Womanizer No More Chapter 12, a grey's anatomy fanfic

A month had passed after Zoey had made up with Justin. However, despite his promise to change his ways, he didn't. Within two weeks of making the promise, he was back to his old ways and had started to hit Zoey again; only this time he made sure he didn't put her in hospital again; this time he only left the odd couple of bruises on her arms and stomach. Zoey had remembered what Derek had said and refused to prove him right. So when she walked in to Seattle Grace Hospital on a Saturday morning, she hurried off to the day-care centre to avoid bumping in to a certain attending with nice hair and a dreamy smile. As well as him, she didn't want any to run in to Mark Sloan either. Despite her best efforts to forget about him, he kept popping in to her head at the most inappropriate times, usually just when she's looking in the mirror but the worst time was just after having sex with Justin. She kept thinking about what he had confessed to her the last time she had spoken to him and how harsh she was, despite it being how she felt. She could always tell him what she felt no matter how horrible it was. There was something about him that allowed her to be so honest. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts of Mark Sloan and continued over to her place of work. However, once she was there, she knew that seeing the children playing, she couldn't help but think of her and Mark.

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Derek entered Mark's office without knocking. He was sitting at his desk leaning on his elbow on the desk and tapping his front teeth, clearly in a trance.

"A penny for your thoughts." Derek said, making Mark look up at him.

"Man, I spent the entire evening yesterday with Lexie which was amazing and I didn't think of anyone but her. But when she left all I could think about was Zoey. I was up wondering where I could find her and despite my best efforts, I do not have the slightest clue where she might be."

"Which she is this? Zoey or Lexie?"

"Take a wild guess. If I want Lexie, she's a phone call away, I have no contact details for Zoey."

"Ah how I wish I was you right now." Derek smirked.

"It's not funny Derek, I'm in a real predicament here!"

"Oh yes because you're the first and only man to ever crush on two people at the same time." Derek said sarcastically.

"If you're not going to help you can leave me alone now."

"Sorry." Derek said, trying not to laugh. "Course I'm here to help. So, you want to get hold of Zoey? Well you know her contact details are on her chart; if you're that desperate you could look at her charts and take a copy."

Mark's face lit up. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Because that's unethical and you know it."

Mark's face fell. "Well do you have a better idea?"

"Yes actually, you could try the day-care centre downstairs where she works part time. It's 30 minutes after 10 so she should be there already."

"Wait what? Zoey works downstairs at the day-care centre? Why the fuck didn't you tell me that before?" Mark shouted and leaped up from his chair, rushing out his office and running straight in to Lexie Grey, making him stop right in his tracks. "Oh hey." Mark said quietly, trying to show the annoyance in his face.

"Hey yourself. So I was thinking … maybe we could have a repeat of last night in say five minutes?" Lexie spoke quietly and seductively.

Mark's thoughts about Zoey had completely vanished from his head and all he could think about is Lexie purring with pleasure in his ear. Mark grinned. "I'll be there. Meet me in the On-Call room in two minutes."

Derek shook his head from inside Mark's office. Despite their best efforts, he could still hear what they were saying. He laughed quietly to himself because he knew Mark wouldn't be able to resist an offer like that.

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Zoey glanced at the clock. It was 12.30 and was still struggling putting one of the babies to sleep. She had been trying for the past hour and was quite frankly getting bored and restless herself. Mrs. Smyth had noticed she was struggling and let her go off to lunch. Thanking her, Zoey picked up her bag and turned to leave. As she did so she looked right in the eye of Mark. "Don't tell me … you actually knocked a nurse up and one of these kids actually belong to you." Zoey stated, sarcastically. "That must be the only reason why you're down here."

"You see any kids this good looking down here?" Mark smirked at her.

"I see your ego is still as big as it was when I saw it squeeze through the restaurant door all those years ago."

"Oh ouch. That hurt a little." Mark said in a sarcastic tone.

"What do you want Mark?"

"Lunch."

"So you can walk out on me again?"

"Okay, bad choice. Look I just want to chat okay? I want to put things right."

Zoey gave him a disbelieving look. "I don't think so."

"Come on Zoey, I never come down here. That's gotta mean something."

"Yeah, that you don't have kids, why else would you come down here?"

"Exactly." Mark said, flashing his mcsteamy smile.

Zoey shook her head and smiled. She could never resist that smile and boy did he know it. "You haven't changed." She paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Okay, I'm free now. Not for too long though."

Zoey's sides ached from laughing so much just like they had done before. She and Mark were sitting in the middle of the hospital cafeteria with nurses, doctors and visitors staring at them but neither noticed nor cared. Zoey couldn't remember the last time she laughed that much with anyone. Yes of course she had a giggle with her friends from college and she and Justin had a few laughs but it was nothing like this – sides splitting and stomach aching. She didn't realise just how much she missed that until just then with Mark.

Mark loved watching Zoey laugh. She was adorable with her crinkled nose and her laugh was just loud and you could always tell she was having a good time and it was so infectious. When Zoey laughed, you couldn't help but laugh along with her. He couldn't remember the last time he had a proper laugh like this with anyone. Yeah he had a few laughs with Derek and Lexie but it was nothing like this. This was so natural, he could just sit there laughing and joking around with Zoey for days. He didn't realise how much he had missed that until just now with Zoey.

When the two of them had calmed down Mark sat back and looked in to Zoey's eyes and he knew that something was bothering her.

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Zoey looked over at Mark and couldn't believe how relaxed she felt with him. After having to step around the eggshells at home with Justin, she forgot what it felt like to actually relax around someone and it felt amazing. She could properly be herself without the fear of being hit. She regrettably thought back to two nights ago when Justin came home after he had gone to a couple of bars for his friends 30th birthday. He wasn't totally smashed when he came home but he wasn't far off but like an idiot she had chosen that particular moment to have a go at him about the fact that he hadn't changed like he promised her. Instead of them having a row like most couples, he had slapped her across her face and he punched her stomach. It wasn't as hard as it had been in the past but hard enough to leave a mark and bring tears to her eyes. Thinking about it now, she knew she can't stay with him but she didn't know how to leave him. She looked over at Mark who now had a worried look on his face, which indicated to her that she must have looked upset.

"Is everything okay?" Mark asked her.

Zoey nodded. What could she say? My boyfriend beats me up when he's had a one too many to drink? It may have been five years since they last saw each other but Zoey still knew Mark and knew that he wouldn't stand for anyone laying so much as a finger on her, on anybody. She still remembered what happened the last time someone threatened to hurt her.

Zoey stood outside a bar waiting for Mark to find his wallet. She had only been standing there for a minute or two when a couple of men approached her and tried to come on to her. Zoey said no and tried to push them off but they only came on to her even more, intimidating her that bit more every time she had said no. Zoey was terrified – she had no cell phone to call Mark to get help. The bouncers had gone inside as it was 3 in the morning and they knew that no' one was going to turn up at that time. Even if she did it wouldn't be any use as Mark wouldn't be able to hear his phone ring over the music that was playing inside. As the two men got closer and closer to her, Zoey shut her eyes, petrified of what might happen to her. She squeezed her eyes tight when she heard a loud thud right in front of her. She screamed as she flinched, thinking that one of the men had hit her. However, when she opened her eyes slightly, she saw one of the guys on the floor and Mark about to punch the other one. She just stood there stunned at the amazing timing her boyfriend had. She saw Mark's arm swing back and make a fast and loud contact with the guy's face who also fell to the ground. Mark walked over to Zoey. "Are you okay?" he asked her, moving a piece of hair out the way of her face.
Zoey just nodded, as she was completely speechless. Mark kissed her lightly on the lips and the two of them walked back to Mark's apartment.

Mark had noticed Zoey's face go from a frown to a smile. He wasn't sure what it was that had made her smile but he knew she was thinking about something. He could always tell when she was daydreaming about something; it was just the way she looked. "Are you going to tell me what's making you smile like that?" Mark asked.

"Maybe … remember when you beat those guys up to me who were threatening me outside the bar in New York?"

Mark grinned. Oh he remembered that night. He had just gone in to find his wallet came outside only to find two guys intimidating his girlfriend. His whole body filled with rage as he ran over and knocked the two of them out. "How could I forget? You did tend to attract trouble didn't you?"

Zoey grinned. "I still do." She said flirtatiously.