Heeey! Your reviews are making me giddy. I loved everyone's theories on the last chapter and can't wait to see your thoughts on this one. Thanks for all the support!

"Can you page Dr. Hunt to Mrs. Sheldon's room? Her husband has some questions about the surgery?" She asked the nurse sitting at the desk, as she handed her the chart.

A second later, Meredith appeared at her side.

"What happened to you last night?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Lexie answered.

"You were barely heard from all night, and you were gone before Derek and I left this morning."

"I just wanted to get a jump on things." She began walking down the hall, Meredith quickly matching her pace. "Did Haley get to the daycare okay?"

"Yeah. Derek and I dropped her off this morning. We were going to send her in with Mark, but he was gone early too." Meredith slowly connected the dots. "Did something happen with you two?"

Lexie scoffed. "No."

"Lexie." Meredith looked at her determined.

"Fine. Come here." She sighed, pulling Meredith into a nearby supply closet.

"What is going on?"

"I made and uh-oh." Lexie said.

"An uh-oh?" Meredith repeated. "Oh, my God, you didn't. You slept with Mark?"

"Shhhh!"

"Don't shush me Lexie. I thought you guys were just going to talk."

"We were." Lexie defended herself. "And then at some point, actions began to speak louder than words."

"What happened?" Meredith asked, clearly concerned.

"I honestly couldn't tell you. Everything happened so fast, that it was kind of a blur, you know?" Lexie covered her face with her hands. "I screwed up, Mer. I screwed up so bad."

"Maybe not." She tried to console her. "You love him, right? So maybe it's okay. Maybe you get a free pass on this one."

"Are you joking?" Lexie looked at the floor. "He is not going to let this go. He is going to fight harder now and I can't get pulled back in."

"Pulled back in..." Meredith fished.

"To his life!" She threw her hands in the air to make a point.

"Lexie...is that really such a bad place to be?" She looked at her little sister. "Hmm?"

"No." Lexie bit her bottom lip. "But it hurts like hell when I get pushed out."

"Come here." Meredith pulled Lexie into a hug. "You're gonna get through this...you pathetic, train wreck of a child."

"Shut up." Lexie laughed.

After her surgery with Owen, Lexie grabbed a coffee from the coffee cart and took her charts to a quiet on-call room on the third floor. She liked the quiet part of her day filled with paperwork. It was her way to relax and unwind without actually having to leave work and join her pathetic life at home. She put on her iPod and sipped at her coffee while she jotted her post-op notes. She became so lost in the music that she didn't even here the door open.

"Hey." Mark said, to an oblivious Lexie, who was bobbing her head with the music. "Lexie." He tried again. He found her so cute when she listened to music.

He walked over a lightly tapped her shoulder, causing her to nearly ump out of her skin.

"Mark." She said, pulling out one of her earbuds. "Sorry, um...here, you can have the room."

She grabbed her charts and tried to make her way to the door. Mark, however, had other ideas.

"Are we going to talk about last night?" He asked her. She didn't even look at him. "Last night was-"

"Stupid." She cut him off. "It was stupid and reckless and we shouldn't have let ourselves get carried away. We should have shown more self-control."

"What was so stupid about it?" He seemed baffled. "I love you. You love me. All we did was make love."

"I don't wanna keep doing this."

"What?"

"This!" She gestured between them. "Arguing about what's wrong or right or acceptable. I am trying so hard to keep my composure and not fall apart in front of you. I can't think straight when it comes to you."

"Talk to me, then. What is it?" He sat on a bed across from her.

"I can't." Lexie looked at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. "I start to talk to you and then I get lost in you. You kiss me and then things get complicated and messy. I just want to save myself the aggravation."

"Lexie-"

"I love you." She blurted out. "And I can't stop. I don't know how. I can't make myself learn to stop loving you."

"Baby." He took her hand in his. "I don't want you to learn to stop loving me. My heart couldn't take it."

"But I can't just forget everything." Lexie told him. "At what point do the benefits start to outweigh the shortcomings?"

"At the point where you let me make i up to you."

"Don't you ever get tired of trying? Tired of fighting?" She asked, shaking her head.

"Not for you." Mark smiled. "I'd give my life for you."

"Mark-"

"No. I'm serious." He told her. "I want you to understand what I am saying here."

Lexie's pager began to beep.

"I have to go." She told him. "Hunt is paging me 911."

"Lexie, we have to talk."

"No." She told him. "I have to work, and so do you. So let's do that and just worry about the rest later."

"When is later?" He said, exasperated.

"I don't know, Mark. I don't know."

"Lexie, please." She closed the door behind her before he could finish, causing Mark to hit the wall in frustration.

Meanwhile, Lexie walked to Mrs. Sheldon's room to do her mandatory post-op workup.

"Hello." She greeted her patient with a smile. "How are you feeling, Mrs. Sheldon."

"Oh, please, dear. Call me Cindy." She smiled back. "I feel sore."

"That's to be expected." Lexie pulled out her stethoscope and listened to her breathing. "Are you keeping down clear fluids?"

"Yes." Cindy responded.

"Great. And no bleeding from the incision?"

"No. Doug has been taking good care of me since you brought me back down." She giggled, as she grabbed her husband's hand.

"Well, everything looks good." Lexie told her as she jotted some notes in her chart. "I am going to have Dr. Hunt come in after a while and take a second look, but I think you might be out of here in no time."

"Oh, thank you so much, sweetheart."

"You're so welcome."

Lexie walked out to the nurses' station and handed the chart over the desk.

"Can you have Dr. Hunt paged for Mrs. Sheldon?"

"Emergency?" The nurse asked.

"No. Just a post-op workup, so she can be discharged soon. I think she could be cleared, but I need the attending's approval." Lexie explained.

"Okay, I will let him know."

"Okay, great. Then I am heading out for the night."

"Have a good night, Dr. Grey." The nurse smiled.

Lexie walked down to the daycare where her little girl sat on the floor, building with blocks.

"Hey, monkey." She greeted, causing Haley to turn around.

"Mommy!" Haley ran directly to Lexie, locking her arms around her neck.

"Did you have fun?" She asked her smiling daughter.

"Mm-hm" Haley said. "I saw Daddy."

"Did you?"

"I like him." She told her, before laying her head on her mother's shoulder.

"I know, baby." Lexie rubbed circles on Haley's back as she took her to the car.

Walking through the parking lot, Lexie heard a voice behind her.

"Lex, wait. Let me help you." Mark tried.

"I've got it." She said, without turning around, Haley was now fast asleep on her shoulder.

"You can't unlock your door with your bags and a little girls in your arms." He pointed out.

"Mark, I said I have it." She protested. "I can handle it. I have been doing it for months."

"You didn't have to be."

Lexie slowly placed Haley in the car, cautious as to not wake her up. She buckled her in and lightly closed the car door, before responding to Mark's last comment.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked. "That I somehow asked for this?"

"Lexie, you didn't have to leave." He told her, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And you didn't have to call your ex-intern and ask her to come to Seattle, either, so I guess we're even." She said, attempting to get in the car.

"Damn it." He sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "I was upset and I did something stupid. I regret it, Lex. I truely do."

"Unfortunately, stupid seems to be happening pretty often for us." She looked at the ground. "Look, I don't want to fight about this. You and I screwed up last night. We are supposed to be taking time apart, to clear our heads, and having sex with you just made things alot more foggy."

"What do you mean?"

"I am so confused, Mark." She laughed in exasperation. "I had finally found some solid ground and then you happened, last night, and now I can barely think straight."

Mark moved closer to her. "Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Love, I mean."

Lexie nervously chuckled before finding her footing again. "No. I have to be definitive in my decision. No." She brushed her hair from her face with a look of determination.

"Lex." He placed his hand on her wrist and pulled her closer.

"Stop." She said weakly. "I can't..."

"Shhhh" He whispered, before kissing her softly.

After the kiss broke, Lexie's eyes remained closed for a minute as Mark looked at her with amusement.

"That is not..." She said slowly.

"What?" Mark whispered, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I...umm...what?" Lexie said, confused. "Sorry. I lost my train of thought."

Mark just laughed at her. Haley began to stir in the car, causing Lexie to turn around before turning back to Mark.

"I have to get her home." She said, with a small smile.

"Okay." He whispered, lightly stroking her cheek. "Can I call you, so we can talk about some things?"

"Ummm...okay." Lexie paused. "Yeah...um...call me tomorrow."

"Drive safe."

"Yeah." She told him, trying to shake off everything that he had just done to her.

Lexie was doing everything she could to be strong, but Mark was the kind of guy who could knock her over with a feather and she felt herself beginning to lose her resistance.

"Oh, no." She muttered as she drove home. "What am I getting myself into?"

I hope you guys enjoyed this installment. I am trying to take it a little slow, instead of just throwing them back together. Anyway, review please, and leave any thoughts on what you might like to see next in the story. Love you all. Peace, Love, and Grey's Anatomy.