Pleasant Surprises

Chapter 10

Here is chapter 10…hopefully you guys will like it. Last chapter I had Mark and Meredith play UNO and Addison listened in for a few minutes, then walk away. She was flabbergasted but intent on confronting Mark on his intentions with Meredith – so this is what this chapter will deal with. Oh and of course Meredith and Mark's game of UNO and you guys can read what they were thinking not only what Addison was thinking (as stated in last chapter).

As always thanks for your reviews, am glad that you guys are enjoying this story. If there is anything you guys think is lacking or needs to be fine-tuned drop me a line and let me know.

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"UNO!" she called out as she slammed her hand on top of her last card and put it against her chest. "Whatcha gonna do now?" she questioned, oblivious to the fact that Addison was right behind her door listening to their exchange. Meredith was too busy enjoying Mark's company to even notice her or anyone else walking down the hall for that matter. Mark was doing what Mark did best: he was making a woman smile and feel like there was no other one in the world but the woman he was currently talking to and at the moment it happened to be Meredith. Meredith looked up from the table of cards and smiled at him, a full-fledged smile. She was having a really good time and she was more than surprised at the person that she was having it with. She laughed again at Mark's reply:

"Well the only thing that I can do sweetheart." She gasped out loud involuntarily as she heard: "Draw four baby!" Mark stated as giddy as he could be. He was having a great time. He could not remember another time that he played UNO with somebody and laughed so hard. Meredith was really into it and he could tell because her eyes were shining with a light that had not been there ten minutes ago. She was actually happy or at least she looked happy now. He had managed to do the unthinkable: get her to focus on something else other than Derek or his leaving without saying goodbye.

"What!" He heard Meredith exclaim and brought him back to reality. "This is the second time you do this to me! Are you hiding all the draw fours?" she asked in mock indignation. "Are you cheating? You cheater!" she said, as she threw her head back and laughed. Mark's face was priceless. She had outright called him a cheater…how dare she! She couldn't prove that. She was hilarious.

Mark opened his mouth and touched his hand to his chest. "I resent that!" he said, as he watched her draw four cards. "And I want yellow." He finalized and laughed out loud when he saw her scowl. "No yellows huh? Am I that good or what? You know there is a secret to winning at UNO and no don't ask cause I won't tell." He said, as he raised his eyebrows up and down in a joking manner.

"Shut up." She said, as she continued to pick cards until a yellow card appeared. "I swear you must have X-ray vision. It's not a secret formula, its just luck."

He winked his eye at her: "Maybe…or maybe you suck." He stated as he shrugged his shoulders and fought the urge to pull back her hair behind her ear as it framed her face.

"No. That's not it." Meredith said, as she put down a wild card and smiled for a second before stated. "Red."

Meredith winced at his choice of cards…"Draw two sweetheart."

"Shit." She said in mock indignation as she drew two cards. "Unfreakingbelievable."

"UNO!" Mark said and smiled flashing his perfect straight white teeth. It really didn't matter what color she chose since he had a wild card anyway so his smiled remained impassive on his face as he heard her: "Green."

"I win." He exclaimed and extended his arms upward towards the ceiling. "How you like me now?"

"You had a wild card." She stated flatly and rolled her eyes. "But of course. Why not? I mean you had the draw fours." She finalized and looked at him and smiled. "Thanks Mark."

"For what? Winning?" Mark stated, teasing her.

"No. For making me smile. For making me have a good time in spite of everything. You without a doubt surprise me at every turn." Meredith pointed out.

"That's a good thing right?" Mark asked. "Surprising someone at every turn keeps it interesting." He joked as he got up. "Now I really have to go. I have a few rounds that I have to do and you need to rest. We can't forget that you are a patient at this point and not an intern that I can torture."

"So you torture interns for fun huh?"

"Yeah." He teased right back. "Except you of course Dr. Grey."

"Of course." She clarified, laughing. "I'm the exception."

"Because your one of my favorite people." He emphasized. "Actually the only intern that I pay attention to."

Meredith raised her brow. "Don't know if that's a good thing Dr. Sloan. You should actually get to know all interns. We all have something to give. We all have an individual talent." Meredith stated and rolled her eyes as she saw Mark's reaction. "Get you head out of the gutter Dr. Sloan." She teased.

"Okay." He said, as he opened the door. "I'll see you later Meredith. Get some sleep."

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Mark walked out of Meredith's room with a huge smile on his face. He really couldn't remember the last time he had such a fun and relaxed time. Lately his life had been filled with so much drama that the little things in life had eluded him – until now. Meredith was fun to talk to and easy to feel comfortable with. For the twentieth time today Mark found himself wondering how the hell Derek could walk away from someone like Meredith? Granted he told the Chief he'd come back but to him leaving this woman for even a second was not something he thought he would consider. It would've not been an option to him.

He walked into the cafeteria and went straight to the Seattle's Best Coffee counter. Thank God for decent coffee at Seattle Grace. He was used to Starbucks but Seattle's Best was a damn close competitor. Besides he had gotten used to it; if you chose the dark roast it had a more than average kick. "Dark roast, light cream, no sugar." He ordered not paying attention to anyone around or behind him. "Dr. Sloan." A voice called out to him.

He turned around looking for the voice. He saw George O'Malley and smirked. "Dr. O'Malley can I help you?" he questioned. He could not figure out for the life of him why O'Malley would want to talk to him but he remembered what Meredith said about getting to know other interns and he decided to not pre-judge, he would listen to what he had to say.

"I saw you with Meredith." He started nervously. "And I don't want to sound intrusive or seeming to have overstepped but she has a lot to deal with right now and her talking to you…well I think it will only add on to the fuel and it will only add on more stress." George stated nervously.

Mark scrunched his brow as he rubbed his chin with his left hand. This was the reason why he didn't speak to interns. Apparently they still didn't know when it was appropriate to speak or when they had crossed the line. "So…being Meredith's friend is not constructive?" he asked, as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You are not her friend." George immediately replied and shifted uncomfortably. "You want something else from her and I'm just saying that she cannot deal with it right now. She has a lot to deal with and adding you on to her worries is only going to be disastrous."

"How do you know Dr. O'Malley?" Mark questioned, feeling his anger rising by the second. Who the hell did this kid think he was…Meredith's keeper?

"Dr. Sloan." George stammered on. "No offense but you ruined Dr. Shepherd's life and he loves Meredith. He told her." He started…he was about to continue his train of thought but was shut up by Mark and his comment that cut him to the core.

"You love her too Dr. O'Malley." Mark spoke up. "Don't tell me you don't. I see how you look at her. I don't care who it is your dating – to you Meredith will be the one that you can never have and for that same reason Dr. O'Malley you will always pine for her. I appreciate your concern but I think that Meredith can take care of herself and she can choose for herself if she wants my friendship or not. Contrary to popular belief Dr. O'Malley that is what we are – friends. Word of advice O'Malley try to fix your own life before you go and try to fix someone else's."

George knew that he had overstepped but he never thought that Dr. Sloan would get so defensive and attack him. He nodded his head in acknowledgment and turned around and walked away. Maybe Sloan was right about him and Meredith. He had done his best to move on but Sloan was right, Meredith would always be the woman that he pined for and wanted. He was trying really hard to move on and he thought he had move forward to some extent.

"Dark roast light cream." Mark heard someone call out and turned and smiled at the attendant. "Thanks." He said as he took his first sip of coffee and started walking towards his office. He realized he wasn't in such a good mood anymore. O'Malley had hit a spot he didn't want to think about but still he smiled in spite of it. It didn't manage to ruin his whole day…Meredith still managed to get through his dark thoughts and he found himself relaxing once again thinking of all the time he spent with her and how much they had laughed.

However, as he opened the door and turned on the light he started slightly when he saw Addison sitting on his chair in the dark. He quickly recuperated and half-joked: "Stalking me Addison?"

"No." she said, as she got up from her chair and immediately started to pace the room. She was still in shock at what she saw in Meredith's hospital room, still confused about what feelings were invoked by that but more importantly she was in total awe of Mark's sarcasm and total lack of emotions in relation to Derek's feelings. He was well under way to destroying – for good – any chance he had at having Derek in his life again. She didn't even know if he was truly interested in getting Derek to forgive him for their affair.

"Why are you pacing?" Mark asked. "Addison what's wrong?"

"You are fucking unbelievable!" she spat out, her eyes ablaze and ready to do war with him.

"What are you rambling on about?" Mark asked already annoyed. Was this attack-Mark-day?

"I saw you." She started. "I saw you in Meredith's room and before you even suggest that I am jealous at what I saw I am only concerned with what you're doing to her and to Derek. You know what? You may not care about Derek's feelings but at least stop your bullshit and stay away from Meredith. She has done nothing wrong for you to go after her and destroy her. She has nothing to do with you, Derek and myself and the mistakes that we have made. You don't have to bring her into the mix. She's innocent in all this."

"Hold up." He said, putting his coffee down angrily on his desk. "First of all how dare you – and the rest of the people in this damn hospital – criticize what it is that I do and how I spend my time with Dr. Grey? I just had Dr. O'Malley…Dr. O'Malley for goodness sakes step up to me – TO ME – and tell me to stay the hell away from her. What the hell is wrong with this picture? I am doing nothing wrong! I am keeping her company when she is recuperating, playing a few games of UNO and making her laugh. What is so wrong with that? Where is the crime in that?"

"Mark you don't do well with being friends with women. Eventually you make them fall for you and you proceed to sleep with them. It's going to be no different with Meredith so stop pretending and stop trying to make me believe that you are not interested in her. Need I remind you how you pursued me until I fell for you? What did it cost me? My marriage. So please don't patronize me with your lies. I want you to be honest with me and admit that Meredith interests you."

"I like her as a person, what's wrong with that?" Mark admitted and posed it as a question. "But I won't pursue her. I can't pursue her. But lets leave that for a moment. I want to dwell on your attitude right now. Why do you care so much? And don't give me that bull about Derek and Meredith's feelings. How about your own? Besides that, don't act like you were blameless in all this because you weren't. I know that I told you to stop putting all the blame on you but don't go as far as to think that this was all me cause it wasn't."

Addison swallowed and looked downward – he was right. "I don't know what to tell you Mark. I feel like…like…" she didn't know what to say. "I don't know why I feel like this. I mean you and I say goodbye to one another but seeing you in that room did something to me…and I just can't pinpoint what that is."

"I thought you agreed with me…we both agreed it was for the best to let go of us." Had she changed her mind?

"It is for the best." She reiterated. "I am not saying that I want you back but maybe I just don't want you with her. I mean not just because it would bother me but truly – I was not lying – how can you do that to Derek?" she said. "Don't you feel in the least guilty about actively pursuing her after you took part in the demise of our marriage?" she asked, really wanting to know.

"I do feel guilty!" he screamed out suddenly. "So guilty that I have tried to not go near Meredith. I know that we have no future and I know that she doesn't want me much less love me. She is just leaning on me as a friend. I do see her differently than maybe she sees me but Meredith…there is something about her that makes me want to help her…bottom line. Seriously Addison even if I wanted to, she doesn't want me. You know that. You see the way that she looks at Derek. She wants him and not me and I know that. I am just trying to help her, that's it."

"So you admit wanting her?" Addison questioned as she felt some stirring in her stomach.

"I can't deny that. I can never deny that, however, I'm sure a lot of people want her…look at O'Malley." Mark pointed out. "But Addison you need to trust me when I tell you that I will not go after her. I like her, I really like her as a person and I want to be there for her. How the hell do you think she feels that Derek just up and left her? She feels abandoned Addison and that's not fair to her because you're right, she has nothing to do with the mess that the three of us created – you, me and Derek."

"So you're there to comfort her?"

"Yes!" he screamed out and immediately regretted his outburst. "I can try."

"Why can't you pursue someone else Mark? Why do you always have to complicate everything?"

"I am not choosing to do this and I am not pursuing her." He stated. "I can't explain it to you Addison. I tell myself time and time again to stay away from her and that I should not be the one she leans on but it just happens. Every single time that I try to walk away something reels me back in, I don't know what it is because the way I operate – and you know how I operate – is that I would charm her and make her fall for me for one reason only and that is to have her and once I get tired of it leave her but I find myself listening to her problems, I find myself caring that she is so devastated because Derek left. Shit, I find myself wanting to kill Derek for making her cry and most importantly I can't understand why the hell I care so much."

Addison looked at him shocked for a couple of seconds and was stunned speechless. Mark was falling for Meredith and he didn't even recognize it or worse yet was fighting the feelings of recognition. "Wow." Addison said as she walked towards the door but stopped and looked back and stated: "You have no idea how much heartache is in for you and the rest of us if you decide to keep your alleged friendship with Meredith. Don't forget Derek is coming back and once he does he is going straight to Meredith and is going to tell her that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. What then Mark?" she questioned to no one in particular and walked through the door, closing it slowly and quietly.

What then Mark? Now his mood was really shot to hell. Addison's question repeated itself in his head over and over and over again. He didn't know. What then? Derek would come back and he would step back and let them be happy, that's what. He had no choice. He felt a stirring in his heart that he had never felt before – this feeling was foreign to him. What was it?

"Damn Addison and O'Malley to hell." He muttered as he sat down and took a sip of his now cold coffee…Great! "I was really looking forward to having a cup of coffee in peace and quiet." He muttered to himself. He hated being called on things that he did and whatever it was he was doing with Meredith hit a very sensitive chord…because he didn't know exactly what he was doing…on the contrary he was running by the seat of his pants.

What the fuck am I gonna do?

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Okay guys let me know what you think?

Yesterday's extended episode was so great!