I got about two hundred hits on the last chapter alone, half of which I got the first day. But I've only received THREE reviews! Please review. It helps with the muse

Mark came out of a facial reconstruction surgery and was immediately approached by a nurse. "Someone called for you," she said distractedly, looking through a chart.

Mark looked at her expectantly, but she didn't seem willing to give any more information. "And?" he prodded.

"They didn't leave a message or a name, but it was a woman. She sounded awkward and timid." She shrugged. "All I know is that it was a long distance call from Seattle."

Mark smiled widely. "I could kiss you," he whooped. He turned and practically ran into the locker room.

The nurse stood there. "Why didn't you?" she mumbled disappointedly.

Mark changed into his street clothes, his heart thudding in his chest. He was sure the call was from Meredith. Awkward and timid didn't fit Addison or anyone else that would possibly call from Seattle. Plus, he couldn't get her off his mind. It wasn't because of the sex, though fantastic didn't even cover it. It was her bed hair and her awkward pillow talk. He didn't really know what it was, but he kept trying to piece the night together.

It had been eight weeks.

Eight weeks of spacing out. Eight weeks of embarrassing himself by thinking inappropriate thoughts at the worst times. Eight weeks of wondering what Meredith was doing every second of every day.

Mark took a deep breath and pocketed his cell phone. How can someone fall in love from one night? Wasn't he supposed to be in love with Addison, the woman he ruined his friendship with Derek over?

Outside the hospital, he hailed a cab and tried to figure out the best course of action. Smirking to himself, he looked through his contact list on his cell phone for a number he pilfered off of Meredith's cell phone. He listened to it ring.

Meredith answered the phone. "Yeah?" she asked groggily.

"That's not proper phone etiquette," Mark said disapprovingly.

Meredith was brought out of her half-asleep state. "How did you get this number?" she demanded, belatedly realizing that she should probably be a little more polite.

"I'm hurt," Mark said, unable to keep the smile from his tone, "Is that any way to greet your fellow dirty ex-mistress?"

"You got it from my cell phone," she realized, remembering the phone that had been slipped into her mailbox the day after their night together.

"So I did," Mark said agreeably. He paid the driver and got out of the taxi at his apartment building.

"Why did you call me?"

"Who said I called you?" Meredith asked defensively. She distinctly remembered hanging up when asked to leave a message.

"Long distance call from Seattle. Awkward and timid woman. The only reasons I would get calls from Seattle would be for business and... Addison wouldn't call so, you. Business people usually call when normal people are awake and are usually pretty business-like. Business people don't show fear. So, are you going to tell me why you called?"

"No," she decided.

"Fine," Mark said. "What are you wearing?" He received an odd look from an older gentleman in the elevator but promptly ignored it.

Meredith tried to ignore the shiver that made its way down her spine. "Are you trying to initiate phone sex?" she asked.

"Yes," Mark said bluntly, getting off at the top floor.

"I've never had phone sex before and I'm not sure you're the best person to have it with," she said.

"Come on! I gave you multiple orgasms. We had drunken sex. Then we had sober sex. Who better to have phone sex with than me?" He tossed his keys on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch.

"Look, Mark. I didn't expect to see or talk to you again after that night." Meredith played with her blankets. His voice was wreaking havoc on her equilibrium and her emotions. She wanted to cry and laugh all at once. She wanted to be held. She covered her face with her hands. She was turning into an emotional wreck.

"It's just a little release," Mark said, smirking. "It'll be fun. Plus, it's just words. You don't really have to do anything. Just talk."

"With talking comes imagining," Meredith pointed out wisely.

Mark chuckled, making Meredith's face immediately flame. "So it does," he agreed softly.

"I didn't mean it that way," Meredith said defensively.

"So, what are you wearing?" Mark tried again.

Meredith rolled her eyes and laid back. She hadn't changed her mind about terminating the pregnancy. She was doing what was best for the general population. "A pair of jogging pants and the shirt you gave me."

Mark was thoroughly delighted by her answer. She was playing along and she was wearing his shirt. "Anything underneath?"

-

Cristina glared at Meredith when she sat down. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded.

Meredith's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" she asked carefully. Maybe she knew. Maybe everyone knew. Was her phone tapped?

"You've been moping since Barbie's offspring pulled through the surgery and now you're all sunshine and daisies, or roses or some other frilly flower."

Meredith rolled her eyes. Right. It was just Cristina being Cristina. If anyone was "overly happy", there had to be a good reason. "There is nothing wrong with me," she said, trying to keep the smile from spreading across her face.

Izzie and George sat down just as something clicked in Cristina's mind. "You're keeping it, aren't you?" she accused, sitting up straighter.

"Keeping what?" Alex asked as he sat down.

"Why are you sitting here, Evil Spawn? Go away," Cristina ordered, "before I get a priest in here to exorcise you."

Alex took a big bite of his sandwich, seemingly to show Cristina that she wasn't the boss of him.

Meredith's good mood diminished at that. The hopeful, puppy eyes Izzie and George were shooting her didn't help her mood any. "No," she said forlornly, "I'm not."

"Good," Cristina said firmly. Izzie and George glared at her, perfectly in synch. "Oh shut up. Just 'cause you want a little brother or sister doesn't mean she's going to pull one out of her vagina."

"Cristina!" Meredith protested as Alex choked on that huge bite he'd just taken of his sandwich. Everyone ignored him as he tried to get the morsel dislodged from his windpipe.

"What?" Cristina said. "It's not like it wouldn't get out eventually. With Blondie and her dirty word scrabble. She would spell it out on her board, get paged, and that heart guy would fall asleep or go into cardiac arrest. A nurse would find the words 'Meredith', 'pregnant', and 'one-night stand' and put it all together."

Izzie finally noticed Alex coughing up a lung and slapped him on the back a couple of times. He gulped down her water and glared at Meredith. "You're pregnant?" he rasped.

"Don't worry," Meredith said, "It's not yours."

"You mean that wasn't you that I had bent over the hood of my car a couple of weeks ago?" he asked crudely.

Meredith snorted. "It was probably one of the nurses from the third floor. I hear you're pretty popular with them."

"Unprotected sex, Grey?" Alex taunted. "You're slipping. I thought all those men would've taught you something. Although, I can't say I didn't see it coming. You're just a statistic waiting to happen. A single intern in love with her boss, who happens to be married, pregnant from a drunken one-night stand."

George chuckled slightly and everyone turned their glares on him. "What?" he asked cluelessly.

"Oh, sorry. Not supposed to laugh at that..." He looked down at his tray.

"Go jump off a cliff, Evil Spawn," Cristina said callously, swiping his cake from his tray. She turned to Meredith, protecting the cake with her body as Alex made a grab for it. "Tell me when and I'll be there."

Meredith nodded and picked at what was left on her tray. Alex and Cristina got into it when Cristina actually began eating the cake, but she was uninterested. Talking to Mark was opening her up to the idea of a relationship with him. She wasn't relationship girl, especially after Derek, but maybe...?

"Do you even know who the father is?" Alex suddenly asked, bringing Meredith out of her reverie. He enjoyed watching the other interns squirm at his blunt, sometimes hurtful comments and questions.

"Yes," Meredith said, having swallowed her food. She ignored Cristina's knowing look, as well as the others' questioning looks.

"It's Shepherd's, isn't it?" Alex asked.

Meredith yawned. "No," she answered, standing up.

When she was gone, Alex turned to George. "Is it yours? Did you finally grow a pair and jump 'er?" he asked.

George rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Alex," he muttered.

"Right. You have the big chick with the nice--"

"Alex," Izzie snapped. "Shut up!"

Because it was Izzie, he did but only momentarily. "Has that boy of yours died yet?" he asked flippantly.

Izzie left, but not before threatening Alex with castration by a rusty scalpel if he breathed a word of Meredith's pregnancy to anyone.

Unfortunately, Addison happened to hear the tail-end of their conversation. Only her fears kept her from running to Meredith and asking about the pregnancy. She was trying to trust her husband, but he was obviously still hung up on the intern. There was a possibility that he...it was an absurd thought though. He wouldn't...right?

-

Meredith checked her text messages as she headed to Maddie's room. Ever heard of sexting? She snorted and sent Mark a quick message back.

"Hey, Maddie," she said brightly to the small girl. Trevor, her oldest brother, was playing on a hand held gaming system by the window.

"Sarah's at school," he said darkly when he saw Meredith's eyes on him.

Meredith raised her eyebrows and decided not to respond. Males in general, besides Mark, were a source of annoyance for her on this particular day. "How are you feeling today, Maddie?" she asked gently.

Maddie's eyes roamed aimlessly before settling on Meredith's face. "I'm tired," she said softly.

"It's the after affects of the anesthesia. You'll probably be tired for a little while, but then you'll start feeling better, okay?"

Maddie licked her dry, cracked lips. "Can I go back to school?"

Trevor made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, but his eyes were on the game when Meredith glanced at him. "Probably not." Meredith adjusted her blankets. "We have a test scheduled in a few hours. We're going to look at your brain and see if there's any improvement, okay?"

Maddie nodded and let her eyes close. Meredith turned and narrowed her eyes at Trevor. "When is Sarah going to return?" she asked suspiciously.

Trevor bristled at her suspicious tone. "I'm not her keeper," he said snidely.

Meredith narrowed her eyes. Sometimes she hated teenagers, especially smartass male ones. When she was safely in the elevator, she found that she had three new messages.

When Derek boarded, he found Meredith's face flaming as she typed furiously on her phone. "Dirty texts, Dr. Grey?" he teased. When Meredith shot him a wide-eyed, mortified look, he burst out laughing. "You're sending dirty text messages?"

"No," Meredith said defensively. "It was a forward." How did she get herself into these situations? Mark was going to be the death of her.

"Yeah?" Derek scrunched his nose thoughtfully. "Forward it to me."

Meredith pretended to think about it. She decided she wouldn't do it even if it really was a forward. "No," she said with finality.

Derek stared at her. "Okay." It was very agreeable and Meredith turned to look at him incredulously. He gave her a tight smile and exited.

Meredith sighed and pulled out her phone. She smirked at his latest text message. I was eating Mer! God I dont want to do the sexting thing nemore

Cristina entered the elevator and raised her eyebrows. She waited until the doors closed before rounding on Meredith. "What's going on with you?" she demanded. She saw the protest on Meredith's face and shook her head. "Does it have to do with Mark Sloan?"

Meredith looked down at her phone and then held it out to Cristina.

Cristina stared at her and then slowly took the phone. "Seriously?" she asked, skimming through the messages. "You're having text sex with McSteamy?"

Meredith gestured helplessly. "I don't know what to say." She followed Cristina out of the elevator. "I contacted him because I was going to tell him, but then--"

"You thought it would be better to have phone sex through texting?" Cristina pulled Meredith into an on-call room and gave her a stern look. "Talking with Sloan is going to lead to second guessing. You can't second guess, Meredith." She ducked her head and to make Meredith look at her. "You're not going to have babies chasing you around the surgical floor and I don't do good with kids so there's little to no chance of me baby sitting. You're going to be a surgeon, Meredith."

Meredith leaned against the wall and let her head fall back to stare at the ceiling. "Would it really change so much if I had a baby?" she asked quietly.

Cristina stared at her as if she were insane. "Would it--yes! Meredith, you can't just have a baby. Do you know what taking care of a baby entails? Time. Sleep deprivation. It's not like you have a husband or significant other to help you."

Meredith glared at her friend. "I thought you would support me no matter what I chose?"

"First of all, I never said that. You must be confusing me with Izzie. Second of all, I might support you if you were doing it for the right reasons. But all you're thinking about is your fluffy feelings for Sloan and cute little baby clothes." Cristina gave her a hard look.

"So what would be the right reasons?" Meredith demanded.

"I don't know. Being pro-life? You can't just have a baby because you want someone to love you unconditionally."

It was like she reached in and grabbed hold of Meredith's most secret desire surrounding the baby. "My appointment is next Wednesday. I have to do the mandatory counseling until then, but it's still on."

The rant Cristina was about to start on to get Meredith to listen to her dissipated. "Why didn't you just start the conversation with that?" She gave her friend and exasperated, how-am-I-still-your-friend look. "I segued into this little talk because I thought you were about to jump off the metaphorical cliff."

Meredith wrinkled her nose at the metaphor. "Thanks, Cristina," she said sincerely. She was unsure of whether or not she actually meant it, but she knew the other intern was just trying to be a good friend.

Cristina shrugged and exited the room.

"You know," Derek said when Meredith walked out, "I thought it would hurt a lot more the first time I caught you in an on-call room with another person. I think I'm closer to bliss than pain." He grinned when Meredith glared at him.

Meredith rolled her eyes and headed toward the elevator. She stepped into the elevator, which was empty except for Addison Shepherd. Momentarily considering running, she pressed the button to close the doors and decided she was finished running.

"Meredith." It wasn't exactly a confrontational tone, but she needed the other girl to listen to her and give her answers. "I need to ask you--I mean. I overheard--You and Derek haven't--"

Meredith slowly looked at her. "What?" she asked dumbly. There was no way she was asking what Meredith thought she was asking because there was no reason for her to ask.

Addison fidgeted. Either the girl was playing dumb or she actually had no idea. "I overheard you in the cafeteria--"

Meredith's eyes widened with comprehension and she suddenly felt faint. "Oh, God. You think I'm--with Derek's--" She stared at the other woman with something akin to horror. "No, Addison, not since your arrival."

Addison sagged with relief. She hadn't really believed it, but it felt good to have audio confirmation from one of the parties involved. "I'm sorry," she said when the doors opened. "I just had to make sure."

Meredith didn't know if she actually acknowledged the apology before she fled.

-

"I'm freaking out."

Mark bit into his sandwich. "Why are you freaking out?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

"I--" Meredith groaned. "This is serious, Mark, and you're just...eating. What's that about?"

"I'm sorry." Mark grinned at the thought of Meredith's 'worked-up' face. "Talk to me, Grey."

"Addison thinks--thought I slept with Derek."

"Didn't you? Weren't you living in sin in the wilderness or something?" He covered the mouthpiece and took another bite.

"No! I mean recently--because of you!" Meredith paced across her bedroom floor. "People know. Cristina knows, Mark!"

Mark choked down his sandwich before trying to defend himself. "Hey. I'm on the other side of the country. You're the only person I have been in contact with since leaving Seattle."

Meredith groaned in frustration and fell back onto her bed. "Okay, I may have been exaggerating a little. Cristina is the only one that knows, but Addison overheard something about our night together and assumed Derek was the subject of the conversation."

Mark sighed. "That does tend to happen when you're worried about your significant other turning to his ex." His appetite took a down turn and he tossed his unfinished sandwich into the trash. "I don't really like the subject matter of this conversation." His face adopted a sly grin. "Talk to me about something that doesn't involve our exes. I'm not opposed to hearing about your sordid past, either."

Rolling her eyes, Meredith grasped for something besides I'm pregnant with your offspring. She wasn't in the mood for any sordid past conversations. That was a conversation for a different, less sober time. "There's this little girl whose case I've been helping out with. Her family is pretty messed up..."

Baby you know that I miss you, I wanna get with you tonight
But I cannot baby girl and that's the issue
Girl you know I miss you, I just wanna kiss you
But I can't right now so baby kiss me thru the phone