A/N: It's so nice to log in for an update and read your kind reviews, so thanks!
***Chapter10 – Ready, Set, Go!
"Morning" Jackson acknowledged Lexie when she entered the locker room. He pulled his shirt over his head as he was about to change into his scrubs.
"Morning" She replied casually. Every now and then they would arrive to the hospital separately since they still wanted to keep their relationship a secret.
"You don't have to pretend, it's just me here" Alex teased "And Lex, close your mouth, you're drooling"
She turned from staring at Jackson's bare chest to looking wide-eyed at Alex "I am not!" She could feel the heat in her cheeks.
"Whatever" He turned away from his locker and left the room with a smug look on his face.
"I was not" She said still feeling flushed.
"I know" Jackson said casually when he finished changing into his scrubs and wore his watch on his wrist "Do you know on whose service you are today?"
"No, but I heard Hunt wants to see all of the residents in the third floor's auditorium"
"Save you a seat then?" He put on his white coat.
"No, that's okay" She waved a dismissive hand at him. She was disappointed that he's not waiting for her in the locker room and he noticed that, but he wanted to avoid the awkwardness in watching her change out of her clothes.
"I'll save you a seat" He stated when he walked out of the room.
April and Lexie walked into the auditorium when Jackson waved at their direction from his seat in the back row, Lexie noticed that there was one available seat next to him "I think Jackson saved you a seat" Lexie pointed at the seat, directing April to it.
"Oh, thanks" April went pass Cristina and Meredith who were sitting at the beginning of the row. When Jackson noticed that April was coming over he gave Lexie a surprised and confused look thinking to himself 'what the hell?' Lexie shrugged in return and took a seat in the third row next to Alex.
"What happened?" Alex turned his head glancing over at Jackson "Lover boy didn't save you a seat?" He grinned at her.
"Oh, shut up!" She said sharply and rolled her eyes at him.
Hunt cleared his throat "Thank you all for coming" it was difficult to hear him since a few residents were still talking in the background.
Bailey got up from her seat in the front row and turned to face the residents "Who wants to be in charge of all rectal exams for the rest of the month?" She scanned the crowd with a serious look on her face "No volunteers?" The auditorium went silent "Yeah, that's what I thought" She gestured with her hand for Hunt to continue as she sat back down.
"Thanks" Hunt nodded awkwardly at Bailey and turned to the residents "Residents, today we're starting diagnosis week. The goal is to improve your diagnosis skills, we want you to acquire more knowledge so you will be able to diagnose a patient's condition faster and more accurately" Hunt looked at the residents and continued "We will need you to pair up, so everyone is assigned to work with the one who's seating next to him" Lexie glanced at Alex, Meredith and Cristina high fived and Jackson forced himself to smile at April "It's going to be in a form of a competition, each of you will get the chance to go through the patients' charts and interview them, of course we will prepare the patients for your arrival, so they won't be overwhelmed from the amount of questions coming their way" He chuckled to himself "The pair that will be the first to the diagnose correctly a patient's condition gets a point"
"And what does the winner get?" Cristina interrupted.
"Well the winners gain our respect" Hunt smiled slightly at her.
"I'd rather compete for surgery or even lunch for that matter" Alex commented and the crowed burst into giggles. Bailey got up and narrowed her eyes at Alex who slid down in his chair trying to avoid Bailey's furious look.
"Settle down" Hunt hissed the crowd "One last thing and you're all dismissed" The residents lowered their voices "Every day at 15:00 we will gather here to discuss the cases of the day, so don't be late, that's all, have a good week and good luck" Hunt nodded at them and turned to talk to Bailey.
All of the residents hurried to get out of the room, April stopped Jackson when he was on his way to Lexie "Jackson! We need to discuss strategy"
Jackson nodded at her and glanced over at Lexie "See you in ten at the second floor nurses' station?" He asked impatiently.
"Okay" April nodded.
"Great" He said and hurried to catch Lexie on her way out "What was that all about?" He approached her.
"What are you talking about?" She asked innocently.
He got even closer to her "Why did you pair me up with April?" She looked around to see if anyone was watching, since they were standing very close to each other and she thought it might look suspicious.
"It's not like I knew they are going to pair us up" She looked into his eyes "I thought if she knew you are saving the seat for me she will get all suspicious again" She said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"That's all?" He asked.
"That's all" She reassured.
"So it's not like you're into Karev or something like that" He raised his eyebrows at her.
"What? No!" She said without hesitation, looking a bit overwhelmed "I can't believe that thought even crossed your mind, knowing what he did and all"
"You're right I'm sorry, but I don't know anymore" He took a step back and crossed his arms across his chest "You don't want anyone to know about us, you choose to sit next to Karev knowing that I saved you a seat, and now you're competing with him against me" He shrugged "You tell me – what the hell am I suppose to think?" He gave her a piercing look.
"Jackson" She took a step forward "I already told you, I didn't know it would turn out to be this way, and it was either sitting next to Alex or that annoying redhead from ENT" She explained softly but she could see that he was not about to relent "If we go public would it make you feel better?" She looked at him.
"Don't do this" She was surprised at his snappy reaction "Don't do something you don't want just for my sake" He shook his head.
"Well, I don't know what else to say" She said with a nervous smile on her face.
"Forget it, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up anyway" His voice suddenly softened.
"Are you sure?" She raised her eyebrows doubting the sudden change in his tone of voice.
"I'm sure" He said and glanced at his watch "I gotta go, I promised April I would meet her in two minutes" He turned to leave.
"Wait" She hurried to close the distance between them as he turned back to face her "Good luck" She moved in to give him a soft kiss on the lips.
He looked into her eyes with a surprised expression on his face "What did you that for?"
"I wanted to" She smiled at him, hoping for a true reconciliation.
"Good luck to you too" He smiled back at her and turned to leave.
"Well aren't you gonna kiss me for good luck too?"
He turned around, shook his head and bit his bottom lip "You're crazy Lexie Grey!" He smiled and quickly took two steps in her direction "And you're driving me crazy too" He hurried to pull her close to him and kiss her passionately. "Good luck" He smiled as he leaned his forehead against hers and she smiled back "Now I really gotta go" She nodded and he gave her one last short kiss before going to meet April.
A/N: To be continued...