Title: Take a Step
Summary: She stares up at the bar, knowing drinking isn't quite the answer, and she thinks aloud. There beside her listening is the one man she never expected to make her feel normal after all the crap she's been through. Probably just a one-shot, on a small moment between Izzie and Mark.
Characters/Pairing: Mark/Izzie (depends on your perspective)
A/N: Finally, I got my McStizzie muse. For all who see the potential between the two. Take it as romance, or friendship, but this is the start of a relationship, because whether as friends or lovers, Mark and Izzie are compatible. Reviews are love. ENJOY.
If ever your will starts crashing down
Whenever your will starts crashing down
Whenever your will starts crashing down
That's when you find me.
From the moment they met, his insides itched to make her, his. That wasn't entirely a surprise considering his history with women, but what was a surprise was her complete indifference towards him. He never even caught her ogling him, not once did she show any type of interest in him. Just pure disgust. Perhaps that is why he gave up on her quickly, deciding against going for the chase. In his ignorant eyes, only one woman was worth chasing--the one who had first made him feel something other than lust. But soon love dissipated, as did the woman he had chased so adamantly all the way to Seattle.
Then came the Burke replacement, who had also sworn up and down that she had absolutely no interest in him. Now, this was strange, because she was so verbal in denying any attraction, and because she didn't act indifferent towards him. He knew he could get her, and he was on his way to prove this not only to himself, but to her.
But then Mark Sloan stumbled upon a sight that made him stop in his steps. This sort of thing never happened to him--he could never recall something stopping him from getting the woman he had his sights on. Well, maybe, only a woman that he had his eyes on long ago, but never gotten to. Then again, there had technically only one woman to do so. Because even though Addison had slipped through his grasps, he did have her at one point. Not this woman though, and as her distant expression made him pause, he couldn't find a reasonable excuse for stopping for her. Just maybe, it was because her eyes spoke so loudly to him, even if her gaze had never been directed at him.
So Mark Sloan made the move of courageously standing next to the woman who currently was staring at the entrance of Joe's bar.
"I came to get drunk," she said without moving her eyes from the doors.
"Excuse me?" he stared at her curiously, wondering if she was talking to herself, or if in fact she had noticed his presence.
"But then I thought, hello Izzie, the last time you got drunk, you did something very, very stupid."
"Dr. Stevens--" Mark turned his body to her, hoping that maybe he'd get her to talk to him, rather than the space in front of her.
But her eyes cut to him for two seconds, as she said, "I'm talking," and she turned back to face the doors.
She let a few seconds pass, and she continued.
"Then I got to thinking some more, about what I've been doing these past months, and I can't understand how I got here. To the point where all I want to do is get drunk off my ass, and forget all my problems."
Mark saw her take a deep intake of breath, and finally, she turned herself around completely to him.
"Since when did I become the pre-Derek Meredith Grey?"
Unlike her previous questions, this question did not sound rhetorical, and for once, Mark Sloan seemed at a loss for an answer.
Izzie, thinking she wasn't going to get an answer from him soon, sighed, rolled her eyes, and muttered, "Never mind. I don't even know why I'm talking to you."
"Hold on Stevens," he spoke boldly before she made a step to leave.
"Yes?" she said coldly.
"You couldn't possibly be the pre-Derek Meredith."
Curious as to what he meant, Izzie gazed up at Mark.
"Why?"
He shrugged, glancing around the place where they stood.
"Well, Dr. Grey wouldn't have stopped from going inside the bar," he smirked at her.
She rolled her eyes again, but a hint of a smile appeared on her face.
"That's a given," she chuckled.
"But what makes you so sure I'm not going in there even after I finish talking to you?" she cocked an eyebrow at him.
"What makes you so sure you just won't go in there, have a drink or two, talk it up with Karev, and then head home?" he cocked his own eyebrow at her.
"Alright," she laughed, letting down her guard a bit in front of Mark Sloan for the first time.
When she finished her small laugh, she settled her gaze back on Mark, letting herself smile at him.
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" she tilted her head a bit, with an inquisitive gaze.
"I'm milking this for all its worth--you've never spoken more than two words to me Stevens, and you've definitely never gone more than two minutes without calling me a pig."
"And you've never gone more than two minutes without hitting on me."
"Guess this night is full of surprises," he let his smirk fall to a natural smile.
Silence encompassed them for a moment, and an awkward tension forced them to move their eyes from one another.
"So you heading inside?" Mark nodded to the bar's doors.
Izzie looked over the doors, and a wave of the bad things that came from a night of drunken stupor hit her. The easiness that she had felt in her small conversation left her senses, as the pit of her stomach recognized the sickness she felt at the pain inflicted due in part to the alcohol.
"Stevens?" Mark called out to her.
Shaking herself mentally, Izzie brought herself back, and she smiled to herself. There really was no need to punish herself when she could pull herself back from darkness.
"Izzie, call me Izzie," she looked back up at him.
He nodded, a small grin appearing on his features.
"And it depends," she stood straight up, and she moved her blond locks from her face, "are you heading in?"
"I'm guessing not," he faked a concentrated look.
She laughed, rolling her eyes once again, as she felt a strange sense of normalcy.
She had put herself through so much in those last months, had lost friends and respect. However, as she laughed so easily, and forgot about the poison that had done her in, Isobel Stevens felt like things were finally changing. Seriously, how else would she explain her getting along with Sloan?
Mark looked at her contently, all the anxiety and frustration he had felt for not having Hahn leaving him. Izzie Stevens had his attention from day one, and her indifference might have turned him off, but now he couldn't help but ponder if it was all just a question of time.
And for the first time, Mark didn't necessarily care exactly in which way a woman cared for him. Just the fact that this woman right here hadn't thrown him to the dogs had him smiling, somehow feeling more pacified than any chase he'd ever gone on.
"What do you say to a walk, Sloan?" Izzie asked him.
"A walk huh? Is that what you kids are calling it these days?" he looked at her suggestively.
"I knew it couldn't last," she murmured.
"Aw, don't take it the wrong way--Izzie," he grinned in satisfaction of using her nickname.
"You sure do know how to get under a girls' skin."
"Only when the girl allows for it," he leaned down a bit and whispered.
"Sloan, do you want to take friggin walk or not?!" she backed her head.
"Fine," he sighed, "but if I sprain an ankle, it's all on you."
"Right, wouldn't want to bring the priceless plastic surgeon down, right?"
"Stevens, are we going on this walk or not?" he crossed his arms over his chest, not too fond of people poking fun at him.
"Whoa, take it easy, or I will tell all the nurses united against Mark Sloan of this nice guy side."
"Would it help getting me on their good side?" he considered the option.
"More like they'd use it as blackmail," she crossed her own arms.
"We should get to walking."
"We should," Izzie nodded in agreement, but didn't move.
"After you," he waved his hand in front of him, and he smiled when she did begin walking.
He hung back a second, noting how her hair flowed on her back, and how confidently she walked. She turned her head around, and pausing, yelled, "Coming Mark?"
She stood there waiting, grinning teasingly at him.
"Who said you could call me Mark?" he didn't move, just smirked his McSteamy smile.
"Who said I couldn't?" she grinned back at him.
Chuckling to himself, he gave into a small jog, until he reached her to walk beside her.
"You know, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship," Mark grinned ear to ear, whispering over to her.
"Wow, you're already making me regret this," Izzie frowned.
But he saw through her joke, because it was her eyes that said everything. Hers were the only ones that had ever spoken to him, and he felt relief at having her eyes feel like those he had met when he had first arrived to Seattle Grace--the ones prior to her heartbreaks. All along, he should have known that if anyone was going to make him pause or think, it would be the Izzie Stevens he had seen in those months prior to her heart patient.
Because everything happens eventually.
It's just a question of time.
Lost til you're found
Swim til you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love til you hate
Jump til you break
Know that we all fall down
Song "All Fall Down" by OneRepublic