A/N: So, I feel bad that I didn't write this little note prior to posting chapter 2, but better late than never, I guess. The thing is, as you know (or as I'm assuming you know), this story is currently rated T, but I realize that it probably borders between T and M. Even so, I don't plan on changing what it's rated, but in the future I'll probably give a little warning if a chapter, like the last one, leans more toward the latter rating. Anyway, I hope that I didn't offend anyone. On a whole n'other page, thanks for all the reviews! I just got to read them today and I really appreciate everything you guys have to say!

Chapter 3: A New Kind Of Relationship

"Meredith you're with Sloan today," Bailey ordered.

"What?! I'm always with…"

"I know, which is why today you're with Sloan."

Izzie, in a hushed tone, asked, "Are you sorry now?"

Meredith glanced over at her incredulously. "There is no way you had anything to do with this. You just got off probation and we're interns, we don't have the rank to pull."

Izzie just smiled in a self-satisfied manner, irking Meredith to no end.

"So…"

"What?" Mark asked impatiently.

"I think the question is obvious, but if I have to I'll spell it out for you I will."

"Why you and not Izzie?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think I can deny her anything she asks for. She wanted a favor."

"She doesn't like plastics."

"I know. That was part of the favor, I suppose."

"Can I ask, when did this happen?"

"If you'd given me a chance to answer I would have told you that no, you can't ask. And when did what happen?"

Meredith ignored his feigned ignorance and continued right on, "You hate interns."

"I don't hate interns…" Meredith gave him a look. "Fine, I don't hate all interns. I hate teaching. And to answer your question, I don't know exactly when it happened. I was bored and it came quietly. And then she was at the bar looking so lonely and it was actually, physically painful for me to watch her. Someone so beautiful shouldn't look that miserable."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't have a clue. This is all new for me."

"She's a good teacher."

"I am not sure that'll be enough. I'm not the most…ahem…attentive student."

"Do you want to learn?"

"I want her," Mark said simply.

"Well, you're going to have to learn to be with her."

"Then, yes, I want to learn by default. Have any knowledge you'd like to impart?"

Meredith dissolved into a fit of laughter. "I'm sorry, it's not really funny. But you do realize who are asking relationship advice from, right?"

"So your relationships have been messy. So what? That's life and I need to draw upon someone else's real-life experiences, seeing as I have none."

Mark peered around the corner to where Izzie was talking with another intern. She threw her head back and laughed, which caused a smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. Then he saw who she was laughing with. Karev, he growled. A tap on the shoulder caused him to jump.

"Shit, Addison. Don't sneak up on people!"

"Don't spy on people!" She countered.

"I wasn't spying on…" Addison raised a brow. "Fine. Whatever. What do you want?"

"I need to borrow your intern."

"Izzie?"

"Izzie's not your intern." Addison smirked.

"What? Oh, yeah, Grey. Go ahead. If she followed instructions, she should be…"

"Here's your coffee." Meredith thrust the Styrofoam cup into his hand.

He inclined his head toward Meredith, "You're going to be with Dr. Montgomery."

Meredith nodded and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Addison grabbed her arm and dragged her down the hall before she gave everything away.

"You suck at keeping secrets, don't you?"

Meredith laughed, "No, I'm actually pretty good at sneaking. But didn't you see the way he was staring?"

Addison rolled her eyes before relenting, "Yeah, he was so distracted during our two-sentence 'conversation' that I'm not sure he's even going to know where you are when he realizes that you're gone. I've never seen him like this. He's…"

"Infatuated," Meredith concluded. Addison and Meredith both giggled.

Meanwhile, Mark approached Alex and Izzie.

"Karev, Dr. Shepard is looking for you!"

"What? Shepard? Why? I didn't get a page."

"Don't run your mouth, just run!" Mark commanded. Alex gave him a funny look before jogging away. Turning around to face Izzie, Mark was caught slightly off-guard when she crossed her arms and glowered.

"I'm Shepard's intern."

"I had a fifty-fifty shot," he shrugged.

"And that was your best guess? You do know that he and Addison…"

He raised a finger to silence her, "Don't say another word about Addison and Karev."

"Why does that bother you?"

"It's just, Karev, really."

"Alex isn't a bad guy."

"How can you defend him after what he did to you?"

"How do you know about that?! Do you know my entire sexual history?"

He laughed at her bewilderment, "I wouldn't mind exploring that topic first hand." She rolled her eyes. "And like I said, gossip travels like wildfire. If it makes you feel any better this bit of gossip wasn't so much about you as about some nurse, Olivia, I think."

Shaking her head, she replied, "That doesn't really make it better. Still, Alex isn't a bad guy and I think he really loves her."

"Don't say that!"

"What is your problem?" She stomped.

"Okay, it's not Karev. Or at least it's not just Karev. If it were any other guy I'd still be ticked. Karev just antagonizes an already impossible situation."

"Do you still love her?"

"No! Not like that anyway."

"So why can't you let her go."

"I did. I have."

"Mmmhmmm, sure."

"I have!" He raised his voice in defiance.

"You wouldn't be so defensive if you didn't feel there was something to defend."

"You… I…" He was growling.

She stood on her toes and patted him on the head. "Use your words."

But instead he leaned forward and captured her lips. She didn't protest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body close to his and she settled into him comfortably. Her hands snaked around his neck, her fingers played with his hair.

When he finally broke the kiss for air, her eyes shot open. She pulled her arms back from around his neck, put her hands on his chest, and gently pushed him backward.

"What?" He asked softly.

She wouldn't meet his eyes. Taking a few steps backward, Izzie still refused to look at him and instead turned around and started walking at a haphazard pace down the hall. Watching the distance between them increase steadily with every beat of his heart, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. What the hell? He threw his arms up. Usually he had a clue what he'd done wrong. Sleeping with your best friend's wife. The wrong there is obvious. But as he recounted the past moments, everything seemed fine besides her annoying questions and irritatingly accurate intuition.

A door behind him suddenly opened, and Derek stepped out. "That wasn't pretty."

"You saw that?!"

"Take a look around you."

Mark's head scanned the hall noticing that not only was it full of people but that many of them were glancing every so often in his direction.

"Was that why she freaked out? All of the people?"

"Somehow I doubt having an audience bothers her." Derek smiled gently.

"The gossip does."

Nodding, Derek praised, "You're learning. It's good."

"What?"

"You're thinking about her, about how she feels or at least how you think she feels, sometimes that's as close as we can get. Still, it's good."

Mark was starting to turn a little red, so Derek stopped. "But I think the reason she ran had more to do with your unfinished conversation."

"About Addision?"

"Yes."

"What does that have to do with anything? I'm not in love with Addison anymore, I'm not even sure I ever was!"

"Does Izzie know that?"

"Yes! I told her that I didn't feel that way about her."

"But you two didn't agree on whether you'd let her go or not." A strangely amusing perplexed expression colored Mark's features as he scratched his chin. "You know the kind of emotional shape Izzie is in. She can't move on with someone who hasn't moved on either."

"I was hoping we could move on together."

Derek smiled at his friend's ineptitude. "Did you tell her that?" Mark shook his head 'no'. "Maybe you should. Just remember your track record with women isn't great."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mark asked, standing up a little straighter.

"You know a lot about Izzie's relationship history, not everything, but a lot. Don't forget she knows about yours too. She knows you've been the hospital's resident manwhore." The term visibly stung Mark. "My bet is that she's afraid of becoming just another notch in your bedpost."

"I do want to sleep with her. But that's not all I want. I'm not out to make her a number."

"You've given that impression in the past, though. She has no reason to believe otherwise."

"I should give her reason."

Derek nodded.

"How?"

"I don't know if I can help you with this. Some of this you have to do on your own, otherwise it wouldn't be you she was in a relationship with." Mark looked troubled, so Derek patted him on the back, "You'll figure it out."

"What if I don't?"

"It's not possible." Derek made to walk away, but stopped. "What changed?"

"What is everyone's fascination with this? I'm not reformed. I'm not any different than I was. I'm the same guy. It's just that no one ever really knew that guy. I didn't even know me. I'm still learning who I am."

Derek dropped his head and smiled like he'd just been told a secret, "Ah."

"He just keeps manipulating me!" Izzie sighed as she fell onto the gurney.

"Yeah and McSteamy tricked you into kissing him," Cristina shook her head.

"He did!"

"…"

"He did! He's really good at it."

"Kissing?"

"Yes. NO! Tricking me, but he's not a bad kisser."

"Yeah, right, 'not bad.' I'm sure he's phenomenal." Cristina was beginning to have trouble mustering the tired remains of her patience with Izzie and her 'poor' conflicted conscience.

"It was pretty fantastic," Izzie thought dreamily, touching her fingers to her lips.

"Fantasizing about me?" Mark appeared next to her. Cristina, disgusted by the absurdity of the exchange before her, slid discreetly out.

Unwillingly, she thought. "In your dreams."

"Every night." Damn it, Mark, he thought. Enough. Wracking his brain, Mark recalled, Derek mentioned something about avoiding sexual innuendo. Izzie sat up. "Where are you going?" His voice was concerned and uneven.

"To file the sexual harassment charges."

"Hey, I did you a favor today."

"You owed me that favor. Besides, what did you think, you'd do me a favor and that'd grant you rights to my body?"

He couldn't think. Her word-weapons were confusing him.

Izzie took pity on his the confused male figure in front of her. She sighed, "Mark, thanks for the favor. I won't ask for any more. But please stop."

"Stop?"

"Following me. Manipulating me."

"Manipulating? I haven't been…"

"The kissing. That can't happen again. It was a one time lapse in judgment that I blame entirely on you."

"But I want it to happen again. And again. And again." The joy in his eyes grew increasingly vibrant as he thought about the future kissing, but he stopped himself before falling from reality. "And it's not fair to blame that on me. I don't want there to be any blame at all."

"You kissed me. Not the other way around. I was..."

"Pleasantly surprised?" He sat down next to her.

"No."

"Charmed?" He leaned a little closer.

"No."

"Aroused?" His face was inches from hers.

"No."

He kissed her temple. She turned towards him to tell him to stop, but he kissed her cheek before a sound escaped her lips. His lifted his hand to cup the side of her face, trailing kisses down her jaw.

"Mark," she whimpered.

"Mmmhmm?" He kissed her nose, her forehead.

"I…" He reached up and released her hair from that God-awful clip. He watched, mesmerized, as her hair spilled over her shoulders. Leisurely, he leaned into her and smelled it. Then he resumed planting butterfly kisses all over her face.

A beep caused her to jump, but his arm steadied her. Her pager. Damn it.

She looked down at it, "I have to go." He wasn't sure, but he thought he sensed disappointment in her voice.

"You didn't follow the plan."

"I didn't just not follow the plan, I destroyed it!"

"It was your plan."

"I know!" Mark buried his head in his hands. "But I see her and I forget everything!"

Derek laughed.

"She was lecturing me on kissing. I can't imagine what kind of lecture awaits me now."

"I don't know, if the first didn't seem to have much effect."

"Well I interrupted it. With kissing. What does that say about my listening skills?"

Derek just laughed again.

"Will you stop laughing at me?!"

"I just didn't see this coming. No woman has ever had such a hold over you."

"And I'm not happy about that."

"You're not?"

"No. I don't think so. I don't know. I haven't thought about it. Why?"

"Maybe it's not a bad thing." Mark squinted in suspicion. "It's called being in a relationship."

"A relationship?"

"You know, flowers and chocolate, dinner and a movie – dating."

"It's been a while since… I'm not sure I've been in what you'd consider a relationship for… I don't know if I even remember how, besides isn't dating for the younger generation." Drowning in desperation, his voice unsteady, his face contorted, everything about him appeared pained.

"It'll come right back to you."

With that slight glimpse of hope, relief washed over his features. "You think so?"

Pausing to consider this, Derek thought better of what he'd said. "Or maybe she'll find your incompetence charming."

Mark swallowed hard.