Hey guys, sorry for the short delay in getting this up but i wrote it, deleted it, wrote it, re-wrote it and still not happy with it but what can you do. i know where i want the next chapter to go but i really struggled with this one and how to get there. Conversation is not the easiest thing for me to write but as i do more im hoping to get better with practice. any tips are greatly appreciated and taken into account.

So to all of you that reviewed and put this on story alert, thankyou. I wanted you to have something to show I havent given up on this story, I just ask that you don't give up on me. I'll make the next chapter worth it. Again any advise you have for me, please don't be afraid to give it, i won't fly off the handle :)

Disclaimer- *insert all the usual bollocks here*

Chapter 2

Walking into Joe's, Callie was 99.9% sure that she would find Mark slumped on a bar stool rather worse for wear. It was his turn for Sophia tonight and he had never previously been even a minute late. She had rung him several times but his phone went straight to voicemail. Something was up. And when something was wrong with Mark scotch became his friend. So she wasn't at all surprised to see him handing over his keys to Joe as she made a bee line towards them.

"Where the hell have you been Mark?" She asked him irately "I've been trying to call you for god knows how long! You're on babysitting duty tonight, Arizona and I were going out for dinner" Mark looked up from his glass and tried to focus on Callie; the only problem was that there seemed to be two of her. "It's not babysitting when it's your own kid. I'm not the nanny Torres, I'm the father."

"Joe, how long has he been here?" Callie asked the bartender with a sigh of resignation. So much for date night with Arizona. "since shift change, he hasn't spoken a word to anyone." Joe told her. "What? That was over 4 hours ago!" Callie exclaimed. Yeah something had seriously affected Mark today.

She picked her phone out of her bag and called home. "Hey babe, it's me…Yeah I found him, right where I said he'd be…No, he's in no fit state, I think we've got to cancel…I know, I know, me too. But I think I'd better stay with him. You're OK to stay with Sophia aren't you?…Thank you, I just can't leave him like this, he looks like he needs a friend…OK I'll call you later…love you too, bye"

After she hung up the phone she put it back in her handbag and sat on the barstool next to Mark. "So are you going to tell me what this is about? She glared straight at her best friend. "I don't want to talk about it Torres" he tried to put an end to the conversation but Callie wasn't one for letting things go. "Patient?" She queried. He shook his head. "Julia?" she asked surprised, she didn't really believe they could have had an argument, things had been going great between them: again a shake of the head. "Lexie" She sighed and rolled her eyes. There was no need to ask. It was always Lexie." You know, Avery…" Mark chuckled "…he ripped into me earlier, shouted at me in the elevator." Another chuckle "he reckons, you know, you've got to hear this one. He reckons I'm still in love with her" Mark laughed out loud now "I mean how crazy is that?"

"Joe?" Callie said turning towards the man in question "I'm going to nee-" She was cut off by Joe putting a vodka and tonic in front of her. "On the house" he told her "You're right you're definitely going to need a drink for this" She looked at him quizzically. "Hey, I'm a bartender, I know everything that goes on in here, which means I know everything that goes on in the hospital, yeah you doctors are kind of like my own personal soap opera" He gave her a wry smile and went to serve another customer, leaving her to face Mark and his denial alone.

"It's crazy right?" Mark continued, oblivious to anything else going on around him. "Mark, I'm not going to talk to you about this while you're drunk, we'll talk tomorrow when you're sober OK?" Her main goal now was to get him home in one piece and with Lexie on the brain she wasn't so sure it was achievable. "Come on, let's get you home" Mark didn't move. "No, I want another drink." he told her stubbornly. "Fine" Callie sighed "but just one more and then you're coming with me"

"And one for Dr. Shepard too" Callie told Joe, ordering the drinks, as Derek came into the bar and joined them. "Well thank you Dr Torres" Derek mocked the formality. He looked at Mark "what's up with you?"

"Oh he's just had a lot to drink" Callie told him. "Bad day" she added quickly, before Derek could ask further. "Yeah? Me too. I shouted at a nurse because I thought she was a racist, turns out she was staring because of my lack of knowledge about Zola's kitchen…or something." Callie laughed, glad to have something else to talk about " yeah her hair did look a little screwed up today" she admitted. "And you didn't say anything?" He asked her. She shrugged "you do your best, that's all anyone can ask. We're surgeons, we study hard, we know the theory but we have to learn on the job, it's the same with raising kids"

Just then, Mark gave a groan, pulling Callie back to the reason she was here in the first place. "Hey Derek, you couldn't do me a huge favour could you? She entreated. "What's that?" he inquired. "You couldn't help me get our best friend over here home could you, I'm just not sure I can get him up to his flat on my own." Callie put on her best begging face. "Sure, no problem" Derek replied, this was Mark, he'd got used to it over the years. "In fact, you know, it's probably just easier to get him to mine tonight and he can kip on the sofa" He added trying to be helpful. "Oh no, no, no. Baaaaad idea." Callie, waving her hands no and shaking her head vehemently, told him. Derek furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and took another look at Mark who appeared to have fallen asleep by this point. And then it clicked. "Oh! a Lexie day?" he asked. That's what he had named these days when Mark got drunk because of his sister-in-law. "Still, it is technically my turn…" Callie saw a plot forming in his mind. "What are you up to Shepard?" He looked guilty for a moment. "I was just thinking, that maybe…well we've been keeping them apart for a while now and it's clearly not having the desired effect so maybe…well pushing them together, making them talk, might be more beneficial and in a place where Jackson isn't going to appear…?" He looked questioningly at her, hoping she wouldn't find it too bad an idea.

"Jackson?" Mark had woken up. "Reckons I'm still in love with Lexie, delusional if you ask me! Hey Derek, when did you get here?" Derek gave him one of his sympathetic smiles "Time to go Mark" he stated picking his best friend up as Callie got his other arm. As they got to the car Mark turned to Callie "Fancy some sorbet Torres?" Callie looked at him shocked. "NO MARK!" She shouted at him offended "I have a wife and you have…way too many women problems right now. Besides it doesn't work, we both know that. It doesn't make you feel better, the only good thing that came out of that was Sofia. She was conceived by two people thinking about two different people!" "Well I'm not thinking about anyone anymore" Mark replied with a closed expression. "Well you have a girlfriend, so maybe you should be" Callie retorted. "Oh yeah, Julia…I should call her" Mark got his phone out but before he could dial his phone was pulled from his hand. "No you don't Mark, I'll keep that" Derek smiled at his friend. "I think your idea is best" Callie told Derek, taking him to one side. "I mean I like Julia but she doesn't deserve this, he needs to get to the truth before everyone gets seriously hurt" Derek nodded in agreement. "OK, I've got it from here though" he assured her. "you can go home" Callie sighed with relief. "Thanks Derek" She walked back to Mark. "I will talk to you tomorrow OK? Come find me and we'll talk" She promised and hugged him before going and getting in her car.

Getting Mark back to Derek's house wasn't as hard as he'd thought. Mark was definitely the sleepy drunk by now, so he pretty much did what he was told. Derek went to get some blankets and when he came back Mark was nowhere to be seen. Just as he began to panic he heard the toilet flush and made his way upstairs, just in time to stop Mark opening the door to the attic. "Whoa, what are you doing?" Derek hissed at his friend, trying not to wake anyone. "Going to bed" Mark yawned. "That's not where you sleep anymore Mark, remember?" he looked at his friend like he would a five year old. "Come on, seeing as you've made it upstairs, you may as well use one of the spare rooms. He herded Mark into the room opposite his and Meredith's and got him into the bed.

And that's how, the next morning after Meredith and Derek had already left, Lexie found herself walking out of the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel, and straight into a very toned, very bare, and very familiar chest.

I know theres not much in this chapter from Mark and im sorry, but as i was writing i decided i didnt want a drunk Mark revealing his feelings, he has to be aware when he does it, otherwise it wont count, and Callie can get him to talk and soon!