Baby Boy Sloan was now 5 hours old and Abby was asleep in her room. Mark had taken the baby to the OR gallery.
"This is where we operate, but nobody is there right now. But pretty soon there should be a Bowel reconstruction, and I think Dr. Bailey performing it. Dr Bailey is the one about the same height as you, but scary as hell. Oops, don't repeat that word. Anyway, Dr. Bailey likes babies though. You wanna stay and watch a bowel reconstruction?" said Mark gently, as he held the baby in his arms looking down at the empty OR.
"What are you doing up here?" asked Derek, coming into the gallery, carrying a pile of reports. He had come up to the gallery to finish them.
"I brought this little guy up here to see his first OR," said Mark, not taking his eyes off the baby.
"Aw… isn't he adorable?" said Derek kindly.
"He is," said Mark proudly.
"He looks just like you when you were a kid," said Derek, smiling.
"I know but he has Abby's eyes," said Mark, sitting down next to Derek.
"How is she doing?"
"Good. She's sleeping right now," said Mark. It was weird he and Derek hadn't talked properly since the night he caught him with Addison, but all that seemed to be forgotten in that moment. "She offered to let him have a paternity test."
"Are you going to do it?"
"No. I don't need to. Look at him, he's mine. I trust Abby, if she says there was nobody else, then there was nobody else," said Mark. "It's so surreal to be sitting here holding him. It scares the crap out of me, to be responsible for this little life. To feel such an overpowering feeling of love and knowing that my only job in this world now is to protect him."
"Must be scary, especially for you."
"It is. But it's good scary," said Mark thoughtfully. He still couldn't take his eyes off his son, he was completely mesmerized by him.
"You're lucky," said Derek simply as he got up. "Don't screw it up."
The tone of Derek's voice was the same he used to use when things were good between them, like they had all the time in the world to pal around and tease each other. Mark looked up from the baby for the first time, and met Derek's eyes. He gave Mark a warm smile, as if to say that he was really happy for him. And, for just a moment, Mark had some hope that they could be friends again. Maybe not like before, but something. Which gave him all the hope in the world.
"I won't."
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"Hey, where did you two get to?" Abby asked sleepily as Mark brought the baby back into her room. She didn't want him to sleep in the nursery with the other newborns, it always gave her the creeps how they were all facing the same direction towards the window like robots.
"I took him to see his first OR," said Mark, as he gently placed the sleeping baby in the cot.
"Did he see anything good?" asked Abby, sitting up and peering into the cot, checking on the baby.
"No, it was empty. I just wanted to show him one," said Mark, sitting on the chair next to Abby's bed.
"Okay," she said, painfully shifting position.
"Are you alright? Do you need anymore painkillers?"
"No I'm okay. It's mostly discomfort, that tends to happen when you push a baby out of your vagina 5 hours ago," winced Abby.
"Sorry, you're right."
"Aren't I always?" laughed Abby painfully.
"Yeah," said Mark, smiling at her.
"We're going to have name him," said Abby. They hadn't even discussed baby names. They had tried to talk about it before but they had ended up arguing and Mark had the book of baby names thrown at him. "And if you suggested Mark Sloan the second, I will maim you beyond recognition. I know how much you like that pretty face of yours."
"Okay, but he gets my name, right?"
"Okay."
Two hours later they finally decided on the name Joseph Alexander Sloan.
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"You need to rest," said Mark after they had finally decided on the name.
"You're right, I am so exhausted," said Abby. It had been surprisingly draining arguing with him over the name.
"If it's okay with you, I'm going to stay here tonight. I just want to be here when the nurse comes to check him over again," said Mark. The truth was he just didn't want to be too far away from them, either of them.
"Okay," mumbled Abby, half asleep already.
She couldn't have been asleep for more than ten minutes when she woke up to find Mark lying in the bed next to her.
"What are you doing?" mumbled Abby.
"The chair is uncomfortable," he said. "Scoot over."
"I just gave birth," protested Abby, but she scooted over anyway.
"I'm not asking you to sleep on the floor."
"Well… good," said Abby. She was having trouble arguing with him properly when he was so… close and he was being so nice. She loved having him beside her, it made the whole being a parent thing not so scary.
"Good night, you were incredible today," said Mark gently. He wasn't looking at her, just staring up at the ceiling.
"I know," was Abby's smart remark.
Mark just chuckled, he should have known she could say that.
"Thank you," said Abby as she rested her head on his shoulder. Although he was surprised at first, he rested his head on top of hers and pulled his arm round her waist.
"For what?"
"For being here today, for being so patient. And thank you for being there for the past nine months even when I was a little psycho, and hit you and threw things at you. Just thank you for being here for everything. I don't think I could have done it all without you."
"I wouldn't have missed it."
Mark planted a soft kiss on the top of Abby's head, taking in the sweet smell of her hair as he did. She shifted a bit, and looked him right in the eye. For a moment, they just looked at each other, soaking in the comfort they were able to draw from one another. And for the quickest instant, they both felt like all was right with the world.
"Goodnight, Mark."
"Goodnight, Abby."