Here is chapter ten! I hope you all enjoy it, and I am currently working on chapter eleven, so hopefully that will be up soon!

Chapter Ten

The instant they entered the room, Meredith went into her bedroom and slammed the door. Mark watched the wood for a moment, debating whether to follow her. He heard the water start, and he was hoping she was taking a bath. No matter how strong she tried to be, he knew she wasn't okay, physically as well as emotionally.

He sat down on the couch in the common room of the suite and pulled off his shoes. He was mentally preparing himself for the battle he knew was coming. She would want to know why he did what he did, the problem was, he wasn't quite sure himself. He sat there, staring at the patterns in the carpet, contemplating what he would say to her when she asked, as she inevitably would. Mark was so engrossed in the carpet, he didn't even hear the water shut off, nor did he notice when Meredith walked in wrapped in only a towel.

"Mark," she said. He didn't respond. "Mark," she said again, more forcefully. She had been thinking in the bathtub, and she knew that they needed to talk.

"Hmmm," he said, not taking his eyes off the floor.

"We need to talk," she said simply.

Mark looked up at her, and she thought she heard him swallow hard when he saw her in the towel. "I don't think now is the best time," he said slowly.

"Damn it Mark, when will be a good time?" He averted his eyes. "That's what I thought. We need to talk Mark, if we are ever going to repair this marriage, we need to talk."

He sighed heavily then moved his eyes up to hers. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?" he asked, even though he knew damn well what it was she wanted to talk about.

Meredith's voice got very small, and she started playing with the bottom of the towel, inadvertently raising it and showing more leg than she probably wanted to. "Why did you do it Mark? At least tell me that," she asked, looking everywhere but at him.

He looked down at the floor. "I don't know."

She looked straight at him, fire burning in her green eyes. "You don't know," she said condescendingly. "You don't know!" she all but yelled. "How the hell do you not know Mark?"

He still hadn't moved his eyes from the floor. "I don't know why I did what I did Mer, I just…" he sighed.

"You just what…" she prodded.

Mark lifted his head and looked right at her. "I just felt like you were emotionally distancing yourself from me and I couldn't take it."

"And so, instead of talking to me about it, you decided to sleep with someone else."

His eyes returned to the carpet. "I don't know how to talk to somebody about that." He looked up to her. "You're the first real relationship I've ever had with anyone. My relationship with my parents was shit, you know that. And with Derek, well, let's just say he was always better at everything. I can't tell you how surprised I was that you stayed with me, Mer. I'm not that guy."

Meredith shook her head vigorously. "You can be that man Mark, hell you are that man. I expect more from you than turning away when things get rough. We've been through rough patches before Mark. What was different about this time?"

"This time was the first time I felt you were distancing yourself from me intentionally. You seemed to throw yourself into work, and I just…" he trailed off. "I don't mean to blame you at all. It's my own insecurities that drove me to do what I did."

"Damn right it was. Mark, you could have talked to me."

"I'm sorry. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."

"How do I know it won't happen again? We are both busy surgeons, I got busy with work and you cheated on me. How do I know we won't grow apart again?"

"I've realized what it's like to almost lose you, and I'll be damned if I ever have that feeling again," he said sincerely.

"It's not enough," she said, as an idea popped into her head.

"What do you mean it's not enough?"

"I think we need to go to counseling," she said tentatively.

Mark started to laugh, then realized she was serious. " You're serious." She nodded. "Mer," he began "You know how I feel about counseling."

She nodded. He hated it, he hated talking about his past and his decisions before he met her. Mark had always hated what he called "psychobabble" and analysis of his feelings. He liked to pretend he didn't have feelings. "Mark, I think it would be good."

He looked in her eyes, and realized that this meant a lot to her. He also realized that if he gave in, it might be an important step in repairing their relationship. He nodded slowly. "Okay."

"You'll do it?" Meredith was surprised that it had taken that little of a fight to get him to agree.

"Yeah, under one condition," he said.

"Anything," was out of her mouth before she could stop it. She realized after that he could probably ask for any number of things that she thought she shouldn't do, and knowing him, it would probably be something sexual.

"I want you to come in with me." Meredith thought he looked like a scared little boy inside of a man in that moment, and her heart broke a little.

She wavered, "You don't have to if you don't want to," she said. "The therapy, I mean. If it will really bother you…"

"It's important to you," he said simply, interrupting her rambling. "I'm going because it's important to you, and I want to show you that I'm willing to try. Will you come with me though?" he asked expectantly.

She smiled, and nodded. "This discussion isn't over yet."

"I know," he said, a sad look coming over his face.

Meredith took three steps towards him and kissed him passionately. When they pulled away he asked, "What was that for?"

"I just wanted you to know that I missed you."

He smiled. "By the way, if you want me to last sixty days, you had better stop parading around in a towel," he said with a smirk.

"I'm not parading," she said, faking indignation. He gave her a look. "Okay, so maybe I was." Then her demeanor turned serious. "I just wanted to make sure you still thought I was beautiful."

Mark caressed her face with the pad of his thumb. "I'll always think you are beautiful. Now go put some clothes on."

She giggled, and as she walked into the bedroom, he realized just how much he had missed her, and just how far they still had to go.

I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and as always, reviews are appreciated!