Mark high tailed it out of the room as fast as his two feet would take him. Without looking back he dashed away from her; needing to put some much-needed space between him and the attractive brunette he left behind.
The torn look on her face when he told her 'no' almost undid him. He had a notion to turn around, march right back into the room and agree to her all expense paid Hawaii trip and play the sweet husband she was looking for. Luckily, his conscious overtook his urge and inadvertently kept him moving forward, taking his thoughts further away from the enticing offer and sweet temptations.
Of all the things he could have imagined her asking him to do, faking a marital relationship was nowhere near his realm of thought. She was crazy; the broad was absolutely nuts. Lexie Grey had finally gone off the deep end and even he wouldn't have been able to throw her a life preserver to bring her back in if she really thought that hiring a guy to stand in as a husband for a week was going to solve all of her problems.
Hell, he wouldn't have minded going out with her on a few dates, maybe even showing her a good time with a couple rounds in the bedroom but the forbidden "M" word was absolutely out of the question. He shuddered at the mere thought of even pretending to be a husband. It just wasn't part of his DNA makeup.
Mark Sloan would never marry and willingly tie himself down to just one woman. He enjoyed playing the field and romancing various types of women; blondes, brunettes, and redheads, he was an equal opportunity lover. That was just who he was as a person and nothing, absolutely nothing, would ever change that. Not even a 'too sexy for her own good' doctor that held the most dazzling chocolate brown eyes and perfectly formed hourglass figure. Nope, not even the one Lexie Grey.
Mark slipped into his office and closed the door firmly behind him. He could feel the onset of an impending headache already pounding at his temples. Leaning his back up against the door he relinquished a breath of air, he hadn't even realized he had been holding. Taking a minute to close his eyes, Mark sighed. That was a close one, almost to close for comfort.
Mark pushed himself away from the door and walked towards his desk.
"Oh, there you are. You have a visitor out there in the lobby," Callie suddenly came in and something in her wavering tone warned him that she was leery of this particular visitor.
This is unusual, he thought to himself. He had planned on spending the afternoon doing some skin grafting because he thought his afternoon was completely free unless there's an emergency coming. Mark looked down at his desk and double checked his calendar. Yep, he was right, there was nothing booked for today, so who on earth could be looking for him?
Confused and now suspicious himself he asked, "Who is it, Torres?"
At first, there was no answer. A short silence that seemed to put Mark more on edge than he already was after his brief encounter just minutes earlier with Lexie.
"Callie, who is it?" he repeated rather impatiently.
"It's your mother, Mark." he stilled and then audibly gulped.
"Did you just say my mother?" he said, his voice coming out with a squeak at the end.
It had been two years since he last saw his mother. She was caught up in country club appearances and overly concerned with social status acceptance. Although there were a few phone calls over the past two years, communication was distant and lacking. Why would my mother come here? he mused. Martha Sloan was not one to trivial herself with the so-called trappings of middle-class living, which only brings him back to his original question; why in the hell was she here?
"What?" Callie said interrupting his thoughts, "Should I send her in?" Mark shook his head out of his reverie.
"Um, no. Tell her I'm in surgery," he replied.
Callie's pager began to ring off. "Oops. Gotta go. You should talk to her." she trailed off, leaving the room.
Mark settles himself in his chair and locked his hands together forming a steeple shape pressed against his lips. This was turning out to be one heck of a day. First, Lexie and her left-wing proposition and now, his mother of all people showing up unannounced. This just keeps getting better and better, he sneered.
Martha Sloan waltzed into Mark's office as if she was floating atop of cloud nine. She smiled down at her son with a chivalrous motherly grin and approached the corner of his desk. Mark stood up, embraced her with constrained tenacity, and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.
"Mother, this is quite a surprise," he said after releasing her, waving to the empty seat in front of his desk. "Why don't you have a seat and tell me what pleasure I owe for this visit?" Mark made sure to keep a bright smile pasted on his face the entire time, while Martha situated herself purposefully.
"Does there have to be a reason? Can a mother not drop by to see her son? I mean, its been two years since we have last seen each other and you always seem to be too busy to come and visit me, so I thought I would take matters into my own hands," Martha answered his question all in one breath. "Here I am."
Mark raised a brow. His mother was the one frequently vacationing in exotic islands and fleeing to other countries. He never could pin her down and have long since stopped trying. He's an only child and she knew how to reach him if she needed him.
"If that is the case then it is nice to see you, mother." Hovering over his desk he sincerely asked, "So, how have you been lately?" He sort of felt like a fish swimming in dangerous waters when it came to talking with his mother; Martha never did anything without a reason. The casual small talk would be safe enough for the moment. He was positive that her unexpected visit had an underlying purpose and Mark was already more than suspicious as to what it might be.
Martha Sloan folded her hands in her lap primly and straightened her posture. She looked every bit the regal woman that Mark remembered from his childhood. She breathed out slowly and started in on, "To tell you the truth son, I am a little worried."
At this point, Mark started to worry about himself. Any time his mother started with 'to tell you the truth' he knew there was going to be a problem.
"The simple fact is that I am not getting any younger and neither are you son. You need to get on the ball boy and get your act together. It just has been far too long." She told him sternly.
Mark drew up his brows in confusion. He's a successful doctor. He could more than easily provide for himself. He felt like he was all in all pretty well put together, so what was the problem? "What are you talking about Mother?" he asked, perplexed by the direction the conversation had turned.
Martha rolled her eyes in disdain. "Grandchildren, Mark," she told him sounding exasperated. "I want grandchildren before I am too old to do anything with them. It's about time you returned to New York and married a proper woman of status so I can have some grandchildren. One boy, one girl will do nicely."
Mark was beside himself. She did not just say what he thought she said, no freaking way. Stupefied by her request, he unbelieving looked up at his mother and nearly yelled, "What?!"
"Marriage and kids, Mark; the whole shebang. Were you even listening to a word that I just said?" Martha asked, sounding plainly annoyed now. She could have sworn that she stated everything and didn't know how to make herself any clearer than she already had.
Mark turned around and walked over to the window and made a sound somewhere between a choked chuckle and a strangled laugh. "You're joking, right? I mean you didn't come all the way here, to Seattle, only to tell me that you want grand-kids."
Martha looked at her son dumbly like he had just grown an extra head.
"No, I'm not joking," she told him seriously. "Here," she added and reached into her Louis Vuitton bag pulling out a folder. Mark turned just in time to see her plunk it down on his desk. Martha pointed at it and stated, "In here I have managed to put all of the eligible women that would be worthy of the Sloan name. I have attached their pictures as well as some other random facts about their lives, what they like and what not. All you have to do is choose, marry and impregnate one of them. It's that simple!"
No, it's not as simple as that, Mark thought to himself. He's sure that all the women in that list were snooty, high maintenance and pretentious. There was no way in hell that he would tie himself down to one of those gold digging heifers. "Mother put the folder away. I'm not marrying someone from your list," he replied dryly and walked back towards his desk.
Martha stood embittered and placed her hands on her hips. The cool composure that she was typically known for was started to slip away. "And may I ask why is that?" she demanded raising her voice.
Mark thrust his hands up in the air in sheer agitation. "Because I'm already married!"
Martha's eyes enlarged at the startling revelation, "You're what?"
Mark wanted to smack himself. Why did he just say that? There was no way he could take it back now, not after he blurted it out to his mother of all people. She looked at him with an admiring twinkle in her eye. "Who, Mark Everett Sloan? Who is the lady that you're married to?"
Mark averted his gaze to all of his medical books that lined on the shelf.
Feeling sheepish he muttered under his breath, "Lex- Lexie G-Grey."
"Lexie Grey?" Martha repeated the name seemingly deep in thought. She brought her head up and looked her son in the eye and asked, "Do I know her family? Are they the famous Grey that owned the Grey Enterprises Holdings? If so, you did well son and I can't wait to meet her."
Mark wanted to scream. Of course, that would be all that she would be concerned with; not who Lexie was as a person, but where she sat on the social hierarchy. Biting his tongue and clenching his back teeth, he ground out, "No Mom, Lexie works here and she is a doctor like me."
"Oh," she said with her lip slightly down frowning. After another minute of silence, she asked, "Well, since I didn't get an invitation to the wedding, do I even get to meet my daughter-in-law? I mean, I would like to see her and make sure my grandchildren are not going to have any oddities. I want them to be healthy if they are going to carry on the Sloan name and all."
Mark had enough. He was going to strangle his mother if she continued to talk. "She's kinda busy and she.."
She cuts him, "How about tomorrow night, dinner at Camparo's?"
"Mom, I told you she's busy. I'm busy too. We have work and.."
Martha stood up with a smile that lit up brighter than the Northern Star. "I won't take no for an answer. Say seven o'clock?"
He gave up. "Sure," he bit out already heading towards the door. He held it open and glanced back at his mother. "Now I hate to be rude, mother but I do have quite a lot of work to finish."
"Of course, now don't work too late. You need to be home with that wife of yours and work on making me some grandbabies. Remember, one boy and one girl," she told him tossing her bag on her shoulder. While passing by Mark she pecked him on the cheek and squeezed his shoulder. "Oh, I am so excited to hear this. I can't wait to meet her tomorrow. You two have a good night," she added and Mark could only smile.
She capered out of his office and he couldn't wait to close the door behind her. What in the devil's name have I gotten myself into? Mark thought to himself worriedly. He vigorously ran his fingers through his hair in agitation. Well, there is only one thing that I can do, he muttered under his breath.
Opening the door, he stuck his head out in the hall and checked to make sure that his mother was in fact gone. Confident that she had left the building, Mark scurried down the hallway as fast as he could. He needs to find Lexie.
"Have you seen Dr. Grey?" he asked Ivy, a nurse.
"I think I saw her entered the skill's lab," she answered. "So Dr. Sloan, I really had a great time with you last time and if you.." He did not let her finished. It's not the best time to flirt with a nurse right now. His mission right now is to find Lexie. So, he walked as fast as he could to the skills lab.
Lifting his hand he was about to hold the doorknob when the door suddenly swung open revealing Lexie.
For a moment his heart skipped a beat seeing her. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' he asked himself.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped, all of her earlier friendly co-worker pretenses now gone. She looked like she was about ready to slam the door closed in his face when Mark stepped forward and placed his hand on the door. Mark lifted the corner of his lips into what he hoped came across as an honest smile and said, "Dr. Grey, I have a proposition for you."
Let me know what you think..