talking to Owen.
"Three? I think she's still in her patients' room. Room 474, if I'm not wrong," Cristina replied before turning back to continue her conversation with Owen. Meredith didn't even bother thanking Cristina before making her way towards Room 474. Taking in a deep breath, Meredith pushed the door open.
"Hey, Lex--" she trailed off in shock as she took in the sight in front of her. Lexie was lying in a corner, battered and bruised, while a man in a hospital gown kicked her repeatedly. It took a while for Meredith to compose herself.
"What are you doing?" Meredith exclaimed, rushing over. "Get away from her!"
With strength she didn't know she had, Meredith pushed the patient away, not caring as he toppled back onto the bed. At the commotion, a few people from the hallway peeked into the room curiously. Meredith briefly recognized Callie amongst them but was too focused on Lexie to care.
"Get me a gurney now!" ordered Meredith. When nobody moved, she repeated herself. "What are you waiting for? Move!"
Everyone scattered immediately. Two interns returned later with a gurney. Meredith helped lift Lexie onto it, nervously glancing at the patient.
"I've got him handled, Meredith," Callie assured, nodding at Meredith. Meredith looked at her, hoping that the look on her face conveyed her gratitude. Callie seemed to understand. "Go, Meredith. It's okay."
Returning Callie's nod, Meredith hurried off, following the interns as they brought Lexie into surgery. Outside the surgery room, Meredith was suddenly stopped by none other than Miranda Bailey.
"What are you doing? That's my sister," said Meredith angrily. "Let me go in!"
"That is exactly why I cannot allow you in, Meredith." Bailey's voice was uncharacteristically soft. "Right now, Lexie is a patient, and you are nothing but the patient's family. Don't worry. She's in good hands."
Meredith wasn't too assured, but she relented and collapsed onto the seat outside the surgery room. After what felt like an eternity but in reality was two hours, Bailey exited the surgery room.
"Lexie is fine, Meredith," she said. "She had a broken wrist and a few broken ribs. One of them dug into her lungs but the damage wasn't too extensive. She has a bad concussion, but all she has to do is rest, and she will be fine."
"Thank you, Doctor Bailey," breathed Meredith. "Can I see her?"
"Of course. Her room's right down the hallway." Bailey smiled, which was a rare sight. "She'll need you when she wakes."
Meredith nodded absently, staggering down the hallway. As she entered Lexie's room, she inhaled sharply. Although Bailey had assured her that Lexie was okay, she certainly did not look anything close to it. Bruises still littered her body, and bandages were wrapped around all four of her limbs.
Meredith plopped down onto the seat next to Lexie's bed. Running a hand through Lexie's hair, she heaved a sigh of relief, glad that Lexie was alright. She was startled when the door suddenly slammed open, revealing none other than Mark Sloan, her sister's boyfriend.
"Is she okay?" Mark panted. "I only just heard from Bailey."
"She'll be fine." Meredith nodded.
"What happened?" Mark queried. "Who the hell did this to her?"
"A patient," Meredith answered. "I'm not sure what triggered him. All I know is that when I walked into his room, Lexie was already unconscious."
Mark remained quiet as he walked over and gently stroked Lexie's face.
"I have a surgery to attend to," said Mark. "Watch over her, won't you?"
"I was already planning on doing that." Meredith smiled reassuringly. "Go for your surgery mark. I'll tell you if she wakes."
"Thanks, Meredith." Mark reciprocated her action with a smile of his own before leaving. Meredith's focus returned to Lexie's prone form. A few minutes later, exhaustion hit her like a truck. Meredith realized she was so busy worrying about Lexie that she hadn't considered her own tiredness. Gradually, her eyelids began to droop, and sleep soon won her over.
***
"Meredith?" A soft voice woke Meredith. She bolted upright immediately, her eyes meeting Lexie's brown ones. "Are you okay?"
"You just got beaten up until you almost died, and you're asking if I'm okay?" Meredith asked incredulously. "Are you okay? Do you remember anything?"
"Yeah, everything aches," Lexie admitted sheepishly. "I only remember getting thrown onto the ground. Everything else is just a blank."
"Bailey said you had a concussion." Meredith tilted Lexie's head worriedly.
"Don't worry. My photographic memory is still intact," joked Lexie. Her face fell when Meredith didn't laugh. "Sorry. Not funny."
"Yes, this isn't funny." Meredith looked furious. "You almost died. Why didn't you call someone?"
"Nobody knew he was just going to act up like that!" Lexie quickly defended herself. "And how was I supposed to call security if I'm getting kicked in a corner?"
Meredith's face softened immensely. "Sorry," she said. "I was just worried."
"You were worried... about me?" Lexie frowned. "Didn't I piss you off earlier?"
"That doesn't mean I cannot worry about you, Lex," said Meredith. "And the paperwork thing... Every intern makes mistakes. I was just letting out my anger on you, and for that, I'm sorry."
"It's okay--"
"It isn't," Meredith interrupted. "I shouldn't have used you as a punching bag."
Lexie stiffened slightly in surprise when Meredith pulled her into a gentle hug. She eventually melted into the hug, smiling to herself.
"Just to be clear," Meredith spoke, "this is a one-time thing and will not happen again."
"You mean the attack or the hug?" Lexie was genuinely confused. Meredith could not help but laugh.
"Both," she responded and pulled away, but Lexie was having none of it. "Hey!" Meredith exclaimed when Lexie pulled her into another hug.
"Thank you," she whispered into Meredith's ear.
"It's nothing, Lexie," said Meredith, patting her sister on her back. "It's what sisters are for."