Meredith decided it was time to go back to work. She was now a month into her pregnancy. She had spent too long avoiding Derek and his hatred of her. It wasn't like she had seen him since she he stormed out of the house, but Mark told her all about his confrontations with him. Apparently there had been an actual fistfight, resulting in stitches and lots of packed ice for the both of them. Meredith took that as a sign that Mark was sticking up for her.

Izzy offered Meredith a ride, as she had refused one from Mark in his leather-lined car. She didn't want to make things between she and Derek any worse than they had to be. On the ride to Seattle Grace, Izzy chattered on about the complicated procedures they had been practicing.

The rain that pattered on the roof of the car was almost ominous as they pulled up to the busy hospital, but mostly it reminded Meredith of her first days as an intern, when it stormed nonstop. They got out of the car and ran towards the nearest entrance. Izzy's pager went off just as they got into the locker rooms, so she immediately got dressed and ran off. Meredith had some time to spare, as she didn't have any rounds, having not been at the hospital recently.

"Hey Mer, finally decided to face the patients?" Meredith turned around to see Alex smirking after her. "Or maybe you finally decided to face the baby daddy?"

"Actually," the stubborn female corrected, "Mark comes around all the time." She put her purse in her locker. "However I am avoiding Derek."

"Aren't we all?" George said as he walked into the room. "He's been an absolute nightmare in the operating room. He spends half his time asking about you, and the other half talking shit about Mark."

Meredith laughed. "I can totally imagining that, scalpels and everything. How's Richard?"

"You can catch up the gossip later," said a sassy voice from behind them. Miranda Bailey had a hand on her hip and an analytical expression on her face. "O'Malley with Dr. Montgomery and Karev with Dr. Sheppard."

"Great," muttered Alex as he grabbed his clipboard and walked towards the Neurology Department.

"And Grey," Bailey continued after an apologetic glance after Alex. "You've been specially requested by Dr. Sloan." The short doctor pursed her lips at Meredith. "But if I catch any funny business happening-"

"I assure that you wont, Dr. Bailey. I want to keep everything strictly professional." Clearly Bailey knew about the situation, as she made no effort to hide the disdain. Meredith realized that everyone probably knew from Derek, as it didn't seem like he was hiding his dislike for her.

"Mhmm." Bailey said with attitude before sauntering off, probably to express discontent to someone else.

With her clipboard and pager at hand, Meredith was ready to go. She stood up from the bench she was sitting on and stepped out the door and headed towards Plastics.

She was just about to ask where Mark was, when two hands covered her eyes from behind. "Dr. Sloan?" she asked with a smile, reaching up to grab the hands hindering her vision. As her hand wrapped around theirs, she realized that the hands were too small and dainty to be Mark's.

"I'm actually slightly offended you guessed McSteamy before me," said a cynical voice from behind her. Meredith turned around with a grin to see Cristina, whom she could tell wasn't really frustrated with her, but instead found the situation funny. "I'm actually on Sloan's service today too, I guess he didn't realize that I was continuing my work from yesterday."

Meredith gave Cristina a little hug. "I missed you these past days. How come you didn't visit me?" she asked with a pretend frown. Cristina didn't reply, but instead motioned with a nod of her head that McSteamy himself was walking towards them.

"Ah, Dr. Yang," Mark began in a sultry voice he used with most everyone, "You're actually on Dr. Webber's service today."

"But what about my patients?" Yang asked, concerned. Although you wouldn't tell from her distant persona, Yang actually got really attached to her patients, and didn't want to see them unhappy.

"Taken care of for the morning, but check up on them at noon and before you sleep tonight." Mark seemed insistent on only having Meredith on his service. Meredith wasn't surprised; he tended to do things alone.

"Of course, Dr. Sloan," Cristina walked away from Meredith and Mark, leaving them alone except for a few prying nurses down the hallway.

Mark reached his hand up as though to touch Meredith's cheek. Her eye's blazed as she slapped his hand down. "Mark, we are at work. Despite everything that's going on outside of this hospital, here things will stay strictly work related."

"Actually Meredith," said Mark as he reached his hand up again, despite her nonverbal protests, "I was getting this paper out of your hair." His hand went lightly through her hair and pulled out a piece of a tootsie roll wrapper. "You know we have a highly professional environment here at Seattle Grace." His hand fell from her hair to her face.

Meredith lightly tugged his hand away. The nurses were terrible gossips, and she didn't want anyone to think they were dating. "Yeah, like I said. We're at work." It was then when Meredith realized that they were standing so close that their bodies were a centimeter from touching. The energy pulsing between them was almost tangible. She stepped away. "So, uh, I think it's best if we stick to the patients."

Mark grinned to himself and shook his head. "Of course. First patient is in room 324b." He stepped back and let Meredith ahead of him. She walked forward, confidently finding her way to the room. She wondered what patient was inside, but was too prideful to ask.

As she stepped through the door, she heard Mark follow closely behind. She examined the room. It was empty, not even the bed was messed up. The whole room was pristine. "Mark?" she asked, turning around to see what was up.

Meredith saw Mark close the door, and she immediately was cynical. "What are you doing?" she asked, taking a small step back. It wasn't like she was scared of being alone with him, but she did think that Mark could do stuff with out thinking it through.

"Meredith, we may be at work, but that doesn't mean our lives just don't exist in here." He stepped forward and turned Meredith around so she was backed against the wall. Mark leaned forward so his lips were barely brushing her ear. "You know that you want this just as much as me," he said breathily. His voice was sultry and thick with lust.

Mark pulled back slightly so that their eyes were locking. Meredith still was pushed against the wall. She wasn't going to make a move, but she wasn't going to back away either. Mark leaned closer as slowly as possible, until his lips very lightly pressed against hers. He didn't want to push Meredith to do anything she didn't want to do.

Meredith closed her eyes as their lips met. She expected Mark to do something brasher, but it seemed that he really was just taking it slow. She didn't want to break her own promise not to get involved with Mark. However, she never anticipated this, chest to chest, face to face. After pulling away, Meredith looked into Mark's eyes, trying to detect any degree of insincerity. There was none.

In a moment of passion, their lips met. At first Meredith tried to take control, but Mark had been waiting so much longer for this. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tighter. Meredith pushed him forward until they were next to the bed, which was what Mark pushed her on to seconds later.

An hour later (most of the time was spent sitting around, talking and laughing) Meredith and Mark emerged from the room completely put together, with no sign of them being together.

Mark touched her cheek, just as he had this morning. Meredith swatted it down. "Like I've said," she said, a rosy glow in her cheeks. "We need to keep things professional."