A/N I was really pleasantly surprised by the reaction I got to this fic. Definitely encourages me to continue it.
Talking
It was finally morning and Mark had spent the entire night with his grandson while Sloane slept. Samantha Riley was coming to pick Sloane up in about twenty minutes and Mark wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to see her. He wasn't a coward, but he knew that Samantha probably didn't want to see him either. Calling her last night had been difficult enough for Mark. He always tried to avoid awkward moments and having to call a woman who hadn't seen in nineteen years was definitely awkward. She had missed her daughter so Mark didn't have too hard of a time talking her into coming to Seattle to get Sloane. Not that he didn't want her staying with him, but he knew that Sloane wanted to get as far away from her son as possible so she did not get attached to him.
Lexie had heard the big news from Meredith after Derek told her and Lexie had wanted to go congratulate Mark as soon as she rounded on patients. She wasn't sure if he would want to see her. After all he had moved on with Teddy Altman. With her patients rounded on and the charts returned to the nurses station, Lexie headed to the nursery. When she reached the window, she saw Mark cradling the baby in his arms as he settled himself into one of the chairs. Lexie had to admit that he looked good holding a baby. Then again, Mark Sloan could look good doing anything. Lexie wondered where Teddy was and why she wasn't sitting with Mark and the baby. Taking a deep breath, Lexie opened the door.
Mark looked up when he heard the door open and when he saw it was Lexie, his smile fell off of his lips. He was still so angry at her for sleeping with Alex. In his mind, she was not supposed to want to sleep with anyone else so soon after they had broken up.
"Hi." Lexie whispered nervously. She wasn't sure if Mark would talk to her so she had decided to speak first. Maybe he wouldn't even want her in the nursery while he was in there visiting his grandson. Mark knew that he couldn't just keep being mean to Lexie. He needed to be a grown up about this. Plus there was the fact that he was still in love with her.
"Hi Lex." Mark greeted her quietly. Lexie was thrilled that he had addressed her by one of her nicknames that he had used for her when they were together. She walked over to him and sat down on one of the other chairs that was close to him.
"So I hear Sloane gave the baby to you." Lexie commented. She knew Mark had wanted this and for that reason, she was happy for him. He had finally gotten what he wanted.
"The family wasn't as amazing as she initially thought." Mark informed Lexie with a slight nod of his head. It was not Lexie's business why Sloane had changed her mind.
"Meredith said that the mom's dad molested her." Lexie told Mark. Mark's smile turned into a frown. He could not believe that Meredith was passing that along. That was a very personal matter and Mark had hoped that Derek and Meredith could keep it between them.
"I always knew Meredith was chatty." Mark muttered darkly.
"Mark, don't be angry with her. I asked why Sloane changed her mind and she told me." Lexie told him. She did not want Mark to be angry with her sister. Mark knew that he could not blame Meredith or Lexie for being curious what had caused Sloane to change her mind.
"I'm not Lex." Mark promised her. Lexie was glad to hear that Mark wasn't angry with her sister. It wouldn't be right for Mark to be angry with Meredith.
"That's good, because she did not intend any harm when she told me what had happened." Lexie told Mark, nibbling nervously on her lower lip. God Mark thought she looked sexy when she nibbled her bottom lip. He hated that Lexie was someone else's woman to kiss and touch. He hated losing yet another woman to Alex Karev. He still loved her and he had never stopped loving her. He had managed not to think about her when he was in LA, but on the flight home, she was the only one he thought of. He wanted to build a life and start a family with Lexie and Lexie only. No other woman was the right one for him. Not Addison or Teddy. He wanted Lexie.
"Lex, I'm still in love with you." Mark finally told her as he adjusted the hold he had on his grandson so he wouldn't drop the baby. Lexie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Mark was finally confessing to her that he was still in love with her? What about Teddy? And Lexie still had Alex. She was taken. She had a boyfriend. As much as it pained her, she whispered,
"I have a boyfriend Mark."
"You could have a family with me." Mark whispered back, his voice low and on the verge of desperate. Mark didn't do desperate, but he could not lose Lexie. He knew that without her he would go back to the self destructive manwhore ways that he had begin before he started dating Teddy. Lexie realized that he must have called it quits with Teddy and she was elated, but there was still the Alex factor.
"I'm sorry Mark, I can't…I just can't." Lexie whispered apologetically as she stood up and hurried out of the nursery. It wasn't that she didn't want Mark, she did, but she wasn't sure that she was ready to be a parent to a baby that wasn't theirs together. Once she was out of the nursery, she let the tears fall down her cheeks. She knew that Mark would be hurt by her rejection and Lexie hated hurting someone she loved. Mark had watched her leave the nursery and once the door shut behind her, Mark looked down at his grandson and sighed.
"I guess it's just you and me kiddo." Mark commented shakily. Mark was still scared that he couldn't handle single parenting, but he was determined to get this right. He needed to redeem himself in his eyes for the way he had handled Samantha's news nineteen years ago.
Lexie was still upset as she walked down the hallway. She knew that she had to get ready to scrub in on Dr. Altman's repair of a ruptured aorta so she made her way to the elevator. She knew that she desperately had to pull herself together before she got to Dr. Altman. She couldn't let anyone know that she was upset. She walked right past Sloane Riley's room and she heard the teenager call her name.
"Lexie, Lexie?"
Lexie knew that she would not be able to avoid going into Sloane's room. She had definitely not planned on seeing the girl again. Lexie always tried not to be rude even to people she did not like so, she turned on her heel and walked into Sloane's hospital room.
"What do you need?" Lexie asked, figuring that slipping into doctor mode was the best way to handle the awkwardness that she was feeling.
"You to tell me why you are crying." Sloane replied.
"It's nothing Sloane. When are you getting out of here?" Lexie asked. She was trying to change the subject and she hoped that Sloane would let her. She guessed that Sloane was leaving that day because she had street clothes on.
"Mom's coming to get me. She'll be here in a few minutes. Now tell me why you look like a blubbering mess?" Sloane answered rather quickly. She would not let Lexie change the subject that easily. Lexie was panicking. She did not want to be in the room when Samantha Riley arrived in her daughter's room. That would just take the awkwardness factor to new levels.
"I think I just broke your dad's heart." Lexie finally replied, knowing that she couldn't keep this to herself. Of course confiding in Sloane Riley hadn't been in her plans.
"I messed it up for both of you and I am sorry for that." Sloane replied quietly.
"No you didn't. It was me. I couldn't understand why he chose you over me." Lexie confessed.
"He should have chose you. I am just a stupid slut who let a guy have her way too quickly and wasn't careful." Sloane whispered.
"If you hadn't come here, you would be saddled with a baby that you admit you aren't ready for. At least this way your dad gets what he wanted." Lexie pointed out.
"But if I hadn't come at all, he would still have what he wanted…You." Sloane argued.
"We will be okay Sloane." Lexie assured the young woman.
"I'm the one who caused you two to break up. I should be the one to fix it." Sloane insisted.
"Sloane, you are eighteen. Enjoy getting your life back and don't worry about your dad and I." Lexie insisted.
"Will you get back together?" Sloane asked. Despite the age difference between her dad and Lexie, Sloane knew that her dad would need help with the baby and she wanted him to turn to Lexie for that help. Sloane Riley had turned Mark's world completely on it's head on Thanksgiving and Sloane wanted Mark's world to right itself. To her, that included reconciling with Lexie.
"I can't answer that yet Sloane." Lexie told her honestly. She had a lot of things to consider before she could even think those thoughts.
"Don't let the baby be the reason you two can't work things out with my dad." Sloane insisted. She knew that was Lexie's primary reason and she really didn't want it to be. Sloane may have just met her dad six months ago, but she still wanted him to be happy. With Lexie he had been happy.
"I uh, should probably go." Lexie told Sloane nervously inching her way to the door. She needed to leave before Samantha arrived.
"Don't let my mother intimidate you." Sloane told Lexie. Really Samantha Riley was not an intimidating woman.
"No really I have to go. I have to operate on a woman's heart." Lexie insisted. She was thanking her lucky stars for Dr. Altman right now.
"Good luck then." Sloane told Lexie. Lexie nodded before she hurried out of the room. When she was all the way down by the elevators waiting for it to come back up, she saw a tall blonde woman enter Sloane's room. Lexie couldn't help but be curious about her. Not enough to go back down to Sloane's room though. She got on the elevator and rode down to the cardiac ICU where Teddy was waiting for her.
Mark was still holding his grandson in the nursery and he figured he ought to go say goodbye to his daughter before she left with her mother to go home to Boston. Mark knew that Samantha was likely there by now, but his desire to say goodbye to his daughter overrode any anxiety he had over reuniting with the woman with whom he shared a daughter with. He put the baby in his bed and then stood up and walked out of the nursery. Her door was open when he reached her hospital room so he just went right in. The first person he saw was a tall slender woman with green eyes. He knew this was Samantha. Despite them having only a quick fling nineteen years ago, he knew it was Samantha instantly.
"Hello." Mark greeted her. He wasn't really sure what the rules were on this sort of thing. Before Samantha could respond, Sloane came out of the bathroom. She saw that her dad had come and she was happy to see that.
"Hello Mark." Samantha replied calmly. She had written him out of her life a long time ago and she had no issues with him anymore.
"Mom, I'm all ready." Sloane commented. Samantha smiled at her daughter, knowing that they were both excited and happy to be returning home together.
"I'd like to keep in touch with her, if that's okay with you?" Mark questioned as he looked at Samantha. He figured in this case, that was the polite thing to do since Samantha had been their daughter's sole caregiver for eighteen years.
"She's an adult. It's up to her." Samantha told Mark. Mark turned to Sloane and waited for her response.
"Yeah I'd like that. Just don't mention the baby." Sloane told her father. Sloane knew that it would be difficult for her to hear about her son.
"I think I can do that." Mark told her. Mark knew that hearing about her son would be difficult so in order to have a relationship with her, Mark would refrain from mentioning the baby.
"Okay, let's get out of here." Sloane commented impatiently. Mark went and let an orderly know that they were ready. Once Sloane and her mother were in Samantha's car and driving away, Mark decided to go back up to the nursery to sit with his grandson. He was grateful for Callie and Derek who were busily turning his apartment into baby land while he was here sorting everything out. He knew that no one would ever compare to Lexie and Mark vowed to do whatever he could to get her to dump Alex and return to him. Lexie belonged with him and he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her.