N/A: This is a short chapter and it took me awhile to write it, because this is supposed to be an emotional one. Meredith and Mark visit Ellis at the nursing home. I am not sure how well I pictured Ellis's condition, but I hope you're going to like it. Please review!

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Chapter 35 – Desired baby

Meredith was looking over a chart at the nurses' station, when Mark approached her, leaning against the counter.

"I'll be ready in a minute." Meredith told him, without looking away from the chart she was reading. It'd been 5 days since Mark's mother left to go back to New York with Derek's mother and as Meredith had told him that day, there was one person she hadn't told about her pregnancy yet. Today, during their lunch break, Meredith was going to take Mark meet her mother and tell her about the baby.

"You're not even dressed." Mark said a little irritated.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "It won't take me longer than 5 minutes to change my clothes." She muttered, not wishing to be stressed more than she was already.

"You're going to visit your mother, Meredith, so you should pay more attention to your appearance." Mark retorted.

Meredith sighed deeply as she shut the chart and turned to look at Mark, ready give him a reply. As she saw him, Meredith forgot for a moment what she wanted to say. She looked at Mark, analyzing him from his feet to his head.

Mark had paid rigorous attention to his look that morning before they left to go to work and had changed his shirt many times before he finally decided on one. "You changed your shirt," Meredith muttered under her breath, "Again."

Mark straightened his kaki shirt over his chest, very proud of his appearance. "This is my best shirt." He smirked proudly at her.

"She's sick," Meredith pointed out how useless his efforts to look nice for Ellis Grey were. "She might not be lucid by the time we get there and even if she is, she could care less about your shirt."

"Lucid or not, she still Ellis Grey and I don't want to look cheap." Mark sniffed.

Meredith glared at him and laughed shaking her head. "You can wait for me in the lobby." She told him and turned to take the chart and put it back to its place. "It won't take me long, I promise."

When she was ready to leave, Mark grabbed her elbow. "I wouldn't mind waiting for you in the locker room." He whispered seductively in her ear.

"And not look neat anymore?" Meredith questioned as she looked back at him smiling. "You wouldn't want to risk it."

"I do, actually." Mark frowned.

"Wait for me in the lobby, Mark." Meredith said firmly as she jerked her elbow from his hand and walked away.

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Mark pulled the car into the parking lot, not far from the entrance. The ride had been rather silent, Meredith not wishing to chatter about her mother as much as Mark was wiling. Mark noticed Meredith that was still gazing out her window thoughtful. He took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "Let's go."

Meredith looked at him and smiled faintly. "Let's go." She agreed. They got out of the car and walked together towards the entrance.

"Dr. Grey!" An older woman greeted them, smiling kindly as she came to meet them. "Your mother is in the backyard." She explained before Meredith could answer to her greeting and gave a glance to Mark. "The weather's sunny and warm and she decided she wants to spend some time outside."

"How is she?" Meredith asked.

"She had better days." The woman answered. "Lately, she's been asking for you a lot. It's been a while since your last visit."

"Yeah…" Meredith grumbled, slightly irritated to have been reminded. "I'm an intern so… I don't really own my time."

"I see, but I think you should try making more time for…" The woman was about to start a lecture.

Mark, whose hand on Meredith's back, noticed how stressed Meredith was becoming, so he decided to intervene. "Can we go see Ellis, now?" He asked, cutting her off. "My name is Mark Sloan… Dr. Mark Sloan, Meredith's boyfriend and we came to give her some news."

Surprised by Mark's intervention, the woman started a little and then nodded instinctively. Just then, she noticed Meredith's prominent baby bump. "Sure." She said as she led their way through the building.

They saw Ellis on the patio, sitting alone at a table. She was very focused on what her writing. Meredith let out a sign at the familiar sight. Ellis's posture was reminiscent of the well respected doctor she had been.

Meredith walked to her and sat down across from Ellis. "Hello mother."

"You came." Ellis greeted coldly, barely glancing at her daughter.

She was lucid, Meredith thought.

"I paged you half an hour ago and I'm still expecting you to take the patient for a MRI." Ellis looked up at her with a glare.

She wasn't lucid, Meredith concluded. Meredith leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms and stared at her mother, wondering if she should just blurt out she was pregnant. Mark gave her more time to think as he tried to distract Ellis.

"What are you working on, Dr. Grey?" He asked.

"I have a patient that needs a coronary bypass and we're also checking for a tumor in his brain," Ellis answered, "I have the surgery scheduled for this afternoon, but I doubt our new interns are capable to make it happen." Ellis glared at Meredith. Silence fell between them at that.

Meredith briefly closed her eyes, accepting her mother's condition, while Mark watched her unsure of her feelings. Meredith had her hands on her lap and opened her eyes when she felt Mark's hand over hers. She looked at him and smiled weakly.

"Busy schedule as always, Dr. Grey?" Mark turned his attention to Ellis, hoping to ease the tension between Meredith and Ellis.

Ellis glanced at Mark and then resumed her scrawling. "What's your specialization?" She asked him.

"I'm a plastic surgeon." Mark answered.

Ellis looked at him again, this time watching him carefully. "Are you the new head of Plastics?" She asked him.

"Yes. Dr. Sloan." Mark held out his hand perkily.

Ellis glanced at his hand and then glared at him. "Nice to meet you." She mumbled and returned to her writing. "It's about time, Dr. Petersen is nothing but a man-whore." Ellis mumbled with disgust.

Meredith discreetly covered her mouth to hide a smile, while Mark glared at her.

The following minutes were a blur for Meredith, as Mark and Ellis talked about surgical procedures, while she struggled to find a way to give her news.

"I'm pregnant, mom." Meredith blurted out, taking Mark by surprise. Her mother wasn't lucid, so any attempts of conversation, other than on medicine, were useless and extremely stressful for her at that moment. All she had left to do was to give her the news about her pregnancy.

To Meredith's confession, Ellis had a rather interesting reaction. She put down her pencil, leaned back in her chair and stared at Meredith. "How far along are you?" Ellis asked her acidly.

Meredith hadn't expected to that question. She hadn't imagined how this talk would go either. "Uh…" She started hesitantly. "19 weeks, almost."

"It's too late." Ellis grimaced disapprovingly. "So you want to keep it."

"I do." Meredith answered, ready to face any objections her mother would give her.

Ellis scrutinized Mark, "He's the father?" She asked, looking back at Meredith.

"I'm the father." Mark answered for Meredith.

Ellis glared at him before she looked back to her daughter. "So you're going to keep it." She concluded. "Stupid." Ellis went back to her paper and took the pencil, starting to write again. "You're just an intern now and you could have built a career as doctor. Now you lost that chance; you know that, do you?" Ellis glanced at Meredith.

"You have a daughter." Meredith reminded to her mother.

That seemed to have a strong impact on Ellis, who straightened up in her chair and scowled at both of them. "How do you know about Meredith?" She asked them.

Then they understood that Ellis was far from being lucid. Her question confused Meredith though.

"How do you know about Meredith?" Ellis shouted, repeating the question. As she started to panic, so Meredith was going to call a nurse, but then, Ellis was suddenly calm and resumed her scrawling as she went into a trance. "Nobody should know about Meredith." She started mumbling to herself. "I shouldn't have accepted Thatcher's proposal." Then she stopped and looked Meredith and Mark, analyzing both of them for a moment. "He asked you to keep it, didn't he?" She asked Meredith, but she also answered. "Selfish bastards." Ellis grumbled as she started pressing the pencil on paper, almost ripping it. "I shouldn't have kept that baby just because he asked me to. I shouldn't have."

Meredith was terrified and frozen at these last words. Mark gave her hands a strong squeeze, but she didn't feel him at all. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to block those words out of her head, but the effort seemed impossible. Meredith started feeling dizzy. She stumbled to her feet and walked away, closely followed by Mark.

Mark drove them back to the hospital. He decided to keep quiet until she wanted to talk about it. Mark pulled the car in his assigned spot into the parking lot. Meredith got out of the car automatically and started walking toward the entrance absently. Mark had to jog to catch up with her. He put an arm on her shoulder to keep pace with her.

They reached to the elevators when Meredith looked at Mark as if she wanted to say something. "I'm coming with you." Mark smiled and leaned to her ear, whispering before she could say anything. Meredith nodded and stepped together in the elevator. In the locker room, Mark took a seat down on bench while Meredith put on her scrubs.

"I don't need a babysitter, you know." She mumbled as she gathered her hair in a ponytail. She turned towards Mark, smiled, rolling her eyes; Mark was staring at her with a wicked smile on his face. "Sex won't help me." Meredith giggled and came to sit next to him. She folded her hands in her lap, and stared thoughtfully at them. "I shouldn't be surprised. I shouldn't be so disappointed and depressed." She muttered under her breath.

"That's right," Mark put his hand over hers. "You shouldn't be depressed because there are people who are glad that you're here with us today."

Meredith looked at him, smiling weakly. "Are you one of those people?"

"Of course I am. Who else would have been crazy enough to have my baby?" Mark cupped her cheek, gently rubbing his thumb against it. He leaned his forehead against hers and he whispered. "I'm glad she didn't abort you."

In an instant, Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck and sunk her face in the curve of his neck. Mark held her in his arms, resting his cheek against her head. Meredith started crying, sobs breaking against her chest as her mother's words echoed in her head. "I'm-I'm exactly like her." She sobbed.

"No, you're not!" He contradicted, "Don't ever say that again."

Meredith pulled back, sobbing and wiped her eyes so that she could look at him. "I didn't want it either. I- I wanted to terminate the pregnancy."

Mark wiped her face, his caresses lingering under her jaw. "But you want it now, don't you?" Meredith nodded, sniffing. "Then stop with the crying. I want this baby, you want this baby, and we both want it. It's a wanted baby. Everyone has the right to freak out at a pregnancy. It doesn't mean that person can't be a good parent."

As she listened to him, her tears stopped and the sobs calmed down. "Thank you."

A glum smile spread across his face as he leaned in and kissed her softly on lips. "I'm your best is therapist better" Mark let his hand move down Meredith's arm, taking her hand and placing it on his chest. "I'm good at words, but I'm much better at touches." He breathed out against her lips, barely brushing them with his lips.

Meredith yanked her hand from Mark's chest and shoved him away. "I'm hurt, Mark! Mentally and emotionally so keep it in your pants because I intend to do the same." Mark put turned his puppy eyes, pouting childishly at her. Meredith fought back a laugh, biting her lip.

The grin was still there; but this time it was kind and warm. "Thanks." Meredith smiled at him, more at ease with the situation.

"You're welcome." Mark smiled back.

He moved to run his hand over her cheek, Meredith slapped his hand and started hitting him in his chest. "You're an ingrate bastard who can't appreciate the loving family he has! You should be grateful and proud of your mother's excitement for our baby! You should call her and be nicer to her when she visits you!"

"Mer," Mark tried to hold her fists in his hands and make her calm down, but Meredith looked too nervous, far from calming down any time soon.

"You should be grateful because she wanted you and she didn't think to abort you, because if there's any person in this room who deserved to be aborted, that person is you." Meredith's shouts died off slowly as the crying took over. "It's not fair." She fell in Mark's arms as Mark pulled her on his lap and cradled her. "It's so damn unfair."

As Meredith sunk her face in the curve of his neck again, Mark held her tightly, resting his cheek on her head. "Cry." He whispered and gave her time to let all her pain out. "It's ok." He whispered, in soothing voice. "It's ok to cry."

Soon, the tears were over and her breathing calmed down. Meredith stood up from Mark's lap and wiped her face. "I have to go back to work now. My hormones are killing me."

"And bruising me." Mark chuckled, while he rubbed his arm.

Meredith giggled and turned to leave. Before she reached to the door, Meredith stopped and looked back at Mark. "I'm sorry… for what I said."

Mark smiled, shaking his head. "You were right."

"I have a present for you tonight," She said.

Mark smiled smugly, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "That sexy lingerie you bought days ago?"

"No," Meredith giggled.

"Why?" Mark frowned. "I'm your boyfriend now and you said you bought that for your boyfriend."

Meredith couldn't help but giggle. "I have something else for you. Something… very practical." Mark stared at her with more excitement. "Cristina even gave up a surgery so that she can come and see it."

"A threesome?" Mark's eyes grew huge with excitement.

"In your dreams," Meredith laughed and opened the door. "I'll see you later." She said as she walked outside.