it's a grey('s) day - (4 Parts)

[Evergreen]

Title: No! Don't Call Lexie!

Author: moi

Fandom/Orginal: grey's anatomy fic

Disclaimer: (if a fanfict) i don't own the characters (although i wish i did own mcsteamy) or make money from this.

Summmary: Mark Sloan is used to being strong and in control. The flu doesn't care too much about his ego, however, and when he wakes up sick as a dog in the on-call room, he tries to make sure that Lexie won't find out.

Authors Notes: There are probably typos galore, and I hope you don't think the Derek-Mark interaction is unlike them.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The shrill beeping had been coming every second since his phone alarm had gone off, a rhythmic and loud beep that was invented to be just annoying enough to wake one up, but not so much so to result in a broken cell phone.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It’d been at least thirty seconds since Mark Sloan had woken up, so why was the phone still blaring as loudly as ever? The answer was quite simple: Sloan was wrapped in a blanket cocoon and any movement would let the cold air in. Now, he was not the type of person to admit he was sick, nor call for help, so as the door cracked open and revealed the pointed face of a nurse who was investigating the sound, he scowled unpleasantly.

It was then that she noticed him in his heap in the on-call room, her hand fluttering near the doorknob, face creased with anxiety at having stumbled into this situation. She was clearly unsure of whether she should leave without saying anything, ask him if he was okay, or insist on helping him. It was a conflict that was so obviously written across her face, and Sloan would have normally been amused by her terror, but right now he wasn’t in the mood for easing her nerves.

“Dr. Sloan?” she pressed hesitantly, still lingering in the threshold of the door. “Are you… Are you alright?”

“I’d be a lot better if you weren’t interrupting my nap,” he snapped petulantly, casting her a death look that made it clear it would be in her best interest to ignore the fact that he was so clearly sick. He waited momentarily as she stood there dumbly, unsure of what to do. Impatient, he instructed in a condescending tone, “Leave.”

“Oh… Okay…” she whispered, obviously eager to get out of the room. It was for this reason when he told her to wait, she looked about ready to cry.

“Turn off my alarm,” he muttered tiredly.

She quickly hurried forward, shaking hands fumbling over the phone until she silenced that incessant beeping. She then took five hurried steps back to the door, her face pinched with desperation. She wanted to get out of here. “Is that all, Dr. Sloan?”

Even though his brain was muddled with fever, he could sense that he’d been a little too harsh with this nurse, who he didn’t recognize and therefore was probably new as he was familiar with most of the nurses. Feeling sympathy for her, he intended to let her go and even thank her, but it was then that a dull tickle deep inside his nose became an acute and overwhelming one, causing him to hurriedly sit up, his blanket cocoon falling as he reached a loose fist and placed it under his mouth as he let three sneezes come out. “Huh’Shoo. Huh’Atchew. Hm’ngxt.”

“Bless you, Dr. Sloan,” she offered softly, fidgeting nervously.

Too embarrassed already, he simply scowled and waved his hand at her to leave before he was overcome with another overpowering tickle. “Huh’CHOO. Hm’chuh. Hm’ngxt. Hm’ngxt. Huh… Huh… HATCHEW.”

Rubbing at his nose furiously, he squinted his watery eyes angrily as the door opened again, expecting it to be the nurse, no doubt to do something ridiculous like bless him again.

“Bless you.” This was the phrase he’d been expecting, but the person was much different, although not surprising: Derek Shepherd.

“Thanks,” Sloan grumbled out, looking around for some tissues. “How did you know I was here?”

“I could hear you down the hall,” Derek said matter-of-factly as he held out some tissues.

“Jesus, really?!” Sloan asked, his face puckering with worry and shame as he took the tissues Derek was offering him and wiped at his nose. The last thing he needed was Lexie to find out about this and if people could hear him down the hall, she’d definitely find out.

If Sloan would’ve been looking at Derek, he would’ve known almost immediately that the man was just messing with him. A small chuckle gave it away though and Derek shook his head, replying, “No, I’m only joking. You of all people should know how thick these walls are.”

“Well how’d you find out, then?”

“Terrified nurse in tears running from an on-call room. It wasn’t too hard to figure out.”

“She was crying? I hardly even did anything.”

“So why didn’t you jump at the opportunity to have a young nurse take care of you?”

“I’b with Lexie, rebeber? I’b a one woban man now!”

Derek laughed shortly, shaking his head before he started out the door. “Well, if that’s the case, I should go get her for you. She’s been wondering where you’ve been.”

“No! Don’t!” Sloan begged, eyes wide. Lexie couldn’t see him like this. “Derek, if you go get her, you’ll be breaking ban law. Seriously, don’t get her!”

“Breaking man law? Are you kidding me? You slept with my wife,” Derek said with a grin.

“But… But I don’t need Lexie. I’b fine. I really don’t feel that sick. Actually, I think it was a twenty-four hour thing… I’b all bet… I’b all… Huh’ngxt. Hm’ngxt. Ngxt. Ngxt. Huh’ACHOO.”

“While you make a convincing argument, I’m getting Lexie. Feel better, Mark,” Derek said impishly, a sly grin cracking on his lips as he left the room, faintly able to hear his friend erupt into another fit of sneezes after he closed the door.

((to be continued. i would've wrote more, but i must go to work. hope you guys like it so far.))

[ID2006]

love love love it. I've been dying for a Grey's Anatomy fic. And Mark... yum yum... perfect personality for this type of thing too.

I also love the crack about the nurse crying running from the on call room. That's Sloan for you.

[Evergreen]

((i'm glad you like it! i hope you like this next part. (: ))

“Mark? Are you in there? Why is the door locked?”

Damn it. It was Lexie. He had hoped Derek was just teasing him when he said he was getting Lexie, but he’d locked the door just in case. Good thing he did, too, because she was trying to get in. Maybe he could just pretend like he was having sex… But… Lexie was outside and if she thought he was having sex, he’d have way bigger problems than having her see him sick. He could pretend like he wasn’t there! Yes! That was a fantastic idea and it would work brilliantly. He just needed to stay absolutely silent until she left.

That little decision was either said than done as his nose started to itch stubbornly. He rubbed at it violently, hoping to make the tickle go away, although it seemed to be getting worse. He was taking hitching breaths, still able to hear Lexie outside telling him to open up. Just a little longer. He held his breath hopefully, a surge of excitement rushing through him as he heard the words he’d been waiting for: “I guess you aren’t in here… I’m going to leave.”

Feeling as if she’d leave, he let his breath out, the itching getting worse. It was then that she started rambling again about how he really needed to open the door. It was also then that he realized he couldn’t keep from sneezing. Instead, he tried to muffle them in his pillow, a soft “huh’ngxt, huh’ngxt, ngxt, ngxt” escaping, definitely not audible to Lexie.

“Mark, I know you don’t like me seeing you like this, but I just want to see you. If you really want me to leave after I see you, I will. Mark! Open the door! Right now! I know you’re in there. Aren’t you? God, I look like a psycho talking to a closed door. The psych interns are gonna have a field day with this. I’m gonna go home, I guess. I’m off. I’ll see you there, maybe? Alright… Bye…”

He could hear her retreating footsteps, and so he sat up, another sneezing fit taking him off guard. “Huh’SHOO. SHOO. Huh’ATCH. ATCH. Hm’ngxt. Ngxt. HATCHEW!”

“Ah ha! I knew you were in there. I’m coming in!” she announced.

He quickly sat up as he heard the jingling of keys and then swore under his breath as the door swung open, Lexie, ever-so-polite, thanking one of the nurses for getting the keys from the nurse’s station. As soon as the nurse walked away though, her grateful smile disappeared, her eyebrows knitting together in fury.

“Mark Sloan! What the hell is wrong with you? You locked me out! And then you pretended not to be here. You should be ashamed! Why are you acting like this? We finally don’t have to hide our relationship and you shut me out! Why aren’t you saying anything? Why are you looking at me like that?”

He was trying to listen. Honestly, he was. It was just his nose was itching so bad. The “look” Lexie was referring to was one of complete agony. He didn’t want to sneeze in front of her, but he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out for. He couldn’t keep on like this either, because he could tell it was making Lexie mad. He could imagine why. He must look weird, his jaw slackened, eyes glazed but locked on her. With no warning, his head snapped forward with a loud “CHISH” covered in his hand. “Lexie… I’b… Ah… Huh… Heh’chuh. Huh’choo. Hm’ngxt. Hm’ngxt. Hm’chuh. I’b sorry!”

Lexie’s eyes widened with guilt. Mark really was sick and the only reason he’d been staring at her like that was because he had to sneeze. And now he was apologizing. “Bless you,” she whispered softly, inching towards him. “And don’t be sorry. I’m sorry. Derek told me you were sick, but I didn’t know how sick… I’m really, really sorry. Are you okay?”

That question, which had been asked more or less by the unfortunate nurse, received a completely different answer now that his girlfriend was asking. “I’b fine,” he mumbled, looking at her. “You look tired. You should go hobe and sleep. You don’t need to take care of be. Besides, I feel great. I’b just a little sneezy…”

Any anger she’d been holding against him melted away as she slid off her shoes and, much to his shock, climbed over him and nestled behind him, wrapping her arms across his chest as she rested her head against him, her chin settled on his shoulder and her face against his feverish neck. She let a content little sigh out, her eyes shutting sleepily.

“What are you doing?” Sloan asked, clearly bewildered at the situation.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m going to make you feel better. Are you feeling better yet?” she asked sweetly.

“A little,” he whispered, unable to let his guard down completely.

She placed a kiss against his neck, then spoke with her lips against his ear. “What about now?”

“Yes, much better now,” he said with a grin, rolling over so that he was facing her, intending to have his way with her whether or not he was sick. He nestled his face against her neck, attempting to breathe her in. It was then that his nose chimed in and the first two sneezes were let loose wetly against her neck: “Hum’chuh. Huh’chish.” He quickly pinched his nose shut, his shoulder heaving with one, two, three silently stifled sneezes. Once he was sure he was done, he removed his hand, his breaths ragged and rushed as he met her eyes guiltily. He couldn’t believe he’d just sneezed on her.

“Bless you,” she said with a small smile, not seeming to care in the least. In fact, she didn’t even bother to wipe the spray off her neck, probably for the sake of his self esteem.

As he opened his mouth to apologize, she kissed him gently to let him know he was forgiven. She then burrowed her head into his chest, feeling the warmth from his fever radiating off of him. “Mark?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me take care of you.”

“No probleb. If you really want, you can even rub by feet,” he joked, unable to deal with it being too serious. Thankfully, she laughed and hugged him tighter. They stayed like that until she fell asleep and loosened her grip, obviously exhausted from her shift. He just hoped by the time she woke up, he’d be feeling better. He hated being the vulnerable one.

((to be continued!))

[ID2006]

yay. I love this. Hopefully he still won't be feeling to great when she wakes up.

[Evergreen]

((so this is a product of much coffee and much editing. i just couldn't seem to get this post right. i hope it ended up okay.))

Sloan slept feverishly for several hours. After hour three, Lexie awoke, watching him with a bemused expression as he sniffled and whimpered in his sleep. Really, for such a big strong guy, he was quite pitiful when sick. She didn’t know whether to find his extreme vulnerability amusing or worrisome. Instead, she managed to flip between the two emotions. When he sniffled, shifting a little as he scrubbed at his nose in a half-asleep state, she had to fight to stifle a giggle. When his chills set in, though, and he began shivering violently, she had to remind herself that chills were well within the range of normal when someone was sick. She went to medical school, yet she was sitting here terrified her boyfriend was on his deathbed.

“Mark?” she whispered softly as he moaned, his whole body shaking with chills.

The lack of an answer was enough to silence Lexie, and she gently stroked his hair, her head nestled against his chest once more as she listened to his rhythmic, albeit congested breathing.

After another half hour, she was roused out of her daydreams as she heard his deep breaths change to quivering ones, each building up to… “HATCHEW. HA’CHISH. HUH’CHOO.” Lexie felt the rush of air against her hair. It was no surprise when Sloan came to complete alertness and realized that for the second time he’d sneezed on his girlfriend.

Feeling another fit building, he tried to decide how much time he had and as the first came out as a stifled “hmmph”, he realized he didn’t have time to get tissues or even get untangled from Lexie. Instead, he grasped her tightly, one hand hurriedly pushing her ponytail courteously out of the line of fire, the other desperately clapped over his nose and mouth as he sneezed. “Huh’ngxxt. Huhmph. Ngxt. Ngxt. Huh’kishhhh. Huh… Huh…”

“Mark… Your head is going to explode if you keep holding them in like that. Just let the rest out naturally,” Lexie instructed in her best advice-giving voice. She usually had the persuasive doctorly advice down pat, but this was Mark Sloan, head of plastic surgery and her boyfriend. Somehow giving him treatment advice made her feel awkward.

Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as his breathing leveled, his eyes watering, but the tickle obviously having died down. Great. She’d given him stupid doctor advice and now he was… Chuckling! He was sick as a dog, and he still had enough energy to laugh at her. To add to the endless stream of embarrassment, his laughs transitioned seamlessly into a congested coughing fit, phlegm ratting noisily in his lungs as he coughed. It was so bad that he was forced to sit up, Lexie rubbing worried circles on his back, her eyebrows knitted in fear, lips trembling in defeat at how she hadn’t helped him at all.

Throughout his coughing fit, he surveyed her. Her exceptionally expressive eyes were wide and betrayed how upset she was. It was something that he imagined was a curse and a blessing for her, since her sincerity was never doubted due to her honest brown eyes, but she couldn’t ever hide the way she was feeling. Right now she looked completely pitiful like a puppy who just got hit over the head with a newspaper. As soon as his coughing subsided, she was throwing question after question at him: Was he okay? How did he feel? How did he sleep? Did he need some water? It didn’t help that as she spoke, his nose itched just enough to be annoying but not enough to produce a sneeze. At least, not right away. As he answered her questions in reassuring ways, he began his torturous buildup, making it sound like he couldn’t quite catch his breath. This was noticed by Lexie of course.

“Mark!?” she probed hysterically, watching as he took shallow, quivering breaths. “Are you having trouble breathing? You’re really sick, aren’t you? Are you okay? Can you speak or are you too short breathed for that? No. Don’t speak. I’m going to get a nurse!”

Lexie hurriedly stood, heading to the door. She stopped as he gruffly managed to call her name in between hitching breaths. She hurried back over to him, obviously under the impression that he didn’t want her to leave because he was afraid or something.

He tried to quell her fears, but it was then that the itch got worse, becoming painful but still producing no sneeze. Rather, he was wracked with huge, gasping breaths instead of his shallow quivering ones as a buildup, Lexie’s eyes threatening to bug out of her head. As he gasped again, this time deeper than ever before, she breathed out an, “Oh my God, Mark!” It was then that his head snapped forward forcefully with a “HA’ESHOO” that caused Lexie to nearly jump out of her skin, her head knocking painfully into the bunk above his.

Now that he’d gotten the sneezes to come, he couldn’t stop them, each coming out forcefully, where he wouldn’t have been able to stifle if he tried. “CHISH. HAH’CHOO. HAH’CHISH. CHISH. CHISH. ESHH. HA’ESH.ESHH. UH’CHOO. UH’CHOO. CHOO!” Lexie gave a tiny flinch for each one, her brown eyes boring into his blue ones, the worry in them enough to make him feel guilty for ever having laughed at her in the first place. He was pretty sick, after all, and she cared about him. It was just, he couldn’t bear to let her fuss over him so much. He needed to laugh if only to pad his self esteem.

His sneezing fit ended abruptly, and he gratefully accepted the handful of tissues Lexie held out wordlessly, her hand shaking. She stared at him as if he might vaporize in front of her or something. Once he’d filled three tissues, he realized she’d still yet to say something, so he offered a sheepish apology. “I’b really sorry. Is your head okay? I didn’t bead to bake you hit it. Really, Lex, I’b fide. I dod’t eved feel that bad. CHISH. Sorry. You dod’t have to stay with be,” he rambled, not used to feeling so unsure. He had no idea what to say to make it better, and it wasn’t like he could just turn the charm on right now when he couldn’t even talk right. “What are you thidkidg?”

“You just sneezed thirteen times!” she murmured with wide eyes after a long pause.

“What do I wid?” he said with a small smile.

“An all expense paid trip to my house! You can’t get better in an on-call room,” she said, this time her doctor voice not faltering a bit as she waited for him to agree.

His expression was blank, Lexie staring at him worriedly as he pitched forward with another “CHISH.”

“I’ll take that as your consent,” she said with a grin. “Oh. And Mark.. Bless you. Fourteen times.”

He rubbed at his nose hard, sniffling wetly before he miserably replied, “Thadk you.”

[musiclover90]

WOW...I can't wait to read what follows that!

[Evergreen]

((again, it's not very good. i'm running on a pretty crazy sleep debt. i'm just trying to get this story finished before i leave for college on wednesday. haha. feedback is welcome, as i keep feeling like i'm rambling. i'm thinking having lexie get sick. maybe drag izzie into it, too. i don't know. i really like izzie-mark as friends and she lives at the house, too, so i was thinking she could take care of mark whenever lexie had to go back to work. let me know what you guys think!))

“Okay, up you go,” Lexie gently coached Mark, one arm behind his back as she helped him sit up all the way. She then stood and with a light tug on his hands prompted him to stand. His body swayed and she steadied him with a firm arm around his waist. “You okay?” she asked as soon as she was sure he wasn’t going to collapse.

“Uh huh,” he replied, his voice sounding even more congested than before.

“Right, let’s go then,” she said as she gently led him towards the door.

“Lexie, wait,” Mark whispered desperately, his face contorted in preparation for a sneeze. He braced one hand against the post of the door, the other still tightly wrapped around her shoulders to steady himself. Clearly distraught, he searched for a way to cover his sneezes, because if he were to move either of his hands, he was sure he’d crumple to the ground.

Lexie, recognizing his dilemma, quickly turned and grabbed a tissue out of the tissue box before she tentatively held it against his nose. “Go ahead,” she said with a small smirk. This was not how she’d pictured herself taking care of Mark, but it felt right with him being this vulnerable. It was fitting given how many times he’d taken care of her. Granted, she’d never been ill whilst having Mark look after her, but each time she’d been sobbing over one thing or another and he’d held her until she fell asleep. This was right.

Sloan tried to fight the sneezes for a minute when Lexie held the tissue to his nose, because that just made him feel more embarrassed, but soon the tickle prevailed and he sneezed three identical sneezes which sounded like “HA’ARESHOO” and caused him to pitch forward a little, tightening his grasp on the door and around Lexie to steady himself. Once he was sure he was finished, he lowered his shoulders, sniffling pitifully until Lexie instructed him to blow in a very maternal voice. While his pride would have usually made it impossible for him to succumb to his weakness so fully, he knew he couldn’t steady himself and blow his nose by himself, so he complied, blowing hard and filling four tissues.

“Better?” she asked with a small smile before they began their trek down the hall. “Just let me know if you need to stop.”

They walked in silence until they reached the elevator, Mark halting and offering a soft “Wait…”

Lexie, having grabbed a handful of tissues so she’d be prepared for another of Mark’s sneezing fits, grabbed one. “Your nose, again?” she asked sympathetically, her lips twisted in sympathy.

“No… I deed to tell the Chief that I cad’t work toborrow.”

Lexie nodded and repocketed the tissue, shuffling Mark into the elevator and pressing the floor of the Chief’s office. Once they made it there, she felt a wave of relief seeing that the man was in his office. She didn’t know how much walking Mark could take.

Richard waved them in as soon as they got to the glass door of his office, surveying them both with a confused expression, Lexie’s arm wrapped tightly around Sloan’s waist. He hadn’t even known of this development. Could anyone stay away from Grey women? It appeared not. First Derek and Meredith. Now Lexie and Mark. At least in his day, he’d been sleeping with a Grey woman who was the same age as him!

“Sir, I cadn’t work toborrow… We deed to push my surgeries or get adother surgeon to cover them, because I seeb… I seeb… I… hmpshoo, huh’ngxt, ngxt, hmpsh, hmp’SHOO…I seeb to have caught the flu,” he finished, not even aware of how he and Lexie had unintentionally outed themselves to the Chief.

Lexie, however, knew this after just a minute. She hadn’t even thought about it when she’d walked in with Mark, her arm snaked protectively around his waist, but after a few seconds of looking at the Chief, she realized what was going on. This was just great. She was supposed to be taking care of Mark, not letting him waltz right into a sticky situation! Thankfully, the Chief said nothing of their relationship. Instead he said, “Very well, then. Call me when you’re better, Dr. Sloan.”

Sloan nodded his head before he set off with Lexie again.

--

It didn’t take long before they arrived at Lexie’s house, which he somehow managed to forget was Meredith’s house, too. Oh, well, it would just mean that Derek would make fun of him whenever he got here. Too tired to really care about that, he allowed Lexie to lead him to the couch after unsuccessfully trying to tackle the stairs. As she lowered him down onto the cushion, he turned on his side and curled up on the couch, shivering.

“Here you go,” Lexie whispered as she brought in a thick blanket, placing it over Mark’s shivering body.

“I dod’t feel well,” he whispered, coughing several times, a particularly violent shiver rippling through his body.

“I know you don’t, Mark. You’ll feel better once you sleep, though, okay?” Lexie cooed.

“Okay,” Mark whispered, closing his eyes tiredly. As he felt Lexie stand up, his eyes opened in alarm. “No! Dod’t leave be,” he begged, too sick to give a damn about how weak this was of him.

“I was just going to get you some water, but I’ll stay with you now. Don’t worry,” Lexie whispered, nudging Mark over on the couch as she took her dutiful place beside him, letting him hug her close as he drifted off to sleep, his shivering dying down to where it was just a small tremble of his body every so often. Lexie pushed his hair from his forehead, placing a tender kiss to it before she, too, wrapped her arms around him, placing her forehead against his so their faces were measured against each other as she drifted off as well.

((to be continued, most likely, unless you guys want me to stop my rambling writing. haha.))

[ID2006]

I love love love this... more than you could ever know. I was sooooo excited to get on and see more. I can't wait till Meredith and Derek get home to see Mark this pathetic. Oh yummy yumness. And if your story is considered rambling I could care less... it's dang good rambling.