A/N: Hey everybody, sorry for the late update, I had a crazy busy day. I hope everyone is still liking the story, and please feel free to give any suggestions in the reviews. Thanks, and happy reading!

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After a short drive, Mark and Lexie arrived at the high-rise apartments that housed their new home. Mark parked his Porsche in the underground parking structure and they took the elevator for residents to the nineteenth floor. Lexie could hardly contain her excitement at seeing, for the first time, the place that was to be her new home. Mark had been utterly mysterious when she had asked him what the new apartment looked like. All he would say was that it was a "Lexie Apartment", whatever that meant.

When the elevator arrived on the floor, Mark led Lexie down a brightly lit hallway which had plush carpeting on the floor, as well as sconces on the wall. There were very few doors, causing Lexie to suspect that this would be a big apartment which he was leading her to.

As they approached the door, Mark commented, "Why don't you do the honors?

Lexie smiled at him and pulled out her key. When she had unlocked the door, she quickly typed in the code on the keypad. One of the benefits of an eidetic memory was that she remembered what it was without ever looking more than once at the note which Mark had given her.

Once the alarm was disabled, Lexie stepped into the apartment and Mark flipped on the light. She almost had to catch her breath. The apartment was large, with windows taking up the whole back wall. There was a large kitchen to her right, behind a set of double doors, with state of the art appliances, and double doors on either side of the living room.

"The right side leads to a large office and library," Mark explained, "And those doors over there lead to our bedroom."

Lexie was entranced, but not with the apartment itself, with the feel of it. Mark had been right. This was a "Lexie Apartment." The walls were painted a soft peach color, and the kitchen had rose colored granite. When she walked over to the bedroom, she discovered a wrought iron balcony and a marble bathroom with both a large shower and a Jacuzzi tub. There was little in the way of furniture, but what there was would have been exactly what Lexie would have picked out if she had all the choices in the world. In their bedroom was a sleigh bed which Lexie suspected was a higher end version of the one she had been admiring in her Restoration Hardware catalog. There was also a plush sofa with big fat pillows in the living room along with a chaise lounge. Lexie realized that when Mark had said "Lexie Apartment," what he meant was that this was an apartment for her.

Standing in the middle of the large bedroom, Lexie turned to Mark who was hovering in the doorway. "Why did you do this?" Lexie asked.

Mark frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…it's perfect."

Mark breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is just what I would have chosen." She looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "But is it what you want?"

Mark smiled softly at her. "I want you, Lex. The rest of it doesn't matter to me. I want you to be as happy here as possible."

Lexie smiled widely. She then tugged him away from the doorframe, and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Thank you, for everything. I couldn't adore it more," She said with a smile.

"Don't get too attached to it," Mark warned.

"Why?" Lexie asked.

"Cause we are only going to live here for a few months until our other apartment is finished."

Lexie sighed. "I should have known it was too good to be true. Is our other apartment smaller?"

Mark smirked. "Not exactly."

"It's bigger?" Lexie asked, finding that idea to be impossible.

"Yep," Mark said, kissing her upturned face. "I would say so."

"Mark," Lexie said, turning her face so he couldn't distract her. "Where are we moving to?"

"The penthouse."

"The penthouse," Lexie repeated. "We are moving into a penthouse?"

"Mmhmm, once it's done of course."

"Mark," Lexie said, "I can't afford a penthouse. I probably can't afford this apartment."

Mark laughed. "Lexie, I make millions of dollars a year. There is no way we are splitting the rent like roommates. Besides, I have bought both apartments outright."

"You have… I think I need to sit down," Lexie murmured, walking over to the bed and sitting down heavily. She tried to ignore how nice the bed felt.

Mark came over and sat next to her, taking her hand. "Look, I know you like being independent, but this isn't something we are going to argue about. I have money, and you are an intern who doesn't make much. No contest, I win. There are other ways that you can contribute."

Lexie looked at him. "I don't want you taking care of me. There has to be an equal balance in this relationship or…" She trailed off.

Mark looked at her like she was crazy. "Lexie, if it wasn't for you there wouldn't even be a relationship. I would still be at the Archfield with random women, and lonely but never being able to pinpoint what I was missing. You came into my life like a hurricane, Little Grey. Believe me, I was never happy that I was at Seattle Grace until that day you came to my hotel room. I am not good at this relationship stuff, I know that. But me paying for this apartment doesn't define us, not even a little bit."

Mark kissed the side of her face. "So I am taking care of you now, so what? In a few years when you are an equally famous plastic surgeon, you can buy our next house, or a vacation home somewhere." Mark grinned. "Understand of course, that I will always be the superior surgeon and you will owe all your success to my excellent tutelage."

Lexie laughed, but then sobered when she realized what he had said. "Our next house? You…you see a future for us?"

Mark nodded. "I can see a forever for us."

"Forever," Lexie whispered. "I like that." She then kissed him, and he happily went along. Lexie knew he had won this battle, but he wouldn't win them all. She couldn't care less about that now; all she cared about at this very moment was christening their brand new home.

***

Some time later, when they were finally able to move again, Lexie had ordered Chinese food and a bottle of wine. Thirty minutes later, they were sitting on the floor of their kitchen with food spread out in front of them like a blanket. Lexie was wearing Mark's button-down and he was in his boxers and pants.

"Oh, yum," Lexie said as she bit into her sweet and sour pork. "This will cost me a trip to the gym."

Mark laughed. "Like you need it. I have never seen anyone so tiny consume so much and not gain a pound. Must be in the Grey genes."

Lexie smiled. "No, I got that from…" She trailed off.

"From whom?" Mark asked.

She sighed. "My mother."

"Are you doing okay? We never really had a chance to talk about how your Christmas was without her." Mark had no idea how to be a supportive boyfriend, but he was sure as hell willing to try.

"It was miserable," Lexie said. "My dad was drunk the whole time, and Molly was trying to pretend that nothing was going on."

"I am sorry, Lex," Mark said.

She offered him a too-bright smile. "It's fine, the first one without her was bound to be hard."

"Yeah," Mark said, thinking of all the Christmases that he had spent without his parents while they were away on vacation or working. Pushing those thoughts away, Mark commented, "You know, we are going to have to go to personnel and change our addresses."

Lexie grinned ruefully at him. "I had thought about that. I think I might just leave it at my old address for a while. I'll change it later, once we have been officially outed."

Mark laughed. "Fine." As he took a bite of his egg roll, his phone rang. Checking the caller ID, Mark frowned, "It's Callie. Hold on," Mark said to Lexie.

"Hello?"

"Sloan!" Callie said. "Where are you? I thought we were meeting at Joe's!"

"Huh?" Mark said. "When did we say that?"

"This morning. When I was talking to you as we scrubbed in on the burn victim who fell down the stairs."

"Oh, sorry," Mark said, taking a bite of rice. "I must not have been paying attention. I am kind of busy right now."

"Oh come on, what could you possibly be doing now that is that important?"

"Callie," Mark said impatiently. "I can't tonight."

"But I need to talk about the hot intern," Callie whined.

Mark laughed. "Stay away from her. The ones without appendixes are trouble. I'll talk to you later." He was still grinning when he hung up the phone.

"So her and Sadie, huh?" Lexie asked. "That makes no sense, and yet it does."

"I know, right?" Mark said with a laugh.

"Did you want to go to Joe's?" Lexie asked, her eyes troubled. She didn't want to take him away from his friends.

"No," Mark replied, scooting over so he was sitting next to her. "I want to spend time with my hot intern, not talking about hers."

Lexie rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to reply, when her pager went off. Her purse was sitting on the counter, and Lexie went to check it. She called in, and spoke briefly to the person on the other end. "Damn it," She said. "It was the Chief. He wants me to come in. There seems to be a flu going around and a shortage of interns. He wants me to cover the end of Graziella's shift. I would be out around eleven."

Mark stood as well. "He's testing us," Mark said.

"Yeah," Lexie said in frustration. "I better go."

"Okay," Mark said, trying to hide his annoyance at the Chief's intrusion on their evening.

"Why don't you go meet Callie?" Lexie asked. "You can hang out, you could even call Derek."

Mark clenched his jaw. "I'll go see Callie, but I have no desire to see Shepherd."

Lexie said nothing, not wanting to get in the middle of their fight.

"I'm gonna need my shirt back," Mark said, with a wicked grin on his face.

"Well, you are just going to have to take it off my back," Lexie said with a wicked grin of her own.

"God, I love it when you talk like that," Mark said.

Lexie laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You are so easy," Lexie murmured.

"Not anymore," Mark whispered. "You have reformed me, Lexie Grey." He kissed her gently, cupping her face in his hands.

"I did nothing of the sort, Mark Sloan." She placed butterfly kisses on his closed eyelids. "You simply became the man that I could always see in you."

Mark groaned, and pulled her closer to him, his hands slipping under his shirt to cup her naked bottom. "Don't go to work; stay here with me where it's warm."

"I'll be back soon," Lexie said. "Besides, look on the bright side. You get a chance to see your friends this way."

"You are the only friend I care about seeing tonight," Mark said, nipping at the tender skin of her neck.

"Well, try to pretend you care about Callie's problems," Lexie said, smothering a laugh. "Just don't be too supportive." She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

Mark smirked. "Are you jealous, Little Grey?"

"Of another woman getting to spend time with you? Absolutely. You're all I think about, Mark. I don't want to share you, even though I know I can't keep you all to myself."

Her words were laced with humor, but Mark sensed the seriousness behind her words. He felt something akin to joy at that moment. He tried to keep his next words as light as possible, though all he wanted to do was crush her to him and never let go. "I am all you think about?"

Lexie looked at him, her brown eyes full of something that looked like love. "You're all I ever think about. I can hardly remember what my life was like before you," Lexie said, blushing at the significance of her words. "I think…I think that the idea of being without you no longer makes sense to me."

"I know what you mean," Mark rasped. "You're all I think about too, Little Grey. The last thing at night and the first thing in the morning. Being without you…hurts, like I never could have imagined. I know I don't always say it, and I know I can't always show it, but you are the single most important thing in my life, Lexie."

Lexie smiled softly, and blinked back her tears. "Just as you are the single most important thing in mine."

Mark wanted to tell her that he loved her, but something held him back. When he finally said it, he wanted it to be perfect, not in a kitchen, half-naked and surrounded by used Chinese food containers. So he kissed her instead, and savored the feeling of her in his arms.

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A/N: Please Review!