Disclaimer : Not mine, not mine...
A/N : Mark doesn't have a brain tumor in this story.Still Savage Garden Lyrics - I don't know you anymore
Still no beta reader.
Thank you so much for reviewing, Amy, gezzy, Michelle, Renée & Helen. I really appreciate that you took the time to read and review my story :)
REUNION
The bathroom door opened and SHE got out. He crashed into an invisible wall and was completely taken aback. Their eyes met again for the first time in almost 5 years. All those years they'd been apart concertinaed into less then a second. A flood of memories came back. He remembered how they had first met at admittance on her first day at County. He remembered how she had listened to him for hours , always trying to make him feel better when he was getting divorced. He remembered how she had invited him to come along when she was going to Hawaii, he also remembered those rumors about them having a torrid affair as if it had been yesterday. And of course, he remembered the day she had left for Phoenix. The day she had ripped his heart out. They day he had lost the love of his life. Even back in the days when he was still married, he had probably already fancied her. Maybe he had even already loved her. She had always seemed to be The One. The One who makes it all complete. He had always thought that they were meant to be. Supposed to be. But he had been such a coward. He had been so afraid of loosing his best friend that he had never had the courage to tell her how much he loved her until it was too late.
They had shared an incredible kiss, and he already saw a new era dawning for them... But then she had climbed into that train and was gone. She had left him at the platform of Union Station and when the train departed, he knew their chance had been blown. For now and for ever.
For many months, he had cursed himself every single day for letting her go. If only he had had courage to tell her earlier... Maybe she would never have left. Maybe they would be happy together now. Be married. Have kids. They had tried to stay in touch, but that didn't work out. As much as he had loved her, he couldn't talk to her on the phone and pretend that he was alright. She had broken his heart...This heartbreak had been far more painful than his divorce. It wasn't until then when he realized that he had never loved his ex-wife the way he had loved HER. Whenever the spoke on the phone, there had been minutes of silence, because neither of them had known what to say. He wanted to ask her to come back, every single time they spoke on the phone, but for some reason, he never did. He had been hurt, and maybe even a little mad at her for never having given him a chance. Talking to her became harder each time, and after a while, they stopped calling each other. She had always sent him a card for his birthday, and one for Christmas. He had returned the favor, but apart from that, they didn't have any contact anymore. She lived her life, and he lived his. For a long time, he believed that he would never love anyone the way he had loved her. But gradually, he moved on and fell in love with a British surgeon. That British surgeon was the total opposite of her, but she made him happy. Eventually, they got married and had a beautiful little daughter. He had never told her about his new wife and daughter. She had never asked him either. He had carried an invitation to his wedding addressed to her around in his pocket for about two weeks. But he never had the guts to mail it to her. Instead, her invitation ended up being buried under old bills, documents and other stuff in one of the drawers in his desk.
He couldn't think of a reason why he had never actually posted her the invitation, but for some reason it felt right this way. She probably wouldn't have invited him to her wedding either. After all, they hadn't told each other anything about their lives in the past few years.She looked beautiful. Blazing green eyes, shiny blonde hair. Exactly the way he remembered her, except that her hair was shorter now. She looked more mature, more experienced, but simply stunning. She had probably moved on. She had always wanted to have a family. Most likely, she was married now, maybe she even had kids.
After they had been staring at each other for a few seconds, she finally moved towards him to embrace him. "Mark" she said as she brought her arms around him.
"Susan" he whispered, holding her close. It felt so familiar and yet so strange.
"It's nice to see you again..."Susan said after a while.
He nodded and smiled. „We haven't met in...five years?"
"Five years. An eternity."
Both of them had awaited this reunion for so many years. And now that this moment had finally come, neither of them knew what to say...
Minutes passed. They both remained silent, each of them dealing with their memories."I've got a patient in critical condition...I don't think I can leave right now, but we could, um, have coffee in the doctor's lounge?" he suggested after some time.
"Sure." Susan replied and followed him there.
While Mark prepared some coffee, Susan sat down at the table and watched him.
"How are you, Mark?"
"I'm fine. How about yourself?"
"I'm alright, thanks,"she stated.
Silence again. She longed to ask him if he had a girlfriend, but she didn't have the courage to do so. Instead, she just looked around the lounge. ‚Lockhart ...Kovac ...Malucci... Finch' said the name tags on the lockers. None of them seemed familiar.
She let her eyes continue to wander across the room. ‚...Weaver' She sighed in relief. At least not all people she knew were gone. Even if she and Kerry Weaver had never gotten along, she was for some reason glad that Kerry was still around. A quick glance at the lockers behind her told her that Carter and Benton were also still at County. Mark turned around and handed Susan a cup of delicious smelling coffee."Thanks" she said with a smile.
"You're welcome."Mark replied, and once again, neither of them knew what to say.Susan tried to break the silence. „There are many new names," she said, pointing towards the lockers. "Doug and Carol don't work here anymore?"she asked.
"Nope. They live in Seattle with their twins."
"Twins? Wow... I last spoke to Carol right after she and Doug got back together..."
Silence fell again. At this point, Mark should probably have told her about his baby daughter and his wife. But he couldn't. He had really anticipated to see Susan again, but now everything was just awkward.
"What are you doing in Chicago?" He asked.
"Well... there's an open position at the Northwestern...they liked my resumé, and if everything works out, I'm moving back..." Susan explained.
"You...you're moving back?" Mark exclaimed. He couldn't believe his own ears. Some years ago, he would have been thrilled to have her back in Chicago, but now this piece of information simply hurt him. She would never move back for him, but now she was coming back for a job at bloody Northwestern!
Susan nodded. "Yeah... I'm coming home, "she said excitedly.
Home. Chicago was her home. She wanted to tell him how badly she had missed him, wanted to explain to him how much he still meant to her, but she had no idea how to begin. She wanted to apologize for the day at Union Station...She wanted to let him know that she was sorry for never having given them a chance... And of course, she wanted him to know how much she regretted her decision to move to Phoenix... Although there were so many things on her mind, she couldn't seem to find the right words to start.
„Mark, I...I need to talk to you..."she began. Mark looked at her expectantly.„What happened to us?"she asked. She was trembling and her heart was pounding really fast. She never knew that his presence had so much effect on her.
„Well...you moved away...we lost touch..."he replied. Susan couldn't decide whether his voice sounded more mad or more hurt, but it was quite obvious that he didn't feel very comfortable.
„I know the facts...but...I don't know why..."Susan reached out for his hand. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then she continued. „Mark...we used to be so close...how could we let this happen?"
Mark was unable to reply. He just sat there, clutching her hand, thinking of how it used to be.
so much for part 3.
Changes was intended to be a 3-chapter fic, but obviously it isn't finished yet ;)
I guess there will be at least two more installments...
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