19 weeks

"You paged me." Lexie walked up the hospital front desk.

"There is someone here to see you." The receptionist pointed the person out.

"Thank you." Lexie smiled and walked over. "Can I help you? Mrs Shepherd?" She realised who it was.

"Hello Lexie." Mrs Shepherd smiled at her. "I heard congratulations were in order."

"Thank you."

"Do you know if it is a boy or a girl?"

"We find out next week." Lexie replied. "They obviously paged the wrong person I know Dr Shepherd is in surgery but I'll go and find Meredith for you."

"They didn't page the wrong person it is you I'm here to see."

"Me?" Lexie questioned.

"If you have a moment I'd like to talk to you about Mark."

"You flew all this way to talk to me?" Lexie was flabbergasted, her pager went off. "I'm sorry I have to go."

"What time do you finish I'll make dinner and we can talk later?"

"Five. I finish at five."

"Then I'll make dinner for seven. Do you like spaghetti?"

"I'm allergic to eggs."

"I'll make it egg free. You should go. I'll see you this evening."

It took Lexie 45 minutes to find Meredith.

"We have a problem." Lexie announced.

"You didn't kill my patient did you?"

"No it's worse. Mrs Shepherd is here."

"Derek's mother is here in Seattle?" Meredith questioned.

"She's making egg free spaghetti for dinner at 7."

"What is she doing here?"

"She wants to talk to me about Mark."

"I need to find Derek." Meredith started to walk away.

"He's in surgery." Lexie called after her. "I need candy."

Meredith was waiting for Derek when he got out of surgery.

"Hey." He smiled at her.

"Did you know that your mother was coming?"

"What?"

"Did you know that your mother was coming?" Meredith repeated.

"My mother is in Seattle?"

"She's making dinner for seven o'clock."

"Did she say why she was here?" Derek asked.

"I didn't see her. She spoke to Lexie she's here to talk to her about Mark."

"I need to talk to Mark." Derek started to walk away.

"The house is a mess." Meredith told him.

Derek found Mark scrubbing for surgery.

"You called my mother?"

"I was meaning to tell you she was going to be arriving today." Mark continued

"A heads up would have been nice before she arrived and freaked out Meredith and Lexie. Why is she here anyway?"

"She's known me my whole life I thought she could talk to Lexie and convince her I'm not such a bad guy."

"Good luck with that." Derek said with a hint of sarcasm. "How long is she staying?"

"She's leaving tomorrow afternoon; I got her a hotel room."

"I hope this doesn't backfire."

Mrs Shepherd was stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce and Lexie was setting the table when Mark walked in.

"Hey." He kissed Lexie. "Hey Mrs Shepherd, I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up at the airport."

"It's ok Mark." She gave him a hug.

"Excuse me." Lexie disappeared from the room.

"You didn't tell anyone I was coming did you?" Mrs Shepherd asked.

"I was getting around to it." Mark admitted.

"Mark." She shook her head.

"This smells great. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Drain the pasta. Derek and Meredith should be here in a few minutes."

Mark was putting the bread rolls and on the salad on the table when they arrived.

"Hi Mom, you should have told me you were coming." Derek hugged her.

"It was a last minute decision. Meredith, it is nice to see you again."

"You too Mrs Shepherd. This looks great."

"Take a seat. It's ready."

"Where is Lexie?" Meredith asked.

"Here." Lexie slipped into her seat.

They were all enjoying their food when Mark noticed Lexie rubbing her stomach.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm just not used to it moving yet."

"It?" Mrs Shepherd questioned.

"I thought I'd wait until next week to use the appropriate pronoun." Lexie explained. "And it will resolve their bet."

"You know about that?" Mark tried to gauge how much trouble was in.

"The rest the interns have a pool about the day the baby is due."

"The residents are in on that too." Meredith admitted.

"And the attendings."

"Give it a few weeks and it will get stronger. When I was pregnant with Derek I had to sleep sitting in a chair because every time I lay down he'd kick and hiccup for four hours straight." Mrs Shepherd told her.

"Give her a minute and pull out the baby pictures." Mark whispered to Lexie.

"I didn't bring the baby picture this trip; I did bring the picture of the time both decided to shave your heads."

"They don't need to see that mother." Derek insisted.

Meredith and Lexie looked at each other. "We do."

When dinner was over Mrs Shepherd stood up.

"Why don't we leave the boys to clean up?" She suggested. "Lexie why don't we go out onto the porch and talk."

"I need to get a sweater."

"Meredith why don't you join us?"

"Ok?" Meredith hesitantly agreed.

Mark got up from the couch and started pacing.

"Would you sit down? You're driving me crazy." Derek pleaded.

"They've been out there for two hours."

"You're the one who flew her out here to talk to Lexie." Derek reminded him.

Mark turned around when the door opened Meredith walked in.

"They need a few more minutes."

"So how much blackmail material do you have?" Derek inquired.

"Not nearly as much as when you give me Kathleen's email address."

"Don't do it." Mark warned. "She has the pictures."

It was fifteen minutes before Lexie came inside another ten before Mark was driving Mrs Shepherd to the hotel.

"So?" Mark prompted.

"She's a lovely girl and perfect for you."

"That much I know. Do you have any suggestions as to how I prove I'm not going anywhere?"

"Start acting like it."

"Excuse me?"

"You've been here for a while now and you still live in a hotel. If you want to prove to her you are ready to settle down here, start putting down roots."

"So I should buy a condo?" Mark guessed.

"Children need space to play. Try a house I know you can afford it."

"Buy a house that is an idea I can work with. Thank you."

"You can thank me by not cheating on this one. I like her."

"I promise."

A few days later Mark found Derek at the nurses' station.

"What are you doing after work?" Mark inquired.

"Did you want to get a drink or something?"

"I need your help with something."

"Is this your latest attempt to win over Lexie?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Derek agreed.

"So we're all going to Joe's after work." Meredith came over.

"Mark and I have plans after work."

"And what are you boys up to?" She asked.

"We're going to the driving range." Mark answered quickly.

"Ok, if playing golf sounds better than drinking copious amounts of alcohol, I have a patient I need to check on. I'll see you later."

"We're not really playing golf are we?" Derek turned back to Mark.

"No, I need your opinion on..." He didn't finish she sentence.

"Dr Sloan."

"Dr Grey." He turned to look at Lexie. "How are you today?"

"Planning on raiding your closet because I'm officially out of clothes that fit and don't have time to shop for more since something moved last night and I look like I swallowed a rapidly inflating beach ball other than that I'm fine thanks for asking."

"Help yourself."

"Do you have time to look at a patient for me?"

"Sure. I'll talk to you later." He added to Derek before following her.

"So what exactly are we doing?" Derek asked as Mark drove out the hospital parking lot.

"Going to meet my realtor."

"Realtor? You're buying a house?"

"I'm buying Lexie the perfect house." He corrected.

"Was this Mom's idea?"

"She was right I live in a hotel room and Lexie lives in your attic it is no place to raise a kid. It's time to start putting down roots."

It took another ten minutes before they pulled up outside a house. They got out and met a woman who was walking down the driveway.

"Dr Sloan? I'm Madeline Abbott, we spoke on the phone." She shook Mark's hand. "And you are?"

"Dr Shepherd."

"Let's try and find you both your dream house."

"I have a house, he's trying to find a house that will convince his pregnant girlfriend that he's not going to skip town. I'm just here for a second opinion."

TBC