A/N~ This is my first time ever using and I have no idea what I'm doing! Usually I post my fics on tumblr (I'm only-freakin-sunflowers there too).
Type: Series Ship: Slexie Canon: 8x08 "Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." -Albert Camus Part One
So, Mark stared at her. Sort of a lot. So what?
It was the reason he noticed the mole on her hand, so that was a good thing. He didn't quite know how to tell her, though. Like, hey I've casually observing this slow-growing mole on your hand and you should pay some attention to it, that didn't feel right. She'd probably noticed it anyways. So, everything was okay.
And then a week passes. And it gets a little bigger. And she's really gotta be clueless not to notice it now. Screw chill, he decides. "Hey, Lexie," he starts.
"What?" she asks, Mark's statement pulling her from her concentration. Conveniently, she reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear.
Mark takes that as a perfect conversation starter. "You, uh, I… I noticed that mole you've got, on your hand. That hasn't always been there, has it?"
Lexie shrugs. "No, it hasn't."
Mark shrugs back. "I just mean, maybe, you should, go down to Derm and get it checked out, maybe?"
"Are you saying there's something wrong?" Lexie asks, getting a little worried.
"No, no," Mark says hurriedly, calming her down. "I just, I don't know, you know? Better safe than sorry."
Lexie nods. "I guess," she answers quietly. "You know how to do a mole biopsy, don't you?" she asks, hinting ever so slightly.
"I haven't done in a while, but yes, I do," Mark nods, catching onto her hinting. "You want me to biopsy it?"
Lexie flashes that grin, that one she used to flash him when she wanted something, like her feet rubbed, or him to get a snack when they'd watch TV together. Mark was ever familiar with her wanting grin.
"I can't right now," he laughs. "When's your shift over, I'll meet you then?"
"Same time as usual," she answers with a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Mark."
—–
"When's the last time you did one of these?" Lexie asks, as Mark pulls out the equipment for a punch biopsy.
"I was a resident," Mark admits. "But never fear, I know what I'm doing, it isn't that hard. I mean, you could probably do it yourself, if you felt inclined to do so."
"Why would I do that?" Lexie laughs. She's glad that Mark's trying to take her nerves off of this. It had been really getting to her.
She knew what melanoma was, she knew what it looked like. So it shouldn't have taken Mark bringing it up for her to asses the possibility that that was, indeed, a melanoma growing in the space just under her left thumb. It was pretty big, bigger than a pencil eraser, and it was asymmetrical. It was sort of funny colored, not your typical one shade of brown. And it had been growing, it started out as almost nothing, and now it was this big, scary thing. This big, scary thing that could be cancer, which was, absolutely, a much bigger and much scarier thing. To think that this big, scary thing could very well be barreling towards her at full speed and she hadn't even realized it…. it wasn't a good feeling. It was something to be scared of. But, she was really glad Mark was here to help, for now.
"I'm gonna inject you with local," he tells her. "Probably for the better, you don't want to feel me essentially hole-punching your hand, now do you?"
"That's kinda gross when you put it that way," she admits to him.
He laughs a little. "Yeah, I guess it is."
"I should probably look away, shouldn't I?" Lexie notes, not looking away just yet though.
"I mean, as previously mentioned, I'm essentially hole-punching your hand," Mark repeats, "Personally, I'd look away. I would look away right now if I could, but, you don't want that."
"I would prefer you didn't, thanks," Lexie smiles.
Mark nods, "Okay, look away now," he says, cringing just a little.
"That is disgusting," he mumbles, once it's through and he's putting a stitch in the hole he just created. "But hey, no more mole."
"Yeah," Lexie nods, running her finger over the stitch. "When I do find out? If it's bad?"
"A couple days," Mark nods, putting a bandage on her hand. "They'll tell you either way, if it's bad or it's nothing. Well, they'll tell me first, because, I'm your doctor in this case."
"Okay," Lexie nods. "So, you'll come find me in a couple days?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Mark smiles. "Hey, Lex?" he adds, just as she's walking out of the procedure room.
"Yeah?" she asks, turning back around to face him.
"Don't be scared," he tells her, with a small, friendly smile. "That's one of the friendliest-looking moles I've ever seen, it's gotta be nothing."
Lexie smiles nervously, blushing ever so slightly. "Thanks, Mark. You're a good friend."
God, he wished they were more than friends again. He missed her so much. And now that she was back on the market after breaking up with Jackson, it made his feelings all the more present. He was with Julia, though, and he loved her. So, friends were all they would be. They could do that, they could be just friends. Other people managed just fine. And, worst case scenario, this mole turned out to be less than innocent and wrecked havoc on Lexie's health, she was gonna need a friend. He could be that friend.
He would be that friend.
