Title: Lovesong (1/1)
Author: youngerdrgrey
Pairing: Mark/Lexie
Summary: A continuation of Mark and Lexie’s scene on the stairwell in ‘Song Beneath the Song’
Rating: T
Warnings/Spoilers: 7x18
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights for the characters and the world go to their owners (like Shonda Rhimes and ABC). I, in no way, believe - or would lead others to believe - that I own Grey's Anatomy. I am merely a fan of the television show who has ideas for things that Shonda could do/could've done.
Author's Note: Please review if you read.
(1/1) LOVESONG
A lot has happened in the stairwells of Seattle Grace Mercy West. Feverish kisses, whispered secrets, spying, fighting, and falling, and basically everything imaginable has happened. Out of all of them, this means the most to him. The only thing that matters other than this is O’Malley falling down these same stairs years ago. (And that’s only because if George hadn’t, he would haven’t met Callie at the right time and Mark wouldn’t get the chance to rescue his future best friend from everything George made her feel.)
Lexie takes Mark’s hands in hers. She brushes her pointer finger between two of his knuckles, slowly. She tells him to breathe. She’s there for him. For as long as they have existed in each other’s lives, they have taken care of each other. No matter the other person’s feelings at the time, they rush to help. Callie used to say they were made for each other.
She might not get the chance to ever say it again.
“I texted her,” he says. Lexie fixes him with a confused stare. He expands his comment. “They were leaving and I knew it was their weekend, but I sent her a text. What if that distracted her and Robbins? What if-that text can’t be the last thing I ever sent her. It can’t.”
Lexie probably thinks she’s helping when she asks, “What did you say?”
How does he answer that question? Is he supposed to just tell her that the reason he feels even worse than he should about the accident is because he was bitching about her sleeping with Avery? That damn kid, using Mark’s help to get in with Lexie. Just damn him and lock him away so that he keeps his filthy, lying, resident hands off of Lexie Grey.
Why is she with Avery anyway? He’s a prick. He uses his body to get everything he wants and he blows off his superiors like they don’t even matter. Oh, great, she has a type. What’s with her and these horrible choices for guys? She chose O’Malley and Karev. She’s downgrading every time. He can’t tell her that though because she’ll just run away from him again.
She hides from him like it’s a Grey family trait. It probably is. Horrible at relationships, the lot of them. Of course, Lexie was great until Sloane appeared. And before Callie got pregnant. She just isn’t okay with being around him now. He can’t blame her. If he was over her and she still followed him around, he would want to skip out on all of the talks too.
He decides to stay vague in his answer. Better she be annoyed for a lack of information than freak out.
“Nothing important,” he responds. It isn’t. Not really. People move on in relationships. It is understandable. Both Derek and Meredith dated other people in between their romance. Callie slept with him. It’s okay. Because, if he and Lexie are anything like the other two amazing couples, then they will get back together. He just has to wait it out. Let her have her fling with the shitless shirtless. She came to him now, didn’t she? It’ll all work out.
“Mark,” she says. He meets her gaze. She knows. He knows that she knows what it was about. She sucks at subtly. He sees the guilt in her eyes now. She shouldn’t feel guilty. None of them should. She sighs and seems to resign herself to saying nothing. She breaks the eye contact to stare at the door opposite them. It obviously isn’t as satisfying as she is back to looking at him in seconds. “I hope Callie’s okay,” she says.
Mark likes to pretend that he speaks Grey. After years, he’s not exactly fluent, but he can pick up a few things. In that, he reads that Callie has to be okay because Lexie wouldn’t know what to do with herself. Callie and Arizona have to be okay because they were the perfect family that accepted Lexie in. Callie can’t die because the whole hospital would fall apart and they’ve already lost too many people. Lexie can’t lose more people that she loves. She’s already lost her mom, almost lost her dad, lost pieces of herself to Gary Clark that won’t come back, and she lost him. She lost Mark. She tries to ignore the pain of it, but she can’t. She just can’t. She needs Callie to be fine. She needs Callie and Arizona to get married. She needs the confidence of the open bar and the love in the air to break down the denial that keeps her from going after Mark again. They are her family, and she needs her family to be okay.
To all of that, he can only say, “I do too.”
She rests her head on his shoulder. She wraps an arm around his waist and goes back to watching the door. She doesn’t look up when his breath hitches. She doesn’t hold him tighter when the first tear falls. She just holds him the same no matter what. Because love doesn’t change when people are sad; it’s a constant that can’t be erased and hates to be ignored. Her holding him means she has to still love him. And that means more than anything.
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[Title - “Lovesong” by Adele]
Thoughts?