Secrets: They keep each other's secrets. In the calming afterglow of a rushed rendezvous, Mark brings up the awkward and inevitable. It doesn't mean she has to like it. Amelia and Mark. Set just after where we left off in 7x03 – Superfreak.

Secrets

The ceiling was really uninteresting. An observation Mark made as he was lying on his back, taking long slow breaths into the warm, familiar darkness of his bedroom. He looked over to his left, seeing nothing more than the slightly-uncovered back of Amelia Shepherd. He decided that this view was much better than the one he had previously of an off-white ceiling filled with cracks and a darkened patch of damp from a leak in the apartment above him. He took a long time to study the contour of Amelia's back. Every curve, every vertebrae, every little chink in that spunky devil-may-care armour she had when you stood face to face with her. Mark sighed again and remembered why it was he had been staring at his ceiling in the first place. He didn't want to ask. He really didn't but… She was here, and he should. It was a certainty that she was awake. She had already missed her flight and her mind would probably still be in overdrive from the mind blowing thing they had just shared which just made him even more curious. What harm could it do? He laughed in spite of himself. She was Amy. She could do anything to him.

He laugh seemed to have caused her fake-sleeping form to stir a bit. Amelia rolled over onto her back, turning her neck to face him with a quirked eyebrow and a formidably unamused yet curious stare. Her eyes pierced through him and he knew now that he had to say what he wanted to say because if he didn't her freaky Shepherd-sister-psyche would catch him out anyway. Mark caught her eye again and seeing the unwavering expression he turned to face the ceiling again and casually placed both his arms behind his head. He could do this. It just had to be casual.

"So." He began. Nice Mark, very cool… He could hear his internal self berating voice dripping in sarcasm and it really wasn't helping. "You manage to make nice with Derek today?" Amelia pulled her head back slightly, eyebrows raising further than he thought possible before shaking off the expression and replacing it with a sinisterly mirthful smirk before slowing the shake of her head and simply rolling over so he was facing her back once again. The only difference this time was the massive amount of sheet she had rolled over with. Mark grunted in annoyance at her – quite predictable- reaction before he hoisted himself into a sitting position and attempted conversation again.

"Amy…" He began.

"Amelia." Her voice was stern and unyielding and… Damnnit. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Amelia." He emphasised it this time.

"No!" Amelia suddenly turned, sitting up; her face almost connecting with his nose. "No Mark, nothing you say is going to change this for me." Her tone was nothing more than a harsh whisper, but somehow it was going right through him. "I told you I would keep your secret and I did. It's not my fault Derek walked in on you two doing… I kept up my end of that deal! End of, you don't get to ask me this now. You don't get to ask me this again!"

He saw it often when he drove over to the Shepherd place on his visits. More often now than he ever did. There were always groups of kids, teenagers hanging around in side streets and in dark corners by the parks full of slides and roundabouts. Funny. As a kid you deliberately fell down things and went round in circles. It was fun, even. But as an adult all you did and all you wanted to stop doing was just that. The traffic lights had turned red and Mark was stuck, windscreen wipers going full speed as the rain pelted down outside and Mark wondered how many of the kids in dark corners were sheltering from the rain, and how many were waiting for the next weeks' worth of pills. He shook his head, running his hand through his hair as he remained stationary at the lights in Downtown. Through the rain drops on his window he made out a slim figure with long black hair dart over to a man in a long trench coat. Mark could only watch the exchange in disgust until he caught sight of the face that he never wanted to see near there.

"Amy?"

He watched her expression change from one of extreme anger to something softer. Her eyes flickered with regret but that was pushed back and replaced with subtler annoyance, with a hint of bitter arrogance. Her next sentence was like steel, edged with betrayal, juvenile disappointment.

"I knew you'd do this sooner or later." Mark looked taken aback, but he wasn't all that surprised that she was using this angle on him, addicts were notorious for being manipulative.

"I was only asking-"

"Well you shouldn't have. Is this why you got me here? Is this why you slept with me? God, how could I be so stupid!" She ran a hand through her tousled black hair, internally berating herself. Mark couldn't help but smirk, she had known full well what she was getting into when she slept with him. "I should have known… A manwhore like you would use what he knew best to get me to talk. Well screw you Mark." He couldn't hold it in much longer…

"You already did. And you wanted it like I did, I didn't make you come here and fuck me, Amelia, you did it because you could. And, while you're letting me talk – yes I wanna know if you told Derek because I don't want to lose him now you've got him back. I kept your secret too remember? I kept the fact you were getting high whenever you felt like it from my best friend because I thought it'd kill both of you. But the drugs nearly did that for you. I want it put to rest." He paused for a second, scratching his chest with one hand, letting an irritated sigh escape his lips as he watched the young woman in front of him hurriedly getting changed by the side of his bed. "Amy. Did you tell him?" Standing up straight, Amelia flung a menacing 'whatever' over her shoulder as she scooped up her bag and walked purposefully out of his apartment; letting his front door slam shut for added punctuation. Mark could only guess from that little show, that some secrets would remain that way forever.