Chapter 11: No One
"It's your turn."
"Nope."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not."
"I just changed them. It's your turn." Jackson groaned and got up before making his way over to the twins' cribs.
"Hey there Anna," Jackson said while picking her up. "What's the matter? Huh?" The six month old just looked at him and kept crying. "Let's go outside so we don't wake up anybody." He slowly made his way downstairs and out the door before sitting on the porch swing. "Is this better?" Anna just kept crying and crying.
"Need help?" Alex said from the doorway. Jackson nodded and Alex made his way over and sat next to him. "Is she hungry?"
"Lexie just fed her."
"Does she need to be changed?"
"No."
"Does she want her pacifier?"
"No."
"Did she have a bad dream?" Jackson looked at him and sighed.
"Alex-"
"Dude, I'm kidding."
"It's too early for that."
"Whatever."
"If you're not gonna help then-"
"Is she teething?" Jackson blinked and frowned.
"What?"
"Is she teething?"
"I don't think so…" Alex shook his head before taking Anna from him. He gently put his finger in her mouth and carefully touched her gums, causing her to cry louder.
"Yep, she's teething." Jackson took her and rocked her slowly. "I'll get her teething ring."
"You can't."
"Why not?" Jackson closed his eyes and sighed. "Sloan has it?"
"Yep." Alex thought for a minute before pulling out his phone.
"What's his number?"
Mark was sleeping. Sleep never came easy these days. Between Sofia, the twins, Julia, and work he was exhausted. So he was sleeping. That was, until, the phone rang. He was going to ignore it, but stopped and glanced at the clock. It was two in the morning. No one called him that early unless it was an emergency. He groaned before grabbing his phone off the night stand.
"What?" he asked sleepily.
"Sloan?"
"Karev? Why the hell are you-?"
"It's Anna." Mark shot up out of bed.
"What happened? Is it her heart? Her lungs? Her-"
"She's fine." Mark closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
"Then why are you calling?"
"She woke up crying-"
"Babies do that. Especially-"
"When they're teething and their dad's got their chew toy. We know." It was then when Mark heard Anna crying on the other end.
"Put her one."
"I don't think that's gonna-"
"Now Karev!" Alex sighed and there was a pause before Mark could very distinctively hear a very upset Anna. "Hey Anna. How's my little girl? You don't sound too good. Daddy knows it hurts and he's gonna give you something for it tomorrow I promised." Mark kept talking to her. Telling her how much he loved her, and he even sang her a little song or two. The more he talked and sang, the more she calmed down until finally she was happily babbling away.
"I think she's ready for bed," Jackson said. "She just gave me a look and a very big yawn." Mark smiled and laughed to himself.
"Kiss her goodnight for me, and tell her I love her."
"Will do." Mark's smile faltered a little and hung up. He hated this. Not being able to tuck in his baby girl and kiss her goodnight while Jackson got to do it whenever he wanted. It wasn't fair, but Julia and Lexie said this is the way it would have to be. He didn't agree, but wouldn't dare argue with them. Julia because she was his girlfriend and he loved her. Lexie because she was the mother of his children, and you don't ever mess with them. He would see Masen and Anna tomorrow. For now, all he could do was sleep.
"You still haven't told me how you got her to sleep," Lexie said as she and Jackson got on the elevator.
"You still haven't told me how Masen slept through all that crying," Jackson replied.
"He was on his stomach. When he's sleeping like that, he can sleep almost through anything." She glanced down at Masen and Anna, who were happily babbling about in their strollers. "How did you calm her down?"
"Lexie-"
"I answered your question, now you answer mine." Jackson sighed and looked at her.
"I called Sloan and he talked to her for a while."
"Ok then." The doors opened and they pushed the strollers out and over to the stairs where Mark was waiting for them.
"There you are," Mark said as he picked up Masen. "How are you? Did you sleep alright? I know you did."
"His first word will not be Dada Mark," Lexie said.
"You don't know that."
"I think she does," Jackson said.
"Yeah I do. So Mark, give me back my baby." Mark looked at her and frowned.
"I just got him."
"Well if you want to hold your daughter, you're going to have to give him up. Mommy's got work to do and in order to do that, she's gotta get her kids up to the nursery."
"You'll be fine."
"Mark-"
"I can take them," Jackson said. "That way you can get to work and he can have more time with them."
"Jackson-"
"I don't mind."
"No he's had plenty of time with Masen. Put him in the stroller."
"Lexie-" Mark started.
"Jackson can stay and wait for Anna." She took Masen from Mark and put him back in his stroller before pushing it back towards the elevator.
"I'm sorry," Jackson said. "She's been really tired lately."
"Its fine," Mark said quietly. He picked up Anna and kissed her cheek. "I have a present for you." He reached in his pocket and pulled out her teething ring, which she gladly accepted and chewed on quietly.
"If you want, you can take her up to the nursery."
"I want to, but I have to get make sure my patient is prepped for surgery."
"I can do it."
"Avery-"
"It's fine. I'll get them prepped and answer all their questions. It'll be fine." Mark smiled and nodded.
"Ok." Jackson kissed Anna's cheek before making his way up the stairs. "Uncle Jackson's got it."
Lexie walked onto the elevator and sighed. She'd just finished removing a butterfly tumor with Derek and was exhausted. At least the surgery was successful and it was her lunch break. That meant she could go and enjoy some time with her babies. She smiled as she made her way off the elevator and towards the nursery. She turned the corner and slowly came to stop. Outside the door were Jackson and Alex, screaming at each other.
"Why didn't you page her first?!" Jackson yelled.
"Because there wasn't any time!" Alex yelled back.
"But you had time to page me-"
"What's going on?" Lexie said as she walked over to them. They both stopped and stared at her. "Jackson?"
"Lexie…"
"Dude, just tell her."
"Tell me what?"
"Lexie-"
"No Jackson! You tell me! You tell me right now!" Jackson glanced at Alex and sighed.
"It's Anna. She-"
"Where is she?"
"Lexie-"
"OR 3," Alex interrupted. Lexie turned and ran.
"Why did you do that?"
"You should've told her."
"You should've paged her."
"Be glad I even paged you." Jackson took a step back and crossed his arms.
"Excuse me."
"Dude, you might be Lexie's boyfriend and you might spend most of your time with Masen and Anna, but you're not their dad." Jackson swallowed and turned around before making his way towards the elevator. No words could say how much that hurt, except the fact that it was the truth.
Lexie was running down the hall to the OR when she stopped. Pacing outside the door was Mark. How the hell did he get here before her? How did he even know?
"What are you doing here?" she asked as she walked over to him. He stopped and looked at her as if she had asked the most obvious question in the world.
"I'm here because my daughter's in surgery," he said, rather annoyed.
"I don't see why you're here though."
"Why wouldn't I be? Or better yet, where the hell have you been?"
"I just found out."
"Well you should have checked you pager."
"No one paged me. I found out from Alex and Jackson on my way to see her and Masen."
"Oh…" Mark looked down and took a step back."
"What happened?"
"She was crawling around on the changing table and fell. She fractured a rib and broke her leg."
"Is Callie…?"
"Yeah, she is." Lexie nodded and sat down against the wall before wiping her face.
"I knew we should have put them in a daycare."
"Why? We can send them here for free."
"Well they need to learn how to be more careful."
"Lex, it was an accident. Accidents happen." Her eyes snapped up at him and he took another step back.
"Do you hear yourself? This is our daughter." Mark scoffed. Lexie stood up and moved closer to him. "What?"
"This is just the first time I've heard you say she's ours and not just mine."
"Excuse me? I've always-"
"Always? Like how you've always carried Masen and not her? Or how you always pass her over to me or Avery when you're too busy with Masen?"
"Well maybe it wouldn't seem that way if you would stop playing favorites."
"I'm playing favorites?"
"Yeah, you kinda are. I mean you've been doing it since she was born. The moment I woke from my coma, you asked for full custody, but it was for just her."
"I have my reasons."
"Really? Cuz it seems to me that you're trying to say it's all my fault."
"I didn't say it was your fault!"
"But you keep acting like it!"
"I don't!"
"You do too! So if you really have a reason I suggest-!"
"Because she's my daughter!" Lexie stopped and stared at him.
"Mark-"
"I had just found out about the abortion and I was pissed and confused. I mean I told you how hurt I was when Addison got one. Callie kept giving me reasons why you would even consider it, and one stood out: Anna looks like me."
"Mark-"
"I'm the one you love but can't have." Lexie blinked a couple times and took a deep breath.
"I love Jackson."
"C'mon Lex, we both know that's a lie. I mean yeah you had sex with him but-"
"No I haven't." He crossed his arms and sighed.
"Lex-"
"I haven't."
"You left Callie's baby shower early."
"Jackson wanted to see my baby bump."
"And then he was late for surgery."
"We took a nap."
"A nap?"
"Ok and we kissed, but it was a onetime thing. I mean it was supposed to be one time thing, but after I had the babies and then all the surgeries happened, and we ended up together."
"You want to believe that it just happened?"
"Well you and Julia just happened."
"No we didn't. We dated a couple times and then we happened."
"And Jackson and I live together. We work together. So in a way, we've been dating too."
"That's not the same."
"You know what, you need to stop. This has nothing to do with Anna."
"This has everything to do with Anna!"
"What?!"
"Is she teething?"
"Excuse me? What does-?"
"Is she teething?" Lexie scoffed before turning and walking towards the OR door.
"Yeah why?"
"When did you find out?"
"Jackson mentioned it this morning. Why?"
"Because I've known for a week." She turned and stared at him.
"What?"
"She's been teething for a week. Heck, she's been ready to crawl, and I've been trying to make you see it. She's ready to talk and I keep pushing for her to say Mama, but you haven't bothered to notice."
"Mark-"
"It's not fair, and it's not her fault."
"Mark-"
"It's mine and she shouldn't have to-"
"Mark stop!" Her eyes were watery, her nose red, her face tear stained. "Just stop. S-stop saying I'm a b-bad mom. I know you think you're not, but you are. I know it doesn't look like… like I care, but I do. Ok? I love Masen and Anna. They're my kids. Th-they're apart of m-me. An-and you're wrong. M-Masen is my son. He naturally likes spending time with me like Anna does with you. You can't blame at me for that. And the whole 'Anna looking like you' thing isn't true. It is so not true. And I don't-" Lexie gasped as Mark crashed his lips into hers. She tried to pull back, but he pushed her back against the wall. She squirmed and moved her hand out from under his arm before smacking him. He stepped back and starred at her, eyes wide, panting, and his hand on his cheek.
"Excuse me?" They both turned to see Callie standing outside the door. Lexie blinked a few times before moving closer to her.
"How is she?" Lexie asked quietly.
"She'll be fine. Her leg wasn't as bad as I thought, so she'll recover pretty quickly." Lexie nodded before running down the hall.
"Lexie!" Mark went chase after her, but stopped when Callie grabbed his arm.
"What was that?" Mark opened his mouth to answer, but Callie cut him off. "She's moved on. She's with Jackson. You've moved on. You're with Julia."
"I know."
"Then what the hell are you doing?"
"I…."
"You better fix this." She turned and ran off after Lexie. Mark sighed and punched the wall.
"Damn it!"
Lexie ran down to the bottom of the stairs before crawling under them. She swallowed and choked back tears. How could he do this to her? She was moving on. She had her own little family and he was barely a part of it. He was just the twins' father. That was it.
She had Jackson. He had been there every step of the way, which was much more than Mark had been. She had moved on. She was happy.
"Lexie?!" She could hear Callie making her way down the stairs. "Little Grey?!"
"I'm here," Lexie whispered. Callie made her way to the bottom of the stairs before sitting next to Lexie.
"Lexie-"
"He's right."
"What?"
"He's right, about Anna. Every time I look at her, I see him. I'm a horrible mom."
"No you're not. Everything you're ever done, ever since you found out you were pregnant, was either out of love or hurt. No one can blame you for that. No one." Lexie took a deep breath and nodded. "No one."
