Little Shepherd

Chapter Forty-Nine

"With Grey? Lexie Grey?" Alex inquires
"Yeah, she was standing half naked in his apartment." I say
"She's been all over him lately, it's my fault for keeping our relationship a damn secret." I mutter

"Are you planning on staying with Sloan?" He asks
"I really like him, Alex. I want to, but I don't know." I shrug
"You need to talk to him." Alex nods
"Yeah, I know. I just got so pissed yesterday, I don't know if he even wants to talk to me." I sigh

"He hasn't tried calling you?" Alex questions
"My phone's been off all night." I tut
"Mariah, look. I know of Mark's man whore past, but you changed him. He's committed and I doubt he'd want to mess that up." He tells me

"I know, I just got caught up in the heat of the moment." I mumble
"But don't get me wrong, if he cheated, I'm going to kick his ass." Alex smirks
"Thanks, Alex." I chuckle

"Now get out of here, go talk to him!" He remarks
"Are you trying to shoo me away?" I inquire
"No, you're always welcome here. I just may or may not have plans. " Alex stammers

"With who?" I ask
"Nobody." He mumbles
"I'm not leaving until you tell me." I shrug
"Fine, Izzie." He groans

"Excuse me. I expect details, Karev." I smirk
"Me too, Shepherd. Now go!" He tuts
"Okay, okay I'm going." I chuckle, stepping out of his apartment.
"Bye, Alex." I mutter
"Bye, Mariah." Alex says, closing the door.

I guess I'm going to Mark's...

I get in my car and reluctantly drive over there. I'm not the jealous type in a relationship, but come on. It's one thing subtly flirting, but she was half naked in his living room.

I haven't been in a decent relationship in a long time. Mark makes me happy, I just feel anxious about our future. I hope this was all just a misunderstanding.

I pull up to his building and head to his apartment. I finally get there and I hesitantly knock on his door. A couple moments later, Mark opens the door. "Mariah." He gasps
"Can we talk?" I ask
"Yes, of course." Mark says, letting me in.

I come in and he closes the door, "Mariah-"
"Did you cheat on me with Lexie Grey?" I blurt out
"No, Mariah. I would never do that to you." Mark replies

"I'm serious about our relationship, baby. You make me so unbelievably happy, why would I want to jeopardize that?" He inquires
"Then what happened last night?" I question
"Lexie came here last night to try and seduce me, I turned her down. But instead of leaving, she began taking off clothes, I was trying to get her out of there, that's when you walked in."  Mark explains

"I'm sorry." He tuts
"No, I'm sorry. I didn't give you the opportunity to explain yourself." I nod
"I'm happy we could work things out because I-." Mark begins saying, but cuts himself off.
"You what?" I inquire

Mark hesitates and thinks for a while, "Screw it. I love you. I love you so much, Mariah. I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I never thought the time was right." He stammers

His words catch me off guard, "I love you too, Mark." I reluctantly tell him
Mark comes over and hugs me, I hug him back tightly.

"I want to tell them." I announce
"What?" Mark inquires, pulling away to look at me questionably.
"I'm serious, I'm tired of hiding. If Derek doesn't like it, screw him." I tut
"Mariah, you don't have to do this because of what I said." He mutters

"Mark, I'm going to want our relationship to grow. We can't do that if we're hiding our relationship." I say
"You're right." Mark sighs
"I'll do it, don't worry. But it's not going to be anytime too soon. I'm not ready to screw things up with Derek just now." I chuckle

"Yeah, okay. As long as I get to have you, I don't care." Mark smiles
"You know what? I can tell him at Thanksgiving. Meredith invited us yesterday, it's in two weeks." I tell him
"That seems fine." He nods
"Just two more weeks until I can love you in public." Mark smirks
"You make it sound so weird." I  chuckle

"Yeah, I heard it as soon as I said it." He laughs
"You want to go out?" Mark asks
"Honestly, I don't feel like going anywhere." I groan
"I stayed at Mer's last night and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Not very comfortable. " I tut

"How about, we order in and watch Netflix all night?" I suggest
"That could work too." Mark shrugs
"What do you feel like eating?" He inquires
"I have no idea, actually." I mutter
"Is pizza, okay?" Mark questions

"Pizza is fine." I reply, going to his couch and turning on his TV.
Mark orders our food while I put it on Netflix, "Okay, it should be here in about 20 minutes."  He says, sitting next to me.
"Sounds good." I nod, laying my head on his shoulder.

Mark kisses my forehead and we start our first movie.

For the first time in our relationship, I let myself be comfortable. I drive out the uncertainty and just allow myself to live in the moment.

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Who is she? Posting twice in a day, what? I know it's short, but it's just sort of a filler for the next one. I wasn't going to end their relationship just yet :) I recieved quite a bit of comments yesterday and I felt the need to update again! I hope y'all like it and are prepared for the next chapter! I should actually be updating soon! Don't forget to comment and vote!

-A