Title: More Than You Seem (with your child's eyes)
Rating: T
Pairing: Mark/Izzie.
Summary: Ten consecutive drabbles that showcase what two people may have to overcome to form their unconventional relationship, each inspired by a song.
Note: Series of ten drabbles, for the following LJ meme: Put your iTunes on shuffle, and write a drabble based on each of the first ten songs that play. Don't linger when the song is over, this is an exercise. Read, Review, Enjoy.
"Walk Away"/Christina Aguilera
His eyes make her drunk. The enticing, illustrious, bright blue that call her from across the room.
One instant, and she was his suddenly. Between mending broken people, hearing him be so sympathetic, and her heartstrings pulling at her every time he's had that look of loneliness, she fell.
Like prey to a hunter who never knows what it wants, until it is too late, and everyone is left a victim.
But she can't stop. She pulls him towards her, kisses him with an insane passion that before him, she had never let consume her.
And when he calls her name as he pushes into her…ecstasy doesn't begin to explain the feeling. She's his, and she doesn't stop this because she prays he's hers. Or that he will be. She knows no other cure.
--
"In My Mind"/Heather Headley
Nurses were a long gone problem by the time her eyes became fixated on him. Women in general, however, would always be a problem.
Patients, temp staff, loved ones of the patients. They flocked to him. Beyond his attractive nature, was his innate charm. Flirting, regarding him, was a given with anyone.
She claimed him in bed though, he screamed her name.
The jealousy, the doubt, she had to ignore to the best of her ability. She knew no one but her would do anyway.
--
"So Hard"/Ciara
Enough is enough.
Her mother never was one for sound advice, much less justifications and explanations of advice, so early on she made lessons out of everything.
She couldn't force him to change. She was already putting too much pressure on him and not enough on herself. Okay, they would have nothing serious, nothing exclusive. He tried though--being exclusive, that is. It made him colder towards some women, and it did not satisfy her.
It was in his personality to charm people, and she couldn't take that away from him. He just didn't know how to draw that line between charming and enticing, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could draw the line for him.
Enough.
Letting go, it's not something she wanted. But the alternative of knowing he could be with another woman at any given time--she couldn't handle that.
So she breaks everything. No one comes out on top.
--
"Miss Independent"/Kelly Clarkson
Dr. Isobel Stevens is strong.
She can't go to sleep without whispering his name, without once thinking about him. Can't have a good night's sleep without a dream about him.
She still shudders when he comes up behind her and whispers something or another.
But she knows restraint.
But he sits at a table by himself, just poking at his food and sending deadly glares at Derek for leaving him to be with Meredith.
Restraint and control, she reminds herself.
She takes a seat beside him, and says, "Just friends."
--
"Chasing Cars"/Snow Patrol
He isn't sure if he knows how to do this 'just friends' thing. His suspicious side tells him she's being a tease, or that she's testing him. Either way, he's not sure he can handle this.
Especially since apparently she knows how to be one of the guys. She drinks beer with him, plays darts, points out which women are not only good looking but sane-looking. They laugh together, and she maintains her composure when he's flirting with a woman in front of her. Something he knows he shouldn't do, and soon enough he feels guilty about it. Guilty.
So he encourages her to forage around for men, but that one night she does find a guy who interests her and she giggles for him--his blood boils.
Before she even notices, he's found another women, and by time she turns to him, she sees him leaving the bar with a woman wrapped around him.
It's when he realizes he's playing a cat and mouse game with her, and she doesn't even realize it. She's still sure they can only be just friends.
--
"Full Moon"/Brandy
Four dates. They stumble, they fall on her couch, but flashes of his eyes keep making her pause. She's no fool--she knows she's still captivated by the mystery that is Mark Sloan, and she's not one for games.
She bids goodbye to this man she met at the bar the night she knows Mark left with a woman, admits she's not ready and he's understanding enough.
She itches to stand, get in her car, and head over to Mark's place but she's made it clear that they're friends. She won't confuse him.
--
"Here's to the Night"/Eve 6
She falls asleep on the comforter one night. They were at the bar, but got tired, and decided to rent a movie. They headed to his place, even though neither of them proposed his place or agreed to him. It was just an underlying statement.
He grins at her and stands from the comforter, adjusting her so that her legs can stretch out a bit more, and he places a blanket over her. Then he kneels down in front of her, where he sees her sleeping face, and just the calm of her features.
He moves her hair, and brushes a thumb over her cheek. She moves in his hand, and he smiles at the calm she projects right into him.
--
"Universe & U"/KT Tunstall
Words aren't much. Not for her, not for him. Gestures can mean very little, especially the planned and forced ones. The sporadic ones are important. The little looks that brighten her day, the comforting hand grip that comforts her.
He draws a line with other women, between his charm and his flirting. Some women get confused, but they know better when his eyes outline that tall, pretty doctor, with blond curls and light brown eyes. And he smiles when she does.
Change comes slowly, and he works on it, all the while building a stronger friendship with her. Foundation. He realizes it's what can make or break this. It's what's going to make this.
--
"I Believe in You"/Joe & 'NSYNC
His eyes begin drinking her in again and she feels that he's aware that this 'just friends' thing is just a line waiting to be blurred.
It is blurred when he catches her and Alex hugging tightly. Alex doesn't know what's just happened as Izzie rushes out after Sloan sees them, but Izzie can explain to him later. She prefers explaining to Mark immediately.
A hug between friends she calls out to him, and he shrugs, not caring he says. But he's clearly lying and she has to say she doesn't see Alex as anything but a good friend. That she still has her eyes set on someone else in particular.
Still.
He smirks, nods, says 'okay' and turns to leave. But he changes his mind and turns back to her. He sweeps down and kisses her swiftly, leaving her dumbfounded 12 seconds later. And grinning like a fool.
--
"Sober"/Kelly Clarkson
Mark Sloan has found himself. Anyone who is anyone knows this when he no longer beds any relatively single woman within the hospital's distance. Before they see him whispering conspicuously to Izzie Stevens in the hallways, or before they see him rubbing her back at the nurses station, they see he's made amends with a part of himself.
It makes sense. She's stubborn, he's stubborn, and goodness they're both attractive. Which means this could all be another catastrophe waiting to happen.
But as Mark places a golden band on her ring finger one cool night three years later in front of their loved ones, he knows sobriety can just as well be incredibly remarkable.