Pleasant Surprises

Chapter 14

Well Happy New Year guys! I hope that this New Year brings all of you much joy, love and happiness. It's going to be a very busy year for me but I will continue to write…write…write since it is my stress reliever! I might not be able to update weekly (hopefully I will) but if I don't, don't be too mad, I will try to make every chapter worthwhile.

So now onto the story: Last off Meredith and Mark had had their first official big fight face to face at Joe's leaving a bewildered and confused Mark behind. Oh yeah and did I mention he was pretty pissed of himself! Those two I tell ya, they are so stubborn but so right for each other. At least in my story…and oh yeah, Andrew, what to do with him and what role to give him?

Thanks a lot for all of you that reviewed chapter 13. It was an important chapter (at least in my mind) and I was a little nervous about it but hopefully it came out to your liking. Remember guys I live off of feedback so please, please, please, let me know your thoughts.

Happy Reading!

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Mark walked back to the table where Andrew was sitting and put his drink down rather loudly – causing the liquid to swirl in the bottle almost spilling some. ."Here you go." He said, nonchalantly, knowing full well that the scene he just made with Meredith was going to be questioned by his friend and not knowing exactly how Andrew would react when he told her who she was. He had known that Meredith was going to present some resistance after last's night phone call but never did he think that she would challenge him, get up from her chair, meet his eyes in defiance and then walk away from him. Walk away from him! He was the one that walked away from people. This was just unreal! She walked away from him and he couldn't wrap his mind around that but now – to add on to that – he had to deal with Andrew and his questions. This day was going straight to hell. It had started off bad and now it was going to end badly as well, seriously, was there any relief for him? By far this had to be the worst day of his life.

"What was that all about?" came Andrew's quick question confirming to Mark what he had suspected. "It seemed pretty intense over there." He started. He had no idea who the young woman that Mark was talking to was but one thing was for sure they had something going on and they were right in the middle of a big quarrel because he had never seen his friend this upset over anyone – not even Addison. He was not going to wonder what was going on, he would ask him and Mark would answer him. That's why he came. He knew that Mark needed him. Derek had decided to go out on his own and find himself; that was fine but Mark, Mark needed help and that had been one of the main reasons why he had decided to come to Seattle.

"It was nothing." Mark tried. He knew he would not get too far but he would try nonetheless. He just was not ready to discuss his feelings for Meredith with other people. They would not understand and he really didn't understand it himself so why talk about it? He first needed to know what he was feeling and then see where it took him.

"I don't think that was nothing." Andrew stated. "You have issues with the woman you were talking to. Who is she?" he asked again.

"Dr. Grey." He said, begrudgingly. He was going to have to bite the bullet and tell Andrew what was going on – even if he wasn't ready.

"Dr. Grey." Andrew said, instantly feeling a bit of worry and trying to pinpoint why. "Why does that name sound familiar?" he questioned Mark and then his eyes got large as he remembered without Mark having to tell him. "Oh wow Mark. You are unbelievable. Really, this is Derek's Meredith? The intern he fell in love with? Please tell me I'm wrong." Andrew said, his voice betraying his frustration and disappointment.

"You're wrong." Mark repeated as he raised his eyebrows and sat down. "Feel better?" Mark questioned as he laid his head on the table. "Andrew I am so fucked, so fucked." He finalized as he groaned out loud and looked at his friend from the corner of his eye.

Andrew was in awe. Seriously! What was going on with his two good friends? Why were they in competition with each other but more importantly why did they fall for the same women? "Dude…please tell me that this is just another one of your crazy ideas. Please tell me that what I saw at the bar was not you finally falling hard for someone because you can't have that woman Mark, you can't." Andrew pleaded. "You have never fallen hard for anyone but from what I gathered a while ago, you feel for this woman and you can't." Andrew stated, reasonably. But he knew just by looking at Mark's face that it was to no avail. Mark had fallen for this woman and he didn't even recognize it himself.

Mark needed to come clean and he was going to come clean with Andrew. He needed someone else's opinion that was not his own or Meredith's. "It all started innocent enough." Mark started. "I was trying to be a good friend to Derek. Meredith was dating Derek and a vet…and I just went to her room after her appendectomy – I swear just to check on her, she had made me laugh right before the surgery, she was so high…we called each other dirty mistresses and I asked her how she felt and she told me that she had been promoted to resident whore, she made me laugh and that is so rare – so I went to her room just to tell her that I thought Derek loved her and she was so vulnerable and so open to me that I was mesmerized." Mark said. He didn't even know if Andrew followed his jumbled thoughts. He didn't even think they came out coherently but he was so mixed up inside he didn't care at this point.

"You should have stopped talking to her then." Andrew interjected. He did get what Mark was trying to tell him but he just couldn't understand why he kept at it. He should have walked away. Andrew understood falling for the wrong woman but he also understood that sometimes it was better to walk away from a situation, especially if you feel for the wrong woman twice and those two women belonged to the same man – your best friend.

"You think I don't know that. Even Derek warned me but I swear to you Andrew, I swear that I did not know that I was going to be taken in by her. It just happened. I confess with Addison it was more meditated than this. I wanted her and I chose to have her thinking that we would not be together more than once. It was just a wrong decision and a wrong choice but with Meredith. It's just different. She makes me laugh, she makes me want to be genuine; she makes me hate the fact that I have to lie to her. Me…" Mark said, looking into Andrew's eyes pleading to his friend to help him understand… "The guy that lies to women for sport…I can't do it with her and when I finally did last night it killed me." He confessed. "I felt so bad I had to make this damn scene today. I had never lied to her and she came to me with her inner most thoughts and how do I repay her? I lied to her. I have to tell her that I lied." Mark said, suddenly attempting to get up from his chair but immediately being stopped by Andrew.

Andrew looked at Mark for a few seconds -- in awe – after he sat him back down and finally exclaimed: "You are telling me that you and Addison were not real. You tell it to me like it did not cost you your best friend. It cost you everything! And now you tell me that it was a mistake; that you thought it would only happen once. What it just got out of control? Help me understand this Mark because I don't get it." Andrew said. "I would think that you losing your best friend over Addison would at least make her worth it and now you're telling me that she's not and that you are going after the other woman that you best friend fell for? Wow." Andrew said, truly perplexed.

Mark closed his eyes and opened them looking at Andrew intently, seeing if he would be able to explain this to him: "I thought I loved Addison when I made love to her the first time and realized that I wanted her in my life that's why I stayed with her. And you're right it did cost me my best friend and I will regret that till the day I die but Addison and I were not meant to be and I found out too late. Now that I have the opportunity to be with her if I so chose, I don't want her and it kills me. It kills me but what am I supposed to do? Huh? What? I think that I sabotaged that relationship because it was choking me. I was feeling claustrophobic. I cheated on Addison to get her to leave me. I know I cheat on everyone but Andrew if I truly loved someone would I cheat…probably not."

"And you want this new girl? Dr. Grey?" Andrew questioned, almost afraid to know the answer to that.

"Yes." Mark said, as he groaned out loud and took a swig of the bottle. "And I can't have her because one…" He said, rising up a finger from his left hand… "She loves Derek and two…" he continued rising up another finger… "Derek loves her." Mark finished with a nod of his head and another swig of the bottle.

"So you are going to what? Make the ultimate sacrifice? Not tell her how you feel and just walk away from whatever it is your feeling? That's pretty noble of you." He pointed out and before Mark could say anything he continued: "It's not who you are Mark. You are selfish and you want what you want. So tell me can you really walk away from her because do not tell me that she has not become a challenge to you?"

"I have to walk away from her." Mark retorted. "It's not a question of not wanting to walk away; it's something that I have to do. Andrew I ruin everyone that I come in contact with – men or women. It's like I'm poison and I can't do that to her. I'd rather her hate me now and not get hurt by my actions or at least not get more hurt than she has already been."

Andrew looked at him intently. "Do you really believe that Mark? You believe that you are poison? Have you ever thought that maybe because you think you're poison you internalize that feeling and that's where your defenses come from? That's why you treat people the way you do. That's why you push people away and the people that refuse to leave you, because they care about you, you make them leave by hurting them…like you did to Derek and how you did to Addison."

Mark looked at his friend and smiled. "What are you Dr. Phil?" he said, finally attempting to joke. It was a mechanism that he had. He would joke about something so it wouldn't be that painful. But the truth was that this was more than painful – it was killing him. For the first time in his life he was at a loss as to what to do. Meredith had become important to him but Derek had been his only family for so long and he wanted their relationship back.

"I'm not kidding Mark." Andrew pointed out, as he grabbed his arm. "You are not poison and you deserve to be happy. Just because you're life has been fucked up and you have fucked up other people's lives does not mean that you are not entitled to be happy. You are finally recognizing that life is not pretty and sometimes you have to make some sacrifices."

Mark finally voiced out what he had been afraid to voice: "What if Meredith is who makes me happy? What if Meredith is the one?" he asked.

"How did she leave things with Derek?" Andrew questioned. It wasn't that he was shifting sides – at least not yet. He just wanted to know the relationship that Derek has with Meredith.

"He left without saying goodbye. She was devastated. I made her laugh, played a few games of UNO with her and somehow things stemmed from there."

"He didn't say goodbye?" Andrew asked curiosity getting the best of him.

"Yep." Mark answered.

"Why?"

"Couldn't tell ya." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "I am the last person that he talks to these days."

"Wow." Andrew said and lifted his glass. "Cheers." He said, as Mark and he clanked glass against bottle. "It's going to be interesting living here for a while."

"That it will be my friend…" Mark acknowledged and took another swig of his bottle.

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