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Lexie Grey moved to Seattle Grace not only to begin her internship, but also because her half sister worked there. She never met her half sister, though found a photo of her when she was nine. And ever since she looked at that photo, she had longed to meet her. That's one of the reasons she had become a doctor. One of the reasons she was on her way to Seattle Grace Hospital to start her year of interning. She just hoped that this half-sister of hers felt that same way. Or did she even know about it?
Her first day began on a Monday morning, she was nervous as can be when she walked into the hospital. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves. All the interns that were starting with her, she knew, but none of them tried to befriend her. Nor did she try to befriend them. She wasn't here to have a lot of friends; she was here to meet her sister and hopefully get to know her. That's if her sister even knew she existed.
Sighing, Lexie made her way into the locker room. She placed her purse into a locker and took out a pair of light blue scrubs. After locking up her locker, she turned to go into one of the stalls while also taking notice that none of the interns in the room looked familiar to her. That concerned her since she had met her fellow Seattle Grace colleagues just a few weeks ago. Before going to change into her scrubs, she went over to another intern to ask a question, "This is Seattle Grace Hospital, right?"
The other intern, a young woman, shook her head with a small laugh. "No, this is not. This is Seattle Presbyterian. How can you mistake the two of those?" Her voice was loud enough for everyone else in the room to hear, which caused the room to feel with laughter. They all looked at Lexie while snickering, who now was scurrying to gather her things, and teased her until she ran out of there.
Lexie bolted out of the building, running to her car, and hurriedly drove off to make it to Seattle Grace before her scheduled shift. She felt beyond embarrassed that she showed up at the wrong hospital, and hoped she wouldn't be late for her first day. There was no way she could explain such a reason for being late; she'd be the laughing stock for the duration of her intern year and that definitely wasn't what she needed.
When she finally arrived at the correct hospital, she ran into the building as quickly as possible. Making it into the locker room, she looked at her watch and felt relieved that she still had time to get dressed into her scrubs. Once fully changed into the light-blue scrubs, Lexie followed the rest of the interns into the hall where Dr. Miranda Bailey would assign them to a resident. In her mind, she kind of hoped she would be placed onto her sister's service. That way she could meet her without having to try and find her.
Unfortunately that didn't go as planned when Dr. Bailey announced her name, "Lexie Grey, you will be Dr. Yang's intern," She said, pointing over at a woman of Asian decent with long, curly black hair and the facial expression that went well with a dull trip to the Grand Kanyon. Lexie gulped, feeling a lump in her throat; this was going to be a long year of interning.
As Lexie went about her first day, she found out her new name would be "#3" and that her, dull-as-a-gray-cloud, resident was also the best friend of her sister, Meredith. And that did not sit very well with her. After her morning of working with Cristina Yang, Lexie couldn't be happier to go to the cafeteria for lunch. Even though she knew she'd end up sitting alone; none of the other interns paid much attention to her and she still hadn't met her sister. Which at this point, she was a little nervous to. Considering Meredith had been a close friend to the resident she worked for, Lexie couldn't begin to imagine what she must be like.
Carrying her tray of food to an empty table near the window, she hadn't noticed that another doctor was running in her path and soon enough her food fell all over the floor. Sighing, she began to clean up her mess as she heard people around her laughing. What a horrible day to start off her internship! When she finally got the food picked up and thrown away, she went to sit down at the empty table. She shook her head sadly, peering out the window beside her. How in the world was she going to survive this year, all on her own? She didn't have any friends and her boss hated her. Plus, everyone was laughing at her for spilling her lunch all over the floor.
While she sat there, alone, at the lunch table, she observed the other interns and residents around her. And realized that she'd been the only one to be sitting by herself. This isn't high school, she tried to remind herself, you aren't here to make friends. Even though she wanted to keep her focus on that, she couldn't. She didn't want to be the lonely intern with no friends. There was no way she would be able to survive here without one.
Lexie was so busy thinking that she hadn't even realized another person sat down at the table. "You're an intern, you shouldn't be skipping meals," the person spoke, a deep but friendly voice. When she heard someone speak to her, she turned to face the person and stared into the warm green eyes of a young man. "I know that because this is my second year as an intern; I failed my intern test. My name's George O'Malley, what's yours?"
"I'm Lexie Grey," she spoke up, surprised that someone had decided to sit with her. It also made her feel a bit better, because at least someone was willing to try. Someone wanted to know who she was and befriend her. Or maybe she had only been assuming that. "I planned on eating lunch, but then it fell all over the floor and now I'm the laughing stock of this cafeteria." Her tone light and a kind smile on her face.
George looked at her with curiousity, "Grey? Hmm, are you related to Meredith Grey?" Saying he was shocked to hear what her name was, would be an understatement. He'd known Meredith since the first day of their intership, and never once did she mention any relatives other than her late mother Ellis Grey. How could she keep such a secret from all her friends? They were as close as family, at least that's what he thought.
The dark haired intern nodded her head slowly, wondering how he knew her sister. Had he been friends with her too? That wouldn't make sense, since Meredith was best friends with Cristina Yang, the doctor of dull, cloudy days. George seemed nice and happy, like Lexie usually was. "She's my half-sister...Although I don't even know if she knows that. My dad never told me about her...I found a photograph of her when I was only nine years old. I've been trying to find her since then. How do you know Meredith? Are you friends with her? I know that she's best friends with the resident I'm assigned to, Dr. Yang."
When he heard Lexie's answer, he nearly choked on his sandwitch. He was more than surprised to hear that Meredith Grey had a younger sister and never mentioned that to anyone. "She is a friend of mine... And she and Cristina have a very strong friendship. They call each other "their persons". Have you been able to meet Meredith yet? I'm so shocked to hear this, she never said anything about a sister to any of us. Not even Cristina, and those two tell each other everything!" George wondered why Meredith never brought it up. But maybe the other Dr. Grey was right, and she didn't even know about her.
Lexie had been on her way back to the intern locker room, her shift ended, to change into her clothes when she saw a woman with dark blonde hair and blue eyes speaking with Dr. Yang. She stopped dead in her tracks, assuming that the woman is Meredith Grey, and waits for Cristina to leave. Once the black-haired doctor left, Lexie slowly approached whom she hoped to be her sister.
The other woman noticed someone staring at her and lifted her head to stare back. "Is there something I can help you with?" She questioned, not in the mood to deal with another intern. Especially an intern who wasn't hers to deal with. She looked Lexie over, wondering why she felt the need to come bother her.
Gulping, Lexie nodded her head. She felt a lump in her throat and her palms became sweaty, she was so nervous to ask a question to the woman standing in front of her. And if she happened to be the Meredith Grey, she worried that she wouldn't be too thrilled about having a younger sister. "Are-Are you Meredith Grey?" Her voice came out less confident then she had hoped. She waited anxiously for a response, keeping her eyes on the floor.
"Yes, I am." The dark blonde woman answered, observing Lexie silently. She noticed how nervous and not-so-confident she seemed, which made her wonder what she could possibly be thinking. "And I think you're Cristina Yang's intern...# 3, I believe?"
Hearing her response brought anxiety to Lexie and caused her hands to become even more sweaty. She felt her throat becoming smaller and in desperate need of air but she forced herself to say what she needed to say, "My name is uh Lexie Grey...And we're half-half sisters..." She couldn't bare to look up at Meredith, not wanting to see her reaction. What if her long lost sister wanted to nothing to do with her? What if she knew, this whole time, and had never planned to meet her? So many questions raced around in Lexie's mind as she waited for a response.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Meredith backed away. There was no way she could work in the same hospital with her father's other daughter. The other daughter that he chose to raise and leave she and her mother for. How could this happen? How could she also be a doctor and her half-sister? Groaning in frustration, she stared directly into the brown eyes of Lexie and spoke to her in a stern voice, "You are not my sister. You may be my father's other daughter, but you sure as hell aren't my sister! So whenever you see me, ignore me and pretend I don't exist. Because I want nothing to do with you...Nothing! Do I make myself clear?!"
To say she felt her heart breaking would be an understatement. Those words that Meredith Grey said to her crushed her more than she ever thought possible. That definitely wasn't what Lexie had expected to happen when she finally met her sister. She didn't expect her sister to not even want to know her...She hadn't imagined that Meredith would say any of the things she just said. But then again, Lexie always exaggerated what would happen in her mind; she wanted what she wanted to happen and not what would be realisitic. She didn't want her own sister to hate her, and now she did.
Lexie ran out of the hospital as quickly as she could, her eyes filled with tears at the memory of her sister's not wanting to know her. She didn't have anywhere to go, though, because she had no money for her own place. So she had to stay with her father, Thatcher Grey, until she saved enough to rent an apartment. At the moment the last thing she wanted was to go home and deal with her father. Her father, who drank himself sick every night. So she settled on spending a few hours at the bar, that was a few streets away from Seattle Grace. She needed a drink after what happened with Meredith.
When she finally walked into the bar, named Joe's, she ordered herself a drink and sat at one of the tables. She sat staring down at the drink in front of her and wondered why she even cared to know her sister. Why did she long to have a relationship with a person who didn't even want her to exist? Lexie sighed, she didn't know why she still wanted to get to know her but she did. And she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she gave up on that goal.
George O'Malley walked in the building and immediately noticed Lexie's sitting alone, so he quickly ordered a drink and sat across from her. "What's got you all down in the dumps, Lexie Grey? Is it mean ol' Dr. Yang? She can be a real 'Debby Downer'..." He asked, sipping his beer and waiting patiently for her to answer. But he began to wonder if she finally met Meredith, and maybe things didn't work out they way she planned. Maybe that's what was making her look so depressed. She looked like all the life had been drained out of her.
Hearing his question only made Lexie feel worse. She took a gulp of her beverage and looked over at George. "I met Meredith Grey, my half-sister," she smiled, not a happy smile; she didn't even want to smile but she did, "She wants nothing to do with me and pretty much hates me... Can you believe that? After all these years I've dreamt of meeting my big sister, she hates me and wants to pretend that I don't even exist. And top it all off, her best friend is my damn boss. What a day!" She took another drink, her smile faultering and turning into a frown. Her eyes were filling with tears, but she refused to let them fall. Instead she gulped the rest of her beer and went to order another. She repeated this cycle until she was so drunk that she felt numb.
The brunette intern stopped counting how many beers she had after she reached four. Mostly because she had been so drunk that she couldn't even remember why she was drinking in the first place. George had offered to take her home, but she declined and watched him leave...Which was two hours ago, now. It had to of been two am by that point, and that made her decide that she had better get home before she drank anymore.
She walked-wobbled outside, and waited for a cab. As drunk as she was, she still knew right from wrong and that driving herself was not an option. The whole ride home, Lexie dreaded having to see her father. She couldn't stand him; he would definitely be drunk and hostile when she arrived. He always was and that made her unbelievably angry with him. Even though she felt that tonight, she had no right to judge him for his drunkenness as she, herself, was drunk too.
Walking-Wobbling-into her father's house, Lexie felt nervous butterflies flying around inside her stomach. She braced herself for what she might find as she made her way into the living room. "Dad, I'm home." Her speech was bit slurred from how drunk she'd been, but not too bad. And, as she expected, Thatcher sat on his usual recliner with a bottle of Scotch in has hand. She could tell just by looking at his face that he was trashed.
"About damn time you get home, Lexie," Thatcher hissed, guzzling down more Scotch. He stared at her, his bewildered as he smirked, "Looks like I'm not the only drunk tonight, am I?" He laughed as he clapped his hands together. Lexie always patrionezed him for his drinking habbits, yet here she was nearly as drunk as him.
Lexie rubbed her forehead, filling a headache coming on and listening her father's voice only made it worse. She really couldn't deal with his crap anymore, she just couldn't. But she knew the there was no where else that she could go. So she sighed and gave him one last, hurtful look. "I met my sister today, the one you hid from me. Meredith Grey, and thanks to you she hates me and doesn't want anything to do with me. So I hope you're happy with yourself," she cried out, and then friskly ran up to her room. She sure hoped that the rest of her intern year wouldn't be as awful as that day was.
Half-way through her intern year, Lexie Grey became a better Surgeon everyday. Yet she still had only one friend and no where to live, besides her father's house. And she barely stayed there, not wanting to watch him drink himself to death. So most of her nights she spent sleeping in the on-call rooms, or even crouched in a bathroom stall. Anything to stay away from her father. She still was just # 3 to her resident, Dr. Yang, and nonexistent to Meredith. It shattered her everyday to see her sister and not be able to talk to her. And everyone else, besides George, she was 'Lexopedia' due to her photographic memory. The fellow interns used her every chance they could, to help them do better when working with their residents and attendings. They wanted to use Lexie Grey's knowledge for their own well-beings and look good in front of higher-ranking doctors. Lexie didn't even care though, not like anyone would believe it was her who'd been telling them all that they knew.
It was her lunch break, on a slow Friday afternoon, and Lexie felt anything but hungry. Still, she wanted to get away from Dr. Yang and the other interns, so she jogged her way down to the cafeteria. She got in line, shaking her head at every food she saw, and settled on buying just a Caramel Macchiatto. Her head had been really bothering, probably due to all the stress she kept hidden, and that made her feel nauseous.
As she usually did every afternoon for lunch, she sat down at her favorite table near the window and sipped on her coffee. She looked around the room, wondering if George was there, and to her surprise, she saw him sitting at the table with all the residents. Groaning, she lay her head on her table and turned to look out the window. It was a rainy, gloomy day, which only made her feel worse. She hated this feeling, she wasn't used to feeling so down. In fact, all through her early years, she had been one of the most cheerful and bubbly person anyone could ever meet. But now, sitting alone at the lunch table as she'd done for the past six months, she felt dark and gloomy...and alone.
She longed for someone to sit with her and talk to her, but she knew there was no chance in that happening. Everyone knew she was Meredith Grey's little sister, and they all hated her. Except for George O'Malley, even though lately he hadn't spent time with her. She found out that he was able to re-take his intern test, which he passed, and was now a resident. Tears dripped from her eyes as she angrily got up from the table and threw away her empty cup. She hated her life right now, she hated her father, and most definitely, she hated herself. Her headache started getting worse, pounding with every tear that she shed.
The pounding headache made her lose her footing, causing her to fall to the ground. She shook her head angrily as she tried to get up, hoping no one noticed that. Unfortunately when she felt a person's hand reaching fo hers, she knew that her fall had been seen by everyone in the cafeteria. She just couldn't get on anyone's good side, could she?
"Are you all right?" Asked a deep voice, belonging to the attending of Plastic Surgery, Doctor Mark Sloan. He carefully grabbed her hand and helped her up. When his eyes met with Lexie's sad and broken brown eyes, he felt a surge of sympathy for her. "I've seen you sit at that table near the window, alone, every day for the past six months. You shouldn't be alone; no one can survive here without any friends. So why don't you come sit at my table with me?" Mark didn't even wait for an answer, he pulled her along to the table he and his two friends, Dr. Callie Torres and Dr. Arizona Robbins, sat.
The two women who had been in deep conversation, stopped immediately and glanced up to see who Mark brought over. Rolling her eyes, Callie figured this was just another woman for him to fool around with. That's what Mark Sloan was known for around the hospital, and had been given the title 'Man-Whore'. "Really, Mark? Sex with one of the interns?" Her voice had a hint of annoyance as she asked him that.
Lexie gulped, hoping that wasn't his plan for dragging her along. The last thing she needed was another reason for all of her colleagues to hate her. She pulled her hand away from Mark, looking up at him in anger, "If that's why you pulled me over to your table, then I rather sit alone for the rest of my internship. Everyone in this hospital already hates me because I'm Meredith Grey's sister...I don't need them to hate me even more because I sleep with people higher up than me!" She yelled, loud enough for almost the entire cafeteria to hear her. Ignoring the laughter and remarks made about her, Lexie ran out of there as quickly as her legs would take her.
Doctor Sloan glared at Callie with a frustrated expression. All he wanted was to help a person, who seemed quite down, to feel better and here his best friend makes her run for the hills. "Way to go, Torres! I was trying to be polite and help a lonely woman feel not so lonely, and you blew that right out of the water! You know, not every woman I talk to I'm going to have sex with. I mean, at least not right away..." He shook his head, and decided to go find Lexie. Even though he knew she wouldn't want anything to do with him.
Walking down a hallway, still upset and angry, Lexie's headache continued to grow worse. She pressed on her forehead and temple, hoping that would help relieve some of the pressure but it had not. Letting out a deep sigh, she decided to run to the locker room real quick to fetch herself an Advil. There was no way she could go all day with a headache that painful. But as she continued her way to it, her legs felt heavy and her sight became hazy. Soon her body was lying amongst the cold, tile floor.
It seemed like hours that Lexie had been laying on the floor, wondering how she even got there. Her head hurt so bad, she couldn't even remember if she was at work or back home. She tried to get up, but her legs were too heavy to move. What was she going to do? How was she going to get up when her legs refused to work? She wondered if she would be stranded there until someone found her.
Mark Sloan was walking down that same hallway, trying to find Lexie. He wanted her to know that he wasn't going to sleep with her (at least not right now), he just wanted to be her friend. Everyone needed a friend, there at Seattle Grace. But when he felt his shoe hit something and looked down to see what it was, he was shocked. He immediately pulled her up, noticing that she couldn't stand on her own without slipping again, so he held onto her and tried to figured out what to do. "Lexie, what's going on? Why were you laying on the ground?' He questioned frantically, worried about what could have caused that.
"I've just been having a really bad headache today, I was going to get an Advil from my purse...but everything became blurry and my legs-they feel so heavy," Lexie spoke, her voice hoarse and her sight still not any clearer. She started to panic, wondering if her headaches were due to something serious. What if she was dying? She tried not to think of that, but she's had these headaches for over a year now and they seemed to be worsening by the day.
Doctor Sloan held her in his arms as he started walking faster down the hall, towards the neurology ward of the hospital. He didn't like the sound of headaches and blurry vision; that hadn't sit well with him. "Okay, don't worry...I'm taking you to Dr. Shepperd, and having him order a CT scan for you. You need to have your head checked out. And I'm also paging Meredith. I know you don't think she cares about you, but if something serious is wrong, you're going to need your sister." He said, as he ran quickly down to neurology and over to Derek Shepperd, who seemed to be intently staring at the computer sceen in front of him.
Feeling someone else's presence, Derek looked up from the screen to lock eyes with his best friend. When he saw Lexie Grey, his wife's half-sister in his arms, he became concerned. He knew Meredith still wasn't too fond about the theory of having a sister, but he sensed that deep down she did care for Lexie. "What's wrong with Lexie? Wait, how do you even know Lexie, Mark? God, you're not sleeping with her, are you?"
Mark felt his face turn red with anger as he glared at Dr. Shepperd. "Lexie is in a lot of pain right now, Derek! You need to get her in for a CT scan, NOW! She's been having a bad headache all day, she said, and her eyesight is getting blurry...her legs aren't cooperating with her. She needs to have her head checked, pronto. So instead of asking about my sex life, you need take care of your patient!" He yelled, nearly pushing Lexie into Derek's arms. And he watched closely as his best friend ran down to radiology, with Lexie Grey in his arms.
When Lexie's eyes opened, she searched her surroundings. Was she at work, or at home? No, she definitely wasn't at home. She felt underneath her and was surprised to find herself in a hospital room...as a patient, and not the intern or doctor. She looked around the room, noticing both Mark and Derek sitting beside her, looking at her with sympathy. Her heart sank when she saw that. That look wasn't a good thing. Something terrible must be wrong with her.
"Ah, you're finally awake," Mark stated, giving her a friendly smile as he noticed how tense she seemed. He gently grabbed her hand and held it in his own. "You've had that headache longer than just today, haven't you?" When he saw her nod her head, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. What Dr. Shepperd was about to tell her, he knew it wouldn't be an easy thing to swallow. "Well thankfully, Dr. Shepperd has a reason as to why you've had them."
Derek swallowed heavily, he hated telling his patients bad news and this seemed to be even tougher because Lexie was the sister of his wife. The sister of his wife, who refused to be there for her. It didn't sit well him that Meredith wouldn't come help her sister deal with such an awful diagnoses. He, himself, had several sisters and even though they don't always get along, he would be there for them no matter what. "You have a Medulloblastoma, which would explain those awful headaches you've been getting. Obviously this is a brain tumor. And I will have to perform surgery to remove it. You will also need radiation therapy to help reduce the size of the tumor, so that it's easier to remove," he said, seeing the tears in her eyes fall down her cheeks, "I'm so, so sorry Lexie. I'm going to find Meredith and have her come see you. You need your sister to help you through this."
Once Doctor Shepperd left, Lexie didn't even care to release her emotions. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she felt her hands shake in fury. There was no way that what she just heard could be true; she couldn't have such a serious brain tumor growing inside her brain. Not when she had only begun her career; she didn't want to end it there.
Mark held onto her tightly, stroking her back to comfort her. "I'm so sorry, Lexie..." He whispered, feeling quite sympathetic towards her. What a way to start off a friendship, he thought. He felt her body shake in his arms, the vibrations of her sobs and painful cries. "Lexie, you need to calm down. You need to! You're going to cause yourself more harm by getting this upset. It's painful to hear that you have a brain tumor, I know, but Derek is the best neurosurgeon there is! He will get rid of the tumor for you, I know he will."
Minutes later, the door to Lexie's room opened and revealed a very concerned Meredith Grey. She looked over at her younger sister, seeing how much pain she was in and how distraught she seemed. For the first time in the past six months, she saw Lexie as her sister and not just the other daughter of Thatcher Grey. She even felt bad for Lexie, as she seen the hurt in her eyes, the brokenness, the darkness; it reminded her of herself.
"Oh Lexie...I'm so sorry, Lexie," She spoke, cautiously walking over to where her sister lie. She took her free hand and wrapped it in her own, looking down at her in empathy. "You aren't just my father's daughter...you are my sister, and I am so sorry for ignoring you...for making you feel so empty and alone! I treated you so poorly, because of how much I hated Thatcher. I used my hate for him to blind me from what I was doing to you. It's not you I hate, Lexie, it's Thatcher. You didn't do anything wrong; you didn't know your father chose to leave his other family behind and start a new one. God, I want to kill him for making me hate you!" She took her distraught, little sister out of Mark's arms and held her in her own. It disgusted her how awful she treated this innocent, young woman. She shook her head at herself, then peered down at Lexie. How could this happen to her sister? Why does she have a serious brain tumor? She's young, healthy, and only six months into her intern year. She didn't need to be dealing with such a tragic ordeal.
To hear Meredith finally accept her as a sister almost made her forget about her fresh diagnoses. It made her feel a little less empty and alone to know that she might have her sister there with her. She closed her eyes, realizing how much the welcoming embrace of her older sister seemed to ease the pain of her headache. "Don't-Don't apologize, Meredith...I should have understood that you needed time to process things. I should have realized that my bastard father chose to abandon you! You wouldn't have liked him anyway, he's a drunk. A mean, cold drunk who drinks until he can't even remember his own daughter's name. I hate him too, Meredith. And I'm thankful that you didn't have to deal with him. You would have hated him, either way. I'm sorry, sorry that you have the worst father ever and that I took him away from you. But I wouldn't want you to deal with him, he's just so mean and heartless when he drinks. Which is every day, all day. You know, I found about you on my own when I was only nine. I asked him about you, and he told me that you were nothing to him...And from that day on, I've loathed my-our father. I have another sister, too, her name is Molly. She's younger and I showed her the picture of you that I found. She told me that even if I did meet you, you would hate me and want me dead. And for a while, when we first met, I started to believe that. But then I figured that you just needed time to process this. Unless you do want me dead...You don't, do you?"
Meredith felt her heart sink as she held her sister tighter, wanting to make up for all the time she spent hating her. "I never wanted you dead, Lexie! And I don't want you dead now, so don't try to die when my husband operates on your brain! I'll kill your sister though for making you think that." She stroked Lexie's dark brown hair, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried not to think about the brain tumor lurking in her sister's brain. Softly, she pressed a motherly kiss to the other's forehead, "I'm so sorry for not being able to be your big sister...but now that we know each other, I want you to know that I'm here for you. And I'm taking care of you while you're dealing with this nasty tumor! I love you, Lexie; you're my baby sister-that I thought I never wanted-but I do now. And I will be here for you for the rest of your life. Which better be a long time, because I've already lost my mother, I sure as hell don't want to lose you!" Meredith lightly smiled, peering warmly at her younger sister. She held her close, rubbing her back to soothe her, "I promise your brain tumor will be gone soon. Derek, my amazing husband, is the best neurosurgeon there is. And you are the best sister there is; you're as sweet and as precious as they come, Lex. I love you so much, sweetie."