Till Death Us Do Part

Chapter 2

Author: Lockhart

E-mail: Katie@ballantyne24.freeserve.co.uk

Category: Mark Greene/Elizabeth Corday

Rating: PG13

Spoilers: Just some minor ones for season 7

Archive: Archive my fic on your site if you want but please let me know first

Disclaimer: I don't own ER or any of the characters but I sure wish I did ( especially Carter and Dave ). I am also not a real doctor so any medical information could be innacurate.

Authors Notes: See end of fic

Summary: Continuation of Till Death Us Do Part Chapter 1



Kerry Weaver lifted the small glass to her lips and sipped the white wine inside. A few hours ago she had just returned from her short break in Africa. She had needed to distance herself from the chaos and stress of working in the extremely busy ER. Even if it was only for a fortnight. Ever since moving to Cook County General, Kerry had felt like an outsider. Perhaps she wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, but deep down she had a heart of gold Sometimes it was just hard for her to express her true feelings and thoughts. It was especially hard after her turbulent childhood she had experienced. To this present day Kerry still wondered why her mother had given her up for adoption. Was she simply the unwanted result of a meaningless fling, a mere accident? She prayed not though. She prayed her mother had given her away because she wished for her daughter to have the best life possible, a life she could not have provided. It must feel incredibly horrible not to have the love of the woman who brought you into this world. The woman who carried you around in her womb for nine months and gave birth to you. Although her adoptive parents had been kind and caring, Kerry still felt rather deceived. For twenty years of her lofe, she grew up around people she believed were her family. It hurt so badly when she found out that she wasn't actually a part of that family. Perhaps it would have been better if I never found out the truth, she thought, taking another sip of her favourite wine. Living a lie might have been better than knowing all the facts. Sometimes the truth only brings unhappiness and pain. Two years ago Kerry's search finally ended when she found her long lost mother. By that time though, she was critically ill and couldn't even recognise the little girl she gave away all those years ago. As Kerry stroked her mother's soft hair and watched her pass away peacefully in her sleep, the female doctor had never felt so completely alone and empty in her whole life. It was as though a part of her died as well. I can only hope my mother didn't feel any pain, she reflected on the death whilst wiping away a single tear that trickled down her cheek. That wherever she is now, she is happy. Throughout the years Kerry had adjusted to living her life all alone. Any person she grew close to left her - Ellis West, Jeanie Boulet, Gabe Lawrence.... Perhaps I'm destined to spend eternity alone, she chuckled half-heartilly. I will simply die an old, lonely woman. People will speak of me, using the past to twist my deeds into their own interpretation. Kerry sighed deeply as gulped back the remaining few drops of wine that lay at the bottom of her glass. Her thoughts turned to the English surgeon Elizabeth Corday. She had always admired Dr Corday, the female surgeon seemed such a popular, independant woman. Yet she too was once an insider, moving away from the comfort of her friends and family in Great Britain. Sometimes Kerry wished she was living Elizabeth's life, not her own troubled one..... Suddenly a loud knock at the front door interrupted her deep thoughts. "Hang on a second" Weaver shouted as the loud pounding persisted. "I'm coming!" she growled, opening the door wide to meet a distraught and upset Elizabeth.

"Hello Kerry" the surgeon cried as she wiped away the tears that were streaming down her pale cheeks like a waterfall. "I've left Mark"

*******

"He didn't want the baby?" Kerry asked in utter disbelief of Elizabeth's shocking statement. "Why?"

"I don't know" Elizabeth shook her head sadly. "I honestly don't know. He said he wasn't ready for a baby, especially at this period of time. So I packed a bag and told him if he didn't want our child then perhaps I din't want him to be my husband"

"Do you still love him?" Kerry asked wrapping her arm around the distraught woman.

"Of course I do!" Elizbath exclaimed as she raised her head from her hands. "I've never loved any man like I loved Mark. He's my life, my future, he's the man I'm destined to grow old with. I still want to be with him but.......but"

"But what?"

"I have a baby to think about now" the English woman answered. "I have to put my child first now, it's future is more important than anything. I can't bring a baby into an environment where it's own father can't accept it"

"Well you are welcome to stay here as long as you like" Kerry replied pouring out a glass of wine to calm her friend's nerves.

"Thank you Kerry" Elizabeth briefly smiled. Her knees were shaking and her body felt as cold as ice. When Mark first proposed to her, she thought that it would be the start of a dream. A wonderful life of marriage, kids, and spending years together as a happy couple. It was funny how easily such dreams could be shattered like a glass vase shattering against a concrete floor. Suddenly she felt all alone and empty, facing life as a single parent without the man she adored beside her. Sometimes life could be so cruel.

*******

Mark sat all alone staring outisde the large sitting room window. The house seemed so quiet and miserable without his beautiful fiancee there. I should have told her, Mark said to himself, reflecting on what actions he should have taken to stop Elizabeth leaving. She deserved to know the hole truth. I wanted this child more than anything in the world, she's left because she thinks I don't love her and the baby. Of course I wanted to cradle my son or daughter in my arms, kiss him or her goodnight, hear their very first words. But most of all I wanted to watch my child grow up before my very own eyes. Now I might not get to celebrate their very first birthday, watch him start school, walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. I don't want to contemplate a life where my own flesh and blood grows up without a father, I don't want to leave Elizabeth all alone in this world. I simply don't want to die. With those thoughts Mark burst into a flood of tears, burying his face in his hands. Frightened, he sat alone in the dark room in fear of the future, a future where he might not live to see next year. Life could be so cruel sometimes.

*******

"Good morning Dr Weaver" Abby smiled politely as the Chief of the Er entered the reception area. "Dr Romano phoned earlier, he wants to see you at his office at 11am to discuss the budget" she told her.

"Thanks Abby" Kerry replied sarcastically. "Drs Carter and Kovac are late, a double trauma is coming in and I have a budget meeting later, life couldn't get any better"

"Actually Luka won't be coming in at all, he switched his shifts with Dr Chen" Abby said timidly, worried of Kerry's usual fierce reactions.

"Great" the red haired woman barked as she threw a pile of charts onto the desk. "Why doesn't he just take the next week off? Abby tell Dr Kovac that next time he wishes to change his shift could he please have the courtesy to consult me first"

"Mark said it would be fine" the nurse replied quielty before making a hasty exit to a nearby exam room.

Kerry ran a hand through her short hair and sighed loudly. She was extremely angry at Mark for the way he had treated Elizabeth the night before. He didn't deserve to have the love and respect of such a fine woman when he couldn't even bring himself to love the child she was carrying. Their child. She used to believe Mark was a good man, feeling sympathy for him when he was savagely beaten up in the mens washrooms a couple of years back. But what kind of a man would leave his fiancee to bring up their child herself? Ddn't he feel a measure of guilt or shame? I'll look after Elizabeth, Kerry vowed. I know Mark will always hold that special place in her heart, but I'll make sure her and the baby are alright. I'll hug her when she cries and hold her hand when she goes into labour. For that's what friends should do, stick by each other, no matter what.

*******

"Well well Lizzie, I never thought you would actually do it" Robert grinned as he appeared at the doorway of Elizabeth's office.

"If you don't mind Robert I'm rather busy finishing these charts" the English surgeon sighed as she refused to meet his mockful stare.

"Refusing to comment Lizzie, I completely understand" he continued as he took a seat at her desk. "So were things not alright in the Greene household? A little trouble in paradise perhaps?"

"Oh why don't you stop being such an arrogant prick!" she cried throwing her pen down to the desk in a flood of tears. "What would you understand about love Robert? You stroll into my office and mock me about losing the man I love most in the world. I'm two and a half months pregnant, my family is over in England and I'm all alone. I'm scared, scared I'm going to face a future of bringing up a child myself. Scared I have to tell this baby that his father simply didn't want it. I just want things to be the way they were before" Robert watched the hysterical woman before him with sympathy, he honestly did feel sorry for her. He could well relate to Elizabeth's problem over what to tell the kid concerning it's father. Robert knew the painful truth of having a father who simply didn't want you, who merely thought of you as an accident. It hurt so badly not to have the love of a parent, especially a man you were supposed to look up to and admire. Robert walked over to the sobbing Elizabeth and wrapped his arms around her. Although he may seemed cold on the outside, he did have a warm heart inside. "I do understand Elizabeth" he whispered gently into her ear. For I do love you, he said to himself.

********

"Hang another unit of O Neg on the rapid infuser" Kerry instructed as she tried her best to stop her patient's bleeding. "Give her 10 of morphine and 5 of atrophine"

"Need some help in here Kerry?" Mark asked as he appeared at the doorway of the trauma room, putting on his gloves.

"No I'm fine Mark" the woman replied sternly, not wishing to be in his company at all. "See if Cleo and Luka need some help with the teenager in Trauma 2"

"No they're taking the kid up to surgery now" the male doctor continued as he walked over to where Kerry was standing. "What's the bullet?" he asked, gesturing to the female patient lying on the gurney.

"26 year old female, blunt trauma to the chest" Lydia answered. "BP's 130/90, pulse 110"

"Diminished breath sounds on the right, order a chest x-ray" Kerry ordered. "Get a CBC, Chem 7, PT, blood gases and hook her up to an EKG monitor, stat!"

"Pulse Ox 86" Haleh told them. "Pulse is falling"

"Angie we need to put a tube down your throat to help you breathe, okay sweetheart?" Kerry explained, although the woman probably didn't understand what was going on. "Conni get the intubation tray"

"Okay start an IV of normal saline and lets raise the epi" Mark said to the nurses.

"I can't see the chords" Kerry shook her head as she struggled with the intubation. "We'll need to keep a mask on her"

"Laryngoscope" the male physician took the instrument from Weaver's hands.

"What are you doing Mark?" she asked angrily.

"Trying to intubate, okay I can just about see the chords....."

"She needs oxygen, step away and put the mask back on now"

"Pulse is still falling!" Conni shouted worringly.

"Dr Greene I'm not going to ask you again, step away from the patient" the Chief snapped.

"Okay I'm in, bag her" Mark announced as he slid the tube down the patient's mouth.

"When I give you an order I expect you to listen to me" Kerry barked at the man. "I am the Chief of the Emergency Medicine so you follow my instructions"

"What's your problem Kerry?" he asked the woman. "The patient is fine now"

"What if she had died whilst you spent precious minutes trying to intubate her?"

"But she didn't die did she?"

"That's not the point Mark! She's my patient and I am in charge of her best interests......."

"You know what Kerry, have it your own way then! I am was just trying to help but I can see it's not wanted here" With those last bitter words Mark strormed out of the trauma room in an angry blaze. Kerry knew that she was not upset with him about his treatment of the patient, but his cruel treatment of his wife.

********

"Mark are you okay?" John asked as he approached the older man. "You seemed a little upset earlier"

"No not really" Mark shook his head. "You never realise how precious life is until it's too late" he started talking as he looked out upon the view of Chicago city. "It's a beautiful world out there. Sometimes we don't realise that we take life for granted"

"I heard about you and Elizabeth" John replied as he looked down to the ground. "I'm so sorry"

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevers. When I heard those words in church one day I didn't believe in them. I didn't believe in love. When Jennifer divorced me I didn't think I could find happiness again, that I would spend the rest of my life searching for something that wasn't there at all. Then I found Elizabeth"

"What are you talking about Mark?" Carter asked, trying to understand his friend's words.

"Elizabeth is my life, she means everything to me. When she leaves our house in the morning, a part of me leaves with her. I only feel complete when I'm by her side. I've been in love with her from the moment I met her, I'd do absolutely anything for her. Now I stand here watching over a beautiful city without the woman I love. I've lost her, our child, and soon everyone and everything I've ever known"

"You and Elizabeth can still patch things up" John interrupted trying to sound hopeful. "You are a strong couple, you can pull through your problems together"

"You don't understand John" Mark shook his head sadly. "I'm dying"

"Wha.....what? You're dying? No, no, you're joking, you can't be dying. Mark, Mark?"

"I wish I was joking, I really wish I was. I have pancreatic cancer, the doctors told me I have no chance of recovery. I experienced pains in my abdomen a couple of months ago, told myself that if they didn't go away in a week's time I would go to a doctors. The weeks passed by but I never went, kept telling myself that it was nothing to worry about and that the pains would go away. I finally found the courage to go a few days back, ot was then I found out the painful truth. I would have went before but......but I was so scared John. I'm still scared, I'm dying and I don't know what to do..........I don't know........"

"Shhhhh, it's going to be okay Mark" Carter whispered as he hugged his frightened friend. "We'll get through this, you hear me, we'll pull through"

"I never imagined my life would end like this" the older man cried, his eyes filling with tears at every word he spoke. "There's so much I wanted to do, now I'm not going to get the chance. I'm still young, but in a few months time I will be gone. It's like a timebomb just waiting to explode. I know I'll no longer be able to walk into the hospital and treat patients, look out at the view of the city where I live, watch Elizabeth sleep peacefully beside me"

"Does Elizabeth know yet?"

"No, I couldn't find the courage to tell her. How could I tell my wife I would no longer be with her by the end of the year. She's pregnant with my child. I want that baby so badly, but I'm not going to be around to bring it up. That's why I left Elizabeth, because I can't face losing the two people I cherish most in the world. I'm going to be a father yet I'll not see my son or daughter being born. I'll die leaving Liz all alone. What about Rachel? She's such a wonderful daughter, doesn't deserve to experience this emotional pain. Two children left without a father. I wish......I wish I could turn back the hand of time........... I don't want to die John......I don't want to die"

Carter nearly cried at his friend's heartbreaking words. Mark would soon be gone and would lose the wonderful love and happiness of his wife and children. John suddenly realised how precious life was and that he should seize every opportunity he could as it may never come again. Mark realised this too late though.

********

Elizabeth sat in the staff lounge tapping her nails across the mug of warm coffee she was holding. Her eyes were dark and distant, and her face was as white as snow. Her long curly locks of hair were tangled together in a series of knots, she simply didn't look like her normal self. She didn't care though, why should she make an effort to look good when there was no point? She turned around to watch the wooden lounge room door open and her upset husband walk in.

"Tell her" Carter said quietly behind him as he shut the door and left the pair alone together.

"Elizabeth" Mark started as he took a seat beside her. "I have something important to tell you"

Author's Notes: So will Mark finally tell Elizabeth he is dying? How will she take the news? What do the next few months hold for the ill Mark? What will his daughter Rachel do if she discovers the truth? What about Robert's love for Elizabeth? And how will the Mark/ Kerry saga unfold after the latest revelations? Find out in chapter 3 of Till Death Us Do Part. Ideas and feedback are of course welcome. E-mail me at Katie@ballantyne24.freeserve.co.uk