Lost and Found

Chapter 38

A/N: I know everyone is eager for a happy Meredith, Anna reunion! Believe me, so am I! But... I must also bring around several storylines to complete this... Hang in there readers!

Enjoy!

(Note, before earthquake)

Mark groaned, hobble-hopping to the bedroom. Lexie had a minor freakout in the bathroom, called Meredith, and then stormed out and ran to the bedroom, slamming the door.

"Lexie?" He called. He supposed he was a half and half mix of worried and annoyed. Worried, because the one person he loved most in the world was upset... Annoyed because the one person he loved most in the world was upset and didn't want his help.

"Ahh," he hissed in pain as he continued to make his way to their bedroom. Mark leaned in closer and opened the door, relieved she hadn't locked it. "Lex..." In the middle of the bed, Lexie lay. Staring at the ceiling as if she gazed hard enough, it would give her the answers she sought. He hop-hopped to the bed and plunked down with a grimace. "Lexie... what's going on, are you okay?"

She sighed and gazed at him thoughtfully.

Teach me, she'd once begged him. And he still puzzled over that, sometimes. Not just the mechanics part of a relationship... but all the other things. He could only teach what he, himself had learned... And what he learned he had scrounged up from other people. From Derek and Meredith, from Richard... from Callie and Arizona. From Sofia.

But he loved her. And he didn't have to be her teacher to do that. So Mark contorted himself into a semi-comfortable position on the bed, Lexie's head on his lap, and tried to prepare himself.

"I'm not a resident anymore," she said finally.

Mark bent an eyebrow. Oh. Career stuff, he could do career advice. "You haven't been a resident for a long time," Mark said. In fact, she'd been on the shortlist for Neuro Chief before she accepted her research fellowship. Lexie was a brilliant surgeon, and a great doctor.

"I know."

Now Mark was really confused. What was she really talking about?

"I grew up," she said. "I have, haven't I?"

"Uh..." Mark didn't know how to answer that. Thankfully, he didn't have to. Lexie was on ramble mode.

"I used to be scared, Mark. Of change... of growing up. Being responsible for more than just myself. I didn't want to. I just wanted to be me. I wanted to be me and still have you. But then you changed... You wanted more from life... and it meant I couldn't just be me anymore...

Mark remembered that. The Sloane debacle. And later... when Sofia was born. There'd been a lot of rough patches then. A lot of emptiness.

"Then our plane crashed..."

Yeah, that. He tried to forget it most of the time... But anyway...

"I didn't want to lose you, Mark," she continued. "I couldn't bear the thought of living without you. I realized I was... I was selfish and immature to try and keep you all to myself. A future without you in it at all was scarier than a future where I had to grow up a little. I chose to not be scared of being with you.

"I changed. I started to accept the things I couldn't change. Which was you. I accepted you, and Sofia, and Arizona, and Callie... Accepted all of it because they're all a part of you too... and I realized I guess I could share, you know. I could."

"Okay..." Mark said, trying to wrap his head around this epic Lexie-ramble.

"Because you were worth it. You always made it worth it. You always looked for me. You always had a place for me."