Author's Notes: Couldn't leave you hanging for too long! here's the conclusion to this particular cheesy holiday romance! Hope that you've enjoyed. There may or may not be a more adult celebration of New Year's Eve in store as a standalone - let me know if you're interested in reading it! :)

Zola woke everyone up early the next morning, eager to go downstairs and unwrap the gifts under the tree. While everyone seemed in good spirits as they watched Zola tear through the packages, there was a lingering tension between Mark and Lexie that hadn't been present in the days prior.

Lexie smiled as she opened her gift from him – it was an ornament from the café that she'd dragged him into for hot cocoa. It was a perfect porcelain representation of the cocoa that they had indulged in together. She looked up to thank him and saw him staring at her gift, his thumb running over the framed picture. She'd snuck away and printed a picture of them and Zola and Bailey at the Christmas carnival. He met her eyes and gave her a soft, but pinched smile, before turning his attention back to Zola, who was still excitedly unwrapping gifts.

Once everyone had opened their gifts, Mark offered to start on breakfast for everyone and Derek had offered his help as well. As Derek stood up, Meredith grabbed him and murmured, "Will you please imbue Mark with some holiday spirit and let Lexie explain herself?"

"Yeah, what's up with them?"

Meredith shook her head. "There was a misunderstanding at the party. Long story. Just tell your best friend to get his head out of his ass, please."

Breakfast was a subdued affair between the adults, but luckily Zola didn't seem to notice at all. She tugged on Meredith and Derek's hands after they were all done eating, insisting that they come and play with her and her new toys. Derek, Meredith, Bailey, and Zola all went into the family room, leaving Lexie and Mark to clean up in the kitchen.

Lexie allowed for a few minutes of silence between the two of them before she sighed and leaned back against the counter next to the sink, where she had been drying as Mark washed. "Are we going to talk about this, Mark?"

"Didn't think there was anything to talk about, Lexie. Figured you'd want to get this done with quickly so you could spend the rest of the day with Jackson," Mark said tersely, staying focused on washing the dishes.

Lexie shook her head and reached across Mark, turning off the tap. "I'm not spending the rest of the day with Jackson. I want to spend the rest of the day with you. You saw me kiss Jackson last night, but clearly you didn't stick around to see me push him away and tell him that I've moved on. Tell him that he's a great guy, but he's just not the guy for me anymore."

That finally got Mark to look up at her. "Really?"

"Yes, really! And if you had given me a chance to explain last night, we could have avoided this whole thing." She sighed, cautiously stepping closer to him. He'd dried off his hands and he'd turned, his hip resting against the counter now, so he was facing her. "Jackson isn't who I wanted to be kissing under the mistletoe last night."

Mark's cocky, familiar grin started to appear. "Who did you want to be kissing under the mistletoe, Lexie Grey?"

She smirked and shook her head, taking another step forward. She poked him in the chest. "You, Mark Sloan. But you seemed to want to yell at me instead."

He sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lexie. I jumped to conclusions and I didn't let you explain yourself. I was just so excited to tell you what I'd been talking about with Owen and then I saw you kissing him…my heart just sank."

"Your heart?" Lexie asked, her eyes shining with hope.

Mark's hands reached out and settled on Lexie's hips, drawing her closer. "Yeah. My heart. It has a pretty vested interest in being in Seattle in about 6 months. Once a certain surgeon passes her boards and signs on for a fellowship here."

"Hmm, well my heart is pretty excited at the notion of getting to work with a new head of plastic surgery here in Seattle in about six months." Her fingers curled in Mark's shirt, as she tilted her head up at him. "And Boston isn't so far away from New York in the meantime," she murmured.

"No, it's not," he replied, finally lowering his head to brush his lips against hers.

Unlike last night, the second that Mark's lips met hers, Lexie felt her heart skip a beat. Even though the kiss was fairly chaste, she could tell that he was a good kisser, but it was more than that. This kiss…it felt like coming home. It just felt right. Lexie grinned against his lips and lifted her arms, resting her elbows on his shoulders and wrapping her arms around his neck to urge him closer to her.

When they broke apart, Mark was smiling down at her. "You've definitely converted me. On Christmas and on Seattle. I get it now."

Lexie grinned and leaned in for another kiss. "I knew that you'd come around."