Mark Sloan and Izzie Stevens

What if?

It was raining. Mark Sloan walked out of the airport in Seattle and it was raining. He didn't think to bring an umbrella. This trip was starting out worse than it was supposed to be, and it was supposed to be pretty bad. He came out here for two of his best friends, both of which he had inadvertently drove out of New York; Derek and Addison Shepard. 'God I need a drink,' he thought. So he caught a cab and asked for a bar near Seattle Grace Hospital. The cabbie nodded and headed off to the Emerald City Bar.

After paying the driver, Mark headed to the bar and walked inside. With one look around, there were not many good looking women, but one in particular stood out. She was tall, blonde, and gorgeous; if not slightly familiar. With a swagger to his step, he walked up to the bar and ordered a double scotch, single malt.

"Ah, not many people ordering that, must be a New York thing," the bartender – who people seemed to be calling "Joe" – commented.

"Just flew in," Mark replied. "Came here to see a friend."

"Shepard?" Joe asked, not knowing too many regulars who were from New York. And being a bartender, people tended to tell him their problems, so he assumed that it was the pair from Seattle Grace.

"Yeah, both of 'em."

"He comes in during the week, works real late on weekends," Joe said as he began to clean some glasses.

"As usual," Mark said. "You know her?" He indicated to hot blonde from earlier.

"Izzie? Yeah. She's a doctor at the hospital," he commented, getting a beer for another customer.

"Really?" Mark questioned interestedly. He paid Joe for his drink and headed over to where Izzie was sitting, alone.

"Hey there," Mark said. "What's a gorgeous girl like you doing sitting here all alone?"

"Oh really? Nice line, but you're gonna have to try a bit harder than that," Izzie said.

"Ouch. I figured I'd come to Seattle and take in the night life, only to get turned down by the girl of my dreams," Sloan joked, putting his hand over his heart.

"So, stranger from a strange land, where are you from?"

"If I say the right place, will you let me buy you a drink?"

"Maybe," she says, a small smile playing over her lips.

"New York," he said, smirking at her.

"Well, it was close; I would have preferred Boston," she said, finishing her beer. "But I guess you're close enough."

"Another beer then?" he asked, about to make a short trip to the bar.

"How about a ride?" Izzie asked brazenly. 'What the hell, he's hot and I haven't gotten any in a while,' she thought.

"I don't actually have a car," he admitted, moving back over to her.

"I meant mine."

"Your place or mine?"

"I got roommates, so yours."

"Let's go then," he said, extending a hand to her. They walked out to her car and he told her that he was staying at the Archfield. Although she kept it to herself, she could only think about how much money he must have to be staying there. The drive was quick, and Mark walked up to the front counter to check in; his bags had already been taken there and sent up to his room. "I'm up on the 21st floor."

Izzie nodded and followed him over to the elevator. It was a silent ride up, but not all that uncomfortable. Once they got to his floor, he was the first room on the right. The room was incredible, something Izzie never thought that she'd see. While she was looking around, he walked up behind her. "You always in the habit of leaving with strangers you just met?" he murmured in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Just not ones from New York; Boston, now that's another story," she joked, trying to make light of the situation. He chuckled, and she could feel it across her back. Mark turned her around and brought his mouth down to hers. That was all she needed to happen because she pretty much attacked him. Her arms went around his neck, pulling him into the kiss deeper, and she started moving him back to the very large and inviting looking bed. When the back of his knees hit the bed, he lurched back but Izzie didn't follow him. She bit her bottom lip and drew her shirt up and over her head. All Mark could do was grin up at her, and her fantastic taste in lace lingerie.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"So why did you come out here?" Izzie asked, tracing lines on Mark's stomach.

"I ran my two best friends out of New York, and I wanna get them back," he said. "Derek and Addison Shepard."

"So you're the one that slept with her," Izzie commented, not menacing, just fact-stating.

"So they know about me?" he asked.

"Yeah, but honestly, I think you just have to worry about Derek, Addison, and maybe Meredith."

"Ahh, Derek's lusty intern," he commented, chuckling lightly.

"Yeah, and my roommate," Izzie said.

"You live with another doctor?" he asked.

"Yeah, there are four of us living in Meredith's house. It was five, when Derek would stay over, which was like every night," she said. "Why? Is that a bad thing?"

"Well medicine is competitive, I would expect you guys to hate each other," he said. "What specialty are you?"

"Surgery, intern," she said, looking up at his reaction.

"I didn't really pick you for surgery when I first saw you, but now I can see it," he said, a smirk on his face. "You certainly know your anatomy well enough."

"Well, I certainly try," she smiled. "How do you know those two?"

"We all went to Med School together out in New York," he started. "Derek and Addison got married as soon as we graduated, and we went through our residency. But then Derek was talented, so people really wanted to have him around. Addison was home alone a lot, and I was there because we were all best friends. So we ended up sleeping together, and Derek got home and caught us in the middle of it. He left to come out here the next day. Addison and I tried to make things work, I even got her pregnant, but she got an abortion, because no one wants to have my child. Then she came out here to try to get Derek back."

"Well, you got the short end of the stick then," she said comfortingly. "You lose your best friend because you slept with his wife, which only happened because he was absent, and you lost the woman you love to the absent husband. How do you wake up everyday?"

"A lot of effort sometimes," he replied honestly. "But I love them both, and I just want things to go back they way they were before he became absent."

"Well I give you bonus points for coming all the way out here," she said. "Would you wanna stay here? Because I mean, its gonna take a while for them to come around, but I have a feeling that it will."

"I'll do what I have to," he said. "Do you guys have a good plastic surgeon? Or and ENT?"

"No to either one, no one really good anyway," she said. "So if you do work at the hospital, or at least stick around, would you totally ignore me?"

"I can't guarantee it, but I will try my hardest not to," he said. "I'm known for jumping from woman to woman, so I need someone to help me fix that."

"Well I can be that person, if you'd like," she offered, rolling over onto her stomach. "I'm good at not leaving people alone."

"I think I'd like that."

5/9/11