Izzie lounged comfortably on her side, one leg resting against the cool sheets and the other thrown lazily across Mark's hips as she snuggled against him. He was lying on his back with one hand propped behind his head, the other gently stroking the golden locks that had fallen across his bare arm.
She sighed contently, enjoying the feel of his warm, manly figure beside her as she allowed her fingers to caress the smooth ridges of chest. Her movements faltered when she encountered the rise of scar tissue at the base of his shoulder, and she picked her head up, shifting her eyes to look at the old blemish. "What's this?" she asked quietly, her fingertip running repeatedly back and forth over the raised skin.
"It's a scar," he told her simply, his eyes remaining closed.
She rolled her eyes, smacking his shoulder lightly. "Well I know that," she told him irritably. "How'd you get it?"
He opened his eyelids, turning his head slightly so that he could meet her gaze. "Oh, is this a part of the whole relationship thing?" he questioned, his expression filled with amusement.
She narrowed her eyes at his comment, pouting as she turned away so that she wouldn't have to look at him. "Just forget it," she said grudgingly.
He bit his bottom lip, regretting his attempt to tease her. Stop being an ass, he told himself. "When I was thirteen, Derek and I got into a fight because he caught me hanging out with his sister, Nancy," he told her, his hand dropping down to caress her slender shoulder. "I was kind of flippant about the whole thing, and I said something about thinking his sister was hot, and that anyone with half a brain would go for it. He got pissed and threw a beer bottle at me; it broke against my shoulder."
Izzie's eyes widened, and her annoyance toward him was instantly forgotten. "Oh," she said, feeling a twinge of guilt for finding humor in the fact that Mark's manwhorish ways had started so early. "That's terrible."
Mark shrugged, dismissing her futile attempt at sympathy. "It's alright. Nancy cleaned me up, and then we got to second base in her parent's bathroom," he revealed with a devilish grin.
Izzie rolled her eyes at his naughty expression. "Apparently your thing for feeling women up in bathrooms started at a young age," she said wryly, causing him to laugh and pull her closer to his chest as he continued his lazy strokes, his fingers now moving slowly across her collarbone. She sighed wistfully at his touch, her eyes fluttering shut. "I can't believe you got to second base with McBitchy," she said idly.
He glanced down at her strangely as she used the nickname, but he decided not to comment. "Oh please, that's when I was only thirteen. I got much further with Nancy-pants when I got older," he said smugly.
Izzie's eyes opened slowly as her annoyance quickly returned. "Do you think you could refrain from talking about your past sexual encounters while I'm lying naked in your bed?"
He smirked, his hand slipping further down to caress her breast. "Jealous, Iz?"
She scoffed at his suggestion. "No."
He chucked softly, finding her sulky tone surprisingly charming. "Oh, I think are jealous."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I might be a little jealous. But how would you like it if I started talking about how Alex Karev used to take me in the on call room during-"
"Alright," Mark said immediately, stopping her rant. "You know what? Let's just…let's just drop the whole 'past lovers discussion.'"
She smiled, feeling somewhat triumphant. "Fine, if that's what you want," she said lightly, laying her head back against his chest. They remained quiet for several moments, simply enjoying the feel of lying together on the bed.
Finally, though, Izzie decided she couldn't take the silence. "So you and Derek have obviously been friends for a long time," she observed softly, trying to subtly dig for personal information about the often baffling Mark Sloan.
His hand stilled against her skin and he momentarily refrained from commenting, causing Izzie to think that perhaps she should've left the subject alone.
Eventually he began caressing her once again, his hand moving slowly down the line of her ribs and resting gently against her slightly protruding hipbone. Izzie sighed, relaxing against his body. "Yeah, we have been," he answered eventually, the tone of his voice indicating it wasn't a subject he wanted to discuss.
She pursed her lips together, silently commanding herself to drop the topic of Derek and Mark's friendship. It was obviously a sore subject with him, and she knew that, despite the fact that they were close in a certain sense of the word, they didn't actually know each other that well. Maybe it wasn't her place to be asking him personal questions.
On the other hand, she couldn't help but feel that her incredibly uninhibited behavior in between the sheets had earned her the right to ask him whatever she wanted. Her curiosity taking over, she angled her head up so that she could look at him. "Do you regret sleeping with your best friend's wife?" she asked, her interest heightened because of her similar situation with George.
Again, he initially remained wordless, a wary sigh escaping his lips. Izzie grew nervous as the silence stretched on, and she mentally cursed her inability to keep her big mouth shut.
"I don't regret it," he suddenly said, surprising her as he interrupted her thoughts. "I hate that it hurt my friendship with Derek, but we're trying to work out our differences. I try not to regret my decisions, though, because everything I've ever done has led me to where I am now. If Derek hadn't caught me in bed with Addison, he never would have left New York, which means Addison never would have left New York and, by default, neither would I."
Izzie met his eyes, surprised by the sincerity of his answer. "And you're happy here? You're glad you came to Seattle?"
He smiled at her, tilting his head to the side. "I'm definitely learning the perks of the city," he said mischievously, his hand moving from her hipbone to slip between her legs.
She let out a breath as she felt the tips of his finger gently begin to tease her, and she quickly clamped her thighs closed around him, easily still his hand. She sighed, squirming away from his body. "I can't. I really need to get home," she told him regretfully, trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince him.
He frowned, watching her sit up on the bed nearly a foot away from him. "Iz, just stay a little longer. Come on, just give me ten minutes," he told her with a grin, his eyebrows raised suggestively.
"Ten minutes? Wow, Mark, that's romantic."
He laughed at her sarcasm, propping himself on his elbows and watching intently as she stood up and walked across the room, unconcerned with her nudity. "I just don't understand why you're in such a rush."
She picked up her panties from the floor, slipping them on before turning back around to face Mark. "I have to get home before my roommates wake up for work," she told him.
He sighed, lying back against the pillows as he continued to watch her get dressed. "I feel so used," he told her playfully, causing her groan. He ignored her, continuing with his attempts. "Come on, Iz, it's the middle of the night. Stay until morning. We'll order breakfast, read the newspaper together…you know, be domestic; it'll be romantic," he said lightheartedly.
She turned towards him, sighing as she tilted her head to the side. "I'm sorry, I can't."
He stared at her for several moments, neither of them moving. Eventually he grinned at her, bringing his arms up behind his head. "Fine, but you better make it up to me tomorrow night."
She smiled back at him, pulling her shirt over her head as she walked toward the bed, placing her hands on either side of his body. "You can count on it," she whispered, pressing her lips firmly against his before straightening up and striding to the door, giving him one last glance before leaving the hotel room.
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As she quietly opened the front door of the house and slipped into the foyer, Izzie had flashbacks of being high school, sneaking back into her mother's trailer past curfew, deathly afraid that she would be caught. She giggled at the idea, suddenly having an absurd mental image of Meredith waiting for her at the top of the stairs, scolding her for being late.
Rolling her eyes at her own ridiculous thoughts, she closed the door behind her, dropping her purse by the front door and walking to the stairs. She only made it up two steps when she heard the front door open, and she spun around, startled to see Alex standing by the front door.
He looked at her strangely for a moment, clearly surprised to see her standing on the staircase. He soon recovered from his shock, though, and a smirk broke out on his face. "Late night, Iz?" he asked her smugly.
She swallowed hard, trying to keep the guilty look off of her face as she raised her chin defiantly. "Apparently no later than yours."
He cocked an eyebrow at her defensive tone, walking toward the staircase and climbing up to her level. When he was standing beside her, his face just inches from hers, he grinned. "I was on call," he told her happily. "Where were you?"
Her mouth fell open, and she prayed for a lie would roll off her tongue, but her mind went blank, leaving her standing foolishly before him. Izzie could feel her face redden as the silence stretched on. "I was with Mark," she suddenly blurted out, her already crimson cheeks coloring further.
The smile fell from Alex's face, and he stared at her with surprise. "You were with Mark? As in, Mark Sloan?"
Her eyes narrowed as she observed his incredulous expression, and she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to defend Mark. "Yes, Mark Sloan. Do you have a problem with that?" she asked bitingly.
"Uh, yeah I do. The guy's an ass, Izzie; why would you want to be with someone like him?"
She huffed, clearly irritated by his question. "I like him Alex. He's a nice guy."
Alex shook his head disbelievingly, suddenly feeling sorry for Izzie as he realized that she'd been sucked in by Mark Sloan's charm. "You might just be spreading your legs for him now, Iz, but before long, he's going to have you picking up his dry cleaning and getting him coffee for him like you're some kind of slave," he told her. "Oh, wait, he already does that."
"He's a lot different when you get to know him, Alex! He's a better man than everyone thinks."
Alex laughed. "Oh please, Izzie. I know you think your life's purpose is to save every man from himself, but not every man is worth saving."
She pursed her lips angrily, glancing up the stairs as she heard the door to Meredith's room open and the patter of feet walking down the hall. As she looked back at the man before her, she suddenly wished that she had never wasted even a second of her life on Alex Karev. "Well, you're certainly right about that," she whispered irritably.
She then turned away from him, marching up the stairs angrily, not even bothering to speak to a very confused Cristina as she stormed to her bedroom and slammed her door behind her.
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This will be the last update of Addicted until at least the end of next week. I'm going out of town :) But I'll definitely pick it up right where I left off when I return. -Lilly
