Back to Your Heart
Part 7
Carter woke up a bit early one morning and was going into the kitchen to make something for breakfast when he walked by Susan's door and stood there and watched her sleep peacefully, she had been there for a couple there for a couple of months now and he really enjoyed her being there. She was definitely not like Kerry she didn't play her music loud and wasn't up early in the morning making weird juices. Yet he also noticed that there was something going on between them besides being good friends and then he remembered what happened when he fell in love with Anna and didn't want to tell her how he felt and get his heart stomped on he wasn't sure why she had came back and didn't want to ask until she was ready. He was standing by her door watching her sleep and was ready to walk off to go get ready for work
"Good morning" Susan said
"Oh I'm sorry did I wake you?" he asked
"No I was kind of already awake, saw you standing there watching me sleep" she said
"Oh you did huh?" he asked a little embarrassed
"Yeah its okay Carter, just don't do it again" she joked
"Okay, so you hungry?" he asked
"Yeah I am, I say we go out and I don't suggest Doc Magoos," she said joking
"Okay well what else is open at this early in the morning" he wondered
"Well how about Denny's?" she said
"That sounds good Ill go and get ready for work and we should be out of here in a half an hour" he said walking out
"Sounds good John" she said, she was kind of shocked that she had called him that, she hadn't called him that since they were up on the rooftop drinking champagne and joking around. She thought nothing about it and got up and got ready
"You look good today" Carter said noticing that she was wearing some new clothes
"Thank you Carter, shall we go?" she said on her way out the door. They went and ate breakfast and headed to County to start their day, when they got there it seemed like something wasn't right like there was something going on and they were the ones left out
"Hey Randi what's with everyone today?" Carter asked the brown haired receptionist
"Haven't you checked your messages on your answering machine?" Randi asked
"No, why what happened?" Carter asked
"Dr. Greene was brought in last night and he didn't look too good," Randi said, at that Susan rushed to the elevator
"Wait up Susan, what floor is he on?" he asked
"The fifth Elizabeth is up there already" she said
"Thanks Randi" he said, he ran over to the elevator to catch it before it closed and hit the 5th floor button, "Come on you stupid thing go faster" Carter said and next thing he knew they were upstairs and running to find Mark's room
"What room is Mark Greene in" Susan asked the nurse
"Room 503" the nurse said not looking up from the chart she was reading
"Thanks" Carter said as they walked to find the room
"Here it is" Susan said as they finally reached the room. They walked in and saw Mark with an oxygen mask on his face and Elizabeth sitting next to him with tears in her eyes
"Elizabeth we came up here as soon as we heard how is he doing?" Carter asked
"Not too good he said he was feeling really sick last night and he threw up some blood," she said
"Elizabeth why don't you go get some coffee we will stay here with him" Susan said
"No I shouldn't leave his side," she said
"Elizabeth you look horrible go get some coffee we will go down there with you" Susan said wrapping an arm around her
"All right but I want to come back up here afterwards" she said
"Sure Elizabeth lets go" Carter said. They walked down to the cafeteria to see Abby and Luka down there talking, Abby walked up to Carter as he walked in
"How is he doing?" Abby asked
"Not too good" Carter said
"Oh man I cant believe this, how is she?" Abby asked pointing at Elizabeth who was paying the cashier for her cup of coffee
"Emotionally drained, I don't think Mark has too much longer, I talked to the doctor who said he had been up before and not looking too good" he said sitting down
"You mean he has been keeping this from her?" Luka asked
"Yeah I guess, either that or she hasn't told anyone that she knew" Carter said. Elizabeth and Susan joined them and they all sat there in silence
"Well I better go back up there with him" Elizabeth said getting up to leave
"We will go with you" Luka said
"Thank you guys you have been a real good friends to Mark and I and I'm sure he really appreciates it" Elizabeth said. They went up to his room and sat there talking while Elizabeth was showing some of the baby pictures to Susan
"Wow she is really adorable, she looks a lot like Mark" Susan said
"No she looks more like her mother" Mark asked groggily
"Mark buddy how you feeling?" Carter asked walking over next to him
"Not too good Carter" he said
"Would you like me to get a doctor?" he asked
"No I need to talk to Elizabeth for a second can we have some time alone guys?" he asked, they all started to exit "Wait Susan I want to talk to you too" he said
"What is it Mark?" Elizabeth asked
"I know that I kept this from you and I'm really sorry but I didn't want to worry you, Elizabeth you know I love you and you were the best thing that came into my life it was the happiest day in my life when you agreed to marry me and when you had my baby, I just wish that I could be there to watch her grow up into a lady" he said
"Mark don't do this" Elizabeth said in tears
"Elizabeth I'm going to miss you and I will always keep you in my heart" he said
"Susan, I have something to say to you. You were a really good friend to me and you were there for me with whatever I went through and you are always going to be in my heart, and Ill miss you both" he said
"Mark don't talk that way you are going to be fine," Elizabeth said
"Elizabeth the doctor said himself I'm going to have no meaningful recovery," he said
"No Mark you cant leave me I don't know how I would live my life without you" Elizabeth said in tears
"I know honey, I need you to get Jennifer and Rachel here so I can say goodbye, and I want you to let them handle everything I don't want to burden you with that" he said
"Sure, whatever you want" Elizabeth said
"What would you like me to do?" Susan asked
"I want you to be there for Elizabeth and make sure she is going to be okay," he said. They left the room in tears
"You girls okay?" Luka asked
"Yeah, um we need to call Jennifer and Rachel" Susan said
"Ill go and do that" Elizabeth said "And we need to think about getting him put into a hospice" she said, "which we can worry about later, I think he needs to find somewhere comfortable to be in his final hours" she said sitting down on the bench
"Well we need to get back to work let us know if you want us to come up and watch him" Abby said as she gave Elizabeth a hug and walked towards the elevator. They sat upstairs waiting outside his door keeping a silent vigil, when they saw two familiar faces run towards them
"We got on the next available flight out here" Jennifer said out of breath, "How is he doing?" she asked Elizabeth
"Not too good Jennifer I think we need to move him into a hospice soon" Elizabeth said still in tears
"Susan what are you doing here" Jennifer said hugging her
"Well I moved back and I'm back to work here, how is she doing" Susan said pointing at a half asleep Rachel
"She isn't taking it too well, I think she is too tired" Jennifer said
"Well why don't you guys stay at my place for the night" Carter said "He is pretty much asleep for the night maybe you can talk to him when he is more awake"
"Yeah thank you Carter you are a good friend to Mark" Jennifer said
"Your welcome here its on the corner of Simpson and Hunter and here is the address" Carter said writing the information down on a piece of paper
"Wow this must be really hard on them" Elizabeth said as she watched Mark's first love and their daughter walk over to the elevator and get on. Days passed they moved Mark to a hospice and the most of the staff visited every day to check up on Mark, Elizabeth was operating with Romano
"Lizzie you look horrible" Romano noted
"Well I've been at the hospice almost every night I cant have your devastating good looks all the time" she said a little annoyed
"Point well taken" he said, at that her pager went off
"Shirley can you check that for me" Elizabeth asked
"Sure Dr. Corday," she looked at it "It says 411" Shirley said a little alarmed
"Oh my god Mark" Elizabeth said ripping her gown off and running out the door. She got in her car and drove to the hospice not even bothering to change out of her scrubs and ran into his room
"Mrs. Greene it would be wise to start saying your goodbyes now I don't think he is going to make it through the night" the priest that worked there said
"Oh my god" Elizabeth said. She went to go dial numbers of family and co-workers right away to tell them to come down if they wanted to say goodbye. People started showing up, Susan and Carter were the first to show up
"Hey how are you" Susan said as she ran up to Elizabeth and gave her a hug
"Could be a lot better Susan," as she said at that more people started showing up Peter, Luka, Abby, a bunch of the nurses and almost the whole ER staff from county, they sat around the room Mark laid in and told stories
"I remember when we caught him and Jennifer in the bathroom" Susan said which Jennifer wasn't too amused a that
"Well I couldn't find my earring" she joked
"Where is Rachel?" Peter asked
"Well we have been staying at Carters house and she is at home watching TV we figured it wasn't good for her to watch her daddy die
"That's smart" Abby said
"Yeah that can really traumatize a child," Carter said. As Carter said that Mark started breathing erratically
"Oh god" Elizabeth said
"Will someone get the priest so he can do last rights" Jennifer said as she took the opposite side of Elizabeth and holding Mark's hand
"Ill get him," Luka said as he ran out of the room. The priest came in and administered last rights and just like that Mark passed away the whole room was in tears as they watched one of the best men at county lay there dead. Elizabeth just sat there and held his hand not saying or moving
"You okay Elizabeth?" Susan asked
"Always in my heart" Elizabeth said under her breath and let go of his hand. They all walked out of the room and they walked out of the hospice and headed home. Susan and Carter on their way home
"Oh man its going to be a lot more different without Mark around" Carter said
"I know at least he went peacefully" Susan said "Hey Carter you think we can drive around for a while Jennifer needed some time alone to tell Rachel and I told her we would give the house to them for most of the night" Susan said
"Yeah why don't we take a drive up to the lake or something?" he said
"Okay lets do that," Susan said. They drove around for a good hour and stopped at the river overlooking the city "This just reminds me how much I missed Chicago, its nice out here at night" she said
"Yeah, look Susan, when we were in there I realized something when you left for Phoenix Mark never told you how he felt and it ate at him for the longest time, and I don't want that to happen to us" Carter said as they were sitting on the hood of his car
"What are you trying to say Carter?" Susan asked
"What I'm saying is Susan I've liked you for the longest time and when you came back I wasn't too positive on love and when I'm around you I light up and I get the feeling that you get the same way. What I'm trying to say is Susan Lewis I love you and I've wanted you to know that for the longest time and were to afraid to tell you" he said
"John I feel the same way and was too chicken to tell you" Susan said
"So what is this you are trying to say that you don't feel the same what did you call me?" he asked shocked
"John, I feel the same way and I don't want to go through what I went through with Mark and not tell him my feelings so I think you should just shut up and kiss me," Susan said as he put his fingers on her mouth and kissed her
Part 7
Carter woke up a bit early one morning and was going into the kitchen to make something for breakfast when he walked by Susan's door and stood there and watched her sleep peacefully, she had been there for a couple there for a couple of months now and he really enjoyed her being there. She was definitely not like Kerry she didn't play her music loud and wasn't up early in the morning making weird juices. Yet he also noticed that there was something going on between them besides being good friends and then he remembered what happened when he fell in love with Anna and didn't want to tell her how he felt and get his heart stomped on he wasn't sure why she had came back and didn't want to ask until she was ready. He was standing by her door watching her sleep and was ready to walk off to go get ready for work
"Good morning" Susan said
"Oh I'm sorry did I wake you?" he asked
"No I was kind of already awake, saw you standing there watching me sleep" she said
"Oh you did huh?" he asked a little embarrassed
"Yeah its okay Carter, just don't do it again" she joked
"Okay, so you hungry?" he asked
"Yeah I am, I say we go out and I don't suggest Doc Magoos," she said joking
"Okay well what else is open at this early in the morning" he wondered
"Well how about Denny's?" she said
"That sounds good Ill go and get ready for work and we should be out of here in a half an hour" he said walking out
"Sounds good John" she said, she was kind of shocked that she had called him that, she hadn't called him that since they were up on the rooftop drinking champagne and joking around. She thought nothing about it and got up and got ready
"You look good today" Carter said noticing that she was wearing some new clothes
"Thank you Carter, shall we go?" she said on her way out the door. They went and ate breakfast and headed to County to start their day, when they got there it seemed like something wasn't right like there was something going on and they were the ones left out
"Hey Randi what's with everyone today?" Carter asked the brown haired receptionist
"Haven't you checked your messages on your answering machine?" Randi asked
"No, why what happened?" Carter asked
"Dr. Greene was brought in last night and he didn't look too good," Randi said, at that Susan rushed to the elevator
"Wait up Susan, what floor is he on?" he asked
"The fifth Elizabeth is up there already" she said
"Thanks Randi" he said, he ran over to the elevator to catch it before it closed and hit the 5th floor button, "Come on you stupid thing go faster" Carter said and next thing he knew they were upstairs and running to find Mark's room
"What room is Mark Greene in" Susan asked the nurse
"Room 503" the nurse said not looking up from the chart she was reading
"Thanks" Carter said as they walked to find the room
"Here it is" Susan said as they finally reached the room. They walked in and saw Mark with an oxygen mask on his face and Elizabeth sitting next to him with tears in her eyes
"Elizabeth we came up here as soon as we heard how is he doing?" Carter asked
"Not too good he said he was feeling really sick last night and he threw up some blood," she said
"Elizabeth why don't you go get some coffee we will stay here with him" Susan said
"No I shouldn't leave his side," she said
"Elizabeth you look horrible go get some coffee we will go down there with you" Susan said wrapping an arm around her
"All right but I want to come back up here afterwards" she said
"Sure Elizabeth lets go" Carter said. They walked down to the cafeteria to see Abby and Luka down there talking, Abby walked up to Carter as he walked in
"How is he doing?" Abby asked
"Not too good" Carter said
"Oh man I cant believe this, how is she?" Abby asked pointing at Elizabeth who was paying the cashier for her cup of coffee
"Emotionally drained, I don't think Mark has too much longer, I talked to the doctor who said he had been up before and not looking too good" he said sitting down
"You mean he has been keeping this from her?" Luka asked
"Yeah I guess, either that or she hasn't told anyone that she knew" Carter said. Elizabeth and Susan joined them and they all sat there in silence
"Well I better go back up there with him" Elizabeth said getting up to leave
"We will go with you" Luka said
"Thank you guys you have been a real good friends to Mark and I and I'm sure he really appreciates it" Elizabeth said. They went up to his room and sat there talking while Elizabeth was showing some of the baby pictures to Susan
"Wow she is really adorable, she looks a lot like Mark" Susan said
"No she looks more like her mother" Mark asked groggily
"Mark buddy how you feeling?" Carter asked walking over next to him
"Not too good Carter" he said
"Would you like me to get a doctor?" he asked
"No I need to talk to Elizabeth for a second can we have some time alone guys?" he asked, they all started to exit "Wait Susan I want to talk to you too" he said
"What is it Mark?" Elizabeth asked
"I know that I kept this from you and I'm really sorry but I didn't want to worry you, Elizabeth you know I love you and you were the best thing that came into my life it was the happiest day in my life when you agreed to marry me and when you had my baby, I just wish that I could be there to watch her grow up into a lady" he said
"Mark don't do this" Elizabeth said in tears
"Elizabeth I'm going to miss you and I will always keep you in my heart" he said
"Susan, I have something to say to you. You were a really good friend to me and you were there for me with whatever I went through and you are always going to be in my heart, and Ill miss you both" he said
"Mark don't talk that way you are going to be fine," Elizabeth said
"Elizabeth the doctor said himself I'm going to have no meaningful recovery," he said
"No Mark you cant leave me I don't know how I would live my life without you" Elizabeth said in tears
"I know honey, I need you to get Jennifer and Rachel here so I can say goodbye, and I want you to let them handle everything I don't want to burden you with that" he said
"Sure, whatever you want" Elizabeth said
"What would you like me to do?" Susan asked
"I want you to be there for Elizabeth and make sure she is going to be okay," he said. They left the room in tears
"You girls okay?" Luka asked
"Yeah, um we need to call Jennifer and Rachel" Susan said
"Ill go and do that" Elizabeth said "And we need to think about getting him put into a hospice" she said, "which we can worry about later, I think he needs to find somewhere comfortable to be in his final hours" she said sitting down on the bench
"Well we need to get back to work let us know if you want us to come up and watch him" Abby said as she gave Elizabeth a hug and walked towards the elevator. They sat upstairs waiting outside his door keeping a silent vigil, when they saw two familiar faces run towards them
"We got on the next available flight out here" Jennifer said out of breath, "How is he doing?" she asked Elizabeth
"Not too good Jennifer I think we need to move him into a hospice soon" Elizabeth said still in tears
"Susan what are you doing here" Jennifer said hugging her
"Well I moved back and I'm back to work here, how is she doing" Susan said pointing at a half asleep Rachel
"She isn't taking it too well, I think she is too tired" Jennifer said
"Well why don't you guys stay at my place for the night" Carter said "He is pretty much asleep for the night maybe you can talk to him when he is more awake"
"Yeah thank you Carter you are a good friend to Mark" Jennifer said
"Your welcome here its on the corner of Simpson and Hunter and here is the address" Carter said writing the information down on a piece of paper
"Wow this must be really hard on them" Elizabeth said as she watched Mark's first love and their daughter walk over to the elevator and get on. Days passed they moved Mark to a hospice and the most of the staff visited every day to check up on Mark, Elizabeth was operating with Romano
"Lizzie you look horrible" Romano noted
"Well I've been at the hospice almost every night I cant have your devastating good looks all the time" she said a little annoyed
"Point well taken" he said, at that her pager went off
"Shirley can you check that for me" Elizabeth asked
"Sure Dr. Corday," she looked at it "It says 411" Shirley said a little alarmed
"Oh my god Mark" Elizabeth said ripping her gown off and running out the door. She got in her car and drove to the hospice not even bothering to change out of her scrubs and ran into his room
"Mrs. Greene it would be wise to start saying your goodbyes now I don't think he is going to make it through the night" the priest that worked there said
"Oh my god" Elizabeth said. She went to go dial numbers of family and co-workers right away to tell them to come down if they wanted to say goodbye. People started showing up, Susan and Carter were the first to show up
"Hey how are you" Susan said as she ran up to Elizabeth and gave her a hug
"Could be a lot better Susan," as she said at that more people started showing up Peter, Luka, Abby, a bunch of the nurses and almost the whole ER staff from county, they sat around the room Mark laid in and told stories
"I remember when we caught him and Jennifer in the bathroom" Susan said which Jennifer wasn't too amused a that
"Well I couldn't find my earring" she joked
"Where is Rachel?" Peter asked
"Well we have been staying at Carters house and she is at home watching TV we figured it wasn't good for her to watch her daddy die
"That's smart" Abby said
"Yeah that can really traumatize a child," Carter said. As Carter said that Mark started breathing erratically
"Oh god" Elizabeth said
"Will someone get the priest so he can do last rights" Jennifer said as she took the opposite side of Elizabeth and holding Mark's hand
"Ill get him," Luka said as he ran out of the room. The priest came in and administered last rights and just like that Mark passed away the whole room was in tears as they watched one of the best men at county lay there dead. Elizabeth just sat there and held his hand not saying or moving
"You okay Elizabeth?" Susan asked
"Always in my heart" Elizabeth said under her breath and let go of his hand. They all walked out of the room and they walked out of the hospice and headed home. Susan and Carter on their way home
"Oh man its going to be a lot more different without Mark around" Carter said
"I know at least he went peacefully" Susan said "Hey Carter you think we can drive around for a while Jennifer needed some time alone to tell Rachel and I told her we would give the house to them for most of the night" Susan said
"Yeah why don't we take a drive up to the lake or something?" he said
"Okay lets do that," Susan said. They drove around for a good hour and stopped at the river overlooking the city "This just reminds me how much I missed Chicago, its nice out here at night" she said
"Yeah, look Susan, when we were in there I realized something when you left for Phoenix Mark never told you how he felt and it ate at him for the longest time, and I don't want that to happen to us" Carter said as they were sitting on the hood of his car
"What are you trying to say Carter?" Susan asked
"What I'm saying is Susan I've liked you for the longest time and when you came back I wasn't too positive on love and when I'm around you I light up and I get the feeling that you get the same way. What I'm trying to say is Susan Lewis I love you and I've wanted you to know that for the longest time and were to afraid to tell you" he said
"John I feel the same way and was too chicken to tell you" Susan said
"So what is this you are trying to say that you don't feel the same what did you call me?" he asked shocked
"John, I feel the same way and I don't want to go through what I went through with Mark and not tell him my feelings so I think you should just shut up and kiss me," Susan said as he put his fingers on her mouth and kissed her