Lexie:
Well, he was finally here. Mark was. I mean, it took him a while but he was finally here. When his plane first touched down in Seattle, I rushed to the airport to meet him. His arms were open to greet me and for a second it felt like I was his again...until he put me down and brought me back to reality with the simple words:
"I missed you, bud! How has Seattle Grace been doing without my amazing plastic skills?" His voice was warm, not a hint of cruelty in them but his words stung worse than salt on an open wound.
"It's running perfect. We're completely fine without you." Lexie tried to mask her words with a teasing gentleness, but she really hoped she came off as cold to him. How could he just pretend like there was nothing between them?
Mark chuckled. "How is Torres and Robbins doing with Sophia? I meant to call but uh...Well, you know." He trailed off, his blue eyes tinged with gray like a storm on the horizon, becoming increasingly distant.
Lexie did know. She knew all too well. The fight between Mark and Lexie right before Mark up and left for Casablanca, Morocco without a word to her. The nights leading up to the evening when Mark called her and apologized to her, wanting to start over as just friends. Lexie remembered it all.
Looking over at him, her dark brown eyes sparkled for a second. Maybe there was still a chance...No. She shook the thoughts out of her head and looked down at Mark's luggage. "Do you need any help?"
Mark glanced down at his suitcase and shook his head quickly. "No, I've got it. Just get me back to Meredith's house and get this welcome back party started!" His enthusiasm was one of pure mockery to Lexie's unmet expectations of him kissing her and saying he wanted her back. She bit her lip and sighed inwardly. So much for that.
Climbing into the driver's seat, she watched in the rear-view mirror as Mark put his luggage in the back of her truck. He appeared so nonchalant about all of this. It was unnerving. How could he just be so confident around her? It was worse than the infamous Mark cold shoulder.
Once in the passenger's seat, Mark looked onwards toward the wet July pavement in front of them. "In Casablanca it was sunny. Or at least it was when I was there."
"Of course it was." She rolled her eyes and put the key into the ignition, the car slowly lurching forward. She tightly gripped the wheel with both of her hands and grimaced. She could barely even look at him.
Mark immediately noticed the tension-as always-but didn't press the subject. "You'll get carpal tunnel gripping that wheel that hard."
Lexie ignored him though she really wanted to laugh and playfully punch his shoulder. He had the ability to immediately make her feel better, but for once she wanted to be the one who was closed off. He deserved it anyway for taking off and leaving her without a goodbye.
The rest of the ride to Meredith's humble abode was full of small talk. Only on Lexie's half, of course. Mark, on the other hand, couldn't stop gushing about Moroccan culture and how much he missed the feeling of the scalpel in his hand and blah, blah, blah. Lexie was just focused on how much whiskey she could stomach to get through this painful welcome back party.
"Well, would you lookie here!" She practically sang as she parked near the curb across from Meredith's house. "We're here!"
Finally, Mark let out a belated sigh and looked over at her, his tone dark. "Is there something going on that I need to know about, Lexie?"
Lexie shook her head, her chocolate brown hair hitting her in the face. She stopped and smirked at him. "Of course not. I'm pretty swell right now." The sarcasm was too obvious. She groaned and got out of the vehicle, slamming the door and stomped up to Meredith's doorstep.
The door swung open and Derek Shepherd, Meredith's husband, smiled at her. He glanced past her at Mark, who was still carrying his suitcase.
Dropping the heavy luggage on the porch, Mark practically leapt at Derek and gave him a huge bear hug. "Man, it's sure good to be home!"
Derek patted Mark's back. "Well, it's good to have you back!" He smiled that perfect smile and Lexie was temporarily overwhelmed with jealousy. Meredith, of course, was the luckier sister. She got the guy while Lexie could barely move on from her last boyfriend who, at the moment, seemed to care less about the fact that little over two weeks ago, he had feelings for her. Or so she thought.
Meredith popped up behind Derek and hugged Mark. She took one look at her sister and wrinkled her eyebrows. She knew something was wrong.
"Let's get this party started!" Mark cheered, grabbing his luggage and stepping into the warm home. He was surprised to see all of his friends and family-even his daughter Sophia. He instantly moved to Sophia, swooping her out of Callie's hands and bouncing her up and down in his arms.
"Well, well. Looks like Mark Sloan is back in town," Callie announced, crossing her arms and offering him a warm smile.
"And it looks like Callie Torres still hates my guts," Mark scoffed, grinning down at Sophia. "Did you miss Daddy? Huh?" Sophia was too distracted by Arizona, who was motioning for him to hand her over.
"Next time, remember to say goodbye to your daughter and maybe Callie wouldn't hate you so much," Arizona's blue eyes sparkled with amusement.
Raising his eyebrows, he glanced over his shoulder at Lexie, who was looking sullen-faced and talking to Meredith."Yeah, I don't think I'll be going anywhere soon. You're not the only one unhappy with me."
Callie pretended to pout. "Aw, does Mark Sloan have the Lexie Grey blues?"
Mark ignored the jab and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He didn't have the time nor the energy to gossip about his love life with his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child in front of everybody including Callie's own girlfriend, Arizona. He just wanted to get drunk and forget the tension of tonight.
Webber, the former chief of surgery of Seattle Grace, sauntered over to Mark and patted him on the back goodheartedly. "It's great to have you back, Dr. Sloan. The plastics have missed you."
Mark nodded and took a long swig of his beer, taking in Webber's aged face. He had grown older since the last time Mark had seen him. "How is Adele doing?"
The senior doctor bowed his head and looked down at his feet, sighing. Was this the wrong time and place to bring it up? "Well, some days she acts like normal. Other days she thinks I'm the pizza delivery guy. She won't let the in-home nurses anywhere near her..." Richard Webber trailed off. "You know what? This is a party. For you. Drink up. Celebrate. Don't worry about me." The chief smiled gingerly and walked to the other side of the living room, conversing with Miranda Bailey.
Mark looked over at Lexie again. She was now sitting on the sofa closest to the platter of whiskey shots, gazing down at the carpet. Meredith was still speaking to her but it didn't seem like Lexie was paying attention. Meredith glanced up briefly and met Mark's eyes. She snapped her attention back to her sister quickly and Mark immediately knew they were talking about him.
Clenching his jaw, he turned around, taking a huge gulp of his beer and resting it on a coffee table before grabbing another one and heading towards April Kepner. He knew just what to do, even if it were borderline cruel. April was an easy target. She was insecure and took all the attention she could get from men.
Mark tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around, smiling. "Hey! Welcome back, Dr. Sloan."
Smirking, he shrugged. "You can call me Mark. We're not in the hospital anymore." He kept his voice low and husky, making it so no one else could hear.
Avery Jackson shifted from foot to foot beside April. He could still definitely hear. Mark smiled politely at him. Jackson was a good friend of his. He wouldn't mind if he took advantage of April for one night...
April blinked. She wasn't stupid. "Uh, okay. Mark." Her voice was hesitant. Everybody at Seattle Grace knew Mark to sleep around with girls. April might be innocent, but when it came to Mark she was not naive.
Avery coughed and Mark looked up at him. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing." There was a sense of aggressiveness behind his voice that was doused heavily with nonchalance. Mark could still feel the tension and there was anger tinged in the doctor's sky-blue eyes.
Mark's eyes widened. Jackson and Kepner were a thing now! Well, there went that. He took in a sharp breath and nodded at Avery. "You two don't get too wild tonight." He looked at Avery for a moment, sending a silent apology to his best friend.
Sleeping with April was not an option. Lexie was definitely not an option unless he wanted her to feel he wanted to get back together. Meredith was married to one of his closest friends, Bailey was engaged, Cristina was here with Owen and they were getting along for once. Not to mention the fact that there were no other women doctors or even nurses here. He was out of luck. He would have to just drink it out and hope to the God he never believed in that he would pass out on the couch and everyone but Meredith and Derek would leave.
Once everybody managed to say welcome back to Mark, Meredith turned up the music and began dancing with Cristina. Sophia and Zola had already been tucked in bed and were both sound asleep. Meredith motioned for Mark to get up and dance, but he stayed on the couch watching everybody basically make a fool out of themselves. Even Derek and Alex Karev.
It wasn't until people began starting to really heavily drink that Mark noticed Lexie wasn't in the living room. Or the kitchen. Neither was April. Getting up from the recliner, he searched throughout the house for the two out of curiosity until he heard muffled voices coming from the guest bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. Mark silently walked towards it, peering in. Lexie and April were both perched on the edge of the bed, facing each other. Lexie's back was to Mark.
She was crying.