Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy. I wish I did, but I don't.

This takes place after the Season 3 finale.

Help Me Make It Through The Night

Joe handed Mark his drink. He sat at the bar sipping slowly. He noticed her sitting at a table by herself. The bar wasn't crowded tonight, or at least with anyone he knew other than her so he decided to invite himself over and sit with her.

What are you doing over here? She asked

"Do you want some company? "

"Whatever. I don't even care."

"Man, Stevens you are cheerful tonight."

"Yeah, I'm all sunshine and happiness." She rolled her eyes

He sat down. 'It saddened him a little. I mean if the optimistic full of smiles Dr that he knew was acting like this surely there wasn't hope for him anytime soon. But what is it that made her like this. Who did this to her? Is she still grieving over Denny or is there something more? He thought he seen her wipe a tear from her eye.

So, where is everyone tonight? Mark asked Izzie

"They all have lives, jobs, boyfriends, patients," she pauses "or wives".

"Wives? Oh, O'Malley. You usually drink with him but he is married so you can't play with your friend anymore"

"You're an ass you know that. I mean seriously, do you honestly have NO compassion. Do you really care ONLY about yourself? I mean God, no wonder Addison left."

Yeah she left, that's why he's drowning himself with alcohol in the bar. It is always bad to drink alone. This feisty blonde is giving him a run for his money. Hit him where it hurt.

"Whatever. You might think you know what you're talking about but you don't"

"Whatever" Damn she rolled her eyes again.

Those eyes. Something about those eyes. They aren't sparkling tonight like they normally do. They are sad tonight except when she shoots daggers at him because of his smartass comments.

"Stevens. What is your problem tonight. You're all normal now. Kind of dark and twisty. You usually leave that attitude to your friends."

"Like you even want to know. You know what. I need another drink."

"I'll get it" He walked to the bar and ordered drinks.

"Karma" she thinks to herself. I get stuck with the President of the Dirty Mistress Club.

"Here you go." He got both of them a shot and both of them another drink of what they were drinking.

"Thank you"

"So let's play bartender" He gives her the look

"Excuse Me? What the hell kind of weird perverted game is bartender?"

He laughed. "You know bartender. You talk, I listen. Perverted huh. I didn't know you thought of me like that"

" Oh yeah" she said sarcastically "I don't know how I can make it through the day without undressing you with my eyes. How can I even make it through surgery without jumping you while the patient is on the table"

"So, truth comes out does it. Now I know why you look the way you look in surgery"

"Oh please, give me a break" she laughed.

She laughed, she actually laughed. Either the alcohol has suppressed her depression or he has. He of course was hoping it was him.

"Okay, you know I am going to tell you something. But if I do I get to be your bartender too" She smiled at him

"Deal" he said

"Please don't make fun of me"

"I am not going to promise" Man what is she going to tell me, he thought.

"Fine. Look, you have a new member in the club" He looked confused for a second and then he realized and nodded. Giving her time to finish what she was saying if she cared to elaborate. "I slept with a married man." She started looking depressed but relieved. Another confession she thought. That is good. It makes you free. Yeah, the truth shall set you free.

"Let me guess… O'Malley?"

"How did you know?" Is it that obvious, she thought.

"Dirty Mistress Club radar. You pick it up after you're a member. Besides, you are too good to just go out and sleep with random married men."

"It was just once, we were drunk. He didn't even remember it at first. Now he does but doesn't want to tell his wife. So I am alone. Completely alone. I mean He was my George. My friend. Meredith has Cristina, Alex well he's Alex and too much has happened for me to confide in him in the whole "person" kind of way. I had George. Now Callie has George, and I, I have nobody".

He reaches over and grabs her hand looking at her in a new McSteamy kind of way. A look that she saw him only give to Addison once. A look of compassion not lust. A look that proved he did in fact have a heart. She just sat there letting him hold her hand. She felt a shock go through her body. She couldn't talk. After a moment she pulled her hand away and grabbed her drink.

"Okay, my turn" she said. "Bartender Izzie here, talk"

It took him a moment to get his composure. Who knew holding a hand could make him feel like that. Sex sure, sex he could do. Sex wasn't attachment. Holding her hand meant that he touched her.

"Uh, okay. Let me see. I'm here because I'm forgetting a woman." Izzie knew that is why he was here but secretly her heart sank a little. He continued "See, she left and now I feel lost. I came here for her and she's gone. I don't think I belong here anymore. I'm sure I never did." She reached over and grabbed his hand. Feeling like you don't belong. Yes, that is a feeling she knew too well. She never felt like she belonged. At the trailer park she didn't belong. She knew she wanted more. While modeling she knew she didn't belong because she was only doing it to pay for school. In med school she didn't belong with her peers. And now with her group of friends, she didn't belong. If there was anyone who could relate to him now it was her.

MMMMMM he thought. The hand again. He looked up at her and her to him and he saw it. He saw that sparkle. Not as bright as usual but much better than when he first came. He stood up and walked around the table to her never letting go of his hand. He thought he would try prince charming mode and kissed her hand. He knew if he stayed any longer he would do anything he could to take her home.

"It was nice talking to you Stevens"

"Call me Izzie. You know, when we're like this calling me Stevens makes it seem too schoolgirl" He nodded and smiled.

"It was nice talking to you Izzie"

"It was nice talking to you too……." She paused. He is her attending does she call him by his first name or last.

"Look, the same rule applies. Like this I would feel like some dirty old man if you called me Dr Sloan. So please, it's Mark"

"It was nice talking to you too, Mark" When she said that his eyes closed. It sounded so beautiful coming from her.

"Goodnight Izzie. Do you need a ride home. I know you've had more than me. I'm still sober"

"I'm not drunk. Well not really but yes I could use a ride I guess home" It doesn't feel like home now she thought. "I can just have Joe call me a cab"

"Nonsense. I'm here. I can drive. I'll take you"

"Okay" she said. They got up and walked out the door. Joe looked at them, smiled, and shook his head as they walked out. He knew all about Addison, Addison and Mark, Addison and Derek, Addison and Alex, Alex and Izzie, Izzie and George, George and Callie, and Callie and Mark. He liked George and Izzie but knew they weren't right for a relationship. He hated to see their friendship ruined. It looks like Izzie had a new friend. At least for the night. And Mark had a friend for the same reason. He knew how he felt when Addison left. He heard all about it. Mark spilled his guts the night it happened about the 60 days and everything else.

Mark pulled in Meredith's driveway and looked at Izzie. "You're here all safe and sound"

"Okay, this is stupid but can I ask you something?" Izzie asked

"Sure"

"I really don't wanna go in there.. Not tonight. I mean that's where it happened and I just need a break. God please don't think bad of me, but can I just please go back with you. Just for the night"

"Of course you can, and Steve…I mean Izzie, I don't think bad of you" He reached over and took her hand. He looked at her, she looked at him. They moved closer and closer to one another until their lips touched. Her free hand reached around the back ofhis head. His did the same wrapping his fingers in her hair. They pulled back.

"Crap. I'm so sorry and so embarrassed" She said, only meaning the embarrassed part

"Please don't be. I'm not. I mean if you didn't want to then I'm sorry but I'm not sorry" He backed out of the driveway and started off to the hotel

"WOW." Meredith said looking out the window. "Yeah, who would have thought" Derek said standing behind her. "I thought that car sounded familiar" Derek said.
"Do you think she will be okay?" Mereditih asked. "She's in good hands Mer, don't worry. Derek kisses Meredith and they make there way back to the bed. "Now hopefully we don't hear anymore strange vehicles pull up and distract us." Meredith said.

Firehouse "Here For You" starts playing.

Mark and Izzie walk into his room. He pours them a drink and she walks to window looking out the window at the view.

"It is such a beautiful view." She said.

"It is from here." He replied.

"how can you feel you don't belong in a place that seems to make the rest of the world disappear. I would never leave if I lived up here" She looked at him.

"Too lonely. When you're here alone all the time it's lonely"

"You're not alone that much are you?" She said trying not to pry but really wanting to know. He was a manwhore after all.

"There really haven't been that many. Very few actually. VERY few" He was actually honest. He was more talk than action. Here anyway. New York was different.

"Oh." She said kind of shyly. He walked up behind her. He touched the back of her hair again. The same hair his fingers were tangled up in minutes before. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. His hands in her hair made her feel so good. So beautiful, so needed, so wanted. He needed her tonight and she needed him. They needed to feel something other than the pain of their loss and if they could feel it together then that is what they needed to get through the night.

She turned around and kissed him. His hands tangled in her hair. Hers reached around him pulling him as close as he could be. She wanted him close. Someone who felt the pain she felt. Who had been hurt too. Who had done hurting even if they didn't do it to hurt someone else. They were usually very different people. Opposites. Tonight they were as one. Breaking their kiss for a moment was torment for them both. Then he spoke her name. "Izzie" It was like lightning struck her entire body when he said it. She kissed him again. She couldn't help it. She was pouring all of her energy and emotion into this. Her outlet was him tonight. "Izzie" he said it again. Kissing her and stopping. He backed away just a little bit to say this because if he didn't it wouldn't get said "If you don't want to do this, you need to tell me and we won't. We don't have to do this" "Shhhhhh" she said putting her finger up to his lips. He kissed her finger. "Mark, I want to do this."

"I just don't want you to regret it tomorrow" he told her. She kissed him again. "I don't care about tomorrorw. I really don't. I DO care about now. What I want now, what I want tonight is this, is you. I want you" He kissed her. She moaned. " I want you too Izzie" When he said her name again that is all she needed. She pulled him closer again. He pushed her gently against the window. They stepped away and closed the curtain. He reached up and pulled her shirt off. He kissed her neck. She moaned "Mark" and her saying his name affected him the same way him saying hers did. She wanted HIM. No one else tonight but him. She took his shirt off of him. He unbuttoned her pants and slid them down her legs. She stepped out of them. Knowing how he felt and hoping she felt the same way."Izzie, I want you." He said. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her to the bed and layed her down laying on top of her. She reached for his buttons on his pants. He looked her in the eyes. "You're so beautiful." She's heard that before but it didn't matter. It wasn't about that tonight. He finished disrobing himself and she sat up and did the same to her throwing her bra and underwear in the floor. He was laying on his back. "Izzie" She loved it when he said her name and he knew the look in her eyes everytime he said it. It made her feel wanted. He only wanted her at this moment and time. The rest of the world went away. "Help me" She said to him. "Help me tonight." He grabbed her and kissed her rolling her onto her back. They looked into one anothers eyes for a moment in anticipation waiting for the time their bodies melted into one. At that moment she wrapped her arms around him to pull him close. He leaned close to her ear so he could whisper her name to her over and over. He hoped she knew he only wanted her. His mind was on her. He wanted her to feel as if she was the only one. And she was. The way he said her name over and over made her feel the way nobody had EVER made her feel. Her fingernails pressed in the skin on his back as she cried his name loudly. Her legs wrapped around his waist as she pulled him as close as she could and he said her name one final time.

They stayed in that position for a moment. Both of them frozen. Unable to move, unable to speak. Only feeling what they felt moments before. Neither of them wanted to move. Though unspoken neither of them wanted to sleep. If they slept morning would come too soon. They would have to return to their lives as two people in the same world of medicine and Seattle Grace that neither of them felt they belonged at the moment. He kissed her one more time and traced her face with his finger. "I don't want this night to go away" she said. "I know" he told her. He hated that she had to face this world feeling alone. "Me too" he knew exactly how she felt. He rolled onto his back. She layed her head on his chest. He pulled the covers close to her face and held her. "Thank you" she said to him. He bent his head down and kissed her head. "Thank you too." He said.

"I don't feel so lonely right now" She moved her head and looked up at him as she said that. "I'm glad. You don't deserve to be lonely." She smiled at him. That smile. Those eyes. She rolled over and her face was over his. She kissed him and heard him moan. He tangled his fingers in her hair again. She reached for the covers and pulled them completely over them.

They started out alone tonight, but ended up alone together. If you're not alone alone it isn't so lonely.