I'm surprised there are some Team Layla's out there. I never thought of that. Well, here ya go, some more heat. Enjoy!

I had to lay low around Mark for the next week or so. He was really freaked out about the O.R. situation and if I wanted to keep my friendship with him, and hopefully get it to escalate to more than friendship, I'd need to stay on his good side. So no more O.R. visits for me for a while.

But that's okay. I heard all I needed to. For instance, I know that he still hasn't caved into Torres' warnings. I know he's not comfortable with being the man with the girlfriend. I know I can get to him. That's what's important.

As I saw him reading a patient's chart by the nurses' station though, I knew it was time to get ballsy again. He took a sip of his coffee and I smiled when I noticed that some of the hot liquid had stuck to his upper lip. It's scary the way things line up like this, always. It's like God wanted me to do this.

"Hey Mark," I greeted happily as I approached him. He jumped at my sudden presence. He looked a little uncomfortable to be standing alone with me. I pouted inwardly. He sort of nodded his head in my direction. "Oh, you got some…" I didn't finish my sentence but instead I stood on the tips of my toes—something I probably didn't have to do with my height, but it gave me an excuse to put my hand on his shoulder—and slowly wiped away the left over coffee with my thumb. Mark stood froze under my touch.

I waited for him to say something, or to move, or…anything. But he didn't. He remained stock-still, staring at me with confusion and fear. So I did something very, very brave. I was astounded at my own audacity, to tell the truth. With my left hand still on his shoulder, I moved my right hand to his chest and delicately laid it against his muscles. Mark shivered slightly.

"Wow," I whispered. "You are so strong."

We stood in silence for several minutes. Neither of us moved. Mark was blinking at me, trying to clear his head. But the lust we both felt—because now I knew that he felt it too—held us there, not just unwilling to move, but unable to move. I heard someone clear their throat behind my back. For a moment I was afraid that it was Torres and I'd be punched in the face if I turn around. But the fact that I wasn't physically dragged away from Mark meant that it probably wasn't her.

It was Grey. Not Mark's Grey, the other one. The older one. They were sisters somehow, but I hadn't quite received the full story yet. My pager always goes off when the nurses are getting to the good parts. She looked uncomfortable; like she knew she had to say something but really didn't want to.

"Derek's looking for you," she finally said to Mark. "He's by the elevators." I had a feeling that she was lying to get him to go away. The elevators, conveniently enough, were no where near where we stood. Mark left eagerly. Grey didn't.

"Yes?" I asked with my authoritative voice.

"This is sort of new to me, but I feel like I should do this…because she's my sister. Lexie's my little sister and Mark's her boyfriend, so I feel like I should warn you to stay away from him…" Grey responded, rambling like she usually does.

I spent a quick minute decided how I should respond her to half-hearted warning. Should I be innocent and pretend not to know what she was talking about, or should I be the bitchy superior and tell her to mind her own business? I figured playing dumb would be a stupid option though, since everyone except for Mark could see what I was doing apparently. I made a mental note to tone it down a bit around others.

"Not that it's any of your business, Grey, but Mark Sloan is just a good friend of mine," I answered coolly. She blinked and rallied, sounding sincere about her fight.

"It is my business," she argued. "You're messing with my sister! I don't want to see her hurt, so just back off, okay?"

She had just about as much guts as I did. And from what the nurses told me, I thought she didn't really care about her sister. So maybe this wasn't so much 'I don't want to see her hurt' as 'I don't want to have to pick up the pieces'. But the way she was acting right now made me unsure, so I didn't comment.

"As much as you think you know everything Dr. Grey, there are still things you don't understand. So keep your nose out of them," I stated, pushing past her down the hallway. I almost walked right into Lexie Grey when I sharply turned the corner. She apologized, flustered. I ignored her and picked up the pace, half running down the hallway in search of an empty on-call room.

It took 5 full minutes to find one. By that time I had almost fallen apart. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me, but my encounter with the Grey sisters after shocking myself in front of Mark had done something. I needed time to think, to judge everyone's reactions and figure out what they meant. And I also needed to figure out why my stomach hurt so badly after seeing Lexie in the hallway, oblivious to my plans.

I started with Mark. He was surprised, of course, but so was I. Confused, but then again, so was I. And afraid. Of what? Of me? I hoped not. Maybe he was afraid of himself, afraid of what he might do. Maybe he just didn't know if he was strong enough. The fact that he didn't push me away and yell at me told me that my second guess was probably right. It looked like Mark was beginning to cave.

Next was Meredith Grey. She was harder to read than Mark was. I was told she was all dark and twisty and that she didn't really care about her sister. But the nurses never finished their story. Has that changed? Has she grown fond of having Lexie around? Or was she just threatening me to keep up appearances. So she could say that she had tried to stop me. Another possibility was that her fiancé had made her say something. He was best friends with Mark, wasn't he?

And little Lexie Grey, poor kid. She had no idea what was happening. It was, in a way, her fault. If Mark was beginning to cave towards me, that must have meant he was unhappy with the way things were. And if he was unhappy, wasn't it his girlfriend's job to change that? But she was still just a child. She dove in way over her head when she decided to go after the player, Mark Sloan.

But me? I had the experience. I could make Mark happy. And I planned to do just that. Although I still didn't know why my stomach felt sick.

Things should get more involved next chapter, I think. Keep up the awesome reviewing.