A/N – Although Christmas is a stressor for me, I've decided to include a special Christmas episode for all Mark/Izzie lovers out there. They really do make a beautiful couple, come to think of it. ;p
"Suck," Mark ordered, not even looking at Izzie. "Over here." He guided Izzie's hand over the breast. "Come on, Stevens. Don't be shy."
Izzie was fuming. Sloan is such a sleazy, cocky bastard with all his innuendoes. She hated being paired with Dr. Sloan, though his surgeries were quite interesting and he asks her difficult questions. It compelled her to study doubly hard the night before in order to stump him. Rolling her eyes, she followed Mark's command and began suctioning the blood from the patient's breast.
"What approach would you have recommend for this patient?" Mark asked, busily cauterizing the bleeders.
"Subpectoral approach," Izzie replied, holding the pair of saline breast implants in her hand. "This prevents fibrosis and would look more natural."
Mark nodded, clamping another bleeder and holding the clamp upright. "Touch me."
"Huh?"
Mark chuckled, clamping yet another bleeder. "Touch your cautery tip to my clamp. I'll hold it up and you cauterize."
Izzie rolled her eyes for the nth time. "You could just tell me to clamp and cauterize it."
"I like your naughty mind, Dr. Stevens." Mark winked at her. "It just so happens that's how the way we talk in New York. I just moved here. Old habits die hard."
"That's not the only habit that's hard to get rid of," Izzie muttered under her breath.
"Are you pertaining to the 'dirty mistress' thing?"
"I did not say anything, Dr. Sloan." Izzie cocked her head to one side and acted confused. "Must have been your imagination."
Mark looked at her, studying her for the first time. "You've been stereotyped in this hospital as this hot lingerie model-turned-doctor before. In my previous surgeries where you've been my intern, you've proven that my initial impression was just what it was---a result of bad publicity."
Izzie bowed her head in shame. However cocky or arrogant he was, Sloan was still her attending. She sighed.
"I am what I am, Stevens. I don't pretend to be someone I'm not. And I don't apologize for being what I am." Mark stated.
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"Pour me a drink, Joe." Mark sat on the bar stool, grabbing some peanuts.
Joe slid a glass in front of him. "You're becoming a regular here, Mark."
"It sure beats drinking alone in my hotel room, getting bored." He gulped down his drink. "Another one, Joe."
"Hey." Izzie sat down a couple of stools away. "Can I join you?"
Mark didn't even turn his head but just glanced at Izzie through the corner of his eyes. "Until now, I didn't realize you had the hots for me, Stevens. Be my guest." His voice was flat and sarcastic.
Izzie sat down beside him, her beer in tow. "I owe you a drink," she said simply.
"You don't owe me anything, Stevens." Mark downed his drink again and gestured for another one.
Izzie motioned to Joe to place Mark's order in her tab. She faced Mark squarely. "Yes I do." Izzie sighed heavily before she began. "First of all, I would like to thank you. Ever since I told you that you would have to earn my respect, I've noticed that you have gone out of your way to 'teach' me. You never did that for the others and I would just like to say that I appreciate that."
She fidgeted in her seat, not sure if Mark was listening to her. "Also, I would like to apologize for being rude this morning. That comment was uncalled for. You are, after all, my attending and I am your intern."
"Start by calling me, Mark." Finally, he looked at her and said in earnest. "Buy me another drink, Stevens."
Izzie grinned, popping some peanuts in her mouth. She looked at his choice of drink. "Scotch for Dr. Sloan and a double-shot tequila for me, Joe."
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"I thought she hated him," Cristina remarked as she threw a dart at the board.
Puzzled at the scene, George just witnessed that moment Izzie joined Sloan and even bought him a drink. "I thought so too."
"What's up with them?" Meredith had arrived, drinking from George's beer bottle.
"Hey, get your own." George grabbed his bottle from Meredith, then gave it back to her as an afterthought. "Never mind. I'll get another one." He eyed her suspiciously. "I don't trust where those lips have been."
Meredith playfully slapped George's arm and giggled.
Cristina frowned, studying the couple on the bar carefully. "Izzie looks like she's halfway to getting drunk."
"Oh no, Izzie's at her worst when she gets drunk."
Shaking her head at Meredith's understatement, Cristina was not amused. "Izzie's worse than you-sleeping-around-when-you're-wasted. She becomes this sad, pathetic, emotional creature."
Meredith was concerned. "George, let's get her out of here."
Cristina threw another dart and laughed. "Aw, come on. Let her feed 'The Beast." It's time for her to get over Denny. I bet McSteamy can really make her forget about Denny whatsisname for a couple of hours."
Alex hung his coat on the back of a chair. "Yeah, let her have some. I bet you twenty, Sloan's going to get her drunk and bring her to his hotel room."
Cristina grabbed the darts off the board and threw in another twenty on the table.
George and Meredith looked at each other. "She's our friend!" Meredith exclaimed, already marching down to the bar. George suddenly stood in her way.
"She's a big girl, Mer. She can handle herself."
Meredith turned around and added another twenty on the table. "My money's on Sloan."
George grunted in disgust. "Pigs." He added another bill on the pile. "My twenty's on Izzie."
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You think something will happen to Mark and Izzie?
Please R & R!