PLEASE R&R

How I thought "Orion's belt" SHOULD have ended. It just made me so mad that Susan and Mark never got to say good-bye to each other. I wanted to cry when they just "looked" at each other. I was yelling at the screen saying, "Susan run after him!" Ok…since I'm writing this, Ill get my wish.

"You set the tone Carter."

"What?" A confused Carter watched as his mentor Dr. Mark Greene walked down the ambulance bay one final time.

"Work on your jump shot" Mark yelled not turning back. It never occurred to Carter that this was Mark's last night working in the ER. He never told anyone, which would explain Carter's confusion when Mark told him to set the tone. Carter dribbled the basketball in his hands as he turned around to go through the sliding ER doors. Just then Carter was impaled by a distraught Susan Lewis.

"Whoa, Susan, where's the fire?"

"Mark, where is he? Is he gone?" Susan asked trying to look past a very tall Carter.

"No he just left; he's walking home right now. Today was his last day. Susan what's going on?"

"Damn it!" Susan wiped her forehead as if she was sweating. Then she grabbed Carter's white lab coat by the collar, forcing Carter to look at Susan.

"Carter, will you please cover for me? It's an emergency."

"Uh, yeah, sure." And with that Susan busted out of the ER doors and sprinted around the corner past the bay area. She stopped dead in her tracks at a T-intersection across from Doc Magoo's and looked both ways several times until she spotted Mark in his plaid winter coat about two blocks down.

"Mark!" She screamed catching nearly everyone's attention but the man she wanted. She realized then that he was much too far away. Once again she ran at a dead sprint screaming his name every few feet until she saw him stop and turn around.

"Mark! Wait... Wait!"

"Susan…" She had finally caught up to him. But Mark had noticed she had tears in her eyes. "Susan, what's going on?"

"Mark, you can't leave, I mean, not yet. You just can't."

"Susan…I, I have to go."

"Was this your last shift Mark? Tonight?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"And you weren't going to say good-bye?" Susan shed a tear anxious as to what Mark was going to say.

"I'm sorry Susan, I just…I knew it was going to be hard. I mean, you were a part of my life for so long. I didn't want things to end, so I just figured I would avoid it. I've never wanted to say good-bye, not to you." Mark looked down at his shoes.

"I hate knowing that I'm never going to see you again." Susan grabbed Mark's hand and kissed his knuckles as a tear streamed down her face. She looked up into Mark's beautiful eyes which were covered up by his glasses.

"Susan…" He grabbed her free hand. "I didn't say good-bye because I still…I still love you Susan. I always have."

"Mark…" She let go of Mark's hand and touched the side of his face, which he nuzzled into.

"Mark…I've always love you too. But every time has been the wrong time. That kiss I gave you at Union Station has been with me ever since. I think about it all the time. And I just wish…" Mark didn't let Susan finish her sentence. Instead he pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Susan looped her arms around Mark's neck and took in every feeling. She had been waiting for this moment since she retuned from Phoenix. They parted but Susan didn't let go. She hugged him long and hard letting her silent tears flow freely. "I'll miss you Mark, so much, so much." Susan let go and looked at Mark.

"I can't say I'll miss you Susan. I don't have much longer to miss anyone." Susan shed one last tear and leaned in to kiss Mark on the cheek.

"Good-bye Susan…"

"No Mark….I'll see you soon." She smiled and watched Mark walk out of her life, but not her heart.