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Chapter Soundtrack – Head Over Feet: Alanis Morissette

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"Derek." Mark said, walking into the radiology room. He clapped him on his shoulder as he moved to the open computer next to him.

"Mark." He rotated his seat to watch his overtly cherry friend. "You're in a good mood."

"That I am." He grinned, reviewing his patient's x-rays.

He had just finished a flirty text conversation with Lexie about what she refused to do to fulfill their bet from last night at Joe's. They had met up at the bar and started a game of pool. She was the one to propose a bet. He just took advantage, wagering that if he won, she'd have to do something for him and if she won, he'd had to do something for her. He won the game and then kept her in suspense about what he wanted, telling her that he needed to think about it. Now her mind was running wild with possibilities and he was loving it.

"Hey, have you heard anything about that new restaurant on the waterfront?" Mark asked. "I was thinking about taking Lexie there to celebrate her first day of classes."

"Like on a date?"

"Yeah, a first date." He smiled to himself at the thought of the first of many if he had anything to say about it.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Mark."

He turned to look at his best friend, incredulous and irritated. "Come on, Derek. Are we really going to do this again? You're going to tell me I'm no good for her and to stay away from her?"

"That's not what this is."

"Then what is it?" He barked, getting angry.

"She's not ready for you. She's not ready to settle down." Derek tried to reason with him, but he wasn't hearing this.

"You're wrong, and it's not like I'm trying to trap her. She can have the exciting, adventurous life that she wants. I just want her to include me. We can have an exciting, adventurous and steady life together." Lexie could have anything she wanted because he'd give her the world. "And if you think she still has an issue with me having a kid, she doesn't. She's perfect with Sofia. She spends time with Sofia and Zola, not because we need her to, but because she wants to." She called it baby jailbreak when she would take the girls out of daycare to go to the movies, the park, or the zoo. "Lexie wants a full life, she wants a family, and I want to give it to her."

"I just think you should give her more time."

"Time for what? For me to lose her again, maybe this time forever?" That was his worst fear and he refused to risk it. "The night before the crash she poured her heart out to me and I just walked away like an idiot." It was one of the biggest regrets of his life. "She was in the back of that plane by herself and not next to me where she should have been. " He swallowed thickly, getting emotional. "I thought she was dead and I felt like I was dead. But she is alive and I cannot live without her. I won't."

He stood sharply from his seat and left the room. He would find another radiology room to work in. He wasn't going to stay here and listen to Derek trying to interfere again, even if he was coming from a more considerate place this time. Now that he had another chance with Lexie, he couldn't let it just pass him by.

Derek was left alone feeling like maybe he handled that wrong. He didn't have all the facts. He didn't know his best friend was dealing with guilt over what happened to Lexie in the crash. It put things in a whole new perspective for him. He knew what he had to do.

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"Morning." Lexie said around her bite of granola when Derek walked into the kitchen.

"Morning." He replied, noting that she was dressed, but not for a volunteering shift at the center or an early morning yoga class. "What adventures do you have planned for today?"

"I'm going to pick up orientation goodies." She beamed. She had to get her student ID, her parking pass and just make sure she knew where she was going on campus next week.

"Ah. Excited?" He asked rhetorically. Once she was registered for her classes, she had brought all her textbooks and already started reading them.

"Monday can't come fast enough."

The sooner she could start on her summer "catch up" courses, the sooner the fall semester would start and she would begin her graduate program.

"I bet." He replied, knowingly as he filled his commuter mug with coffee. Her classes were only the tip of the iceberg for what Monday had in store for her. "Hey, you got a minute to talk?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"It's about you and Mark." He broached.

She sighed warily and stopped packing up her messenger bag to give him her full attention. "Derek, if you're going to warn me about Mark, saving your breath. I already know about the legend of Mark Sloan and his whoring ways. We're just friends. Flirty friends." She grinned cutely.

"The two of you being friends is the problem." He said in all seriousness. "A few weeks before the crash, you confided in me that you were still in love with him and that you missed him, but you didn't know how to tell him." He revealed. "The day before the crash, you finally told him and he didn't respond, even though he felt the same." It was disheartening for Lexie to hear that they had been so disconnected that they couldn't talk to each other. "He feels guilty about that because he thinks if he had, you would have been with him and you wouldn't have been thrown out of the plane."

"Are you saying his interest in me is only out of guilt?"

"No. He wants a second chance with you because you are the love of his life and he lived for almost two weeks thinking that you were dead." If living is what you wanted to call it. Mark was like a shell of himself after the crash and he didn't come back alive until she did. "He's fallen in love with you all over again and he wants to have a second chance at life with you." He purposefully stressed. It wasn't the memory of her that Mark loved, it was her in the flesh and blood; past, present and future. "I'm telling you that this is not just fun, innocent flirting to him. You are forever for Mark."

She was struck silent for a moment, processing what he'd just unloaded on her. Then, to Derek's surprise, she started laughing. Full belly laughter with tears in her eyes. At first, he thought that she was losing it, cracking right in front of him.

"God, I am such an idiot!" She yelled.

No memory, yet still making the same stupid mistakes. So what if falling in love with a man like Mark was intensely scary? It was also exciting and fulfilling, and wasn't that what love was all about? Was she really going to ruin this second chance, the one that mattered the most? It sounded like she wasn't happy when she almost died and she didn't want to die with regrets. Mark had obviously learned his lesson, while she the "enlightened one" hadn't.

What the hell was she doing?

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Leaving the lecture hall after her class, Lexie felt so motivated and energized after finishing her first day. The pieces of her scattered life really were starting to come together. Arriving back home, she was surprised to see Mark's car parked in front and she found him sitting on the porch swing.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, so happy and relieved to see him. Since her talk with Derek, she was so anxious to see him again, but there was a massive pile up on the I-5 that had all hands on deck at the hospital. They had no time to connect over the weekend. She was surprised that he was here now, he had to be exhausted from being on call for the last 48 hours.

"Derek told me that you were done with class at 2 and I thought we could go walk the waterfront and then have dinner later to celebrate."

He was signing out after his last patient was stabilized when Derek passed him by, still dealing with the aftermath of the pile up. He asked him if he was on his way to see Lexie. She gets out at 2. He told him with a knowing, peace offering smile. He was originally going to wait until later that night to invite her to dinner, but there was no point in wasting time. He ran home to change, chugged a cappuccino and headed to her house, ready to put it all on the line.

Lexie exhaled at his proposition and just stared at him. "What?" He asked, getting worried.

This man... From the moment she woke up in the hospital, scared out of her mind after remembering the most traumatic moment of her life, he was right by her side. Every step of the way through her recovery, he was always there in the background, looking out for him. And when he stepped into the forefront, he always put a smile on her face, making some of her toughest days a little easier. He was understanding and supportive of who she was now. He cheered her on in her grand plan for world domination in rehabilitation medicine. He made her laugh, he made her happy and above all, he loved her.

"I would love nothing more than to have dinner with you. Every dinner with you." She reached out to pull him into a kiss that was so passionate and full of emotion, it almost bowled him over. But he held on tight and matched her fervor.

It felt like hours had gone by as they continued to kiss, totally oblivious to anything around them. Needing to catch her breath, Lexie broke first, but she clung to him, nuzzling into his cheek. "Mark. I love you." She sighed in totally contentment.

His heart burst in his chest. He did it. He got her back and she loved him again. "God, I love you, Lexie." He tilted her face up and kissed her deeply.

Finally, their hearts, their souls were reunited.

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This one is a little different – Derek Plays Cupid

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