(The characters in this story doesn't belong to me)
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After Mark had the ct-scan, he knew he had to talk to Elizabeth. She told him she didn't wants tot talk to him, but he knew he has to. When he first found out about the tumour, the same day she found out she found out she was pregnant with Ella, he had kept this news away from her. When he finally told her about 2 weeks after that day, she made him promise that he would never, ever would do that again. He still remembered the pain from back than and now it was happening again. Things like this never happen on a "right time", but he swore to himself it couldn't come any time worse.
So he slowly walked back to Ella's room. He couldn't stop thinking about all the things they'd been through the last year. So many good things happened. Things he wouldn't have missed for gold. He married to Elizabeth, the woman he loves so much. He saw his baby girl get born. And Rachel living with hem. He knew it was a good thing, even when her behaviour is just terrible. He spent too much time without her, he couldn't sent her away right now. She's his daughter too. Something has to happen, her behaviour has to change somehow, but at this certain moment he just had no idea what to do. And Elizabeth's "incident" with infection control. He knew how difficult this was to her. He also knew he had been a great help to her that period. She told him many times that she had no idea how she could have gone trough that without him. And he knew that was the truth. At this moment he knew there was a very big chance that the tumour was back again. And he wanted his family to be with him, to go trough it together. His family, included Rachel.
When he reached Ella's room, he stayed outside for a while, just watching Elizabeth and Ella for a while. He hoped that she was willing to listen to him, even though she told him earlier she wasn't in for talking that evening. He really needed to talk to her, even though he knew that the news he had to tell her is going to break her heart.
He carefully knocked on the door, to let her know he was coming in. She looked up for a few seconds, then looked back to Ella not looking up again as she asked: "how was dinner". The tone in her voice made him doubt if she even wanted to hear an answer.
He walked closer to her as he said: "fine". Then, with some concern in his voice, he asked: "How is she doing?"
She looked up and wandered: "Do you care?"
"Yes, of course I care. She is my daughter and I love her. I am very sorry for what happened and I would give anything to make it undone." He had to try real heard to keep his voice down.
"You can prevent anything like this for ever happening again by sending Rachel away."
A hundred answers ran trough his mind, but he didn't wanted to have this fight so he said: "I didn't came up her to fight about Rachel...
She didn't gave him a chance to finish his sentence as she said sarcastically: "Of course not"
"Elizabeth, please, there... there is something I need to tell you"
The doubts in his voice when he said that made her calm down a little bit. As she couldn't find any words in response she just looked up and searched for his eyes.
As he noticed that he was still standing, he took a chair and placed it next to hers, far enough away to give her some space in case she needed any. He swallowed hard before he spoke: "There where a few things that happened today, down in the ER.."
She turned her head away as he said that. She didn't wanted to look at him anymore, but when he continued there was something in his voice that made her look back again almost automatically.
"I was running a trauma with Susan, when I was ordering some test and some medicine as I couldn't find the word for Solu-Medrol, for like have a minute or so. A little that Rachel came to see me after she spoke to you..."
She immediately wanted to respond on that one but for some reason she just couldn't
"We had an argument when I bit my tongue. I was pushing some pressure on it to stop the bleeding, when Susan asked me to stick my tongue out so she could see the damage. I stoke it out and she immediately commented that I should stick it out straight, otherwise she couldn't see anything. I thought I did... I just... I couldn't...
"Oh my God"
"After you send me away before, I went to neurology for a ct-scan." Again he had to swallow before he could continue. Almost whispering he said: "There is something, they are not sure what it is yet, but..." He stopped as she stood up and walked away to the window. He just watched her to see what she was about to do because this wasn't the kind of response he had been expecting.
She placed both hands on the window in front of her. She turned her head so that he couldn't see the tears in her eyes, tracing a path down her cheeks. She couldn't look at him. She felt bad about the things she said before. All the pain she had felt last year was back again. She didn't knew how to response, her instinct told her to hold him in her arms, but something strange kept her from doing that. She just stood there for a couple of minutes before she finally turned around to face him.
He saw the tears tracing down over her cheeks. He saw that she was confused about what to do next so he stood up and walked to her slowly, giving her time to react if she wanted. When he finally reached her she pushed her arms around his neck and pulled his head close to her face, kissing the top of his head. Than took his hands and carefully placed them on her back. Finally he took her in his arms and held her close, both letting their tears flow freely and both thinking about what to do next.
They stayed in each others arms for a long time, both having no idea for how long before Ella asked for their attention as she started to cry.
Mark was the first one who reached the crib. He took Ella out and wandered: "What is wrong sweetheart? Are you hungry? As he said that he checked his watch and commented: "mmm.. you could be. How about I'll change your diaper first and then give you a nice bottle of milk. Ella relaxed in Mark's arms as he spoke to her and looked at him with big eyes. He gave his daughter a big smile and than looked over his shoulder in search for Elizabeth. She blinked with her eyes and nodded in confirmation.
As Mark walked to the chancing table, Elizabeth started to prepare a bottle of Milk for her daughter. While doing that she thought to herself: "How could I think he doesn't love her. Our me. It is so obvious, the way he looks at her, the way he talks to her, the way he smiles at her. What the hell went wrong? Why did I let Rachel come between them, between us. How can we fix this and more important, how can I help him." All the fire she had felt before down in the ER, when he asked her to talk to him, when he came back to talk to her was gone now. It was replaced by helplessness. She had now idea how to move on now. She couldn't leave him, for some reason she had thought that would be the easiest way, but now she realist that is wasn't, that she was wrong.
Mark stirred her out of her thoughts by saying: "Is it ready?" When she didn't respond he asked somewhat louder: "Elizabeth?"
She looked at him and asked: "Sorry, what where you saying?"
"I asked if you where finished preparing the bottle, our daughter here is very hungry." He gave her a smile.
Weakly she smiled back, picked up the bottle and walked toward her husband. "Here you are"
"With a bigger smile he said: "Thank you"
When Ella had finished her bottle she looked very sleepy again, so Mark handed her over to Elizabeth as he said "Here you go. Give your mummy a big hug before you go back to sleep again."
When she took Ella in her arms she looked at Mark and said: "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere. If you're ok with it I'll just stay here with you and Ella for a while."
"Of course. That's fine. I just thought..."
"Sttt... It's ok. I know". He walked closer to Elizabeth, kissed her temple and than placed a kiss on the babies head. "I love you both"
"We love you to Mark, but..." She doubted if it was the right time to ask but she knew it would never be the right time to ask this and she had to know, so she continued: "But what about Rachel?"
"I love Rachel too." He knew this wasn't the answer she was waiting for so he continued. "If the tumour is back, which I'm pretty sure it is, I want to spent.. When we thing worse case, when they can't treat me like before in New York.. When I die I want to spent the rest of the time I've left with my family, which means you and Ella, but also Rachel. We have to find a way to make that possible. I just don't know how..." He sighed deeply and said: "I just don't know how"
Elizabeth looked at him curiously, not knowing how to respond. Ella started to cry a little in her arms, so she lifted the little girl to her shoulder and started to rub the little girls back. Than she stood up and walked to Mark who had walked away and was now staring out of the window.
Mark noticed that they were standing behind him, so he turned around and asked to Ella: "What is wrong sweety?"
"Elizabeth searched for his eyes as she said: "I suppose she doesn't like the way your talking right now."
"What do you mean?"
"We don't know the tumour is back yet, right? And even when it is back, that doesn't means that you're dying. You can't think like that Mark."
"Why not? If I think worse case, the news wouldn't come so hard does it" He saw the pain in her eyes and couldn't stand that, so he turned around again and started staring out of the window again.
As Elizabeth looked at her daughter, she noticed that she had fallen asleep so she walked to the crib and placed Ella in it, covering her with the blanket. Than she brought her attention back to Mark who was still starring outside the windows like before. She walked to him and placed her hands on his shoulders and started to rub his back. He didn't pull away but didn't respond on it either. Carefully she whispered: "You can't give up. I need you to much and so does Ella. She doubted for a few moments before she continued, and so does Rachel."
That definitely caught his attention, so he turned to her as he wandered "What do you mean"
"I'm not sure, but I guess that means that we have to make sure Rachel's behaviour chances, so Ella can crawl safely around the house again, without finding any ecstasy in her way and eating it." The tears immediately jumped in her eyes by thinking about that.
Mark took her hands in his as he said: "She is going to be okay. We will make sure Rachel won't be in the same room with Ella alone and we'll check everything she'll brings into our house." Elizabeth now started to cry so Mark to her in his arms. As she didn't pulled away he started to held her even more tight.
After a couple of minutes she started to relax in his arms and when she was calm enough to speak she started to tell: "Rachel came to talk to me earlier before, well, you know. She told me that she was planning to take the pills on a party and that she forgot about them. That she was sorry and if there was anything she could do... I'm sorry Mark, but all I could think about was her leaving our house, so it would be safe for Ella again. But now I realise that it wasn't, well, it wasn't the best thing to say. It's just that I am so angry with her. How could she bring that stuff into our house. How could she put Ella's life at risk like that. She can never, ever do such a thing again our I'll probably will kill her personally."
"You know, that day I was with a patients mother watching the surgery of her little girl as Abby came to get me. She told me my daughter was admitted with a drug overdose. I just assumed that it was Rachel, I wasn't scared, just angry. When I walked into the exam room and saw you with Ella I got afraid. I never, not one second thought that they were talking about Ella, not one second. Believe me when I tell you that I've never been more scared in my life than that moment."
"I know. I realise that you must feel exactly the same I do." She swallowed back the lump in her throat before she could continue. "We have to find some way to let Rachel know what kind of damage drugs could do to your body."
"I have thought about that, but I just couldn't think about anything."
"Well, since we both work in a hospital I don't think that must be a problem to show her that."
"Maybe you're right. I'll see what I can do. That really is a very good idea." Then he whispered: "Thank you"
She smiled softly and nodded her head to reassure him that she knew. Than she asked. "What happens next?"
Mark looked at her confused, not really knowing where she was talking about
"Are they going to do some more test to find out if the tumour is back?"
"I'll have to go to New York to see Burke."
"When?"
"As soon as they can fit me in to the schedule, probable in a couple of days."
She sighted, than asked: "Can I come with you?"
He looked her in the eyes and than whispered: "I'd love you to, but only if you really want to, you don't have to if you do not want to"
She walked closer to him and pressed her lips against his, after the kiss finished she just hold him tight and whispered: "I love you"
The end
(The story continued as they took place in the next episodes, with Mark and Elizabeth being together the way it is suppose to be. If you don't like how that happen you can think about a different ending)
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