Derek Shepard and Mark Sloan had been best friends for a long time.
Their friendship had been put to a test when Derek's then wife Addison and Mark slept together.
It broke Derek's heart so much that he moved to live in Seattle. Soon after Addison and Mark both followed.
Derek's marriage to Addison ended and the woman moved back. Mark however stayed.
Over the time Mark and Derek were able to mend their friendship. They had made a promise to not let anything like what had happened with Addison happen again.
But that changed when Doctor Maddison Robbins walked into Seattle Grace hospital.
Being Arizona Robbins' sister made her "famous" the moment she walked into the hospital. She also had long beautiful blonde hair, blue eyes and a blinding smile like her sister.
The charming and sweet woman caught the eye of two best friends.
At first neither Mark nor Derek knew that the other was interested in Maddison.
It was Mark who noticed first that his friend was interested in the same girl as him. He knew that that meant nothing good. He did not want to lose his best friend again. But also, Maddison had somehow already found her way into his heart. And Mark was sure that she herself didn't even know that.
Then Derek noticed Mark's interest in Maddison. He was a little mad at first. He felt as if history was repeating itself with him and his best friend being interested in the same woman again.
They both were interested in pursuing a relationship with Maddison, but neither one of them wanted to break their friendship again.
That why they found themselves standing on the hospital bridge overlooking the entrance.
"So, what now?" Mark asked Derek while leaning on the railing.
"I think that we should let her decide." Derek proposed. "I already lost you once as a friend and I don't want to do that again." He sighed.
"Yeah, me neither." Mark replied. "So what we both back off?"
"I was thinking more of "Let the best man win". We continue communicating with her as we have and when the time comes she decides."
"And when she decides the other one won't get mad." Mark continued.
"Right. Because as much as I like her and care for her, I don't want to break the trust that we have now." Derek nodded his head.
"Well then, let the best man win." Mark extended his arm and Derek shook it.
"Let the best man win."
"What's going on here?" Came the voice of Maddison from behind them.
The best friends turned around to see the woman that they had just been talking about.
"Nothing," they said at the same time and looked at each other with sly smiles.
Maddison looked at them funnily. Something was going on and she was going to get to the bottom of it. If not today, then sometime soon.
"Should I be worried?" she asked with a chuckle.
Both replied at the same time again. "No!"
Maddison didn't know what to think anymore, so she decided that it was time to leave for the attendings room to get ready for the long workday that was waiting for her.
"Well okay, I guess I'll see you guys around." With that she walked away from the smiling doctors.
"That went well," said Derek sarcastically.
They looked at each other one more time before going their separate ways, both thinking about different ways to make Maddison choose them.