I GUESS I'M IN LOVE

A/N Helloooo! Enthusiasm. So, I don't know if you've read my profile page, but this series is supposed to be me rewriting the plane crash so that Mark and Lexie don't die, soz for spoilers. And thus far, I have written 3 stories and 35k and actually haven't achieved that yet. Apologies for those readers who are annoyed about this, but I was doing backstory, come on. Either way, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that this it! This is actually it, the rewrite. Here we go, I guess. Oh and all SPC information can be found on my profile page.

Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, Washington - S8E23 Day One

Mark stood waiting for the elevator with his hands on his hips. He was severely hoping that telling Derek he was back with Lexie would go over smoother than it did the last time. He'd been thinking about it since he woke up this morning, Lexie laying next to him in his apartment. The image of her dark hair splayed over the pillows had been replaying in his mind all through his surgery that morning and he didn't want to hide it. He was happy. This should've been simple.

The elevator doors pinged open revealing Derek standing alone. As Mark took himself into the small space he sighed anxiously, trying and failing to keep the smile that was invading his features from taking over altogether. That was until Derek said the words, "how's Julia? You impregnate her yet?" Which brought an astonishing reality back down to Earth for him.

In the two days of bliss he had inhabited his bed with Lexie again, he'd mostly forgotten about the ex-girlfriend he'd had to dump in order for his morality to remain in check. He tried to find the words to explain it without sounding like a) an excited twelve year old, or b) a douche. "No, I was all ready to, but then Lexie- um told me she was in love with me."

Derek didn't seem surprised by this. "What did you say?" He fired back quickly.

Mark scratched the back of his neck. There was a bead of sweat dripping down from the back of his head that was tickling him in a way that made him very uncomfortable. "Um well," he stretched his neck then, stalling.

"Did you kiss her?" Derek replied.

"Yeah." He said, nodding his head, "yeah I did. Then I uh I went home and told Julia that I couldn't see her anymore. I'm not a cheater." Derek shot him a look, "usually."

"Thank God!" Derek threw his head back and laughed, he wasn't one to usually spill other peoples' secrets but his best friend could be awfully dense sometimes.

"Thank God?" Mark questioned intensely.

"Yeah, she told me ages ago."

Mark was mildly taken aback, but he didn't have time to be surprised because the elevator doors were opening again. "Look, I really don't wanna mess this one up okay?"

Derek folded his arms as the doors opened and Lexie stood in front of them, a folder in her hands and a chirpy look on her face. Mark was scowling. "You told him you loved me, before me?" He said.

Her chirpy face immediately slumped into a puzzled frown as she looked at the two men. She stepped forward into the elevator and ignored the question Mark had just raised and instead focussed on Derek. "Actually, I was just gonna update you no the Boise doctors' bios, but since you're both here, I'm just gonna give it to you." Then she handed over the folder and returned the frown to her face as she looked over at Mark. The doors abruptly shut behind them before she could say anything so she was stuck on the ride with them all the way down. "Yes, I told him first, but he's my brother okay, I'm supposed to be allowed to tell him stuff."

Mark thought about it for two seconds and decided that she was right. "Okay fine," but he still folded his arms.

Lexie put on a smile she knew was coy and cute enough to break him. "Whatever you say, you big doctor." Then she turned around, a smirk on her lips.

Derek looked between the both of them and gripped the folder tighter. "Okay, now you're just flirting so I'm gonna get out of here," he said, hitting the button for the second floor and waiting for the doors to open. As he was leaving he turned around to them once more and said, "I'm really glad you guys sorted this out, truly it was getting painful watching Sloan here moon over you and trying to date Julia at the same time. But I think I'll take the stairs the rest of the way." Then the doors slammed again and it was just the two of them left in the tiny, cramped space of the elevator.

"You were mooning over me, huh?" Lexie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh shut up."

Later, Mark had a needle pressed to the arm of a patient. She was talking about her husband. Her husband who also had a parasite. Her husband who she was regretting going on a honeymoon with. "What if I made a mistake?" She said, looking up at him.

"What do you mean, a mistake?" He replied, looking up from her arm.

"I don't know why we keep coming back to each other. We're the same people but we keep expecting a different outcome. Isn't that the definition of insanity."

A small smile slipped onto his face, that reminded him of Lexie. "Or love, maybe it means you're meant to be together." She looked back at him like he was about five years old, which he ignored because he was choosing to look at the world with rose-coloured glasses today. "If there's a park, there's a spark." With Lexie there was definitely a spark, there always had been. Right from the beginning she'd made him laugh, she'd made him talk for hours about the things that he didn't tell anyone. He always looked for her in a room even when she wasn't there. If Meredith's term had any weight, she was his person.