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Chapter Ten - Try to Bury My Troubles Away

"Okay, Dr. Grey. You probably know the drill, but I need to ask you some questions about your medical history."

One week later, Lexie took a deep breath as she sat in an exam room in a paper gown, and trying to answer the doctor's questions to the best of her ability. Despite the fact that she was a doctor herself, she had never liked being on the other side. Susan Grey had deserved a medal for all the times she had endured Lexie's childhood tantrums that always seemed to coincide with doctor's appointments when she was growing up.

But despite her nerves, and despite the fact that she would rather be anywhere else than where she was, Lexie was comforted by the fact that Mark was sitting by her side, holding her hand.

To her utter surprise, when Mark had taken her hand to give it a comforting squeeze, he didn't pull away immediately. Instead, he had interlaced his fingers with hers, and now he was enraptured with a little game of writing dirty words in the palm of her hand with his index finger, while Lexie answered the doctor's questions. She hadn't realized what he was doing at first, but then she had focused on the letters to get her mind off her discomfort, and she had to fight off a grin when she realized all the dirty things he was pressing into her skin.

Lexie tried not to giggle as Mark finished writing slang would for a part of the female anatomy.

"Okay, Dr. Grey. Lie back, and I will just check to make sure everything feels all right." As she, Dr. Sullivan, examined her, she continued to talk, trying to distract Lexie from the uncomfortable pressure on her abdomen. "From what I can determine, you are three weeks pregnant, and the baby should be born the first week of January. I will give you a more precise calculation later."

"Three weeks?" Mark asked, not thinking like a doctor. "So it wasn't the night of the wedding." He said that last part more to Lexie, than the doctor.

"The due date and how far along she is, are measured from the first missed period, Dr. Sloan," Sullivan said.

"Right," Mark mumbled, clearly uncomfortable talking about Lexie's periods.

Sullivan continued talking, ignoring Mark's embarrassment, "The blood panel I ordered came back fine, and your levels are perfectly in range. Are you having any problems I should be aware of?"

"Just a little morning sickness," Lexie said.

"And she is tired all the time," Mark piped in.

"Mark!"

"What?" He asked with a shrug. "You are."

"Those are all normal signs, but I am putting you on prenatal vitamins which have iron. That should help with the fatigue." Sullivan then finished the external exam and said, "Okay, Dr. Grey. Feet in the stirrups, please."

Lexie turned crimson. "Mark, would you mind waiting behind the curtain?"

"Sure," he said, his face slightly pale. "That is probably a good idea."

Once Lexie was situated, and she could feel cold metal in a place that was most uncomfortable, she said, "Talk to me, Mark."

"About what?" He asked, his voice coming from behind the curtain.

Lexie squeezed her eyes shut against the picture of a Swiss chalet that had been taped to the ceiling, and said, "Anything."

"Um, I started looking at apartments for us?" Mark said, unsure if this was something that Lexie wanted to talk about at this moment.

"Really?" She asked, smiling.

"Yep," Mark said. "There is this great apartment in the Madison Park area. It is a two story apartment, and it has wood flooring. Oh, and flower boxes in the windows…I thought you would like that."

Lexie laughed a bit, ignoring her discomfort as her toes curled around the ends of the stirrups. "I do. It sounds lovely."

"It is," Mark said. "It is right on the edge of Lake Washington too. We could take the baby there for walks and to play when she is older."

She wanted to cry with happiness at the way Mark was planning for the future, as if this had been his plan all along.

"Okay," Dr. Sullivan said, her tone slightly apologetic for interrupting. "All done, Dr. Grey. You can sit up now."

Lexie took her feet out of the stirrups and sat up, hoping she could soon get out of the paper gown she was wearing. "Okay, Mark. I am done."

He came from behind the curtain with a sheepish smile.

"Alright, Dr. Grey. You can get dressed now, and I want to see you back in a month. Talk to my nurse, and she will give you all the prescriptions and make your next appointment."

"What about an ultrasound?" Mark asked, feeling slightly deflated that they weren't going to get to see the baby.

Dr. Sullivan smiled at him, and said. "When Dr. Grey is at eight weeks we will do a vaginal ultrasound to hear the heartbeat, and at twelve weeks we will do a regular one." She laughed, her kind face reminding Lexie of a grandmother's. "Patience, Dr. Sloan," She said. "You can't rush these things. You both will see your baby soon enough."

Mark smiled thankfully, and then looked to Lexie to see if she was wearing the same expression of awestruck happiness that he was.

Your baby.

There was something magical about that statement.

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After Lexie was dressed, she and Mark left the doctor's office, and walked the short distance to the diner on the corner. They were within two block of the hospital, and yet neither Mark nor Lexie had been in the small restaurant before. After sitting down at a booth, Mark handed Lexie a menu and began to scan his own, all the while shooting Lexie glances from under his eyelashes.

Lexie saw him doing it, and smiled. "What?"

Mark opened his mouth to speak, but then just smiled and shook his head. "Nothing," He replied.

"Okay," Lexie said, a grin quirking at her lips.

There was silence for a moment, until Mark blurted, "It's just…that made it real, you know?"

Lexie looked up, set down her menu and said, "Yeah, I guess it did."

"I mean, I knew it was happening," Mark said. "I have known for a week, but that felt like it was real. I mean, Dr. Sullivan called it 'Your baby'…no one has said that before."

"That's because no one else knows about it," Lexie said dryly. Dr. Hunt, for all of Mark's worries, hadn't said a word. "Once people know, they aren't going to stop saying it."

"Yeah," Mark said with a grin.

Lexie felt as if she suddenly was seeing something that had escaped her before. "Oh my God," Lexie said. "You are really excited about this, aren't you?" Her face was lit in a happy, yet shocked, grin.

"I am," Mark said, nodding decisively. "This is going to be fantastic."

"Okay," Lexie said, tilting her head, "Don't take this the wrong way, but most men in your situation would be…"

"Panicking?" Mark supplied.

"Yes, exactly," Lexie said.

"There is no point in that; life's too short," Mark said. "Besides, I have been in this situation before. Perhaps I used all my panic up then."

"Maybe," Lexie said. "Did you ever… I mean, that is… Had you…been to a doctor's appointment?" She was unsure how to ask him about what had to be a horribly sensitive subject.

Mark shook his head, looking down at his menu again. "No," He said shortly. "She took care of it before any of that could happen."

The waitress came then and took their orders. Mark seemed very interested in the specials, but Lexie wondered if that was because she had hit a sore spot. She nibbled on the bottom of her lip and, after the waitress left, she said, "Sorry."

"For what?" Mark asked, taking a sip of the coffee that had been poured for him.

"We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."

"I have no objections to talking about it," Mark said. "It's just…when I think back to that whole time with Addison in New York, it feels like scenes out of someone else's life, you know?"

Addison, Lexie thought, wondering if Mark knew he had just given away the identity of the almost-mother of his child. She remembered the glamorous redhead from her visit to Seattle two months before, but she hadn't spoken to her. But, being human, Lexie hadn't been able to stop herself from comparing Addison, in all her beauty, to her own simplistic prettiness. She knew from Derek that Mark and Addison had been in a serious relationship after Derek left for Seattle, but she had never thought that Addison would be quite so…lovely. Lexie, who knew herself to be desperately in love with Mark by that point, had wondered if that was the reason Mark had turned her away from his hotel room all those months before. If she, in her innocence and youth, was simply not a person he was, or could be, attracted to.

"Anyway," Mark was saying, "None of that matters now. All that is important is this baby, and you taking good care of her."

Lexie smiled, and pushed her insecurities away. "You are right. You know, I am sort of starting to think about what he will look like. Whether he will have your eyes, or mine. Or if he will be tall, or short like most Grey men are. For his sake, I hope he inherited the Sloan genes in that respect."

Mark grinned at her. "Isn't that all a little premature? Besides, I am sure our daughter will be beautiful, just like her mama."

She laughed. "Oh, so you think it is a girl?"

"Oh, I know it is a girl," Mark said. He then muttered, "The universe wouldn't have it any other way."

Lexie's happy peals of laughter made him smile, as he was struck by the beauty of the woman sitting before him. In true Lexie fashion, she was managing to get more beautiful the more her pregnancy progressed. If it weren't for the fact that Mark had held her hair back for five of the last seven mornings, he would swear she was in the peak of health.

Unable to stop himself, Mark reached across the table and took her hand, "I like hearing you laugh," He confessed.

The wide smile eased from her face into happy contentment, and she turned her hand so that their palms were touching. It felt like there was an electric current running from his palm to hers, and as he stared into her eyes, Lexie felt as though the world was falling out from under her. Surely it wasn't possible that he could look at her like that and feel nothing. Lexie didn't know if she was kidding herself, or simply wishing for the impossible, but she could have sworn that she saw the barest traces of love in the depth of his eyes.

"Well," She said, not wanting to spoil the moment, "You make me laugh. Which is a good thing, considering we are best friends."

Mark's shoulders jerked slightly when she said that, and then he blinked in surprise. "Yeah, friends….right."

Lexie could have sworn that she heard disappointment in his voice, but she said nothing. The waitress saved her by bringing their food at that moment.

She placed a breakfast special in front of Mark, and oatmeal and a fruit plate in front of Lexie.

Lexie ignored the slight twist in her stomach, and rubbed the surface of her abdomen gently. "None of that," She murmured soothingly. "I need to eat now."

"Who are you talking to?" Mark asked with a grin.

"The baby," Lexie said matter-of-factly. "Babies learn to process sounds and speak while they are in the womb, even if they don't say a word until much later."

Mark smiled at her protectiveness, but couldn't help teasing her, "Um, Lex? I hate to break it to you, but at this point there is no real reason to talk to the baby yet."

"Why not?" Lexie said, taking a bite of her oatmeal after blowing on it.

"Because right now the baby doesn't have ears."

"I know that," Lexie said, rolling her eyes. "But it is never too early for the baby to start learning."

Mark laughed, taking a bite of bacon. "Our kid is going to be a nerd, isn't she?"

Lexie tilted her head to the side, as if she was thinking, and then conceded, "Most likely."

"Oh well, she will be part Sloan, that will help with the hotness factor," Mark said. His face then darkened, "Not that it will matter at the All Girls Catholic School we are going to send her to."

Lexie rolled her eyes again. "Now who is jumping the gun?" She then took a bite of green apple from the fruit plate.

Mark smiled, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Lexie said, "I swear to God, if you say anything…you will be wearing your eggs instead of eating them."

He closed his mouth with a smirk, and she took another bite of apple.

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