Thank you for your patience for the next chapter in this story.
This is a bit of a long chapter, but I hope you will enjoy it. Also, I can't quite remember what happened to Norman, so just assume that he is filling some position. If I missed an episode where he died, just disregard the ep ;) ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````` Mark Sloan stood by his son's memorial stone. The day reflected his mood: partly sunny. Jackson Peters had been convicted of the murder of Homer Garlin yesterday. Steve's name was cleared. As a result of the former police officer's conviction, Steve's murder case was being reinvestigated. Things were looking up for the young man that Jesse never believed had killed Steve.
Still, it was not a great moment of rejoicing. The police did not get any confession out of Peters for his role in Steve's death. They could find no- one who would testify against the man either. It was unsatisfying to say the least.
Mark smiled and ran his hand along the headstone. "You know Steve. In some ways today is going to be the first day I'm truly without you. I think you kept haunting us until your business with Peters was done. Thing is, I think Jesse was the only one that listened to you. It really is too bad. Jesse finally listens to you, and you aren't here to see it."
Mark sighed and patted the headstone much as he would have patted his son's shoulder. "Goodbye Steve." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````` (4 years later)
Steve looked up from the case that the police chief had given him. Angel stood in the doorway watching him.
"How long have you been standing there?" He asked.
"How long have you been reading that police report?" She rejoined.
Steve smirked at her in return. Helping out the police with the homeless had quickly escalated into helping them out on cases. Eventually, he had taken the examination boards and become an official member of the force even though he was a touch old for it. His tenacity on the reports and cases sometimes drove his wife up the walls.
"Steve." Her voice broke into his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"You know how we talked about me moving to another hospital, so I could practice in my actual field?"
Steve nodded. Shortly after their second child had been born two years ago, he had suggested that she actually move into actually being a full time pediatric surgeon instead of just doing it occasionally. At the time, they had decided that they would focus on the children for a while before moving on.
A few weeks ago, Steve had brought up the subject again and Angel had put in some applications.
He smiled. "Did one of them contact you?"
Angel nodded and moved closer to him. "They have an opening at Community General in L.A. They called me at the hospital and asked if I would like to come in for a job interview."
"That's great!"
"Steve, are you sure about this? If I get the position, I'll have to move closer. You'll have to give up your job, and I'm not sure that the LAPD is going to be ecstatic to hire you."
"Thank you for your confidence in me."
"Steve, this is no time to be sarcastic."
"Angel, I know full well that I am not exactly prime employment material. But it is not exactly like we will be destitute if I don't have a job. I can spend my time volunteering like I did before. I can take care of the kids. You deserve to go to an actual hospital."
"What about you?"
"What about me? I deserve to be happy don't I? I want you to have this opportunity. If you're happy, then I'm happy."
"You're certain?"
"Honey, you sound like you don't want to have your dream job. I told you. I will find a way to live my life. Besides, this time I have an actual set of memories to start with." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````` A few days later, Angel was pacing in the hallway of Community General. She couldn't believe how fast the process was moving. What had started out as a simple interview had escalated into an actual gathering of the departments to discuss hiring her.
The previous doctor that held the position had been expelled from the hospital for unethical practices. This meant they had to hire someone to fill that position rather quickly. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
The door to the boardroom opened. "You may come in now Doctor." One of the administrators called.
Nervously, Angel went into the room.
The head of the board stood up. "Dr. MacTyre, it is my honor to welcome you to Community General."
Shock ran through her system as she accepted the position. Short though her visit had been, she knew there was nowhere else that had such a friendly atmosphere. She wanted the job, and when she had called Steve earlier, he had agreed she should take the position if offered.
After shaking the hands of those gathered, she moved to leave. Full of energy, she dropped her contract papers on the floor.
"We don't bite you know." A gentle voice said from behind her.
Turning around, Angel saw one of the doctors that had been called to vote on hiring her.
"Dr. Sloan isn't it?"
"Yes, yes, but please, call me Mark. Everyone else does."
"Mark, then."
Mark smiled at her. "I assume that this is quite a shock to you. These things normally take so much time."
"Yes, they haven't even found my replacement yet at my old hospital. My husband is vacillating between saying 'I told you so' and fretting about having to move so quickly."
"Do you have any children?"
"Two. Marcus is five and Laura is going to be two soon."
"One of each, I remember my kids at that age. Carol was an absolute cherub and Steve was an absolute terror."
For a second, the wistful look on Mark's face reminded Angel of when Steve would chase so hard after a memory
"What do your children do? Did they follow in their father's footsteps?"
Mark's face fell.
"Carol turned into a bit of a rebel and followed her own path. Steve followed a fine family tradition and became a police officer." His voice was pitched low.
Angel misinterpreted the wistfulness in his voice. "You don't get to see them often then."
"Carol got into a bad relationship and Steve got on a bad case. They're both dead."
"Oh, I'm so sorry Dr. Sloan. I didn't know. I shouldn't have pushed."
Mark snapped out of his trance. "What? Oh, no don't be silly. I can't blame you for what happened. And I told you, call me Mark."
Angel shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I guess I should go back to my hotel room then."
Mark smiled. "Say, do have plans for tonight? I have a couple of friends I'd like you to meet."
"I wouldn't want to interfere."
"You hardly know anyone here. And you won't be interfering."
"Well, then I suppose I accept."
"Wonderful. Do you like ribs?" `````````````````````````
Angel looked at the three people around her. Mark sat on her right, Amanda on her left. Jesse was leaning on the counter watching her.
"So?" Jesse asked eagerly.
"Dr. Travis I can give you my clinical opinion that these ribs would satisfy even my husband."
"You should bring him in sometime then." Amanda commented.
"I will as soon as we get settled. My father has a friend that we are going to housesit for, for a couple of months. Hopefully, we will have found a house by that time."
Jesse grinned. "Well if your husband needs a job, we're hiring cooks."
"Jesse, my husband can't cook. He made it all the way up to edible pancakes. I think he was born with a retarded cooking gene. The only thing he makes really well is coffee."
Mark chuckled and Amanda smiled. Jesse' grin grew even wider. "Maybe it's the name Steve. Mark's Steve couldn't cook either."
"That he couldn't Jesse." Mark replied "That he couldn't." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
Steve took a deep breath as they finished moving the last of the luggage into the house. Once they found a suitable place, they would bring the rest of their belongings, but until then they would just have the basic necessary possessions.
Oddly, Steve had felt incredibly excited by the prospect of moving to LA. When most people wanted to move to a quiet little town as they got older, Steve had had an insatiable urge to go to the traffic congested city.
Angel had already made some friends at the hospital. Steve's jealous streak had been temporarily aroused when she talked about Dr. Travis, but it had been quelled as soon as he found out that the doctor had a girlfriend.
It was a good thing that he had subdued his feelings as she would have to work with Dr. Travis fairly often. The hospital wanted to get her back into the swing of regular surgeries. That meant time in the ER for a while. As Jesse was the head of the ER, that meant that she would be working with him as well as Dr. Sloan.
Steve felt a shiver go through his body. Every time he heard or thought the name Sloan his muscles tensed and his brain seemed to try to focus on something. It felt almost instinctual to be drawn to the name.
"Daddy?" A small voice came from beside Steve. Marcus stood there, his little sister half a step behind him.
"What do you two want?" Steve asked happily.
"Cookie?" Laura asked in her toddler directness.
Steve tried to keep the smile off his face. The two of them really did have timing. They knew that he was easier to get a treat off of than their doctor of a mother. Besides, Steve reasoned, they had had a hard time with moving.
"Sure, sweetheart. In fact, why don't I take the two of you to get ice cream?"
The squealing voices obviously approved of the idea. Steve had one thought as he grabbed his keys. Angel was going to have a fit.
````````````````````````````` "I just don't know what I'm going to do with that man I married. I think he's purposely spoiling those kids." Angel whined as she sat across from Amanda in the cafeteria.
Amanda smiled. "At least they aren't trying to blast away the neighbors with their "music" yet. When are we going to meet this mysterious man of yours anyway? You've been here for four weeks, and we still haven't met him."
"He's coming to the staff party this Saturday. I made him swear that he'd come."
Amanda nodded sagely. "That is a very wise thing to do. I had a husband once. They can be awfully selective sometimes."
Saturday came and Steve Sloan was standing in the lobby of an expensive hotel. Community General had decided to rent out a ballroom to greet all of the new staff of the year. He had arrived early only to receive a call from Angel saying that she had to work late in the ER but would be over soon.
That left him with the option of going into the room or waiting for her in the lobby. He sighed as he adjusted the tie around his neck. Why did they have to have it be a formal party? And why was he still standing out in a hallway when he could just go into and at least get something to drink?
If he was honest with himself, he really did not want to set foot in that room. The stories Angel had told him had all been positive. Actual experience seemed to point otherwise. Steve had lost count of how many people stared at him as he waited. The vast majority had gone into the Community General room.
It was weird. Oh, not all of them had shot him funny looks, but enough had. When one of the old nurses had quaked and paled, he had nearly run for the door. Only the thought of what his wife would do to him kept him nailed to his spot.
He fiddled with his watch and saw that only three minutes had passed since he last checked. Another couple passed him and started furiously whispering. Groaning, Steve made himself enter the party before he ran away.
Thankfully, the man at the sign in table seemed appeared sane. Steve looked dubiously at the bright yellow name tag he was given and promptly slapped it on his lapel confident that everyone else looked as ridiculous as he did. He smiled nicely at a couple of people and made his way to the refreshment stand.
As much as he wanted a drink at the moment, he ordered a club soda. A short man bumped into him in line.
"Excuse me." The shorter man said nervously.
"That's okay." Steve replied as he looked over.
The short man's mouth opened and closed a couple of times. "Steve?" He croaked out.
Steve eyed the man and read his name tag. "Norman?" he replied. "Y.y.yo.o.u.rr.."
Steve glanced around to see if anyone noticed the two of them. This settled it, Angel wasn't working at a hospital; she was working at a mental hospital. He took his soda from the bartender and handed it to Norman.
"Here, drink this quickly, and then go sit down. There are a lot of doctors here. They should be able to help you."
Steve moved as fast as he could away from the stuttering figure. Resolutely, he began to form a plan to talk Angel into leaving as soon as possible.
Mark smiled as he and Amanda waded through the crowd.
"Did Norman look funny to you when we passed his table Amanda?"
"Now that you mention it, he looked a bit pale. Maybe we should check on him later. Mark, why don't you go find our table, and I'll go get us something to drink."
Mark nodded as they separated.
Steve sat at his table thrumming his fingers on its surface. Dr. Sloan had arranged for Angel's new friends to sit together as the three of them seemed anxious to meet Steve. Hopefully, they weren't quite as whacko as that Norman guy.
Maybe Norman was a favorite patient; Steve mused. Maybe he was some guy that just signed in under someone else's name.
Mark saw that there was someone sitting at his table as he approached. His back was to Mark, but he could tell that it was a man. His stature told Mark that it wasn't Jesse. That meant that it was Angel's husband seated at the table.
Mark put on his friendly smile and prepared to introduce himself when the figure turned in his direction. His heart stopped. All blood left his head, and he swore that his ears weren't just ringing; they were playing a song.
"Steve?" He had already formed the word, so it came out halfway normal.
Steve smiled, stood, and extended his hand recognizing Dr. Sloan from Angel's description. His hand was grasped firmly by Mark. Before Steve could utter his own greeting, he found himself enveloped in a hug.
"Oh, God, Steve!" Marks voice quaked.
That settled it. Everyone at this party was nuts. Steve's hands settled on Mark's shoulders and gently began to push him away. "Dr. Sloan." Steve began uncomfortably. His eyes locked with Mark's tear filled ones.
Several images of those same eyes filled his mind's eye. The lines on his face juxtaposed themselves on hundreds of other images all popping into his consciousness at once. Bewilderment flooded his mind quickly replaced with pain. His father stood before him.
His father stood before him, and his father hadn't even tried to find him. He knew his dad. He could find anyone and solve any crime. That man had saved countless lives, but he couldn't even save his son's. Pain was replaced with anger.
All of a sudden, the room felt small. Steve could feel his anger building. He needed to leave before he did anything rash. He turned on his heel and left.
"Steve!" Mark's voice followed him as he drove his way through the crowd. People were staring now, but Steve kept on moving. He reached the hallway and started moving towards the check-in to retrieve his coat. Mark came up beside him while the clerk went looking for it.
"Steve."
"Don't" Steve ground out. "Don't even start. Don't say anything at all. I don't think you'll enjoy your party if I hit you."
"What?" Mark's voice was filled with pain and confusion.
"What? You have to ask what?" Steve's voiced pounded in fury. "My genius father cares more about the lives of strangers than his own son? Do you have any idea what sort of hell I've been in? Do you know what living without your memory is like? Do you know what its like to have people treat you like you're a disease?"
Steve jerked his coat away from the attendant and rushed out of the building before Mark could reply.
Soft steps sounded beside Marka few moments later. He glanced up to see Amanda approach. He said nothing as she led him over to one of the chairs.
"Hey what happened?" Jesse's voice bounced over. "I was signing in when a big commotion got started."
"That's what I'd like to know." Angel's voice was oddly cold as she approached the group. "I've never seen my husband that livid. Apparently, he had a disagreement with Dr. Sloan."
"Your husband?" Mark said. Somewhere in his shell-shocked brain he had made the connection, but it didn't seem real.
"Yes, he was running very quickly out as I was coming in. All he said was that I should 'Ask Dr. Sloan.'"
"Mark?" Amanda prompted. She was just as confused as the other two. She had returned to the table only to see Mark's back as he ran out into the hallway. She had heard his voice earlier, but she couldn't make out the words over the din of the crowd.
"Steve."
"What about him." Amanda gently pried.
"No, you don't understand. That was Steve."
Recognition dawned on Jesse's face a few seconds before Amanda.
"You mean Steve, Steve?" Jesse croaked.
"That's impossible." Amanda intoned.
"What's impossible?" Angel's voice snapped as her patience grew thin.
Mark looked at his newly formed daughter-in-law. "I think you better sit down. This could be quite a shock."
This is a bit of a long chapter, but I hope you will enjoy it. Also, I can't quite remember what happened to Norman, so just assume that he is filling some position. If I missed an episode where he died, just disregard the ep ;) ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````` Mark Sloan stood by his son's memorial stone. The day reflected his mood: partly sunny. Jackson Peters had been convicted of the murder of Homer Garlin yesterday. Steve's name was cleared. As a result of the former police officer's conviction, Steve's murder case was being reinvestigated. Things were looking up for the young man that Jesse never believed had killed Steve.
Still, it was not a great moment of rejoicing. The police did not get any confession out of Peters for his role in Steve's death. They could find no- one who would testify against the man either. It was unsatisfying to say the least.
Mark smiled and ran his hand along the headstone. "You know Steve. In some ways today is going to be the first day I'm truly without you. I think you kept haunting us until your business with Peters was done. Thing is, I think Jesse was the only one that listened to you. It really is too bad. Jesse finally listens to you, and you aren't here to see it."
Mark sighed and patted the headstone much as he would have patted his son's shoulder. "Goodbye Steve." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````` (4 years later)
Steve looked up from the case that the police chief had given him. Angel stood in the doorway watching him.
"How long have you been standing there?" He asked.
"How long have you been reading that police report?" She rejoined.
Steve smirked at her in return. Helping out the police with the homeless had quickly escalated into helping them out on cases. Eventually, he had taken the examination boards and become an official member of the force even though he was a touch old for it. His tenacity on the reports and cases sometimes drove his wife up the walls.
"Steve." Her voice broke into his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"You know how we talked about me moving to another hospital, so I could practice in my actual field?"
Steve nodded. Shortly after their second child had been born two years ago, he had suggested that she actually move into actually being a full time pediatric surgeon instead of just doing it occasionally. At the time, they had decided that they would focus on the children for a while before moving on.
A few weeks ago, Steve had brought up the subject again and Angel had put in some applications.
He smiled. "Did one of them contact you?"
Angel nodded and moved closer to him. "They have an opening at Community General in L.A. They called me at the hospital and asked if I would like to come in for a job interview."
"That's great!"
"Steve, are you sure about this? If I get the position, I'll have to move closer. You'll have to give up your job, and I'm not sure that the LAPD is going to be ecstatic to hire you."
"Thank you for your confidence in me."
"Steve, this is no time to be sarcastic."
"Angel, I know full well that I am not exactly prime employment material. But it is not exactly like we will be destitute if I don't have a job. I can spend my time volunteering like I did before. I can take care of the kids. You deserve to go to an actual hospital."
"What about you?"
"What about me? I deserve to be happy don't I? I want you to have this opportunity. If you're happy, then I'm happy."
"You're certain?"
"Honey, you sound like you don't want to have your dream job. I told you. I will find a way to live my life. Besides, this time I have an actual set of memories to start with." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````` A few days later, Angel was pacing in the hallway of Community General. She couldn't believe how fast the process was moving. What had started out as a simple interview had escalated into an actual gathering of the departments to discuss hiring her.
The previous doctor that held the position had been expelled from the hospital for unethical practices. This meant they had to hire someone to fill that position rather quickly. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
The door to the boardroom opened. "You may come in now Doctor." One of the administrators called.
Nervously, Angel went into the room.
The head of the board stood up. "Dr. MacTyre, it is my honor to welcome you to Community General."
Shock ran through her system as she accepted the position. Short though her visit had been, she knew there was nowhere else that had such a friendly atmosphere. She wanted the job, and when she had called Steve earlier, he had agreed she should take the position if offered.
After shaking the hands of those gathered, she moved to leave. Full of energy, she dropped her contract papers on the floor.
"We don't bite you know." A gentle voice said from behind her.
Turning around, Angel saw one of the doctors that had been called to vote on hiring her.
"Dr. Sloan isn't it?"
"Yes, yes, but please, call me Mark. Everyone else does."
"Mark, then."
Mark smiled at her. "I assume that this is quite a shock to you. These things normally take so much time."
"Yes, they haven't even found my replacement yet at my old hospital. My husband is vacillating between saying 'I told you so' and fretting about having to move so quickly."
"Do you have any children?"
"Two. Marcus is five and Laura is going to be two soon."
"One of each, I remember my kids at that age. Carol was an absolute cherub and Steve was an absolute terror."
For a second, the wistful look on Mark's face reminded Angel of when Steve would chase so hard after a memory
"What do your children do? Did they follow in their father's footsteps?"
Mark's face fell.
"Carol turned into a bit of a rebel and followed her own path. Steve followed a fine family tradition and became a police officer." His voice was pitched low.
Angel misinterpreted the wistfulness in his voice. "You don't get to see them often then."
"Carol got into a bad relationship and Steve got on a bad case. They're both dead."
"Oh, I'm so sorry Dr. Sloan. I didn't know. I shouldn't have pushed."
Mark snapped out of his trance. "What? Oh, no don't be silly. I can't blame you for what happened. And I told you, call me Mark."
Angel shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I guess I should go back to my hotel room then."
Mark smiled. "Say, do have plans for tonight? I have a couple of friends I'd like you to meet."
"I wouldn't want to interfere."
"You hardly know anyone here. And you won't be interfering."
"Well, then I suppose I accept."
"Wonderful. Do you like ribs?" `````````````````````````
Angel looked at the three people around her. Mark sat on her right, Amanda on her left. Jesse was leaning on the counter watching her.
"So?" Jesse asked eagerly.
"Dr. Travis I can give you my clinical opinion that these ribs would satisfy even my husband."
"You should bring him in sometime then." Amanda commented.
"I will as soon as we get settled. My father has a friend that we are going to housesit for, for a couple of months. Hopefully, we will have found a house by that time."
Jesse grinned. "Well if your husband needs a job, we're hiring cooks."
"Jesse, my husband can't cook. He made it all the way up to edible pancakes. I think he was born with a retarded cooking gene. The only thing he makes really well is coffee."
Mark chuckled and Amanda smiled. Jesse' grin grew even wider. "Maybe it's the name Steve. Mark's Steve couldn't cook either."
"That he couldn't Jesse." Mark replied "That he couldn't." ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
Steve took a deep breath as they finished moving the last of the luggage into the house. Once they found a suitable place, they would bring the rest of their belongings, but until then they would just have the basic necessary possessions.
Oddly, Steve had felt incredibly excited by the prospect of moving to LA. When most people wanted to move to a quiet little town as they got older, Steve had had an insatiable urge to go to the traffic congested city.
Angel had already made some friends at the hospital. Steve's jealous streak had been temporarily aroused when she talked about Dr. Travis, but it had been quelled as soon as he found out that the doctor had a girlfriend.
It was a good thing that he had subdued his feelings as she would have to work with Dr. Travis fairly often. The hospital wanted to get her back into the swing of regular surgeries. That meant time in the ER for a while. As Jesse was the head of the ER, that meant that she would be working with him as well as Dr. Sloan.
Steve felt a shiver go through his body. Every time he heard or thought the name Sloan his muscles tensed and his brain seemed to try to focus on something. It felt almost instinctual to be drawn to the name.
"Daddy?" A small voice came from beside Steve. Marcus stood there, his little sister half a step behind him.
"What do you two want?" Steve asked happily.
"Cookie?" Laura asked in her toddler directness.
Steve tried to keep the smile off his face. The two of them really did have timing. They knew that he was easier to get a treat off of than their doctor of a mother. Besides, Steve reasoned, they had had a hard time with moving.
"Sure, sweetheart. In fact, why don't I take the two of you to get ice cream?"
The squealing voices obviously approved of the idea. Steve had one thought as he grabbed his keys. Angel was going to have a fit.
````````````````````````````` "I just don't know what I'm going to do with that man I married. I think he's purposely spoiling those kids." Angel whined as she sat across from Amanda in the cafeteria.
Amanda smiled. "At least they aren't trying to blast away the neighbors with their "music" yet. When are we going to meet this mysterious man of yours anyway? You've been here for four weeks, and we still haven't met him."
"He's coming to the staff party this Saturday. I made him swear that he'd come."
Amanda nodded sagely. "That is a very wise thing to do. I had a husband once. They can be awfully selective sometimes."
Saturday came and Steve Sloan was standing in the lobby of an expensive hotel. Community General had decided to rent out a ballroom to greet all of the new staff of the year. He had arrived early only to receive a call from Angel saying that she had to work late in the ER but would be over soon.
That left him with the option of going into the room or waiting for her in the lobby. He sighed as he adjusted the tie around his neck. Why did they have to have it be a formal party? And why was he still standing out in a hallway when he could just go into and at least get something to drink?
If he was honest with himself, he really did not want to set foot in that room. The stories Angel had told him had all been positive. Actual experience seemed to point otherwise. Steve had lost count of how many people stared at him as he waited. The vast majority had gone into the Community General room.
It was weird. Oh, not all of them had shot him funny looks, but enough had. When one of the old nurses had quaked and paled, he had nearly run for the door. Only the thought of what his wife would do to him kept him nailed to his spot.
He fiddled with his watch and saw that only three minutes had passed since he last checked. Another couple passed him and started furiously whispering. Groaning, Steve made himself enter the party before he ran away.
Thankfully, the man at the sign in table seemed appeared sane. Steve looked dubiously at the bright yellow name tag he was given and promptly slapped it on his lapel confident that everyone else looked as ridiculous as he did. He smiled nicely at a couple of people and made his way to the refreshment stand.
As much as he wanted a drink at the moment, he ordered a club soda. A short man bumped into him in line.
"Excuse me." The shorter man said nervously.
"That's okay." Steve replied as he looked over.
The short man's mouth opened and closed a couple of times. "Steve?" He croaked out.
Steve eyed the man and read his name tag. "Norman?" he replied. "Y.y.yo.o.u.rr.."
Steve glanced around to see if anyone noticed the two of them. This settled it, Angel wasn't working at a hospital; she was working at a mental hospital. He took his soda from the bartender and handed it to Norman.
"Here, drink this quickly, and then go sit down. There are a lot of doctors here. They should be able to help you."
Steve moved as fast as he could away from the stuttering figure. Resolutely, he began to form a plan to talk Angel into leaving as soon as possible.
Mark smiled as he and Amanda waded through the crowd.
"Did Norman look funny to you when we passed his table Amanda?"
"Now that you mention it, he looked a bit pale. Maybe we should check on him later. Mark, why don't you go find our table, and I'll go get us something to drink."
Mark nodded as they separated.
Steve sat at his table thrumming his fingers on its surface. Dr. Sloan had arranged for Angel's new friends to sit together as the three of them seemed anxious to meet Steve. Hopefully, they weren't quite as whacko as that Norman guy.
Maybe Norman was a favorite patient; Steve mused. Maybe he was some guy that just signed in under someone else's name.
Mark saw that there was someone sitting at his table as he approached. His back was to Mark, but he could tell that it was a man. His stature told Mark that it wasn't Jesse. That meant that it was Angel's husband seated at the table.
Mark put on his friendly smile and prepared to introduce himself when the figure turned in his direction. His heart stopped. All blood left his head, and he swore that his ears weren't just ringing; they were playing a song.
"Steve?" He had already formed the word, so it came out halfway normal.
Steve smiled, stood, and extended his hand recognizing Dr. Sloan from Angel's description. His hand was grasped firmly by Mark. Before Steve could utter his own greeting, he found himself enveloped in a hug.
"Oh, God, Steve!" Marks voice quaked.
That settled it. Everyone at this party was nuts. Steve's hands settled on Mark's shoulders and gently began to push him away. "Dr. Sloan." Steve began uncomfortably. His eyes locked with Mark's tear filled ones.
Several images of those same eyes filled his mind's eye. The lines on his face juxtaposed themselves on hundreds of other images all popping into his consciousness at once. Bewilderment flooded his mind quickly replaced with pain. His father stood before him.
His father stood before him, and his father hadn't even tried to find him. He knew his dad. He could find anyone and solve any crime. That man had saved countless lives, but he couldn't even save his son's. Pain was replaced with anger.
All of a sudden, the room felt small. Steve could feel his anger building. He needed to leave before he did anything rash. He turned on his heel and left.
"Steve!" Mark's voice followed him as he drove his way through the crowd. People were staring now, but Steve kept on moving. He reached the hallway and started moving towards the check-in to retrieve his coat. Mark came up beside him while the clerk went looking for it.
"Steve."
"Don't" Steve ground out. "Don't even start. Don't say anything at all. I don't think you'll enjoy your party if I hit you."
"What?" Mark's voice was filled with pain and confusion.
"What? You have to ask what?" Steve's voiced pounded in fury. "My genius father cares more about the lives of strangers than his own son? Do you have any idea what sort of hell I've been in? Do you know what living without your memory is like? Do you know what its like to have people treat you like you're a disease?"
Steve jerked his coat away from the attendant and rushed out of the building before Mark could reply.
Soft steps sounded beside Marka few moments later. He glanced up to see Amanda approach. He said nothing as she led him over to one of the chairs.
"Hey what happened?" Jesse's voice bounced over. "I was signing in when a big commotion got started."
"That's what I'd like to know." Angel's voice was oddly cold as she approached the group. "I've never seen my husband that livid. Apparently, he had a disagreement with Dr. Sloan."
"Your husband?" Mark said. Somewhere in his shell-shocked brain he had made the connection, but it didn't seem real.
"Yes, he was running very quickly out as I was coming in. All he said was that I should 'Ask Dr. Sloan.'"
"Mark?" Amanda prompted. She was just as confused as the other two. She had returned to the table only to see Mark's back as he ran out into the hallway. She had heard his voice earlier, but she couldn't make out the words over the din of the crowd.
"Steve."
"What about him." Amanda gently pried.
"No, you don't understand. That was Steve."
Recognition dawned on Jesse's face a few seconds before Amanda.
"You mean Steve, Steve?" Jesse croaked.
"That's impossible." Amanda intoned.
"What's impossible?" Angel's voice snapped as her patience grew thin.
Mark looked at his newly formed daughter-in-law. "I think you better sit down. This could be quite a shock."