Hidden Truths
Chapter 25: Holidaze Part 2
A/N: I had this almost finished a week ago but then somehow, I lost the file *cries*
~x~
Christmas was ruined.
Nina already wanted the holiday to be over and it used to be her favorite. It was one of the only times in the year when she could be home with Ethan and not have to worry about the hospital or work. Instead, as she sat beside her son helping him wrap his present for his half-sister Sloan, her mind raced.
Teddy had proven to Nina that she couldn't be trusted. Kelsey was still without a heart and Nina could see her patient was losing hope. Not to mention, Nina was losing hope. She could see how much pain Kelsey was in without her heart.
She couldn't even begin to imagine being without her heart.
"How's this look mommy?" Ethan asked a wide grin on his face as he showed off his poorly wrapped present. It was a mess, but Nina could see that he had tried. She could only hope that it was good enough for Sloan.
"It looks beautiful, baby boy." Nina praised him. She helped him write on the nametag. They were finishing up wrapping presents. Under the tree, Callie's, Arizona's, Mark's, Derek's and Meredith's, and Cristina's presents were already wrapped. Ethan and Nina had picked out the presents together.
Callie was getting a wine glass with "World's Greatest Aunt" on it. Arizona was getting a chocolate kisses Christmas tree that Ethan had made. Mark was getting a travel coffee cup that had a drawing by Ethan inside of it. The picture was of their family, including the words "I love you daddy". Derek and Meredith's present were some cookies they had made. Nina had decided to be kind to her star student, Cristina, and got her a solo Cardio case that would be taking place the day after Christmas.
"Do you think Sloan will like it?" Ethan asked. His blue eyes were wide with the hope of a child and a bright smile on his face.
Nina nodded. "I know she will."
Ethan had made extra special cookies for Sloan and a drawing of him holding her hand, with the words "World's Best Sister. Love Ethan."
It had touched Nina's heart, but tomorrow they would see if it touched Sloan's. Nina kissed Ethan's head before she stood up. Ethan ran to the TV and turned it on; watching one of his favorite Christmas shows the cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Nina went to the dining table they had to set out the plates. They were getting Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner.
As she was setting out the plates, Mark walked over. "Baby, will you please ask Sloan how long she'll be staying?"
Nina knew that Mark was trying to connect with his daughter but was failing. They had barely said five words to each other, instead speaking through Nina and Ethan. "Why don't you ask her yourself? It's been a month and you've barely spoken to each other." Nina would love more than anything to have the girl gone. It was a reminder that before her, Mark had had past relationships with women. It hurt to think she wasn't the only woman to have Mark's baby.
Mark sighed, "I just don't know how to talk to her."
"You didn't know how to talk to Ethan at first, but you tried anyway. And now look, you and Ethan are like best friends." Nina pointed out, setting the last plate down before moving over to hug her boyfriend. "Just try, okay? That's all you can do." She kissed his cheek.
Mark sighed once more but he nodded. He kissed Nina's cheek before going to speak to his eighteen year old daughter.
He smiled at her and Sloan looked offended. "What are you looking at, you old perv?" Sloan demanded to know.
Mark smiled weakly, looking embarrassed before rushing off to watch cartoons with Ethan. That he could do.
~x~
Nina and Mark were paged to the hospital. So, in the spirits of the holidays and refusing to leave her son with a babysitter, Nina brought Ethan to Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. She walked into the hospital and went to see Kelsey.
Apparently, Teddy was once again acting without thinking or consulting Nina. Kelsey asked to go outside and that was what Teddy had done, brought their heartless patient outside. Kelsey had crashed and now Nina was more than just annoyed. She was pissed!
"Could you watch my son for a minute?" Nina asked a nurse. The nurse nodded and Nina went to speak with Teddy. She walked straight up to the much skinner woman. "What exactly is your problem? You took our heartless patient outside? IN THE SNOW?"
Teddy turned from the chart. "She wanted to go outside. I couldn't say no to her. She's scared and it's Christmas."
Nina rolled her eyes. "Because it's Christmas, it makes it magically okay to take a very sick patient outdoors? Awesome. Great!" She was very upset and you could hear it in her voice. "No, Doctor Altman, you made the wrong call. And I can't keep having you make these sorts of calls. You are permanently off this case."
Teddy was stunned and then shook her head. "You are not able to do that. She's my patient!"
"Not anymore, I will be her doctor from now on. Go home or something. Because this little stunt you pulled made me leave my home with my son on Christmas Eve and for what? A stupid decision? No. I will not allow this to happen, especially when Kelsey could very easily sue this hospital because of your poor decisions." Nina frowned. "Now get out of my sight before I fire you. And I can do that because I'm the Head of Cardio, not you."
~x~
Nina went to bed without Mark beside her, since he was busy working with Derek on the prototype. She assumed he'd crawl into bed at some point but when Ethan came running into the room screaming about it being Christmas, she was saddened to see that Mark wasn't in bed beside her.
It got her thinking about his proposal. She let Ethan drag her into the living room where the presents were all set out and ready to be opened. She watched as Ethan ran to wake up Sloan who was sleeping in a makeshift bedroom with fake walls closing her in.
"Wake up Sloan! It's time for presents!" Ethan gushed with excitement.
Nina sighed, heaving Sloan grumble about wanting to sleep in some more. She thought of Mark instead, in that moment. Did she want to marry Mark again? Last time their relationship had been rushed. Was this being rushed? Were they moving too fast? They already had a son and anyone who met them always assumed they were married. It would make her parents happy to see her finally married but was that the right choice for her?
"Mommy?"
She lifted her eyes from her lap, which she had been staring at, to see Ethan making his way over to her. "What's wrong baby?" She asked, worried when she spotted tears in his eyes.
Ethan crawled onto her lap and cuddled into her chest. "Sloan said bad words to me. And when I said she had to pay the swear jar, she yelled at me to get out of her room." He began to cry into her breasts.
Nina tried to calm him down, rubbing his back and kissing his head. "Oh my baby boy…" She cooed.
Her pager went off, and Nina sighed. Ethan looked up at her with heartbroken eyes. "Do you have to go to the hospital?"
"I believe so buddy," Nina could see that he wanted to tell her to stay. "Why don't we go in together? We can find Daddy after and maybe even Uncle Derek. Would you like that? Then we can open presents together."
"Auntie Callie and Auntie Arizona too?" Ethan asked, sounding a little hopeful. The tears slowly stopped running down his chubby cheeks.
"Of course baby boy." Nina kissed his head. "Now go get dressed. Okay? We'll grab McDonald's on the way for breakfast."
"YAY!"
~x~
"Her bowl is dying. We need to do something quick."
"I know, but we can't put her under anesthesia. She doesn't have a heart. She won't make it."
Bailey and Nina were talking about a plan on how to do this. They had to do something for Kelsey, because otherwise, she was going to die. Nina had left Ethan with a nurse while she spoke with Bailey. "Maybe we shouldn't put her under General."
"Are you saying we should keep her awake?"
Cristina was watching Nina and Bailey chat, since Kelsey was also her patient. She had been upset when she was told Teddy wasn't on the case, but it just meant she got to spend more time with Nina.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Bailey answered.
"If you believe you can do it, then go for it." Nina replied. "Now, I have to go find some people so my seven-year-old doesn't throw a fit. Merry Christmas."
She walked away.
~x~
Nina was fixing Ethan's hair, waiting for Mark to bring around the car to the front of their apartment building. Arizona was holding a box filled with presents from the Sloan-Knight family. "Thank you for holding those." Nina said to her friend.
"Oh no problem, I understand that its hard work making sure the little man is good looking." Arizona reassured.
Ethan beamed with pride. "I look like my daddy."
Nina kissed his forehead and turned to see finally Mark making his way over with the car. Sloan rolled her eyes, waiting for Mark to stop the car. She got into the front seat even though Nina usually sat there.
Mark got out and helped with the presents, putting them safely into the trunk. Arizona thanked him and then got into the car. Ethan sat in the middle and Nina sat beside him. Mark got back into the driver's seat and took off carefully. Nina pretended to ignore the way her boyfriend didn't mind Sloan sitting in her seat.
~x~
"Here's some wine."
"Thank you." Nina thanked Meredith for the glass. She took a sip of the red wine and sighed happily. Ethan helped his dad put the presents into a neat pile near the tree. She watched with love in her eyes.
Meredith smiled, "You're welcome." And then she went to work on dinner.
Sloan was sitting on the couch, watching Arizona, Richard and Owen singing to some Christmas carols. Nina shook her head at the sight of her, before walking over to Derek. "Hey, Merry Christmas." She hugged her friend.
"Merry Christmas," Derek answered as he hugged her back. "I see Ethan is already telling Mark what's what."
Nina laughed as she pulled back, turning to look at her son. "He knows what he wants."
Derek chuckled. "So Mark purposed eh? When were you going to tell me?" He playfully poked her with his elbow.
She shrugged. "I assumed Mark would tell you."
"And your answer is….?"
"I don't know," Nina sighed. "I should say yes, right? But there's this nagging feeling of what if? What if we get married and then regret it? I think my parents would have a cow if I got divorced twice."
Derek understood what she meant. His mom hadn't been happy when he divorced Addison. He took a sip of his wine. "What does your heart say?"
"To say yes," Nina admitted. "I do love him. I'm sure he's my soul mate. But…there's always the 'what if'."
Right then, Nina spotted Lexie Grey making her way over to Mark who had let Ethan organize the presents. She sighed at the sight, knowing that the young woman still had feelings for Mark.
Mark turned when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He expected it to be Sloan or Nina, but instead he found Lexie. Lexie smiled up at Mark. "Hey," She greeted.
"Hey…" Mark raised an eyebrow. "How have you been?"
"Good, since I was hired at Mercy West before the merger, I was able to get a job back at Seattle Grace. It's nice to be back at the hospital." Lexie explained. Mark had been curious as to how she had gotten her job back. She had sort of worked the system. "Anyway, how have you been?"
Mark shrugged. "Nothing's been bad,"
"I've heard around the hospital that you proposed to Nina…." Lexie didn't like the thought, because she was still sort of in love with Mark. She flashed him a small smile. "So you two are engaged?"
Mark wasn't comfortable talking about this with her. "That's none of your business."
"Did she turn you down?" Lexie asked.
He was about to answer when Nina moved over to Mark's side and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Hey babe," She kissed his cheek. "Meredith asked me if we could set the table for dinner. I told her that it was fine. So would you mind?"
"Sure," Mark let Nina lead him away from Lexie who was ticked off. They grabbed some plates and set them out. "When are we opening presents? Ethan looks really excited."
Nina shrugged. "I believe after supper."
~x~
The table was crowded. However, Nina, Mark and Ethan were sitting together. Mark was sitting by Nina, Ethan was on Mark's other side, Derek was sitting beside Nina, then Meredith beside Derek at the head, then the Chief, Lexie, Thatcher, Arizona, Cristina, Owen, Bailey, Bailey's dad William, and then Sloan on Ethan's other side.
Bailey was talking about saving Kelsey's bowl but William cut her off. Nina understood that William wasn't a surgeon so he didn't understand that talking about bowls were normal. Everyone else was a doctor and understood the joy in saving that girl's life. Ethan asked his dad for some turkey and Mark got him some, making sure to cut it some more so it was easier for him to eat.
"Thank you daddy," Ethan smiled.
"No problem kiddo," Mark smiled and kissed Ethan's head. "Do you want some turkey Sloan?"
Sloan shook her head. "Nah. I'll have to just throw it up later."
Nina frowned and sighed, earning a small chuckle from Derek. "What are you laughing at?" She poked his side.
"You," Derek answered with a small smirk. "I'm laughing at you."
The room fill quiet when Bailey began her small rant about her son being loved and her being happy. Nina took hold of Mark's hand, just needing to ground herself in a way. She listened and felt like she understood Bailey's words. Ethan was loved even though his parents weren't married. Dinner was awkward but at least they were surrounded by family.
~x~
It was New Year's Eve when Nina had had enough. Sloan was showing no signs of leaving and she missed having her full living room. Ethan was constantly being yelled at by the teen because 'he was too loud'. Finally, Nina went up to her boyfriend and crossed her arms. "Go talk to her, right now Mark Sloan or else we will not be having sex. I'm sick of the way she treats Ethan!"
Mark swallowed. He hated the thought of no more sex with Nina. He walked over to Sloan and wondered what was going on.
Sloan turned to him. "I can totally tell that you're about to kick me out. I can see that she doesn't like me because I am totally hotter than her. But I'm pregnant. Yeah that's why I dropped out of school and my mom kicked me out. I know you don't owe me anything but I can tell you about to kick me out and I don't have anywhere else to go." Sloan could feel tears threatening to fall.
"It's going to be okay…" Mark promised her gently.
~x~
Early New Year's Day, Nina did the surgery. Teddy was still steaming about losing her patient but she didn't snap at Nina about it. Nina was standing outside of Kelsey's room, watching as Cristina wrote some notes in Kelsey's chart.
Mike, Kelsey's boyfriend, pulled out a ring and proposed to Kelsey. Nina thought about what she could mean for her and Mark. Yes, she loved him more than anything. She was going to say yes. She smiled as she decided that she did want to be married to him once more.
Nina went to find her boyfriend (soon to be fiancée). She found him standing outside of a boy's room with Derek and Arizona. She moved forward and he smiled upon seeing her. "Nina," Mark greeted.
"Yes." Nina uttered before she kissed him passionately. Mark responded but was confused. When she pulled back, happy tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Yes I'll marry you Mark Sloan."
Arizona and Derek begin to clap for their friends. Mark's smile widened and he kissed her again before picking her up and spinning her around. "Really? You mean that?" Mark asked after setting her down.
Nina nodded. "Of course I mean it. I love you like I've never loved anyone before. It's always been you. Even when I was single and able to date other people! I could never get you out of my brain and it's always been you. You're my world, Mark Sloan, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be your wife again and I want to have a few more kids with you."
Mark smiled brighter and pulled her close, kissing her as he dipped her.
~x~
Up Next: Blink: Nina and Mark are finally engaged again. They couldn't be happier even though Sloan is still staying with them and apparently pregnant. However, Sloan's baby is at risk and Addison is brought back to Seattle from LA. Ultimatums are given and chaos is ensured.
~x~
REVIEWS
Guest: I'm sorry about the wait, truly, but I've been crazy busy. However, my summer job is over so I'll be able to write for the next two weeks before school. But my nephew is home and I'm going into grade 12. Fair warning about the lack of updates!
Leah Tatyana Nichole: Oh shit what?
Patsy: I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
Lil-B-Rebel: Yes, poor Nina. But I wouldn't say poor Nina anymore ;)
snowangel: That makes me so happy to hear! Nina will be making a stand against Sloan soon ;)
sloansballas: Chaos is ensured I'm sure. It's Sloan and Nina isn't one who likes sharing her man.
h: I never liked Teddy and I could see her having some issues not being in control of the Cardio Wing. But Nina put her in her place. Anyway, yes, a lot of things are piling up. But at least Nina and Mark are happy, right?
RebornRose1992: I shall keep going! Lol welcome back :)
I'm sorry everyone for the wait. However, my job is over for the summer. Yay! So I have two weeks of relaxing and enjoying my nephew being home. :) Just fair warning, I don't know how long I will be until next chapter but I'm hoping to go back to one chapter a week. How does that sound? :) ANYWAY REVIEW PLEASE!
Xoxo,
Nerdy~