CHAPTER SEVEN

..

Making it through her residency was no small feat, a miracle she owes to Mark and her photographic memory.

Mostly Mark.

She dons the dark blue scrubs for the first time proudly, marvelling the accomplishment.

"How's Seattle Grace Mercy West's newest neurosurgical fellow?" Mark asks, his voice deeper than usual, which only ever means one thing.

"How many times did you practise that tongue twister?" She inquires, intent on ignoring the suggestive look on his face.

He shrugs. "A few. You busy?"

His hands are already wandering and she chuckles.

"Yes. It's my first day," she says as she pulls away reluctantly. "I need to focus."

He looks pitiful, and she rolls her eyes. "I get off at nine," she says, her tone mirroring his, and he doesn't miss the double entendre.

"Yes you will."

..

Being a fellow isn't what she had envisioned when she started her residency.

As a naïve and hopeful intern she had assumed that she would spend her time as a fellow doing ground breaking surgeries.

Instead, she mostly performs Derek's routine procedures, while he pursues the more noteworthy cases, and she prefers it, really.

It means she gets to schedule her already decreased hours to her own preferences, and that she rarely gets called into work in the middle of the night.

It's the reason she chose Seattle Grace over other fellowships, even though Mark was more than happy to move.

It's perfect, and she wouldn't change a thing.

..

Finding out she's pregnant is far different from the first time. She knows how Mark will react. While they haven't been actively trying, they haven't exactly been diligent in preventing pregnancy.

After deciding that they'll have more kids at some point, forgetting a condom now and again doesn't seem like such a big deal.

It's a good surprise, and she knows this, which is why he can tell something's different the moment she walks through the door – she can't control herself.

"What's going on?" He asks suspiciously, and she shakes her head.

"Nothing. I just got you something really good for your birthday," she smiles, and his eyes narrow.

"So I have to wait a week, while dealing with this giddy version of you who can't wait to give it to me," he confirms, and she nods haphazardly.

"Happy birthday," she teases, and he scoffs. "Do I need to make it up to you?" She asks, stepping closer. "Because Paige is with Derek and Meredith tonight."

"You should have lead with that," he informs her, wasting no time in lifting her into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist automatically.

..

He is pathetic.

She thinks it's an amusing change from when he used to call her that.

"I'm old," he moans, and she rolls her eyes, straddling him.

"You're not," she counters, pressing a lingering kiss to his lips.

They have this argument far too often, and she thinks he only starts it half the time to get her to assure him he's as young and virile as he likes to think he is.

"You're distinguished," she tells him. She has a rotation of adjectives that she uses so as not to repeat the exact same conversation too many times.

Of course this time, she has news that will make him drop the conversation instantaneously.

"We're having a baby," she whispers in his ear, before kissing him again, and when she pulls away, he seems frozen in shock.

"Mark?"

But then it sinks in, apparently, and he's grinning.

"You're pregnant?" He verifies, and she nods.

He kisses her desperately, unable to keep the smile off his face for longer than a moment for it to be anything other than messy.

"Wow."

"Mmm," she hums in agreement.

"When did you find out?"

"A week ago," she replies, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face.

His hands go to her hips.

"You were right. Best present ever."

"You haven't seen what Paige got you yet," she reminds him, and the ridiculously huge smile is back.

"I don't care if I'm old; this is the best birthday ever."

..

"Lexie's pregnant!"

"Mark!"

Derek and Meredith laugh at them, as Mark avoids the glare he knows is on his wife's face.

"We said we were going to wait until after the first trimester to tell everyone."

"It's Derek and Meredith," he says, as if this explains everything.

"Congratulations," Meredith cuts in, hugging her sister, as Cristina appears behind her.

"For what?"

"Lexie's pregnant!"

"Mark!"

"Again?" Cristina queries, and Meredith elbows her in the ribs.

"What? She was just pregnant, like…"

"Paige just turned four," Lexie supplies, rolling her eyes.

"What's going on?"

It's Alex now, and Mark knows the look on Lexie's face too well, but apparently his mouth is faster than his brain.

"Lexie's pregnant."

He says it quickly, as if he could say it fast enough that she might miss it.

"I hate you," she returns, just as fast, before leaving.

"Hormones," Meredith offers as an excuse, and Mark grins. He didn't see much of hormonal Lexie the last time.

..

He finds her in the locker room, staring into her locker aimlessly.

"I'm sorry," he says, approaching her when she refuses to turn to him, merely scoffing disbelievingly.

"I'm excited, okay? I get to do this this time around, and I'm excited."

"I'm glad you're excited. I just, I wanted a little more time before the whole hospital knew."

"The whole hospital doesn't know," he denies, and she laughs.

"They do. But it's okay," she says resolutely.

He snakes his arms around her, resting them on her stomach.

"It's pretty great, actually."

"Yeah, it is."

..

While it's nice to have him so excited and protective over her, it gets old, fast.

He makes an annoying habit of monitoring her schedule, and consequently Derek or Nelson mysteriously end up performing any surgery that takes longer than six hours.

It's when Derek is paged to an emergent patient, and Nelson is off duty that she ends up in the OR for an extended period of time, and she isn't even surprised when Mark barges in and suggests she take a break.

"I'm fine," she complains. She doesn't even look up from the patient, simply waiting for him to realise he's being ridiculous and leave.

"Lexie," his tone is warning, and she rolls her eyes, stepping away from the table and following him into the scrub room. She knows he isn't going to back down, and she isn't about to fight with him in the middle of a procedure.

"You haven't eaten for six hours," he tells her, holding up a banana.

"I've been in surgery," she reminds him, incredulous. "I'll be out in less than an hour, and I'll get something to eat then."

He's already peeling the banana, an annoyingly self-righteous smirk on his lips when she concedes, taking a bite.

"You can never be too careful," he says, as she makes a show of eating as quickly as possible.

"You are the definition of too careful. I can do my job."

"I know you can. Go kick ass."

She can't help but soften at his words, and the way he kisses her quickly before she readjusts her mask.

He might be overbearing, and he might treat her like she's incapable of looking after herself, but he does it out of love, and she can deal with that.

..

He's coddling her, and he knows it.

But she's pregnant, and he's here, and yes, maybe he's overcompensating for missing it all the first time, but he's going to do everything right, this time around.

It's her day off, and he tried not to wake her when he got up, but it was futile – she's a light sleeper.

"I'll go get Paige ready for day care," he says, getting out of bed.

"What the hell?" She demands, grabbing his arm, and effectively stilling his movements.

"I'm going to get Paige ready for day care," he repeats, and she chuckles sarcastically.

"No. No. You have got to be kidding me. I'm having the day off; I'm not going to the hospital. But you are not taking Paige to day care when I can spend the day with her."

"You've had a busy week, you need to rest," he says, and she tightens her grip.

"You need to relax. I'm barely nineteen weeks. We'll be fine. I rented every Disney movie on the planet that we don't already own; we won't leave the apartment."

"Fine," he concedes, convinced. "But you need to stay off your feet."

"You're being overprotective!" She calls after him as he heads into the shower and he pokes his head out of the door.

"Only because I love you."

..

He isn't exactly thrilled to come home to an empty apartment.

Petrified, would be the precise emotion, because she said she wasn't leaving, and she's not here and neither is Paige.

He has his phone in his hand, ready to dial 911 when the door opens, and Paige bounds through in front of Lexie.

"Where've you been?" He demands, and Lexie frowns, confused.

"We ducked out to get ice cream," she explains slowly, holding the bag up.

"We got mint chocolate chip and rocky road for you, daddy," Paige informs him proudly.

"You said you weren't going to leave the apartment."

"We drove two minutes down the road to the store, what is your problem?" She asks, defensive.

He pauses to take a deep breath, because he's this close to screaming, and it wouldn't be good for anyone.

"I was worried, okay?" he presses out, and Lexie knows him, knows the look on his face, and she softens.

"I'm sorry," she kisses him gently, resting her hands on his cheeks. "I should have told you where we were going, but we were only gone twenty minutes, and I didn't think you'd be home so early."

"I missed you," he whispers, embarrassed, and she smiles.

"Did you miss me, daddy?" Paige asks, jumping up and down from her position beside them.

"I missed you the most, princess," he tells her, lifting her into his arms so she's level with Lexie.

"You want to watch The Little Mermaid with us?" Lexie offers. "We couldn't watch it without ice cream," she explains, and he laughs when he sees Paige nod emphatically in agreement.

"Absolutely."

..

They learn to compromise, slowly.

He manages to reign in his overprotectiveness, provided she makes sure she eats properly and doesn't push herself too hard at work, and she agrees to make sure she spends her days off at home.

He is there for everything, every tiny doctor's visit; he watches her take every prenatal vitamin.

She pretends to find it suffocating, but it's kind of nice.

..

They're happy, so ridiculously happy in fact; that she knows something is bound to go wrong.

It's Sunday, and they're up early because Paige wants pancakes, and refuses to eat anything else on weekends. Lexie's ginning at Mark's failed attempts to flip them, and Paige giggles blatantly.

"Mommy does it better!" she declares, and Mark looks horrified.

"You don't want my pancakes, princess?" He asks, upset, as he slaps a pancake on her plate that is burnt on one side and uncooked on the other.

"Ew," Paige laughs, and Lexie takes the pan from Mark's hands.

"I do it for a reason, Mark," she tells him playfully, and he shakes his head.

"This is what I get, trying to do something nice for my girls."

"Yep. Why don't you do get Paige dressed, and I'll fix this mess," she suggests teasingly.

"Alrighty, baby girl. What are we wearing today?"

..

If they make it to work on time it will be a small miracle.

They're in such a rush that Mark is carrying Paige, even though she "wants to walk, Daddy".

"Sorry, Paigey, but we're running a bit too late for that."

"'Cause you messed up the pancakes?" She asks, and Mark laughs.

"Yeah, because I messed up the pancakes," he concedes, and Lexie lets out a throaty laugh.

"So you're admitting this is your fault?"

"No," he answers quickly. "We both know why we're running late, and it has nothing to do with this morning, and a lot to do with last night."

Lexie blushes at the thought, because, okay, she's in her second trimester, and she's actually able to enjoy the benefits of being ridiculously horny this time around.

As soon as they enter the building Paige is begging to walk.

"I wanna hold mommy's hand," she pleads, and Mark puts her down, caving.

"Yay," she squeals, grabbing Lexie's hand in one and Mark's in the other as they slow the pace down out of necessity.

"Lexie!"

She doesn't recognise the voice, so it clearly isn't someone she works with, which explains why they would be wanting to talk to her when she's so clearly running late.

She looks over her shoulder to check who it is while still moving, but stops dead in her tracks when she sees him.

"Scott."

..