A/N: Oh, well, I had to give Steve a break eventually. I HAVE a heart - it's just a small one.

16. Tomorrow Is Another Day

or

Close, but No Cigar

That's how Mark found him when he pushed open the hospital room door sometime later. Steve was absorbed in his reading, so Mark lingered on the threshold for a minute, taking advantage of the opportunity to study him unobserved.

He looked pale, Mark decided, and weary - and oddly dotted with a variety of vari-colored bruises. An abandoned dinner tray sat off to the side, scraped so clean that there was no way to tell what it originally held.

Mark assumed he made a sound, or else Steve sensed eyes upon him, because he glanced up toward the door, his face lighting with a smile that contained both greeting and apology.

"Hey." He lowered the magazine. "Sorry you came all the way back here - you didn't have to. It's not much more than a scratch."

"Hm." Mark returned the smile and entered. "Big scratch. According to the notes, it nicked a lung. In fact - " he moved in closer, studying his son's face and mentally cataloguing each mark, "the whole chart made for very intriguing reading."

Steve looked at him suspiciously. "Not a word about that tetanus shot. I mean it - not one word."

Mark's moustache twitched. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Steve tossed the magazine aside and leaned back into the pillows. "Never mind. You've got that 'I told you so' look, and that's worse. I'm just here overnight for observation, anyway. I'll be going home tomorrow."

"Now, see, this is the part I've always had trouble getting through to you - if they DO observe something, then they don't actually let you go home tomorrow. It's not like a hotel reservation."

Steve looked unimpressed with this logic. "As long as you're here, you might as well have a seat. There's a recap of the game soon."

Mark pulled a chair close to the bed. "I know." He nodded toward the empty meal tray. "Is that your first dinner today, or are you making up for lost meals?"

"My first." Steve brightened. "They had meatloaf, though. Man, I was starved."

"You're always starved," Mark pointed out automatically. "If you weren't there to eat dinner, then what were you doing at Bob's?"

"Oh - " Steve grimaced. "Jesse had an - emergency - and I was filling in for him. Sounded like an easy gig when I said yes."

"I see." Mark studied him. "And Amanda told me that you did some babysitting for her?"

"Yeah, well," Steve avoided his gaze and found something very interesting in the outline of the single window. "She had - "

"An - emergency - too?"

"Yeah."

"Mm hm." Mark's face softened subtly as he watched him. "I'm sorry your day off didn't turn out quite as you'd imagined."

Steve chuckled. "Dad, I don't think I could have imagined this day if I'd tried."

Mark smiled. "No, I guess not." He rubbed his hands together in sudden animation. "Well, I'll tell you what! Wouldn't you rather watch the recap of the game at home?"

Steve blinked. "I can't. I'm here overnight. Doctor's orders."

"Oh, I know - " Mark leaned forward confidingly. "And it took some doing, but I think I finally convinced Dr. Coopersmith to release you into my care for the night. I know what to look for, and I can get you back here if there seem to be any problems. Do you know, I think he almost didn't want to entrust you to me?"

Steve raised his brows. "He knows you're my father, right? And the Chief of Internal Medicine?"

"Oh, my, yes, but doctors can become very possessive and protective where their patients are concerned. I'm not blaming him - I know I can be that way, too. I think it's a good quality in a doctor. I was thinking maybe we could invite him out to the house next time we have a barbecue, to say thanks. I liked the way he put your well-being before my approval."

Steve gave a short burst of laughter. "Sure. Though I could have told him that you're more than capable of nagging me about my well-being."

Mark pretended to glare. "I'm going to let that one go because I know you've had a hard day. So, what do you say - we'll get you packed up and out of here and you can sleep in your own bed tonight?"

Steve's gaze returned to the darkened window. Her cleared his throat. "I don't know, Dad. It's already late, and I'm settled - I can stay the night. Why don't you go home?"

Mark paused. "Stay?" And blinked. "The night?"

Steve smiled self-consciously. "Yeah - you know. No point in putting everybody through a lot of trouble discharging me at this hour - all that paper work. And upsetting Dr. Coopersmith… I'll just spend the night and go home in the morning."

Mark's gaze narrowed. After a minute he leaned forward and flattened a palm over Steve's forehead.

Steve squirmed away. "Cut that out! I'm fine!"

Mark dropped his hand, still observing him closely. "No fever. And that, at least, was a normal reaction."

Steve reddened. "It's just one night. Look, I'm sorry you had to come all the way down here, I didn't mean for you to - "

"Uh huh." Mark tucked his chin under and studied him over his glasses. "Let me just make sure that I'm clear on this. You - my son, Steven Michael Sloan - are voluntarily agreeing to stay in the hospital overnight? No fuss, no arguments?"

Steve's color deepened. "Well, as long as I'm here - "

Mark rose abruptly to his feet. "That does it. I'm taking a closer look at your chart."

"Dad - !"

"Hi, Dr. Sloan!" Mark jumped back as the night nurse breezed in, pushing a small wheeled cart. "So nice to see you!" The smile she flashed him could have successfully brightened a toothpaste ad. "Don't worry about Steve - we're taking very good care of him." She beamed her smile on Steve now, and Mark couldn't help noticing that this smile contained - something - that hadn't been in the one she'd offered him.

He raised his brows in his son's direction. "'Steve'?" he queried pointedly.

The nurse's smile faded. "He asked me to call him that. I hope it doesn't seem disrespectful?"

Steve managed a slightly uncomfortable smile for his father. "You know I - hate all that formality."

Mark turned his considering gaze on the nurse. Amazing how scrubs, the most shapeless garments known to humankind, could look so - shapely - on her. "Oh, I'm sure," he agreed politely.

The nurse's smile returned full force at that. "I was just going to give poor Steve a massage. He's very tense - you wouldn't believe how tight his shoulders are!"

"Are they?" Mark switched his quizzical gaze back to Steve.

"Lucy got stuck with the job of giving me a sponge bath," Steve interjected hastily. "Since I defended myself in the struggle with bags of garbage, you can imagine that I needed one."

Mark smiled impishly. "Oh, I can imagine all kinds of things. Lucy, hm?"

"Dad - "

The nurse blushed prettily. "Well, Nurse Chesterton is such a mouthful, and it's so hard to be formal with someone after you've given them a sponge bath!"

"I see." Mark's smile stretched. "And, of course, since Steve hates formality…"

"Well, I do."

"Mm hm."

Lucy seemed to remember herself. "But of course, I don't want to interrupt your visit! I could come back later!"

Steve skewered Mark with a meaningful look, and Mark raised his hands in acknowledgment. "No, no - I was just going. Wanted to get home in time to watch the recap of the game. I'll - leave you to it."

Steve rewarded him with a lazy, approving smile.

Lucy straightened her back and smoothed her abundant knot of chestnut hair. "I think Steve was going to watch the recap," she offered. " - if you wanted to stay and watch it with him - "

The pointed look that Steve gave him made Mark grin. "No, I - I really have to go. I'm glad to see that my son is in such - caring hands. Steve, I'll be by to check on you in the morning? And - um - try to follow doctor's orders? No sudden moves?"

"I'll do my best." Steve's tone was decidedly dry.

"I forgot my rubbing alcohol," Lucy interjected tactfully. "I'll go grab it while you two say good night." She slipped out the door.

Mark watched her go, then looked meaningfully at Steve. "So. You, um, think you'll survive the hospital all right for one night?"

Steve's eyes twinkled. "Well, I'd hate to be any trouble."

"Oh, I can see that. Just try not to distract Nurse Chesterton from her other patients?"

"She's off at midnight," answered Steve cheerfully. "She's just hanging around in case I need anything. I guess Dr. Coopersmith told her to take good care of me."

Mark shook his head. "I can see she took that to heart. Don't overdo it - you are a patient. I'll see you in the morning."

Steve grinned. "Thanks, Dad. Drive safe. Remember to buckle up."

Mark was still shaking his head as he exited the hospital room. He received another dazzling smile from Lucy Chesterton as she reentered the room behind him and he returned it with one of his own before pausing at the nurse's station to scan Steve's chart one more time. He was just closing the chart when he heard Lucy whisper, "Dr. Sloan?"

He turned in surprise to see Lucy's head poking out of Steve's hospital room door. She wasn't smiling this time. "Yes, Lucy?" he prompted, feeling a sudden frisson of concern.

"I - could you come here a second?"

Now frowning in earnest, Mark ducked into the room behind her, stopped dead just inside. He stood for a moment, gazing with a mixture of rueful humor and affectionate sympathy.

He heard Lucy sigh beside him. "I shouldn't wake him up, should I?" she said regretfully.

Mark bent forward and carefully eased the magazine out of Steve's lax hand, tugging the covers up over his chest. "No," he agreed kindly. "I'd let him rest. He's had a hard day."

Lucy sighed more deeply, nodding, her eyes resting on his son with an expression that made him smile. "Dr. Sloan, probably I shouldn't ask this, but - " her cheeks pinked. "Is - Steve seeing anyone steadily? I was thinking I might - ask him to call me."

Mark patted her shoulder gently, glancing at the clock. Almost midnight. This day is done at last, son.

"You know what, Lucy? Why don't you do that, first thing tomorrow? I think it would be a nice way for him to start the day."

Lucy looked pleased, her thousand watt smile flashing again so that he couldn't help but smile as well.

His smile deepened as he glanced at his son, safe at last in the haven of sleep. He adjusted the covers once more and gave the shoulder under the hospital gown a companionable squeeze, then placed the confiscated magazine on the night table, careful not to lose the page. He glanced at it. Didn't look like Steve'd gotten very far. Oh, well. It would give him something to do while he was recovering.

He glanced over to where Lucy Chesterton was refilling the water pitcher and arranging it within the patient's easy reach and his eyes sparkled. Something else to do, that is. Bed rest might have its compensations. Lucy finished and Mark watched her exit, then reached over to turn down the bedside light.

Sleep well, son. Pleasant dreams. And just remember - as Scarlett said, tomorrow is another day.

The End (June 2005)

Thanks to all who read along. I have no doubt that you made me laugh much harder than I ever made you laugh. You made this so much fun.