Mark Sloane had been a part of his daughter's life since she had been born.
Birthdays, recitals, hospital visits-he was there, holding a gift bag, or flowers, or chocolate. He came over every weekend just to see her, just to twirl her around and listen to her soft giggle of delight, to make sure that she was still safe and happy, to make sure she knew he cared.
Sometimes he wondered if the reason he was so involved in Hannah's life was because of Meredith, because he couldn't be involved in Meredith's life. The guilt had been gnawing at him since high school and it was completely plausible that subconsciously he was trying to get rid of the image of Meredith's broken expression by doting on his daughter.
But then he'd remember how much he needed Hannah, how much he loved her, and he'd realize that even if things had been different, even if he'd stayed with Meredith, he'd still bring gift bags and flowers and chocolate to Hannah, if just to watch her face light up, her glittering eyes tilted towards his.
That was why he was here, sitting across from Richard to beg for a job that he didn't really want, in a city that he didn't really like, thousands of miles away from home.
"So, tell me why I should let you stay here," Richard said from across the table, reclining back in his chair with a coffee mug wrapped in one hand.
"Because I'm the best," he said simply, "and I know…some of the people here."
"Can you name one of them who would be glad to see you?"
He paused, "Hannah?"
Richard sighed, "Hannah is your daughter. What about Derek? Or Addison?"
Richard didn't feel the need to mention Meredith, he'd let Mark deal with that one on his own.
"Derek and Addison are a part of my personal life. I'd hope that we'd all be able to remain professional at work."
"I'm sure they would."
The subtle jab isn't lost on Mark.
"As would I."
"We'll see."
"With all due respect, sir," Richard picks up on the sarcasm and frowns, "Does that mean I'm getting the position?"
"I don't want to give you this job," The Chief admitted, "The problems this will cause…"
He could feel it slipping away from him.
"Richard, I honestly don't think that what's happened in the past should have anything to do with you hiring me. You know my work, you know I'm the best, and you know that Seattle Grace needs me. You need me."
Silence.
His shoe tapped the floor anxiously and he tried to appear unfazed, professional, and confident.
He just wished he actually felt that way.
Then, in a voice that made Mark sit up a little in his chair and unclasp his now-white hands, Richard spoke, "Two months."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm giving you a two month test period. If you can make it through that time without making me feel like I'm in an episode of General Hospital , then you can stay."
The plastic surgeon grinned widely and stood up to shake Richard's hand.
"You won't regret it," he assured, backing out of the office, "I swear."
"I better not," the Chief grumbled, lifting himself out of his chair by his arms to follow Mark out the door, snorting as Mark held the door open for him, "You don't need to suck up any more, Sloane, you already tricked me into giving you a chance."
"It comes naturally," Mark said, grin still firmly in place.
--
"So I heard the Chief just signed on a new doc," Christina offered, mainly because she was becoming increasingly annoyed with the lack of conversation at their two-person lunch table, "Maybe you can sleep with him and find out he has a family he didn't tell you about, too."
"Mhmm," Meredith replied noncommittally, lazily prodding at her strawberry yogurt.
"Are you even listening to me?"
"Mhmm."
"Burke asked me to scrub in with him on his open heart surgery later today."
"Mhmm."
"Great, just great. Now my best friend has decided to fly off to never-never land where apparently she doesn't care about surgery anymore. And… I'm talking to myself," she tipped her chair back so that it was only resting on the back two legs, "seriously."
"Surgery? Wait, what was that?"
The chair tipped forward, and her posture lengthened out so that she no longer appeared to have a hunchback.
"Thank god. I thought I'd lost you."
Meredith laughed weakly, like someone had just told a joke but she didn't really get it, "Okay, Christina. Whatever you say."
"Where were you just now?"
Meredith flushed, "What do you mean?"
"Oh my god. You were thinking about him again."
Her face became, if possible, a deeper shade of scarlet.
"That's, what? Ten million times in the last five hours?"
"Not exactly ten million…"
"Meredith, this is getting pathetic. You won't talk to him, but you think about him constantly, you duck whenever he enters the room, and frankly? You look like a freak when that happens. You ignore him, you-"
"Alright alright!!! Jesus. What do you want me to do?"
"Fix this!"
"How?"
"I don't know, but I do know that I'm losing my freaking mind."
"You're losing your mind? I can't even focus on a conversation for five minutes."
"Believe me, I know."
They both sighed in unison, not realizing how alike they looked, both with one hand latched on to a plastic spoon and both with identical blank expressions splashed across their faces.
"We're screwed."
Meredith nodded hopelessly, sinking back into her chair and secretly wishing she could go home and crawl under the covers to forget about the mess she had managed to turn her life into.
AN: Geeze why are these taking so long to write? Seriously. And I'm not even that happy with this story now that I'm reading over it again but oh well. Keep reviewing, maybe it will inspire me!!!