Lexie Grey

"She's smart. She's beautiful. She's perfect."

- Mark Sloan

Alexandra Caroline "Lexie" Grey was the daughter of Susan and Thatcher Grey. She became a surgical intern at Seattle Grace and was Meredith Grey's half sister. She passed away in a plane crash in the season eight finale, with Mark by her side telling her he loves her and painting a picture of their life together, talking about how they would have children and get married.

Early Life
Lexie was the daughter of Thatcher Grey and his second wife, Susan. She had a younger sister, Molly Grey-Thompson. She had also an older half-sister Meredith Grey, born to Thatcher and his ex-wife Ellis. As a child she was bright and she skipped third grade. She was very popular in high school, having a great group of friends, being crowned prom queen, and being class valedictorian.

Plane Crash and Death
She was on a plane that crashed with Meredith, Cristina, Arizona, Mark, and Derek, going to another hospital for surgery to separate conjoined twins. Suddenly, the back of the plane broke off. A piece of the plane landed on top of her, crushing her pelvis and legs. Mark realized that she was going to die, held her hand and told her that he loved her. She died. Seconds later, Meredith and Cristina came and saw her and all three of them mourned her death.

Personality
Lexie came to Seattle for her mother's funeral and after, she went to Joe's. There, she met her future brother-in law Derek Shepherd who she later discovered worked at Seattle Grace Hospital. Derek took a shine to her to the great annoyance of Meredith but more so, Cristina.

Voted student body president, Lexie was popular by both peers and teachers at school. Her photographic memory also made her one of the brightest in her class and not only made her a natural in the OR but also meant she knew all the periodic elements which she tells Mark Sloan at the beginning of season 5 when having a drink at Joe's bar.

When on Derek's service, she is left to operate with Meredith on a young woman's brain tumor, and with Meredith's go ahead, the tumor is removed. Both Big Grey and Little Grey believe they have successfully saved the young woman until Derek learns that they removed the tumor and shouts at them, explaining they weren't ready and they could have caused serious damage to the women's brain. When the women wakes up, her speech is slurred due to the surgery and her parents tell Derek they'll sue the hospital. Once Lexie hears about this, she breaks down and cries. It's in this episode we see her heart and how much she cares about the people she treats and how passionate she is about medicine.

Thatcher Grey
Thatcher was a good father to Lexie, contrary to how he was with Meredith. As Meredith said, Lexie "never saw his bad side." Even as Lexie discovered the way Thatcher treated Meredith, she still loved him. She protected Thatcher's reputation during his alcoholism following Susan's death. Each time he visited Seattle Grace Hospital, she was warm to him. She was annoyed when he began dating again. However, Meredith eventually told Lexie it wasn't worth being angry over.

Meredith Grey
Meredith took an instant dislike to Lexie upon her arrival. Meredith truly hated the enthusiasm Lexie showed in regards to getting to know Meredith. Meredith, however, quickly realized that although she had reason to hate the idea of her, she had no reason to hate Lexie herself.

Initially, she didn't like the way Lexie followed her or spoke to Derek about her. She claimed that Lexie was someone she never wanted to know, even trying to deny that Lexie was her sister. After a traumatic day, Cristina brought Lexie to Meredith's with her and Meredith made an effort to bond with her and they danced and drank tequila. The next morning, Meredith even tried to make breakfast for her and Lexie was so enthusiastic that she ate it, despite knowing she would have an allergic reaction.

Lexie and Meredith didn't get too close, as Meredith was over a surgical year older and they had two different sets of friends. As George and Lexie's friendship phased out, Lexie gave up the apartment that the two of them had shared. She moved into the attic of Meredith's house, where she occasionally bemoaned the fact that she didn’t have a proper room instead.

Once George died and Izzie left the hospital, the remaining residents became very close. Meredith and Lexie became so close that Meredith gave Thatcher a piece of her liver so that Lexie wouldn't lose her dad, because Lexie wasn't a match.

She also sat with Lexie for 36 hours after she had a PTSD breakdown following the shooting and had to be committed to the psychiatric ward. After Meredith's miscarriage, Lexie got jealous over how April was close with Meredith. Lexie was ashamed over her jealousy, but Meredith was flattered and told her, "You're not crazy. You're a Grey and you're my sister, Lexie."

When the plane crashed, Lexie died as a result of the injuries she sustained and upon hearing this, Meredith cried hysterically. While treating a patient who had similar injuries, Meredith obsessed over saving the patient's life. After successfully saving the woman, Meredith was talking to Cristina and simply said that, "Lexie's dead". From this, it appears that Meredith has accepted the fact that Lexie is gone and is at peace.

Derek Shepherd
Derek and Lexie's bond actually began romantically. In Testing 1-2-3, right before Lexie began her internship at Seattle Grace, she actually asked Derek if she could buy him a drink. She, of course, did not know he was Meredith's at the time boyfriend. This did not cause any roadblocks because as soon as Lexie realized who Derek was, she backed right off. Derek eventually became Lexie's mentor as she took a real shining to neurosurgery. He also gave Lexie advice when it came to her relationship with his best friend, Mark Sloan. Derek was also very upset at the news of Lexie's death.

Zola Grey Shepherd
Zola is Lexie's niece. She babysat Zola while Meredith and Derek went out on Valentine's Day and presumably other various times. Lexie also referred to Zola as her "favorite little niece".

Romantic
When Carolyn Shepherd came to Seattle, she asked Lexie how many sexual partners she had, Lexie said six or seven, kind of seven.

George O'Malley
Lexie makes her first appearance in Seattle Grace when she introduces herself to George.

Lexie learns that George O'Malley is repeating his intern year and helps him keep the other interns unaware of his failure. She and George develop an unlikely friendship over intern struggles and their strained relationships with Meredith and Callie, respectively. Lexie is shown to have been smitten with George. Mark Sloan notices this and vows to be less mean to George if she'll admit her feelings to him. As a result, Sloan is slightly more polite to the two of them and George misunderstands, thinking Lexie and Sloan are sleeping together. Lexie continues to vie for George's affections.

George finally passes his intern exam and seems to pay less attention to Lexie. The final straw occurs when he receives his new interns and Lexie discovers he hadn't the decency to even ask to have her assigned to him. She breaks down in front of him, calling herself stupid and him a jerk. Lexie had chosen to forgive George and makes a peace offering, keeping her feelings for him quiet.

As George was retaking his intern year and only Lexie knew, the two bonded and became best friends. Having parties with fellow interns such as Graciella, Megan, Steve, Pierce, Claire and later Ryan. She also moved in with George but in season five moved out when she was lonely and Mark insisted that Derek take her home.



Mark Sloan
While working with Mark Sloan, she developed an attraction, intensified by Derek's ban on them going out. One night, Lexie went to his hotel room, stripped and says "teach me", they began a secret relationship. They grew close very quickly and Mark developed true feelings for her but Lexie was tired of the secrecy and put their relationship on hold. Eventually Mark told Derek and they began dating in public. Their relationship hit a small bump when Mark decided he did not want to go to dinner with her and Thatcher because fathers didn't like him, but in the end he went. Another slightly larger bump happened when he suggested she move in with him into a condo he was considering buying but she didn't think she was ready because she was so young, then somehow the conversation turned intensely awkward when Mark accidently brought up marriage, when Lexie said in 5 years she'd still be a resident, and he said that there were plenty of residents that were even married.

When Derek performed a 'rogue surgery' on an inoperable patient and Lexie wanted to take part, Mark encouraged her with a huge smile and said "Go get your rogue on.", which hinted that they were in a committed relationship. When Mark's 18-year-old daughter, Sloan Riley arrives, she's supportive, even better than he was with dealing with it. But later on she proves to have some difficulty when his daughter reveals she is pregnant and Mark offers to let her stay as long as she wants in him and Lexie will be there for her, entirely not consulting Lexie on the matter. And her being a grandmother at 24 is way too much for her to take, after an argument about it later, he asks her not to make him choose between her and Sloan (his daughter) Lexie asks "Why, because you'll choose her?" and Mark responds "Yeah." And Lexie says, tearfully, "I think our relationship just ended." Then she goes to Meredith's house and gets drunk, and has a discussion with Alex, leading to her sleeping with him. She later discovers that Mark slept with Addison, and he discovers she slept with Alex. He becomes angry at her for this.

Lexie began to date Alex after his divorce with Izzie. She becomes jealous when she finds out Mark slept with Reed. Later Mark tells her he still loves her, to which she replies "I have a boyfriend" Mark tells her "'I know. I'm just saying you could have a husband." When the shooting happened, Mark and Lexie tended to Alex's shot wound. During this, Lexie told Alex she loved him, much to Mark's disappointment. Alex left Lexie after her breakdown, and Mark took Lexie to the psych ward. At Joes, April tells Lexie that Mark loves her, that's why he always stares at her. Lexie then goes to his apartment, applies her makeup in the elevator, then is crushed to see him making out with Derek's sister, Amelia. Lexie and Mark continue to flirt. One day, he tells her he misses her. Then she asks him to talk to a nurse who hates her, to which he is willing to exchange for one drink. Upon seeing which nurse it is, he makes it two. She tells him "Fine" That night, and tells Jackson to come in during the date telling her he needs her for something as an excuse to leave the date. Lexie arrives at Joe's later, tells him that it isn't fair for either of them since Mark is at a different point in her life than Lexie. Mark responds by simply kissing her, she kisses him back. Jackson arrives to pull her out of her date, and Lexie tells him to go, and she continues to kiss Mark. What Lexie doesn't know, is that Mark had a one night stand with Callie during their breakup, and Callie is now pregnant with his child. When Mark tells Lexie, she looks at him with disbelief, yelling ''"I cannot believe you got me in this position, TWICE!" ''and then storms out of his apartment. Mark wants to make things right, but Lexie won't talk to him, so he arranges for Jackson to find out what's bothering Lexie, in exchange for scrubbing in on his surgery. Lexie, with tears in her eyes, spills the beans to Jackson about how Mark has left her behind once again and does not care about how she feels. Jackson decides not to tell Mark because he feels like Lexie told him this in good faith.

She begins a relationship with Jackson, but ends because he realize she is in love with Mark. Mark was dating a doctor from other hospital, which made Lexie jealous. Lexie tries to tell Mark she still loves him, and after many fails, she does it, but he doesn't respond. When the plane crashes, and Lexie is about to die, Mark asks her to marry him, and says they will have children, after hearing this, Lexie dies.

When Mark returns to the hospital, after the plane crash, Julia, his girlfriend was waiting for him, and she says she loves him, but he responds, "I loved Lexie."

Jackson Avery
Since Mark was still in love with Lexie, he recruited Jackson and bribed him with surgery in exchange for information about Lexie. Jackson, however, began to have feelings for Lexie and the two began dating. Lexie told Mark that she was seeing someone else when they were at Callie's baby shower. He asked if it was someone he knew, but Lexie walked away. Eventually, Mark figured it out once the two went public with their relationship. Lexie and Jackson's relationship became complicated as Mark was Jackson's mentor and it became clear to Jackson that Lexie was still in love with Mark. Jackson ended it with Lexie, saying that he, "chooses Mark".

Alex Karev
Alex and Lexie slept together once when she first became an intern at Seattle Grace Hospital. Then they later had a relationship which lasted until he called out for Izzie after being shot and she was committed to the psych ward in the aftermath of the shooting.

Sadie Harris
She also develops a short friendship with Sadie Harris when she covers for Lexie, saying that she (Sadie) gave Mark Sloan a penile fracture, even though it was actually Lexie. She later guards the door so Lexie can visit Mark in his room.

In the middle of season 5, she organizes for the interns to practice medicine on each other because the residents don't teach them.

Although certainly not sister-like, Lexie and Meredith slowly became friends with no resentments but both bonded with their own group. Meredith even makes Lexie her bridesmaid.

In Season 5, Lexie also developed a great hunger due to Mark and Derek not talking to each other because of her relationship with Mark (although this was a cover up for her real life pregnancy).

Career
Lexie is first mentioned to Meredith when her sister Molly was pregnant and a patient at Seattle Grace. When Molly was talking to Meredith, she mentioned her sister and her education at Harvard University. She graduated from Harvard Medical School before being accepted to Seattle Grace's Surgical Residency Program as a first-year surgical intern. Lexie was planning on interning at Massachusetts General Hospital. However, following the death of her mother she chose to stay close to her father in Seattle. She was assigned to surgical resident Cristina Yang, who dubbed her '3' and later 'Lexipedia,' because of her photographic memory. She bore some of the same natural talent as Meredith, mainly because of her useful memory. She aced her psych clerkship. Lexie was considered the best of the interns and she even won the intern competition set up by Izzie. In her fourth (and subsequently final) year of residency, Lexie took an interest in neurosurgery and often rotated on Derek's service.

Notes and Trivia

 * She was allergic to eggs.
 * She hated apples, and thought they shouldn't be allowed to be fruits, but she liked apple juice.
 * She owned a car.
 * She was a perfect artist using "Etch-a-sketch".
 * She liked math.
 * She played the trombone.
 * When she was expressing a point, she often waved her hands.
 * When her mother died unexpectedly, she snuck into a graveyard to bury her mother's cat beside her.
 * She had a "Photographic Memory" which helped her through medical school.
 * Nearing the end of Season 5, Lexie's excessive eating was part of a private joke between the cast due to Chyler Leigh's pregnancy. Most shots with Chyler had her stomach covered.
 * She was called Lexipedia.
 * She shared an apartment with George and was secretly in love with him.
 * Meredith and Derek named her Zola's legal guardian.
 * After she died in the plane crash, her remains were eaten by wild animals. Cristina tried to keep them away.
 * Due to a change in hospital management, the Board decided a name change would be in order. Lexie features in the new name in memorium of her death: Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
 * "Lexie" is also a word in Greek, meaning "defending men".
 * Lexie's last words were "meant to be".
 * She skipped third grade.
 * She liked it when someone's fingers are brushed through her hair when she is in pain.