Come lie with me

Chapter 24

Within three days, Lexie was in a private room and out of the ICU. Mark, for his part, ignored all her attempts to get him to go home, get some sleep, and eat. Instead, he used the hospital's shower, cafeteria, and slept either with her, or in a very uncomfortable chair holding her hand. Her fellow interns had come by one by one, but none of them stayed long with the exception of Sadie. They all seemed uncomfortable by Mark, but even more so by the fact that she and Mark seemed so at ease.

Despite the fact that the entire hospital seemed to know of their engagement now, they all seem surprised to actually see it in action. Almost like many of them had thought it to be a whim of Mark's, or that she had lost a bet. It was a much different thing to actually see them with each other, being in love.

Bailey was a frequent visitor, so was Cristina. Bailey came by to visit with Lexie, discuss her recovery, but she seemed to really like seeing Mark entranced by Lexie. She said something to the effect that it renewed her faith in love. Cristina, on the other hand, would come by and ask medical questions that she thought Lexie would know because of her photographic memory. Mark grumbled that she wasn't a trained monkey, but Lexie just patted his hand and explained that it was the only way that Cristina could show she cared.

As for Lexie's family, after Thatcher had calmed down, he seemed to grudgingly accept Mark, though mostly against his will. Molly just watched it all with gentle humor in her eyes before heading home to her husband and daughter.

The only one who hadn't been to see Lexie was Meredith. Not when she was awake anyway. Mark had told her that he woke one night to see Meredith standing outside Lexie's room watching them with a sad look on her face, but she had never come in.

That changed on the third day.

Meredith stood her doorway, looking hesitantly at Lexie. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm just going to go find Derek," Mark said, standing, kissing Lexie lightly on the lips. "Play nice."

"Of course," Lexie said. She then grabbed his scrubs. "If you value your life, you will bring me chocolate."

"Yes ma'am," Mark said.

"Take a shower too," Lexie called as he walked away. "You smell like hospital!"

"So do you," Mark teased, "You don't hear me complaining."

"As if," Lexie muttered. "I am the one forced to take sponge baths here. You have no excuse."

"So true," Mark grinned, walking by Meredith as he left.

"He's in his office," Meredith said.

"Thanks, Grey," Mark said.

Once he was gone, Meredith looked at Lexie as if she was at a loss. "So," she began.

"So," Lexie repeated.

"You and Mark?"

"Yeah," Lexie said. She brushed her hair out of her face, longing for the day when she could take a real shower. Soon.

"How did that happen?" Meredith asked.

"You can come in, you know," Lexie said, indicating Meredith's current position with her hand. "No need to stand in the doorway."

Her sister walked slowly into the room, coming over to sit on the stool that was on the right side of the bed.

"It just happened," Lexie said, answering her sister's original question. "We had been working together a lot, and feelings started to develop. He began acting weird around me and I was totally confused, but then Sadie told me that he liked me—"