Mark Sloan drove home with a smile on his face. These days he tried to take it easy with work, he didn't stay too late.
He'd already made that promise to himself when Sofia was born, but it just sort of stuck as life happened.
He took the peaceful drive home until he parked into the driveway he'd spent a lot of time and love on over the last 3 years they'd lived in this beautiful house.
The swing chair in the porch, the bird feeders hung on the tree, the shrubbery and flowers around the edges.
It would be the perfect space for the kids to play during the summer months.
Mark locked the car and arrived at the front door, carefully unlocking it and stepping into his home.
As he toed off his shoes and hung his jacket up, he admired the photo frames hung up in the hall.
There were, of course, many pictures of Sofia from various milestones in her life. Mark knew Callie was a fiend for taking photos, but he welcomed them with open arms. It was his daughter, after all.
And then, of course, pictures of himself and Lexie, their cat, wedding photos, and the pictures they had managed so far to hang up of their newborn daughter, Charlotte.
It had been a busy few weeks, clearly.
Mark had taken a lot of pictures, and he'd thought Lexie would be one of those moms that would take photos every week to mark the milestones, but instead, she just recited them to him. She'd never forget a single detail about their daughter.
Her photographic memory amazed him just as much as it had the first time he'd properly talked to her.
She still took a lot of photos of their baby, of course, but very few of those he'd want to hang up. They were mainly just funny ones she'd send him during work to make him smile.
As he turned towards the living room door, he realised how quiet it was, really.
Usually, on their weekends with Sofia, he could hear the chattering between his girls as he walked in.
He slowly opened the door to find all three of his girls snuggled up together on the sofa, fast asleep watching a movie. It must've been a long day.
Mark smiled and tiptoed into the room, but as much as he thought he was being as quiet as he could..
"Hey.."
Lexie whispered from her spot on the couch, both a baby and a 6 year old buried into her chest asleep, covered with a soft blanket.
Mark couldn't help but muse at how after everything, Lexie was still a light sleeper.
"Hey yourself, long day?-"
She nodded, making a face, earning a quiet chuckle from her husband.
"I figured, how's Charlie?-"
He gestured to the sleeping baby.
Lexie sighed, absentmindedly stroking the peach fuzz that was her daughter's hair.
"Still pretty bald, still doesn't understand enough to help Derek and I find a way to treat our patients Gliosarcoma.. but - she's good, she's fine."
Mark shook his head at the mention of Derek and brain tumours.
"You're not meant to be working, y'know? You're meant to be soaking up all this 'baby time' -"
Lexie furrowed her brow.
"I don't think you realise how much 'baby time' I get in a day.."
She looked down at her daughter with a soft expression of love, as she usually did.
"And she's not very interesting, either. She just kind of.. lies around, cries, eats, I change her, and then she sleeps. She can't even hold her head up yet."
Mark almost took to the baby's defense, but he remembered taking care of Sofia when she was tiny and remembered she was pretty boring too.
"Okay, fair enough.. but don't overwork yourself. Derek has plenty of help.."
He knew it was stupid to tell Lexie Grey-Sloan of all people not to overwork herself.
She'd worked all the way up until she gave birth to their daughter and even tried to help with cases while she was admitted as a patient.
But he still would agree that no one he knew worked as hard as Lexie did. Of course, her family always came first, but she was still an amazing surgeon, and he bet she would win awards someday if she continued to be her amazing self.
"I love you."
He finished, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
"I love you too."
He sat into the armchair beside the sofa, and they sat in silence while they watched the two girls sleep.
He never thought this would be something he could come home to every night, but now it was. And he never thought he'd have Lexie back, let alone ever marry her and start a family..
But some things are just meant to be.
