-1Author's Note: Thank you Hannah for beta-ing and offering up the much needed confidence boost!

Chapter One

The Proposition

"I need a favor."

Slowly, Mark Sloan set down the light brown paper cup of coffee he had been sipping out of. He crossed his arms as he turned to face wide eyed Lexie Grey. She was even more wide eyed today, giving him a too bright smile. They had formed a rather odd friendship; one where he told her what a loser he though O'Malley was and she told him to grow the fuck up. It confused most of their coworkers but worked for them. At least it worked as well as it was able to.

"Finally going to ask me for that mind blowing orgasm?" Mark teased. He couldn't help it. Ever since she had told him about George accusing her of sleeping with him it had become habit to ask if she was ready to make that a reality. He wasn't serious, not really. Lexie was, well, too sweet and innocent, and he was Mark Sloan, a known man whore. He wasn't going to be responsible for making Meredith's sister into a cynical, man leery bitch.

"Yes," she blurted out, shocking the hell out of him. A crimson stain seeped into her usually pale cheeks and her slender fingers knotted up just under her ribs. "What I mean is, Alex forgot about me. When we had to list who we slept with, he forgot about me. In front of George. And last night, George made a joke about it. It's not funny, and I don't want to be the girl whose so lousy in the sack that guys forget about her."

For the first time in a long time Mark was speechless. How was he suppose to respond to that? In the past he would have taken the pseudo invitation and dragged her off to the nearest on call room, where he would have had her clothes off so fast her head spun. New leaf Mark was fighting to be a good friend, but it didn't feel like a winning battle. "What does that have to do with me?"

Playing stupid seemed like his best bet. He already knew where she was going with this. At least he thought he knew. She wanted to know, from an objective third party, if she really was that lousy in the sack. He couldn't be that objective third party though. Forget that they were friends, Derek would kill him, by order of Meredith.

"You're Mark Sloan." Lexie said, as though that was suppose to explain everything. He guessed that it did. He was Mark Sloan; a known man whore who had enough skill for ten men. "And you're my friend. You'll be honest."

"What, exactly, are you asking Lexie?" Scrubbing a hand down his face, Mark let out a gust of air. She was going to ask him to fuck her, he could feel it, and he wasn't sure he could tell her no.

"You're going to make me actually ask aren't you?" Lexie whispered, leaning forward just a bit. A chunk of her soft dark hair fell across her eye, giving her a girl next door sexiness that he found irresistible and had him silently pleading that she chicken out and not ask. "Okay. Fine. I need you to have sex with me and tell me how bad I really am."

Well damn. The girl had bigger balls than he had thought. She had actually come out and asked. Which meant he would have to give her an answer. "What do I get out of it?" The question was more of a stalling tactic than anything, but he could see the wheels in her head starting to turn. She was taking it serious, and was going to offer up something, other than herself, as an incentive. He couldn't feel worse if he tried.

"I'll teach you how to be a nicer person," she said after a while.

"Let me see if I have this right. In exchange for training you to do sexual tricks that will blow O'Malley's mind you're going to teach me to be nice?" It was almost laughable. Only almost because this was his life and she was dead serious. He couldn't laugh, not without hurting her feelings and probably scarring her for life.

"I think that about covers it," she answered weakly. Her throat visibly worked up and down. When she lifted a hand to brush back the hair that was hanging in her face it trembled. "So, we're agreed? You'll teach me?"

Teach her. When Richard Webber asked him to be a teacher, he didn't think this was the sort of teaching the man had in mind. Never the less, Mark had a feeling it was the sort of teaching that went on all the time. Dr. Burke and Yang. Derek and Meredith. Hahn and Callie. Hell, even Addison had shagged an intern. Why shouldn't he? And, really, he was helping a friend out.

Weak excuses. Every last one of them. He was a weak man though, and there was nothing in his new leaf handbook that said he couldn't help out a friend. "This will change things. You know that right?"

Lexie hesitated before nodding. "I know. I just…I can't be that girl okay? I can't be the girl whose forgettable."

That was something Mark could understand, not wanting to be forgotten. "My room. Tonight. Eight o'clock." He knew he was going to regret this.