Hello everyone! Thank you for all the reviews. You guys are wonderful. This chapter is one of my favorites, and I hope you like it as well.

* * *

When Mark walked through the double doors, he heard his favorite word in all the world.

"Daddy!"

Looking down, Mark smiled at his laughing son who ran towards him at full speed. With the practice of many years, Mark caught him and lifted him into the air. Matty giggled happily all the while.

Neither of them noticed the many observers they had.

"I missed you, Daddy!" Matty exclaimed, locking his arms around his father's neck.

"I missed you too," Mark said to his son once he had been settled onto his hip, the way he always did when he picked him up. Mark kissed the top of his head and grinned at him. "Sorry, I didn't get to eat breakfast with you this morning."

"S'okay," Matty said. "But you missed SpongeBob Square Pants." Matty giggled when he said the name of his favorite cartoon.

"I did?!" Mark exclaimed. "Oh no! Well, you are just going to have to tell me all about the adventures of SpongeBob and Patrick."

Matty's face lit up as it always did when Mark spoke to him in the way that only Mark could. "It was really good!"

"I am sure it was," Mark said. "I am sorry I missed it."

"Why'd you miss it, Daddy?" Matty asked, his head cocked to the side.

"I had to get up really early to go into surgery," Mark told him.

"Did you fix a face?" Matty asked, excitedly.

Mark laughed, "That's right buddy. I fixed a face." He smoothed back Matty's unruly curls. "Did you have a good time with Aunt Molly and Laura?"

"Uh-huh," Matty replied, drawing out the syllables. "Guess what, Daddy?"

"What?" Mark replied, as he had many times before.

"Laura and me played Cowboys and Indians, and I got to be the Cowboy, 'cause she can't be 'cause she's a girl. And then we watched Nemo!"

"Wow!" Mark said, smiling. "You had an even busier morning than I did."

"Uh-huh," Matty said, taking a breath as his lungs tried to keep up with his mouth. "And then…and then I told Mommy that I wanted a big sister, but Mommy said I can't cause the baby is going to be littler than me!"

He chuckled. "That's right, but she will grow quickly, I promise."

"Guess what, Daddy?" Matty asked again, falling quickly into the rhythm of his favorite game with his father.

"What?" Mark asked.

"Aunt Molly says I am too damn cute for my own good!"

Mark laughed, his shoulders shaking as Matty looked at him with confusion on his face.

"What's so funny, Daddy?" Matty asked.

Mark just shook his head, trying to press his smiling lips together. He said, "Where's Mommy?"

Matty lifted his small arm and pointed. "Over there."

Mark looked where he was pointing to see Lexie standing with Meredith and Derek less than twenty feet away. Lexie was smiling at him, but Derek and Meredith looked shocked. Mark smiled uneasily and made his way over to them with Matty in his arms.

* * *

Three Years Earlier…

"I can't believe you did that in four hours," Mark said, looking at his watch.

Lexie grinned. "What can I say, I am a professional."

He rolled his eyes. "At delivering babies, not having them."

"Same difference," Lexie said with the wave of her hand. "Where are they? They should have brought him back by now, right?"

"Relax," Mark said, resuming his seat by her side. "They are just taking him to be weighed and cleaned."

"Maybe you should have gone with him," Lexie said, anxiously biting her lip to keep it from trembling. Mark marveled at the change in her demeanor so quickly, but he ignored it, knowing it was caused by her fluctuating hormones.

"Four hours," Mark said, kissing her head. "You're a champ, hun."

Lexie wrinkled her nose. "Hun?"

"Still a no go?" Mark smirked.

"I liked sweetie," Lexie said.

"No, it didn't feel right," Mark said. "What about darling?"

"You can't be serious," Lexie deadpanned.

Mark sighed. "Maybe we should just go back to Little Grey and call it a day."

"No," Lexie said stubbornly. "I'm not Little Grey anymore, and you are right Little Sloan is creepy. We will just have to find something else."

Mark leaned over and kissed her. "How about dearest?" Kiss. "Angel?" Kiss. "Sweetheart?" Kiss. "Baby?"

"Hmm, guess you'll just have to call me Lexie and surrender," Lexie said, kissing him back.

"Surrender, never!" Mark declared before kissing her again.

The door to Lexie's room opened then, and the nurse came in pushing a bassinet with their newborn son inside. Lexie smiled, and held out her arms for the baby.

"Here you go, Dr. Sloan," The nurse said, easing her bundle into Lexie's arms.

"Thank you, Mary," Lexie murmured, looking down adoringly at the sleeping baby in her arms.

Mark eased onto the bed to wrap his arms around Lexie, letting her rest her weight against his chest.

The nurse smiled at the little family, and eased out of the room.

Lexie ran her pinkie finger over her son's cheek with a smile. Without looking up, she said, "Thank you for trying to distract me."

"I am sure I don't know what you mean," Mark replied, kissing his wife's hair.

"You do know," Lexie said, looking up then and giving him a soft smile. "Thank you."

The look in her eyes made him feel like he had just hung the moon and stars. There was such an honesty in the way that she looked at him. As if she knew how much he needed love his entire life, and now she never wanted to hide a single emotion from him so that he would always know how much she loved him. Mark kissed her nose, wondering if it was possible to die from being too happy.

"Want to hold him?" Lexie asked, before shifting her precious cargo into his arms.

"Come here, little guy," He said, easing his son into his arms. The baby was sleeping, but it didn't matter to Mark. He was the most beautiful thing Mark had ever beheld. He already had a thatch of brown hair upon his head, rosy cheeks, and the tiniest fingers that the baby had wrapped tightly around Mark's pinky. He felt completely unworthy and utterly grateful to be holding this tiny life in his arms.

For his entire life, Mark had never had someone who was completely dependent on him. He had always been an island, a person who didn't need anyone and whom no one needed. But then Lexie came along and he learned he wasn't alone. He learned that he needed her, and it was a humbling thing. And now, she had given him the greatest gift he could ever have hoped to get. Someone who needed him, unconditionally.

He belonged to a family now.

Turning to his wife, Mark smiled. "I owe you a thank you."

She smiled and brushed her hair behind her ears. "Well, I owe you one too, so let's just call it even."

"He's perfect," Mark said, gently kissing his son's tiny forehead. Looking at Lexie, he asked, "What do you want to call him?"

"Dylan," Lexie said. "After you."

"Dylan Matthew," Mark countered. "After me and my grandfather. The one I liked."

"Quite a mouthful for a little boy," Lexie said with an indulgent smile.

"So will call him Matt," Mark said.

"Matty," Lexie replied.

"Matty," Mark said, sounding as though he was rolling the name around on his tongue. He smiled and nodded. "I like it."

"Me too," Lexie said, gazing at the two most important people in her life with absolute love in her eyes.

"Hi there, Matty," He murmured, looking down at his son. "I'm your Daddy."

* * *

Present Day…

Lexie broke away from Derek and Meredith and met Mark and Matty halfway. Mark's face softened as she walked towards him. Once she reached him, he leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

"Not quite how we wanted this to go," Mark murmured.

"Oh well," Lexie replied quietly. "C'est la vie."

Derek and Meredith trailed after her. As they neared, Mark saw the curious look on Meredith's face and the deep hurt on Derek's.

There was silence between the four of them at first, with Matty happily digging through the pockets of his father's lab coat, playing with first the flashlight and then the stethoscope that he found.

"You two are together," Meredith stated.

Mark and Lexie nodded. She stepped closer to her husband and took his free hand.

"You two have been together," Meredith continued.

They nodded again. Mark squeezed Lexie's hand when he could hear her breath begin to get shallow.

"What about Boston? And Massachusetts General?" Meredith asked.

"I never went to Boston," Lexie said, stating the obvious. "I went to New York. We both have worked at New York Presbyterian for the past four years."

"Oh," Meredith replied.

Mark suddenly yelped at the feel of cold metal against the patch of skin just under the collar of his scrubs. He looked down to see Matty pressing a stethoscope there, the buds in his small ears. "Whatcha doing, Monkey?" Mark asked, looking down at his son.

"I'm listening to your heart, Daddy! It's really loud!"

Mark chuckled, and plucked the buds out of his ears. "Your heart is loud too, buddy."

Matty grinned at him, and then tested his father's statement.

Derek, meanwhile, seemed to be examining the three of them. His eyes went back and forth as he looked at the matching rings on their fingers, and the casual way they were with each other. He then looked at Matty, who was an equal mix of both of them: Mark's hair type, Lexie's hair color; Mark's blue eyes, Lexie's eye shape; Mark's full lips, Lexie's stubborn chin; Mark's round face, Lexie's high cheekbones. Once his eyes stopped studying Matty, they moved to the casual way that Lexie leaned into Mark as if they had done it many times before.

"So…you two have been together all along," Derek finally said, breaking his silence. His eyes were full of regret and pain, suddenly looking much older than his forty-two years.

Meredith looked at them expectantly for an answer.

"Not all along," Mark conceded eventually. "There was a two month period after I left here that we weren't."

"And you got married…when?" Derek seemed to be searching for a way to understand everything.

"Two and a half months after Mark left," Lexie said with a fond smile. She then looked down at her son, and smoothed his hair. "And then Matty came along ten months after that."

Matty looked up and smiled cheekily at the sound of his name.

Lexie smiled at him. "Sweetie, this is your Aunt Meredith and Uncle Derek."

Meredith smiled awkwardly at Matty but didn't correct Lexie on the status of her relationship with Derek. Matty furrowed his small brows into a frown and looked at Meredith suspiciously. "Is she my Auntie like Aunt Molly or like Aunt Lindsay?"

"Like Aunt Molly," Lexie told him. "She is my sister too...just like Aunt Molly."

Matty tucked his face into the space between Mark's neck and shoulder.

"He can be shy," Lexie told her sister. Meredith nodded and shifted on her feet, as if she was preparing to run.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Matty said, lifting his face.

"That's right, I promised you lunch," Mark said with an easy smile. "Come on, buddy. They have great Mac n' Cheese in the cafeteria."

Matty's face lit up at the mention of his favorite food. Mark then looked at Derek and Meredith. "Would you like to join us?"

Meredith begged off, and Derek made some excuse. Mark's face revealed nothing, but Lexie knew he felt some disappointment. Mark couldn't see it, but Lexie noticed the way Derek was looking at his friend with regret. She sighed to herself; if only they both weren't so stubborn. As mad as she was at Derek for what he had done to her and Mark, Lexie would be willing to let it go in a minute for Mark's sake.

After nodding awkwardly at Derek, the three of them headed to the elevators, with Matty chatting happily to his father. None of them saw Derek's sad eyes follow them.

* * *

A/N: Just so you know, Lexie's short labor is true to life. My mother's best friend was in labor for three and a half hours. Totally unfair, I know.

Anyway, Review Please!