A/N: Pretty please review with a cherry on top? It would mean so much to me. Also, I'm really sorry in advance if it takes me a while to update - hectic life and whatnot.

Chapter 4: Faith

The alarm blared, waking Meredith up. She felt Derek's arms wrap around her tighter, which made her smile. She loved waking up next to him, as she'd done for the past week following the day where she'd almost died.

"Lavender. And my divorce is finalized. You're not a dirty mistress, Meredith, never." He leaned in to kiss her again.

"Stay." She said when they separated for air again.

"Okay." He smiled. He followed her upstairs into her room where she opened a drawer and pulled out his favorite pajamas that he'd thought he lost.

"You had them?" He asked, amused.

She blushed. "Yeah, you left them. I washed them and I meant to give them back but I didn't know how so I just kept them here." Plus, they reminded her of the wonderful nights they spent together.

"I wondered where they were." Derek admitted as he changed. He joined her in her bed.

"Sorry." Meredith apologized, rolling onto her side so he couldn't see the smile that was on her face.

He kissed the back of her neck before spooning her. "Don't be."

"Mer, we have to get up." Derek said, kissing her cheek.

"I don't want to." She pouted.

"We're going to be late." He said. "You don't want that, do you?"

"You know what would make me feel better?" She turned to face him.

"What?" He smiled.

"A quickie." She said, kissing him.

He chuckled. "Fine."

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Mark had been doing his best to ignore the rather inappropriate thoughts he'd been having when it came to Lexie. Since he met her, he'd given up his womanizing ways, which bothered him. After all, it wasn't like she reciprocated. She was a mourning woman after all, as he'd found out last week. But Mark couldn't help being attracted to her.

Lexie approached the nurses' station where Mark was doing charts. She couldn't help but note how attractive he looked from where she stood. "Hi." When he looked up, she continued. "I get it. I was that crazy intern last week who probably crossed the line of professionalism by telling my boss about my personal life. The thing is, while some people suggest sex as a way out of a sad predicament, I think I would rather just learn today. So, what do you say?"

"Why are you talking about sex with me?" Mark cut her off. "It's inappropriate. I'm your teacher. I have things to teach. Double board certified things." He tried not to think about sex with Lexie but failed terribly.

"That's what I was talking about. For you to teach me. Medicine. The sex thing, that was a joke." Lexie spluttered.

Mark sighed. "I'm reconstructing a hypo pharynx. You can scrub in."

Lexie grinned. "Thank you!" She knew how cutting edge the surgery was. It would be awesome. She followed Mark into his office, where he was going to show her the specifics of the surgery.

Mark tried not to think about how nice Lexie smelled as she stood behind him as he showed her the specifics of the surgery on his monitor. When she leaned in to get a closer look, he snapped. "Back up. Back the hell up."

Lexie wondered what she did wrong. "I'm sorry." She apologized. He'd never snapped at her like that before.

"Look, just go finish prepping Mrs. Patterson for surgery."

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Meredith was holding Derek's hand as they stepped out of the elevator. She froze as she saw someone standing at the nurses' station. Someone she didn't want Derek to see.

"Finn?" She asked, letting go of Derek's hand.

"Meredith! Finally. You haven't returned my calls." Finn glanced between Derek and Meredith. "So I figured I'd come to see you here."

"Yeah. I've been busy." Meredith said awkwardly.

"Who's he?" Finn asked, accusingly.

"I'm Derek. Who are you?" Derek answered.

"I'm Finn Dandrige. I'm Meredith's..." He trailed off, unsure of the proper word.

Meredith felt like she was in the middle of a pissing contest. She cleared her throat. "Finn, we weren't in a relationship. We went on a couple of dates and that's it. I figured you'd understand that me not returning your calls would be obvious enough."

"Oh, so I didn't deserve an explanation? What if I viewed us as in a relationship?" Finn retorted.

"I think she was clear in her explanation." Derek interjected. He was acting possessive, not that Meredith could blame him.

Meredith sighed. "Derek, just go. I promise I'll explain later, okay?" This was not how she wanted things to go. Not after her week had pretty much been perfect.

He gave her a look before walking off. "Fine." His tone scared Meredith. Was that a break up tone?

Meredith focused on Finn. "I don't see why you're making a big deal out of a couple dates." She picked up a stack of charts, trying her best to signal that she wanted the conversation to be over.

He grabbed her arm, and Meredith froze. "Let go of my arm." She said so quietly it was almost a whisper. He hadn't changed after all.

"Why?" Finn sneered. "You're scared of me, just like you were back then. And I'm going to get my way with you."

"Let go of her arm. Unless you want a repeat of what happened ten years ago. I have no problem with punching your face in all over again." Meredith breathed as Lexie walked up. "Leave my sister alone, Finn. She's obviously not interested."

Finn released Meredith's arm. "Look who it is. What a lovely reunion."

"Finn, leave or I'll call security. I won't tell you again." Lexie came to stand next to Meredith.

"Meredith?" Finn asked. Obviously he expected her to say something on his behalf.

"No, she's right. Leave. This is the last time we see each other. I want nothing to do with you." Meredith spoke up. "Goodbye, Finn."

"Have a nice life, whores." Finn called as he stalked off.

"Meredith? Are you okay?" Lexie asked.

"I think Derek's going to break up with me." Meredith sighed. "I asked him to leave."

"He won't. He loves you. You love him. It'll all work out." Lexie reassured her.

"I never should've let Finn back in to my life. I should've just thrown that stupid card out when he gave it to me. Plus, I think I'm going to bruise where he gripped my arm. I can't believe I was so stupid." Meredith was on the verge of tears.

"You couldn't have known." Lexie said, hugging her. "Just tell Derek the truth later."

"I won't forgive myself if Derek leaves because of this." Meredith confessed.

"Well, I can't read his mind, but I can distract you. Sloan hates me." Lexie admitted.

Meredith laughed. "He doesn't hate you, he wants you. There's a bet going around on how long it takes for him to make a move."

"Wait, seriously? Why? He's like way out of my league. Have you seen him?" Lexie blushed.

"Why do you think his nickname is McSteamy?" Meredith giggled. "You so have a crush on him."

"I know. Oh crap, I was supposed to finish prepping a patient for surgery. I have to go." Lexie ran off.

Meredith decided to find Derek. She figured he'd be in his office, so she headed there. She knocked twice, reminding herself to breathe. This was not a conversation she was looking forward to.

"Come in." She heard his voice. She walked in.

"Hi." She started, still waiting in the doorway.

"Hi."

"So I promised you an explanation earlier. If you still want it, I guess." Meredith closed the door behind her.

"Okay." Derek said.

"I don't really know where to start." Meredith confessed. "But that day when I said I was getting a dog, I ran into Finn since he's the vet that works at the shelter Lexie and I visited. He gave me his number and asked me if I wanted to reconnect or whatever. That was the first time I'd seen him in ten years. I probably would've been fine with never seeing him again. Anyway, you were in the middle of your divorce at the time and I don't know what I was thinking. I agreed to go to dinner a couple of times with him, but it was never actually going to amount to anything. Not after what he put me through. And definitely not when I was still so in love with you."

"I don't understand. How did you know him?" Derek asked.

She paused. "I met Finn in high school. It was the summer before my junior year. He had a car and seemed really nice. He got me flowers and said he wanted to show me a good time. I fell for the whole act. I wasn't in love with him by any stretch of the imagination. I always knew he was just a step along the way. I didn't know where I was headed though. So I guess I let myself think it was easier to just stay with him. And it was really nice for the first seven or eight months. We did the whole cheesy high school dating thing. We made appearances at parties. But he got jealous in the summer before our senior year. I had a lab partner, Brian. Finn always thought I was cheating on him. He became abusive. I think I spent just as much money on coverup as I did on alcohol. Lexie knew, but I begged her not to tell anyone. I just let Finn use me however he wanted. He was so possessive all the time. I mean at first, the whole jealous thing, it was sort of cute. But that was before he got physical. It was really terrible but I never stood up to him. The night I finally decided I had enough, Lexie, Finn, and I ended up in the hospital. I told him I wanted to break up, and he went crazy. He accused me of cheating again, and then he beat me worse than he'd ever before. I managed to run home with him chasing me. Lexie was just getting home from the gym. She boxed, and she hadn't even taken her gloves off when I got there. She saw me and she knew. We've always had that kind of sistership, you know? I didn't have to tell her. He was right behind me, but Lexie punched his face in before he could come close to me. She told him to leave me alone and that she'd break more than just his face if he tried to come near me again. She broke his nose and his jaw. She fractured her wrist from punching him so much. I had two broken ribs and internal bleeding. My own mother operated on me. Finn moved away afterwards and I did what a Grey does. I drank to forget and distanced myself from anyone who could ever come close enough to hurt me."

Derek was speechless. He could kill Finn for what he did to Meredith. Meredith, who'd gotten a crappy hand of cards from life in the first place.

Meredith paced, scared. "Derek, say something. I just told you about Finn. I could probably handle you telling me that you're breaking up with me more than I can handle the silence."

Derek stood up and walked over to where she stood. "Meredith, I wouldn't leave you. I can't believe anyone could be so stupid to hurt you. You didn't deserve it." He hugged her. "I'm sorry if I acted possessive."

"I'm sorry I pushed you away." Meredith replied, not letting go of him.

"It's okay." Derek glanced at the clock. "I have a tumor resection right now. You want to scrub in?"

Meredith smiled. "Yes, please." And she knew that somehow, they were okay. That they'd somehow made progress in their relationship. Instead of running or shutting Derek out, she was opening up. While the realization terrified her, she was doing her best to trust Derek. She had faith. Because she really needed him. She needed their relationship to work.

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The reconstruction had gone flawlessly. Lexie had been awestruck by Mark's skills. She couldn't help but wonder what his hands felt like, and mentally kicked herself. She was having extremely inappropriate thoughts about her boss. Her very attractive boss. Who, according to Meredith, wanted her. She smiled as she walked into Mrs. Patterson's room.

"Hi. Can you say something? We need to check if the surgery worked." Lexie glanced at the woman, who was already back to blogging and using post-it notes. Her husband sighed.

Mrs. Patterson shook her head.

"I'm done! I'm fed up with the lack of communication. You think it's hard to live without speaking, but I have to stand here and read words that lose their meaning every time I read them. You're so involved with your blog that you won't even try anymore. I can't speak for you. You have to try." Mr. Patterson stormed out of the room.

Lexie decided to try a different angle. "Mrs. Patterson, it's just us. I'm a nobody. You don't have to worry about me. If it doesn't work, it won't matter. But it would mean so much to everyone if you would just have faith to try. Just try once."

After a long silence, Mrs. Patterson whispered, "Hi." She smiled at Lexie and spoke louder, "Can you find my husband?"

Lexie looked outside the room's window. Mr. Patterson hadn't gone far. She walked to the doorway. "She wants to see you."

Mr. Patterson sighed and walked in. "I'm sorry." He apologized, oblivious to his wife's grin.

"I love you." Mrs. Patterson took his hand in hers.

His jaw dropped. "I love you too."

Lexie decided to leave the couple to celebrate by themselves. As she finished the chart, she decided to take her own advice to have faith and try. When her shift ended, she rushed to the locker room and changed. Thankfully, she had worn her favorite sweater so she didn't have to change. She remembered Mark's address from a piece of paper that Meredith had left on the fridge. The apartment building wasn't hard to find since he lived right across from the hospital.

After several deep breaths, she knocked on the door. Her memory hadn't failed her, as Mark Sloan opened the door.

Before he could say anything, she said, "You made her speak. Mrs. Patterson, she said hi. She spoke. You made her speak." She smiled. She was trying to decipher Mark's expression. Seeing as how he hadn't shut the door in her face, she took the opportunity to walk past him into his apartment.

She turned to face him. "I respect you. As a man. As a surgeon, as a teacher, I respect you. So teach me." She tried to control her nerves as she took off her coat. She wondered why he was still standing at the door.

Mark shook his head. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Don't do that, stop."

Lexie took off her shoes as Mark finally closed the door. "Teach me." She repeated.

"Don't, stop." He repeated as he walked closer.

"Teach me." She persisted.

"We can't do this. You're Little Grey." He protested. "And I'm your teacher!"

"So, teach me." Lexie pulled her sweater off.

"Lexie." Mark covered his eyes, knowing that if she went any further, he'd give in. He wanted her desperately but he didn't want this to turn into anything either would regret.

"Teach me." Lexie took off her camisole as Mark attempted to look anywhere but at her.

She was only in her bra now. "Come on, am I really so bad?" She asked, feeling insecure.

"No. I am." Mark answered, closing the distance between them. He kissed her so passionately that Lexie forgot her name for a second. She pulled him closer and continued to kiss him.

He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom where they did more than just kiss.