Come lie with me

Chapter 26

Meredith smiled. "Can I ask you one favor?"

"Of course."

"It's a sister thing," Meredith said.

"What?" Lexie asked.

"Will you invite Dr. Hunt?"

"Why?" Lexie asked, not against the idea but curious as to why Meredith wanted him there.

"I owe her," Meredith said simply.

"Owe who?"

"Cristina."

"Oh," Lexie said, her brow furrowing. "But what does that have to do with—oh! Dr. Yang and Dr. Hunt?" She asked in a stage whisper.

"What about Dr. Hunt and Dr. Yang?" Mark asked as he and Derek returned to the table.

Lexie wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"No way!" He exclaimed. But then he smiled to himself. "She might be a single malt scotch after all."

Derek started laughing.

"What does that mean?" Lexie asked, looking at Meredith.

Meredith shrugged. "One thing I have learned over the years is to not try to decipher boy talk. It only leads to a headache and an affair with a tequila bottle."

After telling Meredith and Derek, Lexie had gone into planning mode. With Molly's help, everything was done with a week to spare, giving Lexie plenty of time to panic over inconsequential things. Molly seemed to disappear whenever she began to freak out, but Mark took each fit bravely and soothed any worries that she had.

One night, after one such freak out, Mark was sitting in the living room, with Lexie curled up on his lap. "Where do you want to go for our honeymoon?" Mark asked.

"I don't know," Lexie said. She then looked into his eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. "Are you sorry that it will have to wait a couple of months until I finish my internship?"

"No," Mark said. "Your internship is important to you, and I can wait."

Lexie smiled. "What about you? Any place you want to go?"

"I don't know," Mark said. "We do already have those tickets to New York."

"New York?" Lexie said, a grin in her eyes. "You want to go there on our honeymoon?"

"I want to show it to you," Mark said. "We could stay at the Plaza, and I would even do all the touristy crap with you if you like."

"Now that's love," Lexie said, kissing him gently. "Okay, New York it is."

Mark had grinned; glad she was seeing things his way.

That calm, that happiness, which surrounded them then had felt like the beginning of something great. Lexie was so happy about the wedding, despite her freak outs, and even her father had seemed to come on board. Mark knew that he and Thatcher would never have a friendly relationship, but they could tolerate each other for Lexie's sake.

On the Monday before the wedding, Mark arrived late to the hospital. He didn't have a surgery until later and Lexie had kept him home 'releasing endorphins' all morning. He had a light week, he wanted to be on hand to help Lexie with any crisis she imagined, but he also needed to work. Taking time off from the hospital with Lexie had been great, if maddening, but at the end he had been grateful to get back to the OR.

There was something about the scalpel.

Mark was headed to his office when he passed by the nurses station, nearly stopping in his tracks. There, taking to Derek, was Addison.