Different Story | Grey's Anatomy

• Chapter 9: We Live and We Learn •

Meredith actually expected something like that to happen - Lexie's behavior threw her off earlier and she was aware that she would go out, with or without Meredith. The only question that remained unanswered was where she went. It could have been Joe's, it was the closest and possibly the cheapest bar around.

As she was thinking about Lexie's possible whereabouts, she heard the front door close. Very conveniently, Derek came home just at the right time. She would not have been able to leave the house otherwise, with Zola sleeping in her bedroom. She could have woken her up and leave with her, but Meredith did not have the heart to do such a thing; the poor kid went to sleep just a few minutes ago.

"Derek!" she whisper-shouted, causing him to turn around on his heel. She approached him with a quick kiss and looked into his eyes before continuing. "I need you to look after Zola. She's taking a nap now, but you have to be home in case she wakes up!"

"Where are you-"

"I have to go find Lexie before she does anything stupid," Meredith explained, cutting Derek off before he could finish his question. He looked at her with a confused, yet somewhat worried look.

"Slow down, Meredith," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "What's going on? Why would Lexie do anything stupid?"

His gesture grounded her a bit. She was stressed out, especially since Lexie was her little sister. Even though she was not a part of her childhood or her teenage years. Even though she missed out on having a little sister for so long, now that she has one, everything is different. There's a sense of responsibility looming over her, something she can not just outright ignore. 

"She is going through something," Meredith tried to explain, maintaining eye contact with her husband. "I don't know if you've spoken to Mark or anything, but they have broken up."

"Oh," was all he could muster up to say, but Meredith didn't expect a different reaction, not really. He was still holding his jacket in one hand and looked at his wife inquisitively, seemingly expecting an explanation of some sort, or elaboration at the least.

"Anyway, it seems she went somewhere, but she didn't tell me anything before leaving, and I'm afraid she might get in some sort of trouble."

"Hold on, Meredith," Derek grabbed her arm, trying to slow her down. "I understand she's your little sister, but she's an adult. Don't you think she's a bit too old to do something stupid?"

Meredith rolled her eyes and pulled her arm out of Derek's grip. "Of course I know that. But she is hurting right now, and it feels wrong to leave her to go somewhere completely on her own. Besides, I have a vague idea of where she might be..." She stopped herself as she realized she was wasting her time. "Just watch Zola. That's all I need you to do."

With that said, she grabbed her jacket and walked out the front door with her car keys in hand. As she was driving down to Joe's, she was imagining all possible scenarios of her younger sister. One involved her crying on the bar counter and another one involved her puking in a bush in front of the bar. With that thought in mind, Meredith reached in the compartment with one hand, while holding onto the steering wheel with the other. She pulled out a plastic bag that she kept in there for emergency road sickness purposes. 

The ride to Joe's only took her about 15 minutes, but she could see that the bar was packed with people, and she could barely find a place to park. She managed to squeeze her car in a tight parking spot, grabbed her things and walked towards the bar, in a fast, but composed manner. 

She didn't notice when exactly Lexie sneaked past her at home, so she had no way of knowing how long has she been in there. However, it wasn't difficult for Meredith to find spot sister. She was sitting with some other interns from the hospital who must have given her a ride there. They were chatting among each other, while Lexie was dead silent, staring at her shot glass. Meredith couldn't decide if she should interrupt them or not, so she simply stood in the back and observed the group for a couple of minutes. 

"Men suck," Lexie exclaimed and Meredith noticed how the girl next to her put her hand on Lexie's back. "All they do is lie."

"Hey," one of the male interns seemed to be offended by her statement. "Don't throw all of us in the same basket!"

"You're right Lexie, they suck," the girl gave him a look of disapproval and shook her head in disagreement. 

"We-e were together for s-so long and he does this t-to m-ee?" Lexie said loudly and a couple of people turned around to look at what was going on at the table. Meredith could tell her sister was intoxicated already, but she didn't want to intervene. 

"I hate men," Lexie exclaimed and had another shot. 

"I want him back," she said about ten seconds later. "I love him."

"No, Lexie," the girl next to her was trying to reassure her. "You know what he's nicknamed as, right?"

"Once a manwhore, always a manwhore," another girl in the group said and Meredith chuckled. 

Lexie lay her head on the table and cried. "I thooought he'd change."

The scene was both tragic and ridiculous at the same time. On one hand, Meredith wanted to just sit and observe her sister, but something in her prevented her from doing that. She slowly approached the table of interns, who changed their composure as they saw her coming.

"Meeeeereeeeediiiiiiiithhhuuuhh," Lexie said with her arms reaching for her sister. 

"Don't mind me. Or her. I'll just take her home," Meredith reassured the interns and grabbed Lexie by her sleeve, which appeared to be covered in some kind of liquid. Tears? Alcohol? A mixture of both, perhaps. Lexie stumbled and Meredith tried to support her on one side, while dragging her out of the bar. They made it to the packed parking lot, when Meredith spotted two figures making their way towards the bar's entrance. Luckily, she saw them before they could see the two of them, and she dragged Lexie behind one of the cars. 

"A-ren't we too ol-dd to be pla-ying hide an-d see-eeek?" Lexie exclaimed before Meredith put her hand on her mouth to stop her from talking. He was the last person that she wanted to run in right now, and she didn't want him to see Lexie in this state either. Hiding behind a random car felt silly on one hand, but it was all she could think of. All the while Lexie was licking Meredith's palm like a child. 

As the two figures walked in the bar, Meredith pulled Lexie from behind the car and pushed her towards her own. 

"Listen here, there's a plastic bag. If you feel like throwing up please use that, and don't puke all over my car. I just had it cleaned," Meredith explained, put Lexie's seatbelt on and handed her the plastic bag. On their ride home Lexie actually managed to keep it together, but she wasn't talking either, probably because she was trying to suppress the urge to vommit her guts out. Meredith didn't know how much Lexie had to drink, but she knew Lexie was a lightweight, so it didn't exactly matter. 

As they got home, Lexie dragged herself to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Derek was reading a book on the couch as she burst through the front door, and didn't dare to ask a single question until his wife came in. 

"I take it she was having fun?" Derek said mockingly and Meredith gave him a disapproving look after closing the front door. 

"If you call this fun, sure," she said before sitting next to him. "We were almost seen by Owen and Mark, too."

Derek chuckled and after his wife nudged him in the ribs he stopped. 

"I should have talked to her about it," Meredith said quietly and looked in the direction of the bathroom. She could hear her.

"Both of you are awkward when it comes to- well, talking," Derek replied and hugged Meredith around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it. She will be fine and ready to fight head on tomorrow."

"Yeah. I know she will"