Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for a crazy mind.

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and story alerts! I hope this is good, I wasn't too sure about it. Let me know what you think! (:

- Vin

Sadie sighed when she heard the door chime, signaling that Lexie had left the bar. She glanced at Mark and shook her head. "What a great night this will be."

Mark looked out at her from the corner of his eye and shook his head. "Is that meant to be insulting, Harris?"

"It isn't meant in any certain way," Sadie replied. She looked up at Joe and ordered a beer. When the drink was placed in front of her, Sadie took a drag. "You know," she said, as she turned to look at Mark fully, her forearms resting on the bar top. "You aren't that useless."

Mark quirked his eyebrow, "I'd be careful what you say. I can ban you from the OR."

"You can only ban me from your OR. And don't worry, I'm not going to say anything inappropriate." Sadie grinned slightly, and then leaned in. "So, as I was saying, you aren't that useless. I think you could help me. Get information, on Dr. Torres."

Mark scoffed and looked at her. "That's inappropriate."

Sadie shook her head. "No it isn't. We aren't at the hospital, you aren't my attending. So," she leaned in closer, now on the edge of her seat. "Tell me. I know you and her had a...thing."

"It's none of your business what went on between Dr. Torres and I."

Sadie rolled her eyes and moved away from him. "Maybe not," she said. "But I know she talks to you about me. I know she wants me. All I need from you is information. How to really get at her."

Mark continued to stare ahead before he replied, his voice void from any emotion. "Take off your clothes."

"What?" Sadie laughed slightly, her eyes fixed on Mark. He turned and his facial expression showed that he was serious. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"If you want her to know you want her, take off your clothes. Maybe ask her out first but, what better way to tell someone you like them than stripping?"

She shook her head and wondered why she even asked him in the first place. "I can't take that seriously."

A pager beeped and they both looked at their respective pagers. Mark noticed it was from Callie, who was still on shift, and so got up. "Don't take me seriously then," he said as he quickly finished off the drink sitting in front of him. "Just don't expect to get anywhere. She's nervous; I always thought you were more forward. I'm never wrong."

And with that, Mark turned and left, leaving Sadie staring after him. It took her a moment but soon, a small smile spread on Sadie's lips.

There was no harm in being forward.

She stood in the bathroom when she was sure he had left the house. The door had slammed and it was soon followed by a shouted curse, and then the rumbling of an engine. Lexie had sighed and stared at her ceiling for a long time, trying to regain feeling in her arms and legs. Soon enough, the sharp, shooting pains had subsided and now she stood in the bathroom, looking at the wound critically. It was deep – that much was obvious from the various shades of red she could see within the gash. There were several cuts, all small and fine, congregated on her cheekbone around a large slash which stood open in the center.

Lexie cleaned around the wound carefully, her fingers shaking slightly, but soon realized it would need suturing. It angered her that the only way she was improving her skills was through working on herself. Lexie sighed and opened the bathroom cabinet, and what she found angered her even more. She had run out of material. That would mean she would have to patch herself up and go to the ER. It needed attention; she knew that, she couldn't just leave it.

Closing the cabinet and walking out into her bedroom, Lexie sighed softly as she grabbed her keys from her desk. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could slip into the supply closet unnoticed. She had the ability of suturing her own face; it wouldn't be a big deal. She would just have to be careful to avoid anyone from noticing her.

It took her no more than ten minutes to arrive at Seattle Grace Hospital, and once faced with the large doors to the ER, Lexie felt her nerve slip. What if someone noticed? She did after all have a white pad taking up most of her cheek. There was nothing she could do. If someone saw her, she would have to tell them the truth. She had dropped her wine glass and tripped on the rug, effectively falling onto the broken glass.

The glass. The realization that she hadn't been able to remove all the glass from her cut dawned on her. What if she needed a higher opinion? Should she just go to Dr. Hunt now? He wouldn't care whatever excuse she gave him. It was, after all, none of his business.

Realizing that he was her safest bet, Lexie walked through the doors of the hospital and headed to the ER, hoping that he was on shift. Once there, her eyes scanned the room. Dr. Hunt was nowhere to be seen and Lexie felt the sudden urge to cry.

"Little Grey."

Lexie groaned at the sound of his voice. She didn't need this. This was the one thing she didn't want to deal with. Why wasn't he at the bar like he was supposed to be? Without turning around, Lexie replied. "Something you need, Dr. Sloan?"

Mark narrowed his eyes. She didn't sound right. Her voice was softer than usual, drained…emotional. Moving so that he stood next to her, Mark looked down at her. His eyes turned into narrow slits when he noticed her cheek. "What the Hell happened to you?"

The anger, which was blatantly clear in his voice, made her flinch slightly. Lexie steeled herself and replied calmly, "I fell on some broken glass."

Her answer was so monotone, no stuttering like he was accustomed to, and that by itself alerted Mark to the fact something was wrong. "How does that happen?"

"First, the person would have to drop something made out of glass. Next, they would either trip–"

Mark interrupted her impatiently. "I know how something like that happens; I want to know how it happened to you."

Lexie shrugged. "I dropped my wine glass."

"And then you just tripped and fell onto it," Mark guessed.

Lexie looked up at him and smiled softly. "Got it in one."

Mark softened when he saw her eyes. There was just something she wasn't telling him. She had left Joe's because she was tired. She should have been asleep, not drinking wine. Mark sighed and turned around. He made his way to the exit of the ER, and was stopped by Lexie's delicate voice.

"Dr. Sloan? Er, w-where are you going?"

Spinning on his heel, he allowed himself to smile. "I was heading back up to surgical. The only reason I'm here is because Torres paged me needing a consult. The surgery isn't going to happen just yet, if you want, you can come along and I'll fix up your face."

Her eyes widened and she brought her hands up to indicate that it wasn't necessary. "You don't have to do that, Dr. Sloan. I, I'll just wait here for Dr. Hunt or–"

"Hunt's in surgery. And I'm pretty sure you don't want one of the incompetent interns let loose on that face of yours. We wouldn't want them messing it up."

Lexie smiled despite herself. She would file away the last part as a compliment. Taking a quick glance around, she settled her eyes on him again. She walked up to him and together they headed in the direction of the elevators. It was quiet for a moment, before Lexie said, "You do realize I'm an incompetent intern too, right?"

Mark laughed, "You're not incompetent. Pathetic, yes, incompetent, not so much."

Lexie felt her cheeks warm at the thought, and she ducked her head slightly. "Thank you, Dr. Sloan."

Mark glanced at her, his eyes giving away nothing. "Anytime, Grey. Anytime."

"Do you need any help?" Lexie inquired from her position on the bed. They were locked in an On-Call room – Mark had figured if he took her into one of the rooms it would alert attention from the nurses. Of course, walking into an On-Call room with her was equally risky, but they had been careful.

Lexie watched as Mark placed all the equipment onto the small table. He sat on the chair he had stolen from the hallway and carefully opened the sterilized packet which held the needle. Threading through the suture, he looked up at her.

He didn't know how believable what she told him was. Although she was nervous and neurotic, he never considered Lexie clumsy. Of course he had seen her fumble with charts before, but to trip and fall onto glass? Mark tensed at the thought. The pain she must have felt made his stomach clench. She wasn't clumsy, she always held herself with a certain grace that he thought her other sister lacked. Mark frowned slightly and looked up at her after he had fixed the equipment.

She looked nervous now, her eyes showing the worry she felt. He pursed his lips as he watched her nervously tuck a strand of hair behind her small ears. Now that he was up close, he found himself realizing things about her that he had never seen before. Her earlobe sloped slightly, and her bottom lip was full and perfect. There were small, nearly invisible, freckles that dusted the bridge of her nose. He couldn't place exactly what color her eyes were. They had always appeared brown to him, a light shade, but now that he could look at her, he realized that they were green. Or at least in this light they appeared to be a light olive color. Her eyelashes were long and thick and Mark found himself more amused by the Bambi quality of her eyes rather than the color.

Mark was amazed for a moment – he hadn't noticed how beautiful she really was.

She always seemed so simple and…There was a certain innocence about her that he was attracted to. It surprised him, he normally liked his women feisty and experienced. Though, having said that, there was no argument that Lexie Grey wasn't feisty. He just didn't know how experienced she was.

"D-Dr. Sloan?"

Mark's icy blue eyes snapped to hers and he suddenly realized he had been staring at her. He cleared his throat awkwardly, and moved forward to the edge of his seat, so that his knees rested against hers. "Lean forward, Grey," he murmured.

She did that, craning her neck forward, her cheek slightly turned toward his raised hand. Carefully, he removed the bandages she had cautiously placed on her face. His sharp intake of breath caused Lexie to lower her eyes, now fixated on her clasped hands in her lap.

"That must have been one Hell of a drop, Grey," Mark said, his voice gruff. "Looks like you fell on an angle."

"I fell straight onto it, from above. No angle. I d-don't know what you're talking about."

His jaw was locked as he brought the pad of anesthetic to her wound. She flinched slightly but he continued. Dropping the pad back to the table slightly behind him, Mark looked at her, her eyes now fixed on his, his face showing no emotion. "The angle of the cut indicates you were hit from above. The cuts run down your cheekbone. If you fell onto the glass, there should be no direction or slant to the cut."

Lexie's eyes widened slightly but she showed no other reaction. And so, he continued, his voice tense.

"There seems to be some fragments of glass in the tip of the wound. That would, normally, only occur if you were hit from above, the glass swiping downwards. There would have to be a lot of pressure too, blunt force, for there to still be glass in your wound." He shrugged, and turned around, reaching for the tweezers. When he looked at her again, she had looked away, once again fascinated by her hands.

"I've seen this before. I've sutured more cuts like this than I can remember." He leaned forward, holding one hand up to cup the side of her face – which wasn't exactly necessary, but he did it anyway – and the other hand held the tweezers to the cut. Carefully, he clipped onto the shard of glass and slowly brought his hand away. Bringing it up to his eyelevel, Mark looked at it critically. Green. He figured Lexie would be more traditional in her glassware, going for clear glass rather than colored. That was, if he were to believe her story.

Mark dropped it to the tray behind him and when he turned back, he saw Lexie had her mouth open, as if she wanted to say something. She didn't. Mark sighed softly and brought the needle up to her face at the appropriate ninety degree angle. His other hand took residence on her other cheek.

As he slowly began suturing her face, taking more care than he normally would, Mark couldn't help but speak. "You must have fallen funny; otherwise you wouldn't have a cut like this. Did the wine glass attack you by any chance?"

"Now, you're just being ridiculous," Lexie said, her eyes trying to focus on anything but his face, which was closer than she thought it would be.

"Am I?"

Lexie huffed, "Yes, you are."

Mark smirked slightly. "I'm just trying to prove a point, Little Grey."

Lexie rolled her eyes, her eyes now fixed on the wall behind him. "And what point is that, Dr. Sloan?"

Mark chuckled. "Haven't you been listening to me, Grey?"

"I tend to tune out when you speak."

Mark laughed, "Funny, Grey. Very funny."

They fell into silence as Mark continued to weave the material through her face. After a moment he spoke in that low, husky voice that always made Lexie fight to remain calm. "My point is," he drawled, his fingertips brushing against her skin. "To get wounds like this…You would have to be hit by glass from a height higher than where you were." His other hand, which wasn't suturing, began to slowly rub against her pale skin in a comforting way. Lexie tried to regulate her breathing, but it was so damn hard.

He noticed, from the corner of his eye, that she had swallowed hard when he had begun trailing patterns across her skin. Mark smirked lightly. "My point is," he continued, "that you've been lying."

Lexie felt the need to defend herself. "I, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. "

Lexie laughed nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about, Dr. Sloan. Seriously."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I never pegged you as a liar, Grey."

"I'm not lying!" Lexie exclaimed defiantly.

Mark stopped at that, leaning back slightly to look at her. Her eyes darted around nervously under his watch. She swallowed and was about to say something when spoke, his voice showing his surprise. "You really believe yourself, don't you?"

Lexie opened her mouth and then closed it, unsure of what to say. She then said, "I believe myself because I'm telling you the truth."

Mark shook his head and unknowingly his jaw clenched. He moved closer to her, nearly finished with her sutures. "You must have said that lie so many times that now you just believe it."

"Dr. Sloan!" Lexie whispered harshly, hurt that he could see through her so clearly.

Mark didn't reply. Instead he carried on suturing her face, and that's how they remained for the rest of the time. Once he was finished, he moved back, his hands sliding down her face. Lexie looked at him, hurt, as he cleared away the equipment without looking at her. She didn't know what she had done. Yes, she had lied, but to him, that shouldn't matter. He didn't care. So, why was he questioning her all the time?

When he got up and made his way over to the door, quietly unbolting the door, Lexie found the strength to speak. "Dr. Sloan?" She said quietly, her voice resembling one of a child's. "Are, are you mad at me?"

Mark let out a sigh, and briefly closed his eyes. He was annoyed she couldn't admit that something was wrong, when he had clearly proven her explanation to be wrong. What was so bad that she had to cover it up?

He shook his head slowly, his hand turning the doorknob. "I'm not mad, Lexie," he said, and Lexie was taken aback initially, as it was the first time he had used her given name. "I'm not mad…" Opening the door, Mark walked out, before abruptly turning on his heel, to face her. He couldn't leave without saying everything. She looked so tired and lost, so delicately small, sitting on the bed which was too large for her frame.

He smiled gently despite the anger he felt. He didn't know whether he was angry she was lying to him, angry that he cared, or angry at the person who had hurt her. He simply smiled, as it was all he could do. "I'm more disappointed. I'm disappointed you're so afraid that you actually believe the lies you tell yourself."

And with that, Mark turned and quietly shut the door behind him.