THE HALLS OF SEATTLE GRACE WERE FILLED WITH LAUGHTER. A single tear streamed down Courtney's face, which she quickly wiped away. "As if the bags under my eyes weren't telling enough. Now I'm even laughing at your dumb jokes." Courtney said, taking another sip of her fifth coffee that day. She had had the night shift meaning that she was running on very little sleep at the moment. That paired with the fact that she hadn't been sleeping very well the past month made itself utterly visible on her face. The bags under her eyes could be spotted from a mile away.

Eva Romero, who was walking by her side, scoffed. With Paisley off in Cleveland saving lives, Eva had become her confidant (outside of the people that she had began her internship with) at the hospital. After the scrub nurse had saved the blonde from further embarrassing herself in front of the entire hospital, the two women had become quite good friends. "Hey! People love my jokes. Maybe you just don't have a sense of humor? Ever thought of that, huh?" She suddenly scrunched her eyebrows as she looked at the cup in her hands. She held it farther away from her to inspect it. "Has it always been red?"

"What?" Courtney got confused by the sudden change of the conversation. She closed her eyes for a second and went with her hand through her hair. It took her brain a while to register everything. When she was working, energy flowed through her body, but when she wasn't out there saving lives that was something totally different. "It's been red for weeks, hasn't it? Didn't they change it after the old supplier got fired after that scandal?"

"Right, do you remember what happened?"

Courtney gave her a look. "No? Why would I? I can only remember that much, you know. The old coffee wasn't that good anyway. It was drinkable, but not even as close to being good as this one," She took another sip. "We really all drank that crap thinking it was good. Shows how sleep deprivation can mess with someone's brain."

"Maybe he put drugs in the coffee or something. I mean even you with your insane coffee addiction thought it was acceptable and drank it every day," Eva replied, looking like she had just cracked a hard riddle. That look on her face quickly turned into a kind and warm smile directed at one of her colleagues walking by. "Now, that we're talking about coffee. Have you thought about it? Are you going to go?"

"Look, I appreciate you and Ivory trying to set me up with guys, but I really don't need it. I'm doing fine on my own. Besides, I'm not really in the mood to go have coffee with some science nerd." Courtney revealed, shrugging her shoulders in the meantime. For the last couple of weeks, Eva and Ivory (well, mostly the latter) had been trying to set Courtney up with some eligible bachelors. The blonde had rejected every single one of them.

"But don't you love science as well? I mean you are a doctor? I also clearly remember you going on and on about how you were so great at biology and chemistry in high school. Never had anything lower than a B. You —"

"Oh, stop it, you know what I mean." Courtney massaged her forehead, feeling an upcoming headache. She really wished that she could turn back time and stop Eva from ever finding out about her feelings for Mark. If only she could stop her past self from looking like a fool in love that one single day. Then, Eva would not have figured it out and Courtney would be able to suffer with her feelings in silence. However, life didn't work that way, so here they were.

Eva patted her on the back, letting out a sigh. "Oh, I won't. We're not going to give up, not until you give someone a chance. I'm sure that you actually would have a lot in common with the science nerd as you like to call him. Why not give it a try? Oh, wait, we all know why you're so hesitant to say yes," A certain someone in the distance had caught her eye. "He's walking this way right now. Mark Sloan everybody: the man who managed to make yet another girl fall in love with him. As if he doesn't have enough women fawning over him."

The second that Mark's name left Eva's lips, Courtney looked for him in the crowd, before she turned towards her friend. Her eyes were as cold as ice, just like her voice. The blonde wasn't messing around. "If you say anything, I will actually kill you. I'm not joking." Eva held her hands up in self defence with a smile gracing her lips. She wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Courtney lost her scary card the moment that Eva had seen her completely wasted singing I will always love you to a teddy bear. She had then gone on to tell that bear — many times — that she liked him so much that it hurt. It was pretty safe to say that the teddy bear represented a certain someone.

Speaking of Mark, he walked up to them with his hands in his lab coat pockets, looking as handsome as ever. "Good morning, ladies. How are we doing on this fine morning? Wait, never mind, Court, don't answer that. Have you even slept or did you just crawl out of a grave?" Mark greeted the two women, but most of his attention went to Courtney. Eva stayed on the sidelines, taking a sip from her coffee now and then, while watching the show in front of her.

"Oh, hilarious, you really —"

Words were stuck in her throat the moment that Mark's hands cupped her face and softly touched the skin underneath her eyes. She froze in place, hyper aware of how close he was right now. The rest of her body felt cold with all the warmth was gathered at that one spot. Her heartbeat was picking up its pace, which she hoped that he couldn't hear. She didn't want her body to give away the secret that she had been holding for so long now. "I mean, really, these bags cover up half your face." Mark joked, letting out a laugh.

If you had heightened senses, you would be able to hear a slight quiver in his voice. Also, Courtney's heart wasn't the only one that was beating faster than normal. His hands lingered on her face for a second too long, before they were back at his side. While she looked for words, he was checking for signs — like he had been doing this past month. Ever since he figured out how he felt about her, he had thrown out bait here and there, waiting for her to bite. The only thing that he wanted was a sign. He wanted something to tell him that he wasn't the only one feeling this way.

Sadly enough, he had nothing. Yet.

However, that wasn't going to stop him from trying. He knew her well enough to know that she was a professional at hiding her feelings, stuffing them deep, deep down. It just meant that he was going to have to try a bit harder — but not to the point that he was bothering her and making her feel uncomfortable. He tried his best to come off as natural as possible.

"Very funny, really. It's not my fault that I haven't been sleeping well," Courtney replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Her defenses had gone up again. While she looked very unbothered by what had just happened, that didn't mean that her thoughts weren't racing at an extremely high speed. "Well, maybe this time it was my fault, since I let Alex talk me into switching our night shifts."

"You still look beautiful, though, even though you could pass for a zombie right now," Courtney raised her eyebrow, while letting out a scoff. She really hoped that he couldn't see right through her act and that it wasn't painfully obvious that his compliment made her heart flutter. Oh god, she really hated feeling like a lovesick teenager with some silly crush. For a quick moment, nothing was said and they simply gazed into each other's eyes. Someone's name being called on the intercom broke their eye contact and made Mark glance at his watch. "Sorry to disappoint you ladies, but I have to go and check on my amazing skin flap that I grew."

Courtney rolled her eyes, "Oh, yeah, don't start again, please. I have heard you boast enough about that. I'm more than happy to see you walk away and spare me another story showing me how great you are." Mark saluted the two of them, before he disappeared out of their view. The blonde breathed a sigh of relief, dropping her act.

"Well, that was something," Eva spoke up from the side, giving Courtney a look. She put her hands on her hips as she looked from where Courtney stood to where Mark disappeared. She let out an audible wow, still amazed by what she had seen. "Honestly? What I just saw has got me doubting if he doesn't like you as well. That did not look like a normal conversation between two friends to me. Forget about science nerd, hell, forget about any guy. We should start making a plan on how to get you two together."

"Oh, stop it, Eva, you're seeing things."

"I don't think so. Maybe you're just blind if you don't see that he clearly likes you? Oh, wow, I've got to tell Ivory this. Change of plans. Throw those old plans out the window, tear them up, burn them in a fire. I never thought I would experience the day that Mark Sloan settles down. This is going to be the talk of the hospital. Court, you better prepare yourself."

"That's enough, Eva. Think whatever you want, but I don't see it? Mark does not like me. There's no way that he could. I, just, no, not possible. How hilarious: Mark liking me." Courtney denied, shaking her head. A laugh escaped her lips and suddenly she couldn't stop laughing. With Eva looking at her like she had just grown another head, she walked away and made her way over to a nurses' station where her interns were waiting for her.

"The denial is strong with that one." Eva muttered to herself.

☤☤☤

COURTNEY WAS MINDLESSLY STABBING HER FORK INTO HER PASTA. Her mind was still in the operating room, wondering what they could have done differently. A patient that had come in with the ambulance had needed surgery. Doctor Atwood and she had been a couple of hours into the surgery, when the patient started flatlining. All hands were on deck trying to save the man on the table. However, no matter what they did, the man's journey on earth was over. He would never open his eyes again or breathe the air in spring. His heart simply stopped beating, causing a moment in silence, before the leading general surgeon announced the time of death.

The resident (and the intern who had been on the case with her — Peter Allen) had left the operating room with a sullen look on her face. A part of her blamed herself. What if she had missed something, because of her lack of sleep? What if, what if. Joey Atwood was quick to spot the obvious sadness in the room and reminded them again that they had done everything they could. They couldn't have done more than their best. Sometimes life didn't want to work out the way they wanted to.

She was thrown out of her daze, when Cristina sat down at their little table in the cafeteria. Courtney hadn't even noticed George taking a seat a couple of minutes earlier. "I would like us to talk today. I would like us to talk because ... I care and I, uh, want to know things and I-I-I have 15 minutes to hear about your feelings," Cristina Yang announced, taking a quick look at her watch, before her eyes fell on her group of friends, who were all rather stunned. "So ... Alex ... Alex, you look thoughtful. I'm very interested to hear ... I mean, uh, what are your thoughts?" Alex, who was drinking his drank with a straw, looked at her oddly and refused to join whatever she was doing. "Uh, Izzie, uh, your thoughts, your feelings?"

"Honestly? I'm a little worried about my friend Alex here because his Jane Doe girlfriend keeps showing up like something out of Fatal Attraction." Izzie revealed, which made Courtney stop eating. Rebecca Pope was back. Again? She had honestly hoped that the woman would never return after she had almost cost Alex his job. Why couldn't she just leave Alex alone and stay with her husband?

"Her name is Rebecca Pope, and she's not my girlfriend."

"Really? You guys haven't ... had sex ... at all recently?"

"She's married, okay? She has a husband."

Courtney scoffed, "Are you sure that she remembers that? From what it looks like and how many times we've seen her here, you would think that you're her husband." Alex stopped drinking to glance at Courtney, who was sitting right in front of him. While the others continued talking about Cristina's miserable attempt at trying to talk girl, Alex and Courtney were having a stare off with anger bubbling under the surface. Rebecca Pope had always been a bit of a touchy subject between the two best friends.

"There you are again, sticking your nose into everyone's business. I don't need your opinion or your advice, oh saint Courtney," Alex was the first one to break the silence between the two of them. The others at the table stopped talking about whatever coding meant to look at Courtney and Alex glaring at each other. "I'm getting a bit sick of your constant criticism."

Courtney crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, if you would stop letting Rebecca derail your life, I would gladly stop commenting on it. Do you think that I like doing this? I'm just looking out for you and trying to let you see that you need to let her go. She's married and has a child. Just let her live her life. You —" Izzie, who was watching the scene unfold, bit on her lip, debating if she should share what she had found out that morning. But she couldn't do that with doctor-patient confidentiality and all.

"Oh god, for fucks sake, Courtney! Can you just stop this?" Alex slightly raised his voice, making people turn their heads. "Just let me live my own goddamn life. I don't need your input for every single thing I do! We all know that you are little miss saint who never made a mistake, so you don't need to rub it in my face. Why don't you try to find someone who will put up with you and then we'll see if you still feel like giving your opinion on our love lives."

The blonde shook her head and let out an angered sigh. Why did it matter to them if she had someone? What did that have to do with the fact that she didn't want her best friend's life destroyed because he was too focused on his former patient? "Oh, really? Are we going there again? Again? I really don't see what that has to do with everything? Does having a boyfriend give me more worth in life? Huh? Why is it so important for me to have someone!? Why does it matter!?"

Courtney shot up out of her seat, pushing it back. It almost fell on the floor due to the force behind the push. She glanced at Cristina. "Well, Cristina, for your information: I feel incredibly annoyed and a bit angry. Oh, and Alex? Next time that you ask to switch shifts, you can forget about that, because if this is how it's going to be then I'm no longer interested. Instead of giving me a thank you, you cuss me out and make me feel like I'm worthless for not having a boyfriend."

The youngest — well, she no longer is the youngest Grey sister, since Lexie is a couple of years younger than her — Grey walked away from the table, even though she hadn't finished her lunch. Her friends at the table watched her walk away. With Courtney out of earshot, she couldn't hear her sister standing up for her. Last year, it had been Meredith standing in Alex' shoes, so with that knowledge in the back of her mind, Meredith knew that Alex' words had struck a chord. From a distance, Lexie, Courtney's group of interns and the rest had been watching the argument like it was a movie. It felt odd to them seeing Courtney and Alex yell at each other like that without a smile on their faces. Lexie had almost gotten out of her chair to follow after her sister, but Emily Hanson held her back.

Courtney needed some time alone.

On her way out, Courtney Grey ran into Callie right outside the cafeteria. Something seemed off about the orthopedic resident. Putting her anger momentarily on the backburner, she focused on her friend, "Hey, are you okay? You seem a bit, well, not like yourself. Did something happen?"

Callie smiled at Courtney, appreciating her kindness. She opened her mouth to tell her what had happened with Addison earlier, but no words came out. She felt embarrassed to share the recent events, so eventually opted to keep what Addison had suggested a secret. "Oh, I'm, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Do you know if Meredith and Cristina are inside?"

"Oh, yes, they are. It isn't that hard to see them. Are you sure, though, that you are alright? You know that you can talk to me right?"

"Of course, I know." Callie said, patting Courtney on the shoulder, before she went inside. She did know that she could confide in her, but something inside her stopped her from doing that. She just didn't want Courtney to think less of her. However, Callie wasn't the only one keeping a secret. Courtney hadn't exactly told Callie about her newfound feelings for Mark. Looks like both women were keeping things from the other, because they didn't want the other to think less of them.

Courtney looked behind her to see Callie crouching down next to Meredith and Cristina, before she let the cafeteria disappear into the background. Then, she saw a familiar face in the distance; one she hadn't seen in a while, Addison Montgomery came walking from the opposite side. When they stood in front of each other, the redhead wrapped her arms around the shorter blonde. "Courtney, hello, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Addison greeted her.

"Yeah, it has. Are you back?"

"Oh, no, no, I'm just here for one surgery. I'm not back," She smiled. Her friendship with Courtney had always been a bit rocky — if that's how you could describe it? They were always standing on an edge, waiting to see where they would be swayed towards. They were never really close considering the circumstances — not that Courtney blamed Addison for what had happened between her and Derek and Meredith — but they always remained friendly, never hostile. "How have you been?"

"I've been doing fine, nothing special really. Just working and that's about it." Courtney replied, giving her a small smile.

"Really, no one special in your life?" Addison asked out of nowhere, which caused a slight reaction with Courtney. She looked at the woman, raising her eyebrows. Why was Addison suddenly so invested? She never really had been. Was this the theme of the day? Her love life? Feeling rather awkward, Courtney didn't answer. "No? Really? I always thought it was a bit odd that you didn't have men swarming around you. I mean, have you looked at yourself? You really are more beautiful than the sun. Mark was right. Although I wish you all the happiness, it's nice to know that at least something stayed the same."

To caught up in her own thoughts, Courtney looked over the Mark part and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, some things have changed while you were in L.A. Even though everything still looks the same, it's most definitely not. So much has changed." Courtney said, while her thoughts were already wandering off.

"I guess it has."

Even though you sometimes wish it was, life never stayed the same.

☤☤☤

IT WAS QUITE ROWDY AT JOE'S THAT NIGHT. The popular bar close to one of Seattle's biggest hospitals was packed with surgeons, residents, interns, nurses. Almost the entire staff was winding down with a glass of alcohol and their friends by their side. Courtney was one of those people. After a long two days, she was having fun with her friends and a glass of red wine in her hand. Currently, she was explaining what had happened between her and Alex to Ivory and Eva, who were listening intensely, while giving a comment here and there. "I don't think he was intentionally trying to hurt you, Court. He probably has a lot on his mind." Ivory said, letting her face rest in her hands.

"Sure, but does that give him a reason to hurt her feelings? I mean as her best friend shouldn't he know that it was a sore point for her? He should know that he shouldn't cross some lines," Eva said, before drinking some beer. "Anyway, if you want me to hurt him, Court, I'm right here."

"That's cute. Are you taking my lines now?" Courtney laughed, while her hands were being squeezed by Eva and Ivory respectively. It felt nice to be surrounded by people who had her back no matter — not that her other friends weren't supportive. Let's just say that sometimes there was a difference between the two sides. The smile on the blonde's face was bright and happiness sparkled in her pretty blue eyes. "This really means a lot to me guys; you having my back and all."

"What are friends for?"

Ivory was staring off into the distance. A sly smirk appeared on her face, when she spotted someone in the crowd. Her head turned towards the resident at the table as she wiggled her eyebrows at her. Courtney gave her a look and rolled her eyes, before she looked to where Ivory had just been looking. Mark Sloan was standing there, having a drink with the cardio surgeon, Zachary Watkins and a couple of the latter's friends. Mark looked happy, which in turn made Courtney feel happy. Before she even registered it, a small smile was forming on her lips. "Oh! What do I see here?" Ivory chirped as she pointed at Courtney's lips. "Eva, you were so right. This is just adorable."

"Stop it, you guys." Courtney grumbled, while hiding the lower part of her face behind her hand. Her eyes left Mark to make sure that she didn't look like a lovesick fool again. The couple sitting with her were cooing at her and talking amongst themselves about how endearing she was. Courtney's annoyance was growing by the minute, even though she knew that they were just being playful.

However, suddenly, Mark left his friends' side and walked up to Courtney's table. The latter has seen him approaching from the corner of her eye, so she quickly turned her head to pretend that she was listening to what her friends were saying. She was biting on the inner cheek, praying that Ivory and Eva wouldn't do anything stupid. "Ladies. Courtney." Mark greeted the three women.

"What? Am I not a lady?" Courtney provoked, playing around with her wine glass.

"Oh, you are far more than that," Mark said with a smirk on his face. With his focus totally on the pretty blonde, he didn't see Ivory and Eva hitting the other on their arm and looking at them with wide eyes and mouths open. Courtney scoffed and rolled her eyes, that facade of being unbothered pulled up again. "Want to dance, double espresso?" He held out his hands, hoping that he would be able to take her hand in his again.

Courtney didn't move, only looked at him. She didn't know what to do. On the one hand, she wanted nothing more than to be close to him, but then again that was also the problem. She didn't want to be too close and give him a chance to see right through this act she was putting up. Everyone was waiting for her answer, excited and hopeful to hear it. However, that all crashed down when she replied. "No. I'm not really a dancer."

Mark let out a laugh, hoping that nobody had caught his face slightly falling. "You sure about that? We danced quite a lot at the wedding. Come on, Grey, why not?" He tried to convince her, his hand still in the air.

"Yeah, Court, why not? Give the man a chance. I mean, look at him, he's asking it so nicely." Eva decided to butt in. The tone in her voice seemed nice and friendly, but the look in her eyes said something totally different. In her mind, she was shaking some sense into the woman. Courtney Grey was not an easy person; far from it.

"No, I'm really not in the mood to dance. Sorry." Courtney replied, shrugging her shoulders, before she looked down at the red liquid in her glass. She didn't look up again, until she was sure that Mark had left. Eva and Ivory apologized for her, feeling a bit bad for him. When Mark had left the table, the couple's heads snapped towards the blonde who had just turned down the man she liked.

"You absolute idiot!"

"What the hell, Court?"

"What? You can't force me to. I'm 29 years old and perfectly capable of making decisions on my own." Courtney replied, letting her head rest in her hands. Not that she would ever admit this to anybody, but she did regret her decision. However, she had no other choice if she didn't want to be caught. While her two friends were asking her what was wrong with her, Courtney's eyes found Mark again in the crowd. He was now standing with Callie, Addison and Erica Hahn. She let out a sigh and went with her hands through her hair.

Next, Callie grabbed Mark's hand and followed him to a makeshift dance floor. The two started dancing and simply having a good time. In the meantime, two people — this being Courtney and Erica Hahn — who had feelings for the respective parties were watching them with adoration in their eyes. Eva and Ivory who were still on a big rant, realized that Courtney was no longer paying attention. They glanced over in the direction she was looking at and quickly stopped talking when they noticed that she was looking at Mark Sloan.

Then, Callie and Mark stopped dancing and left Joe's bar altogether. Courtney followed them with her eyes and dread filled her entire body. She blinked with her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Had she just made the biggest mistake in her life? She looked up at her friends, who quickly understood her emotional turmoil from one look at her face. "Oh, Court, sweetheart."

"I made a mistake, didn't I?"

☤☤☤

HELLO, GUESS WHO'S BACK??

It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry for taking so long, but, hey, I'm back again with another chapter. It took me a while, but here we finally are. I had fun writing this, even though that middle part was a bit hard to write. I was just kind of stuck there, but I managed and tada new chapter for you guys to read. Some things happened (and did not happen hehe — sorry guys, you have to wait just a little bit longer) and what are we thinking about it? Alex and Courtney had a big fight, which isn't nice. My poor besties are fighting and I don't like it! But friendships can't always be happy and good, sometimes you have a little fight and there's nothing wrong with that. We'll see how they work things out. We also had a little bit of Grey sisters content. Mer defending Court and Lexie almost going over to comfort her. I can't wait to start writing them being close, ugh, it's going to be great.

Anyway, let's talk some more about Mark and Courtney. You are probably ready to pull all my hair out for me doing this, but you guys you'll thank me in a couple of chapters. Honestly, prepare yourself, because it's going to be good (not that i'm biased or anything). Mark and Courtney are such complex people who have some difficulty with love, so to me it kind of makes sense for them being like this, not admitting right away and all and not jumping right in. They are still friends first and they just don't want to lose each other because of feelings (that the other might not reciprocate). We're getting close though, so just have a little bit more patience and then we can all jump in the air and celebrate their big moment. So, please let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Before I leave you guys, I do have a little question. I want to branch out a bit and start writing other characters aside from our dear Courtney. I want to show you what else I've got. So, I would like to have your input. I have some stories ready and would like you to pick one. Okay, so first, we have a story for our dear Alex Karev. It would take place in season 7. That one is all planned out and I would only need to find some motivation to start writing it (and also watch season 7 again). I also have a story ready for Jackson Avery (season 6-7), which I have the big story line for. Then we also have one for Callie Torres! It takes place in season 5 and again here I only have the big story line. It doesn't really matter to me which one you pick, because I would love to write them all. The choice is all yours (and even if your choice doesn't get picked, don't worry, I'll publish them all eventually). I would start a new story after I finish this act (which is three more chapters, I think. This act ends at ch 11 and then we move on to act 2)

Anyway, I'm going now. Stay safe and healthy, everyone! I love you all!