Come lie with me

Chapter 2

It is incredibly hard to stay away from the one person who makes you happy. It feels as if your soul is drawn to them and they appear whenever you most need them. But to voluntarily cut yourself off from this... that could be impossible.

Mark lasted three days.

Three horrible miserable days, in which it felt as though the world had gone to hell around him. He was making everyone miserable, and just to work with him was daunting. The nurses were threatening all out rebellion, and Mark was tempted to let them. He had no use for their theatrics at the moment. He just wanted to be left alone, and that was exactly what he was getting.

Derek started staying away when Mark began growling whenever he got near, and all the residents were mysteriously absent wherever he went. They must have thought it was time to teach their interns a lesson though, so Mark had at least four interns assigned to him. And he was making each new one more miserable than the last.

He was enjoying every moment of torturing them, but in the end it meant nothing. Though he tried to distract himself, he kept seeing Lexie everywhere. He saw her in the waiting room, writing in a chart, he saw her in the on call room sleeping with one arm curled up under her head, and he saw her in the gallery. Despite what had happened, she kept coming to his surgeries. She was there every time, sitting there calmly and watching him. Mark tried not to look up, but he couldn't seem to help it. When he did, her eyes were there to meet his, steady and sure. They seemed to say, I'll wait.

His mood was even blacker on the third day, when he was sitting in his office, his fingers steepled over his nose as if in thought. That was how Callie found him.

She held her hands up as she came into the office. "Don't shoot, I come in peace." She offered him a smile, but he could not return it.

"So what's going on with you?"

Mark sighed. "You ever have a week that just goes from bad to worse?"

"Yeah, but for me it was more like a year that went from bad to worse." Callie grinned, "But that is not what this is about, is it?"

"No," Mark said. "I guess not."

"So what is it then? Is it sex? Cause there is this new nurse in Derm who probably hasn't heard of you yet."

"Thanks Callie, but I don't need you to be my pimp," Mark said dryly.

Callie laughed, and then sat in the chair across from Mark's desk. She then turned serious and said, "Whatever it is Mark, you have to decide why it's making you miserable. And then fix it."

Mark waved her off and she quietly left his office. He wondered if she wasn't right. Maybe it was as simple as figuring out why he was upset and then fixing it. Problem: he was upset because he had to stay away from Lexie. Solution: stop staying away from Lexie.

Mark rolled his eyes. Too bad life was never that simple.

***

Lexie Grey was miserable. It had been three days since she had spoken Mark. It felt sometimes, when she caught him looking at her, as if he was going to come and speak to her, but he never did. She had made a point of going to all his surgeries. Just because she had ruined the best work relationship, didn't mean that she couldn't still learn from Mark. Lexie told herself this, but she didn't really believe it. She just wanted to see him. To comfort herself in any small way that she could.

"Hey," Sadie said as she plopped down next to Lexie in the locker room.

"Hi," Lexie said, looking down at her bag trying to figure out if she had all her things.

"So how's the lovely Dr. Sloan?" Sadie asked.

"What?" Lexie squeaked. "What do you mean? Why are you asking me? I don't know anything about Dr. Sloan."

"Whoa," Sadie said, holding up her hands. "Easy there. I was just wondering how the two of you are?"

Lexie realized Sadie didn't know anything. "Look Sadie, I don't know where you got the idea that we had a thing, but really it is all in your head."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, don't tell me. But don't kid yourself, you and I both know that there definitely is a thing between you and Dr. Sloan. Man, he must be great in bed."

Lexie's face turned bright red.

"Ha!" Sadie said with a laugh. "I knew it. You two were just so obvious about it."

Lexie looked around at the empty locker room and then back at Sadie, "You can't say anything. Promise me."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Who would I tell?"

"Meredith?"

Sadie nodded. "Normally, this is something I would tell Death, but in this case...I can't help but notice the irony of the situation."

"What do you mean?" Lexie asked.

"Well, your sister thinks you're all rainbows and fluffy puppies, and here you are having a fling with the most unattainable guy in the hospital. No, I think I will keep this one to myself."

Lexie smiled. "Thank you, but it is not a fling."

Sadie sighed. "I thought we were past the denial phase."

"No, we are," Lexie said. "It's just that it was only one night. We haven't even talked since."

"What?" Sadie said in surprise. "That is so wrong! Then what is with all the eyesex?"

"The what?" Lexie said with a laugh. She enjoyed having someone know the truth, even if it was Sadie.

"The eyesex! Every time he has a surgery, there you are in the gallery making the sex eyes at him, and he looks like he wishes you were down in the OR so he could take you on the gurney."

Lexie smiled. "Sorry to disappoint. Nothing has happened for a couple of days. He sort of gave me the whole 'it was a mistake' speech."

"Hmm, that's interesting," Sadie said. "He must really feel guilty about what happened. He is probably pushing you away because of that."

Lexie nodded, she knew this much.

"So you know what the solution is?" Sadie asked.

"No, what?"

"You go to his hotel room and seduce him."

Lexie laughed. "That's what I did the last time."

"No!" Sadie gasped. "My God, your sister has vastly underestimated you. Damn, even I wouldn't have had the courage to try to seduce a sex god like him." Sadie tapped her finger against her chin. "Hmm, this will take some thought."

Lexie smiled to herself. She appreciated Sadie's help, but Lexie knew that it was Mark who would have to come to her this time. She couldn't always be the one doing the chasing.

"Joe's later, then?" Sadie asked.

Lexie hesitated, and then nodded.

***

Mark's mood hadn't improved by the time his shift ended, but he had promised Derek he would meet him at Joes. When he got to the dark bar, he felt relieved when he saw Derek alone at a table. He couldn't have dealt with Meredith Grey being his plus one at the moment.

"Mark," Derek said as he sat down.

"Hey," Mark replied, willing himself to be civil to his best friend.

"So, I figured it out," Derek said.

"Good for you," Mark replied. "What, exactly?"

"Why you are in such a bad mood," Derek replied.

Mark snorted. "I doubt it." He then took a sip of the drink that Derek had ordered for him.

"It's sex."

Mark choked on his drink. "What?"

"It's about sex. That is why you are so grumpy. The nurses are united against you, and they won't ease your suffering, so to speak."

"Derek, it's not about sex."

"I have a solution," Derek said, ignoring Mark. "There is this new nurse in Derm..."

"I am in hell," Mark muttered. "What, did you and Callie conspire to get me laid?"

The guilty look on Derek's face said it all.

"You two are unbelievable," Mark hissed.

"We were just trying to help," Callie said, coming up and sitting at their table. "Stop being such a drama queen."

Mark looked back and forth between the two of them and rolled his eyes.

***

When Lexie entered the bar, she looked around and quickly joined Sadie at her table. She had been delayed by a last minute charting mishap, and she was eager to have a drink and relax.

"There you are," Sadie said.

"Yep," Lexie replied. "Let me just go get a drink at the bar."

"Umm, that might not be such a good idea," Sadie said.

"Why not?"

"Cause a certain doctor you have the hots for is sitting right there."

Lexie turned and saw that Mark was indeed sitting at a table by the bar with Callie and Derek. She sighed.

"I'll get it," Sadie said, "And when I come back I will tell you my brilliant beyond brilliant idea."

Lexie laughed, and watched her head towards Mark. She made an order at the bar and then made a couple of glances towards Callie. Lexie was surprised, and rather relieved that her new friend had no designs on Mark.

When Sadie returned she said, "Was she watching?"

"Was who watching what?"

"Dr. Torres. Was she watching me walk away?"

Lexie checked, and then said, "Definitely."

Sadie smiled, "I knew it." She then waved her hand. "Okay, so...about my plan."

"Oh yes," Lexie replied. "Tell me your diabolical plan."

"Less diabolical, more ingenious."

"Well," Lexie said with a laugh, "What is it?"

"Okay, so you go out of your way to assign yourself to his service. You need to get Yang to send you off to Plastics in an indefinite kind of way."

"Well, first of all," Lexie said. "I don't think stalking is the answer to my problems. And second of all, even if I did feel a little Fatal Attraction coming on, there is no way that Yang would do me any favors. She hates me, remember?" Lexie pointed at herself. "Crazy Cabal Organizer. There is no way she would want to do anything for me that she thought I wanted."

Sadie tapped her finger on her chin again, which Lexie had realized she did when ever she was trying to analyze a problem in the most devious way possible. Sadie's face then lit up. "What if she thought that Plastics was the last thing that you wanted?"

"What do you mean?" Lexie asked, enjoying the craziness of the conversation. Anything to take her mind off a certain blue eyed doctor who consumed her thoughts.

"Well, I could somehow mention in front of her that you hated Plastics and that you were glad it was off your rotation. Wouldn't it be just like Yang to assign you there out of spite?"

Lexie laughed loudly. "I think your grasping at straws. Christina doesn't care enough to be that diabolical. She is not like you."

Sadie opened her mouth to speak, but then her eyes strayed to just behind Lexie. "Don't look now, but Mark Sloan is totally staring at you."

As if she was led by some compulsion she didn't understand, Lexie turned her head and met his eyes. She couldn't bring herself to look away.

***

Mark had been starting to relax as the evening wore on. It wasn't his friend's fault that things had happened the way they had, and he couldn't take it out on them any longer. He had even started to enjoy himself. Derek was talking about Meredith, of course, and he and Callie were badly attempting to give advice.

"Slow and steady," Mark said. "Grey is a crazy mass of tangled neurosis. You can't scare her with too many sudden movements."

"She isn't a deer, Mark," Callie said. She turned to Derek, "Meredith made the grand gesture with the candles. It might be time to return the favor. Maybe you should think about proposing."

"It's too soon for that," Mark protested.

"What does that mean?" Callie asked. "When it's right, it's right. Sometimes you just know." She was starting to slur her words together a little bit.

"How do you know?" Mark asked with a laugh.

"From the voice inside," Callie said. "I wish I had been listening to that voice when I got married."

"What was the voice saying?" Derek asked, trying to keep his face serious.

"It was saying, 'Run Callie, run'!"

Mark and Derek laughed. Callie started to join them, but her attention was diverted as Sadie walked up to the bar and ordered a drink from Joe. Mark watched in amusement as she and Callie exchanged sultry glances. It amazed him that he felt nothing. Lexie really had ruined him. He smiled to himself.

"Is she looking at me?" Callie asked through her teeth.

"Who?" Mark said with a laugh.

"Don't be an ass," Callie said.

"She is looking," Derek said.

Callie looked up then as Mark rolled his eyes.

While Callie was distracted by watching Sadie's retreating form, Derek leaned over and said to Mark, "About the other day..."

"Forget it," Mark said as he took a sip of his drink.

"I have just been thinking about it a lot," Derek admitted. "And I didn't want you to think that I didn't hear what you were saying."

"Don't be such a girl, Shep. I promise you, my feelings weren't bruised," Mark lied.

Derek looked as though he didn't believe him. "Well, anyway, what I wanted to say is that I think it might be a good idea, if you were serious, about trying to be better. You could start dating the nurse from Derm."

"That's a good idea," Callie chimed in. "You should try having a real relationship."

"What is it with you two?" Mark asked. "I'm fine."

Derek shrugged. "Well, whatever. It's not like you are changing for good, but we just thought a temporary alteration to your sex life might be a good idea. You have sort of exhausted all your options."

Mark shrugged, trying not to show the hurt that he felt at those words. He took another sip of his drink.

"Another round?" Callie asked. Both men nodded, so she went to the bar.

Mark stared down at the remaining amber liquid in his glass and tried to reassure himself that Derek was right. It was better this way. If he stayed away from Lexie, he definitely wouldn't hurt her, whereas if he didn't there was an almost certain possibility that he would.

"Hey, look," Callie said as she sat down. "They were giving out mistletoe at the bar." She tossed a couple of sprigs on the table.

Mark grinned at her. "I bet you have plans for that."

Callie laughed. "A lady never tells."

"Did you know mistletoe is a parasite?" Derek asked. "They cut it off because it shouldn't be there. So really, people are kissing under a parasite."

Mark wrinkled his nose. "Why did you have to tell us that?"

Derek grinned. "I am full of plenty of fun facts about Christmas."

"Jesus," Mark said. "You are almost as bad as-" He stopped himself from saying her name.

"As bad as whom?" Derek asked.

Mark opened his mouth, but was then distracted by the sound of laughter from across the bar. Lexie's laughter. Mark turned and watched her talk with Sadie. She looked so happy. Mark's stomach clenched. He wished that he was the one that she was laughing with.

She then turned her head, and Mark was suddenly staring into her eyes.

***

Lexie felt as though she looked at him for hours, while in reality it was only mere moments. She forced herself to break his gaze, and she turned around and looked at Sadie. "I'm not feeling so well," Lexie lied.

Sadie looked at her sympathetically, "But what about our plan?"

"Maybe later," Lexie said. She then grabbed her coat and left the bar, unaware of the eyes that were watching her progress.

***

Mark watched her leave, and immediately felt less because of her absence. He wanted to follow her, but something kept him in his seat.

"You should take that mistletoe and go find the Derm nurse," Callie was saying.

"Maybe some other time," Mark mumbled, looking down at his drink. There had to be some other way. Some way he could be with Lexie without hurting her. Mark realized then that if he stayed away from Lexie he would never know. He would never know if he had it in him to be the man that Derek thought he couldn't. But Mark knew one thing: he sure as hell wanted to try.

"I have to go," he said to Derek and Callie. He put his leather jacket back on, and took one last gulp of his drink. He just hoped that Lexie was in a forgiving mood. He clenched the mistletoe in his fist and tried not to be too obvious.

As he left the bar, Sadie caught his eye.

She was giving him the thumbs up.

Mark grinned, and then rushed out the door after Lexie.