Warning: Rated T for strong language.

A/N: Thank you for your review and comments. So…one thing when I write…I don't always keep exactly to the show. Things like being allergic to eggs and hating apples…I don't pay too much attention too. I try and keep more their personalities the same if I can. I love that you all caught that though! ;)

Chapter 12 – It's Competition Time

Mark

"What?"

CRAP.

That wasn't supposed to come out. It was the truth, but it wasn't supposed to come out. I could have said almost anything about what a good person she was, and how beautiful she is…I didn't mean to bare my actual soul so easily. So quickly.

When we sat inside the restaurant and she told me the whole truth about her father, I had to sit there with just my clenched hands and raging anger and disgust for the man that was her father. I could never imagine the feeling of losing someone you love so dear, like he did Susan, but couldn't he see how much Lexie was willing to do, endure, to not lose him either?

It made me regret that I hadn't done far worse to him when I was at her home a couple of days ago. I knew she wouldn't want me too…but right now, the anger I was feeling inside, I could inflict tons of harm, patch him up, and do it again for all of the hurt and pain that he caused her over the last couple of months. As it was, if she needed to go back, I didn't know if I would be able to contain myself.

When I saw the signs of her beginning to tremble; the tears fall from her eyes, I couldn't maintain being in my seat anymore. The only person that knew about this diner was really Derek and considering he was most likely passed out back at Meredith's place, I couldn't give a shit any longer if anyone stumbled in and found me holding her in my arms.

As I slid into the seat next to her, she instantly came to me, clutching me like a kid would clutch their teddy bear in the dark to wish all the scariness away. My arms came around her protectively, doing everything I could to chase away the awful thoughts and memories. I rubbed her back, placed kisses on the top of her head, held her tighter, and whispered everything would be ok. That I wouldn't let anything happen to her.

I never really had an experience comforting a woman in this way. Of course, I had hugged Callie when she cried over George, and a couple of times sat with Derek's sisters when some dumbass—not me—broke their heart, but never with a woman that had the power to tear my guts out with a single flicker of her finger.

How did Lexie Grey seem to just worm her way in through my defenses without me even knowing? It was as if she silently went along just placing little pieces of herself here and there until they all converged together, like a sucker punch to the solar plexus.

We felt a few drops of rain as we stood there, but now they were coming regularly. I could tell my words had floored her into quietness. She stared up into my eyes, those walnut color eyes big as saucers as her head shook slightly like what I had said was the most ridiculous thing in the world. That she could be anyone's salvation.

But she was. I was sure of that. I had spent most of my life just walking around as if life happened around me and I was just passing through. Only one foot possibly in, but never really actually living. I was the scared kid with the teddy bear that would rather just sit there clutching it to my chest and rocking back and forth instead of experiencing it instead.

Until Lexie came into my world—even as complicated as it has been—I understood that I was just sitting back silently hoping that things could be different. That I could be the kind of man that wanted the things like my brother and Callie wanted, but never took the leap. Until her.

How easily the people that are supposed to love you the most can mess you up the most. My parents had done a number on me, but that wasn't all them. It wasn't fair to continue to use them as my reasoning for every stupid decision or lack there of decision I made in my life.

Lexie Grey was the first woman in my existence that made me want more. Made me want to be better. Push myself beyond my own limits. Even Addison Montgomery couldn't give me that, because with her, it had only been about wanting what Derek wanted, not actually wanting her for myself.

For the first time ever, I no longer wanted to run from it. I no longer wanted to just pass through. I wanted to jump in with both feet and allow myself—as scary and intimidating as it seemed—to keep moving forward, and be the man that I could see in her eyes she thought I was.

She was my salvation. Her—and only her—could give me that.

Now, I had to make sure that I hadn't just scared her away for good. We didn't even have our first official date—although I could argue that tonight could be one—and I was already unloading this type of sentiment on her. Even after she had just told me everything that happened with her father. How essentially, he had become her burden to carry because if she didn't absorb the darkness within him, there might not be a man left to come back too.

Now, I had just told her she was my salvation, like she needed to take me on too. That wasn't how I meant it, and now I was afraid I had just lost the one and only good thing that was starting to go right in my life because I had diarrhea of the mouth.

I rubbed the back of my neck, unable to look her in the eyes. To see what I knew was going to be there before she ultimately told me she wasn't going to be able to do this before she lunged for the car and ran away from me.

"I…"

The rain was falling steadily know, a perfect indication for my mood. The big droplets fell from my hair down my face. The sounds of plop plop plop as the droplets hit my leather jacket and the car roof behind us.

It was now or never. I had to look up and face the music. It would gut me to hear the words, but I had to look her directly in the eyes when she told me this was too much and then run away like I was some creepy stalker she misplaced putting her faith in.

I only had a quick second as I lifted my head to look at her. The rain only accenting her creamy delicate features like she was the goddess of rain. Commanding and wielding it at her fingertips. She wrinkled her nose, shaking away her bewildered expression, before her hand reached out grabbing a bunch of my sweater and hauled me to her.

Her lips and mine crashed in heat that was strong enough to take away the chill of the rain. She no longer trembled because of the cold, but because of what our mouths were doing together. My hands came to the side of her face, as I titled her back and took control of the kiss. She moaned, giving up and letting me take over.

I turned us so that now her back was pressed against her car door, using my body to crush hers and trap as much as the heat as I could. Her hands clutched me harder as if it was possible that I might disappear, or maybe that it was because we weren't close enough…which I wasn't sure. I didn't care, because kissing Lexie Grey was by far the best thing I have ever done in my life.

My tongue grazed across her lips and she instantly opened without even any further coaxing. One thing I was learning about Lexie, was that she liked that when it came to us and kissing, she liked that I took control. I could have a PHD in all things Lexie, because already I knew exactly what to do to drive her a little wild and wanting more.

And did I want more. I wanted everything with her. But Lexie was different. She was a woman that deserved the flowers, chocolates, and being wooed. Not just someone you pushed up against the wall and had your way with. In time, but not now. She deserved better. If we were going to do this…we deserved better.

Reluctantly, I pulled back, lifting my head but still keeping close. I could feel how chilly her skin was with the onslaught of rain still attacking us. She was panting, her chest was heaving, her pupils dilated with want and need. I had to stifle the growl in my throat, because I was still a man, and I could only take so much.

Her fingers were turning almost white from how hard she gripped at my shirt. If I didn't know any better, she was afraid to let go and think that if she did, I might disappear or she might wake up thinking this was some kind of dream then the real thing. That did even more funny things to my chest.

After a minute, the tension—the good sexual tension—eased out of her shoulders and she slowly relaxed against her car. Her fingers still held onto my sweater, but she was no longer clutching it like her life depended on it.

"Lex…" my voice came out thick and gruffly.

Her hooded eyes looked up at me, her lips back to that deep swollen pink that I loved so much. That primal way of knowing she had been marked and by me. "I'm sorry…"

My gut clenched. Here it comes. "What do you have to be sorry about?"

She grinned as her eyes left my face and looked back down at my chest and stomach. With the rain attacking us, my sweater had now acted like a second skin to me. All of my muscles in my shoulders, chest, and abdomen were on display. The look she was shooting me was going to make me lose my control if I didn't get us back on solid ground—if that was possible.

"I didn't mean to attack you."

My hand rose to lift her chin up so her eyes were looking into mine. "Never apologize for that, Little Grey. You can attack me anytime."

A blush crept to her cheeks. "Mark, what happens now?"

I blew out a breath. "I think it's safe to say that we can no longer deny what is happening between us," I said.

Her voice was so small. "I don't want too."

My fingers caressed her cheek, her head tilting into my touch. "Neither do I," I admitted. I blew out another breath. "We need to keep this quiet for now."

She nodded, but I held her gaze so she understood that it wasn't because I didn't want to be seen with her, but because of the fact that at the hospital I was her boss, and she was an intern.

"I don't want gossip of us being together to override the work you are doing. More importantly, I…" my voice trailed off because I didn't want to have to say it.

Her fingers flattened out against my chest and slowly headed north. I tensed under her touch because it felt so damn good. "Because you're afraid that people might think I only achieved what I have because of who I'm sleeping with."

Her cheeks went full on red as she thought about the words that came out of her mouth. It was cute to see how flustered she was, and lit a fire inside of me that she clearly had thoughts about us sleeping together. Because that was all I could think about these days.

"Exactly," I said, forgoing anymore teasing since she already had a rough night as it was.

"So, um, what do we do?" she asked.

"At the hospital, we keep it strictly professional."

She gave me a teasing smile. "I think I can do that, Dr. Sloan. Can you?"

The dip in her tone that was both seductive and a challenge was making it hard to think straight. "I can't make any promises, but I will try."

There was a gleam to her eye. "Maybe we should avoid being near any on-call rooms together."

I groaned. She was definitely thinking about us together in that way. It was making me crazy.

My hand slid from her cheek, both my hands trailing over her shoulders and down her arms, until I wrapped them around her waist and pulled her up against me. "That would be the smart thing to do." I leaned down to give her a chaste kiss. I pulled back so our foreheads were touching. "I'm going to want to take you out on a date. A proper first date."

She pulled back slyly and said, "I thought this was a date."

I grinned. "If this was a real date" –I pulled her up and even closer to my chest "—I'd be inviting you back for a drink at my place."

I felt the shudder course through her. I watched as she swallowed her throat bobbling up and down. I leaned in and gave her another quick kiss, but then stepped back. It was still raining and no matter how close I held her, her skin was still cold. It was late, and we were still on shift tomorrow at the hospital.

I moved us so that I could open her car door. "I guess this is good night," she said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I replied.

She nodded, slid into her seat, her car purring to life, before I closed her door, stepped back, and watched her drove away.

Lexie

I was grateful that by the time I had gotten home, all of my friends were fast asleep. I was shivering from my wet clothes now that I no longer had Mark's warm body holding me close.

I quietly tiptoed to my room, grabbing my set of pajamas and robe and patted across the hall towards the bathroom. As the warm water cascaded over my skin, my mind went back to replaying tonight. From our kiss in the kitchen, to our time at the diner, and then our moment in the parking lot of the diner.

You're my salvation, Lexie.

Those words were like an ignitor stroking a flame within me. As if somehow, I could actually be someone's salvation. Even as I looked up into his expression, I could instantly tell that he wasn't just saying these words to say them. He meant them.

Everyone thought Mark Sloan was this shallow, womanizing man who was incapable of being able to feel anything. Incapable of being more than just someone that could offer you a good time between the sheets. It was their loss if they didn't see there was more to him.

Mark was sweet, protective, passionate, and loyal. He didn't let people in or trust them, but if he did, I could tell that he considered you his family for life. Up until now, I would have thought that only Derek and Callie would have been part of that close knit group…but I dared hope that there might be room for me there as well.

Once the water had turned cold, I exited the shower, dressed in my pajamas and robe and patted back to my bedroom. It felt like I had been awake for hours just staring at the ceiling recalling every touch, every kiss, every look he gave me that told me he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. I drifted off to sleep, thinking about his lips and the next time I would feel them on me again.

It wasn't long before Mark and I would be put to the test as it related to our self-control in being around each other, and not giving meaningful glances or stolen touches.

Chief Hunt had called all of us to the main floor of the hospital with amusement as he looked to each of us standing in the room. Most of the attendings were in various stages of their hungover, but like the true professionals we were, all dressed and ready for another day of saving lives.

Owen glanced around the room. "Some of you did not heed my warning about keeping your partying to a limited."

On cue, George groaned next to me. "Why does he have to talk so loud," he whined.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that he wasn't really that loud, but considering that George was looking a little green, he had really had a lot to drink during his celebration party. It was a little cruel that he was expected to be up and functioning. Then again, Owen did warn them they would have to be on shift the next day.

"First, I want to introduce to you our newest Seattle Grace attending of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr. Teddy Altman," said Owen.

I recognized the blonde as the same woman from my first day here at the hospital with our patient who had a throat trachea. My eyes roamed over to Mark who also clearly remembered who she was, his arms across his chest, looking at the woman with a scowl.

"Thank you, Chief Hunt," said Teddy. "I am so glad to be here at Seattle Grace and working with all of you. Owen has said only wonderful things."

Owen. I looked between the two of them and this was just one of those circumstances where you hired someone and were friendly and calming on their first day. No, our Chief and Dr. Altman knew each other before today. It made me wonder how.

"Uh, anyone else getting the vibes that Hunt and Altman have some kind of history," Alex said.

Meredith looked over to Cristina whose eyes were glued to the front watching the two of them. "It would appear so," she said, her eyes narrowing just a little bit.

"Thank you, Dr. Altman." Owen turned back to the rest of us. "I expect that you all will welcome Dr. Altman and happily show her around here as she settles in." He paused. "Now, I have another exciting piece of news—"

"Can't wait," Alex said sarcastically.

George groaned. "Can you all stop talking so loudly."

"Today, I am implementing Seattle Grace's first ever annual Race for the Cure competition," Owen said, bringing out attention back to him.

"I am not running," Alex shouted.

"I think I might throw up," George added.

"I'm a doctor, not a marathon runner," Cristina called out.

"Alright, enough!" Owen said, his hands up to quiet everyone down. "It's just a play on words folks. You will not actually be doing any running. What I meant is, the race for the cure is the race for the first team to diagnosis our patient with the correct symptoms and medical treatment."

Everyone perked up at this news. Cristina raised her hand, Owen instantly calling on her. "Is this an actual patient, or something that has been made up?"

Owen smiled at her. "Great question, Dr. Yang. This is a real patient. He's been seen by five different doctors at five different hospitals and no one can seem to find out what is going on with him." Owen's face took a more serious undertone now. "Folks, while this might be a competition, I need you to understand that time is also of the essence, which is why I turned it into a competition. His symptoms are worsening and if we don't diagnosis him correctly, he could very well die within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours."

"This is so cool," said Cristina.

I looked around at my friends who were also in various stages of panic, worry, and excitement. Because all most of us heard was that this was a competition, which meant there was a prize.

"What's the prize?" Alex shouted.

Owen frowned at this. Clearly the prize was that we would be saving a man's life, but I could tell he knew that since he was making this a competition there would have to be more than just the fact that it was our job and oath to do what we were trained to do.

"First and foremost, to save our patient. However, the winning team will each get an entire day off, as well as each of the players will also get a reward. Each team will be comprised of one attending, one resident, and one intern. For the winning team, the attending will get to reside as Chief of Surgery for the day. The winning resident will be Chief of Resident for the day…"

"Let me guess, the winning intern will command the interns for the day," Jackson said snidely.

"The winning intern, will have the ability to scrub in on any case on any surgery of their choosing with no questions asked," Owen finished.

I looked at my peers our eyes going wide with the possibility. There was some interesting cases that our attendings were working on and that didn't even count what might come in either. Every intern dreamed of having an opportunity of being a part of a case that was once in a life time or would look good for the boards and this was that opportunity.

"This is so mine," Jo said.

"You wish," Jackson shot back.

"If I can wrestle a pig into a pen, this is going to be a walk in the park," April joined in.

My friends looked to me waiting for my reply or trash talking. I laughed. "Um, good luck beating me?"

They laughed at my obvious failure at being able to trash talk. Owen finished up by giving us our team assignments. I tried not to do a full-on dance when I learned that I was on Mark's team. The breakdown of teams were: Mark, George, and myself; Derek, Cristina, and April, Miranda, Meredith, and Jackson; and Arizona, Alex, and Jo.

Each of us moved to our perspective groups, Mark not even grimacing at the fact that George was on our team. Our eyes locked for a brief second, and I was sure that both of us were replaying our kiss from the night before.

We were pulled from our thoughts as some of our other teams started to bolt from the hallway to get a head start. It didn't matter, since Owen was clear that each team would get an opportunity to go into the patient's room and ask any questions, we had outside of what we already had in the file that he gave us. Our team was team number two when it came to seeing our patient.

"Alright, let's start with the rundown. Dr. Grey."

I opened the file. "Patient is Matthew Rhodes. Twenty-two years old, complaining of extreme exhaustion, weakness, headaches, and most recently seizures as of two days ago. His last seizure lasted a couple of minutes, almost weakening him to the point of where he died."

Mark turned to George. "Ideas of causes of symptoms."

George still only looked halfway present, swaying a little on his feet as he thought about the symptoms. "Tumor."

"It says in the file an M.R.I. was done at each of the patient's visits. No tumor was visible," Mark replied.

"Maybe they aren't looking in the right place. Derek would probably pick up on it," I observed.

Mark's forehead puckered in thought. "A possibility, but if it was as simple as a tumor it would have been found already. This is something else. Something hidden in plain sight but no one has been able to diagnosis." He turned back to George. "What else?"

"Cancer?"

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "Are you just throwing out any guess now?"

"Isn't that what we are doing?"

Mark closed his eyes. "Pathetic," he mumbled under his breath.

I could feel our team was about to fall apart into shambles if we didn't get back on track. "Maybe we should strategize what questions we can ask in our consultation. That should give us a better idea what we are working with," I suggested.

Mark gave me a knowing wink. "Finally, something offered that was useful."

We discussed our strategy and potential questions, waiting until Owen called us indicating that it was our turn to go and see our patient. By the time we entered the room, I was glad that we were second in getting to talk to him, and that he was here to find treatment. Our patient looked in serious pain. He was laying on his side in the fetal position, his face contorted in pain.

"Mr. Rhodes, my name is Dr. Sloan and these are Dr.'s Grey and O'Malley. We would like to ask you a couple of questions," said Mark.

Our patient groaned in response, his hands coming to his stomach. "It hurts," he moaned.

"We will do everything in our power to help make it better," Mark responded.

Mark turned to me. "Can you tell me when you started to experience these symptoms?" I asked.

"Two weeks ago," Matthew replied weakly.

"The exhaustion, weakness, headaches at the same time," I clarified.

"Exhaustion and weakness," he corrected. "The headaches started last week, and then the seizures a few days go." He groaned again. "Do you all have to talk so loud?"

I glanced at Mark whose expression also read that couldn't be good.

"I can sympathize with you there," George said, rubbing his own temples.

"Do you have any medical history of family history of any known illnesses?" Mark asked

Matthew shook his head wincing again. "So hard to stay awake," he yawned. "I just want to sleep."

We all sensed that he was getting ready to close his eyes and our couple of minutes of interview was going to come to a close. We were able to ask about what he could recall doing in the last couple of weeks before the symptoms started. Whether he traveled, if he ate any foreign foods, etc. before we ultimately had to leave the room.

Owen had informed each of the teams that we would all have access to any scans, lab work, and other previous tests in addition to anything else we ordered.

"I think we should order new blood tests. He's had new symptoms since the last one was drawn. Maybe there was something there that they hadn't had before," I suggested.

"Good idea, Dr. Grey. Get on it," Mark said.

"What about me?" George asked.

"Start pulling all medical journals or research that can help us," Mark said.

"But with little we have to go on and we have Lexip—" George's mouth closed when Mark turned his glare on him.

"Then you better work quickly," he added.

I had put a rush order in on the bloodwork after I dropped off the sample we collected at the lab. At first, our lab tech took it begrudgingly indicating everything was a rush order, and then an idea came to mind. Something I had overheard Mark talk about on one of my previous cases. After all, this was a competition.

I turned back to the lab tech, Marvin and smiled sweetly. "What if I could offer you something to encourage that you gave me the results before any other team?"

He looked up from his machine that just starting whirling to life. "I'm listening."

"Are you an avid sports fan?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but asked anyway.

Marvin crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah."

"Hockey, right?"

His eyes squinted. "How did you know? No one ever cares to ask us lowly techs about anything."

I smiled. "I'm not everyone," I replied. "What if I could get you box seats at the next hockey game including parking?"

His eyes lit up. "No way. Could you do that?"

I bit my lip. I was pretty sure that I could, but until I talked to Mark, I wasn't one-hundred percent certain. Hopefully, he would like my initiative, and if he didn't…maybe I could use my other abilities to lessen his anger with me.

I plastered on the most confident expression I could. "I can and will."

Marvin still looked unsure. "You really think you can get the tickets?"

It was almost as if Marvin knew exactly where and who I needed to see to get what I needed and that I wouldn't be able to do it. Little did he know that I could.

"I promise," I confirmed. I extended my hand. "Do we have a deal?"

Marvin grinned. "We have a deal."

Mark

Normally, I didn't give a crap about games. I was competitive and I liked to win, but rarely did something come up here at the hospital that would make me want put in a ton of effort if it didn't really benefit the Plastics department.

Now, I had a whole other reason.

If our group won, Lexie and I could have the whole day off together, and I could use that opportunity to take her out on a real date. One that was just far enough that we could have a good time, but not possibly run into any of our friends where they would find out about our growing relationship.

Ever since I had left her last night, she had been all I could think about. I barely got any sleep just thinking about the way her hands touched me—marked me—as they slid up and down my chest. The way she would whimper or moan by just a kiss. She was getting harder and harder to be near without wanting to touch. Be near and being professional.

The only thing that kept coming forefront to mind was that she was an intern, and she was so talented. I didn't want anything to taint her success. Including me. Once everyone found out that we were an item, the whispers and sneers would happen. They would say awful things to her and about her all because she had chosen me to be with. The playboy whose reputation made it seem he couldn't keep it in his pants.

Never mind that everything she had worked so hard for these last couple of weeks we be overshadowed—an asterisk next to her name—because they would assume she got those opportunities by sleeping with the boss. Like I would ever condone pimping her out to anyone no matter how much money could be donated to the hospital.

Instead, I poured all that frustration and need for her into this assignment. So, we could win and have the day off. I hadn't even heard the footsteps walk in as I shuffled another piece of paper to the left.

"How's the competition going?"

I didn't look up as Callie strode in and sat at the edge of my desk. "It's a head scratcher, that is for sure."

Her hands were in her lap, as she looked over my shoulder at the stack of copies of our patient's file. There was something here, I could feel it, but it just wasn't calling out to me. It wasn't a tumor or cancer or anything that could be easily explained. Until Lexie got the bloodwork back, it was hard to rule a number of things out.

"Your really into this, aren't you?"

I flipped over another page. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged. "Well, I guess I knew you always wanted a shot at the Chief title, so this would give you that opportunity."

She was right. I had always wanted to be Chief. Who wouldn't want the opportunity to be at the top and be over all of the other departments? It was hard to hide the smirk at knowing that I could be Derek's boss. But that had not even crossed my mind. It wasn't even why I was working so hard right now to want to get the win—outside of saving the patient's life of course.

"It's not just me. We all get something out of the deal," I said.

Callie smirked. "You mean, your intern gets something out of the deal."

"Callie…"

"What? You're terrible at hiding it. I can see it all over your face. I've never seen you this focused before. Even when you tried to nail that radiology nurse that kept telling you she wasn't interested."

"Because she was," I clapped back.

"So, do you have any leads, yet?"

"Well, I…" I stopped and looked up, just as she was leaning closer towards me. I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms. "You would seriously betray your friend."

She looked taken back. "What? No…"

Her voice had gone up an octave and that told me she was lying. "You are so hot for Arizona Robbins, that you would come to me and see if I had anything they didn't have?"

She stared at me for a moment and then her face crumpled. "I need to get laid," she whined. "And she is so hot."

I shook my head. "I can't believe you."

"I'm sorry. But they went on and on about Lexie having her photographic memory, and they know you and I are best friends…"

I pointed to the door. "Out!"

"Come on…can't you just give me anything? Even something small?"

"Out!" I repeated.

She groaned. "Fine. But I will remember this when you need something and come crying to me," she threatened walking towards the door.

"I said, out, Callie!"

"I'm not Callie."

I looked back up from the file, and Lexie was standing in the doorway. "Sorry."

She laughed. "Your conversation didn't sound like it went well."

"That's because they sent my friend in to try and go undercover and see what our team had."

Her mouth fell open. "Really? Wow…they must have nothing," she contemplated.

"And are threatened. By you," I said.

Her brows lifted in surprise. "Me?"

I abandoned the papers and swiveled my chair so that I was facing her. "Yep. They are very intimidated by you."

She smiled, as she took another step forward. The magnetic pull forcing the two of us together. It wasn't a good idea with my office door opened and the fact that anyone could walk in at any moment. That only made some of the thrill that much more exciting.

"Maybe they are intimidated by us. What a wonderful team we make," she suggested.

She took another step forward, until she was standing in front of me. All I had to do was lean forward in my chair and I could wrap my arms around her waist and pull her down onto my lap. Slide my hand up her scrub top, her back would arch backwards…

I cleared my throat. "Your photographic memory. They are threatened by it."

She turned, so just like Callie she was leaning against my desk, her bottom sitting on the edge. She pouted. "Not a lot of good it is doing me right now."

I smiled. No one was harder on themselves then she was. "Did you find anything else out."

"No, but…" her voice trailed off.

"But what?"

She bit her lip. "How much do you like me?"

I arched my brow. "Why?"

"I'm trying to determine how mad you are going to be and whether you like me enough to agree to what I offered Marvin to get us the bloodwork results before everyone else."

"You offered him sex?"

Her eyes went wide. "What? No!" She said affronted.

I grinned and she slapped me on the shoulder. "Then I would say your chances of me being mad are very slim and I very much like you," I replied, my voice lowering a bit.

A flush rose to her cheeks, as she tucked another piece of hair behind her ear. "Well, hold onto that thought. I promised Marvin that you would give him your next box seats for hockey, including the price for parking."

I wasn't at all mad. In fact, it was really impressive that she was willing to go to all of these efforts so we could win. Was it because she was just as competitive to want to win, or she too wanted that opportunity to have a day off together?

"That's a hefty price," I said.

"Your mad, aren't you?"

Her foot started taping, and I couldn't help but think how cut she looked all worked out. Even in her light blue scrubs she was still sexy as hell.

I shrugged. "Depends."

"On what?"

I slid my foot until it but up against hers. "On if I get anything out of the deal."

All the worry left her expression, a teasing smile cross her lips. "What do you want?" she asked seductively.

My eye did a slow appraisal of her body starting from her claves all the way up. I could see the shiver cascade up her body at my gaze over her until our eyes reached each other. Her breath caught in her throat, and I had to grip the arms of my chair to keep from reaching out.

Door is open. Door is open.

"I'm sure you can think of something," I replied, leaning slightly forward.

She started to lean forward and I was too weak to stop it. She was going to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss her back so badly that I could taste it. Just before the point of no return, a knock came at the door. Lexie bolted upright, standing to put space between us.

Marvin.

"Uh, Dr. Grey. I got the results for you," he said with the piece of paper in his hand.

"Wow, that was fast," she commented.

Marvin looked at her and then me. I sighed. "I'll get you the tickets and parking first thing tomorrow," I said.

His face broke out into a grin. "Sure thing, Dr. Sloan."

He turned on his heels and walked out of the room. Lexie's head was still engrossed in the bloodwork, her lips pursed together.

"Anything?" I asked.

Her face deflated. "No. Everything is normal," she said, handing me over the paper.

I looked the lab work over and confirmed what she already had. Everything looked normal. Nothing out of the ordinary that would give us any indication for the symptoms he was having.

"There is something here…I am so sure of it," she said.

"Well, let's just pour over the information we have. Maybe we are missing something."

We went over the files again, reviewing the bloodwork, and notes from our interview.

"How does a healthy kid who's active with sports and hiking from Minnesota all of a sudden just get sick out of the blue?" I asked baffled.

Lexie dropped the papers. "What did you just say?"

"How does a healthy kid get sick out of the blue?"

She shook her head. "No. Where did you say he was from?"

"Minnesota," I answered.

Her eyes lit up. "I think I know what may be wrong with him." She grabbed my scrub and pulled me to my feet. "Come on, we need to go and interview Mr. Rhodes again."

I had just enough time to grab my lab coat off the back of my chair and sprint after her. We made it over to his room, glad that we found him in there alone.

"Hi, Mr. Rhodes, how are you feeling?" Lexie asked.

"Terrible," he whined.

It had only been a couple of hours, but the poor guy did look worse then when we had interviewed him from this morning. He was still on his side, his hands covering his stomach.

"Mr. Rhodes, I have a couple more questions for you," Lexie said.

"Why can't I feel my legs?" he cried.

Lexie and I looked at each other. What I didn't expect was her face to light up like it was.

"Mr. Rhodes, you're from Minnesota, right?" Our patient nodded. "I also see here in the notes that you like to hike. Did you go hiking at all right around the same time you started to experience symptoms?"

Matthew's face scrunched up half from pain and half in thinking, and then he nodded. "Yeah, a couple of buddies of mine and I went backpacking and camped for a night in the woods."

She turned to me. "I think I know what is wrong with Mr. Rhodes. We just need to run one more test."

"Let's do it," I said.

"Mr. Rhodes, I am sorry, but I need one more sample of your blood. If what I think you have is what it is, you will be just fine."

He nodded eagerly. Lexie made quick work of going over to get another sample of his blood. I waited until she was done, before we both walked outside of his room. I followed behind as we rushed back down to the lab, requesting Marvin to do another panel. I promised him the next three box tickets with parking, but it had done the trick. He moved our request to the top, and we got the results within the hour.

As soon as Marvin handed us over the bloodwork, Lexie's face transformed looking up at me with that I knew it look on her face.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

"We just solved the case," she beamed.

"You solved this case," I corrected.

She shook her head. "I wouldn't have gotten there without you," she said.

We ran across the hospital, grabbing George along the way until we reached Owen's office. We handed him over all of our evidence and information. He reviewed everything over and agreed with our assessment. He handed it back so we could get started on the treatment.

Thirty minutes later all of the teams and other attendings were standing back in the atrium waiting for us to give them the information on how we solved the case.

"Team Sloan, go ahead," Owen said.

"I will allow Dr. Grey to summarize. After all, she was the one that was key to cracking this whole thing wide open," I said.

Lexie smiled at me and stepped forward. "The importance of this case was reviewing the background of our patient. He expressed symptoms headache, weakness, and seizures. Furthermore, after we met with Mr. Rhodes again, he was experiencing paralysis which was new. Mr. Rhodes is from Minnesota, active and loves to spend his time outdoors. Considering that it is September, Minnesota is known to have increased cases of tick bites. What Team Sloan concluded is that Mr. Rhodes was bitten by a tick that carried Powassan virus. I recently read an article that this virus is a tickborne flavivirus that is related to some mosquitoborne viruses such as West Nile virus. Because these kinds of ticks can be extremely small and hard to notice, Mr. Rhodes was likely bitten and never knew. Shortly after, his symptoms began which all fit in line with the Powassan virus."

"In order words, Mr. Rhodes will be just fine with proper treatment and antibiotics," George said.

There was some grunts and groans that my team had solved it and that it wasn't something far more entertaining then just being bitten by a tick. Owen shook each of our hands and concluded we won and the group broke up.

Derek, Meredith, Callie and a few others came over to congratulate us and tell us "well done." I smiled over at Lexie while many others came to speak to her about how she specifically figured it out, where she found the journal information, and how she was able to get the bloodwork back so quickly.

We locked eyes a couple of times, but I couldn't have been prouder of her and decided to let her enjoy the moment. I decided to stop by and check on our patient who was already doing better since the antibiotics had been administrated.

When the day was coming to a close, it was Lexie who had found me once she was changed back into her regular clothes, her message bag hanging on her hip.

"Dr. Sloan."

"Dr. Grey."

A knowing teasing glance passed between us. "Good work today."

She twisted her body left and right as if she wanted to twirl but kept her feet planted. "Thank you, Dr. Sloan."

I leaned forward against the nurse's station the only thing standing between us. "What can I do for you?" I asked.

"I thought it would be obvious," she said.

I licked my lips. "Oh. Enlighten me, if you would please."

She bit her lip. "Your pupils are dilated, and you are looking a little flushed. The quickening of the rise and fall of your chest tells me that you might even be battling a rapid heart rate," she said.

"Your diagnosis," my voice grated.

"I think you might be attracted to me."

I grinned and lowered my voice. "What's my treatment plan?"

"I think you should take me on a date. And look at that, somehow, we both just won a day off," she said slyly.

"Well, how can I say no to that."

She leaned forward. "You can't." She leaned back before I could reach for her. "See you later, Dr. Sloan."

She turned and left me watching after her.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed.