Disclaimer: I make no claim to any part of Grey's Anatomy (except the role of devoted fan) and will make no profit from any part of this story. Every single character mentioned in this story belongs to Shondaland, American Broadcasting Corporation, and any other corporate entity that has a stake in Grey's Anatomy. No copyright infringement whatsoever is intended.
Many thanks to Shonda Rimes for creating Grey's Anatomy, to the talented cast, staff, and crew who help her realize her vision, and to ABC for making it available on the public airwaves.
Author's Note: This is the spot where I would prefer to publicly acknowledge the contributions of my beta, but for reasons only partly understandable to myself, she prefers to remain anonymous. She was able to assist me through almost half of the story before RL made it impossible for her to continue, but the original concept and development of the overall story arc owes much to her inspiration and encouragement. She has my thanks for the gifts of her time, energy, and talent she shared with me.
Author's Warning: This story is labeled Mer/Mark, and it is Mer/Mark, but they're not exactly girlfriend and boyfriend. They're . . . both less and more than that. You'll understand once you start reading. Lots of sex is implied, but nothing specific is shown. (Darn!)
Families
Chapter 10
After a couple of days of not looking for Mark because she didn't quite know what to say to him, Meredith was pleasantly surprised to hear that he had asked for her to scrub in on a facial reconstruction for a sixteen-month-old conjoined twin who'd recently been separated from her sister--and then less pleasantly surprised to find out that she was scrubbing in with Dr. Blackfeather, a pediatric surgical attending, while Mark worked on the other twin with Alex as his intern.
Mark and Alex's team scrubbed out first, so Meredith had to go looking for Alex to offer him her congratulations at having scored a surgery with the Head of Plastics. She found him in the pediatric post-op ward, checking his twin's vitals. "How'd it go?" she whispered, mindful of the sleeping patients.
"Not bad," Alex said softly. She needs more work, but it looks like we rebuilt her jaw well enough for her to start eating and speaking normally--for now, anyway." Alex finished writing the last sentence on the chart. "Yours?"
"About the same," Meredith nodded, "although Isabela looks a lot better than Gabriela, since she got most of their joint cheekbone in the original surgery." She sighed. "Poor kids. They're still getting used to not being attached to each other 24-7, and now they have another surgery to recover from."
"Lucky kids," Alex corrected her. "If that Nicaraguan church hadn't arranged a fundraising drive to get them here and Sloan and Blackfeather hadn't agreed to work pro bono, they'd still be stuck together with no hope of separation."
"I guess so," said Meredith. She knew Alex was right, but she still couldn't forget how the little girls hadn't willingly let each other out of their sight after they'd finally been separated by their last surgery.
Her musings were interrupted by the team of nurses bringing in the other twin. She waved the nurses over to where she was standing and turned to Alex. "Help me move that bed next to Gabriela's, so she and Isabela can be together."
Alex and the nurses looked at Meredith uncertainly, and she sighed. "Look, everybody, I'm not crazy," she said softly but with a firm tone. "A few months ago, Alex and I were taking care of quintuplets, and one of them--Charlotte--wasn't thriving until we put in the same isolette as her sister."
"Co-bedding," remarked Dr. Blackfeather, who had just walked into the room. "We usually do it only in the NICU, but with these two, you're probably right that they'll recuperate better together. Good call, Dr. Grey."
It didn't take long after that for the beds to be put together and the twins settled.
Once the others had left, Meredith asked Alex to watch the twins for a half hour while she took a dinner break; he was going off duty soon while she was working the night shift. Upon her return, Alex told her that Blackfeather had already checked on the twins and signed out, but that Sloan hadn't shown up yet.
"Hmm," commented Meredith, trying to keep any undue interest out of her voice while she examined the twins' charts. "That's not like him. Did he seem okay during surgery?"
Alex shrugged. "The usual. Made me get his damned cappuccino before surgery. The man is world's biggest jackass outside the operating room--but inside?" Then the expression on Alex's face changed and his voice grew almost reverential. "Man, you wouldn't believe the way he put that kid's cheek and jaw together. She's gonna be able to eat and talk like a normal person even after she gave most of her face to her sister."
Meredith smiled past the lump in her throat. While she was disappointed that the surgery hadn't turned out to be the peace offering from Mark she'd originally assumed it was, she was glad that Alex had had a chance to scrub in on a procedure that excited him so much. For all the jokes about Alex joining the gynie squad once Addison forced him to stay on her service as a punishment, it looked as if Alex had known his true calling all along.
They spent the next fifteen minutes or so discussing their respective surgeries, with Alex doing most of the talking. By the time that discussion petered out, it was past time for Alex to leave, but Meredith could see that he didn't want to go without making sure Mark knew he had stuck around. "Go ahead, Alex. I'll let Sloan know you were waiting for him."
"Sloan?" asked Alex with a grin.
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Yes, Sloan. Dr. Mark Sloan, Head of Plastics. The guy you scrubbed in with this afternoon. The guy whose praises you've been singing for the past half hour. Have you heard of him?" She crossed her arms and looked squarely at him. "This is getting ridiculous, you know. Why don't you all have a meeting and decide what you want me to call him? Then maybe we won't have to keep wasting time every time I mention his name."
"What's the matter, Mer? Getting jealous?"
Alex's grin had turned smug during Meredith's mini-tirade, but it faded when she went back to staring at the charts and didn't answer his question. "Meredith?"
Meredith looked up to see Alex's brown eyes staring at her uneasily. "I'm fine, Alex. It's just--." Meredith hesitated, wondering what she could say since even she wasn't sure what was going on in her relationship with Mark.
"Are you guys fighting?" asked Alex bluntly.
Meredith quickly shook her head no. "No, not fighting. We're just . . . weird." She shrugged and looked at Alex. "Just weird."
"Weird, huh?" Alex shook his head. Given how well he knew both of them, he was certain it was Sloan causing the problem. He'd meant what he said about the guy being the world's biggest jackass outside of the OR, no matter what Meredith said. She was the only person he knew whose love life was more messed than his own. He hoped he wasn't going to have to kick Sloan's ass on her behalf. Jackass or not, Sloan was still one of the best in his field and the kind of potential mentor that could kick a guy's career into the stratosphere. Still, he had to make the offer. Given his mercurial whims, Sloan was only a longshot possibility as a teacher or mentor, while Meredith was a friend who'd stuck up for him on several occasions. "Do you need me to kick his ass for you?"
Meredith was touched by Alex's offer, especially considering the timing. They'd be residents soon, so there was a chance that Mark might actually follow up this procedure with other opportunities to let Alex in on future surgeries. Unlike his interns, Mark's residents actually got to participate in surgeries in meaningful ways once they'd proven themselves. "No thanks, Alex. I think your chances of scrubbing in with him again will be significantly improved by you staying out of it. This. Whatever."
Relieved that he wouldn't need to make good on his offer, Alex still wanted to let Meredith know he was on her side. "Whatever you need, Grey," he offered, and then looked at his watch. "I'm off-duty now," Alex observed, crooking an eyebrow at Meredith to let her know he'd stick around if she wanted him to.
"Go. Have fun. Celebrate this surgery for the both of us." She grinned. "Tell Joe your first beer tonight is on me."
Alex thanked Meredith with a wink and headed toward the locker room.
GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA
A couple of hours later, Mark walked into the Peds post-op to find the twins' parents crying by their bedside, but the monitors showed nothing out of the ordinary for post-op patients their age. He turned to Meredith. "Dr. Grey?" he asked gruffly while warily eying the tearful Morenos.
"They were asking to see the babies," explained Meredith, handing him both charts.
"You don't say," muttered Mark, trying but failing to hide his irritation as he perused the charts. He really hadn't come back to work so he could fight with Meredith. Still, while letting parents into the Peds post-op wasn't exactly a breach of protocol, it wasn't customary, either--and he had little to no patience for tears. "Why are they crying? According to the charts, the babies are stable."
"Well, Dr. Sloan," said Meredith formally, determined to keep things on a strictly professional level, "my high school Spanish is mostly limited to ordering in Mexican restaurants these days, but from what I can tell, they are thanking God for Gabriela's and Isabela's successful surgery." She'd be damned before she put herself out there with another apology when he was acting like such an ass.
Mark nodded; it wasn't going to be as bad as he'd thought. "Is there anything else I should know about?"
"No, Dr. Sloan," Meredith replied frostily. "You'll find that everything has been properly charted since the Moreno girls got here."
"Excuse me, Dr. Grey," retorted Mark, surprised and hurt at Meredith's attitude. "I thought an intern like yourself would have been thrilled to scrub in on such a complex procedure--especially when I specifically requested that her intern friend scrub in with me--the intern she's been begging me to include in more procedures." He thrust the charts back in her hands. "Since this assignment is obviously an imposition, I'll talk to Dr. Bailey about getting you reassigned."
Oops. The surgery had been an olive branch--even Alex's part. "Mark. . . ?"
Further conversation was made momentarily impossible by the Moreno parents, who had finished their praying and were now coming over to thank Mark for his help. "Dr. Grey, unless your high school Spanish is up to the task of translating for these parents, I strongly suggest that you get someone in here who can help me answer their questions," he growled.
A chastened Meredith went to page a translator while Mark endured further repetitions of "gracias" and bendición from the grateful parents. This was why he didn't volunteer for pro bono work. If it weren't for the article he was planning on getting out of this, he'd tell Blackfeather to find another surgeon.
GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA
After Mark had answered all their questions and the Moreno parents had been sent back to the twins' room to wait for their return, Meredith timidly approached him. "Dr. Sloan, may I buy you a bone-dry cappuccino in the cafeteria?"
Mark looked at her wearily; despite the deliberately casual nature of their relationship, he was surprised at how much it hurt to know that it had ended. "You don't have to do this, Meredith. I get it." He shrugged and then pasted a grin on his face. "It was fun while it lasted."
Meredith, taken aback, hesitated. "While it lasted?" In that moment, she realized that she'd come to think of him as part of her family--an unconventional part--but what part of her family was conventional anyway? She wasn't about to give him up without a fight. "No," protested Meredith. "Please. Can we talk?"
When Mark hesitated, she pressed her advantage. "Five minutes? I've already asked the nurse to keep an eye on the girls."
"Okay. Five minutes," Mark responded warily and jerked his head toward the nearby on-call room closet. Once they'd gotten inside, Mark folded his arms and faced her. "Talk."
Meredith spent a few moments worrying at her lower lip while she gathered her thoughts. Then she set her shoulders and looked up. "Here goes. When I didn't see you for the past few days, I thought you were avoiding me. Then when you asked for me to scrub in but assigned me to Dr. Blackfeather, I thought you were still avoiding me, so I overreacted when you were being your normally grumpy self around the Morenos.
Mark's eyebrow shot up at that remark, but he refrained from commenting.
"I know you don't like families in post-op, but you left without letting anyone know when you'd be back. I thought it would be okay to let them stay for a little while." Meredith took a deep breath. "Thank you for putting Alex on your team. And thank you letting me scrub in with Dr. Blackfeather. I'm sorry for overreacting.""
The seconds ticked endlessly while Mark scrubbed at his cheek and considered his response. Eventually, he shrugged. "You're right. I could point out that I haven't seen you, either, but you're right. I was avoiding you."
"?" asked Meredith wordlessly.
"I didn't want to fight about Susan, and you did. Staying away seemed like a good idea."
Meredith nodded in understanding. She'd been spooked by the fight, too--and there was undeniable truth in Mark's observation that he hadn't seen her, either. She could have gone looking for him instead of leaving their meeting to chance and feeling relieved when there hadn't been any confrontations. Still, he was the one who usually found her, given his greater freedom as an attending. And--
"I told you Susan wasn't a problem any more. In fact, I had dinner with her last night. Thatcher was out of town at a conference, so we went to Serafina's for some pasta and Chianti. We were okay." Meredith paused for a moment and then grimaced wryly. "She asked about you. I didn't know what to say."
Mark cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. "Sorry." He felt like seven different kinds of idiot for not believing Meredith when she first came to apologize. "What made you change your mind?"
Meredith almost let herself sag in relief. The past few minutes had been more tiring than the eight-hour surgery that preceded them. "Susan came back that evening and explained what she wanted. It turns out that she doesn't want to fix me, she wants to fix herself. I can deal with that."
It had been a while since Mark had wished for a translator for Meredith-speak, but he felt like he needed one now. "Your stepmother brings you groceries so she can fix herself?" he asked doubtfully.
Meredith nodded, a small smile playing about her lips. "She says that it's her fault Thatcher didn't come back for me, that she was more concerned about his being there for Molly and Lexie than for me--and now she's sorry and wants to make it up to me." She paused, trying to make it even clearer. "This isn't about me being messed up, or needing to be fixed. She thinks I'm okay. She's the one who's not okay. She feels guilty. See the difference?"
Mark didn't see a difference that made a difference--and frankly, Susan's attempt to take responsibility for Thatcher's failure struck him as more than a little bit dishonest--but he didn't care. What mattered to him was that the drama was over and he and Meredith could remain friends. "Any way you two work it out is fine with me."
They stood looking at each other, relieved that the tension was over but not quite sure what so say or do next. Mark had just about ready to suggest that they go get that coffee when Meredith interrupted his train of thought.
"Where were you? You never take this long to show up after a surgery unless you've been pulled into another one."
Mark was brought up short by Meredith's question. That was news he had intended to share with her, but he hadn't had time yet to figure out how he wanted to present it. He decided to try for a casual tone. "Derek invited me to go to Joe's for a drink."
Meredith was startled into silence at this revelation. She'd been sure Hell had frozen over when she and Derek started talking to each other--but Mark and Derek? Hell hadn't just frozen over--the damned were practicing their double lutzes and triple salchows, getting ready for the Underworld Winter Olympics.
Meredith studied Mark's face carefully, happy to see that there was a smile hiding the disinterested expression he was trying to maintain. "I'm glad," she said softly. "Derek and I talked, too--but I didn't say anything because. . . ."
"I know," said Mark, thinking back to his first conversation with Derek after the big fight and how careful he'd been not to let Meredith know that they talked. He realized guiltily that he never had followed up on those suspicions of Derek's, but consoled himself with the thought that Meredith had had plenty of time to make a second suicide attempt if that was what she had wanted, so Derek's suspicions must have been as crazy as they sounded.
Mark was suddenly seized with a wild urge to celebrate. In one day he'd reconciled with both his brother and his friend, and his friend was okay. Plus, he'd successfully completed another landmark surgery. He turned to Meredith with a leer. "Want to screw?"
Mildly surprised but not unwilling, Meredith started reaching for the strings on her scrubs when her pager beeped. After checking the page, she looked up wryly. "It's the twins--they're waking up. Do you want to come with me to check if they're ready to go back to their room, or do you want me to take care of it?"
"We'll go together. And afterwards, maybe I'll take you up on that cappuccino offer."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Just in case you've forgotten, lowly interns don't get unlimited breaks--and I've just used my coffee break to talk to you." She gave him a Cheshire cat smile. "Considering the circumstances, I think you owe me coffee--caramel macchiato, please."
"You're the one who offered to buy me a cappuccino. You're welshing?" Mark asked in mock-indignation.
"Yes," said Meredith with a grin.
"Fine, I'll pay for the coffee. But, Dr. Grey," he smiled evilly, "paybacks are a bitch."
"We'll see who pays back whom, Dr. Sloan," she announced warningly as she opened the on-call room door and gestured for him to go through.
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