"You know, it's a shame you couldn't say all that at the time?"
Three hours have passed in talking, pacing up and down, sitting. Breathing. Nearly, but not, touching.
Something had to give.
But intensity doesn't break. He's tired but not defeated. She wonders, a split second after she realizes it herself, if he realizes she's glad.
"I said it in every way that mattered," he says quietly, swallows and looks down at his hands.
She's floored, unsure whether it's more from the injustice of his response or its heart-searing sincerity. Her mouth goes with the former, while the rest of her tries to catch up.
"By cheating on me?" She splutters. "Or by passing me over for an ex-relationship with Lexie Grey when I offered you a chance?"
"I didn't want to be second-best." He shrugs, smiles, wry, gentle, honest. "Not with you. And then," he sighs, "I didn't know what the hell I wanted. No," he shakes his head, "I knew. I wanted Lexie. Right then, I wanted Lexie and . . ."
He glances at her warily; she raises an eyebrow.
"It felt kind of good telling you 'no.'"
Her mouth falls open. She's outraged and laughing at the same time. "You really think admitting you enjoyed taking revenge is going to win me back, because . . . " She stares at him, arrested, as he moves closer until his lips are within half an inch of hers. "Uh, what exactly are you doing?"
"This," he says, kissing her lightly, leaving her tingling with the recognition that she did not draw away. "I'm gonna win you back because you don't want second best either."
She just manages to squeeze the sarcasm past the whisper encasing her throat. "And that means you?"
"Me and you," he says. "Us."
She believes him.