"How did it go?" asked Abby, she was waiting outside the OR. Mark was the first one out.
"She didn't make it," said Mark.
"And her baby?"
"In the ICU, doesn't look good for him either," said Mark, leaning against the wall next to Abby.
"Him? She had a boy?"
"Yeah, a boy not even bigger than my hand."
"You will look after our baby if something happens to me, won't you?"
"I will."
"Thank you."
"Although I'm sure you could ask your husband."
"He is not my husband," sighed Abby.
"Then what? Come on, Abby you have to tell me. How could you not tell me you were married?"
"It didn't seem relevant. I left him, I left it all behind me. It has nothing to do with my life now."
"What happened?"
"My past doesn't matter."
"Please, I just want to know what it going on. What I'm getting stuck in the middle of."
"You're not stuck in the middle of anything."
"Abby…"
"He was my first love, we got together when I was 16. At first he didn't know I was only 16, then when I was 19 and we were on holiday in Hawaii we decided to get married. It was on the beach with some surfer in a hula skirt. We didn't find out that it wasn't legal until 2 years later."
"Why didn't you get married again?"
"I didn't see the need to change things, we were happy."
"You loved him?"
"I really did. But then 7 months ago I came home from a shoot early and found him and one of my make up artist screwing on the Italian dining room table," said Abby.
"And you haven't seen him since?"
"No I haven't. He has called, he calls a few times a week leaves messages. But I was done, and he isn't a part of my life anymore."
"I didn't know he still called you."
"There are a lot of things about me you don't know."
"Obviously."
"And I'm sure there are things about you I don't know."
"Addison had an abortion," he blurted out. "She was pregnant with my baby last year and she had a termination."
"I'm sorry. I know how much you love her."
"I don't think I do, at least not anymore."
"It's scary isn't it? When you find out how much you're feelings for someone has changed without you even realising it's happening."
"It is."
Abby and Mark were interrupted by the rest of the surgical team coming out into the hall.
"I'll see you later, Sloan," said Abby, getting up.
"You too, Abby."
-------------------------------------------
"You did an excellent job in there. There was too much damage when she came in, but at least you saved the baby," Addison said to Gareth later that day.
"Yeah, at least we managed that. And from what I hear you are the best Neo Natal specialist in the state, so I have every faith that the baby will pull through," said Gareth.
"I'll certainly do my best," smiled Addison. "How long will you be staying in Seattle?"
"It depends, I'm in talks with the Chief of surgery about a semi-permanent post," said Gareth.
"Semi-permanent?"
"I'm in a strange place in my life right now. I'm not really sure what I'm doing and where I want to be doing it," said Gareth.
"Oh…"
"But I'll be staying in Seattle for the next few months, at least."
"If you're free tonight, we could grab a drink and help you settle in," said Addison.
"Sure, I just have to do something first," said Gareth, spotting Abby coming out of the locker room.
"Okay, downstairs in 20 minutes?" said Addison.
"Okay," said Gareth, taking off in Abby's direction.
"Abby, Abby!" he called to her. He caught up to her and tugged her into a supply closet.
"What the hell do you want?" asked Abby wearily. She had been hoping to go home, crawl into bed and avoid seeing him.
"I just want to talk to you, I haven't been able to talk to you in so long."
"And you know why that is."
"Yeah I do," he sighed. "I'm sorry, it was so stupid…"
"I've already heard this, several times in your messages. You do know that stalking is illegal?"
"Why didn't you change your number then?"
"Why should I?"
"If you really didn't want me to be able to contact you, you would have changed your number."
"Why are you here? You hate doing standstills, and you certainly don't pick what interns scrub in. You hate interns, they're no better than nurses according to you."
"Well I heard my wife was here, and a surgical intern…"
"I'm not…"
"You are my wife, don't get technical now. You've been my wife for seven years."
"Not anymore."
"I was an idiot, I know that, but Abby…I love you."
"If you loved me, you would have kept your hands off Marianne."
"I know…I have no excuse for what I did. But it was only once, that time you…you saw…you… that was the only time I was ever unfaithful to you."
"One time too many," snapped Abby.
"I know but…this is us. We belong together, we have to be together, we balance each other out. I love you, I need you in my life. I can't enjoy anything without you."
"Too bad," said Abby harshly.
"Come back to me. Give me a second chance. I swear I'll never give you a reason to doubt me or leave ever again."
"Aren't you forgetting one major thing?" asked Abby incredulously.
"What?"
"The bump," said Abby pointing down to her swollen abdomen.
"Right," said Gareth, staring down at it.
"Not exactly what you were expecting. You probably thought I would be a mess and so glad to see you I would fall into your arms and we'd live happily ever after. You always were an arrogant ass, but then what surgeon isn't?" said Abby, more to herself than to him.
"How did that happen?" said Gareth quietly.
"Do you need a damn biology lesson? How the hell do you think it happened?"
"You always said you didn't want children, in fact you said it wasn't even possible for you to have any."
"I didn't think it was, and I didn't think I did want children. It was such a shock. I made the appointment, I went to the clinic but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't," said Abby, forgetting her anger. She could say anything to Gareth; he had been right by her side for 10 years, and knew her better than anyone.
"Who is the father?"
"None of your business," she snapped, coming back to her senses. How could she have let her guard down with him again so easily?
"Do you love him?" he asked painfully.
"No, we're not together. This was just an accident."
"Then I don't care."
"What?"
"I don't care, come back to me…"
"Are you a complete idiot?"
"Yeah, I am. But I'm going to fix the biggest mistake of my life. Come back to me and we can raise the baby together."
"What?"
"You heard. We'll raise it, no one would even question that it was mine…"
"You are insane and I'm leaving. Move," commanded Abby, as Gareth was blocking the door.
"Just hear me out, Abby!"
"No. Move!"
"I won't give up."
"Get out of my way."
Gareth grudgingly moved and let Abby leave.