Chapter 28: Putting Mark in His Place

Mark groaned as he pulled out of the driveway. He'd been paged for a patient who had flown through their windshield. He gulped his coffee and glanced at the car clock. Jesus! Four fucking a.m. It must be bad if they were paging him. He wasn't on call. At least he didn't have company over.

He drove along the park and noticed a jogger on the wide sidewalk parallel to the park coming into his view. Even half asleep, he noticed the neon white spandex body suit on the perfect body and the high blonde ponytail swinging. Maybe hot cheerleader ass or some track high schooler!

As he got closer to her, he thought it might be Meredith! He recognized the ass! What the hell was she doing out here in the middle of the night? He watched as she quickly jogged into the dark park. What the fuck! He would stop and go after her but he had his emergency. She shouldn't be jogging alone in the dark park at this hour! He glanced inside the park entrance as he slowly drove past it and couldn't see her at all.

Meredith put on a burst of speed once she hit the park. She only had twenty minutes to spare. It was her stress reliever. She always ran in Boston but couldn't find the time here between the internship and seeing her mother. She finally had decided to do it before work even if it was only twenty minutes. It cleared her mind, and she was exhilarated afterwards. She'd do her twenty and then jog home and jump in the shower before work.

Dr. Kent said as the interns arrived in the locker room, "Somebody's popular."

He continued on, "Dr. Sloan has made a request for you Dr. Grey. Go find him in OR2."

Meredith replied confused, "Okay." She hustled out of the locker room while the others
watched enviously. They barely were able to run labs and a senior resident had asked for Meredith.

She found him in OR2 and scrubbed in quickly. She couldn't imagine what he wanted. She walked into the OR and said softy, "Dr. Kent said you requested me?"

"Yeah Grey. Come here. You can watch."

Meredith moved closer and watched as Mark sutured up the mangled patients face. There was so much damage, but he was meticulous.

About an hour later Mark said lowly, "You want to rub up against me, you gotta buy me a drink first. Hang antibiotics and put on a sterile, moist dressing. There's a chance at a good recovery here."

Meredith was taken aback. "Excuse me?"

He replied, "You heard me. "I'm done. Do as I instructed. Do you think you can manage that?"

Meredith shot back without thinking, "Yes. I can follow instructions Dr. Sloan. As far as rubbing up against you… trust me….I wasn't… if I was you would know it and so would everyone else in the room. And I wasn't! Not even close!"

The OR stopped as the scrub nurses and the others waited for Dr. Sloan to put the intern in her place. He was always being an ass to them or being sexually suggestive. Grey was the first one to push back. Everyone held their breath as the two glared at each other.

Mark bellowed, "Do as I say and then scrub out and find me!"

Meredith said firmly, "Absolutely Dr. Sloan." She began doing as he instructed as he stormed out of the room. She thought what the fuck was wrong with him? She knew he was an outrageous flirt and didn't have a problem with it outside of the hospital. But inside… in front of people…big problem and he was being an ass!

Even though she dragged her feet a little, he was still in the scrub room waiting for her.

She came in calmly and started washing her hands as he looked at her incredulously.

"Damn its Meredith. Was that you jogging in the park in the dark?"

"You saw me?"

"So, it was you."

"I don't jog. Once I get to the park I run. I'm a runner."

"At night? In the middle of the fucking night?"

"It's before work and what business is it of yours"

"Well it's not safe. It's dark for one thing. You are tiny." He scanned her form and thought maybe…. soaking wet…maybe 100 pounds.

Meredith asked seriously, "Has the neighborhood changed? From what I've seen it's elderly people and young families. Is there something I should know about?"

Mark said loudly, "It's the middle of the fucking night and you are out in the dark defenseless."

Meredith took offense and said, "Dr. Sloan. I appreciate your concern for my well-being, but I'm an adult. If you can't provide me with any statistics or crimes, I'm going to continue my runs. Just because we knew each other as kids doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do in my personal life. I'm not five anymore in case you haven't noticed! Do you need me for anything else, professionally?"

She knew he treated all the interns like shit. She didn't realize until now that she was going to be included in the group.

Mark sighed and said, "No, Dr. Grey. This isn't over!" He stormed out of the scrub room leaving Meredith confused.

Mark stood on the overlook impatiently waiting for Derek. It was almost seven. He saw him pull into the parking lot and jogged to the senior resident locker room. He opened the door and said, "Derek! We need to talk. About Meri. Do you what know she is doing in the middle of the fucking night?"

Derek turned around from his locker surprised as Addison walked out of the restroom. She asked suspiciously, "Who is Mary?"

Mark said simply, "An old, old friend. Do you know Derek? What she is up to?"

Addison waited patiently for Derek to respond.

Derek said, "Whatever it is, I'm sure she's fine."

Mark scowled and looked at him confused. The past couple weeks it seemed Derek was only thinking about Meredith Grey. He couldn't believe he didn't want to know what she was up to.

Derek raised an eyebrow and Mark caught it. He didn't want to discuss Meri in front of Addie.

Mark recovered and said nonchalantly, "Forget it. It was no big deal."

Derek closed his locker and Addison looked from one to the other and left the room after a moment of silence.

After she was gone Mark asked incredulously, "You don't care? Because if you don't, I… "

Derek hissed, "Of course I care! I just didn't want Addison to misread things. She could make Meredith's life a living hell here! What is Meredith up to?"

"I got a call at 3:45 about an emergency. I left the house at 4:00 and Meri was jogging into the park!"

"Jogging in the dark at four a.m.?"

"Yeah!"

Derek scowled and said, "That's not good."

"I asked her about it, and she basically told me to fuck off and mind my own damn business. Derek. She's tiny! She shouldn't be out and about by herself in the dark at that hour."

Derek nodded and said, "I agree. I'll talk to her about it."

Mark poured himself some coffee and said, "Well be careful. Her bark is bad. She challenged me in the OR! If she wasn't the girl across the street, I might have banished her to the clinic to give out flu shots the rest of the day…or the week…or the month!"

Derek laughed and said, "I'm not surprised. She's a little…"

"Yeah! A little handful. Good luck with that!" Mark downed his coffee and walked out.

Derek frowned as he wondered how he was going to handle this. He'd check with the scrub nurses first and get an objective version of what happened in the OR first. He needed to know what exactly when down before he approached Meredith. He knew he had to be calm and reasonable. But he wasn't happy. Not happy at all.

Derek had casually spoken to the scrub nurses in Mark's OR and now understood a little why Meredith was so pissed at Mark. He had conveniently left out the part about rubbing up against him. Good for her for putting him in his place. Asshole! He'd deal with him later. Right now, he was looking for Meredith. As luck would have it, he saw her walk into a supply room.

He walked in and saw her shoving things around on a shelf. Clearly, she was still irritated.

"Dr. Grey."

She spun around at the sound of his voice and said, "Dr. Shepherd. Did you need something?"

"Well Dr. Sloan told me that…"

She quickly interrupted him and said, "Dr. Sloan is an ass! I don't care that he is your friend or not! I get that he's, my boss. I get that I'm an intern…a grunt… a nobody and that I'm at the bottom of the surgical food chain. All I can do is observe, run labs, write orders, and work every second day and night until I drop, and I can't complain. I get it! He gets to treat me like shit! I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem with him putting his nose in my personal affairs. Why does he get a say in my personal life?"

She took a breath and continued her tirade, "So, I go jogging in the park before work. He's not my boss outside of this hospital."

Derek thought, God she's even hotter when she's angry. He had been going to tell her that he agreed with Mark and that it might not be dangerous but was still potentially not a good thing to do. Now, he wasn't sure how to manage her.

Derek said softly, "Meredith. Mark is just worried about you. As I am. I'm sorry if he came across as a jerk but he is your friend too. Jogging at night by yourself may not be dangerous necessarily, but maybe not so prudent either."

Meredith opened her mouth to speak, and he quickly closed the space between them and put a finger to her lips. He quickly scanned her body and said with concern, "Mer. You don't need to exercise as much as you run around this place. Do you really need to jog before work?"

She couldn't think clearly when he was touching her. I run to clear my head. Not for exercise." He was standing too close to her.

He asked seriously, "What's going on in that beautiful head that you need to worry about?"

"I've always ran. It gets the cobwebs out." And the anger and the empty feeling that sometimes bubbled to the surface. Wait! Did he just call me beautiful?

"Okay. But the park? Alone? Why not head over to the school track a few blocks away where it is well lit and there are other people around?" He was treading carefully.

"Because I don't have time Derek. I barely have the twenty minutes before my shift as it is!"

Derek sighed and said, "Okay Mer. But please be careful. Okay?" He would have to figure out some other way to handle this. It was clear she was still going to run.

He watched as she gathered some items in her hands and she said as she left the room, "Oh another thing. He's unprofessional, and a crappy teacher and it's called sexual harassment! Okay I am shutting up now." She felt better now that she got all of that off her chest. She didn't trust herself to be alone in a tiny room with him.

She giggled and said softy, "Bye Derek."

"Bye Meredith."

He watched as she practically jogged away. He ran his hand through his hair and thought that could have gone better. But it could have gone worse.

Late afternoon Derek found Mark in the resident locker room. He glanced around to make sure no one else was there.

"Mark."

"Hey Derek. Want to go grab a drink? Did you speak with Meredith?"

"Yeah and she is really pissed at you. Not just because you butted into her personal business."

Mark asked confused, "What do you mean?"

Derek scowled and said, "You conveniently forgot the part about how she'd have to buy you a drink before rubbing up against you!"

Mark said sheepishly, "I was joking a little. You know that's where my mind goes. It's…my…thing."

"That's a miserable excuse Mark. One day you're going to be reported for sexual harassment."

He asked quickly full of confidence. "Is it harassment if I sleep with them later? Cause most times I do."

Derek snapped, "Not this time you don't! Not with Meredith!"

Mark said seriously, "Well get on the stick Derek. What are you waiting for?"

Derek replied, "I'm working on it."

"So, is she pissed at you too? For telling her not to go to the park?"

"Not exactly."

"Why not?"

"Well after talking to her and realizing how pissed she was I just suggested nicely that it wasn't such a great idea. But she really wasn't listening. She was still going off about you! I believe she said you were unprofessional, an ass and a crappy teacher."

Mark asked incredulously, "So, we are both on the same page about this and she's pissed at me but not you?"

"Well you had the misfortune of confronting her first. I learned from you're…."

"That's not fair!"

Derek finished changing and shut his locker. "Sucks for you."

Mark slammed his locker, "I'm not a crappy teacher!"

Derek raised an eyebrow and said, "What did she learn from you today?"

"Shut up! Okay Mr. perfect. How do I fix this?"

"Well you should start off with an apology. You'd be surprised at how far that goes."

Mark frowned and asked, "What else?"

"Teach your interns. Don't you remember what it was like?"

"Yeah. Everyone was miserable towards us. It was awful!"

"Exactly. We can do better. Show some respect. They are doctors you know. Lay off the sexual remarks."

Mark scratched his beard as they left the locker room together. "Not sure I can do that."

Derek raised an eyebrow.

Mark said, "Okay. I won't say anything suggestive to Meredith. In the hospital. When others are around. I can't guarantee outside of the hospital."

They walked down the hall towards the elevator and Derek grumbled, "That's a start."

As they stepped into the elevator Mark said, "You know. You owe me. I approached Meredith first about the park and got my ass handed to me. That should have been you! She still thinks you're McDreamy and I'm the asshole!"

Derek laughed, "Pretty much."

"Next time we go to Joe's you are picking up my tab!"

"Deal."

They walked through the lobby and Mark said, "How about now?"

Derek replied, "Can't. I have a date tonight."

Mark asked happily, "Meredith?"

"No. Leslie."

Mark looked at him in disbelief, "Leslie? Isn't Leslie a…"

How do y'all think Mark will fix things? Or will he?