Pairing:Mark/Lexie
Title: Something More
Prologue
He lay in bed alone. His appendages splayed across the pillow-top mattress, the 500-thread count sheets wrapped haphazardly around his bare thighs. The night had been long. Unexpected emergency surgery kept him at Seattle Grace later than he had planned which put a dent in his plans with Vicki. It wasn't something particularly horrendous when it first came about. He thought he would reschedule with the sexy secretary he had met only a few days ago, but now at 3 a.m. while he lay in bed alone his thoughts running rampant he wished he had told her to come over anyways.
There weren't many nights where he slept alone - at least if not by choice.
Honestly, he had moved back to Seattle in hopes of perhaps starting something real with Addison. They're relationship started out as a fling, fulfilling a need both of them had. But the more time he had spent with her, he had realized that there was something more.
He had always ragged on Derek for being such a romantic sap.
What kind of a guy would want to enslave himself to one woman? There were so many choices and varieties he felt obligated to experience. Women were a gift in a way. The way they could make you feel. And each one different than the other. How could he rob these women of an experience with him that would leave them breathless and wanting more?
Now several years later, Mark found himself pondering if he wasn't missing out on something. He wasn't a slut like most of his co-workers thought. Sure he had charm. He couldn't help it if the ladies were drawn to him. But that didn't mean he was satisfied with a roll in the hay. It didn't mean he didn't picture leaving his cad-ish ways and finding a woman he could truly commit to.
Unfortunately the woman he had thought would be 'the one' had walked in and out of his life twice already, and as he stared up at the vaulted ceiling in his bedroom, doubts began to fill his mind that he had wasted time and he would be relegated to the role of 'Seattle Grace's womanizing doctor dick'.
--&--
"Dr. Sloan?"
Mark flipped through the file that was in front of him, making several mental notes about his new patient's history. Jerry Haliwell, 23, scheduled for a tummy tuck. She'd had one botched attempt by some schlub that had the audacity of posing as a surgeon. He gritted his teeth as he read some of the mistakes the other 'doctor' had made.
"Dr. Sloan?" the timid voice repeated itself.
"What do you want?" He looked up to see the bright-eyed intern-about-to-turn-resident leaning against the door, her one hand gripping the doorknob while the other clutched a chart against her chest. "More advice about O'Malley?" he smirked. "Though I thought that would have ended now that you're with the man. Don't you know what you're supposed to do with him now?"
Lexie shook her head. She couldn't believe she managed to survive Sloan's smug, arrogant retorts and commentary about her non-existent love life for the past year. There had been times when she had wanted to strangle him - when he would not-so-subtly allude to her crush/undying love for the man right in front of George. "I know exactly what to do with him," she shot back, with a smirk of her own. "And there definitely aren't any complaints." Her brow raised slyly.
There had been many things she had learned in his company during her time as an intern. And medicine not withstanding, being able to come back with a smart subtle retort that would shut him up had been another perk. He had sharpened her reparte. And instead of always stuttering or stumbling over her words, she had grown confident in herself and her ability.
Mark stared at her and nodded his head once, a crooked grin plastered on his face. "Touch."
"Mark, I need you to pick your brain for a moment."
"Wow," he said, arching one brow. "A few days from 'graduating' from lowly intern and you've grown some balls to think you can address me by my first name?"
"Are we really going to start my day like this?" she groaned, tilting her head questioningly. "You told me to call you that."
"Uh, that was at the bar when I'd had several drinks," he said matter-of-factly, trying to keep a stern expression on his face. "And you're still an intern, my dear. And I'm still an Attending." Straightening his pile of folders, he pushed himself up from his seat and walked over to the overly confident intern until he was standing right in front of her. She straightened her posture and met his gaze. He leaned in and whispered, "And don't you forget that."
"Uh...But..." She held out the grey chart that she had been clutching in her arm.
He watched as she swallowed uncomfortably. It amused him.
For the most part, teaching here at Seattle Grace was just a job. Sure, he had heard many of the Attendings gush about how fulfilling it was to see the interns change and grow from timid pions to competent doctors, but he had always done it because that was part of his job. It wasn't...enjoyable. With the exception of this year. Granted it helped that he knew a couple of his interns a little more personally, but things had changed a little this year. Mark wasn't sure whether it was because he was getting old and growing soft or whether it had to do with the interns. For the most part, the interns he had ever encountered or taught tended to treat him like some god. They seemed to almost revere him. It was much like that this past year with the exception of one intern. Lexie Grey.
"You're still so pathetic," he chuckled, shaking his head at the fiery red-head as he grabbed her chart and walked out into the hallway. "I got you good."
"No, you didn't," she blurted out, slightly flustered. She spun around and followed him down the corridor. "You...you didn't."
"Oh Grey, I thought you had learned something during the time you spent with me."
"I didn't fall for it," Lexie declared irritably, grabbing the chart back from him. "I just made you think that. I had to stroke your enormous ego so you'd actually listen to what I had to say."
"B.S." he coughed, all the while still laughing.
"Shut up."
"Oh man, see?" he stopped and turned to point his finger at her. "You're reverting. Since you've started dating O'Malley, you're reverting to the sad un-verbose pion I started the year with." He shook his head and grabbed the chart back, opening it and flipping through the history. "Now what do you need?" he asked curiously.
Lexie eyed him frustratingly. "I am not the same," she stated, grabbing the chart back from him. "I'm graduating from lowly intern to resident, have managed to survive a year of you, and I've got the greatest boyfriend ever."
"Oh, you didn't." He cringed like he saw a scarred abdomen, sucking in air between his teeth. "Qualifying yourself with a relationship? Bad sign, Grey. I mean, you were good up until you mentioned the waifboy."
"Shut up."
"Again, with the 'shut up'? Really?" he said raising an eyebrow. "Do you want to try again?"
Her response was a low growl.
"32-year old patient,lung transplant. He was diagnosed with lung disease and his post-op course was uncomplicated with the exception of a persistent small right pleural effusion. He was discharged doing well. Five weeks after transplantation, he developed fever and a significant fall in spirometry," she rambled, trying to ignore his attempt to egg her on.
"Why isn't the original surgical team dealing with this?" he frowned, reaching out to grab the chart. "This isn't our problem. We're not even familiar with his case."
"Ere go me trying to fill you in on this patient's history," Lexie said, still clutching the chart. "If you'd listen instead of insulting me all of the time. Plus his physicians are out of the city." Her tone was stiff and professional.
"Dr. Grey," he said, tilting his head as his lips drooped. "Are your feelings hurt?"
"No."
"Did I hurt Georgey-Porgy's girlfriend's feelings?"
"Don't call him that!" she snapped, pulling the chart out of his hand. "You are so rude and arrogant sometimes. I don't know how you have any friends at all!"
"Hey," he held his hands up in surrender, "just harmless joking, Dr. Grey. You've got to lighten up a bit."
"The joking was fine before when I was actually pathetically swooning over George," Lexie said, looking him in the eye. "Well, actually no it wasn't, but it was understandable in a sense. However, now I'm dating said guy. So I would appreciate it if you would keep your derogatory remarks to yourself."
"Hey, breathe, Grey." Mark had never seen her this upset because of his teasing. "I thought you could take it. I mean, it's not like I'm saying it to the guy," he said slowly. "Oh, wait, I do." He smirked.
Lexie took a deep breath and furrowed her brow. She was determined to not let him get away with talking about George that way. He was a great guy and didn't deserve the way Mark treated him. "It's just not nice."
"But," he leaned in, peering around the hall as if to make sure no one was listening, "I don't think it's a secret. I'm sure it's no secret to your boytoy there."
"What?"
"That I'm not nice." Mark eyed her carefully. Sometimes he wondered where Grey was. It's like she had these rose-colored glasses on. "I say what I think," he said unapologetically. "I'm honest. I don't care if an intern's feelings are hurt. If it makes them try harder or do better then I've done my job."
"But we're not just interns," Lexie stated, pressing the chart against her chest. "I know you don't think of us as just interns."
"Oh, really?"
She noticed the trademark brow raise that had, in the past, always been used to get her to question the statement she had just made. Lexie hated when he did that. She knew that he thought of her and the rest of the group as more than just co-workers and students. Over the past year though she had been tortured many-a-time by his relentless teasing and almost 'slip-ups, Lexie saw glimpses of what made all of them choose this profession. His heart. There was one in there. For the most part, Dr. Sloan was a lot of bravado; but she knew deep down he was just like the rest of them - trying to find his way.
"You put on a good show, Dr. Sloan, but I know there's a heart underneath the sexual innuendo and pomp."
Mark did not try to deny it. He didn't want to. It was nice that someone actually believed he was capable of some kind of emotional depth.
"See!" Lexie smiled gleefully, pointing at him when he did not respond with his usual dry sarcastic wit.
"Aw, shut up," he replied, trying not to smile at the exhuberance of the red-head who looked like she was going to break out into a dance at the believed silent admission. Tapping the chart which was in her grasp, "And order a bronchoscopy for Mr. Dalhousie."
She raised an eyebrow at him this time, all the while smiling smugly at Dr. Sloan, whose expression remained droll, before turning and halfway skipping her way to Mr. Dalhousie's room.
"And I'm supposedly proud of that one?" he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he turned to head to his consultation. "Oh brother."
However, a warm smile played upon his lips as he headed to the northeast wing of the hospital.