Author's Notes: Here we go - the chapter that you've probably been waiting for! I initially intending for this to be a SUPER slow burn; I wasn't planning on them getting together until Sloan had the baby. But clearly, Mark and Lexie had other ideas. Really, really hope that you enjoy the chapter - I'd love to hear what you think! This is a rough week for me, and your comments really do brighten my day. Happy reading!

They found themselves in suspiciously similar circumstances a week later. It was New Year's Eve – Alex, Izzie, and George were on call, but the rest of them were back at Meredith's, getting spectacularly drunk. Lexie was definitely drunker than she'd been at Christmas. She blamed Mark.

He kept…staring at her. He'd been normal at the start of the night - they'd talked about Sloan and when she was coming back and then about the burn graft that she'd watched him do the other day. At one point, Meredith had drifted over to them and Lexie gleefully soaked up the fact that Meredith had sought her out. And every time she glanced over at Mark, when he was being suspiciously quiet, he seemed to be staring at her. He'd notice that she had noticed and would quickly smile at her, usually taking a sip of the ever-present scotch in his hand.

Lexie offered to help Meredith pour the champagne just to get out of his line of sight. And Meredith definitely noticed. "So what's up with you and Mark?"

Lexie shook her head, grabbing a bottle of champagne from the counter. "Nothing! Nothing's going on with me and Mark. Why? Why would you think something's going on?"

Meredith smirked. "Because normally you two are joined at the hip and it seemed like you couldn't get away from him fast enough just now. And he was turning the McSteamy stare on you." She giggled and Lexie couldn't help but grin at her rather drunk sister. "He's turned it on me a few times…not in a while, of course. But I remember what it's like. And he was definitely turning it on you and you were definitely responding."

Lexie shook her head. "He wasn't…McSteamy-staring at me. No way."

Meredith just stared at Lexie, clearly not buying it. Lexie sighed and set down the champagne bottle. "If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone? Anyone! Even Cristina and Derek."

Meredith's eyes narrowed and she seemed to truly contemplate it, before nodding. "Promise."

Lexie looked around the kitchen, making sure no one was eavesdropping. "Mark…kissed me last week. It was under the mistletoe but it wasn't just like…a peck. It was a kiss."

"And it was good?"

Lexie swatted at Meredith. "Of course it was good. He's Mark Sloan!" She looked down at the table, fiddling with the bottle of champagne. "And there was this other time…he didn't kiss me, but he almost did. If Sloan hadn't interrupted…and then there was another time after dinner…"

"He likes you!" Meredith declared. Lexie shook her head violently.

"No! No, he doesn't! Mark Sloan doesn't like me! We're just friends."

Meredith raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her sister. "Friends don't kiss friends on the mouth under mistletoe. Friends don't have multiple almost kisses. Friends don't stare. You know who used to stare at me? Derek," she said, staring knowingly at her sister. "He stared at me alllllll the time. Just like Mark is staring at you. He likes you, Lexie."

"But Mark Sloan? Of Nurses United Against Mark Sloan infamy? Shouldn't you be like…warning me away from him or something?"

Meredith laughed and shook her head. "Do you want me to? He's not that guy anymore, Lex. You know that better than anyone. He's helping support his pregnant teenage daughter. He has a house. He hasn't been caught sneaking out of an on-call room since…I can't even remember. He's not that Mark Sloan anymore. And if he didn't look at you the way he did…maybe I'd tell you that he's bad news. But…I don't think he is, Lexie. Not anymore."

Lexie sighed, pouring the champagne into glasses. "But me?" She looked down at herself and shrugged. "Me?"

"Lexie, you're beautiful! And you're smart. Mark likes smart." Meredith nodded, grabbing a few of the filled glasses from Lexie. "This new Mark may not be a manwhore, but I can guarantee he still likes smart, beautiful women. Like you. You specifically."

Lexie blushed and finished pouring the champagne, carefully gathering up the remaining glasses and following Meredith out of the kitchen. They passed out the glasses of champagne and Derek turned on the tv so they could watch the ball drop.

Lexie sidled up to Mark and handed him his champagne. They were slightly off to a corner, just out of the way of everyone else, but not conspicuously absent from the party. Lexie looked up and caught Meredith's eye, who just cheekily winked at her as everyone else around them started counting down.

Lexie joined in, nudging her shoulder against Mark's chest to get him to join in the countdown. He chuckled and rolled his eyes, before adding his voice to the increasingly rowdy group. Lexie tried not to blush when she felt Mark's hand on her hip, subtly turning her towards him.

"3, 2, 1 – happy new year!" Fireworks were going off on the tv screen and they could hear the loud booms outside as well. Cristina and Owen, Callie and Arizona, and Meredith and Derek were all happily kissing, and Lexie turned to Mark, a soft smile on her face.

"Happy new year, Mark," she whispered, going up on her tip toes to brush a gentle kiss across his lips.

Before she had a chance to back away, the hand not holding his champagne went to the small of her back and pulled her closer. She gasped slightly as his lips came down against hers again, this time kissing her deeply, his tongue tracing against the seam of her lips. She moaned softly as she opened her mouth to him, letting his tongue inside for just a moment before she felt something cold spill down her wrist.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, breaking their kiss as she looked down at her hand. Her champagne had spilled all over her hand. She transferred the glass to her other hand and shook the wet one off. She sighed, looking around for a napkin and cursing her clumsiness for interrupting the hottest kiss of her life, when Mark suddenly grabbed her hand.

He brought her wrist up to his lips and placed a soft kiss there, his tongue lightly lapping at the skin. He flipped her hand over and continued his ministrations on the inside of her wrist. "I'm uh…I don't know how much that's actually helping, Mark," she whispered, before immediately wanting to kick herself.

Mark chuckled and released her. "But you tasted good," he murmured with a flirtatious wink. "You should probably go change, Lex. You're all wet." The way his voice dragged over the word 'wet' made her blush.

She nodded and downed the rest of what was left of her champagne, before shoving the glass at him and turning to run up the stairs. She could hear his laughter floating up the stairs behind her.

When she came back down in a black t-shirt, the others were just leaving and Mark seemed to be setting up camp on the couch again. He was chatting with Arizona and Callie as he grabbed a pillow from the other couch. Cristina engulfed her in a big drunken hug and Lexie laughed as Owen pried her off and out the door.

Callie and Arizona made their way over to her and hugged her before they left for the night. She was fairly certain that a bomb could drop on the house and Meredith and Derek wouldn't even notice, as they started to make out on their way upstairs to the bedroom. Lexie smirked and then looked over to Mark, who was grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch.

She took a deep breath and made her way over to him, sitting down on the couch and looking up at him with a grin on her face. "Ah, we meet again, Little Grey," he murmured.

"I think it's going to be a good year for us," she said, with a certainty that she didn't quite feel.

He chuckled and sank down next to her. She turned, bringing one leg up underneath her and resting her arm on the back of the couch. Her arm propped up her head as she looked at him.

"Is that so, Lex?"

"Mhm. I'm going to become a resident this year. If I pass my intern exam."

Mark rolled his eyes and shoved at her shoulder. "When. When you pass it."

She grinned. "When I pass it. Sloan's gonna have her baby…oh my god! Oh my god!" She hit his chest and started laughing. "I didn't put it together before right now. You're becoming a GRANDFATHER!" She laughed even harder and Mark groaned, shaking his head.

"Mark Sloan, grandfather!" she gasped out, her body still wracked with laughter.

"Shut up about it, Lex," he chastised her playfully, laying the hurt on just a little too thick for it to be true. She continued to cackle in glee.

"What, can't take the truth, old man?"

At that particular taunt, Mark growled and before Lexie could make a move, Mark lunged forward and pushed her back against the couch cushions. "I'll show you what this old man can do," he muttered, before ducking his head and kissing her deeply.

If she had thought their kiss earlier was hot, that one had nothing on this one. Lexie groaned as she felt Mark's body press her further into the couch and her arms came up to wrap around his neck as his tongue explored her mouth. God, his tongue…Lexie blushed as she thought about all the things his tongue could do to the rest of her body.

She gasped as his hands ran up her sides, brushing against her breasts before one cupped her chin and the other braced himself against the couch. He wedged one of his legs between hers, his thigh pressing against her center and his hips grinding against her thigh. Lexie moaned against his lips as she felt his erection, already surprisingly hard, push against her. She pressed against his chest and he broke the kiss, looking down at her and panting. His thumb ran across her lips, swollen and red from his kiss.

"We probably shouldn't be doing this," she whispered.

Mark groaned and dropped his head to her neck, pressing kisses against her skin. "You feel good, Lex. And I've been thinking about this all night. Longer than all night."

"Mark, we're on Meredith's couch," she murmured, running her hands over his back, arching slightly as he kissed just beneath her ear.

"You've got a bed in the attic," he countered, switching to the other side of her neck.

Lexie groaned and shook her head. "But Meredith and Derek," she protested, pressing against his shoulders until he detached from her neck and looked down at her.

"They're going at it like bunnies up there, Lex. They aren't gonna care what we're doing." He bent his head, brushing his lips across hers again. He was gentle at first, letting the kiss build in intensity until Lexie was clutching at his shoulders and whimpering beneath him.

She turned her head to the side suddenly, breaking their kiss again. Mark took advantage and kissed her cheek, her jaw, before moving back to her neck. "Derek thinks we shouldn't!"

The declaration seemed to shake him out of his exploration of her skin. "What?"

Lexie's eyes were wide. "Derek thinks we shouldn't. He thinks you should have a friend that you can confide in that isn't sleeping with you. Or doesn't have expectations or the weird competition that the two of you have. He thinks we should just be friends."

"I don't want you as my friend, Lexie," Mark murmured, shaking his head. He looked down at her wide, suddenly sad, eyes and he quickly tried to backtrack. "That's not what I meant! I…I love having your friendship, Lex. I love that you're friends with Sloan. I couldn't have done this with her if it wasn't for you. But…fuck, Lexie, I want you. You're beautiful and you're so sweet and it's getting harder and harder to just hang out with you when all I want to do is kiss you."

"Is this just because of the other night?"

Mark shook his head. "No. I don't know when…suddenly one day I just wanted to kiss you. I don't know how or why, but it was like a switch flipped in my brain and all I could think about was kissing you, Lexie Grey. More than kiss you," he murmured, pressing his hips against her thigh again, causing her cheeks to redden again. "The other night was the last straw. The breaking point. God, if Sloan hadn't come down when she did…"

"We would've ended up like this?" she teased.

He chuckled and nodded, ducking his head down to give her a brief, chaste kiss. "Exactly."

"Mark…I don't…I can't be just another notch on your bedpost. I don't want that. I'm an intern and you're my attending and I don't want to risk my career and our friendship if this is just…sex to you. I really care for you." Lexie's hands brushed against his chest. One came up to tug on his collar and she looked up at him, smiling softly.

He grinned down at her, moving a hand to brush her hair back from her face. "I care for you too, Lex. This isn't just sex to me. New year, new leaf…new Mark Sloan. A Mark Sloan who's a father...and a grandfather. A Mark Sloan who doesn't want to sleep around anymore."

Lexie grinned and tugged on his shirt, pulling him closer so that his lips were brushing against hers.

"A Mark Sloan who wants to date you, Lexie Grey. What do you say?"

Her grin widened and the hand at his collar traveled up and around to the back of his head, pulling him down for a kiss. "Yes," she murmured, right before their lips met in a kiss.

When they broke apart, Lexie laughed and pushed gently on his chest, until he wasn't completely pressing her into the cushions of the couch. "We're still not having sex on the couch. Or upstairs. We're not having sex in Meredith's house. I got caught once having sex with Alex here and I do not want a repeat performance."

"Well we're not having sex where Sloan could catch us! The girl refuses to knock."

Lexie giggled at the horrified look on Mark's face. "Well then I guess we're condemned to a sexless existence for at least another 3 months."

Mark grumbled, leaning down to press kisses down her neck again.

Lexie laughed, pushing at his shoulders again. "Mark, are you listening to me? No sex on my sister's couch!"

"You drive a hard bargain, Grey."

"Dealbreaker?"

"No way. I don't go confessing feelings for every girl I have lying beneath me on my best friend's girlfriend's couch." Lexie giggled and he grinned down at her.

She pushed against him and he finally sat up, pulling her up along with him. She stood and he grabbed her hand. "So now you're just gonna leave me down here? All alone?"

Chuckling, she shook her head and raised her eyebrow at him. "You want me to stay?"

"Yes," he murmured, tugging on her hand until she sat down on the couch next to him. "Clothes will stay on, I swear. I cannot promise that there won't be wandering hands though."

Her eyes narrowed. "As long as they stay over the clothes, wandering hands are acceptable."

He laid down, tugging on her hand again until she laid down too, her back pressed against his chest. His arm slung around her waist and then he grabbed a blanket and threw it over the two of them. "It's going to be a good year, Lexie Grey."

She grinned and giggled, twisting slightly so she could look up at him. "Yeah, yeah it is."