A/N: To make up for the lack of Slexie interaction in the last chapter, here you go...

The sound of his feet beating against the pavement echoed in Mark's ears as he ran after Lexie. He moved urgently, not fully understanding why he couldn't let this opportunity pass him by. Perhaps he knew that this was one of those choices that would define his life, or perhaps it was instinct, but either way, he just ran. He couldn't see her at first, but as he rounded the corner which led to the street, there she was crossing.

"Lexie!" He yelled, running across the street after her.

A car swerved to avoid hitting him and honked its horn.

"Are you crazy?" Lexie yelled at him, when he stepped onto the curb. "You could have been killed!"

"Would you have cared?" Mark asked, still slightly breathless from running.

"Of course I would have," Lexie said. Then, trying to qualify what she said, "In a general caring about my fellow humans kind of way."

Mark took a small comfort in the fact that she cared about his safety. "I need to talk to you."

"What, and you thought charging headfirst into traffic was the way to do it?" Lexie asked, still shaking.

Mark moved closer to her, touching her shoulder, his other hand hanging at his side, still holding the mistletoe. "You're trembling," he whispered.

Lexie jerked away. "I am fine, Dr. Sloan." Her words held no malice, but she was deliberately putting up the professional wall between them, irking Mark to no end.

"Mark," he said.

"What?"

"My name is Mark. I have seen you naked; I think it would be acceptable for you to call me by my first name."

Lexie shuddered at the mention of nudity, her mind teasing her with memories. "I don't think that is a good idea, Dr. Sloan," she said, adding emphasis to his name. "If we are going to remain professional then there have to be boundaries. We can't be calling each other by our first names, and you can't be chasing into traffic after me. There have to be limits. You said you wanted—"

"I know what I said," Mark cut it. "But I want to take it back."

"You can't do that," Lexie sputtered. "You said what you said. And when you said it—"

"Lexie," Mark said impatiently.

"What?"

"You're babbling," he said, as he pulled her close to him and lowered his head to hers. His lips moved gently across her own, as if they were asking permission to be there. If kisses had words, Lexie was certain that this kiss said: Please, forgive me.

When Mark pulled back, Lexie lifted her brown eyes to meet ice blue ones. "Why did you do that?"

Mark shrugged and held up the sprig of mistletoe in his hand. "'Tis the season?" He said with an impish grin.

Lexie chuckled, and then frowned. "Not fair," She said.

"What's not fair?" Mark asked as he kissed her again.

"I want to stay mad at you," she said against his lips.

"How's that working out for you?" Mark asked with a laugh.

Lexie grabbed the collar of his leather jacket and said, "It isn't," as she kissed him again.

Mark pulled her tight against his body, savoring the feel of her and trying to make up for the nights she hadn't been by his side. He marveled at the way she fit perfectly against him, and he promised himself he wouldn't be so stupid again.

"Just so you know," Mark said as he kissed the small spot under her ear, "I am done trying to stay away from you. So done."

"Me too," Lexie replied. "Does this mean that we can stop pretending that there isn't something going on here?"

Mark nodded. "Yeah, I would say so."

"Good."

"Come back to the hotel with me," Mark whispered to her.

"Okay," Lexie responded.

They separated, and Mark took her elbow and led her down the street. As they were walking, Lexie reached down and intertwined her fingers with his. Mark started in surprise, but then looked down at their joined hands and then back up to Lexie's eyes. She looked so beautiful when she looked at him like that. Mark squeezed her hand, and kept it inside his own. He had never been one for hand holding, but if it was Lexie's hand…well, that was different. Everything about this was different.

They didn't speak on the way, and they even remained quiet in the elevator on the way to his floor. But as they stayed silent, the anticipation between them grew. Lexie felt hot, and Mark could feel all his muscles tightening and becoming alert.

When they reached his floor, Mark led Lexie down the hall towards his room. When he opened the door with his keycard, Mark dropped Lexie's hand. Once he had the door open, Mark stepped inside.

He took off his coat, and said, "If you want, we could take this slow…"

"Mark?" Lexie said.

"Yeah?" He asked turning to face her, watching as she took off her coat.

She grinned at him, the corners of her mouth tilting up, "Shut up." She then walked forward and kissed him. She stood on her tiptoes to reach his height, and she pressed her body against his.

"You can't tell me to shut up," Mark said, when he came up for air. "I'm your—"

"My what?" Lexie asked with a laugh. She then pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "My attending? My teacher? My lover?" All the while she tormented him with kisses on the most sensitive parts of his jaw.

"Everything," Mark mumbled, and took control. His arms wrapped around Lexie like steel bands as he kissed her and opened her lips with his tongue. As his lips moved against hers, Mark slowly unbuttoned her shirt, savoring the fact that he was the one to do it this time. With each button he removed, his fingers caressed the newly revealed patch of skin.

But Lexie was no casual participant. She tugged his shirt from his pants, and practically pulled the buttons off in her quest to feel his skin. When both of their shirts had been removed, Mark moved Lexie over to the bed. When he lowered her to the mattress, he quickly followed her down, unwilling to let their bodies separate for even a moment.

Had you asked Lexie the day before if she had learned everything there was to know about sex, she would have answered in the affirmative. But that night, Mark showed her that she knew nothing at all. While the first time had been frenzied and passionate, this time was utterly different. It felt as though Mark was worshiping her. He was conveying with his body, the things he simply couldn't say with words. Lexie knew that Mark Sloan was a complicated man, but she was only just beginning to realize just how complicated his nature truly was. Every touch seemed to have a meaning, a thought, or an apology behind it. Lexie wondered if this was the only way he knew how to truly communicate.

She refused to let him think though that she felt any less for him than she did. Lexie gave equally to him, trying to get him to understand how much she had missed this; how much she had missed him.

When they had both found completion, Mark rolled off of her and pulled her into his arms so that she was practically lying on top of him.

"Lexie," he whispered, moving a piece of hair out of her eyes.

"Hmm?"

"About tomorrow…"

"What about it?" She mumbled into his chest.

"We are just going to have to act professional, is all," Mark said, kissing her head.

"Whatever," Lexie said as she moved closer to him. "Everyone is going to know anyway."

"No," Mark said forcefully. "Lexie, no one can know about this. We have to keep it out of work completely. You can't tell anyone."

Lexie's face started to crumple.

Mark frowned in surprise. What had he said?

Tears were filling Lexie's eyes as she looked at him. "What do you want to keep me a secret or something?"

Mark nodded.

Lexie started crying in earnest.

Mark stared at her, a loss as to what he had said. "What did I say?"

"You want to hide me?" Lexie said, her eyes filled with betrayal.

"Oh, Lexie," Mark said. "It's not like that at all. It's just that I am your attending, and you are still an intern, and I made this promise to Derek… It would just be better if no one knew about this."

Lexie's eyes had begun to fill with anger while he was talking. "You know what would be even better?" She asked as she got off of the bed and began looking for her clothing. "If there wasn't anything for them to know about in the first place!"

She grabbed her pants and shirt. "So I will make things simple, Dr. Sloan, there is nothing for people to find out about, because there is nothing going on between us!"

"Now Lexie," Mark said, as he got out of bed and pulled on his pants, "You are overreacting."

Lexie's face turned bright red. "Why I even thought this could work, I am sure I will never know!" She turned to go to the door, but Mark stopped her before he could open it. His hand was blocking her from turning the handle.

"Move," she said.

"No," he replied.

"Move your hand! I am leaving!"

"No, you're not," Mark evenly replied.

Lexie turned around to face him.

Big mistake.

His eyes were right there, staring directly into her own. She hated it when he looked at her like that. It made her knees turn to mush and her stomach do flip-flops.

Who was she kidding? She loved it when he looked at her like that.

"I don't know what I said," Mark began, "But I am not dumb enough at this relationship thing to let you walk out the door. Whatever I said, I am sorry and I want to fix it." Mark was about to continue on, but he saw that Lexie's eyes had already softened.

"Relationship?" Lexie whispered. "We are in a relationship?"

Mark's brow furrowed. "What the hell did you think was going on here?"

"I don't know," Lexie whispered. "But when you said that you wanted to keep it secret, I thought that you didn't…"

"Didn't what?"

"Didn't want me anymore," she finished. "That this was just an affair to you; something to pass the time."

"Oh, Lexie," he said, causing her to shiver. She loved the way he said her name. "Believe me when I say that this is so much more than that to me. I can't explain it; I am really not good at talking about this stuff, but it is more than that, okay?"

"Okay," she said, nodding. "But why do you want to keep it secret?"

"I think it would just be better for both of us. The last thing you want is for people to think you are like your sister."

"What do you mean?"

Mark shrugged. "What happened with her and Shepherd has defined her. A lot of people think she is where she is because of her mother and Derek. You are a very promising surgeon Lexie. I don't want that for you." Mark's eyes seemed to be asking hers to believe him.

"Okay, we will keep it to ourselves," Lexie said. "For now."

Mark kissed her forehead, relieved the crisis was averted.

"Oh," Lexie suddenly said, "But Sadie knows."

Mark rolled his eyes. "That crazy intern has been here for less than two weeks and I swear, she knows more gossip than I do."

Lexie laughed. "I didn't tell her; she guessed. I think she is good at reading people."

Mark silently agreed, glad that Sadie had told him where to find Lexie a few days ago. "Fine, crazy intern knows. But no one else, okay?"

"M'kay," Lexie said, raising her face for a kiss which Mark happily gave her.

"Now, can we go back to bed please?" Mark asked with a grin.

"Sure," Lexie said with a coy smile, "But you're going to have to undress me again."

"Now that I can do," growled Mark. He picked Lexie up and carried her over to the bed, while Lexie was shrieking with laughter the whole time.

***

Lexie had a smile on her face when she went into work the next day. She was trying to control it, but as soon as she thought that she had mastered herself, some image of the previous night would come to mind and she would be smiling all over again. Last night, Lexie had seen the playful side of Mark Sloan. He seemed to have just as much fun horsing around as he did having sex, and Lexie was beginning to suspect that this was not only new territory for her alone.

"There you are," Sadie said, coming up next to Lexie.

Lexie beamed at her.

Sadie chuckled. "Nice night?"

Lexie nodded, unable to say more.

"Well, you are going to love me when you find out what I have accomplished," Sadie said.

"What's that?" Lexie said, looking down at the chart in her hands as she spoke.

Sadie opened her mouth to speak, but a loud voice distracted them both.

"Three!" Christina yelled, coming towards her.

"You can thank me later," Sadie murmured.

Lexie suddenly got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, "Sadie, what did you do?" She hissed, but Sadie was already walking away with a smiled on her face.

Lexie turned to Christina, "What can I do for you Dr. Yang?"

"You are assigned to Plastics until further notice," Christina said, grabbing the cardio patient's chart out of Lexie's hands.

"What? No, I don't… Um, can we talk about this?" Lexie asked anxiously.

"No," Christina said. "Now go!"

"Going," Lexie muttered.

Lexie's head was whirling at she started looking for Mark. How was she supposed to work with him when all she wanted to do was kiss him and rip off his clothes? This was bad, very bad.

It didn't take long for Lexie to find Mark. He was standing talking to Derek in the Neuro wing. Lexie bit her lip, and began to walk over to him.

Derek smiled at her as he walked away, and Lexie shuffled up to Mark.

He didn't look at her, but a smile quirked at his lips. "Go away."

"Why?" Lexie asked with a grin.

"Cause I can't think when you are near. Also because you snuck out and left me to wake up to a cold bed this morning."

Lexie smiled. "I had doctoring to do. Rounds started at five this morning. Some of us were doing real work while others slept in."

Mark smiled to himself. "Just getting my beauty sleep, Dr. Grey."

"Like you need it, Dr. Sloan," Lexie replied.

"So what are you doing here?" Mark asked.

Lexie bit her lip again. "Well, um… you know how we talked about not working together because it might complicate things?"

"Yeah," Mark said, looking at her.

"Well, we are gonna have to eighty-six that plan."

"Why?"

"Because I have been assigned to Plastics."

"For the day?"

"Um, sort of indefinitely." Lexie gave him an uneasy smile.

"This isn't going to work," Mark muttered.

"Why is that?" Lexie asked.

"Because I can't focus on medicine when you are around," he groaned. "How did this happen?"

"Well," Lexie said, "Hypothetically, there was this intern who was missing an appendix…"

Mark groaned.

"And hypothetically, she wanted to help out a friend by doing them a favor. This intern might have, without asking, gone to her friend's resident who hated her and told that same resident that a certain intern hated Plastics."

"Why would this intern without an appendix have done that?" Mark asked, struggling to stay serious.

"Well, hypothetically, because she knew that this resident wanted to make a certain intern's life miserable for her role in keeping that same resident from the solo surgery, and that she was certain to give the previously mentioned friend a permanent Plastics rotation."

Mark grimaced, but then paused and said, "Wait, do you hate plastics?"

Lexie shook her head. "No, not at all. I find your reconstructions fascinating."

"Then why—"

"All part of a certain intern's diabolical plan," Lexie pertly replied.

"Remind me to make Sadie's life miserable the next time she is assigned to me."

"Dr. Sloan!"

"What now?" Mark muttered, turning.

"I would like to scrub in on your surgery today," Dr. Bailey said, giving him a rare smile.

"I am in hell," Mark muttered to himself, only loud enough so that Lexie could hear him.

Lexie coughed to cover her laugh.

"Something wrong, Dr. Grey?" Bailey asked.

"No, Dr. Bailey," Lexie said. "What about you Dr. Sloan? You look like you are coming down with something."

Mark narrowed his eyes as Lexie flashed him an innocent smile.

This was going to be fun, Lexie thought.

A/N: Review Please!!!