"Hi Susan." Kerry approached admittance followed by a gust of cold wind – winter wasn't gone for good... not quite yet.

"Hi." Susan didn't look up from the chart she was studying but Kerry wouldn't give up.

"You on tonight?"

"No, I consider this a social occasion, a privilege." Susan retorted dryly, "What is bark-ticer… what?"

Kerry looked over her shoulder, "Bronchitis. I'll take it."

"No, I got it." Susan headed to exam one.

Kerry followed, "I wanted to take the opportunity to speak with you some time tonight."

Susan busied herself listening to the patient's lungs, "deep breath… you can lie back down now." She wrapped her stethoscope back around her neck and headed back to admittance, giving a drug order to a Lydia before turning back to Kerry. "I'm all yours."

Kerry smiled and headed for the lounge, clearly expecting Susan to follow her.

She took a deep breath and did but went straight to the coffee machine, nine hours to sunrise and counting. She was wondering how long she'd get to sleep – maybe she could sneak off and sit with Mark for a while…

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, and ah…"

"Better now." She smiled, holding up her coffee then taking an appreciative sip.

Kerry smiled, "I know this is a pretty rough time and I just wanted to let you know that if you need to take any time off then there wouldn't be a problem."

Susan put her coffee down. It was too hot anyway. "Thank you."

"How's he doing?"

Susan nodded, "As well as can be expected?"

"Miracles happen."

"Yeah. Actually, I needed to speak to you anyway. I'm, ah… pregnant." She raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Congratulations." Kerry grinned (well… something like a grin… can she grin? Oh, sure, everyone can grin… right?)

"Well, the thing is, I was before – you may have seen my records, but, I didn't reach full term so I'm going to need to cut back my hours – just in precaution."

"Yeah, absolutely. No, take whatever you need."

Susan smiled, "I don't need to right away. I don't want to leave you in the lurch – I mean, we're short staffed as it is, I just thought I should let you know, sooner rather than later."

"Oh, yeah, well thank you. And just let me know if there's anything I can do… for either of you." Kerry said sincerely.

Susan nodded as Kerry headed for the door. "Thanks."

Kerry smiled and nodded, "We're pretty quiet – if you want to go up and see him."

Susan nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking of it."

Kerry nodded again and left her to her thoughts about how well that went. There wasn't a sparkling history between them but they'd made peace for Mark's sake before and they'd do it again.

Susan finished her coffee and headed back to admittance. "Where do you need me?"

"Right here – Rachel Greene called." Chuny handed her the phone.

Susan dialled the number, "Did she say what about?"

"Nope."

"Hello, Jenn here."

"Oh, hi Jenn. It's Susan here, um…" awkward, why is Jenn at Mark's??? "Rachel called before,"

"Oh, right, I'll just get her." Susan could hear Jenn telling Rachel who was on the phone.

"Hi Susan." Rachel answered chirpily.

"Hey, how's it going?" Susan asked, leaning back on the counter and turning away from her audience.

"Alright. I, um, just thought you should know that Mum's here."

"Yeah, I heard. Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I told her about dad and so she came up. She's staying at a hotel… yeah it's okay, mum, I can tell her." Rachel sighed audibly, "Sorry. Look the thing is, well she doesn't like that I'm here on my own and she wants me to stay with her at the hotel."

"Oh." Susan's voice fell. She really didn't have the energy to come up against Jenn. "Well, you should probably just go tonight and if you like I can talk to her when she visits Mark."

"Yeah, we're gonna come in tomorrow morning. Are you on then?"

"No, but I can stay."

"Okay. Say hi to Dad for me." Rachel said goodbye and hung up the phone.

Susan did the same and avoided everyone's eyes watching her, curiously waiting for an explanation, "Page me if you need me."

"Oh, we will." Kerry teased and tactlessly commanded everyone to get back to work while Susan headed for the elevators.

Was that my pager? Susan pulled the black box off her waist band without opening her eyes – no – it wasn't going off. She forced her eyes open and checked the time. Four am. She was doing well. Six hours sleep during a night shift was a rare luxury.

She looked over at Mark, partly relieved to see him sleeping peacefully, partly wishing he was awake.

She missed him.

He was stirring in his sleep, pawing at the covers. She put a cool hand to his forehead and he visibly calmed for a moment. He was warm but nothing alarming.

"Mark," she whispered, running her hand down his face, "Shh, Mark, it's okay."

He finally opened his eyes, evidently relieved to see her there. "Hey… you visiting? What time is it?" he mumbled confusedly.

"It's okay, I'm on the night shift. It's pretty quiet down there."

"Careful, you'll jinx it."

She smiled, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just dreaming. Shouldn't you try and get some sleep?"

"Why, am I keeping you awake?"

He nodded teasingly. "But you're better than the dream."

"Well you looked pretty scared in the dream so…"

"I guess it's the drugs. But you're this beautiful even when I'm in my right mind. A man's got to have something stable to hold on to. You'll do." He grinned playfully.

"I'll do?"

He nodded. "So, is Rachel home by herself tonight?"

Susan took a deep breath, "Actually, Jenn's come up to see you."

"Oh."

"So Rachel's staying at the hotel with her tonight."

"When did she fly in?"

"Today I think – I just spoke to Rachel on the phone – I didn't know she was coming."

Mark took a deep breath, clearly shaken by this news, "She knows I'm here?"

Susan nodded, "Rachel told her."

"I guess that's for the best." He looked at the ceiling resignedly.

"Will she want to take Rachel back?" Susan asked tentatively.

He held her eyes thoughtfully, "I don't know."

"I guess she's got school and I'm working and with you in here – it's hardly the perfect situation." Susan pointed out the obvious, "But…"

Mark took a deep breath, "I've already missed too much."

"Maybe Jenn will understand… if you talk to her."

"Maybe."

"They're coming in tomorrow."

"Are you working?"

Susan shook her head, "No, but I can be here. I could take Rachel if you wanted to…"

He nodded, not really looking forward to the inevitable interview with his ex wife.

"She'll understand." Susan tried to reassure him. "And if not I'll take her out back and beat the…" that got his smile.

"The things you do for me eh?"

Susan laughed.

"So I was thinking…"

"You were?"

"Yes." He smiled, "I was thinking, we have to decide on a name."

Susan grinned, "But it's too early to know the sex."

"Yes, but we can brainstorm. I mean as long as we're both awake in the middle of the night. I don't want to go back to sleep in case I start dreaming again and you're dreading a page…"

"Okay, what names do you like?" Susan took his hand and played with his fingers while he thought, "How about… Alice?"

Susan smiled. He was remembering her dream… "Alice was the name Dix and I had picked out."

"Oh." His face was downcast and confused.

"It was just a dream Mark. I doesn't mean anything."

"So you're not a fan of Mark Junior?" he tried to sound unaffected.

"Two Marks is too confusing." She swallowed, all too aware that their might not be two Marks at all.

He smiled and stroked her face, wishing he could take the sorrow from her eyes with a kiss. "How about Matthew."

"Matthew Greene?" she tried it out and smiled. The smile stayed in her eyes though her mouth relaxed thoughtfully. She nodded, the smile returning softly to her lips.

"I like that." He drew her in for a kiss. "Can you stay for a while?"

She nodded, "Unless they page me."

"Come sleep up here with me." He shuffled over on the tiny bed.

She grinned at him and kicked off her shoes.

"Plenty of room." He pulled her close beside him and threw the sheets and blankets back over her as she wrapped her legs around his. He lay back and kissed her hair, "Good night. Sleep tight."