I've told you this is not going to be a very long story. So this is the final installment. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 3: United forever

"Are we all set for tonight?" Lexie turned around and the sight of Mark smiling down at her made her heart beat faster.

"Yeah, we are." Lexie said, intertwining her fingers with his. She still felt the urge to touch him every time she saw him. It still felt so unreal, like she was living a dream. She'd waited so long for this to happen that every time her fingers touched his skin a shiver ran down her spine.

"So do we need to go shopping or do we have everything?" Mark asked her, his thumb brushing over her palm.

"I ..." Mark's finger caressing her hand completely distracted her and she needed a few seconds before she remembered what he'd just asked her. "No, we're good."

"Okay. So are you still off at six?" Mark asked her.

"Yes, we can get out of here at six." Lexie replied.

"Great." Mark leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers for a brief kiss. "I can't wait."

~M&L~

Lexie was happy about every second she could spend with him. But the moment she walked over the threshold of his apartment an unsettling feeling took place in her stomach and she couldn't shake it.

It took her quite some time before she realized why she felt a certain uneasiness. The last time she'd cooked diner for Mark everything went to hell in the blink of an eye. So she reacted like she always did in such situations. She started to ramble, what made it even worse because it reminded her even more of the night she'd found out that he'd slept with Callie.

"Lex, what's wrong?" Mark's voice interrupted her rambling.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong." Lexie replied quickly. She didn't want to get into the whole Callie mess. They just got back together and she didn't want to taint it by talking about what had torn them apart the last time. She knew they had to talk about it eventually but not right in that moment.

"Lex?" Mark asked quietly, but Lexie continued to stir the sauce. "You're not fine. I see the telltale signs."

"I don't have telltale signs." Lexie mumbled, taking out a noodle to test if they were already al dente or needed a little longer.

"You don't look me in the eyes and you're rambling." Mark clarified. "You are only rambling when you are extremely happy or when you are nervous."

"You know that I'm extremely happy." Lexie's voice sounded muffled when she bent down to receive the sieve from a drawer.

"But you don't look me in the eyes." Mark replied and Lexie straightened herself biting on her bottom lip. "Lex? Talk to me."

"It's actually quite silly. You know what? Let's just eat and ..." Lexie stopped when she saw out of the corner of her eye that he'd stood up from the bar stool and came around the corner. Without saying anything he pulled her into his arms and Lexie immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"We are not gonna repeat our mistakes, Lexie." Mark spoke softly. "Not this time. Something is clearly bothering you and I want to know what. One of our greatest mistakes was that we didn't talk to each other."

Lexie took in a deep breath and somehow being enveloped by Mark's scent soothed her. They'd come so far and she needed to start having faith that their relationship was stable enough. "I still expect the next catastrophe right around the corner and I'm afraid this feeling will never go away."

"Do you want to take it back?" Mark asked her softly and Lexie felt him stiffen.

"Take it back?" She leaned back to look him in the eyes.

"Do you want to turn back the clock?" Mark said quietly, his eyes boring into hers. "Do you wish you've never had said anything to me?"

"Oh my god, no." Lexie replied quickly, her hand shot up to his face and she stroked with her fingers over his cheek. "No, Mark. I love you. It's just … standing here in your kitchen, cooking diner for you … it's just ..."

"I'm sorry, Lex." Mark whispered hoarsely as he realized that the last time they'd been in this exact same situation he'd let her figure out for herself that Callie was pregnant with his child. "I can't change the past, Lex. But I'm so sorry that I've put you through all of this."

"It's not as if I didn't make mistakes myself, Mark." Lexie said. "I'm not blaming anyone. You shouldn't have slept with her in the first place, but it happened. I'm not gonna lie. It still hurts that you've slept with her. I know we weren't together at the time but, strange at it may sound, I still felt betrayed."

"Because I was in love with you and sleeping with Callie while being in love with you was wrong on so many levels."

"Exactly."

"We can't change the past, Lexie." Mark raised his hand, his fingers brushing over her lips. "But we can change our future. Are we able to let the past be the past? Is our love strong enough to forgive our mistakes?"

"I don't even have to ask myself these questions, Mark." Lexie replied, laying her hand directly over his heart. "The last months were pure torture for me. I've buried my love for you so deep inside of me that I've convinced myself that I can live without you. But then one blow came after the other and suddenly I've realized that my life was one big pile of shards and all I wanted to do was breaking down and cry my heart out because I was certain that I've missed my chance, that I've lost my soul mate."

"You think we are soul mates?" Mark asked surprised.

"You don't? What we have is something special. I know that now. The best explanation is that we were meant to be together from the beginning. So yes, I think we are soul mates."

"Maybe you're right." Mark replied thoughtfully. "I can definitely not live without you."

"And I can't live without you." Lexie leaned forward and brushed her lips over his, her fingers trailing along his neck before she breathed above his lips. "Make love to me, Mark."

"Are you sure?" Mark asked, his lips barely touching hers.

"I am." Lexie whispered. "But not here. I … let's just go somewhere else."

"What do you have in mind?"

"The Archfield. Let's start over where it all began."

"Then let's go."

~M&L~

"I actually came here quite often over the last year." Mark whispered, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist.

"You mean this room?" Lexie asked.

"No, the Archfield in general."

"Why?"

"Because everything in this hotel reminds me of you, Lex." Mark replied softly.

"It does?"

"I know it's pathetic. But you didn't want to talk to me anymore and I couldn't stop thinking about you. So I came here to take a drink in the hotel bar every now and then, remembering the time you came to my hotel room and took off all your clothes."

"Apparently I've made quite an impression that night." Lexie chuckled.

"Of course I knew you wanted to sleep with the man whore this first night. It was more out of curiosity then anything else."

"That's not true, Mark. I ..." Mark leaned back and cocked one eye brow as if he wanted to tell her that he could see right through her. "Okay, I admit it. I was curious if you were as good as your reputation."

"And you wanted to know if you'll get away with it."

"Get away with what?" Lexie asked innocently.

"Admit it! It was the first time you've done something that adventurous. I bet I was the first man you've made such a blunt move on."

"Ahh, don't flatter yourself."

"Don't lie to me, Lex. See, you're blushing." Mark chuckled and Lexie shoved her bottom lip out into an adorable pout. "I was just so irresistible."

"Well, they don't call you McSteamy without a reason." Lexie tried to justify her actions. "I just had to experience it for myself."

"And how was the experience?" Mark asked, a smug grin appearing on his face.

"You just want to hear me singing a hymn about your sexual prowess."

"Come on, Lex." Mark whined. "It was mindblowingly-fantastic."

"Yeah, it was." Lexie replied seriously, remembering how he almost literally blew her mind that night. "I assumed it would only last a few rounds of amazing sex, that it would get boring after I've satisfied my curiosity but then you've showed me the real man behind the man whore and I fell in love with you."

"You were the first woman I'll ever showed it to." Mark spoke quietly.

"I'm actually proud that I've cracked the infamous Mark Sloan." Lexie said with a smug grin on her face.

"Yeah, you did. You've wrapped me around your finger so fast that I could hardly catch my breath."

"Mark, promise me one thing." Lexie spoke barely above a whisper.

"Everything." Mark replied earnestly.

"We are not gonna let anything get in our way this time. Whatever the future will throw at us we go through it together. Okay?"

"I can do that. I'll never let you walk away again, Lexie. Living without you is not living. I'm only truly happy when I'm with you."

"So Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey united forever?"

"Till death do us part."

The end

I'm still riding on the sneak peaks high. Eric's voice is just incredible. I always have the feeling as if it sounds different when he is talking to Lexie and I love it. I'm really looking forward to tonight's episode.