When Hope's eyes fluttered open, she hadn't expected to see Lexie laying there, in front of her. She blinked a couple of times, thinking she was seeing things before realising that Lexie was indeed sound asleep, in her bed.

Quietly, the Rodriguez got up, being careful not to wake Lexie, before she exited the room. Hope noticed Cara sitting at the kitchen table, with a coffee in hand. Angie was in the background, trying to pack Lolita's books and lunch into her schoolbag but the young girl refused, because she wanted to stay home with her Mum.

"Sweetie, you've taken two days off of school so we could spend time together... you have to go back." Angie insisted, knowing that Lola loved school but she loved hanging out with her mother more, especially since she hadn't been able to initially for weeks.

"No!" Lola refused, as Hope approached the pair. She picked Lolita up in her arms, squeezing her into a hug as Lolita squealed in both excitement and annoyance because she knew her Aunt was going to take her mother's side.

"My sweet niece, you need to go to school." Hope said, once she put the small girl down. "Why, Aunty?" Lolita pouted, as Hope took her backpack from her hands, and opened it so that Angie could fill it.

"Your Mum needs to job hunt, and she can't do that unless you're at school. If she doesn't have a job, you guys can't afford a house. That means you'll be homeless and living on the streets—"

"Hope!" Angie scowled, not liking that Hope was throwing this analogy in her daughter's face.

"Do you want to sleep on the cold sidewalk at night, Lola?" Hope asked, as Lolita shuddered at the thought of it. "No, Aunty Hope." The youngest Rodriguez decided.

"Then go put on your shoes for me, okay sweetie?" Hope asked as Lolita defeatedly nodded before she rushed over to grab her shoes from the front door.

Hope looked to her younger sister, who deadpanned her. "You really have a way with words." Angie spoke sarcastically as Hope tried to stifle a chuckle. "Hey it worked, didn't it?" The Rodriguez asked, before she entered her kitchen to make coffee— one for herself, and one for Lexie.

"Wanna share how Lexie was sleeping in your bed last night?" Caroline asked, as she peered up from her coffee. "Sure. Want to share what happened with you and McSteamy?" Hope asked, without a beat.

Angie couldn't help but to laugh at her sister's wittiness, before she went to make herself some breakfast. She had been neglecting her own morning routine, to make sure her daughter did hers.

"Mark and I went to Joe's and had a drink. I told him how I felt about him and how he disappeared. He then told me about his daughter and why they flew to Los Angeles... and after we cleared everything up we went back to his place and..." Cara quickly looked around to make sure there were no child ears listening before she concluded, "We had sex."

"Woah." Hope spoke, holding two coffee cups. She knew Caroline had a thing for Mark, but she didn't expect them to sleep together so soon. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised though... Mark had a reputation.

"Does he like you back?" Angelina asked, taking her bowl of cereal to the table after pouring milk into it. "He said he does... but as you guys know he is a total player so..." Cara trailed off.

"Anyway, what happened with Lexie?" The Robbins asked, eyeing her roommate now. "Actually, nothing. We stayed up talking and then went to sleep." Hope responded as Cara gasped, "Bullshit!"

"That's a bad word!" Lolita spoke, as she reentered the kitchen. "It is a bad word. Honey, have you brushed your teeth?" Angie asked her daughter as the girl nodded. "Yeah? Do you wanna show me?" Angie asked as Lolita shook her head, not once opening her mouth.

"Lola, go brush your teeth!" Angie sighed as Lolita groaned before making her way to the bathroom.

"So nothing happened?" Angie asked her older sister, as Hope shook her head. "Nothing! Is it weird that... I think I wanted something to happen?" The ravenette asked.

Cara and Angelina shared an exciting look before they looked to Hope. "So you do like her!" Cara announced, as it had always been a challenge to get Hope to talk about her feelings. The only one she ever probably spoke to openly like that, was Jackson.

"Maybe... I... don't really know how to navigate these feelings. I've never had a crush before." Hope spoke quietly, hoping that Cara and Angie would speak at the same noise level despite their excitement.

It was then Lexie exited Hope's bedroom, and Cara and Angie tried to hide their disappointment that they couldn't ask Hope more questions about this crush.

"Good morning." Lexie spoke, feeling as though she'd just interrupted something. "Morning Lexie." Hope responded, before she handed the Grey a coffee.

"Oh! Thanks! Man, I'm kinda wishing I was moving in with you guys, if this is how I am greeted in the mornings." Lexie rambled, slightly blushing as Caroline had a smirk on her lips. "She only does this for people she likes, as in—"

"Caroline don't you have somewhere to be?" Hope quickly interjected, as Cara did have to go to the post office to collect some fabric she'd ordered in the mail. Cara looked blankly at Hope, as she'd been caught out. "Yes." She answered much to her own dismay.

"Can you... do me a big favour?" Angelina asked, seeming hesitant. "Sure?" Cara responded, meeting the younger Rodriguez' eyes. "I think Lolita is going to be late. Do you mind if..."

Caroline decided to finish her sentence, noticing that Angie was hesitant to ask because she didn't like asking for help. "I drop you guys at the school? No of course not. But you have to come to the post office and sing Taylor Swift with me along the way." The Robbins said, with a small smile.

Angie laughed, "Deal. I owe you." The Rodriguez sighed, as Lolita rushed over after finishing in the bathroom. Fortunately for Angie, her daughter did brush her teeth this time, and her hair.

"You don't owe me, Ang. We're practically family now." Cara decided, getting up to grab her car keys while Angie helped Lolita to put on her backpack.

Hope smiled at the scene, realising that Caroline would look out for her sister as she would herself. She knew Angie needed to look for a new car, but she could sense that she was scared to drive again.

Lexie took the empty mug gently from Hope's hands, catching her attention. "I'm gonna go wash these." The Grey said, referring to the empty mugs. "Oh, thanks!" Hope responded, realising she'd been too focused on Angie and Caroline's interaction.

"We should probably go soon... I'm not sure what we're going to walk in to today." Lexie confessed, as she stood by the sink and washed the two dishes. "What makes you say that?" Hope asked curiously.

"Oh..." Lexie realised that what she knew wasn't common knowledge, and only because she lived with Meredith and Derek. "Webber isn't the chief anymore. Derek is." Lexie responded.

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The state of Seattle Grace was currently a disaster. Richard was no longer chief and instead Derek was taking his place.

It was Derek's first official day, and everyone was left wondering how he was going to handle his new role.

Hope was walking down the hall with Lexie when Jackson, Reed, Percy and Alex joined them. "Any of you know what this big meeting is about?" Jackson asked, looking to Hope in particular.

"I heard there was a coop." Reed responded before Percy asked Lexie, "Webber's out, Shepherd's in. Is that true?"

Lexie looked to Percy, "We know what you know." She stated, though Jackson didn't seem convinced. "Bull. All right? Your sister's married to the guy. You expect me to believe you don't know what's going on?" He asked her.

"I have to admit... I'm with Jackson on this one." Hope admitted as Lexie pretended to be offended.

"Don't you have your own loser friends to talk to?" Alex asked Jackson, before the Avery simply pointed to Hope. Hope laughed, giving Alex a wave, "Hi, I'm friend." She said, amusedly.

Even though everyone seemed to ignore him, Percy spoke up, "I also heard Shepherd plans to clean house."

Jackson turned to the raven haired guy, "Maybe he'll start with you." He suggested, as Hope continued to seem amused.

Alex scoffed, "Dude, I'm safe. The guy is my roommate. You're the ones who should watch your backs... especially you Hope, as you're dating his sister in law."

As everyone responded with cooing "Ooh!!", Lexie was a blushing mess. Hope smirked before she looked to Alex. "We're not dating. Besides, I don't annoy Derek like you guys do, so I'm sure that I'm safe." The ravenette declared.

"Shepherd hates the merger, You're from mercy west, you're toast." Alex decided, as Hope didn't seem convinced.

"Derek's not gonna fire people Just because they're from Mercy West." Lexie quickly interjected, "He's not like that. He's loyal and fair." Alex laughed in response before he said, "Yeah, tell that to Webber."

The group made it to the main floor, just in time for Derek to give his first day speech. "Ahem. I want to thank you all for being here." Derek began, as Hope stood between Jackson and Lexie.

"I know you're busy, so I'll try to make this quick. As you may have heard, I have been appointed the new interim chief of surgery. It's my personal goal to make this transition the new interim smooth as possible. I know we've had a rocky few months." The Shepherd continued to speak before Jackson muttered, "Here it comes."

"Mistakes have been made." Derek added before Jackson sighed, "He's talking about the merger." Hope frowned at her best friend, "Shut up Jackson."

"I intend to right those wrongs, and, uh... Bring this hospital back to its former glory." Derek continued his speech. "Told you." Jackson said to Hope as she just rolled her eyes. Cristina muttered, "Undertaker needs speechwriter."

"We are screwed." Jackson stated again before Alex piped up, "See, you are, sucker."

Suddenly, Richard and Larry Jennings joined the crowd, which threw Derek off his game. "Check it out. Chief webber." Callie spoke up.

"And, um... What I meant... Uh, by that is- what I'm trying to say is, I want to thank you for your support in advance. Uh, that's all. Okay, let's get back to work." Derek concluded, struggling to finish his speech with Richard in his presence.

Arizona started clapping, before everyone dispersed.

"We are not screwed." Hope then said to Jackson, while the Avery disagreed, "You heard him mention former glory, we are so screwed!" He responded.

⋆⋅🩺⋅⋆

Hope had spent the day on Teddy Altman's service, which had been a little challenging. Jackson, who had also been working under Teddy definitely could agree.

For reasons unknown to the siblings, Teddy had been awfully high strung, and she had been comparing Hope and Jackson to Cristina all day which caused Hope to eventually scoff some remark at the Altman which caused a fight.

Now in the locker room getting ready to go home, Hope was trying to clear her mind of the day and instead think about how she'd be spending her night, and what to make for dinner.

"Hey, how did your day go?" Lexie asked, basically bouncing over to Hope in excitement to see her. "I don't want to talk about it." The Rodriguez sighed before her expression softened, "How was your day, Lexie?"

Lexie opened her mouth to answer, but didn't get to as Derek cleared his throat, making his presence known. Hope and Lexie turned to face the Shepherd, who'd just entered the lounge.

"Hi. I know it's been a long day, And you're all anxious to get home. But I feel like we got off on the wrong foot this morning." Derek began, making sure that everybody was listening.

"I don't expect to win your trust overnight. But I want each of you to know... You have mine. Which is why I felt it was important to personally come in here and, uh, apologise." He concluded before shortly leaving.

Hope glanced at the spot where Derek had just been standing before she admitted, "He kinda sucks at speeches."

"Totally." Lexie laughed, "Do you wanna grab a drink tonight at Joe's?" She then asked as Hope turned her attention to the shorter girl. "Yeah. Yeah that would be awesome." Hope responded, her expression softening into a smile as Lexie couldn't help but to smile back.

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AUTHORS NOTE

Hey ya'll! I bet you thought I forgot about this story! Well the truth is, I absolutely did 😭

I'm not really into Grey's Anatomy anymore but I think it's a crime that there's almost no Lexie Grey fics.

Also?? Idk about ya'll I'm really loving my little family in this story??? Hope, Jackson, Cara, Angie and Lola just make the cutest family and I can't wait to make Lexie and Mark apart of it 😌