37 weeks.
Meredith was stood at the nurses station making a notation on her patients chart when Mark walked up beside her. He didn't say anything for a minute just watched Lexie who was talking to one of her interns on the other side of the station.
"One more shot before the kid is born. Wish me luck." He requested of Meredith.
"Good luck." She glanced at him then at Lexie as he strode over.
"Scram." Mark waved the intern away.
"Mark?" Lexie turned to look at him.
"Let me take that." He grabbed the chart from her hand and set it down and then led her a few steps away.
"What's going on?" She questioned.
Mark paused for a moment before beginning.
"Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen."
"Mark." Lexie interrupted confused.
"Shhh or I'll forget where I am and have to start again." He told her before picking up where he left off. "Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium..."
As Mark continued Lexie began to cry. Meredith just watched until Derek came to stand beside her.
"Why is Mark reciting the periodic table?"
"'One more shot before the kid is born.'" Meredith echoed Mark's words.
"He bought her a house and a flawless diamond ring." Derek pointed out.
"You redecorated an elevator." Meredith reminded him. "I think it's sweet."
"...Hassium, Meitnerium, Darmstadtium, Roentgenium, Copemicium." Mark finished.
"Why?" Lexie asked as he wiped away her tears.
"Marry me." He whispered. Lexie looked at him then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Is that a yes?" Lexie nodded and kissed him again.
"I guess she's moving out." Derek remarked to Meredith.
"She's my sister, she and the baby could have stayed as long as she liked." She paused. "You should be happy your best friend is getting married."
"Mark, I know this is going to totally ruin the moment, but I have to pee." Lexie whispered.
"Go." He kissed her and then walked over to Derek and Meredith.
"Congratulations." Meredith gave him a kiss on the cheek. "All the warnings from before still count even if you are marrying my sister. Excuse me."
"Congratulations." Derek added. "But why the periodic table?"
"When I found she had a photographic memory I made her recite it, it's the day we became friends. Besides nothing else worked."
"Need a best man?" Derek offered.
"Sure. Do you think Callie is free?" He joked.
Meredith was waiting for Lexie when she left the bathroom cubicle.
"Congratulations." She smiled.
"Thanks." Lexie washed her hands.
"I knew you were planning on moving out." Meredith started.
"How did you know that?"
"You've been packing for the last few weeks."
"I did tell him if he bought a decent couch. It took him a month to find one." She paused. "You don't want a screaming baby keeping you up all night and we deserve the chance to be a family."
"What changed your mind about getting married?" Meredith asked.
"There's someone I want you to meet." Lexie told her. Meredith followed her out of the bathroom and down to the pediatric oncology ward. "You see that little blonde girl in the corner."
"Yes."
"Her name is Susan Grey. She was born the day Mom died." Lexie explained. Meredith looked at her. "She had leukemia, but has been in remission for six months, but all the drugs did a number on her liver and she needs a transplant. She was adopted so her parents aren't a match."
"She's why you changed your mind about getting married?"
"No. Her brother James has had the flu so we've kept her parents away just in case they get it. Her mother writes her a letter every day telling her about her hopes for the future. She wrote her one about the man she should marry and it reminded me that Mom wrote Molly and I letters when we were born with her hopes for our lives. I went to Dad's and found mine." She pulled a worn envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Meredith. "A lot of what she says makes sense, Mark loves me I can't keep pushing him away on a what if. We deserve to be happy, we deserve to be a family."
"You all do." Meredith agreed.
"Lexie. I was just about to page you." Arizona interrupted. "UNOS just called they found Susie a liver. It's in Tacoma, I'm heading out on the retrieval now. Are you ok to set things up here? I should be back in a couple of hours at most."
"We'll be ready when you get back." Lexie confirmed.
"Do you want in to Meredith? I need someone to come on the retrieval with me." Arizona offered.
"Ok." Meredith looked at Lexie. "I'd take that as a definite sign you made the right decision."
"Did I miss something?" Arizona asked.
"Mark and I are getting married." Lexie told her.
"Damn now I owe Callie ten bucks, I thought you'd at least hold out until after the baby was born. Congratulations."
"Thanks." Lexie smiled.
Ten minutes later Lexie was just getting off the phone to Susie's parents when her intern appeared.
"I need you to go and find Dr Sloan and ask him if he can bump his rhinoplasty because I need his OR and scrub team for a liver transplant."
"You want me to ask Dr Sloan to bump his surgery?" He repeated.
"It's an elective procedure and my surgery is time sensitive. He's in a good mood so he should be fine."
Twenty minutes later Lexie was on hold when a voice interrupted her thoughts.
"You sent an intern."
"What?" She turned to see Mark leaning against the nurses' station.
"You disappeared on me and then sent an intern to steal my OR." He explained.
"They found a liver for my patient, Dr Robbins went on the retrieval with Meredith and left me to organise things here. From what I remember from when I was reading the board earlier, you had the surgery that was easiest to move."
"You can have the OR." He told her. "You also forgot this."
"Thank you." She responded to the person on the phone and hung up. She looked down at the round cut 1ct flawless diamond in a platinum setting ring he held between his fingers. "You do have good taste in jewellery."
"I wanted to get you a bigger stone but Derek told me you'd kill me."
"He's right." Lexie confirmed. "You should know me well enough to I'm not the flashy type, I like simple and I live on a budget."
"You know you don't have to."
"Mark, I can pay my own way and I'm not materialistic, I mean other than that bed."
"And the couch." He added.
"And the couch." She agreed. "It's why the fact that you memorised the entire periodic table means more than any of the other stuff you've tried in the last seven months."
"Dr Grey." One of the nurses interrupted. "Mr and Mrs Grey are here."
"I'll be right there." She told her. "Hold on to it for me until I'm done with surgery." She closed her hand over his.
"Are you sure you're up to being in surgery for that long? You're going on maternity leave at the end of the week."
"She's my patient and I have to see it through. I'll be fine, but I have to go explain everything to her parents, I'll see you later." She kissed his cheek.
Five hours later Lexie gasped sharply. Everyone stopped and looked at her.
"Please tell me you didn't just go into labour?" Arizona requested.
"No. Her foot is stuck under my ribs again and she kicked my diaphragm. She does it a couple times a week, I just prod her and she moves. My hands a little full right now."
"Where?" The anaesthesiologist asked.
"Left hand side, half way up the bump." Lexie replied. The woman prodded, and the baby moved. "Thanks."
"If you need to scrub out or take a break." Arizona suggested.
"I'm fine." Lexie assured her.
"Lexie." Meredith prompted.
"I'm not in labour, Dr Chang thinks it will probably be another week or two at least." Lexie explained. "And it took me an hour and a half to convince Mark the Braxton Hicks contractions I had last week weren't anything to worry about. I don't need any more concerned doctors."
"I can beat that." The anaesthesiologist stated. "I was married to an OB/GYN for six years and had three kids in four years. Half way through the first pregnancy I switched to a different doctor in another hospital, during the second pregnancy I had to ban him from any of my appointments and with the third I didn't even tell him I was in labour until after my son was born. Doctors make the worst expectant fathers, they know the worst that could happen and always have to know every little detail."
It was another few hours and Lexie stood leaning against the wall outside the OR her eyes closed.
"Long day?"
She opened her eyes to see Mark stood next to her.
"Yes, but a good one." She smiled. "I think you have something of mine."
He held out the ring and she slid it onto her finger.
"No more surgery." He told her.
"I know. It's the clinic for the next two days." She agreed.
"Your shift finished two hours ago, it's time to get out of here and celebrate."
"If your idea of celebration involves sleeping." She yawned.
"Did it go ok?" He asked.
"She made it through and she should make a full recovery." Lexie smiled.
"You want to be a peds surgeon don't you?" Mark guessed.
"I don't get to declare a speciality yet." She reminded him. "Probably. I hate it when they don't make it, but it feels so much better when they get to go home and grow into who they are going be."
"Lexie." Arizona walked over pulling off her scrub cap.
"You know it's your fault." Mark told her, and then continued when she shot him a confused look. "She wants to be a Peds surgeon."
"The best people are." Arizona smiled. "Do you want to come and talk to Susie's parents with me?"
"Yes." Lexie pushed herself away from the wall. "I'll be about an hour."
"By the way congratulations." Arizona told Mark.
Later that night, Mark came out of the bathroom with just a towel slung around his hips to find Lexie had slipped off her shoes and was laying fully clothed in the middle of the bed with her hands resting on her stomach and her eyes closed.
"Are you asleep?" Mark inquired.
"No. I'm just remembering why I love this mattress so much." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "That's a good look for you."
"You could have been sleeping on it for the last month." Mark pointed out.
"You took a long time to pick a couch." Lexie countered.
"That's because you didn't like anything I picked."
"White leather is never a good idea and most of them were really uncomfortable." She reminded him.
"Are you hungry?" Mark asked realising that given she had been in surgery for seven hours and they had left together she hadn't eaten.
"I would say I've been craving pizza all day but I honestly don't think I'd be awake by the time it was delivered." She admitted.
"I've got the microwave kind that cooks in three minutes." He offered.
"Sounds good." She yawned. Mark started to move towards the door. "You can't go down like that."
"Ok." He took the towel off and tossed it to her.
"Mark the neighbours." She protested. "Put the towel back on." She threw it back to him.
He was back in a few minutes, Lexie was now sat propped up against the pillows, Mark sat down next to her on the bed.
"I bet this isn't how you imagined celebrating getting engaged." Lexie commented.
"Eat microwave pizza in bed? No, but when have we ever done anything normally." He kissed her.
"We need to go baby shopping. I know we bought the stroller and crib but we still need clothes and the small stuff."
"As long as she doesn't come before this weekend we'll be fine." He assured her.
"What's happening this weekend?"
"Callie would break both my legs if I told you."
TBC
