Here we go, the final installment. I want to thank everyone who read and reviewed my story. Each review was deeply appreciated, and I hope that you will all continue to read my stories as they are written. Thanks to the girls over at Fanforum. You guys are amazing, and I am very lucky to have such wonderful readers and fellow fans. Also, a special thanks to Mere for all her support.

And now, the epilogue...

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Epilogue

New York, Five Months Later...

To Mark's mind, the three greatest feelings in the world could be summed up thus: making love to Lexie, completing a surgery that no one else could do, and holding his brand new child in his arms for the first time. He had only had a chance to experience the last one once before, but it had never paled in his mind in the intervening years. He could still see and hear everything that he had felt when he took that tentative step towards fatherhood and looked down at that innocent face resting in the safety of his embrace. He had felt so humbled to even be in the same plane of existence with his son, and now he thought the same thing as he looked down at his daughter.

Standing in the middle of a hospital room, Mark looked at the familiar scene before him. Lexie was fast asleep this time, her eight hours of labor much more difficult that with Matty. She had grumbled something about labors supposed to be getting easier with subsequent children, but had readily agreed when Mark suggested that she get some rest. She had been asleep for the last hour, leaving Mark alone with his infant daughter in his arms.

The tiny face poking out of the pink blanket didn't resemble him or Lexie at all so far, and yet Mark felt much more connected to her than anything or anyone he had ever met. This birth felt very similar to when his son had been born, and yet it had been different too. During Lexie's pregnancy with Matty, they had both been so focused on being parents for the first time that they hadn't really digested what it all meant. But this time, Mark had been very attuned to the responsibility of another child. As a result, holding his daughter in his arms was an extremely intense feeling.

As he gently stroked the crown of her head with the tips of his fingers, a sense of utter happiness came over him. The baby shifted, but slept on. He wished she would wake up so that he could see her eyes, but he truly didn't mind. Mark knew that she would open them eventually. Until she did, Mark thought about all the things that had changed in such a short time.

In the five months since Mark, Matty, and Lexie had returned from Seattle, life had gone back to normal for them. Matty had returned to preschool with tall tales about his trip to see his aunts and uncles in Seattle, while Lexie had returned to work for a short while before starting on her extended maternity leave. As for Mark, he had come back in New York Presbyterian Hospital to the surprising news of a job promotion. He was now the Chief of Surgery at NYPH, a responsibility he did not take lightly. He was determined to turn the hospital into the best in the country and Lexie was right there with him, cheering him on. Initially, she had feared that this new title would monopolize his time, and it had...in the beginning. But as soon as Mark had the protocols and deputies he needed in place, he was right back to being the involved husband and father he had been before they had gone to Seattle. Mark and Lexie's relationship was even better now that they had been able to put their mutual past at Seattle Grace behind them. To Mark, it was like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and to Lexie...well, she just felt relieved that there was no part of her life that couldn't be shared anymore. But for all this, they were much the same as they had always been. The only real difference now was Mark and Lexie's respective relationships with Derek and Meredith.

The sound of Mark's cell phone vibrating startled him out of his reverie, and he used his free hand to answer it, keeping his daughter in the crook of his elbow.

"Hello?"

"Mark!"

"Derek," Mark responded with a gentle, but hushed, laugh. "What's going on? You sound entirely too cheerful."

"I just got the picture you sent me," Derek said, the sound of him smiling translating over the cell phone. "She's beautiful. You sure she's yours?"

"Nice," Mark said with another quiet laugh. "Lexie assures me that she is and I am gonna go on faith with this one."

Derek chuckled. "Listen, I just called to tell you that Meredith and I are going to be on the next flight out to see our niece. We are standing in SeaTac now. Tell Matty that his favorite uncle is on is way."

Mark rolled his eyes as he gently rocked the baby back and forth. "You wish you were his favorite. We all know he likes Eric better."

"Low blow, man," Derek said. "Low blow. Eric has had a three year head start on me. After this visit, Matty will be firmly in the Shepherd camp."

Mark snorted. "Please, he hardly has a head start on you. He has been in Iraq half the time. Face it Shep, my son just has good taste."

"He loves me," Derek said.

"Sure," Mark said, smirking into the phone. His voice turned softer then, and he said, "I am sure he will be glad to see you though. He has been with Lexie's best friend Lindsay since Lexie went into labor last night, and he is so excited about the baby; he must be driving Lindsay nuts by now."

He could hear Derek laughing as he said, "Well, Mere and I will take him off her hands. It will be good practice for her."

Mark shook his head, though he knew Derek couldn't see. "Cart before the horse, my friend; try marrying her first."

"Oh, I did that yesterday," Derek said nonchalantly.

"What?" Mark hissed in surprise.

"It's true," Derek said. "So I really am Matty's uncle now."

Mark smiled and whispered, "That's great, Derek."

"Don't tell Lexie," Derek said. "Meredith wants to tell her all about our adventure at City Hall when we get there."

"Okay," Mark said.

"Oh! Our flight is boarding. We'll be there soon," Derek said.

"Okay, see you in a couple of hours," Mark responded.

"Bye."

"Bye," Mark repeated, hanging up the call and putting his cell phone back in his jeans.

"Who was that?"

Mark turned, smiling when he saw Lexie. "That was Derek. They should be here in about five and a half hours."

Lexie grinned back as she struggled to sit up in her hospital bed. "Gimme," She said, reaching out her arms for the baby.

He walked over to her and gently eased his bundle into her arms. "She hasn't opened her eyes yet," Mark commented.

"That's not unusual," Lexie said, humming low under her breath as she rocked the baby. "She was just born, give her some time."

"But I want her to open her eyes," Mark said with a plaintive whine in his voice, settling on the bed behind his wife.

"You know what they say about waking a sleeping baby..."

"I thought it was a bear," Mark commented.

"Bear...baby, same concept," Lexie said. "You don't wake them because they will wake up on their own soon enough."

"Yes, Dr. Sloan," He said, his voice low. Mark kissed her shoulder where her hospital gown was opened slightly and whispered, "I love it when you talk doctor to me."

"Hush," Lexie said, her cheeks heating. "There are little ears present."

"She's sleeping, you said so yourself."

"Not the point," Lexie murmured. "You are going to corrupt our children."

Mark smiled against her skin. "You love me anyway."

Lexie sighed. "You've got me there. One look at those blue eyes of yours and I was hooked."

"I think it was more than just my eyes that got your attention," Mark said huskily.

"Now you're edging towards dirty," Lexie said, chuckling as she looked down at the baby.

Mark kissed Lexie's cheek, and joined her in looking down at their daughter. She was so utterly perfect that it almost hurt to look at her. Mark didn't know what he had done to merit his current happiness, but he wasn't going to question it. Looking at his daughter, a thought entered his head. "I know we were talking about naming her Susanna Gabrielle, but I was thinking..."

"Hmm? What were you thinking?" Lexie asked, shifting the baby slightly.

"Well, Callie named her daughter Adrianna, and that it awfully similar...So I was thinking we could name her Susan Isabella." Mark gently caressed his daughter's cheek. "She looks like a Bella to me."

Tears filled Lexie's eyes as she looked down at her daughter who was the perfect namesake for the women who had affected Lexie's life in two very different ways. She gently kissed the baby's forehead and said, "You are right; she does look like a Bella."

Susan Isabella Sloan chose that moment to open her eyes, showing her parents the stunning steel blue eyes that she had inherited from her father.

Mark sucked in his breath.

"She has your eyes," Lexie commented.

"They could change," Mark said, trying not to get his hopes up.

Lexie looked at him with a gentle smile. "I don't think they will. Our little Bella is going to be a Daddy's girl. I can tell."

Staring down at the perfect little girl laying in her mother's arms, Mark smiled to himself as he thought about all the twists and turned that had brought him to this very moment. Shifting the baby out of Lexie's arms and into his own, Mark smiled at his wife and then down at his daughter. "I think you're right, Lex. I think you're right."

The End

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Review...one last time?