Warning: Rated T for strong language.

A/N: Thanks again for your reviews. As promised, Q&A responses from reviews.

moonxue5 – George and Lexie friendship is a yes. I never really believed in the show they matched well as a couple or believed them to really have that "heat" so I am not sure I will ever take it beyond friendship. I think they just gelled well together as dorky friends.

As it relates to Mark/Lexie – you haven't seen the last of her sass. I think that is what attributes to their relationship as you have said in your comments. That's all I will say for now. ;)

Chapter 3 – Friends with Benefits

Lexie

The next couple of weeks seemed to pass with a blur. After Mark's shocking and rather uncharacteristic little heart to heart with me on my first night of internship, I told myself that I did have what it takes. That I was a good doctor, and I was going to kick my first internship's years ass.

As Chief Owen had promised, we had taken turns on each of our attending's rotations. So far, both plastics and neurosurgery had the most interesting cases. As much as a jerk as Mark could be, he was a damn good surgeon and knew what he was doing. I liked working with Derek, he was just as good-looking and talented, but way nicer and a heck of a better teacher then Mark could be sometimes. At least Derek didn't let his moods get in the way.

The other benefit to working with Derek, was that he was also dating my half-sister, who also seemed to still want to avoid me. I know I had told her that it was no problem on the first day we met that she didn't want to get to know me, but that was a lie. I wanted to get to know Meredith. I thought giving her space would maybe change her mind, but every time she saw me, it wouldn't escape me that she would turn and go in the opposite direction. Or that it seemed she was doing everything possible to work as little on cases with me as she could.

Derek on the other hand, he seemed interested not only to teach me, but find little ways to ask me questions about myself. I think he was doing that as a way or means to try and get information to possibly help Meredith want to forge a relationship with me. At least I hoped.

This morning had been a rather busy start to the day. Part of the Chief's new training protocol, was that during rounds all of the interns and residents had to listen to each of the attendings go through their patients for the day. It was a way to make sure that doctors weren't spending too much time on one specialty and ensure we were going to be fully rounded doctors.

Having recently been on Derek's service for the last few days, we were currently standing in a patient's room that was suffering from chronic headaches for the past seven years. Other doctors had attempted to do everything they could with narcotics and antiseizure medications, but nothing seemed to work. Now, the case fell to neurosurgery, to see if there was something in the brain that was causing it and could be removed to give Mr. Patmore some relief.

Something about Mr. Patmore's case was bothering me as we finished our rounds. Based on his last consult, it was recommended that he have a bilateral cingulotomy—which was basically a frontal lobotomy—because his headaches kept worsening. That didn't seem right. There was something…something not only in the back of my head, but deep in my gut that was telling me this wasn't the right direction to go.

Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Yang were taking Mr. Patmore off to get further testing, so I decided to take my theory to George. He was after all my resident, and really the only one—outside of my friendship with my roommates—that I could trust to talk about this with and not feel like I would be laughed at.

I caught up with George in the hallway. "George…Dr. O'Malley! Wait up, I need to talk to you."

He slowed down his steps a little bit, but he didn't really stop either. "Dr. Grey, I'm really busy today, can this wait?"

I was panting as we resumed a quicker pace, but I managed to keep up. "Uh, no not really. You see, the patient, Mr. Patmore, I think—"

"Listen," George interjected, stopping us fully now. At least it gave me a minute to finally catch my breath. "Dr. Webber gave me the go ahead to retake my intern exams today. So, I have a pretty trying and crazy day."

I gave him a friendly shove. "That's great, Dr. O'Malley."

He nodded, but I could see the fear and nervousness in his eyes. "Yeah, so I'm sorry. I can't really be the resident you need today. I need to know that you can manage on your own for one day. Can you do that?"

I swallowed, but offered him a reassuring smile. "No problem. Good luck on your test today, Dr. O'Malley."

"You're the best, Lexie. Thanks!" he called, taking back off and leaving me behind.

"Great…what do I do now?" I muttered.

I tried with my roommates, but none of them could listen long enough to offer any advice of their own. They were just as stressed out as me, and working on their own cases that all seemed to be as complex as Mr. Patmore's case was proving to be.

As I strode down the hallway coming to the main nurse's station, I saw Meredith standing there looking over a chart. I debated going over to her or just walking away. I started to turn and go in the other direction, and then stopped. This wasn't about me and our relationship—or lack thereof—but about Mr. Patmore. He deserved good doctors that would consider all avenues as it related to his medical care.

"Dr. Grey?" I said, once I came to stop next to her.

She stopped writing, but she didn't turn to face me. Even just seeing her side profile, I could tell that she wasn't that thrilled about me approaching her. I still didn't understand her own aversion to wanting to possibly get to know me. I know it had to be a shock to learn that you had a half-sister after all these years, but was it really that bad to even have one conversation with me?

Her head snapped in my direction, after I realized the silence between us lingered. "What?"

I snapped back to why I was really here. "I think I have an idea when it comes to Mr. Patmore's case," I said.

"I'm not on Mr. Patmore's case," Meredith replied.

"No, I know…it's just, you work a lot with Dr. Shepherd, and I hear that you are his favorite resident, and not because you guys are dating or an item or anything…"

I was rambling and I realized the longer I went on, the more Meredith was looking past me to get the heck away from me.

"Listen, Lexie, when it comes to working with Dr. Shepherd…you don't just think. You have to know. You have to come to him with a reason to make him want to listen to you." she offered.

I found it interesting that around here, everyone else would address me as Dr. Grey, but Meredith only ever addressed me as Lexie. At first, I thought it was maybe because we were sisters and it was a starting point to form a relationship, but now I was starting to realize that I think she was doing it because she didn't want to have to call out the fact that yes, we were sisters, and yes, we had the same last name.

Regardless, her advice was somewhat helpful, and somewhat still leaving me baffled. "How—how do I do that?"

She gave me an exasperated sigh. "It's not my job to have to tell you everything."

I couldn't take it anymore. I had been nothing but nice to her and even now, when I was just trying to get medical advice, she was still being hard on me.

"No, you know what…you haven't said anything. Thanks, I really appreciate it," I said coolly, before turning away from her.

"Wait!"

Meredith let out a long sigh. "Did you get his test results back from the lab?"

"I'm not actually on his case. It's just a theory or idea that I possibly have." I countered.

She gave me a long look, licked her lips, and then nodded. "If your confident about your theory…then don't let someone tell you no. Push through until you get your point across."

"But…no one wants to seem to listen to me."

She turned and picked up the chart she was writing on, and hugged it to her chest. "I don't know…you did a pretty good job right now of getting me to listen. Don't count yourself so short."

I think…I think she just gave me an approving look, before she walked past me and down the hall.

It made me smile.

Mark

Four days.

It had been four days since Dr. Lexie Grey was assigned to my service and that was a good thing. The more she wasn't on my service, the easier it was that I didn't have to have these pesky thoughts about her in my head.

The truth. I hated that I let my guard down and told her my real thoughts on her ability as a doctor. I had been rather tough on her on her first day of internship, but after the way we had initially met…it wouldn't do her any good if I let her think we were friends or anything else other than me being her boss.

Because that is all I was. Her boss. Not only her boss, but I could be closer to her father with our age difference. Even though that should be enough for me to turn and walk away, something about the petit brunette was hard to just walk away from.

She was in some ways insecure, but yet had a fire about her that gave her the confidence to put someone in their place when she felt strongly about it. Including me. Only one other woman in my entire life had ever just told me exactly what they felt or wanted to say, and that was Addison Montgomery. Forming a friendship with her led to nothing but trouble.

I wasn't going to go down that road again. Because sleeping with my best friend's wife, almost cost me my best friend and my sanity. Chasing after a woman that I thought I could be in love with. Like, I was capable of ever having feelings like loving someone. No, I was capable of being damn good in bed, and making women shout my name with pleasure over and over again. That is exactly what I was good at. Only thing I was good for. The only thing I was capable of giving or wanting to give.

Besides, Derek was dating Meredith Grey—who happened to now be Lexie's half-sister—which meant that Derek was taking this big brother relationship over Lexie pretty seriously. It was odd, considering Meredith and yet to even try and forge any bond with her younger sister outside of quick nods and one word answers.

That bothered and troubled me more than it should. I shouldn't care that Meredith was doing everything she possibly could to avoid wanting to talk with Lexie. I knew her relationship with her father, Thatcher Grey, had been a troubled one. Both Meredith and my complicated past with parents were similar, it wasn't Lexie's fault for what Thatcher did to Meredith.

Lexie Grey was proving to be the kind of woman that just wasn't so easy to forget. Or get off your mind, or get away so easily from.

"Dr. Sloan."

Well, shit.

"There is a patient that Dr. Shepherd is working with today. There was something about the case this morning, during rounds. I read this article back in medical school, and I really think it could help with this case."

She was rambling on, and standing far too close to me for my comfort. I closed my chart, walking past her and putting it in the basket behind the nurse's station. She shoved her hands in her coat pockets and seemed to have a hard time understanding personal space, because every move I made, she was there…practically right on top of me.

"Uh, listen, I'm busy…"

"No. Before you shut me down too, listen to me. I read this article, this study, and since I have a photographic memory, I am certain I am on the right path. I need you to listen to me. Besides, the Chief has specifically been clear about wanting us interns to be heard." she pushed.

She had been getting pushed away by others. That seemed to aggravate me. I wasn't kidding when I said that Lexie was a good doctor. Over the past couple of weeks, she actually proved me right about my assessment, but it didn't mean that her medical opinion was nothing. I realized I was doing the exact same thing to her, but for different reasons.

I started walking, but beckoned her to follow. "Use fewer words, Grey," I said.

She sucked in a large breath. "I think he needs an E.N.T," she said at last. I stopped, turned and faced her, which in return caused her to stop and face me as well. "You're an E.N.T., right?"

I listened to her explain to me her theory and this article that she had said she had read. Photographic memory, she said. That would be something I would have to revisit with her later, but for now, her theory was sound, and it made enough sense to peek my interest and want to go and challenge my best friend.

She was close on my heels as she led me to the room where Derek was performing all of his tests on Mr. Patmore.

"Dr. Shepherd, a word," I said striding into the room.

"What's up?" asked Derek.

"I would like to run a quick test on your patient," I said.

Derek snorted. "He's in a lot of pain, Mark. I don't think he needs a tummy tuck."

"Very funny," I replied.

I launched into my speech that I knew would not only pique my best friends' interest, but also call to his competitive nature. It was something as kids we always had forefront in our relationship. One of us always wanted to be on top and be better than the other.

Based on what Lexie brought to me, and what she quoted in the medical journal she had referenced, I was actually pretty confident that if I ran the test I wanted to run, that Lexie and I would be right as it relates to the fact that what was going on with Mr. Patmore had nothing to do with neurosurgery.

So, I played my hand in telling him that I was taking the Chief's words about listening to the interns seriously. I shocked Lexie further when I turned the floor to her and let her tell Derek and Dr. Yang her information. It was important that I let her tell it, especially after she was having a hard time getting anyone to listen to her.

Because she needs to believe she is a good doctor.

She flawlessly explained about reading in the journal about swelling and compression on the ethmoid nerve. She offered up her recommendation for the test I wanted to perform, and I confirmed that if she was on the right track, it would let us know if Mr. Patmore was suffering from what we believed. The more I thought about it, the more I was becoming increasingly confident that my intern was going to solve this case.

Derek finally relented, allowing me to introduce myself to the patient. Mr. Patmore seemed reluctant at first, advising he had seen sixteen E.N.T.'s and none of them had been able to help him. That was because they had not seen me before. Everyone else—well, they were amateurs compared to me. Mr. Patmore finally agreed, and I explained the test I was going to perform.

Three seconds.

It took three seconds once I put the cottle up his nose, angling it in the right direction, before Mr. Patmore yelled out in pain, immediately calling out to the fact that it was the exact pinpoint of his pain.

I strode over to Derek knowing that today…today I beat the surgical neuro god. "Anterior Ethmoid Neurovascular Complex. A simple middle Turbinectomy will fix it." I grinned. "Unless, you still want to chop out the front of his brain."

Derek chuckled knowing he'd been beat. "Nicely done," he said to Lexie, because I was already walking out towards the door.

I felt her rushing to catch up to me. "That was awesome," she said.

"Good job back there," I praised.

She seemed to beam at this. "Really?"

I stopped and folded my arms. "Really. That patient has been in pain for seven years. You just successfully diagnosed what sixteen other E.N.T.'s were unable too, all the while preventing an unnecessary brain surgery."

The look on her face was trouble. She was looking at me like I was some kind of hero for telling her she did a good job.

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Dr. Sloan."

I grunted. "By the way, diagnosing that nerve…where did you read that?" I asked.

I could no longer keep some of my curiosity at bay. Besides, I needed to get her looking at me other than like I was some kind of hero to her.

She titled her head upwards, her eyes looking off to the side as if she was recalling it from her perfectly stored cataloged memory. "I remembered an article from a British Journal on E.N.T., it was issue number forty-seven, page nineteen, from nineteen sixty-four."

I nodded. "Good work."

A couple of hours later, everything was set up to perform the surgery with Mr. Patmore. I sat in my office debating over and over whether I should let Lexie in on the surgery. In all honesty, she deserved to be in on the surgery with me…but that would mean she would be in close proximity and that was a problem.

"You are a professional. You touch breasts all day long…you can stand a couple of hours," I said to myself as a form of a pep talk.

I found her standing in the main atrium. She was standing next to her resident—and pain in my ass, George O'Malley—talking and laughing about something. As I got closer to coming to the last of the stairs, I faltered, but then pushed through anyway. She deserved a teacher and she deserved this surgery.

"Little Grey!"

She turned, and instantly a smile came to her face. Damnit. She rushed over to meet me the rest of the way.

"Dr. Sloan."

I cleared my throat. "Mr. Patmore's condition is extremely rare, and you nailed it today. You can scrub in with me."

Her eyes went wide. "Seriously? Right now?"

"Our patient has been in pain for seven years. It's no time like the present." I stressed.

Her eyes lit up, her cheeks rising as a smile formed on her lips. I shouldn't like it as much as I did that I was bringing out that emotion in her.

"I would love too, Dr. Sloan. I'll be there," she replied.

"Good."

She stared at me a moment, longer before turning and skipping back to her boy wonder and resident, O'Malley.

Look away, Sloan. Look away.

Lexie

I practically ran back over to George.

"Ohmygod, guess what. Guess what?" I squealed.

He laughed and turned from leaning on the desk. "What?"

"Dr. Sloan just said I could scrub in on the Turbinectomy surgery. How cool is that?"

George looked genuinely happy. "Way to go, Lexie. You deserve it."

I did a little shimmy dance, because I was freaking awesome, and I did deserve this opportunity. As I looked back at George though, something seemed off with him. He was trying to hide it, but it was there.

"How was the test?"

He shrugged. So that was what was bothering him. "I think I did well, but all I keep thinking about is my answers. As I think over them, I wonder if I made the right ones."

I turned and leaned my back against the desk. "I'm sure you picked the right answer. You studied for weeks, and they always say your first answer is the right one. When you start to second guess yourself, is when you make the wrong one," I said.

He played with the corner of the piece of paper, but I could see deep down he was having a hard time believing it. I was about to reassure him again, when I noticed that Mark was still standing across the room, and Dr. Torres was fast approaching. George noticed too.

"You, me, on-call room now," Callie ordered.

She grabbed hold of Mark's wrist and dragged him from the room. On-call room. That made me frown. Everyone knew exactly what went on in the on-call rooms. We had a surgery to prepare for. Was he really going to have sex with Callie Torres now?

Even if he was…why did that seem to bother me so much?

As I turned back to George, I noticed he was watching after the two of them, his lips pursed into a hardline. It must be hard to see his ex-finance stride off with another man—not just any man—but the man that was known as McSteamy and had a pretty rather long list of satisfied clients.

Why did that seem to bother me too?

"Maybe it's not what we think," I offered.

George snorted, turning away and back towards the desk. "Yeah, right. No one takes Dr. Sloan into an on-call room for scintillating conversation."

I stared at him in confusion, because I was so sure that he no longer felt any romantic feelings for Dr. Torres anymore. "Are…are you still in love with her?"

His head turned to me abruptly. "What? No."

I shrugged. "Oh, well, it's just, you seemed upset." I observed.

"How would you feel, if you were a solid four, and the next person they slept with after you was a ten?"

I laughed. "George, you are not a four. You can't compare yourself to Dr. Sloan. You two are drastically different."

"Yeah, we are," he muttered. "He's good-looking, a talented surgeon, and has this ability to be a complete and utter badass. I'm just George."

My words of comfort grew more determined. "Well, I like just George."

He tried to hide it, but the corner of his mouth lifted anyway. "Thanks. Maybe I just need to find a friend with benefits myself. Lord knows I could use it."

I looked back across the way where Callie and Mark had disappeared. "Is that what they are?"

He shrugged. "I guess. They'd always been close, but it's only been recently they started visiting the on-call room together."

The thought of Mark and Callie behind the closed doors, rolling around in the sheets while their bodies mixed together, writhing in pleasure as she called out his name, suddenly made me want to turn and walk away. If left me feeling uneasy and I didn't like it one bit.

"Come on," I blurted. "It looks like I suddenly have some time to kill. Let's go see if your test results have come in."

Mark

"What the hell, Callie!"

She looked a little taken back once she had shoved me through the on-call room. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's gotten into you? When have you never not been into wanting to go into an on-call room?"

She was right. Normally, I was very much interested in going into on-call rooms. I would take every opportunity I could get when it came to giving Big Sloan the chance to rise, but something was different this time. Callie was a good time in bed, that was for sure, but ever since she had started going down the path that she might actually be a lesbian, the two of them continuing their friends with benefits relationship no longer seemed interesting as it once did.

"I have a surgery I need to prep for, Cal," I replied, toning down my frustration.

"But I need your help," she whined.

"Sorry, but I not really interested in having sex."

I thought she might faint at hearing those words come out of my mouth, but her eyes going big as saucers, and her hands falling to her sides told me that she had never ever thought that would be something I would say. Like I was some kind of performing monkey that just jumped into action no matter what.

"Ok, well, that wasn't, kind of the reason I brought you here," she admitted.

"So, what was the reason?"

I really was trying not to be impatient. Callie was my closest friend next to Derek, but when she pulled me across the room in front of everyone giving the impression that we were coming in here for—well sex—I briefly caught Lexie's eye, and there was something in her expression that I couldn't pinpoint my finger on. Was she disappointed? Disgusted? Jealous?

"Well, you know what Erica and I went on a date last night. We went back to my place…and, well, we did it," she divulged.

Her face fell and something told me that it may not have gone the way she had hoped. No one should look that sad or conflicted after getting sex. Good sex anyway.

"Well, sort of," she clarified after a few seconds of silence.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm guessing this is not a congratulations moment."

Callie hands rubbed at her face. "Mark, it was awful." She chewed on her bottom lip. "I…I mean I was all into it and it was hot, and we were going at it…and then I…you know…."

I looked at her expectantly, but suddenly her cheeks went a complete shade of red. Callie hardly ever got embarrassed, so this had to be good. "Had a hard time flicking the bean?"

She picked up the largest pillow next to us and chucked it at me. "This is serious," she cried. "I…I just choked. I tried to go down there, but then it just felt weird and all clinical." A violent shiver of embarrassment worked its way through her.

"Yeah, I gotta go," I said walking past her.

"What? No! You're Mark Sloan, you love talking about sex and this kind of stuff. Plus, I need you," she begged.

I half turned back. "Two girls getting nasty and loving it? That's hot. That's almost every man's fantasy. One girl talking about how much it sucked…that's just downright depressing," I clarified.

"Please…I need the Mark Sloan method. Who says that Derek Shepherd gets to have all the fame? Sex is a fundamental need in everyone's life," she countered, trying her best to convince me to stay and help.

I reached the door, my hand stilling as I turned my head back to her. "I have a surgery. Again…depressing and wrong. Very very wrong," I repeated and left the room.

The surgery took another three hours before I was able to finally call it another day at Seattle Grace.

Considering the incredible work that Lexie had did today with considering all options for her patients and pushing her way to get me to consider the case as well as Derek, I would have thought she would have been more excited at the opportunity to assist in the surgery.

She asked all the right questions and she was attentive in the surgery as I over compensated with information regarding the procedure. Every few times I would sneak a peek when I didn't think she was looking, but we would both happen to look up at each other right at that moment, and she would instantly look away. Something definitely seemed to be on her mind.

So, just like I did on most nights, I found myself heading over to Joe's. A nice malt scotch was just the thing to finish off this rather interesting day. I perked up, entering the bar and seeing the very woman who had seemed to be occupying my thoughts the last couple of weeks was sitting at the bar.

Don't go over there. Don't go over there.

I was at the bar, standing next to her. Whatever had been on her mind earlier, still seemed to be on her mind now, as she lazily played with the straw in her drink. I got the attention of Joe.

"Scotch," I said.

Joe placed the scotch down in front of me. Walk away now, Mark. Walk away. Naturally, I sat down in the vacant chair next to her. She sat up straighter and looked over at me. Offering me that polite smile, but it didn't really reach her eyes.

"For having an opportunity to have your first real surgery, you look and sound a little down. Something on your mind?"

She looked over at me, with an exasperated look. She thought I was joking or teasing her, but in reality, I was being serious. For whatever reason, I didn't like that sad look on her face.

"It's nothing, really," she assured. "Just a busy day."

It was a lie, but for now, I would let it go. "So, photographic memory, huh?"

She smiled, and took a sip of her drink. "Yeah."

I shot her a challenging look. "Periodic table, go."

She looked at me wondering if I was being serious. I dipped my head that I was in fact serious and expectantly waiting for her to prove it. She proved it alright, but going through so many, before I laughed and stopped her.

"Wow…we have ourselves our very own Lexi-pedia," I said.

She chuckled. "Nice. I haven't heard that one before." She took another sip. "Since we are on the subject of nicknames, what's with you calling me Little Grey?"

I took a sip of my scotch, the richness of the malt sliding down my throat a combination of warmth and a bit of a burn that I loved so much. "It makes it easier to decipher between you and your sister when someone mentions, Dr. Grey. She's Big Grey, and your Little Grey," I said.

She laughed, through a smile that lit up her whole face. She actually looked really pretty. "I guess that makes sense."

"Give it time," I said, after a moment of silence.

She had gone back to playing with her straw again, but looked up at me quizzically. "Give what time?" she asked.

"Meredith. She's not really good with feelings and letting people in. She'll come around. I'm sure of it."

I was sure of the fact that Meredith would come around. I didn't want to get Lexie's hopes up, in case I was wrong, but I was already starting to see signs that Meredith couldn't stay away from her forever. In fact, I didn't really know how anyone could stay away from Lexie for too long. She had this infectious personality and smile about her. You just couldn't help but want to be around her.

"Thanks, Dr. Sloan."

"Mark," I corrected.

She arched her brow at me. "Aren't you, my boss?" she asked.

"Not right now. Right now, I am just a friend in a bar. And, as your friend in the bar, you can call me, Mark."

She looked at me, as she rolled that thought around in her head. She brought her glass to her lips, taking another sip before she smiled. "Well, since were friends, Mark, what's your relationship with Callie?"

I titled my head to the side, playing with the rim of my glass. "Why do you want to know?"

She licked her lips. "George told me about his history with Callie. He seemed a little down because of your, um, relationship with Callie."

"George is idiot," I muttered.

She gave me a scolding look. "No, he's not. Why are you so mean to him?"

"Well, for starters, he cheated on my friend," I answered angrily.

"Yeah, well that was unfortunate. But George is a good guy. He feels really bad about what happened. I know he would take it back if he could. He cares about Callie and he wants to make it right."

I took another long drawl of my drink. "Yeah, I remembered what you said in your speech regarding our throat patient."

"I meant it," she pressed. After a moment, she added, "So, friends with benefits. You and Callie."

"Not anymore. Haven't been for a while," I admitted.

I don't know why it was that I wanted her to know that. Not that I would call a few weeks since Callie and I last slept together a while, but by my normal standards, that was a long time. Suddenly, it hit me. I hadn't had sex in weeks. I was used to having sex on a daily basis. How did I not notice…the thought trailed off, when my eyes looked at the woman sitting next to me.

The fact that I seemed to be having more of an enjoyable time sitting here chatting with her instead of trying to pick up someone to take back to my place for a good time was scary enough. I needed to finish my scotch and get out of here. Find the nearest exit.

The problem though…I didn't want too. I liked talking to Lexie. I liked that she seemed interested in who I was possibly seeing or not seeing, and why whether Callie and I were friends with benefits seemed to even be something that was on her mind. My need to want to tease her and get her riled up, won out though.

I waited until she brought her straw up to her lips to take a sip. "Are you sleeping with George?"

She coughed, pulling her glass abruptly from her lips, her hand coming to her mouth to wipe away some of the contents that dripped. "What?"

I shrugged. "We both confirmed we're friends. You asked about Callie, it's only fair. Besides, you two seemed to be awfully comfortable around each other lately."

"That's because he's my resident," she said flatly.

"And the sleeping together?" I probed.

She let out an awkward laugh, a blush rising to her cheeks. "No. I am not sleeping with George O'Malley."

I took another drink, using the glass to hide the grin. "Good. You could do better."

She slapped me on the arm. "Stop it. Stop being mean to George."

"You want me to stop being mean to George?"

She nodded emphatically. "Please."

I looked at her, debating in silence. "I'll think about," I said at last.

She shook her head in exasperation. We spent the next hour just sitting at the bar and chatting. We talked about everything from medical school, cases, our family backgrounds, and everything else in between. It was the first time in a long time that I was actually having an enjoyable time with a woman and it didn't involve sex.

Lexie looked down at her watch and then back at me. "It's getting late, and I have to be up early for rounds. I guess we should call it a night."

"I'll walk to you your car," I offered.

"You don't have to do that," she protested.

"I know. I want too. It's late, and the gentlemen in me should make sure you at least get to your car safely."

Her brow lifted. "Gentlemen?"

I shot her a wounded look. "I'll have you know that I am nothing if not a gentleman. Haven't I been all night?"

She laughed. "Fine," she relented. "I can't argue there."

We stood from our seats, and before she could grab her jacket on the back of the chair, I snatched it up before she could an held it out. She gave a long look, before lifting up her hair and turning back around so she could put her arms through the coat. I lifted the coat over her shoulders, realizing my hands were lingering a little to long on her shoulders then was necessary.

"All set," I said reluctantly, taking my hands away.

She spun around and offered me a smile. If I didn't know any better, the flush to her cheeks returned, her eyes turning heavy-lidded. "Uh, yeah, thanks."

I wanted our steps to move slower as we left the bar and started walking to her car. I was having too much of a good time for this to end, but like all good things that usually happened in my life, that was the inevitable.

When we reached her car, she opened her purse to pull out the keys, holding them firmly in her hands. "Well, this is me," she said.

She unlocked the door, giving me the opportunity to reach out and open it for her. "Gentlemen," I pointed out.

She gave me a lopsided grin. "Nicely done."

She slid into the driver seat, and I knew I needed to close the door. "Good night, Lexie."

Tomorrow we would be back to Dr. Sloan and Dr. Grey. We had to be. I was her boss and she was my intern.

"Good night, Mark."

A/N: Thanks for reading.