twenty-six

. Allison looked at Mark with furrowed eyebrows, wondering why he is saying this to her. Their number one rule, when they became friends was that she wasn't going to hook up with him and he has tried few years ago, but she always denied and Mark had stopped trying.

"I know that." Allison nodded her head, "You have a girlfriend Mark, and we've talked about this."

Mark shook his head, "You and Avery spend a lot of time together lately."

"W-We do, but we're just uh study buddies." Allison stuttered, "And we're friends."

"He's an attractive guy, nice bone structure, hypnotic eyes, etcetera and you have slept together, nothing new." Mark shrugged, "So you should help him relieve some of that stress." Mark went on, "You're both attractive so..."

"Mark Sloan." Allison narrowed her eyes at Mark, "I am walking away from this conversation."

"Take one for the team, Carter!" Mark yelled out to her.

***

"I heard you have a date tonight." Derek spoke up as Allison walked inside the kitchen seeing Bailey teach Derek how to brush Zola's hair properly. Micheal Rivers finally had the courage to text Allison and asked her out on a date.

"I do." Allison nodded as she smiled at Zola.

"What's his name? Do I have to talk to him before he picks you up?" Derek asked making Allison chuckle.

"No." Allison shook her head, "You'll just scare him off, and this is my first date in since forever, so hopefully everything goes fine."

"Hey." Meredith greeted them.

"Hey, did you know Zola has a kitchen?" Derek asked brushing their daughter's hair once again as Bailey rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Derek, I know all about Zola's kitchen." Meredith shook her head going to kiss their daughter's cheek, as Bailey instructs Derek what to do.

Allison's phone goes off, "Well that's me. Wish me luck."

***

"Okay, let go over the game plan again." Jackson sighed, as he, Mark and Allison walked inside the skills lab, "If we see my mother..."

"We're buried with work today." Mark spoke in a monotone voice.

"And—" Jackson waited for Mark to finish but hearing no response he continued, "—you're sorry but Jackson has no time to spend with her, okay?"

"She's back." Allison sighed, "She hates my guts and I don't know why. I mean I didn't break up with you, you broke up with me!"

Jackson winced at her words, but they were true, "She does not hate you." Jackson reassured her, "She's just Catherine Avery, you know how she is."

Allison nodded, "She should love me, mothers love me." Mark looked at her, "What? Mrs. Shepherd loves me." Allison looked at the two doctors before walking towards the door, "I have to go before she sees me."

***

"You tried the cafeteria too?" Allison asked when she entered the room seeing Meredith and Cristina rummage through April's fridge.

"Jambalaya? Disgusting. Why do they even try?" Cristina scoffed as she pulled different containers filled with food. "April's got uh two yogurts and leftover something."

Allison grabbed one of the yogurts from Cristina's hand and grabbed a spoon before taking a seat behind April's desk.

"So Lexie removed a tumor from a woman today, and now Derek's all worried that we gorked her." Meredith said, telling the girls what she has been doing.

"Did you?" Cristina asked, taking a bite from April's food.

"No." Meredith took a spoonful of yogurt.

"Well, I've spent the entire morning with Owen's stupid nurse." Cristina bitterly said.

"Owen's nurse?" Allison questioned confused.

"The stupid ICU nurse." She explained briefly.

"Well, that's not what you said." Meredith raised a brow at her.

"Oh, and you know what? This is really good." Cristina changed the subject by complimenting April's food. "Kepner, can cook."

"Freakin' jambalaya day." Alex muttered as he entered the room going straight to the fridge, "It's like a hearty bowl of salmonella."

"Hey, how long have you've been screwing the intern with the preemie?" Cristina asked Alex, causing Allison and Meredith to look at him.

"What?" Alex asked, looking at Cristina.

"Morgan?"

"I am not." Alex denied.

"Uh, well, you both were in the on call room this morning...before dawn." Cristina pointed out, since she opened the door on them when she was looking for Owen.

"Yeah, studying." Alex informed them.

"You're feeding her."

"Alex." Both Allison and Meredith called out their friend. "No. Bad dog." Meredith said.

"Shut up." Alex glared at them. "I mean, she's my intern and she's a patient."

"It didn't stop you before." Allison shrugged, remembering Rebecca.

"This is gonna turn out like Rebecca." Meredith muttered to Cristina.

"Oh, yeah. Smashed up face?" Cristina turned back to look at Alex, "Oh, that—that was bad."

"Yeah, she's gonna fall for you, and then she's gonna go crazy and then she's gonna pee on my couch." Meredith told him.

"Oh gross." Cristina scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Go to hell, all of you." Alex glared at them.

Allison frowned before looking at her friend, "We don't know her, we don't know what she's capable of." She paused for a moment, "But don't let her fall for you Alex, because it might turn out bad, I mean she's a preemie mom."