A/N: So, fair warning, this is not canon-compliant. There are a few major changes I'm making.

Change 1: Everyone has better communication. Everyone
Change 2: Henry lives
Change 3: Teddy doesn't hate Owen, because her husband didn't die
Change 4: Because of the aforementioned improved communication, Cristina and Owen are able to actually work out their issues. It's a rocky road, but they're at least able to talk.

Clarification on the timeline: Meredith and Derek have Zola, Henry is not dead, and Mark and Julia have broken up. Otherwise, this is taking place around mid-season 8. At Christmas. Because why not. Canon events will therefore be shuffled, poked, prodded, and otherwise manipulated to fit as necessary.

Christmas in the ER, always a good time, Lexie sighed to herself. There were days when she loved being a doctor, loved seeing the gratitude on people's faces and exploring the challenges of the human body. There were days when she staggered back to Meredith's house tired but happy, thrilled that once again she had managed to make one small step towards achieving a medical miracle.

This was not one of those days.

Jackson was refusing to talk to her normally anymore, Mark hadn't spoken to her in ages, and she didn't even know how she felt about any of it. She didn't want to be a grandmother, but that didn't mean she didn't want Mark. She liked Jackson, and he'd obviously felt something for her, but it wasn't enough to keep him around when he said she still loved Mark. It was undeniable that she couldn't stop thinking about Mark Sloan in ways that went far beyond his looks... All together, it was an absolutely untenable situation.

Add that to the sheer chaos of the ER in December, and Lexie was tired, overworked, and wanted nothing more than a drama-free day.

"I have a plan!"

And then she was cornered by April Kepner on a decorating streak.

"What is it?" Lexie asked, deciding that this was her life this year.

"I'm thinking we should go with less garish decorations this year," April explained, holding a clipboard with several official-looking documents on it. "Put the focus on greenery and lights. Maybe some red bows for contrast?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Lexie said with a shrug.

April beamed at her. "Great!" Seemingly from nowhere, she produced an armful of green plants and shoved them into Lexie's arms.

"What is this?"

"I'm designating you my official decorator today," April explained happily.

"Doesn't the hospital literally pay people to do this sort of thing?" Lexie asked, wishing she had tried a little harder to get on Derek's service today.

"Well, yes," April admitted, "but I want to spice it up a little this year! More lights, tasteful greenery, mistletoe -"

"Oh, no," Lexis interrupted her. "You cannot put up mistletoe in this hospital." She noticed a nurse staring at her from across the hall and hastily lowered her voice. "Do you know the sorts of things that take place in those on-call rooms?"

April tried to smile, looking slightly uncomfortable. "We're all professionals here, though..." Her voice trailed off halfway through the last word, as if she wasn't even convincing herself of that fact.

"Really?" Lexie arched an eyebrow. "Do you even know how many residents sleep with attendings here?" Not waiting for an answer, she shifted the bundle of mistletoe and started counting on her fingers. "Meredith, Cristina, me, Callie -"

"Okay, okay," April groaned. "You made your point." She took the plants back from Lexie. "No mistletoe."

"Thank you," Lexie said, relieved, just as her pager went off. "Sorry, got to go," she called over her shoulder as she jogged down the hall, almost running into Mark who was leaning on the desk talking to Jackson about something – probably sex, from the way Jackson was looking around uncomfortably.

"Hey," Mark called after her, sounding vaguely annoyed.

"Sorry!" Lexie shouted over her shoulder. She reached the elevator and stepped inside, Callie and Arizona joining her with Sofia.

The baby was cute, Lexie admitted, but that didn't mean she wanted to raise one. Especially not as a grandmother. Whoa, where did that come from? She shook her head slightly to clear the thought. This thing with Mark really had her in a bind, and Zola coming to live with Meredith and Derek for good had only amped it up.

"Got something good, Little Grey?" Callie's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Probably," Lexie answered. "Webber paged me."

Callie whistled. "Have fun."

Lexie smiled as she got off the elevator. Why does Richard Webber want to talk to me? She couldn't think of any reason, except that, according to Meredith, Richard could meddle sometimes. I've had quite enough meddling in my life, lately, she thought firmly to herself, entering the conference room where Richard was waiting.

"Lexie!" he said happily. "Did you see Kepner on your way up here?"

"Yes," Lexie said uncertainly. "She was holding a bunch of mistletoe and decorations."

"Perfect," Richard said. "We're decorating for Christmas, and I was wondering if you wanted to help."

"Decorating? Me?" Lexie asked. "I mean, you know it's probably not a good idea to pull me off the ER right now, and we definitely don't need to put up mistletoe in the halls."

Richard held up a hand. "Say no more. Kepner and I can get it done." He paused as Lexie turned to go. "You should consider, Dr. Grey, having a bit more holiday spirit."

Before Lexie could respond, her pager went off again. ER 911. "Sorry, Dr. Webber, I have to go," she blurted so fast her sentence sounded like all one word, and then she was out the door and running.

There was no time to think about Christmas decorations or holiday spirit as Lexie ran down the halls, her shoes pounding against the tile. She burst into the ER to see a car? van? florist's van sitting halfway inside the doors. What the hell? Lexie thought to herself as she threw on a trauma gown.

Cristina was on the floor a few feet away, Owen beside her. "Are you okay?" he asked, Cristina nodding. "Are you sure?"

"I – I'm alright," Cristina said. "Go help the driver."

Owen briefly checked the man's pulse, muttered a diagnosis to himself, and then pointed at Lexie. "Page Teddy!" he shouted, "and grab a crash cart!"

"Hey, what're you doing in here?"

Lexie looked up. "Oh, hi, Mark," she said quietly.

He leaned against the door of the on-call room. "Heard you worked on the guy who drove his van through the ER."

"I paged Teddy," Lexie corrected him. "Cristina and Owen took over from there."

"Ah, well, we can't all be heroes."

Lexie looked up at him from the bed she was sitting on. "Why are you being nice to me?" she demanded.

Mark arched an eyebrow. "Can't a guy be nice to his –" Ex. The word hung silently between them in the air. "Anyway. Can't a guy be nice?"

"You're dating Julia," Lexie said, the words feeling uncharacteristically bitter in her mouth.

Mark shrugged. "Not, uh, not anymore." He held up his hands. "Wasn't me, I swear. We just didn't work."

Lexie laughed, feeling more hollow than before. "I know all about not working out." She paused and then looked up with Mark. "Not you, I don't mean – Jackson. We called it off, too."

"That explains it then." Mark nodded to himself. "Kid's been tense as an intern all week."

"He was the one to break it off." Lexie kept talking, not sure why she was baring her soul to Mark Sloan of all people. "He said he – he couldn't be with me when I was..." she trailed off.

Silence hung between them like a wet blanket. Lexie stared at the floor, wishing she could just talk to Mark, say what needed to be said, maybe confess what she had been thinking about for weeks now. She could feel Mark's eyes on her as she sat there, hoping desperately for something to break the tension.

"Who's idea was it to put mistletoe in the on-call room?" Mark asked.

The tension immediately tripled.

Kepner. Or it might have been Webber, Lexie honestly didn't know. Not that she cared, but pondering whose monumentally dumb idea it had been to hang mistletoe here of all places kept her mind off Mark and the fact that he was standing there and they were talking and he was smiling at her and walking towards her.

He was walking towards her.

"This seat taken?" Mark asked, sitting on the opposite end of the bed.

"No," Lexie answered quietly.

"So, I know you never wanted to be a grandmother, and I didn't get that at the time, and, well, I'm sorry about that," Mark began. "But Sloan's with her mom now. I do have a baby that I parent sometimes, but mostly she's raised by her moms. So, I really only have her a third of the time, all things considered."

Lexie stared at him. "Why are you telling me this?"

Mark rubbed the back of his neck almost shyly. "'Cause I need to either let you go or get back together with you," he confessed. "And so far the letting go hasn't been working the way I'd like it to."

Lexie smiled. "You know this will prove Jackson right," she teased him. "He told me I was still in love with you."

Mark moved closer to her on the bed. "Are you?"

She looked him in the eye for the first time since he'd come into the room. "Yeah, I think I am," she whispered breathlessly.

Mark nodded at the mistletoe tacked to the ceiling. "Well, you know what they say about Christmas tradition." Standing, he took her hand and pulled her up until they were standing under the sprig of greenery. "Guess you have to kiss me now."

Lexie raised an eyebrow. "Or you have to kiss me."

Mark leaned in, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "I prefer to think of it as a privilege, not an obligation," he whispered just before their lips met.