To tell you the truth, there's not really any changes to this chapter... Hope you like.
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"It's about damn time," Emily says as she throws open the door to find Mark, wet and shivering, on her doorstep
"It's about damn time," Emily says as she throws open the door to find Mark, wet and shivering, on her doorstep. "Why the hell haven't you called?"
Mark's teeth are chattering as he whispers, "I thought you hated me."
Emily sighs and cocks her head as she gestures for Mark to enter the house. "Come on Sweetie. Get in here before you catch pneumonia."
Mark nods and slowly takes a few steps into the house. He hands his coat to Emily when she holds out her hand for it and waits, shuffling his feet, until she places her hand on the small of his back and guides him through the hallway to the living room. She points to the couch and demands that he sits while she rushes to the kitchen for some coffee.
"So," she says, handing Mark the steaming mug, "you think I hate you? That's why you haven't called?"
"Yes." Mark takes a deep, shaky breath. "I ruined your son's marriage."
"Come on Mark," Emily says with a chuckle, "I think we all know that Derek ruined his own marriage. You just happened to be there when it went down in flames."
"I slept with his wife Em," Mark mutters, his eyes staring unwaveringly at the floor. "I would hate me if I were you."
"You're my son-"
"I'm not," Mark tells her, looking her in the eyes for the first time since he's arrived on her doorstep. "I'm not your son. Derek is your son and I ruined his marriage. You should hate me."
"Derek spent eleven years ruining his marriage, Mark. Not you," Emily tells him. "That first time he chose a surgery over his wife was the beginning of the end." She glares at him. "And I may not have given birth to you, but you are for all intents and purposes my son."
Mark pushes his palms to his eyes for a few seconds before pushing off the couch and onto his feet. He begins pacing back and forth in front of the couch as Emily watches worriedly from her spot on the chair. A few times he pauses and looks as if he's about to say something, but shakes his head and swallows heavily instead.
After a full five minutes of this back and forth action Emily, beside herself with worry, speaks up, "Mark, you're scaring me."
Mark stops his pacing and faces her, his jaw working in circles. "I love her. I love her and we've been living together since Derek disappeared."
"Oh hell," Emily says as she takes a deep breath. "You're living together?"
Mark nods.
Emily is about to ask him what the hell he's thinking when his eyes drift upwards to the ceiling. It's his guilty tell. She narrows her eyebrows. "What aren't you telling me?"
"I-"
"Don't give me that Mark," Emily warns. "I've known you since you were three. I know what every look, stance, and gesture means. Now what aren't you telling me?"
Mark runs his hand through his hair. "Addison's pregnant."
Emily blinks.
"Em?" Mark ventures slowly after a few moments of silence. "You're getting ready to scream, aren't you?"
"Not scream," Emily says after a slight hesitation. "Are you sure?"
Mark rolls his eyes. "She's the top OB-GYN in the country. I think she knows the signs. Plus Savvy forced her to take six home tests and two blood tests. There's no doubt."
"So what are your plans?" Emily asks, eyeing him carefully. She's known him his whole life and although he usually runs towards problems instead of away from them, she's worried he may pull a Derek. Mark may be thirty-eight years old, but sometimes he still acts like a teenager. "You do have plans, right?"
"I'm staying, if that's what you're asking," Mark says, glaring slightly. "I watched her walk down the aisle with Derek believing that time was up. I thought I'd never get my chance. There's no way I'm not walking away just because the situation isn't the ideal one I'd anticipated."
Emily takes a deep breath and stands so that she's only inches away from Mark. She places her hands on his cheeks and smiles so widely that he swears it touches her ears. "Then let me be the first to say congratulations."
"Thanks Mom," Mark says, chuckling. "That means a lot to me."
She nods and steps back into the chair. "So what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home with your pregnant girlfriend? She is your girlfriend, right?"
Mark shrugs. "I guess that's what you'd call the woman sleeping beside me every night who happens to be carrying my child yet still refuses to take off her wedding band."
"Oh Mark," Emily says with a sigh. "You got into a fight."
"She won't take off the rings," Mark tells her. "Like, completely refuses. And the divorce papers are sitting on our dresser like they're a bill or a letter or something." The back of his eyes begin to sting. "She told me she's thinking of aborting the baby."
"What?" Out of everything Emily has heard in the past few months, this is the thing that worries her the most. Sure, her son took off and no one's quite sure where he is, but he's resourceful and has a good head on his shoulders and she's not too worried about him. But Mark and Addison are a different story all together. Mark doesn't believe he deserves to be loved at all while Addison doesn't know who loves her most. They both came into her life damaged and self-destructive. She'll be damned if she lets them resort back to that any more than they already have.
"I told her that I'll support her no matter what," Mark says. "I said that it's her body and that puts the ball in her court."
"Are you insane?" Emily scoffs and gets to her feet again. "That child is half yours Mark. You go get her something heartfelt, and not flowers, and apologize for being an ass. Then you tell her that if she needs to take her time with this whole Derek thing to do it and that you will wait for as long as it takes. And then you tell her very firmly, but not aggressively, that the baby is yours too and that you can't wait to become a Daddy in a few months. You get that?"
Mark nods.
"Addison needs to know that you're supporting her as the father of her child, not as the guy who knocked up his best friend's wife," Emily says.
Mark continues nodding.
"And if you have any problems," Emily gives him a long, hard look, "you send her to me."
"Thanks Em," Mark says as he takes a deep breath and wraps his arms around the woman who raised him like he was her own. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'd do just fine, Mark," Emily says and squeezes him around the middle. "Just fine."
