A/N Even though I didn't get a single review, I am still going to write this fic. There will definitely be Maddison all throughout the fic.
Samantha Riley
Samantha couldn't believe that her daughter was actually asking for her. She hadn't spoken to her daughter in weeks, though she knew that Sloane had left her countless messages on her voicemail. So she knew that Sloane was with her father because that was what Sloane had told her in the voicemails. But hearing Sloane say it and actually having it confirmed really was two different things. She wasn't a horrible person. She really did love her daughter but she had had so many plans for her daughter and they had all been crushed when her daughter told her that she was pregnant. Honestly she had regretted kicking Sloane out from the moment that she had done it. She couldn't let Sloane know that though so she pretended that she didn't give a damn about her daughter and grandchild. Not picking up the phone when her daughter called had been a really hard thing for her to do.
Sloane was a beautiful girl and when she was asked out by the high school basketball's power forward Joshua Campbell at the beginning of her senior year, Samantha was afraid that something like this would happen. It had happened to her when she was just a little older than Sloane.
She had met Mark in a chemistry class at Columbia on their first day. He was gorgeous and smart, funny and Samantha was naïve enough to believe that he wasn't going to be the typical jock and that he wasn't going to use her. And she was right, for the most part. He asked her out a week later and they took their time getting to the physical part of their relationship. He respected her which was a surprise to her. When she told him that she was pregnant, she could see the panic in his eyes. She knew about his crappy childhood so she was sure that the panicky feeling was out of fear. Fear that he would be a horrible father just like his father was to him. Mark went into his midterm and then when he met her later that afternoon he told her that he just couldn't do it. That he was sorry but he wasn't ready to be a father. Samantha dropped out of Columbia and never spoke to Mark again.
It had been nineteen years since she had heard his voice and she couldn't believe how similar it sounded. She wanted to make things right with her daughter but she felt as though Sloane had to do this on her own. Samantha's own mother Jacqueline had felt that Samantha needed to do it alone as well so that was the reason that Samantha was forcing Sloane to do the same.
"She had to have surgery Sam. The baby…Well the baby needed surgery to have a normal life." Mark explained quietly. He had no idea why Samantha was resisting coming to see her daughter. He could tell that Samantha was not happy with Sloane for getting pregnant, but Mark felt that Samantha needed to be there for her daughter. Mark was doing the best he could but he was not a woman and he had never been through pregnancy or childbirth. Sloane needed her mother. When Samantha heard that Sloane had just had surgery and that the baby had needed it to have a normal life, Samantha was concerned for the first time since the conversation began. She knew that surgery on a pregnant woman was risky and now she just wanted to know that Sloane, her beautiful daughter, was okay.
"Is she going to be okay?" Samantha asked in a much softer voice. Mark was startled by Samantha's use of her soft voice which she hadn't utilized during the whole conversation.
"Yeah. She and the baby…our grandson are just fine." Mark told Samantha softly. He still had a hard time believing that he was going to be a grandpa in eighteen weeks. He was excited though and he wanted to help Sloane raise the baby. He viewed this as his second chance. When Samantha heard that Sloane and the baby were just fine, she let out a soft sigh of relief. Then realized that Mark had said grandson.
"It's a boy?" Samantha asked softly.
"Yeah it is." Mark confirmed. He had a feeling that Samantha had kicked Sloane out because of a knee jerk reaction. He was getting the feeling that Samantha regretted kicking Sloane out.
"I miss her." Samantha admitted. She and her daughter had had a rough relationship, particularly once Sloane started going out with Joshua Campbell.
"Then come to LA." Mark told her. He walked around the empty room that he was in, hoping that Samantha would not disappoint her daughter. The fact that Samantha admitted to missing her was huge and Mark hoped that would be enough to get her to come to LA. Mark finally sat down in a conference chair and listened to Samantha.
"Okay." Samantha finally whispered as she clutched her cell phone tightly to her ear. Mark was stunned. He had no idea that Samantha would agree to come to LA so quickly. He was glad though. For as much as he loved his daughter, he didn't feel confident that he could handle this on his own. She needed her mother too in addition to her father. And if he were honest with himself, Mark wanted to see Samantha. He hadn't seen or spoken to her in nineteen years and he couldn't help but be curious about her life since then.
"Really?" Mark asked. He couldn't help but sound surprised. Samantha couldn't blame him for sounding surprised. She had started the conversation quite rudely, but Mark had managed to break through her tough exterior fast. She hadn't had a tough exterior nineteen years ago, but she had developed one since then.
"Yes, I'll call you when I am at the airport." Samantha told Mark. Now she was calm and collected. She could not let Mark know how much hearing from him had affected her.
"I'll come get you when you get here." Mark promised. Then Mark remembered a conversation that he had had with Sloane. She had touched on the father of the baby but didn't say much about him. Mark wondered if Samantha knew anything about him.
"The father?" Mark asked. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know anything about the father of his grandson. Particularly if the father had behaved like Mark had.
"Her high school boyfriend. Player on the Varsity basketball team." Samantha replied. She knew that her daughter had been hurt by this guy and his reaction to the baby. Much the same way she had felt when Mark walked out on her and his unborn daughter.
"Name?" Mark demanded. He wanted to track down this kid and kick his ass for knocking Sloane up and then walking out on her. Okay so technically it wasn't all his fault that Sloane was pregnant, but Mark was not ready to lay all the blame on his daughter. Plus this kid needed to face responsibility. Mark wanted to kill him for walking away from Sloane and the baby.
"I am not giving you the kid's name so you can track him down and kill him Mark, He's just a kid." Samantha told Mark. Mark was not happy that it seemed as if Samantha was defending the guy who had knocked their daughter up.
"He knocked up our daughter Sam and he isn't even taking responsibility for it." Mark pointed out angrily.
"Boy who does THAT sound like?" Samantha asked sarcastically. Of course she was referring to Mark's reaction when she told him that he was going to be a father.
"This is not about me or my reaction to Sloane, Sam so don't you dare try and bring that up." Mark snapped. Samantha was pretty sure she was going to rip out her blonde hair. Mark was being infuriating right now. She guessed it was due to his new role as Sloane's father. She wanted to smack some sense into her ex boyfriend because he didn't seem to realize that he had been a lot like Joshua Campbell when they were in college and she had told him that she was pregnant.
"It's exactly the same Mark. The only difference is that Sloane was still in high school. I was in college. Both you and Sloane's boyfriend reacted the same way." Samantha yelled into the phone. She had a very hot temper sometimes and Mark was forcing it to come out.
"Except, she's my kid. I still don't feel like a father, but knowing that her boyfriend reacted so horribly to the news makes me want to rip the kid apart." Mark murmured. Okay so that statement didn't exactly make sense with the context of the rest of the conversation, but Mark felt like Samantha should know how he was feeling.
"You care about her." Samantha murmured. She never thought that Sloane would be lucky enough to have her father in her life and it seemed as though she was wrong. From what Samantha could see, Mark was trying to be the father he never would have been nineteen years ago.
"She's my kid. I may not have been there for her…or you before now, but I love her." Mark admitted. He had a lot of guilt for the way he had handled everything nineteen years ago. He wanted to be involved in Sloane's life from this point on. He was hoping that this would be his second chance to prove that he could be a decent father. Sloane was a good kid and she reminded Mark of himself in so many ways.
"I can tell." Samantha admitted. Mark had become a father at some point since he had met Sloane. Samantha just wasn't sure at what point it had happened.
"She's a good kid Sam. She's scared and she won't let me see her because she wants you." Mark told her. He hated not being wanted by his own kid, but he understood that sometimes a girl needed her mother. This was one of those times.
"I'll be on the next plane out." Samantha told Mark. Mark still had no idea where Samantha and Sloane lived so he was hoping that Samantha would tell him now.
"Where are you living?" Mark asked curiously. He didn't understand why Sloane never told him but he was sure Samantha was about to tell him.
"Las Vegas." Samantha told Mark. She knew how it would sound to Mark and she hated the implication. They didn't live in the trashy part of Las Vegas. She made decent money as a dental hygienist. She never once considered being a stripper or anything like that. She wanted her daughter to be proud of her and she wanted to be a positive role model for her daughter. Mark on the other hand didn't know what to say. He had been to Las Vegas once for a plastic surgery conference and he hadn't been that impressed with the city. He was hoping that Samantha hadn't resorted to stripping to keep her and Sloane living comfortably. Samantha knew exactly what Mark was thinking and she sighed knowing that he had every right to believe that.
"I know what you are thinking Mark." Samantha whispered. She could practically hear Mark frowning.
"Yeah that you brought up our daughter in a stripper city." Mark replied.
"We didn't live in the trashy part of Las Vegas." Samantha told him quietly.
"So what do you do?" Mark asked calmly. He hoped that she wasn't about to tell him that she was an exotic dancer or something similar to that. That would be a real step down from being a student at Columbia nineteen years ago.
"I'm a dental hygienist." Samantha told him. Mark was relieved and surprised at the same time. Relieved that his daughter hadn't grown up with an exotic dancer for a mother and surprised that Samantha had gone to school to become a dental hygienist.
"You thought I was a stripper didn't you? You thought I would bring up our daughter in that life?" Samantha accused Mark as she did her best to wipe away the tears that were slipping out of her green eyes and down her pale cheeks. She never would have done that. Stripping and being an exotic dancer was never even a thought in her head.
"I wasn't sure Sam. I am just glad that you didn't do that." Mark told her honestly.
Just then, Addison popped her head into the conference room. Mark looked up at her wondering if something was wrong. Mark was sure that Addison would not have interrupted him unless it was important. So now he was worried about Sloane and his grandson.
"Sloane's awake again and she's asking for you." Addison told Mark before she stepped back out of the room. Mark had to get off of the phone so he could go be with his daughter.
"Sam, I have to go. She's awake again and she's asking for me." Mark spoke rather hurriedly into the phone.
"Okay, tell her I am coming and that I'll see her in a few hours." Samantha told Mark. Before Mark could say anything to her, Samantha had hung up the phone. Mark put his phone back into his pants pocket and made his way back to Sloane's room.
When he walked into her room, she was sitting up in bed talking to Addison. Mark really wasn't sure what they were discussing, but when he saw a picture in Sloane's hand, Mark groaned. He was sure that Addison had brought some pictures of Mark from medical school so that Sloane had an idea of what her dad looked like way back then.
"God Mark who put the beard on you?" Sloane asked as she held up the picture of Mark with a beard made out of permanent marker.
"That would be my ex husband." Addison told Sloane with a smile. Mark remembered that night and how horribly smashed he and Derek had both gotten while Addison sat sober and rolling her eyes at the pair of them. Sloane put down the picture and looked at Mark. She was hoping that her dad had managed to talk her mom into coming to LA to be with her.
"Did you talk to my mom?" Sloane asked, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. She was almost afraid to hear what her mother had had to say to the man who had knocked her up nineteen years ago.
"Yeah I did talk to your mother. And she's coming honey." Mark told his daughter. He was so happy that he was able to give his daughter good news about that. Sloane was surprised that her mother was coming. She had expected her to refuse to come to LA.
"Really, she's actually coming?" Sloane asked her father anxiously. She felt as though she had to be sure.
"Yes I have to go pick her up at the airport when her flight gets in." Mark explained to both Addison and Sloane. He looked at Addison and before he could even open his mouth to say one word, she spoke,
"Of course I'll stay here with Sloane. I can tell her all sorts of stories about you."
That was what Mark was afraid of. He knew he had been anything but a saint in medical school and he was honestly afraid of the stories that Addison would tell his daughter. When Addison saw the look on his face, she smirked smugly.
"Or I can always have Derek fly to LA and spill embarrassing stories of your childhood to your daughter." Addison threatened sweetly. She knew she had him good and cornered now. Sloane was now laughing at the light banter between her doctor and her father. The laughing caused the incision to hurt and she flinched. Mark looked at her, concern clouding his grey eyes.
"Is something wrong sweetie?" Mark asked anxiously.
"No Daddy-"Sloane froze when she realized that she had called Mark, Daddy. She hadn't intended to and now she was worried that he might be mad that she had called him Daddy. Mark too had froze in place. He had honestly never expected to hear anyone call him Daddy so to hear Sloane fall into it on accident was in no way a bad thing. Addison slipped out of Sloane's room, knowing that father and daughter needed to talk alone.
"Honey I don't mind if you call me Daddy. Just like I never minded when you called me Mark. I wasn't around when you were a kid and we missed out on a lot of stuff. You can call me whatever you feel comfortable calling me." Mark told her as he reached for her hand and held it.
"I think I'd like to try calling you Dad. Just to see if it sounds right." Sloane told her father shyly. Mark smiled. He liked the idea of her calling him Dad.
"That sounds good. How about you get some sleep. I'll be right here with you until I have to leave to pick up your mother." Mark told her. He knew that she was still in a lot of pain and he was worried for her and his grandson. His eyes never left the fetal heart monitor. He was still scared for her and he knew that she was in no way out of the woods yet. He watched her drift off to sleep and his hand smoothed her blonde hair off of her face before it returned to rest on top of his other hand, leaving both hands to rest on her right hand.
He got a text message from Samantha an hour later telling him that her plane would arrive at ten pm that night. It was already five so Mark settled in for a long evening of watching the monitor obsessively. Addison, Sam and Naomi tried to talk him into going to the cafeteria for some coffee, but Mark wouldn't budge. He stayed at Sloane's bedside until Addison came to get him a nine pm. Mark bent his head and kissed his daughter's forehead and whispered,
"I'll be back soon with your mom okay."
"Thank you Dad. Good night." Sloane muttered sleepily.
Addison looked at Mark before he left Sloane's room, unable to believe how much all of this had changed him. He was a different guy and she had to admit that this caring father thing was incredibly hot. His concern for his daughter was a major turn on for her.
"Drive carefully Mark." Addison whispered.
"I will Red." Mark promised, using his nickname for her that he hadn't used in years. He took one last look at Sloane and at the fetal heart monitor before he left her room. He was on his way to LAX airport to pick up her mother. Mark had not seen nor heard from this woman in nineteen years. Mark knew that it was going to be an interesting reunion and he was looking forward to it.