Chapter 8

Mark took the remainder of the day off. He was going to let himself cool down so he would be prepared for the next day. He could go into work as usual. He needed to get back to working regularly. The week's events had thrown him off course, but he had to get back on the saddle. He would visit her during his break and then before he left again. He would just talk to her. Ask her simple questions. Tell her that she was a doctor who worked in the hospital and that he was one of her colleagues. He had to take it slow. But he would never give up. He couldn't give up.

The next morning, Mark rose to get ready for work. He had awoken far earlier than he needed to. His shift did not begin until nine, but regardless, he woke at five and got up to start the day. He was far too anxious to remain in bed. His mind had a million things processing through it, and he could not keep himself from it. He rose, and began a cup of coffee. He proceeded into the bathroom to shower and shave. After he was finished, he sat at his small bar, drinking a cup of coffee and nibbling at a bagel. He finished his breakfast and finished brushing his teeth. Once all of this was done and said for, he still had an hour and a half left before his shift at the hospital began. He spent the next forty-five minutes doing nothing of importance. He attempted to straighten up his small apartment, but succeeded only in moving one pile of papers to another. He then flipped on television to waste time. But he failed in finding anything interesting to watch. Everything seemed to be an old rerun, or a pointless info-mercial. Finally at eight o'clock, he left his apartment early. He figured he'd work an extra hour or so. Kerry would never refuse another doctor in the ER.

As he entered the ER, he received numerous glances from around the room. He tried to brush them off. He had to admit that his behavior in the last few days gave them plausible reason to question his mental state presently.

He carried on the beginning of the day regularly. He dealt with several patients, trying to keep his mind focused solely on work and nothing else. He proved successful for the first few hours of the day. He had seen a five year old girl who had broken her arm after falling of the monkey-bars at school, a sixty year old man who had had a heart attack, two MVA's, several patients who had come down with the same stomach virus. But as it grew closer to one o'clock, his mind began to wander. He began to think of Susan again. He was proud of himself for the time he had kept himself preoccupied, but he knew he couldn't forever. It would eventually drive him crazy. He decided he would take his lunch break and go up to visit her. It wouldn't seem off to his co-workers. It was around the regular lunch hour, and practically all the others had been up to see her at one point or another. In fact, so had Carter, which began to worry Mark again. What if Dr. Carter had the same thing in mind? What if he too hoped to help refresh her memory? Well then, she would decide who she liked after she was better. He couldn't kill himself thinking about it, because it would eventually kill him.

He jumped in the elevator and road it up to the appropriate floor. He walked down the white hall to her room. Peaking in the window, he saw that she was awake and propped up in her bed. Gingerly pushing on the door, he entered the room. Cautiously, he approached her bed.

Clearing his throat, he managed to gain her attention. "Hello Susan."

"Hello…?"

"Hi, I'm Mark Green."

"Hi Mr. Green."

"Please, its mark."

"Ok, hi Mark."

"So how are you feeling?"

"Ok, I just wish I could remember something, anything. People keep coming in here saying that they know me, but I don't know any of them. Do you know me?"

"Yes, we work together."

"We do? What do we do?"

"We work together in this hospital. We're doctors."

"Oh," she replied. She seemed to be frustrated. Mark could not blame her. It must be difficult to have dozens of people telling you who you are, and where you work, but having no idea what they are talking about.

Both were silent for several moments. Neither knew what to say. Mark knew he wanted to find a way to jog her memory, but how? He didn't want to push too hard.

But Susan broke the silence first. "Well, Dr. Rinker, the neurologist told me that if people talk to me about my life, maybe I'll remember things. So, you say we know each other. Do we know each other well?"

Mark smiled. Where to begin? What he decided not to push it. He would explain the basics. "Yes, pretty well. We've worked together for a long time. We have a lot of mutual friends. Um, you know my daughter."

"Daughter? So you're married?"

"Divorced, actually. For several years now."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I'm still good friends with Jen, that's her name."

"So, um, what about the other doctors I work with?"

"Well, there's Elizabeth. She's a surgeon. She's the one with a British accent. She's great, very fiery, and gets the job done."

"Yeah, she came and said hi. Very sweet."

"Yeah. And um, there's Kerry. She's the head of the ER. Can be a real bitch sometimes, and you want to watch out for her most of the time, she cares about her ER, and won't let anything get in the way. But, when you're in trouble or having a real hard time, she does care."

Susan listened patiently. She seemed to be taking in all in; trying to drink it all up; trying to remember.

"And then there's Robert Romano. One of the biggest jackasses in the world. He'll make you feel like crap everyday of your life. But some how County would not be the same without him."

Susan smiled, "I guess there's a lot I have to remember."

Mark spent another thirty minutes with Susan, describing the rest of the County staff, and enjoying the time with her. She might not remember him, but it didn't change the fact that he loved being with her.

A/N:

Ok, I'm sorry for the long absence. School kept me preoccupied, and I have several other fics I'm trying to finish. But last time I added a new chapter for this fic, I only received one review. Please, please, pleas review. And oh, could someone tell me Mark's daughter's name. I don't know why I can't remember.