Lexie Grey smiled at the terrified little girl with the curly light brown hair, a button nose, a pretty naturally pink bow shaped mouth, and a pair of bright blue eyes that were, much to Lexie's distress, the exact same color as her father's eyes.
"It's alright Lucie, Santa won't hurt you sweetie." Lexie said as she nudged the four year old forward.
"No mommy," cried Lucie as she clung to her mother's leg. "I don't wanna!"
"Sweetie don't you want to give Aunt Meredith and Uncle Derek a pretty picture of you when we see them tomorrow?"
"NO! YES!"
"It might be a good idea if you left for a little bit. Sometimes they just don't want to take the picture when mom or dad is around." The teenage girl who was dressed as an elf said to Lexie with a smile. "My shift ends in five minutes I'll watch her and you can get any shopping that you have left done."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Come back in twenty minutes."
"Alright," Lexie said as she handed her daughter over to the girl. "I'll be back in a little bit pumpkin," Lexie said to Lucy as she bent and placed a gentle kiss on her daughters little forehead.
Sighing Lexie decided to do as the girl had suggested and get a little last minute Christmas shopping done while she waited.
Ten minutes later Lexie had finished her shopping and was heading back towards where Santa Claus was taking pictures when she saw a booth selling hot coca off to the side. Without thinking she walked over and bought a cup. Then she walked over to wait out the reaming ten minutes before going to collect Lucie.
Taking a sip of the hot chocolate she let the warm liquid slide down her throat and warm her insides, just like it had done since she was three years old. Looking down at the shopping bags at her feet Lexie mentally went through a check list to make sure she had something for everyone.
List:
Derek- forest green sweater.
Meredith- back coach handbag.
Callie- a cook book for mom and kid.
Porter- race car set and track.
Owen- Coming Back Stronger.
Cristina- do it yourself book on home decorating.
Teddy- a light blue silk scarf that would go perfectly with her hair and eye color.
Mark- a black leather jacket, just in case he was there tomorrow.
Looking over to where her daughter was Lexie smiled the teenage girl was still trying to convince Lucie to take the picture with Santa when a man whose kid had just gotten his picture taken walked over to them. Standing Lexie walked closer to them for some odd reason the man looked straggly familiar to her. When she about two feet away she froze it was him.
He was on Lucie's leave and he was whispering something in her ear that caused her to smile and nodded her head in agreement. Mark Sloan picked her up and placed her gently on Santa's lap then he knelt down next to the chair and smiled for the picture.
"How about you try one without me in it?" Mark asked smiling up at Lucie who once again nodded her in agreement. Standing Mark moved out of the shot, but stayed so that he was in Lucy's line of vision.
With a nervous glance at the little boy Mark was with Lexie moved slightly closer so that she could hear what Mark was saying to the teenager.
"When her mom comes to get her tell her the pictures have already been paid for," Mark said in an undertone that Lexie was just able to hear. Turning to the boy Mark said, "Come on Porter we're going to be late and we still have one more stop to make before we can leave."
Taking Mark's hand Lexie heard Porter saying, "Uncle Mark there's a lady hiding in the bush back there," before changing the subject so fast that Mark didn't have time to respond to what the boy had just said. "Do you know what the special surprise Aunt Teddy has for us is?"
"Nope, sorry buddy you're just going to have to wait till tomorrow like the rest of us."
"Where are we going?"
"Back to the store that had the jacket I was looking at earlier."
"Then where are we going?"
"To meet Uncle Derek and Uncle Owen for coffee and doughnuts."
"Can I ask them what Aunt Teddy's special surprise is?"
"You sure can."
When they were out of sight Lexie stood and walked over to where Lucie was standing with the teenage girl. "Are you ready to go Lucie?"
"Here are your pictures, and they've already been taken care of." The girl said when Lexie made to put her bags down and pull out her wallet.
It was almost three in the morning when Teddy opened the door to Meredith's house allowing a package laden Lexie inside. Both women made quick work of placing the presents underneath the tree. Just before they left Lexie placed a plain white envelope with only Mark's first name written on the front on the lowest branch of the Christmas tree just above his gift.
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Porter yelled as he jumped up and down on Mark's bed before running back into the hall and yelling the statement that had just woken Mark from a very peaceful dream about Lexie that he had wanted to finish.
"Ok, why don't we go see what Santa brought?" Mark asked as he emerged from the room he had been sleeping in clad only in a pair of flannel red and black plaid pajama pants.
"Nice pj's," Derek said when he looked at them.
"Derek leave him alone," Meredith said as she elbowed him in the ribs. Both knew that the pajama pants had been a gift from Lexie the year before she had vanished into thin air.
When they arrived downstairs Callie and Owen quickly sorted the presents underneath the tree.
"Who goes first?" Callie asked yawing.
"The youngest," Mark, Derek, and Owen said at the same time.
Porter grinned as he ripped the wrapping paper off of his gifts. When he got to the last one his face broke into a huge smile when he had torn the wrapping paper away from the front half of his gift.
"WOW!"
"What is it?" Callie asked at her son's exclamation.
"IT'S THE RACE CAR SET I WANTED, BUT YOU SAID I COULDN'T HAVE IT BECAUSE IT WAS TOO MUCH MONEY!"
"You must have been a really good boy this year for Santa to bring you that," Mark said raising an eyebrow at Callie who shook her head. Derek, Meredith, Owen, and Cristina did the same thing as Callie.
"Who's next?" Porter asked looking at the adults expectedly.
"I guess I am," Meredith said as she bent down to open her gifts. "Oh Derek," she squealed when she opened the gift bag containing the black coach purse.
"What?" Holding up the purse she smiled at him until he shook his head at her.
"Then who?"
"SANTA!" Porter cried grinning at his aunt.
"Cristina it's your turn."
"Owen how did you know I wanted this?" Cristina demanded when she tore the wrapping paper away from the home decorating book.
"That's not from me," Owen said stunned.
"Then who is it form?" Cristina asked in confusion.
"SANTA!"
"Callie your up," Cristina said exchanging a look with Meredith over Porter's head.
"Oh my gosh Mark!"
"What?"
"It's the Son and Mom cook book I wanted they aren't even in the store here yet how did you get it?"
"I didn't."
"Then who did?"
"SANTA!"
"Owen," Callie said in a quiet voice.
"How did you get this Cristina and autographed too?" Owen asked holding up the book.
"It wasn't me."
"Then?"
"SANTA!"
"Derek your turn," Owen said staring in amazement at the book.
"Ok here goes nothing," Derek said as he opened his last present. "The store's been out of this sweater for months how did you get it Meredith?"
"I didn't. When I went yesterday the store clerk told me he had just sold the last sweater to a petite little woman."
"Then how?"
"SANTA!"
"Mark your up," Derek said with a small smile.
"That's not possible," Mark breathed as he held up his brand new black leather jacket. "I went just yesterday to buy and the guy told me he had sold it only ten minutes earlier and it was the only one in my size."
"Then how?" Callie, Owen, Cristina, Meredith, and Derek asked.
"I don't know."
"Uncle Mark you missed one," Porter said as he held out the plain white envelope with Marks name written on the front.
Mark was just opening it when Meredith, Callie, and Cristina let out a gasp at the same exact time.
"What is it?" All three men asked looking at them with concern.
"There was a picture in the purse."
"My cook book too."
"And in my home decorating book."
"And it's the same little girl in all three pictures." The three women said at the exact same time.
"Let me see them," Derek said. Looking at the pictures carefully he looked up after a few minutes. "It is the same girl and all three pictures have yesterday's date on them. "Mark open that envelope and see if the same picture's in there.
Mark froze when he pulled the picture out of the envelope. "Well is it the same picture?" Derek asked.
"N…n…n…no…not un…less the other pictures have m…m…me in….th…the picture…t…too."
"They don't."
"There's something written on the back Uncle Mark."
Flipping the picture over Mark started in disbelief at what was written on the back of the picture.
"What does it say?" Callie asked. Mark just handed the picture over to Derek who read what was written on the back of the photograph aloud.
"December 23, 2015 Christmas Eve
Marcus Daniel Sloan and Lucie Carolyn Sloan age 4."
"OH MY GOD!'
"How did it get here though?"
"What I took the picture with her yesterday because she didn't want to sit on Santa's lap."
"I TOLD YOU IT WAS SANTA CLAUS!" Porter yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Hey what's going on," Teddy asked as she walked in with a new light blue scarf around her neck.
"Is that the surprise?" Porter asked pointing at the old worn teddy bear in her hands.
"No."
"Then what's it for?"
"You'll see."
"Aunt Teddy where's the surprise."
"It'll be here in a little bit."
"Where did you get it from Timbuktu?" Mark asked in a joking tone.
"Nope. I flew them here from London instead hope you don't mind."
"Them? How my surprise's is it Aunt Teddy?"
"Well it's actually two surprises."
"Can we have them now?"
"Porter that is very rude," Callie snapped at her son.
"Sorry mom."
"I'm not who you need to apologize too."
"I'm sorry Aunt Teddy."
"It's alright, and to answer your question you can have them now." Turning she yelled, "You can come in now."
Everyone looked up as a young woman carrying a little girl in her arms appeared in the doorway. She bent down and placed the little girl on her feet. At the freedom from her mother's arms the little girl turned and took in her surroundings before spotting the old worn teddy bear in Teddy's arms.
"BEAR AUNTIE TEDDY!" She cried as she ran over and looked up at her aunt. "BEAR PLEASE AUNTIE TEDDY." She asked again as she held her arms up expectably to her aunt.
"Here you go Luc." Teddy said as she handed the bear over to the little girl who promptly walked over to the chair Mark was sitting in and plopped down between his legs. Mark and the rest, apart from Teddy, Meredith, and the woman still standing in the door stared down at the little girl sitting between Marks legs.
They were only jerked back to the present by Meredith's shriek of "ALEXANDRA SOPHIA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Before she attacked the woman with a hug that knocked her off of her feet.
"Good to see you too Mer." Lexie mumbled mainly because Meredith was suffocating her with her chest length hair. "Umm Mer, I kind a can't breathe here." Lexie gasped out after a few minutes.
"What? Oh sorry you can't blame me though I haven't seen you in five years."
"Where the hell have you been?"
"London."
"WHAT! WHY! HOW! AND WHO!"
"Um, London. My job. I packed up and flew across the ocean. My four year old daughter."
"Can you repeat that last one please?"
"Why don't you ask Mark to?" Lexie snapped as she finally stood up. Sending a death glare at Mark she flicked her hair and walked out of the room.
"LEXIE!" Everyone expect Meredith and Teddy yelled in a questioning disbelieving tone.
"Mark?" Derek asked in a questioning tone after Lexie had left.
"Married, misunderstanding, vanished," Mark muttered as he stood and careful not to step on his daughter followed Lexie out.
Mark found her sitting on the bottom step on the backyard porch.
"It's not going to work Mark. So just leave me alone. It's not fair to either of us. Or to Lucie."
"She's amazing Lex," he whispered as he sat down next to her. "She's perfect in every way." After a few moments of silence Mark asked, "It was you wasn't it? You snuck in last night with Teddy's help, after we all went to sleep, and you got everyone exactly what you knew we wanted."
"Yes." Lexie croaked still not looking at him.
"And the mall? You were the woman Porter saw hiding in the bush weren't you?"
"Yes."
"I tried to find you, but I couldn't. No one could find you, not even the chief."
"I know. I didn't want to be found."
"I wasn't sleeping with her."
"Sure didn't look that way to me."
"I had just gotten out of surgery and when I opened my office door the lights were off. I walked in shut the door and flicked the lights on and she was there. I was trying to get her to leave when you walked in and saw her kiss me."
Finally Lexie turned her head and looked him in the eye. She could see the hurt, pain, love, and loneliness he had felt for the past five years reflected in them because it was the same look that she saw in her own eyes whenever she thought about that day. Shivering Lexie rapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm. Seeing that she was cold Mark placed his new leather jacket, which was still clutched in his hands around her shoulders.
"Mark," she said after a few minutes, "I want to try again that is if you want to."
"I do he whispered. Come on let's go inside it's freezing out here."
As they walked through the backdoor Lexie stopped and looked up.
"What?" Mark asked confused as to why she was standing in the doorway.
"Mistletoe," Lexie said pointing up. Mark laughed and gently kissed Lexie on the mouth.
"MOMMY! DADDY!" A little voice screamed right before Lucie collided into their legs.
Mark broke the kiss and bent down to pick up his daughter who was still clutching that worn old teddy bear.
"DOWN!" She squealed as she squirmed in her father's arms Mark laughed and placed her back down. Then gasped in surprise as he finally recognized the worn old teddy bear as being his.
As Lucie ran back into the living room Mark turned to Lexie with an eyebrow raised.
"What? I thought she needed something that belonged to her dad. It was the only thing that would get her to go to sleep when she was a baby." Lexie said with a smile at Mark.
"God Lexie I love you," he said as he spun her back to face him in kissed her one more time. When they broke apart this time it was to the sound of Teddy, Owen, Cristiana, Callie, Meredith, and Derek clapping, whistling, and cheering.
Hey this is the first one shot that I've ever written so let me know what you think. I was listening to Christmas Music the other day and reading a fanfic. about Lexie and Mark when this song Home for Christmas, or something like that, came on and I was inspired. I don't own any of the characters from GA, but everything else I do own.