Mark carefully held Matthew in one arm and opened the door to her room. She'd been dozing but opened her eyes when she heard them, a breathtaking smile spreading over her face instantly.

"You have a visitor." Mark grinned. He hadn't stopped grinning in a couple of days.

Susan sat up and let Mark put Matthew in her arms. "Thank you."

He just smiled, stroking her hair back as she looked at their baby. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, okay." She turned to him. "Tired... How about you? Holding up?"

"I actually went home last night. So I should have slept better."

"Better than that chair?"

"Yeah, exactly. But I kept thinking and I barely slept at all."

She grinned at him.

"I want to take you home."

She nodded. "Probably tomorrow."

"You'd probably sleep better at home and I could look after Matthew."

She laughed.

Someone knocked on the door and they turned to see Rachel, closely followed by Carter.

Mark stood, surprised, "I thought you were coming tomorrow."

Rachel grinned and hugged him. "I was impatient and mum didn't mind so I just took an earlier flight." She stole the seat he'd just vacated and looked at Matthew with awe struck adoration. "He's so beautiful."

Susan grinned, "Do you want to hold him?"

Rachel nodded and reached out carefully taking the tiny body.

"Hey Carter." Susan looked up from smiling at Rachel.

"Hey." He approached, careful at first not to invade the family bit. "How are you feeling?"

She nodded. "You surviving without us downstairs."

He shrugged, "We'll cope. And if we get desperate you're not far away. When are they kicking you out?"

"I think she'll escape first." Mark said.

She shook her head, "More likely he'll kidnap me."

"What can I say? I miss my wife." Mark shrugged.

Carter grinned. "So this is Matthew eh? He's quite famous. Chuny started a fan club."

"She visited yesterday." Susan explained when Mark looked confused.

"She took photos." Carter added.

"Yeah, digital camera."

"They're all over the ER."

Mark almost looked shocked.

"Hey, I'm the one without make up in the photos, not you." Susan laughed at him.

"You look fine." Rachel phased out of baby-world for a moment.

"May I?" Carter asked permission to take Matthew.

Susan nodded as Rachel stood and handed him the active bundle.

Carter lifted him up, Rachel still holding his hand, as Mark took his seat by Susan again.

"See, the photos were fine, but this is cute."

Rachel laughed. "Yes he is."

"Just think, you'll get to drill all his potential girlfriends." Carter teased, getting another laugh out of Rachel.

"He's two days old, that's a little premature." Susan lay back again, still tired. Mark watched her with concern. "I'm fine." She took his hand, knowing his thoughts exactly.

"I should head back anyway." Carter returned Matthew to Rachel.

"Thanks for visiting." Susan smiled.

"Oh, no, I'm just glad to see you're doing well – you know you scared us downstairs – just for a minute."

She laughed. "Thank you."

Carter just smiled, "I'll see you later." He let the door shut behind him and headed back to work.

"I should probably take Matthew back. I was working on one of the nurses – trying to get them to move him in with you – but the NICU wants to keep him for the rest of the day."

"It's okay. I'll just hold him for a little bit longer." She took him as Rachel leant over to give him to her. "Hi Matthew. Hi..." she smiled. Then she yawned.

Several yawns later she gave him to Mark.

"I can take him if you like." Rachel offered.

"You know where to go?"

She nodded and took him from her father's arms, talking to him softly as she walked out into the familiar corridor.

"You sure you're okay?" Mark sat back down, taking Susan's hand almost automatically.

She nodded. "My body's just beat."

"Well, you look beautiful."

She laughed. "And there's no mirrors around so you can lie and I'll never know."

"You always look beautiful." He kissed the top of her hand.

She watched him with an immovable smile and tired eyes, moving her hand to his cheek and guiding his face to look at her. She took a deep breath and let her eyes sink into his luxuriously.

He leant in and kissed her, pulled in, more than he'd been expecting. He let his hand wander over her body, over the bed covers, and then he pulled back. "See, that's why I want to take you home."

"That never stopped us before." She grinned cheekily.

"This is slightly different."

"Less morbid."

"Exactly. I think in oncology the staff would be less..."

"You don't like the dirty looks? I don't know..."

Mark laughed. That's what she was aiming for. Then she pulled him back down for another lingering kiss, wiping the laughter from his lips.

Rachel returned and disappeared again with a mumbled, "Oh, sorry."

"I'll go get her." Mark pulled back again, this time laughing and biting his lower lip.

Susan smiled. "Yeah, you should probably take her home if she's been travelling, she's probably tired. And if she left her luggage with Carter then we could really be in trouble."

Mark laughed and dashed outside.

"Hey, sorry about that." He found her looking out the windows in the corridor overlooking Chicago.

She shrugged, "No problem."

Mark took a deep breath. Awkward territory. "So, where's your luggage?"

"Oh, I left it in the lounge downstairs."

"Well, Susan's pretty tired so how about we take you home?" he asked as she yawned.

"Okay." The headed toward the elevators and were inside before Rachel spoke again. "Dad..."

"Yeah?"

"This is really cool."

"Matthew?"

She nodded, "And Susan."

The elevator doors opened.

"We're like a normal family. Almost."

Mark grinned, "No such thing – but yeah."

"Hey, how's Matthew?" Jing Mei caught up with them en route to the lounge.

"They're both doing really well." Mark gave the token news. If anything went wrong everyone would know in minutes. But if they heard nothing it was safe to assume things were good. Token question. Token answer.

"Oh, I'm glad. See you later." She dashed off as a trauma rolled in – a man with part of a fence post through his bicep.

"This place is insane." Rachel said as they escaped into the lounge.

Kerry was inside, wrestling with the fridge door that wouldn't stay shut. "Yep, they can't even get a guy to fix a door." She carefully closed the door and held it in place. "Hey, congratulations." She nodded at Mark as she let go of the door.

It opened again but she left it with a sigh and a roll of the eyes.

"Thanks." He picked up the suitcase from where Carter had tucked it behind the door.

"Are they going home today?" Kerry poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Ah, no, not yet. But hopefully tomorrow."

Kerry nodded. "Good. I'm glad to hear everything went okay in the end."

"Yeah."

"But let us know when you can come back." She gave him a grin and headed out into the ER. He knew she wouldn't push either of their return to work, just that she'd appreciate having their skill and experience back in her ER.

"Did something go wrong with the baby?" Rachel asked, opening the door so Mark could carry her suitcase through.

"Oh, not really – I mean, Matthew is fine now. And Susan's okay. But the baby came a month early."

"Yeah." Rachel knew that bit.

"Well, it was because Susan got this condition called Eclampsia. It's kind of hard to explain. But basically the only way we could make her better was to induce labour."

"Oh. But she's okay?"

Mark nodded. "I think she'll just take a bit longer to get back on her feet."

"Oh. Good. And I can, like, help out, you know, if she needs it."

Mar smiled, swallowing his surprise. "That'd be great."