A/N: Second in the Dreaming With a Broken Heart arc. The first is Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (3.21 spoilers) and this story takes place shortly after it, roughly during "The Other Side of This Life" (3.22 and 3.23). Warning: It's LONG.

A/N: Edited 05/10/10 to make up for FanFiction's line break snafu. Thanks to Red Bess Rackham for pointing it out.

Kissing a Fool

She's managed to avoid him for two days, but this time, when he sees her coming, he ducks into the nearest on-call room. It's empty. He sees her coming up to the door and opens it quickly, dragging her into the darkened room. She gasps quietly and he pins her up against the wall, his lips finding hers unerringly even in the gloom, which is strange, considering they've only kissed once before. She gives in quickly, her arms snaking around his neck and her fingers carding through his hair. They pull away when they need to breathe, and she sighs quietly as he leans forward so their foreheads touch. Their breathing is ragged but he opens his mouth to speak. She gives into her impulses and brings his lips back to hers, killing whatever it was he was about to say.

He's had hazelnut coffee recently and the nutty flavour mixes with the chocolate on her lips and she sighs, allowing him more liberties and moaning when he runs his hands gently through her hair before tipping her head back and abandoning her lips for the hollow of her throat. A gasp escapes her and she sees his teeth flash in the gloom as he smirks and redoubles his efforts. She pulls his head closer and sucks lightly on his earlobe, allowing herself a grin as he jerks in surprise.

He lifts her up and she puts her legs around his waist for leverage as he pulls her mouth back to his.

She's had curry sometime today, because he can feel the spiciness burning his tongue. It's his turn to groan as she digs her nails into his shoulders. When they pull away this time, they're so close that their noses bump together, and they breathe each other's air.

Then he ruins it, nibbling down her neck before sucking on it, doing his damnedest to make sure she walked out of there branded as his. She pushes him off and tries to fix her hair in the dark. Frustrated, she elbows him out of the way and hits the light switch, blinking furiously against the glare as she peers in the mirror.

He's standing behind her, wondering what happened, and she avoids the eyes boring into her head. He's frustrated and angry, and she's not talking. He situates himself across the doorway, vowing not to let her out, not until they talk, but his pager goes off. He swears, and he's sure she's relieved he's been called away, so they don't have to talk and she can pretend this never happened, like she did with their first kiss. He glares at the pager in the hopes that it would self-destruct, and when it doesn't, he opens his mouth, closes it, and stalks off.

She sighs in relief as he leaves; glad to postpone the talk they have to have. She shouldn't feel the attraction – except she does and she loves it. They're so completely different it's laughable. They're even more dysfunctional than Meredith and Derek, and they aren't any kind of thing yet. Ever. She means they won't be a thing ever. She shakes her head in disgust and pulls a hair elastic out of her pocket – her clip went flying earlier and she has no idea where it is, and no desire to stay and look for it. She pulls her hair ruthlessly into a bun, flicking the lights off before hurrying to catch up with Bailey for rounds.

"Yang, Shepherd. Grey, Torres. Karev, Burke. O'Malley, Sloan. Stevens, the clinic."

Izzie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why are you smiling? Sydney "kill them with kindness" is down there." Cristina said crossly.

Izzie shrugged. "She's really not that bad, Cristina."

The other four interns stared at her.

"What are you on, Izzie?" Alex finally demanded.

"Hey, do you want to trade for Sloan?" George asked piteously.

"Can I have my boyfriend back, Karev?"

"What are you still doing here? Get to work! Yang, O'Malley – there will be no trading of the attendings!" They turned around slowly to face the irate form of Miranda Bailey.

"Get. To. Work!"

They scattered.

"Izzie, wonderful! As you can see, the clinic's empty right now, so we'll be able to catch up on the paperwork. Here's a pen. Sit, sit!"

"Dr. Burke, are you using Dr. Karev?"

"Hmm? Oh, did you need him?"

"I could use another pair of hands for my surgery."

"Karev! Go scrub in on Dr. Montgomery's surgery!"

"Seriously?"

"Come on. We still need to prep her."

"Right behind you, Dr. Montgomery." And what a fine behind it is.

"Good morning sunshine," Sloan said, before looking up to see George.

"Ah, good morning?" George replied nervously.

"Oh, so you're my intern for today."

"Bailey's orders," George agreed.

Sloan grimaced and looked down at the coffee in his hand, "You'll excuse me?" He strode down the hall and dumped one of the cups in the garbage, wiping his hand on his scrubs after returning to George's side.

"So, where were we?" he asked, taking a sip from the remaining cup.

"Seriously, why would you buy two cups of coffee and then dump one of them in the garbage?"

"Maybe he drank it George, did you ever think of that?"

"Ha. Funny, Cristina. There was steam coming out of it."

Izzie sat down with a thud, putting her lunch tray in front of her.

"Why was I so happy about going to the clinic this morning?" she moaned.

"You were on some really good drugs?" Alex suggested with a snicker. Izzie flipped him off.

"Why are we still eating in Coma Guy's room?" Meredith asked, closing the door behind her with her foot.

"It's the quietest place in the hospital, Mere," Cristina reminded her.

"Right."

"And no one can find us," Izzie added.

"Or give us syph."

"Dude, you just totally ruined my appetite," Alex grumbled. "Does anyone like chocolate pudding?"

"Give it here," Cristina demanded.

"Oh, someone's got her panties in a twist."

"Hand it over Karev, or I'll kick your ass."

Alex tossed it over.

"Spoon?"

Izzie gave hers to Cristina, "I want it back when you're done with it."

"Seriously, has anyone else noticed Sloan acting weird lately?" George asked.

Izzie tensed slightly, but no one noticed.

"Stranger than normal, you mean?" Alex asked.

"He has stopped hitting on the nurses so much," Meredith added.

"Oh please," Cristina scoffed. "You're so tired of your own dramas that you have to make one up?" Her pager went of and she glared accusingly at Alex after reading it.

"You're not working with Burke?"

"Montgomery pulled me to work on one of her surgeries," Alex shrugged, "No big."

"I am so switching!"

"Oh, I'll come with you!" Meredith agreed.

"Well hurry up then, I'm leaving."

"Wait!" George called after them. "I'm coming with you!"

Alex looked curiously at Izzie, "Don't want to get out of clinic duty, Iz?"

Izzie groaned, "The only other free attending is Sloan. I am so with the lesser of the two evils."

"Alex would have to agree with you."

"It seems I'm short an intern," Sloan said, leaning casually against the clinic counter, "Care to fill the position?"

"Sydney really needs my help," Izzie said insincerely, "I couldn't leave her alone."

"Oh, we're almost done Izzie, I'm sure I can finish the rest of these myself," Sydney said, walking back into the clinic.

"You're not too busy, are you Stevens?" Sloan prodded, smirking.

Izzie wanted to slap Sydney.

"Fine, Dr. Sloan. Where to?"

He smiled.

"God hates me," Izzie declared later that night, "He has to. Why else would I get stuck with Sydney and Sloan in the same day?"

Cristina wordlessly passed her beer to Izzie and waved Joe over for another.

"Poor Iz," Meredith said, leaning over, "We still love you, don't we Cris?"

"Mmhmm," Cristina nodded absently.

"Hey," Meredith was almost nose-to-nose with Izzie now, "Is that a hickey?"

Izzie scrambled in her purse for her compact and held it up to her neck.

"Oh my god," she groaned, "It is. That's it; I'm going home before this day gets any worse."

"Well, if it isn't my three favourite interns," Mark Sloan drawled behind them, "Nice hickey, Stevens, who'd you get it from?"

Izzie growled and slammed her empty beer bottle against the bar.

"I'll see you at home, Mere," she said before stalking out of the bar.

"Was it something I said?"

She was the one who pulled him into an on-call room this time. He looked at her curiously, one eyebrow raised. She slapped him.

"I see you covered that up. It's a nice turtleneck." He smirked.

"I wouldn't even have one if it wasn't for you!"

"You didn't seem to be complaining."

"You're such a prick!"

"Did you just pull me in here to call me names? Because I can think of more enjoyable things to be doing in here."

"Stop it."

"Call me Mark and I'll think about it."

"Leave me alone – Mark."

"Sorry," he whispered, pulling her in for a kiss. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment before snapping open. She shoved him, catching him off balance and he fell, hitting the wall.

"Don't talk to me!" she snapped, slamming the door behind her.

Mark tipped his head back and hit it against the wall.

"Shit."

Izzie was still raging as she marched up to the others.

"Where's Bailey?"

"The Chief called her a minute ago." Alex said, eyeing her carefully, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"Whoa, calm down," Alex said, backing away with his hands up.

"Stevens! Stop terrorizing the other interns!"

"Thank you, Dr. Bailey," George said.

Cristina elbowed him in the side and he winced, falling silent. Bailey ignored them and continued.

"Yang, Montgomery. Grey, Sloan. Stevens, Shepherd. O'Malley, Torres. Karev, Burke. Let's go people! Get to work!"

"Well, Mrs. Brown, your wounds are healing quite nicely and your concussion has cleared up, so it's about time we get Dr. Sloan to come in and see what he can do with those scars," Derek said, patting her hand, "Dr. Stevens, can you go ask him for a consult?"

"Of course, Dr. Shepherd," Izzie made it around the corner and pulled out her pager to get a hold of Meredith, but her friend was walking down the hallway just ahead of her.

"Meredith!"

"Hey Izzie, what's up?"

"Derek was wondering if Sloan could do a consult on one of his patients. She was in a car accident and she has some scarring he wants to try and get rid of."

"I don't know if he can. He's kind of busy. He might listen if you come, instead of me passing the message on. But he's in a bit of a bad mood, so he might still say no."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Picking up strays, are we Dr. Grey? Anne, this is my intern, Dr. Grey, and her fellow intern Dr. Stevens," Sloan said as they entered.

"Dr. Grey, Dr. Stevens," Anne inclined her head politely.

"Anne was in a fire a year ago and we just fixed the last of the scars on her arms," Sloan explained. He frowned, "Did you need me for something, Dr. Stevens?"

Izzie bristled. "Dr. Shepherd would like a consult on a patient who was in a car accident and has some facial scarring."

"Of course. Anne, I'll be back to check on you in a few hours. If you need me before then, one of the nurses can page me," he gathered up his charts and turned to Izzie, "Lead the way, Dr. Stevens."

"Most of these are superficial – I won't have a problem with them. I am a bit worried about this one, here," Sloan said, tracing his finger down the side of her face, "It's the only one that could potentially give us any problems. I can minimize it easily, but I won't know if I can remove it completely until we get her into surgery."

"Thank you Mark," Derek said, taking the photograph back, "I appreciate you getting here so quickly."

Mark shrugged. "Just doing my job. Pleasure's all mine."

Derek's mouth twitched. "Would you mind relinquishing Dr. Grey for the rest of the day?"

"Ah yes, I had noticed that the Great Intern Swap was still going on. Well, fair's fair. You get Grey, I get Stevens. It's not nice to keep all the pretty interns for yourself, now is it Derek?"

Derek's eyes narrowed slightly. "I suppose not. Alright. Grey! With me!" he raised his voice to catch Meredith's attention, as she and Izzie were farther down the hall, discussing… something.

Izzie's eyes widened and she grabbed Meredith's arm, "Mere, no!" she hissed, "You can't switch with me!"

'What? But Izzie…"

"Please Mere, please don't switch!"

"Grey? Are you coming?"

"I'll bake you cookies! Lots and lots of cookies!"

"Meredith?" Derek calls again.

"Coming!"

"Meredith!" Izzie hisses angrily.

"Look, I'm sure you'll be fine. It's just Sloan, how bad could it be?"

"Mere, you just jinxed me!"

"Stevens! Get your ass in gear! There are people just waiting for us to cut them open!"

"You see what you did?" Izzie hissed as Meredith started walking away. "I hope you have fun with McDreamy today, because I'm going to kill you when I get home!"

Mark slung his arm companionably over her shoulders and led her away from the elevators.

"I was starting to think you didn't like me anymore, Stevens."

Izzie jerked away. "Fuck you, Mark."

"Only in your dreams," he winked.

Izzie resisted the urge to hit him. Great. Just great. I could kill Meredith for deserting me in my hour of need. "What do you want?"

"Well, a bone dry cappuccino would be nice… but I'll settle for an extra pair of hands in surgery," he corrected at Izzie's withering look.

"Fine," Izzie sniffed.

"Well, this was a fun day," Mark remarked to Izzie as they walked out of surgery, stripping their gloves off.

"You did a really good job on Mrs. Brown's scars. Even the bad one," Izzie said the words sounding forced.

"I know. I'm just that good," he smirked at her.

"You wish you were that smooth," she grinned when his jaw fell in disbelief.

"Stevens!" Bailey yelled from down the hall, "Don't forget, you're on call tonight," she handed Izzie the on call pager. Izzie groaned.

"You forgot, didn't you Stevens? Never mind. Burke's got a patient who needs to be checked on every three hours. And make sure you get some sleep since you're working tomorrow. Any questions?"

"No, Dr. Bailey."

"Good. I'm going home."

"Don't forget to knock before entering any on call rooms," Mark warned her, smirking.

"Trust me; I've already learned that lesson."

It took Izzie three tries before she found an empty on call room, and she sank onto the bed with a sigh, feeling the stress of the last few days catch up to her. She was so tired…

She jerked awake when she felt eyes on her, and found she was staring at Mark Sloan. She scrambled backwards until she hit the wall, fearing a repeat of the last two times they were in an on call room together. Mark regarded her as one would a skittish animal.

"I didn't realize you found me that repulsive, Stevens. Don't worry; I'm not here to ravish you – unless you ask nicely." He laughed at her outraged expression and held out the coffee cup in his hand. "One cream, three sugars, right?"

Izzie accepted the cup warily, surprised he'd noticed. She said as much.

"I notice lots of things, Stevens."

"What are you noticing right now?" she asked, braver with the caffeine in her system.

"That you're completely hot for me," Mark smirked.

"You wish," Izzie retorted.

"I know," he corrected. The gleam in his eyes was all the warning she got as he swooped in and pressed a quick, hot, kiss against her mouth and disappeared, flashing her a shit eating grin as he left.

Bailey looked suspiciously at Izzie when she came in the next morning.

"How much sleep did you get, Stevens? You are obviously in no condition to stand, let alone perform a surgery!" She steamrollered over Izzie's objections. "I will not have you maim anyone on my watch. I want you out of this hospital in ten minutes, Stevens, and if you show up within less than eight hours, I will have you forcibly removed."

"Dr. Bailey-"

"Nu-uh! Now, Stevens!"

So Izzie dragged herself to the locker room, explaining to her fellow interns what had happened and the fact that she was going home, had Meredith shoving food at her and Cristina laughing, George frown and Alex simply smirk, probably thinking she had been up for more… pleasurable reasons. Bastard.

Once she reached the parking lot, she put her keys into the car door, only to have her eyesight swim, making her sway backwards. A pair of arms caught her before she could hit the ground, pulling her upright.

"Stevens? You're not actually going to try and drive, are you?"

"I'm fine. I just need-" Dizziness overtook her and Mark steadied her.

"You need sleep, before you pass out," Mark told her, "Give me your keys, I'm driving."

"What? No!"

"Izzie, I am not letting you drive, so give me your keys or go to an on call room. Those are your choices."

"God, fine!"

"Thank you," Mark scooped Izzie up and deposited her in the passenger seat before sliding in behind the wheel, "Here we go."

"Home sweet home," Mark announced, ushering Izzie inside.

"Should I be worried that you know where my house is without having to ask for directions?"

"Stevens, don't you trust me?"

"Not as far as I could throw you, McSteamy."

"See, I knew you were hot for me."

"Cristina came up with it, not me."

"I'll have to thank her later," he murmured, checking his watch, "But – I am substantially late to work, thanks to you, so… how 'bout making it up to me with a before work quickie?"

"Sure," Izzie snorted, "And after I'll take a hot poker to-" her body relaxed and Mark found himself once again being used as Izzie's leaning post.

"I suppose I should be glad that you're not awake to finish that sentence," he said to the unconscious girl. "Now, where do I put you?"

"Dr. Sloan! And just where have you been?" Bailey demanded irritably, "You think you can all just waltz in and out of this hospital any time you damn well please? The Chief is looking for you."

"Sorry, Miranda. Late night, you know how it is."

"Uh-huh. Sure I do. I don't want to hear confessions! Get moving, Dr. Sloan!"

"Late again, Mark? Not a very good impression, is it?" Mark looked over to see Addison leaning against the wall, her patented "Satan" smirk on her lips.

"Addison, so wonderful to see you again," Mark drawled.

"And here I'd thought we'd moved past all of the latent hostility."

"It's all part of the patented Mark Sloan charm."

"How could I forget?"

"Besides," he smirked, "You keep coming back to me, so, you see, it worked."

Addison laughed.

"How do you manage to get your head and your ego through the door at the same time?"

"It's a talent," Mark winked at her as he tipped an imaginary hat to her and set off down the hall, whistling.

"Okay, ten bucks says Olivia the syph nurse makes a pass at McSteamy and he totally blows her off," Cristina announced, slapping the bill down on the cafeteria table.

"Nah, I heard him tell Bailey he had a late night – I see your ten and raise you five that they go find an empty on-call room," Alex countered.

"Fifteen for flirting, then blowing her off," Meredith said calmly, adding her money to the small pile as Cristina grumbled and added her own five to match Alex's bet.

"George?" Cristina prodded. He dug through his wallet and pulled out a twenty.

"Fifteen says he says hello and keeps walking," George said, "Anyone got some change?"

"What are you doing?" Derek asked, walking over to Meredith and pulling up a chair.

"Olivia the syph nurse is about to make a pass at McSteamy. I say total blow off, Evil Spawn says empty room, Mere says flirt then blow off, and Bambi says hi and walks away," Cristina filled him in quickly. "Feel lucky, McDreamy?"

"How much?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen on flirting, then," Derek said, pulling a few bill out of his wallet.

"There she goes," Alex announced, "And… contact!"

They watched as Olivia and Sloan exchanged a few words, Sloan glanced at his pager, smiled apologetically and left.

"You've never won a bet," Cristina accused. "How'd you do it? Did you page him?"

"I was here with you, and I checked the board before I came down. He had surgery in an hour. Chances were good he wouldn't be here long," George said, shrugging. "Easiest sixty bucks I ever made."

Mark delicately extricated himself from the clutches of Olivia-the-syph-nurse (honestly, that name would follow her forever) by faking a page, not really in the mood to fend her off, and was currently sitting in his car, debating whether or not to call Stevens. His more-than-slightly evil side won and he picked up the phone, listening to it ring. And ring. And ring. And then she picked up.

Izzie woke up suddenly, disoriented, and groped around for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Stevens." he sang gaily, knowing he was pushing his luck even as he spoke.

"What the hell, Mark?"

"I figure you owe me for this morning, and since you're dead set against my favourite form of payment, you owe me coffee for the next week."

Izzie blinked, "What did you just say?"

"Coffee, Stevens. The hot brown stuff you drink in the morning to wake yourself up."

"Give me one good reason."

"I could just tell all your friends about how friendly you are with the enemy."

"Blackmail was the best reason you could come up with?"

"Stevens…"

"Fine. All right."

"Good. See you bright and early, Stevens."

Izzie slowly replaced the receiver in the cradle, frowning. "I hate men," she declared, falling back onto the bed. "Seriously." Izzie was almost asleep when she had the idea. She giggled.

"Dr. Sloan!" the coffee cart girl called as Mark walked in the door. "Your coffee is here!"

"Thank you, Alicia," he said, taking it from her. "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh, nothing, Dr. Sloan," she said, starting to blush. "That nice doctor, Izzie, she paid for it and asked me to get it for you when I saw you coming."

"Well, thank you again, that was very kind of you, Alicia," Mark replied, smiling at her.

"Not a problem, Dr. Sloan," she said, her blush blossoming as she smiled up at him. "It was my pleasure."

"Have a good day, Alicia."

"Oh, for sure," she said to herself as he walked away. "Definitely."

"Sydney!" Izzie called, hurrying to catch up with the perky resident.

"Dr. Stevens, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you needed any extra help today..."

"We can always use an extra set of hands."

"Great! See, Dr. Sloan doesn't have any surgeries today…"

"He's welcome to join us," Sydney said, eyes sparkling. For one-millionth of a second, Izzie felt bad for Mark. Then she got over it.

"Well then, he's officially volunteered!" Izzie leaned in towards the resident, "And don't take no for an answer."

"I won't," Sydney agreed eagerly, "Oh! There he is! Thanks, Dr. Stevens!"

"My pleasure," Izzie replied, smirking at the unsuspecting man.

"Dr. Sloan!" Sydney gushed, "I was thrilled to hear that you wanted to spend your time today in the clinic!"

"Well, I'd love to, really," Mark demurred, casting about for an escape, "But I have check-ups to do and-"

"Nonsense," Sydney tutted in disapproval, "Your intern can take care of that. The clinic would really benefit from your unique skills."

"Dr. Sloan! Good to see you're volunteering your services to the clinic!" The Chief said as he walked up to them.

"Chief!" Mark exclaimed.

"Commendable work. Especially since the board will be interviewing candidates later this month," he continued, oblivious to Mark's horror, "For the Chief position."

"I wasn't really thinking about it-"

"Stevens can handle whatever comes up. I'll make sure your morning is clear."

Mark sighed inwardly, seeing he was trapped, and glanced down at his coffee. Suddenly everything crystallized in his mind. Izzie.

"I'd love to," he told Sydney, smiling down at her.

She knew he was behind her and sped up in an attempt to dodge him, but as soon as she was around the corner and into the hallway where the interns ate lunch, he had her pinned up against the wall.

"Why did you stick me with Sydney?"

"What? Why would I-"

"Don't play dumb, Stevens."

"Shall I count the reasons? Extortion, blackmail, sexual harassment-"

"It's not harassment if you enjoy it," Mark interrupted, smirking.

"You sick little-"

"You do realise this is just one more thing you owe me for, don't you?" Mark asked her, leaning in towards her.

"Izzie?" Meredith's voice drifted down the hallway. "Are you down there?"

The two of them froze and Izzie slithered from Mark's grasp in the seconds it took Meredith to round the corner.

"There you are, Izzie!" Meredith sounded relieved. "Bailey's on the warpath and she wants to see you."

Izzie turned pale and ran off. Mark pushed himself off the wall and found his way blocked by Meredith.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," Meredith said hotly, poking him in the chest. Mark raised his eyebrow. "Sometimes it's really obvious how close you and Derek were – are – whatever. Because he enjoyed it a little too much when I found out he was my boss and started skittering around. So when Izzie leaves abruptly, I see that smile on your face. You enjoy tormenting her."

Mark laughed. "Grey, you should have Derek check your head."

Meredith's eyes narrowed. "I'm watching you Sloan. If you hurt her-"

"She'd have to actually give me the time of day first," Mark said dismissively. "I have work to do." He walked by her, heading for his office. Meredith watched him leave.

Mark had one second of warning before he was pulled into a supply closet just before the end of his shift. Her lips were on his right away, her hands tugging up the top of his scrubs. Mark grabbed her hands and forced them away.

"What the hell, Stevens?" he managed.

"My patient coded, Bailey's on my case and I'm having a bad day," she snapped. "Shut up and go with it."

Mark gave up and pulled his shirt off, lifting her up to have better access to her mouth. Her kisses were hungrier, more desperate than before, and Mark let her take advantage of him. He was working on her top when her pager went off, startling them both out of their lustful haze.

"Goddamnit!" Izzie swore, swatting Mark lightly to get him to put her down, "Now what?" she pulled the pager off her waist. "Damn, damn, damn!" she swore angrily. "No!"

"What?" Mark asked worriedly.

"Addison's surgery this afternoon – the mother was having some trouble so one of the nurses was watching her, and she just started bleeding again." Izzie explained, searching for her hairclip. Mark handed it to her.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked gently.

"Umm…yeah. Couldn't hurt," Izzie agreed.

They hurried up to the third floor and found Addison up to her elbows in blood.

"Stevens, thank god. All the OR's are full, so we're going to have to operate here. Mark, I need you to help Stevens. Her uterine wall ruptured and if we have any chance of saving it you need to stitch her up while I hold it together. Glove up."

Four hours and an OR later, Mrs. Adams was in a new recovery room and going to be completely fine.

"We're lucky you happened by, Mark," Addison said, taking her scrub cap off as she was leaving.

"You know me, Addison. Always around when you need me." Mark winked at Izzie. "What about it, Stevens? You need me for anything?"

Izzie sniffed in distaste, throwing her gloves in the garbage. "No, Dr. Sloan, I don't need you for anything."

"Well, do you need me for anything?" he inquired, backing her towards the wall. Izzie's eyes widened as she saw the look in his eyes, licking her lips nervously.

"I…" Izzie looked behind Mark, searching for Addison. Not finding the redhead, she made the mistake of looking Mark in the eye. "I…"

"Well, Izzie? Do you want me?" his eyes twinkled mischievously. "For… anything? I promise I can make it worth your while." A slow, seductive smile crossed his face.

Izzie's mouth went dry and she was pretty sure her brain short-circuited. She tried to back away from Mark, but only ended up backing into the wall. "I…"

"Should take that as a yes? All right." His eyes drifted down to her mouth and her eyelids fluttered closed. Oh god, she really was desperate… But as his lips touched hers, his hands pinning her against the wall, she found she really didn't care anymore.

"Mark…" the sigh hitched in her throat as he lifted her so she wrapped her legs around his waist and was trapped between his chest and the wall.

"Shut up, Stevens," he growled, attacking her mouth again. He let the wall carry most of her weight and his hands travelled under her scrub top, teasing the skin around the top of her pants. One of Izzie's hands was fisted in his hair, the other bracing herself on his shoulder as she gasped for air. His eyes met hers and Izzie shuddered at the look in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to devour her. Izzie thought she'd enjoy that. Mark must have seen something that gave her away, because he smirked. And went to kiss her again.

"Mark!" Izzie's voice was high, sharp. "I am not having sex with you here!"

He looked at her. "There's a table in the OR," he offered, the corner of his mouth twitching.

She swatted him. "We are not having sex here," she sniffed.

"Everyone else does."

"That's my point."

Mark sighed dramatically. "Does that mean you'll have sex with me somewhere else?"

Izzie looked straight at him as she spoke. "There's a definite possibility," she murmured, feeling a wave of heat pulse through her as his eyes darkened.

"Well, then," Mark said, and chuckled.

When Izzie Stevens woke up the next morning, she was not surprised to find she was in Mark Sloan's hotel room. She was surprised to notice, however, that he apparently liked to cuddle – if the warm body behind her and the arms around her were any indication.