Author's Note: Chapter Two, mostly revised!
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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Grey's Anatomy (trust me, I'd change lots of things and many who died would still be kicking!), its characters, or any other copyrighted/trademarked material that may or may not be mentioned in this story. I DO own my original character, and any personal plot bunnies I let escape!
~Chapter Two~
Our gossiped about newcomer slowly sat up, making sure to hold me in place on his lap so that I didn't tumble haphazardly onto the floor while Derek tried to crowd around us, moving into his typical overbearing and slightly neurotic, in my opinion at the moment at least, neurosurgeon mode. I was fully prepared to smack him if he got close enough for me to do it. Meredith swatted at him though, beating me to the punch as she pushed him away from me while I groaned, begging her to get him the hell out of my sight.
Not that I could see so well anyway, what with the blood leaking down by the corner of my eye and the throbbing pain that filled the right side of my face.
"Chelle I need to check and see-" He started, annoyance obvious in his tone.
"What you need to do is go sit in that conference room." Richard ordered, his voice taking on hard edge that dared defiance.
"But Chief-" Derek started, partially outraged.
"Now!" Richard shouted, making me cringe into the chest of the man who still held me in his lap.
I dimly heard Addison's voice as she walked him away from us before Richard and Meredith's muttered concerns and quick checks over my body took full precedence in my brain. They were loud, worried, and…loud.
"Shhh!" I murmured, gripping my head tightly. "Can you guys just be a little bit quieter? I've got a killer headache going on here."
Mark chuckled underneath me again, the vibrations moving through his chest and into my body, provoking a slight smile from me. He rose quickly, still managing to retain perfect balance while lifting me at the same time as he did, until I ended up reclined in his arms with my head feeling top-heavy from the impact.
"Lean your head to my shoulder." He murmured, his voice taking on a soothing lilt.
"No, I'll get you all bloody," I protested, almost giving a slight shake of my head before I thought better of it.
A deep sigh came from my father-figure who had moved in to stand directly in front of Mark, slowly and gently checking my head over until his fingers found the sore spot, like Mark had, again that had me wincing and trying to pull back away from his hold.
"Meredith, take them both in to exam room one. Suture them and get x-rays, we need to see if Derek's fist did any internal damage." Richard murmured, his tone betraying his worry and annoyance at the same time.
My sister nodded next to me before gesturing to Mark to put me down so that she could help me walk down the hallway, but he just ignored her and started walking forward down the hallway on his own, leaving Meredith to rolled her eyes heavenward and me to giggle quietly. My head tilted back enough to make eye-contact with my sister though, and I gave her a pitiful look.
"Again!" I groaned, covering my eyes with a hand. "We're going to be at the top of Seattle Grace's gossip mill again Meredith."
"Hey, at least I'm not the one letting him carry me around the hospital." She shot back, her brow arched perfectly as she waved her hand toward Mark as evidence.
"This place is like a soap opera," I declared, finally giving in as I gently laid my head on the shoulder provide for me. "I shit you not!"
A small snort was her reply while she held the door to the unoccupied exam room open for Mark to carry me through, and his chest beneath me rumbled slightly.
"Ladies, ladies. No need to fight, there's plenty of me to go around." Mark chuckled, gently setting me down on a free gurney before standing straight again as he smoothed his warm fingers over my forehead. "You take a pretty good punch, princess."
"I try, I try." I murmured, shutting my eyes sleepily while he sat down so Meredith could work on his face.
Even sitting the guy was taller than her, which meant he was also taller than me, something that was a bit of a requirement of mine. It was just one more thing to add to his list of already established perfection that seemed to be growing by the second.
"No Chelle, you have to stay awake, at least until after we get films back." Meredith reprimanded me and I huffed, easing up slowly to sit and lean against the wall.
A few moments of silence passed and I was seriously beginning to doubt my ability to stay awake, and worrying about what that could mean, before Mark's rough voice filled the air again, distracting me from my desire to doze.
"Derek and I always did have the same taste in women." He mused, glancing at Meredith from the corner of his eye.
"Excuse me?" Meredith asked, concentrating on her work.
I made a slightly amused sound in the back of my throat, grinning when Mark winked at me and Meredith sent me a glare. "What? It's not my fault the innocent tone doesn't suit you at all."
"Chelle." Meredith warned.
"You're Derek's lusty intern, right?" Mark questioned teasingly, glancing at her again as she worked. "I heard about you all the way back in New York. You're quite famous."
Meredith, despite her initial intent to not like the man, chuckled quietly and I giggled as I shook my head before I remembered the hit and winced in pain. This whole getting smacked around thing was seriously inconvenient, I needed to remember not to do it anymore.
"Well, we heard about you all the way here in Seattle, so I guess we have a lot in common." She said dryly, glancing over to me, obviously checking my position.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'm still awake Mer."
Mark chuckled before glancing back to my sister and then forward to me, looking smug. "We're the dirty mistresses."
I laughed quietly again while my sister replied to his observation, bantering back and forth. It was getting harder to listen to them though, and the urge to sleep was easily becoming overpowering, whispers of rest teasing my consciousness. I kept zoning in and out of their conversation, my eyes blinking heavily as I attempted to force myself into keeping them open, but it was much too hard. Something about four hundred-dollar an hour shrinks, self-destructiveness, Derek not doing anything when he walked in on Mark and Addison but going all Tarzan-like when he saw Mark talking to Meredith. I couldn't help but roll my eyes inwardly, seething mentally at the fact that even though he had lied and had chosen his wife instead, he still tried to keep Meredith on a leash.
"Michelle Gracelyn Grey! Wake your ass up!" Meredith's voice hit my ears shrilly and I groaned softly, forcing my eyes back open again.
"Jesus Mere, no full names in front of people, especially hot guys." I whined, giving her a full pout as I wiped my face. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Mark's low chuckle filling the room once again made my eyes spring open fully to take in his amused expression as he gazed at me and a blush crept hotly across my skin while Meredith gaped at me.
"I just said that out loud...didn't I?" I asked quietly. Their silence was answer enough. "Oh God."
That's when I noticed the newcomer was literally suturing his own face and I let out my breath in a huff. What was he, freaking perfect? Sitting there, Meredith holding a mirror up for him as the man sutured his own damn face. It was the biggest temptation and tease I had been confronted with in a long, long time.
Downright sexy.
Not good.
"Alright Chelle, I'm going to throw this away and then do yours." Meredith murmured as Mark finished up the work on his cheek.
"That's alright, I'll take care of her. You need to schedule those x-rays for us anyway." Mark murmured, fluidly hopping down from the gurney.
Meredith looked at me uncertainly and I waved my hand at her, motioning her forward so that we could get them over with as soon as possible. Besides, I was a big girl, I could handle myself just fine with the big, bad plastic surgeon. He was hot and all, but I had myself covered. He approached me slowly after Meredith left, though I could still see her standing at the nurse's station with the rest of our intern group…blatantly staring. Mark grimaced some when he came to a stop between my legs, something that quickly had my stomach doing little flips at the warm contact of his thighs brushing along mine, and leaned in to look at my forehead a little closer; all while officially provoking my worry.
"Is it bad? How bad is it? Am I going to scar? I cannot scar. I am so going to kill that wavy haired son of a-" I hissed out my words as he delivered a needle full of numbing agent to the right side of my face.
He silenced me though with a low chuckle and a finger pressed to my lips before his warm, deeply rich voice filled the room and that classic smirk reappeared. The entire time he was smoothing a finger across my face, tracing from my jawline down so that he could trace the outline of my slightly pouted bottom lip.
"Shh, I'll take really good care of you Dr. Grey," He practically cooed, throwing a wink my way that nearly had my breath hitching…again.
I swallowed lightly before responding. "That's right, you're a Plastics G-"
The loud sound of blinds being rustled as Alex Karev hurried into the room cut off my sentence and I let out a small groan of annoyance because of the interruption. I wasn't surprised though, I knew Alex and I also knew he'd totally jump on an opportunity like this.
"Dr. Sloan, I'm Dr. Karev and I'll be taking you down for the x-ray you requested." He rambled quickly, clasping his hands in front of himself.
Mark's eyes narrowed some as he finished removing the blood from around my cut and unpacked the leftover suturing kit. "Dr. Karev, do you see that I'm in the middle of sewing up Dr. Grey's face?"
I bit down on my lip at his obviously annoyed tone and at Alex's knee jerk, stuttering reaction when his attention fell to me.
"Tell the x-rays to wait, we'll be out when we're finished here." Mark murmured, concentrating on my face as he slowly dipped the needle in and out of my numbed skin.
Alex fumbled around again for a few more seconds after his apparent dismissal before throwing a glare my way over his shoulder and storming quietly from the exam room. Like it was my fault he just blew into the room like a hurricane of self-impression so he could sweep Mark Sloan off his feet…yeah right.
Mark grinned again when all was once more quiet. "So, how do you fit into this whole thing?"
My eyes darted up to his in question before I caught on to what he meant. "Oh you mean the whole Meredith/Derek relationship that imploded upon the arrival of Addison?"
His brows arched in surprise, deep blue irises regarding me carefully. "Addison huh? You two must be close."
I snorted, too amused to care about its unattractive sound. "Hardly. I'm the twin sister of her husband's…whatever. I'm pretty sure she hates me."
Mark stilled his hand at the downcast tone my voice had adopted and leaned back to glance down and look me in the eyes, his curiosity shining through.
"And that's bad because…?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Because I used to absolutely idolize her before she got here and threw my sister back into the pit of darkness she had escaped thanks to McBastard." I grumbled, looking away.
He laughed. It was the all-out full kind that made his whole body shake and that was extremely contagious despite the fact that I was only halfway done being stitched up. I laughed along with him until my eyes started to tear up and he gently wiped them away, smoothing his thumbs over my cheeks with a grin still fixed upon his face.
"McBastard?" He quipped, laughter still in his tone.
I sighed through my own grin. "It is a long, long, long, longgg story."
"Good. You can tell me tonight." Mark murmured, watching me.
My eyes widened as I looked up at him, his smirk in place and growing by the moment. He was smooth, the line had been interjected at just the right moment and it was coated in his charming personality. If I was honest with myself, which I was trying not to be, he already had me when he offered me his shoulder and didn't care about the blood that could ruin his shirt...or maybe it was when he called me princess. Usually I hated the nickname, but the way it had rolled off his tongue in that deep voice had nearly made me squirm right there in front of him. My tongue slipped out to wet my lips as I opened them to respond, how really I'm not sure, and I watched as his eyes tracked the movement before lingering on my mouth too long. The lean-in was unmistakable, as was my reciprocating move toward him in turn, and I couldn't believe that-
"Doctor Sloan, Doctor Grey." Richard Webber's voice cut into the moment, hard and angry.
I inched back from Mark immediately and kept my gaze down, refusing to look at the man who had basically become my father after mine had left and who had probably worked to make sure Meredith and I ended up in the same place together. A blush crept over my cheeks and I silently cursed my body's reaction to the situation as Mark leaned in some and blocked me from Richard's view.
"If you two are quite finished here, the x-rays are waiting. Chelle, I want to see you in my office when you're done." He spoke, his tone unrelenting.
I cleared my throat, still avoiding his gaze. "Yes, yes sir."
The door shut with a sharp bang and I winced, letting out the breath I'd been holding in a hurry as I collapsed back against the wall. Mark's eyes turned to me and he looked at me questioningly, slowly nodding back toward where the older man had disappeared to.
"Are you and he…?" He trailed off, unable to hide his face of displeasure.
I gaped at him, open-mouthed. "Me and…? No! Oh my God, no absolutely not! He's basically my dad."
My shrill voice had him chuckling again and I shoved him gently as punishment, shaking my head. Mark finished off my face and then began wiping the remaining blood away, tossing the equipment in a trash bin before he lifted me off the gurney, his warm hands clasping my waist securely, and settled me on the floor next to him. Lifted me, straight up picked me up in the air as if it was no big deal at all. I looked up at him with wide eyes and he just grinned, holding his arm out toward the exam room's door.
"After you." He teased, winking down at me.
~.~.~
An hour later both McSteamy (Meredith had been quick to inform me that she and the girls had come up with Sloan's McName before Alex had led us away) and I had finished with our x-rays and were now checking out the films. I had already popped two extra-strength Tylenol, surprisingly thanks to Mark who had found them and a bottle of water for me while I'd been getting my labs done, and was now seeming to wake up a little more as the dull ache in my head receded. Both our films looked good, no fractures or broken bones, and I thanked God for about the millionth time that week.
"What about that jaw reconstruction you did using a micro-vascular free transfer from the foot?" Alex's voice filtered back to me through the room where I'd been slowly backing away toward the door.
"You interested in plastics?" Sloan murmured, staring at the films.
"Absolutely." Alex affirmed, nodding his head in sureness.
A quiet giggle at Alex's immediate ass-kissing escaped my lips and I clapped a hand over mouth, inwardly cursing myself for giving away my position when Sloan turned to me with a grin though his eyes narrowed after seeing me so close to the door.
"Going somewhere Dr. Grey?" Mark asked, his head tilting to the side.
I shrugged noncommittally.
He grinned and turned back to Alex, who was glaring at me…again. "You might want to consider a transfer to New York or Los Angeles, you're not going to see any heat up here."
I crossed my arms with my eyebrow arched at the obvious dig to my hometown and hospital as he passed behind Alex and situated himself a little closer to me than he had been before. I was about to open my mouth to say something sarcastic but I noticed Alex's calculating gaze as his eyes darted to me and then back again to the air, thinking.
And then I caught on.
"Alex," I warned. "Bad idea. Supremely bad idea. In case you didn't notice, the last encounter ended up with split-open faces and blood."
His cocky smirk matched Sloan's who looked at me questioningly.
"Actually-" Alex started.
"Dr. Karev!" I hissed, shaking my head.
"You ever seen an advanced-" He kept going.
"Alex! Do you hear anything I'm saying?" I snapped, stepping forward.
Mark's hands wrapped around the tops of my arms and pulled me back away from my fellow intern, effectively shutting me up with his stern look and prompting Alex's arrogant smirk. I sighed and wrestled an arm free, ignoring his hand on the other arm, while I rubbed the bridge of my nose and my non-injured temple.
This wouldn't be good.
Alex was about to wave Derek's case right under Mark's nose and Mark wasn't the kind to back down, especially from something as intriguing as this. It'd give him a chance to show off and rub his presence under Derek's nose. There would be a massive blow out, I could feel it.
"Advanced case of Craniodiaphyseal Dysplasia?" Alex finished and I sighed again.
Silence met his question and I looked up to see Mark's shocked face that was looking from Alex to me and back again.
"Lionitis?"
I groaned softly and pulled away from him, still shaking my head.
"Dr. Grey, where are you going?" Sloan's voice cut into my thoughts.
"Meeting with the Chief remember?" I murmured before turning around to see Alex's smirk. I pointed to him with a glare. "You're going to regret this."
I made my way from the films room and didn't look back to catch Mark's expression as I hurried through the hallway in the direction of Richard's office. I stopped at the coffee kiosk in the lobby first, praying that a cup of his favorite would act as a peace-offering and that he wouldn't go into the part about seeing me inching my lips closer and closer to Sloan's in the exam room.
I doubted I'd be so lucky though.
When I rounded the corner his secretary was coming out and she gave me a sympathetic look before telling me to go on in. Sheepishly. I ducked my head and slipped through the opening in the door frame, jumping slightly at the soft sound of the door clicking into place after it shut.
"Hey…" I murmured, setting his cup in front of him on the desk.
Staring.
That's all I got in response, staring.
After a few moments of watching me fidget, Richard finally opened his mouth. "You can sit Michelle."
I did as I was told and sipped the coffee I was cradling in my warm hands, waiting for what was coming next.
"He's dangerous Chelle." Richard murmured, watching me.
I sighed quietly, my eyes darting out the window to watch people walk by.
"I mean it. He broke up Derek and Addison's marriage. That's why Derek-" Richard started.
"Derek and Addison broke up their own marriage Dad." I murmured, using the familiar word to signify that this conversation was a personal one and not a professional one. "And with all due respect, Derek looks worse compared. He lied to Meredith for months…he had a wife."
Richard cleared his throat as he now fidgeted some.
"Not to mention he clocked me in the face." I grumbled, taking a new sip.
The man across from me looked up, his eyes zeroing in on the stitched up wound on my forehead that slanted down across my temple as a frown crossed his features.
"Your mother would kill me." He murmured.
"She'll never know. She's too busy reliving her adulterous love days." I seethed, staring out the window and thus missing the wide-eyed and panicked look of my father-figure in front of me.
"Did you know she was sleeping with someone? Other than my father I mean." I murmured, turning back to him.
Richard shook his head, a little too quickly if you ask me, but I shrugged it off and went back to looking out of the window before his voice cut in again.
"You're going to stay here and rest." Richard commanded, standing from behind his desk.
"Richard-" I whined.
"Michelle Gracelyn Grey, you took the backward hit from a heavy punch today and apparently found out some shocking information. You're going to stay in this office and rest right there." He pointed to the couch sternly. "And if I come back here to find you gone before I say so, I will personally hunt you down. Got that?"
I glared at him but it soon turned to a grin as I agreed, the sleepiness creeping up on me quickly at his mentioning of rest and a place to do so. Before he was even out of the office I had kicked off my shoes and was curling up on the couch, snuggling down under the blanket that he tossed me from his cabinet. The last thoughts I had were of Mark asking me about tonight, and I drifted to sleep with a smile plastered on my face.
~.~.~
Yelling.
There was lots of yelling, raised voices echoing through my dreamland and pulling me from it slowly where I had been so comfortable before.
Men yelling, that's what it was.
Deep voices raised in agitation and annoyance, trying to make their points, stand their ground; all while slowly and almost painfully forcing me back from the realm of unconscious dreaming that I had been thoroughly enjoying beforehand. I whined a little, pathetic I know, but my dreams were so good and the last thing I wanted was to be forced awake by the sounds of yelling.
It reminded me too much of my mother.
"If you two idiots wake up my god-daughter I will personally throw you out of this hospital, especially after this morning's events."
Richard's angry but low voice echoing through my mind fully brought me back into consciousness though I remained on the couch with my eyes closed, already suspecting who he'd been referring to but waiting to be sure of it. Deep voices continued to murmur until they rose up enough to make me wince again.
"That is NOT the point!" Derek's voice shouted out at the top of his lungs.
I gritted my teeth in annoyance as my suspicions were confirmed.
"The point is the kid wants his face fixed and I want to do it!" Mark's rough and raised voice echoed through the room in reply to Derek's.
"The point is, you want to get published!" Derek shouts were even louder, and I guessed he had turned toward me.
I groaned and sat up, reaching out to steady myself on the back of the couch when my hand came in contact with a hard shoulder instead. My eyes popped open to find Sloan sitting on the end of the couch I hadn't been stretched out over, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He was angry, I could see it in the tightness of his jaw and in his defensive pose his body assumed even as he sat, but he offered me a quick smirk when my hand stayed on his warm shoulder. I sucked in a breath and bit down on my lip, averting my gaze to find Derek staring at me accusingly and Richard watching me carefully.
"Maybe I should go…" I trailed off, moving to sit up and stand.
The sound of three angry and stern shouts from the men around me filled my ears, two being no's from Mark and Richard, one being a yes from Derek…the jerk who'd hit me and had yet to actually feel bad about it. I narrowed my eyes at him before shaking my head.
"I told you this was going to happen." I groaned, covering my eyes.
Mark's chuckle was low, just for me. "I know."
Derek sputtered around words but Mark continued with the argument, distracting him from me.
"Well yeah, I do want to get published. And I'm guessing your Chief of Surgery does too. You know how the press loves a good before and after shot Richard." Sloan finished, turning toward Richard alone.
"Call me Dr. Webber," Richard said firmly.
I glared at my faux-father, something that only intensified when Derek Shepard's face fitted itself into one of arrogance and smugness while Mark's seemed to fall as he looked down. Richard glared back at me as I squeezed Mark's shoulder without thinking, ignoring Richard's rudeness.
"Derek, out of friendship to you I would very much like to say no to this…jackass." Richard snipped, making me stiffen in annoyance.
Like Derek was such a great guy himself? Give me a break.
"But as Chief-" Richard continued.
"Please don't say it." Derek said, shaking his head.
"Dr. Sloan, if you can get the parents to sign the consent form…" Richard continued, and a small smile fit itself on my lips.
Mark nodded slowly. "Round two goes to the jackass."
Derek shook his head at Richard then turned his accusing eyes on me before briskly exiting the office, letting the door slam shut behind him as he tore off down the hallway toward the surgical wings. I sighed deeply and rubbed my uninjured temple, closing my eyes when Mark's warm hand palmed my cheek and turned my face so he could see the stitched up wound he'd worked on earlier.
"So, feel like showing me where you people get something to eat around here?" He murmured lowly, almost next to my ear.
I opened my eyes and nodded quickly, more than ready to be out of Richard's office after their argument and suddenly even more exhausted than before. I willingly gave him my hand to help me up from the couch I'd been folded into, all the while avoiding talking to Richard. I ignored his pointed clearing of his throat, still angry at him for taking Derek's side, and walked from the office with a short wave. We turned the corner without speaking and I literally almost ran into someone, I would've if Mark hadn't grabbed me and pulled me to his side.
And that someone just happened to be Addison.
I cleared my throat as the two stared at each other.
"Dr. Montgomery-Shepard," I nodded in greeting.
She looked at me quickly, like her eyes weren't quite registering what they were seeing; me pressed into Mark's side, his arm frozen on my waist where he'd yanked me so I didn't collide with the redheaded surgeon.
"Dr. Grey," She nodded back. "Mark."
My brows arched at her tone of voice and I extracted myself a little from Mark's grasp, sensing impending doom from the looks that continuously streaked across her features.
"Oh come on, you're not even a little bit happy to see me?" Mark growled out, his voice between annoyed and vulnerable at the same time.
"Go home," Addison said firmly, turning from us. "Whatever it is you came here to do, just drop it and leave."
Even I winced at her words as she waved her hand in the air, but Mark wouldn't be detoured and he walked after her quickly, still dragging me along like he'd forgotten he had ahold of me.
"Hey, we all made mistakes Addison, all three of us-" He started, catching up to her.
I needed to remove myself from this situation, quickly. I'd let myself feel for the guy on some level, convincing myself it wasn't just his charms that were calling to me to invite him into my bed, but here he was obviously chasing after someone he loved. Anyone could see it, you didn't have to be the twin of dark and twisty Meredith Grey who'd gotten herself caught up in this colossal love triangle, or square...whatever, to see it.
"Mark." Addison and I murmured at the same time, her trying to shut him up and me trying to get loose from his grip.
"But somehow, somehow I lost my best friend and the woman I loved." He finished strongly, ignoring both of our quiet pleas.
I froze.
And there it was, the sharp pain that came along when you let yourself start to like someone, anyone really, and found out they were only using you to fill a void that another had left. I mentally chastised myself when I recognized I had already let myself get emotionally invested in this crap, this same crap that had run Meredith right back into the ground and left her even worse than when she'd started.
"Please, don't say that." Addison's quiet voice returned me to the present.
Something seemed to trigger in Mark's eyes at the exact same moment Addison looked at me worriedly. "He doesn't know how we felt. He doesn't know you stayed with me after he left?"
My eyes widened as Addison looked first at me and then around us for listening ears, obviously caught in the middle of a secret she'd been carefully hiding. I realized immediately what it meant, that the two of them at stuck together after Derek disappeared until something happened and she decided to fly her ass out here and ruin my sister's relationship.
"I need…I need to go." I stammered, clawing at Mark's arm almost to extract myself from his grip.
"Michelle-" Addison started worriedly.
"No. No, I need to-" I continued, pulling on Mark's arm while he seemed to be completely frozen.
"How do you expect to work out a marriage if you can't even be honest with him?" Mark hissed a whisper to her, leaning in.
"Why are you here?" Addison said softly, now ignoring me just as he was.
"For one reason- to bring you home." Mark's rough and almost broken voice filled my ears. "I miss you Addison."
I gritted my teeth, yanking forcefully on his arm this time as my voice rose high enough for others to take notice, including Richard who was still in his office over our shoulders.
"Let. Me. GO!" I half-hissed and half-shouted.
Addison and Mark's surprised eyes turned on me and his grip finally slackened, providing me enough room to slip from behind his arm before I hurried down the hallway, ignoring the quiet shouts of my name from the man behind me. I shook my head to myself as I quickly skipped down the stairs, taking a risk in my off-centered and unbalanced position by doing so but not caring.
"Stupid." I murmured to myself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
I heard something like pounding footsteps behind me and prayed it was only doctors or nurses hurrying to make it to their destinations, but just in case I picked up my pace and slipped around a few corners, already knowing the place like the back of my hand made it extremely easy to disappear.
And that's what I did.
~.~.~
I finally slinked my way into the cafeteria and bought my usual lunch, even though I wasn't all that hungry, and settled into my place beside Meredith on the outdoor patio about the same time that everyone else was leaving. It was fine with me; I was in no mood to handle the bantering conversation my group of friends always seemed to engage in when we got together. Izzie immediately noticed something was wrong with me but I waved it off and promised to talk to her about it when we got home later that night.
"What'd you do?" Meredith murmured in an almost bored tone, spearing one of my strawberries and popping it in her mouth.
"Oh the usual, getting involved with things I shouldn't." I grumbled quietly and stole a grape from her tray in return.
A few moments of silence passed and we relaxed into our sisterly bond that we shared, silence being just as communicative as talking.
"McSteamy?" Meredith asked, a sarcastic note in her tone.
I snorted quietly. "How'd you know?"
"Because he's standing right over there and staring over here." She quipped, motioning with her fingers on her free hand.
I coughed on my drink and slowly turned my head in the direction she indicated, praying that she was just messing around with me. She wasn't though, he was right there, leaning against one of the patio arches and looking over at our table uncertainly, a new thing for his normal attitude I'm sure.
"Oh Jesus." I murmured, not looking away.
"So, what'd you do?" Meredith asked again, a little more strongly this time.
"Nothing!" I hissed, knowing what she meant. "I didn't do anything! I just…stood up for him against Richard? Kind of?"
My voice phased to a meek and unsteady one as I noticed him push-off from the wall, already coming this way. I groaned quietly then my eyes widened when I felt Meredith shift next to me.
"Mere! Where are you going!" I whisper-yelled, looking at her frantically.
"You can handle this, find me after." She grinned knowingly and passed right by Sloan as he stopped behind the chair next to mine. They smiled quickly at each other and exchanged greetings before Meredith was gone, leaving me with Dr. McSteamy himself who was looking at me cautiously.
He cleared his throat. "May I?"
I shrugged but waved my hand at the chair with a nod in an indication that it was fine since the man seemed completely lost and out of his element, though I had suspicions that it was just an act.
"You ditched me Dr. Grey," He started, going for a smirk and the charming route.
I however, did not.
"You were occupied." I replied coolly in answer, refusing to let the smile or charm work its magic on me.
He seemed stumped, surprised…unsure.
"You still love her." I stated, turning my attention back to my fruit salad before looking up at him.
"I…I think so." He murmured, his eyes flickering to me quickly. My eyes widened in response, but he quickly shook himself and finished his sentence strongly. "Yeah, I do."
I nodded, completely ignoring the sharp stab in my gut. "So, what are you going to do about it?"
Mark sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I seriously don't know."
We sat in silence for a little while and even though I had just been mentally chastising myself about keeping my distance from him, I found myself offering him fruit like we were old friends. Silently we ate, ignoring the looks of other interns, other doctors, and just sat there.
"She's not going to go without good reason Mark." I murmured quietly. "She came all the way out here to get him back, despite knowing he was with my sister."
"I know." The doctor next to me groaned out.
I nodded, packing away my trash as I stood quietly, throwing him a small smile over my shoulder as I did so. He watched me work and I felt his eyes slowly drift and dance their way over my body, calling everything in me to the surface and bringing about that familiar ache and heat deep in my lower half even though my brain was screaming at me to stop it.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"Ah Dr. Sloan, some of us do work here and unfortunately for me today, I'm one of them." I quipped, smiling brighter as his grin grew.
"You aren't exactly in condition…" He trailed off at my heated glare.
"I know." I pouted some.
"Why don't you stick with me on this lionitis case? I could use someone watching my back so that I don't run into Derek's fist again." He chuckled, standing beside me.
I looked at him uncertainly for a moment, knowing already that it was a terrible idea and that I'd only get myself in trouble or hurt. But no attending was going to put me on a case after my run-in with Derek's backhand this morning, and this case was one I was dying to be a part of.
"Derek will hate it." I murmured, leading the way from the patio and back inside the building.
Mark's hands found their way into their pockets as he grinned back at me. "I know."
I sighed quietly and shook my head. "Well….alright then."
~.~.~
Derek was definitely pissed; there was no doubt about it.
Sloan had prodded me into following him to the "Lionitis kid's" floor as he put it, making my lip curl in a little bit of a sneer of disappointment. I was a lot like Izzie in the sense that I viewed patients as people, not just as surgical pieces of meat. Meredith was a mix between the two, and Cristina…well we were lucky that Cristina even knew our names much less any of our patient's. I snatched the correct chart from the nurse's station, offering my usual smile to the head nurse of the floor- it was best to keep up good relations with them if you wanted help on the floor from them in any sort of way, or so I had learned.
"Jake Burton." I murmured disapprovingly to Mark after glancing at the chart.
"What?" Sloan asked, walking alongside me down the hallway.
A little too close to encourage proper critical thinking skills.
"The 'lionitis kid'? His name is Jake Burton." I replied strongly.
Mark glanced at me for a moment, his perfect ridiculously perfect eyebrow arching high and turning his ruggedly handsome face that much more handsome. It was utterly absurd; there should be a law against how sexy the man was. Seriously, how was any female supposed to get any sort of work done around him? Much less me, a female whose nerve endings felt positively fried in his presence while I flashed back to being a giddy fifteen year-old being asked out by her school crush, all the while still painfully aware that he had only come to Seattle for one thing.
And it wasn't me.
"You're one of those." He quipped, smirking.
"If you mean someone who actually respects her patients, then yes Dr. Sloan, I do believe I am." I remarked and traded him a smirk of my own at his shocked face before backing up against the hospital room door and swinging it open.
To find Cristina and Alex already waiting…impatiently.
I rolled my eyes at them and grinned. "Of course."
They both looked at me in confusion, not understanding my presence that was coupled with the tall plastic surgeon legend that stood perhaps a little too closely next to me.
"What are you doing up Chelle?" Cristina asked, her eyebrow arching a tad. "Shouldn't you be home or something?"
"Resting your pretty face?" Alex quipped sarcastically.
I glared at him, my spine stiffening. Sometimes I had absolutely no idea what the hell Izzie saw in the guy, not even an ounce. Sure he was hot in his own way, but his attitude and general nastiness dispelled any sort of good feeling that his looks managed to give off, when he wasn't actually being nice that is. I opened my mouth to shoot back my own sneering remark, totally unprofessional considering our patient was right there and paying plenty of attention to the scene, when Mark's deep voice sounded out through the room.
"Watch your mouth Karev, Dr. Grey is with me today and you'll quickly find yourself on another case if you don't show some respect."
I froze, my eyes wide and shocked as I stared at Cristina and Alex's surprised expressions before I slowly turned to see Sloan who had stepped up behind me and caught my exchanges with the other interns. He looked positively infuriated, that defined jaw made even more prominent by its clenching, and had almost growled out the words that he spoke toward Alex seconds before. Quickly, I felt the heated creep of a blush coloring my neck and cheeks when his stormy eyes met mine shortly in reassurance and something else before I whipped around, settling myself where I stood by the patient and flipping his chart open.
Doing everything in my power to ignore the shocked silence AND the mounting attraction to the surgeon behind me.
"Hi Jake, my name is Dr. Michelle Grey and I'll be assisting Dr. Sloan if you decide to go ahead with the reconstructive surgery." I smiled as I spoke softly, after clearing my throat...twice.
Jake watched quizzically as Mark settled onto the rolling stool near his feet and slid to a stop in between the boy's right leg from where he sat at the end of the bed facing us and my body where I stood by his side. Mark glanced at me once before nodding and rummaging around in his pocket, making my brain reel for an explanation. He was constantly looking to me, checking me over, and waiting for my contribution, almost as if we had known each other for a long time. It was equally baffling and flattering, as well as distracting, so I smiled again at Jake comfortingly, though it was quickly beginning to strain as I watched the boy glance between Mark and I...repeatedly.
Teenagers caught onto things way too easily.
Sloan found what he was looking for, a reconstructive facial marker, and began tracing out different lines on Jake's face to demonstrate the idea of what he would look like after Sloan made the cuts and gave his patient's face bone structure again, all while explaining the processes to him. The egotistical surgeon was surprisingly comforting, gentle almost, and quick to answer any questions Jake asked as Mark continued to outline his cuts on the boy's face.
It made him that much more appealing. I was so in trouble.
"Hear that?" Jake grinned, looking up from the mirror Cristina had set up in front of him to me. "I'm gonna have bone structure."
I grinned good-naturedly at the boy's enthusiasm, admiring the fact that he didn't seem to be the least bit worried about the dangerous surgery he'd be facing. Mark grinned at him and then up at me before offering me a wink, something that didn't go unnoticed by the watchful eyes of Jake and Cristina. I bit my lip and concentrated on reading the chart, even though I still had a slight headache and it didn't stop my lips from turning upward at the corners, praying for some sort of distraction to take away the spotlight from me and the sexy surgeon's flirty attentions that I had no idea how to take.
He had said he was in love with Addison, had come out here to bring her home…but he was flirting with me.
What the hell did that even mean?
"He just wants a good time Chelle." I hissed to myself inwardly.
My eyes darted toward him to take him in again, making me bite down into my bottom lip reflexively as I sucked it between my teeth. Regardless of what I knew or the unexplainable pull I felt toward him, I was quickly beginning to think I wouldn't mind showing him a good time, even if he left afterward.
Not one bit.
That was about the time that Derek Shepard, neurosurgeon extraordinaire, breezed back into Jake's hospital room with Jake's parents in tow…and stopped dead.
His eyes flitted from Mark, to me, to Jake, then the other interns and back to me again. The clear look of accusation at seeing me standing so near to his ex-bestfriend was so intense that I would normally have felt awful about it. If he had picked Meredith instead of screwing her over like he did, I probably would've. But he hadn't, so I didn't. I simply arched an eyebrow and pursed my lips before gazing back down at Sloan's moving hand across Jake's face.
"Jake…"
I glanced up again to see a darker-haired woman looking at Jake nervously, her hands fidgeting as she clasped them together in front of her. By the looks of it, I would easily assume her to be his mother and the tired looking man behind her, Jake's father. Derek kept behind them, gazing over at me with what looked to have turned into a superior smirk and I tensed, already expecting bad news.
"What do you think?" Jake asked proudly. "Am I a Dali or more of a Picasso?"
Mark grinned at the boy as he continued to work, nearing the end of the demonstration we had started twenty minutes before. I giggled as Jake looked from his parents to me, tilting his head just slightly.
"Well?" He implored, waiting for an answer.
"I'd go with Picasso," I mused when his parents ignored him, gazing at Mark anxiously. "Abstract, but bright and sophisticated with just the right amount of chaos thrown in the mix."
Jake grinned brightly and Mark's eyes flitted to me, registering a slight bit of surprise even as he continued to work. I simply grinned and shrugged innocently, not offering any further insight into my comment or apparent artistic knowledge.
"Nicely put." Mark murmured approvingly while Jake nodded.
"Could you stop doing that for a minute please?"
We all stopped what we were doing as we turned to gaze back at Jake's father as he spoke. My stomach twisted and sank as I took in his worried and slightly freaked out expression (for lack of better words), already knowing the road we were heading down from their attitudes as they faced us. They were worried for their son and it was obvious that Derek had played on their worries, if his arrogant smirk was any indication, attempting to cut Mark out of the surgery.
McBastard.
I was pretty sure that Mark caught onto the exact same thing I had as he capped his pen and rolled back from Jake some, coming to a stop only after he knocked into me. I frowned and shoved him gently, ignoring the looks from my friends and Derek as they looked on. Mark smirked privately, just for me as he rose lithely from the stool and came to loom over me from behind, the thick muscles of his arms flexing as he crossed them over his broad chest and taut stomach. I sucked in a shallow breath, already feeling the tingles running up my spine from the nerves that stood at attention in response to where he was nearest, and was about to move away from him...
Until I felt his warmth.
It seeped into me, curling over my cool skin in waves before radiating deeper into my body and pleasantly warming me from the inside out. It reminded me of inching nearer to the fire on cold nights and letting the heat that radiated from the beautifully dangerous flames seep into my body. I felt myself melting into it as the desire to move away from him, despite the fact that I knew I needed to and that it wasn't smart to let my body take over my mind like this, edge away. It left me so close to him that I could feel his nearness mere centimeters from my back while the voices of Jake and his parents slowly ebbed out of consciousness and the sweet sound of my heart thudding in my chest and my blood rushing through my veins filled my ears.
He was just so warm!
"-don't CARE!"
I jumped involuntarily when Jake's voice, raised with desperation and anger, cut through the room and my highly unprofessional but totally delicious moment with the surgeon behind me. My eyes snapped up from where I'd been staring a hole into the floor to find Derek crouched on the stool Mark had previously occupied, that soothing expression that hid his actual thoughts masking his face as he tried to convince the boy.
"The bleeding will be hard to control," Derek murmured, shaking his head. "I'm not trying to frighten you; I just want you to understand-"
My fists clenched as he spoke. That's exactly what he was trying to do.
I wanted to open my mouth, I wanted to say something and speak up for Jake who was a patient that obviously wanted to make his own choice, but the searing heat that settled firmly between my shoulder blades shut me right up. I froze with my lips parted and tilted my head to the left, just enough to catch a glimpse of Mark's irritated but stern expression as he shook his head just a little once and rubbed his thumb in a single, soothing circle, pressing in to my spine. My lower abdominal muscles clenched almost immediately as heat bloomed once more in my lower body and I drew in a slow, ragged breath, unable to speak.
But I didn't need to.
"I DO understand!" Jake shouted, staring Derek down with surprising intensity. "I understand that this has nothing to do with the plastic surgery! S-So if I'm going to be under the knife anyway, then the plastic surgery could-"
Derek shook his head, cutting him off. "The plastic surgery could-"
"I'm sorry, to interrupt-" Mark's voice filled the air again, strong and sure.
An involuntary shiver ran the length of my spine that I blatantly ignored, along with the thrills of pleasure that sunk into my core as he lifted an arm and gripped my hip with his long fingers, gently pushing me to the side as he stepped forward around me to speak.
God, just to feel him use those on my body-
"NO!" I hissed mentally, pushing down the urge to stomp my foot. "Absolutely NOT. You will NOT get involved with a man who is obviously in love with your twin sister's, ex-boyfriend's, wife. Not happening!"
Mark's back came into view as he inserted himself into the conversation and I smiled just a little as I met Jake's gaze, giving him a nod. If this was what he wanted and he understood the risks that both surgeons had given him, then I was on board.
"What you need to understand-" Derek scoffed, irritated.
"Excuse me," Mark spoke, taking back over his time to speak with an arched brow and a raised hand. "Jake is actually right. No reason to put him through a second surgery and a second round of anesthesia. It's much safer to just to it all at once."
Sexy and smart, you're doomed.
"Shut UP!" I growled, glaring at my inner-self who was much too delighted by my superior's presence.
"Honey, we just want to focus on keeping you alive-" Jake's mother murmured, obviously worried.
I met Cristina's eyes from across the room, both of us sharing looks that conveyed more than words could, before I transferred my attention back to Jake and his parents. I was having major issues staying on task today and I was more than ready to blame Derek wholeheartedly.
It was his fault my head was throbbing after all.
"I'm still alive and I say we go for it," Jake pleaded, gazing at his parents. "Look, I know that you think I'm perfect just the way that I am, but that's your job to do that. But for once in my life…I'd like to think that someone else thought that. That I could make a girl blush," Jake said, his eyes darting to Mark and me. "That I could be wanted. Please?"
Silence settled over the room and I let my eyes wander between an apprehensive Cristina, a determined Jake, his scared and fearful parents, and Derek's smoothed over face with his stormy eyes that betrayed his inner turmoil. I held my breath, feeling Mark's tension that coiled with mine and others in the room as we waited silently for the decision of Jake and his parents. Just when I started to fidget, expecting for there to be no resolution, Jake's mother sucked in a shaky breath and looked up, wiping away her tears.
And she gave Mark a nod.
