Hey everyone! Thank you so much to those who read and reviewed: Megan Nicole, bohemiangirl, gizziefan118, marlyp, and Mcalison. I really loved the reviews, so please..keep 'em comin! Oh, and I am going to be kinda busy for the next few weeks, b/c I'm graduating from college this weekend and then I'm going out of town next week. I hope to update before I leave town, but I dont know if it will happen or not. So, please just hang in there, and hopefully when I come back, you all will still want to read my story. Well anyway, here is the next chapter, so please read and review..and enjoy :-)

Kat

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Chapter 3

Izzie sat there staring at the monitor, waiting, hoping, for any change. She wasn't sure how long she had been there, but she did know that the whole time she'd been there, not a single thing had changed. The stats were exactly the same as they had been the moment she walked through that door. She sighed and put her head in her hands. She couldn't just sit here and wait for something to happen. She was too restless and as long as she just sat here, the images would keep running through her mind. Images of finding Meredith lying there, surrounded by a puddle of blood. She shook her head and stood up. She walked over to the bed and laid a gentle hand on Meredith's arm.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," she said quietly. "You have to pull through this. You have to wake up," she whispered, as she choked back the tears. She turned around and walked out of the room. She paused at the doorway and turned back to take a final look before leaving the hospital.

- - - - -

Mark was sitting on the bench outside of the hospital as the rain poured down on him. He came out here quite some time ago, but found himself unable to go back to his lonely hotel room. He was use to living alone, but he wouldn't be able to sleep, so what was the use of going to his room. Derek had just been over there the night before, drinking with him. And now if he went back, he would be reminded of him and just have to endure the eerie silence. He clenched his fist as tears slowly fell from his eyes. Why hadn't he been able to save him? He could have acted quicker, or done something different. Derek had just begun to trust him again, and now he let him down.

"I let you down," Mark whispered to no one.

"Doctor Sloan," Izzie said, walking towards Mark who was sitting all alone in the rain.

Mark ignored her and continued to look ahead.

Izzie stood there for a moment before stepping in front of him. "Mark," she said, looking down at him.

This time he actually looked up. He could see the worry and exhaustion on her face, but couldn't quite understand why she was talking to him.

"Shouldn't you go home?" she asked, feeling worried about him.

"I live in a hotel Stevens," he said shortly.

Izzie looked at him sadly and sighed. "Well are you going to go to your hotel?" she asked.

"No," he said, looking away, wishing for her to go away.

"Get up," Izzie said, looking down at him.

"What?" he asked, looking back at her.

"I'm not going to just leave you here, so you're staying at my house tonight," she said, sounding stronger than she felt.

"Stevens, I'm perfectly fine where I am," he said, with his voice beginning to crack.

"You can either come willingly, or I'll use force, but either way, you're coming with me," Izzie said, extending a hand to him.

Mark looked at her hand for a moment, contemplating saying no again, but he simply didn't have the strength to argue with her right now. He sighed and took her hand, and stood up.

She gripped his hand tightly and led him to her car, glad he came willingly, because she wasn't exactly what she would have done if he said no again.

- - - - -

Mark woke up the next morning and at first had no idea where he was. His first thought was that he had another one night stand and didn't get out in time. Then he suddenly remembered the events from the night before. He had to fight hard to prevent tears from escaping his eyes. He had been sitting there for a few minutes before the sweat aroma met his senses. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his eyebrows. Someone was making something, and he suddenly realized how hungry he was. He stood up to go see what was being cooked, when he realized he was only wearing boxers. He didn't quite remember taking his clothes off when he went to sleep, but somehow his clothes were no longer on his body. He looked on the floor, before spotting them on the chair by the bed. They were neatly folded with a note on top of them.

Mark,

Your clothes were soaked last night, so I took the liberty of washing and drying them. Your wallet and things are on the night table. You can come down to the kitchen whenever you're ready.

Izzie

Mark smiled to himself as he began pulling his pants on. That Izzie Stevens was quite unique, but he couldn't help but smile at the thought of her. He read the note once more before tucking it safely inside his back pocket. He smiled once again before heading down to the kitchen.

Mark walked into the kitchen and saw Izzie standing at the oven with a batch of muffins in her hands.

"You bake?" he asked.

Izzie looked up and smiled. "Yeah, it's my thing," she said, setting the tray on the counter.

"Your thing?" he asked, stepping forward.

"Yes," she said, taking the muffins off of the tray. "When I want to not think about something, I bake." She finished taking the muffins off the tray, then grabbed more batter.

"Is laundry your thing too?" he asked, sitting down.

"Its not my thing, but I'm more than happy to do it," she said, looking at him.

"Thank you," Mark said, looking at her seriously.

"For doing your laundry?" she asked, looking up at him briefly.

"No, for last night…or well, this morning," he said. "If you hadn't made me come here, I'm not sure what I would have done," he said in all honesty.

Izzie smiled and paused what she was doing. "You're welcome," she said quietly. She stared at him for a moment before going back to her baking.

"Do you only make muffins?" he asked, looking at the 4 trays of muffins.

"Oh no," Izzie said, putting the next batch in the oven. "I made cookies too, and I can bake just about anything. I can cook some things too, but I'm not that good at cooking Turkey," she said, remembering when she tried to have Thanksgiving dinner. "But I make pretty good pancakes. Do you want some?" she asked, all ready to make him breakfast.

Mark chuckled softly. "No it's alright," he said, smiling.

"No, you should eat. I'm not sure when the last time you ate was, but I know it was a while ago," she said, walking over to the cupboard. She reached up for the pancake batter but was stopped. She turned around to see Mark had a hold on her arm.

"You're use to taking care of people aren't you?" he asked.

"I don't mind," she said, looking at him.

"But you don't need to take care of me," he said quietly.

"How do you know? Maybe that's all you really need, is someone to-"

Her words were suddenly cut off by Mark pressing his lips to hers. He wasn't exactly sure why he did it, just that it felt like something he was suppose to do.

Izzie stood there, frozen. She hadn't been expecting it to happen, and it took her brain a moment to finally catch up with everything. She slowly began to kiss him back, and it was like something inside her suddenly woke up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss.

Mark lifted her up onto the counter and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Izzie knew exactly where this was going, but couldn't seem to stop herself. She was mid way through removing his buckle when she heard something drop.

"Izzie?" a familiar voice said.

She broke the kiss and looked over Mark's shoulder to see-