So I know I promised last weekend and it's been a week, but better late than never right? It was a crazy week before the holidays and it got crazier as the week went on, but the chapters here, and longer than originally planned! It's my holiday present to you guys for being so patient and waiting! Have a very happy holiday with whatever you celebrate and I'll hopefully see you all before 2010 is over! Happy holidays!

"You look like crap." said Meredith as she entered the kitchen to see Lexie practically falling asleep at the island, her head using her toast as a pillow.

"Gee thanks." said Lexie sarcastically as she brushed the crumbs out of her hair. "I could've sworn I looked like a million bucks."

"Were you up all night again?" questioned Meredith as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Lex that isn't good for the baby to not be getting sleep."

"I know." Lexie somewhat snapped back irritably. She sighed as she ran her hand along her temple in attempts to calm herself. "Sorry I didn't mean to snap. I'm just trying to figure out what's going to be good for the baby once she's actually here. I'm just…"

"You're still worrying about Mark's plan. You're worrying that it will affect your daughter. You're worrying it's going to affect you." said Meredith knowingly.

Lexie crinkled her brows, almost confused. "Geez how'd you even figure it out? You remembered all that from what I told you? Or am I that easy to read?"

"Yes… well sort of. You've kind of been mumbling things about it when you actually do fall asleep. About Mark, the baby a house. None of it makes sense unless you're actually listening." said Meredith.

"Great. So now if I past out at work from exhaustion everyone will know my life? Just what I need." said Lexie.

"Well I think you'll be fine once you make up your mind." said Meredith as she quickly finished what was left of her coffee. "Look Lex, you're a good mom to this baby already and she's not even here. You worry about her constantly and you're trying to make this the best possible arrangement for her. Whatever you pick, will be right. You already know what's best." said Meredith with a small smile as she reassuringly squeezed Lexie's shoulder before leaving the room.

Lexie sighed as she stood up from the chair, her body protesting as she did so. Meredith was right. She did need to make up her mind. And whatever choice she made would be right. Or at least she hoped it would be.

Lexie nearly dragged herself into the hospital. She was beyond exhausted. She had surpassed that hours ago. She was what you would call exhausted to the max. She sighed as she slowly walked out of the resident's locker room after changing into her scrubs, her stomach leading her slightly.

That was another thing, her stomach was getting bigger. And she knew it was supposed to be and it was the 'miracle of life" and blah blah, but it was harder and harder to do things, it was getting in the way, and a lot of extra weight to lug around.

"Hey." said Mark as he walked up along side her at the nurse's desk.

"Hi." mumbled Lexie back in response as she rubbed her eyes, hoping to rub the tiredness out.

"You okay?" questioned Mark as he watched her exhausted stature. He watched as stretched her arms up, in attempt to wake herself up.

"I'm fine just tired. Didn't sleep much." said Lexie with a small smile. She watched as Mark's eyes narrowed at her, not liking her response. "Last night. But I am sleeping. Nothing's wrong. I'm fine the baby's fine. I promise."

"Okay." said Mark, half buying it. "Well I'm sure you could use this if you're not fully awake." He said as he handed her a cup of coffee and a raspberry muffin. "Decaff of course. And you still like that right?" asked Mark referring to the muffin.

Lexie smiled and nodded. She couldn't believe he had brought her breakfast. She couldn't believe he even remembered what she liked. Yeah they'd been together almost a year, but Mark was a man, men don't remember small details like what their ex-girlfriend used to eat fro breakfast. She took a long sip of the hot liquid and then began to tear into the small pastry bag.

"This isn't bribing me to move into the house?" asked Lexie as she broke a piece of the muffin and popped it into her mouth. "Because if it is, it might just be working."

Mark grinned as he watched her mood perk up slightly. "No it's not. But if it helps I'll always have them there." he said jokingly.

Lexie laughed slightly as she took another sip. For a moment, there a somewhat awkward tension sitting there. He obviously wanted to know if she mad up her mind. So she wasn't surprised when he asked,

"Have you decided anything yet?"

"I'm still thinking about." She answered. "I promise I'm really considering it. I do think it's a great idea… I'm just sitting on the idea… thinking about it." babbled Lexie.

"Alright." said Mark grinning slightly at her rambling. God how it was the small little things she did that made him smile like an idiot. "Don't worry about it Lex. Take your time." He said as his pager went off.

"I got to go." he said as he looked at his pager. "But… maybe we could meet up after work? See if you've come to a conclusion."

"Yeah… umm…yeah I think I'll have figured it out by later. I'll meet you at Joe's at seven" she asked.

"Yeah. Sounds good." He said with a smirk as he walked into the nearby elevator doors. "I'll see you then." He said as the doors closed.

Lexie sighed nervously as soon as he was out of sight. Tonight? She had to decide what was the best living situation for her daughter by seven o'clock tonight? "You're the one that suggested tonight idiot!" she scolded to herself. She groaned as her pager went off. All she knew was that it was going to be a long day, and she had a decision to make. A big one.

Mark frustratingly snapped his gloves off his hand as he walked out of the exam room. He had lost a freaking patient. There had been a mother, who was a drug addict and she was cooking… well everyone knew the rest. But that wasn't the point. She had been brought in with a kid, her sixth month old daughter to be completely correct.

It wasn't the fact that she had died. As horrible as it sounded, as a doctor you learned to deal with the deaths. Not all of them but some of them. But in this case, she knew what she was doing. She knew it was dangerous. What was irritating him was that he couldn't save someone's mother. He knew what it was like to be basically parent-less and it freaking sucked. He wasn't sorry for the mother, he was sorry for her little girl. A little girl, who until her father arrived from Portland in the morning, would be all alone.

He sighed as he walked onto the elevator and hit the button to go up to PEDS. He'd promised Arizona he'd check on the baby, who was thankfully fine minus a few little scratches and a tiny first degree burn on her leg. Arizona would have of coursed checked the baby out herself, but since the little girl wasn't critical she wasn't priority at the moment and she was in surgery.

He exited on the PEDS floor and walked to the main nurse's station there. They were all so peppy and happy up here, even if the kid was terminal. Happy. All the freaking time. And it was times like these where he couldn't stand it.

"Gracie Reynolds's chart please." said Mark in as pleasant of a tone as he could muster. This wasn't his field. Don't be misunderstood; compared to a few years ago when he despised squishy and pink little people, he actually liked them now. He was having one of his own. But he wasn't a happy person twenty four seven like you needed to be to work in PEDS. The nurse smiled and handed him her chart and pointed her in the direction of the nursery she'd be in.

Mark followed the woman's hand and walked over to the nursery where he assumed she would be. This nursery had mainly babies around the same age as the little girl was supposed to be, but they were all either recovering from surgery or about to have surgery. The PEDS floor didn't essentially have an "ER" so they stuck kids and babies in whatever room was appropriate. He opened the door quietly, to ensure he wouldn't wake anyone sleeping and scanned the nametag labels until his eyes landed on,

Gracie Reynolds.

He walked over to the small crib and looked to see probably one of the cutest babies he'd seen. There was the little girl lying in the bed, looking relatively calm and anxiously kicking her feet away. She had these deep little emerald green eyes and blonde wispy hair.

"Hi Gracie. I'm Dr. Sloan." said Mark knowing he wouldn't get a response. He smiled when she kind of gurgled back. He then unlocked the crib and pushed it towards and examination room, so he wouldn't disturb anyone else. He entered the room and carefully lifted the baby from the crib to the exam table.

She'd had a complete workup when she had been brought in, and all he needed to do was look at her leg. He looked at the small burn on the bottom of her leg. First degree, maybe not even, but because of her age most likely wouldn't leave a scar.

"Guess what no needles." said Mark as he tickled the little girl's belly, promoting her to let out a giggle.

He smiled and carefully reached over to the table and grabbed small gauze and some things to clean it. He poured antiseptic on a cotton pad and had put it on her leg for nearly a second when the baby let out a strong cry.

"Crap!" he said inwardly. He frantically looked around for something to make her stop crying. Her protesting cries increased the longer he held the alcohol there.

"Just two more second Gracie." said Mark soothingly." Shhh." He said trying to console her, and failing miserably. He then removed the alcohol soaked pad and reached for gauze and a bandage, the child's cries increasing.

He sighed not knowing what else to do. He then at sudden last resort slipped off his glove and gave the infant his finger. That seemed to reduce her cries somewhat, as he quickly placed the gauze and wrapped the bandage, sighing in relief as he finished.

"Okay we're all done now." said Mark in as happy and as cutesy of a voice he could muster. "All done." He said as watched as he released his finger and the little girl's cried increased.

It then hit him. She wasn't crying from the pain, maybe at first, but she was crying because she wanted comfort. He'd never really believed anyone that said babies sensed everything, but this child definitely was. She knew something was up and she didn't like it. She wanted comfort.

He then carefully lifted her up into a sitting position and picked her up underneath her arms and put her against his side, and gently rubbed her back. He noticed immediately that her cries began to simmer. She had been reduced to a whimper and an occasional hiccup. He gently ran his index finger through her wisps of hair. If it worked on Lexie it would work on her right?

"It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Lexie grinned as she handed one of the PEDS nurses a chart. She'd just had a very successful surgery that basically gave a six year old girl a new chance at life. She loved surgeries like that. She was on a freaking high! A high of life.

As she turned to leave the desk, something out of the corner of her caught her attention. She turned and looked into the glass window of an exam room and saw Mark coddling a small baby. Her heart almost melted into a puddle of goo on the floor. There was Mark standing in the room, in his scrubs, holding and rocking an almost sleeping baby. She watched as every so often he whispered to the top of the infant's forehead, and gently ran his fingers through the wisps of baby hair.

He was perfect with her. Like he'd been doing it for years. He held the baby with ease and was calm. It was like something out of some parenting magazine.

In that moment, her decision wasn't even a decision. It wasn't even questionable. She knew what she had to do.

She was moving in with Mark Sloan.

Happy Holidays! Reviews make great Christmas presents ;)