She's only happy when she's dancing
Chapter 4

Disclaimer:
Do not own anything. Except for Ashley, as she is my creation.

GA

"Well, it's nice to see you too", Derek said, his voice giving away that he was getting angry again.

"Oh shut up!", Ashley replied venomously. Turning to Addison and Mark she said, "Let's go sit somewhere else. Someone here is ruining my view".

Mark chuckled. He always enjoyed Ashley's manners where Derek was concerned.

Meanwhile Derek was getting angrier by the second. Not only did he not appreciate the way Ashley treated him, he also felt that all of them were ignoring Meredith. But he didn't have to say anything because Ashley had already turned her attention to Meredith.

"So, you must be Meredith", she said, extending her hand.

"Yes I am", Meredith replied while shaking Ashley's hand timidly.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Meredith. I'm Ashley, but I think you already knew that", Ashley told her, smiling at her.

Meredith nodded and said, "I've heard some things about you".

"All good things I hope?", Ashley asked, even though she already knew exactly what Meredith was going to say.

Meredith hesistated for a second before shaking her head lightly.

Ashley nodded and smiled. "Well, I hope that he didn't give you the wrong impression about. I'm really not as bad as he probably made me sound".

Meredith shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I really don't do first impressions".

"Me neither", Ashley agreed, before checking her watch. She realized it was well beyond diner time.

"Anyone up for dinner?", she said, turning to her New York buddies.

Addison shook her head. "I have to get back to the hospital. I need to check up on some of my patients".

Ashley turned her head to look at Mark.

"I'm hungry", he said, nugging her in the side.

"Aren't you always", Ashley muttered, before turning to Meredith. "It was nice talking to you Meredith".

Meredith nodded and said goodbye as well.

"Goodbye Ashley", Derek stated, which earned him a deathly glare from the person spoken to.

Afther paying for their drinks, the three New Yorkers walked out of the Emerald City Bar and while Addison headed for the hospital, Ashley and Mark headed for Mark's hotel room.

GA

45 minutes later Mark and Ashley were seated on the floor of Mark's hotel room, their backs comfortably resting against the bed with the remains of Chinese take out in their hands.

When they were done eating Mark disposed the empty cartons and returned a few moments later with two glasses of Scotch. When he handed Ashley her glass, their fingers touched just the slightest of seconds, but both of them felt an elektric jolt coursing through their veins. After Mark resumed his place next to her on the floor, Ashley rested her head on his shoulder, softly breathing in his scent.

To her surprise she felt Mark kissing the top of her head. She looked up in surprise and locked eyes with him. She saw his gaze and knew that he felt exactly what she'd been feeling all night long.

Wearing only a black top with spaghetti straps she felt his rough hand as it tenderly made its way up her upper arm. He let it rest on her shoulder for a couple of seconds before gently cupping her cheek. All the while she never broke eye contact. All the while he kept staring at her.

Knowing that they've been there before, it brought back a lot of memories. Happy memories, of a time when they were truly happy with each other. At that time both of them just came out of an intense relationship. Addison had just left Mark to go and try to be with Derek again and Ashley had just broken up her relationship of three years with Jason after finding out that he had been cheating on her for a long time. So she and Mark had found solace with each other. First they were just hanging out together, drinking their problems away. Until one night. A night where both of them had too much too drink. Ashley had kissed Mark, knowing that she desperately needed to feel a man's touch. Mark had kissed her back with the same amount of desperation and from that night on they had tried their luck in a real relationship, thinking that needing each other was all they needed to make it work. But of couple of weeks later they both realized that they were together for the wrong reasons. Their foundation was too weak to carry a relationship that was born out of desperation instead out of love. So they had decided to break up. They did manage to stay the best of friends, but never really talked about all the effort it took to forget about the wonderful times they shared.

Feeling Mark's lips on hers snapped Ashley back to reality. His lips lingered on her and waited to be kissed back. When that didn't happen, Mark pulled away quickly. When he looked at her he realized that she looked rather shocked.

"I'm sorry", he said, wanting nothing more than just forget what just happened.

Suddenly everything rushed back to Ashley's memory. She reminded what it was like to be kissed by him and how badly she wanted to feel that way again.

"No!", she said, a little stronger than necessairy and she immediately wished she never said it, because Mark pulled back even more, obviously shocked by her little outburst.

She managed to grasp the front of his shirt with both her hands before he managed to stand up completely. She looked up his eyes and tried to pull him back down.

Mark tried to free himself from her dead grip, but Ashley wouldn't let him.

"No", she said again, more gently this time, still tugging on his shirt.

When she finally managed to get him back on the floor with her, she leaned towards him and whispered something in his ear.

"Don't apologise"

GA

TBC!

AN:

So I finally updated this story. About time huh? Either way, I'm glad I did, because it's becoming easier and easier writing chapters for this story. I already have an idea lined up for the next chapter.

So, you're gonna hit the review button or what? ;-) Thanks!