40. Chapter 40

"What's he like? Is he taking interns under his wing? Did you ever see him perform surgery? Ever been to his private practice? "

Questions like those had been thrown at Meredith from Alex ever since she walked into the locker room this morning. Izzy obviously was the gossip mean girl of this high school clique they had created, reminding her of that movie with Lindsay Lohan that she and Derek's sister Samantha had taken a couple of her girls to see back in New York.

Izzy had done her hair all pretty and nice today, Meredith guessed to be all dolled up for Mark and Derek in the OR. Cristina was mute in the corner, acting like she didn't care but still listening in and George was just quietly in his own land but still listening into everyone else's conversations.

Since Alex had been the only semi-normal intern towards her, she tried to answer all his questions even the weird ones. Other than some sex innuendo, Alex had been pretty cool towards her. This is probably because he wants to butter up to Derek, however ulterior motives aside she'd take it since he wasn't snarling at her or looking creepily at her like George.

It had been a nice calming night when Meredith and Derek returned home. Shower, dinner, they took a walk along the trail. Derek was so antsy for Marks visit he had problems getting to sleep so she suggested the walk. They agreed they'd avoid the Dr. Martin subject until after the patient was in the recovery room at least.

When they arrived this morning, Derek had gone up to his office to finish some of his paperwork. Mark was due to arrive at the hospital within the hour, no doubt he'd go straight to Derek's office when he arrived.

Deciding to finally answer Alex, Meredith turned around from her locker to look across the bench to face him. "He's like a normal world renowned award winning surgeon, he loves himself a lot. Interns aren't his favorite people, he's not one for teaching. I've never been in the OR with him, but I've seen him perform tons of surgeries over the years from the gallery. Mark and Derek used to practice out of the same wing, so yes I've seen his office." Meredith replied to all the questions in order they were asked and in depth. She stood there waiting, facing Alex to see if he would ask her anything else. He seemed shocked that she either answered all his questions or the way she answered them all.

He gave a smile and shy thanks and went back to getting ready for the work day.

It was obvious to Meredith that Alex was a Mark Sloan fan and probably wanted to be like him some day and specializes in plastics. "If you want I'll introduce you to him later?" Meredith asked Alex as he spun on his heels and turned around again to face her in shock and awe.

"Really? You mean it? Mark Sloan, the go to plastic surgeon in the country meeting me?"

Meredith found his response funny since it was just Mark. Mark who was Derek's best man at their wedding, Mark who dragged Derek kicking and screaming to Vegas for his bachelor party, Mark who threw up after riding 'Mission Space' at Epcot Center during a Shepherd family vacation. Mark who was always chasing nurses around, Mark who loved taking the nieces and nephews to the water park. Just plain old Mark to her, was this celebrity to Alex. She forgot how he and Derek were so famous in the medical world sometimes.

"Yes, really." Meredith smiled. As all the interns shuffled their way out of the locker room and headed to their destinations after Bailey had come in to stare them all down to hurry everyone up.

"Thanks, Shepherd. I really want to go into plastics." Alex whispered to her as they were all leaving the room.

"I figured as much." Meredith replied with a smile at finally making a friend and took off up to Derek's office to wait for their consulting surgeon from New York to arrive for their case.