What if their roles were reversed? What if Lexie wasn´t the cute little intern but a bossy and extraordinary attending? What if Mark wasn´t the flirty plastic surgeon but a hot new-to-the-business intern? Let´s find out…
It was Mark´s first day at the Seattle Grace hospital and he stood in front of the mirror fixing his hair and beard for the tenth time. His anxiety about becoming a real doctor today and treating real patients was quickly put away by his attitude and him thinking that he was the sexiest man on earth. No doubt, he looked great even with this furious look on his face because his hair wouldn´t do as he wanted. After another try it finally stuck to his plan and he got dressed in jeans, a white shirt that showed off his muscles and a black rough leather jacket. He was definitely feeling himself when he sat down in his expensive black car and drove to the hospital.
As soon as he arrived and entered the intern´s locker room he felt the awkwardness and nervousness in there. Everyone was excited and going through some medical terms again. Mark looked around kinda thinking that he would take everything too easy and should also prepare himself but then it was already too late and a nurse came in telling everybody which resident they were assigned to. He quickly changed into the scrubs that where in his locker and almost stumbled over it as he heard his name.
"Sloan?" the nurse asked unimpressed by how cute Mark looked when the anxiety finally broke through.
"Yeah." he murmured and the nurse pointed to a resident outside the door.
"Deluca, go. You´re late." She meant before calling other names and letting Mark be on his own. He went towards the resident the nurse showed him and soon noticed he was already talking. Quickly he managed to join the group and caused an eyeroll from Deluca´s side.
"And you must be Mark Sloan." The doctor meant annoyed and Mark nodded quickly. "My name is Andrew Deluca, I am a second year resident and you and these other three people were assigned to me. Great, let´s show you the hospital." He explained and went into another direction, followed by the group of interns which consisted out of two women, Mark and another man. And by the looks on their faces they all weren´t less nervous than Mark was.
"Doctor Webber, please. I have never done this and it would be a huge opportunity for one of the interns." Lexie Grey, head of neurosurgery, stood in the chief´s office begging for leading the first operation an intern gets within his first 48 hours.
"I know, and you are an amazing surgeon but normally it´s something easy like an appendix and not brain surgery." Richard Webber explained why he wouldn´t let her.
"I have a super easy aneurysm. Barely a surgery if you ask me. I could do it with my eyes closed and an intern could do it for sure. Also, I would only choose the best. You know how careful I am with picking out the residents." Lexie assured him again, hoping he would allow her to operate but Webber just sighed followed by a few seconds of silence.
"Okay." He then eventually agreed to Lexie´s surprise. "But only, if I can see the intern before and make sure you made the right choice." Lexie quickly nodded and left the office with a bright smile. Richard knew how good she was. He himself trained her and watched her grow in his hospital. But he knew she was easy to manipulate and was letting her emotions getting the best of her.
The tour through the hospital was finished and Deluca told Mark to work in the e.r. on easy cases. So he went into the so-called pit and looked around if he could see anything that would work for him, but since he didn´t see anything he decided to ask at the desk, where a dark haired woman was sitting by.
"Hey. Mark Sloan. Do you have any work to do for me?...or do you wanna work with me?" he started flirting immediately.
"Lexie Grey, head of neuro, and you must be a new intern, and already flirting with the attending, wow." she replied sassy and Mark lost his smirk.
"No I am not...um...a new intern I um...I guess you have just never seen me." he lied and made Lexie scoff a little.
"Trust me, I´m pretty good at remembering stuff and you are definitely not someone I´ve ever seen." she smiled standing up and taking a chart while walking around the desk and stopping right in front of him. "Show me what you can do, newbie." she meant teasingly and pressed the chart into his hands, leaving him standing there with no clue what just happened.
"Okay." he murmured to himself opening the chart and reading that it was just a cut on a kid´s arm and knowing how good his sutures were he wanted to impress the bossy attending.
30 minutes later Lexie came back to the e.r. and checked on Mark who just finished the suture. Without noticing the attending behind him, he told the kid and his mother everything would be fine with a beautiful smile and stood up to leave when he almost ran into the young neuro surgeon.
"Doctor Grey. Admiring my work?" he giggled and caused another eye roll from her side. But she had to give it to him. The suture he did was incredibly precise for an intern and would leave a barely noticeable scar behind.
"You did pretty okay I guess." she downplayed his work but with a cheeky smile.
"Oh please. I did amazing." Mark meant a bit too bratty while they went to the desk again.
"Get off your high horse, especially in your first 48 hours. Also you should rather get some rest and a snack. I heard there will be a surgery where one of the interns gets to assist." Lexie spoiled him the big event she would lead in a few hours.
"Do you also know what kind of surgery?" Mark asked flirty, leaning a bit forward to her which caused her to step back.
"You´ll have to wait and see I guess." she meant walking towards the door to leave the pit again but still facing towards him. "Find something to do. But don´t kill anybody. I wouldn´t wanna have blood on my hands in my first shift." she meant before leaving with a smile and another intern joined Mark.
"Damn. She´s bossy." he said and Mark, who still looked at the door that just closed behind her, nodded smirking.
"I know. I dig it." he replied before asking for another work to do.
"So doctor Grey? Have you already picked your intern for the surgery?" Webber asked when they found themselves in his office again.
"Yes, I think there is some real talent under those scared beginners." Lexie replied thinking about her watch over the interns.
"Well, I have two in mind. One is Derek Shepherd. Slow and small movements with his hands, a very good and careful eye and he´s interested in neuro as well. The other one was Mark Sloan, very precise work, takes his time and a plastics enthusiast which also means self confident and calm hands." the attending explained to the chief while he studied their charts.
"Both are well educated, learned from good doctors. Whoever you choose, I approve." she nodded looking up to Lexie again.
"Great. I´ll announce it then in half an hour." she meant standing up and with a goodbye she then left the office. She already knew who she´d pick. This man just wouldn´t leave her thoughts.
"Did you hear about the surgery today?" Mark heard an intern behind him talking to another one. He was standing at the coffee cart, waiting for his big black coffee that would make him stay focused and awake. He´s been working for a whole day already and his eyes were getting heavier with every second.
"Yes I heard a rumor that it was a brain surgery." the other intern replied to the first ones question. Suddenly Mark was more awake than ever. Brain surgery? That´s not his specialty. He was good, without a doubt, but brain surgery? But then another thought came to his mind. Didn´t the sweet bossy attending say that she was head of neuro?
"Mark Sloan?" the barista shouted and Mark quickly took his coffee and approached a table where an inter was sitting all by himself, digging his nose into medical journals and books.
"Derek? Derek Shepherd?" he slowly asked with a grin on his face and the dark-haired man looked up. Surprise was written all over his face, then excitement took its place.
"Mark Sloan! How long has it been?" he stood up and gave Mark a warm hug.
"Must be before med-school. If I had know you work here as well I would have reached out. I thought you´d stay in New York." the blond guy told his friend, his grin now wider than before. "Man, it´s been so long. How´s Addison?"
"Ah let´s talk about something different." Derek tried to change the subject but Mark insisted. "She cheated on me. That´s why I came here."
"Oh, I´m so sorry. You know with whom?" Mark didn´t want to sound snoopy but he also wanted to know what Derek knew.
"No she didn´t tell me. I only know he was somebody close to us. Any way did you hear about the surgery?" Derek now eventually changed the subject pointed on a picture of a brain on the cover of one of the journals.
"Yes. Do you know who leads it?" Mark wondered not getting Lexie out of his head.
"Yeah, doctor Grey, the head of neuro. And it´s a neuro surgery, I am so excited. I hope she´ll pick me to assist." he nodded and day dreamed of his future and also being the head of neurosurgery at some point.
"Ask her yourself." Mark meant, nodding towards the petite woman that clapped with her hands so it would be quiet around her and everyone would listen.
"As you may have heard, I am gonna lead the very first operation an intern can assist on. And after close consideration I decided to go with...doctor Mark Sloan. Congratulations. It´s a brain aneurysm so I´d suggest you´ll go prepare." she smiled at him as she announced that he was the lucky one. Her speech was followed by some interns sighing and others clapping for Mark.
"You always had to be the first." Derek meant closing his text books and taking a sip of his coffee. Mark still stared at the place Lexie stood, now talking to other doctors, his smile wide and happy. "Hello? Don´t you want to go and prepare yourself? Study about the procedure?" Derek suggested and Mark quickly shook his head so his thoughts of Lexie would leave his head.
"Right...Can I borrow your stuff?" he pointed on the books and journals in front of his friend and with a eye roll and annoyed "sure" Derek shoved the things over to Mark and left the table.
The time Mark had left to study had passed by too quickly and he found himself standing in the scrub room and scrubbing his arms and hands nervously.
"You ready?" the door suddenly opened and Lexie came in, taking a mask to cover her mouth and starting to clean her fingernails. Mark just gave her a quick nod and tried to concentrate on getting sterile.
"If I wouldn´t know any better I´d say you´re nervous." Lexie teased him a bit and opened a back of sanitizing soap.
"I´m not." he replied out of breath from all the scrubbing.
"Relax." Lexie put her hand on his shoulder before starting to get sterile herself. "I´ve picked you for a reason. You´ve got this." she gave him a smile under hear mask, but her eyes lit up so he could recognize it anyway. For a brief moment they looked at each other, nobody saying a word and all you could hear was the water in which Mark was rinsing his hands. The automatic door that opened and the o.r. nurse that asked the to hurry tore them out of their moment.
"We´ll be there any minute, right doctor Sloan?" Lexie started washing her hands while Mark dried his and went inside the o.r. to get dressed. Lexie watched him taking deep breaths while the nurses put gloves on his hands. She didn´t know what it was but he had something special about him. Something she never knew she needed.
The two doctors were halfway through the surgery and now it was about time to start clipping the aneurysm.
"Doctor Sloan. If you´d like." Lexie handed him a tong and the nurse held a box with different clips up to him. He chose a metal clip and took it with the tong.
"Good choice, steady hand. Now insert it to the brain and clip the aneurysm without rupturing it." Lexie meant staring at his work, the shortly looking up to the gallery where the other interns and residents were watching and making bets. But before she could look back to his work, he had already finished it.
"Done." Mark exhaled deeply as if he had held his breath the whole time. The nurse that were able to applauded him and Lexie also gave him a approving nod.
"Alrighty, that´s what I call calm hands. You wanna close? I think the last thing this guy needs is a ugly scar. And I´ve maybe downplayed your work yesterday. Your sutures are really good." Lexie complimented him and Mark raised his eyebrows as he didn´t expect her to say that. "For an intern." she quickly added to downplay it again and both had to chuckle a bit. Lexie wanted to look at his technique but couldn´t concentrate and watched his face out of the corner of her eye. She couldn´t help but feel safe around him and let her guard down. And this was something she usually didn´t do as she was hurt before by trusting people too quickly.
"That was a very good surgery. I think I made the right call with you." Lexie meant when they left the o.r. wing and headed to a nurse´s desk to fill in the data in the patient´s chart.
"I can only give it back to you. You are an outstanding surgeon. I would love to work more often with you." Mark smirked and made Lexie chuckle a bit. "So what do you say?" He came a bit closer and Lexie watched him out of the corner of her eye, feeling a bit uncomfortable by an intern flirting with her but also flattered."You wanna go to the bar down the street? Celebrating the excellent surgery we two just had? I heard they have very fine drinks." Mark grinned now standing next to her as close as possibly to not actually touch her.
"You mean Joe´s? Yeah they really have good drinks." Lexie stepped back a bit, taking the charts in her hands. Mark already smiled, thinking it was a yes until she continued.
"But I think I have to decline. I don´t really share drinks with interns." She smiled before walking away. He scoffed, not being used to getting such answers. But he still decided to go there, checking out the drinks, the bar,…the girls.
Mark sat by the bar nipping his scotch looking around if he saw someone familiar or someone to spend the night with. He was quickly torn out of his thoughts when he heard a bag being thrown onto the bar and a nice warm voice asking for a tequila, behind him.
"I thought you wouldn´t share drinks with interns." He meant jokingly and turned around to face Lexie who just rolled her eyes.
"Who says I´m sharing it with you?" she mocked him but Mark couldn´t stop looking at her with a please-I-know-you´re-falling-for-me kind of look.
"Alright, I changed my mind." she eventually admitted and sat down next to him.
"Did you now." he still looked at her the same way until she got her drink and held it up to clink their glasses.
"So what do you think makes you a great surgeon?" Lexie asked after they took a sip and started looking at each other again.
"Well, as you said, I have calm hands, perfect for plastics. And I also have the look for plastic surgery." Mark replied smirking when Lexie had to scoff.
"The look? Didn´t know this was necessary for being a surgeon." she giggled and so did he.
"But you don´t disagree with me looking good, apparently." he noticed which lead to Lexie rolling her eyes again. "Same question to you." Mark then meant and Lexie started taking this more serious again.
"Well, I have the best possible training, got it at Seattle Grace as well. I interact with the patients well, and I show emotions and my feelings and feel for them and with them. Oh, and I have a photographic memory – secret superpower." She listed and Mark looked impressed.
"Photographic memory, huh? Periodic table, go!" he ordered smiling and Lexie started counting.
"Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, I can keep going." She chuckled and Mark shook his head unable to believe that he met someone who really had a photographic memory. "Now you." Lexie ordered him but Mark quickly shook his head.
"No..no. I can call myself lucky when I remember what I had for breakfast." he explained and both couldn´t stop laughing.
"So, what did you have?" Lexie teased him a bit.
"Probably a pack of two weeks old chips and a lukewarm water from the vending machine." he described his healthy breakfast which made them laugh even more.
"Mark Sloan, I think we will have a lot of fun together." Lexie raised her glass again and Mark smirked.
"I´m sure we will." Mark replied flirty an Lexie blushed into a deep red.
"Professionally of course." she added with a tiny wink and bright smile.
"Of course." he assured her with his typical Mark-Sloan smile.