Lexie Grey had a plan. It was structured, specific, and she had left no room for drastic changes. Any slight disruption terrified her, and she never chose anything but the safest route available. Until a year ago. Working at Seattle Grace Hospital had been her goal for as long as she could remember, and she wanted to make her six-year-old self proud. The focus on her career had left her with no time for committed relationships, but there was one person who was determined to change her mind, to sway her.

He thought her plan was causing her to waste her life away, and she had been assured that he wasn't going anywhere. She was promised the best of both worlds, but she never imagined that she would find herself in a situation where she had to sacrifice part of her seemingly perfect doctor-orientated life.

It became clear that he wasn't going anywhere and he wasn't giving up on their relationship, so she did. She left Seattle and headed for New York, to his old stomping fround. There was no escape from him, but she had only ever wanted to escape the life he'd thrown at her unexpectedly. Being in the place where the two most valuable men in her life had grown up together provided her with comfort. She could remain close without him manipulating her plan any more than he already had.

Her departure from Seattle had taken its toll on her and she found her plan changing, evolving. Perhaps the change was what she'd needed to assure her that a life outside of her medical career was okay, but she felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. She was making time for new adventures, but agonising over the possibility that if she had stuck it out, she could've been doing all of these things with him. She was letting new people in and shutting old friends out. She'd formed an unbreakable bond with her half-sister after months of struggling to form a relationship with her, and then she'd upped and left without warning because she couldn't make it through one measly week of a breakup.

Three hundred and sixty five days after she'd left, Lexie found herself on a plane back home.

— — — —

"Lexie!" Her brother-in-law stood waiting for her at arrivals, holding a sign with her name on and beaming with pride. Her heart melted. All he'd ever done was try to protect her, but she hadn't listened to him.

"Derek, you know I'd recognise you without a sign, right?" She laughed, throwing her arms around him in a long-awaited hug.

"I know but this feels special, like Christmas and all of our birthdays combined." He took her luggage from her, wheeling her two cases towards the exit effortlessly.

"That special, huh?"

"What can I say? We missed you. A lot."

"I'm sorry Derek. I know things haven't been easy for you and Mer, I should've been here." Her niece, Zola, had been in their lives for two years and shortly before Lexie had left, she'd been told that Derek and Meredith were trying to adopt again. A month into her time in New York, she'd received a call from her heartbroken sister that the adoption had fallen through.

He smiled reassuringly, not wanting her to feel bad. "It worked out. Freya got to stay with her family. Besides, you're here now. Our family is complete."

They stopped next to Derek's mammoth of a car and Lexie grinned. She'd never quite wrapped her head around why every doctor she knew insisted on having gigantic SUVs. Between her education, her career and her attempt of a social life, Lexie hadn't had time to learn how to drive. Her parents had offered to teach her, but she'd rather be reading medical journals. She figured that was a more efficient use of her time.

"You planning on being the next Swiss Family Robinson? This thing has way too many seats for a family of three."

After hauling her luggage into the trunk and showing off how much space there was, Derek stood back and pretended to be hurt by her comment. "This car is my pride and joy. Besides, we're a family of four now that you're home."

Without a word, Lexie smiled sheepishly and walked round to the passenger door. Settling into her seat, the cold leather didn't bother her as much as it usually would. The only thing on her mind was that nobody had figured out she wasn't here to stay.

— — — —

She had let herself get swept off her feet by his charm, despite the fact that he had slept with probably eighty percent of the female staff at Seattle Grace. She knew his history, everyone did. She knew that he had probably been warned by Meredith or Derek to stay away from her and that he'd been trying, but she also knew he always got what he wanted eventually.

Every time she walked towards him, unless she was actively looking through a chart, he would walk the other way. She had accused him of not doing his job properly on numbers occasions, and sometimes she had genuinely needed his help with a patient, but she couldn't deny that most of the time she had made something up on the spot purely so she could ask him questions and engage in conversation.

He stopped falling for it after a while, and she assumed that had been shortly after her brother-in-law had made a comment. That didn't stop him from staring at her every time she sat at the bar at Joe's. It also didn't stop him from staring at her from the nurses station when she was with a patient. Or when she was in the cafeteria, or when they were playing baseball, or when she walking out of work or getting in the car.

The night she'd gone to his apartment had been as big of a shock to Lexie as it had been to him. It was one of the first times she'd ever been spontaneous. It wasn't planned, it wasn't thought out, it was spur of the moment. She had to see if the staring and avoiding had been for nothing. She couldn't go through the rest of her career not talking to the man, not because he owed it to her as her mentor, which he did, but because he was Mark Sloan.

The staring thing happened again when he answered the door to her. She was rambling, unsure of exactly what was coming out of her mouth. All she could focus on was his reaction to her being in the hallway. This stare was different. He was realising that he had no control at that moment. She walked past him, into his apartment, and he didn't have time to think about what was happening because she was right there. She wasn't across the room, she wasn't distracted by a patient or by her friends, her attention was entirely on him. It was just them. No Derek, no Meredith, no interns and nobody to judge.

"I respect you. As a man, as a surgeon, as a teacher, I respect you. So, teach me." She began taking items of clothing off one by one, not letting the open door or his lack of movement stop her.

"What are you doing? Don't do that, stop." She had him right where she wanted him.

"Teach me." He slammed the door shut behind them, but she wasn't slowing down. He still wasn't coming any closer to her.

"We can't do this. You're Little Grey, and I promised and -"

"Teach me. Come on, am I really so bad?"

"No, I am."

— — — —

She should've listened to those last words. He was being honest, but she'd pushed things too far without thinking about everything she knew about him. Sleeping with him wasn't so bad except before they'd even reached that step, there were feelings involved on both sides. Those feelings lead to a relationship. One that was destined to fail because he was Mark Sloan, and she was Little Grey. Her nickname wasn't just because she was Meredith Grey's younger sister. Lexie was young, too young for Mark and too young to have been given time to work her way up the career ladder or figure out what else she wanted out of life.

Words and reassurances meant nothing when it came down to the moment that their relationship ended. She was too young for the life he had suddenly found himself living. This wasn't part of her plan. She couldn't be in a relationship involving a step-daughter not much younger than her and a step-grandchild, but she couldn't make him choose. Lexie did what she felt she had to do for the sake of both of them, and left town entirely.

Seattle was home but as long as Mark Sloan was here, she couldn't be.