Title: Dr. Mariano

Author: Marly Cook

Rating: T

Summary: She wasn't even my child. I had no relation to either of them besides the brief time we spend around each other. I think what made me so attached was the thought of myself being the first person Marina saw and me being the first person who saw Marina.

Disclaimer: Marina and Emely. Others are purely ASP's.

Thank you Sarah! :) And thank you my dear Sue for encouraging me to post this and nagging until I did. I love you very very much!

I want to thank my reviewers very very much for the reviews I recieved! I told you guys I was writing this one fast. I hope you guys like this chapter.

I decided I should. So, I walked in and smiled when I saw her looking down at the baby girl. I went over to her bed and sat down on the blue chair beside it. "She's really pretty."

"I know," she whispered, her eyes never leaving the baby. "Is Garret on his way?"

So she was Garret's wife. I was right. I shrugged, "I'm not sure. Dr. Henshaw just called him."

"Oh."

I couldn't help but stare at the baby. Why was I so attached to her? I couldn't answer that, really. There was just something holding my stare when I glanced at her. So tiny.

Rory's voice broke my thoughts as she asked me, "Would you like to hold her?"

"Yeah, please," I smiled and reached out, waiting for the baby to be placed in my arms. She was laid carefully into my hands and I pulled her close, looking down at her face. Blue eyes. I looked up to see if Rory owned the same. She did.

"You look good," I heard her say, a small giggle following after the words.

I looked up at her and she was smiling, "What do you mean?"

Rory laughed and placed her hand on top of Marina's head, "I mean you look good holding a baby. You look natural. Marina seems to be fascinated by you."

"I think everything is fascinating her right now."

"I'm sure she'd be a bit terrified if Dr. Henshaw came too close to her," she joked, "he's not as pretty."

I raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly at her words. I had to curse myself. I can't be flirting with a married woman who just had a baby.

"Well," she smiled at me, "you know what I mean."

"I do," I said, laughing only a little. She was charming. I glanced back down at the baby who was blindly grabbing for my hand that was resting on her small stomach. I smiled down at her and she kicked her tiny legs and wailed her small arms around in my embrace.

I looked up at Rory again. She was staring at us.

"Mrs. Renaldo—"

"Call me Rory."

I nodded only once and smiled slightly. "Rory," I corrected, "where's your family?"

She let her finger graze her daughter's tiny hairs before stopping and glancing up at me. "My mom should be here soon. She lives a pretty good ways away. My husband is out of town and his parents are busy I'm sure. His sister is a drug addict so I doubt she cares and my grandparents," she paused, "well, they should be here."

I clutched the baby closer to me, feeling a small pain in my chest for her. I guess when it came down to it, Rory had Marina and Marina had Rory in this town. They were each other's lives.

Something inside of me wanted to be a part of the small duo. But, I pushed the thought aside and just held Marina in my arms. Again, the only thing I could think was how tiny she was.

I left the hospital when I saw how tired Rory was getting. Before I left she asked me if I'd come by again before they got out of the hospital. I nodded briefly and gave her a comforting smile. To be honest, nothing would make me happier than to see Marina again.

How strange was that?

She wasn't even my child. I had no relation to either of them besides the brief time we spent around each other. I think what made me so attached was the thought of myself being the first person Marina saw and me being the first person to see Marina.

Once I walked into my apartment I noticed Emely's car keys were on the kitchen counter. I smiled and walked to our bedroom. She was standing by our bed in nothing but a long t-shirt. She gave me a smile and continued unpacking her suitcase.

"Hey," I heard myself say, as I walked over to her.

Emely put down a pair of jeans and faced me, placing her hand on my face, "Hi."

I smirked and pulled her closer by her hips, attaching my lips to hers. She grinned in the kiss and wrapped her arms around my neck. I could feel her rising up, which only meant she was standing on her tip-toes now.

I never got why she did that. Emely was already tall and leggy. She wasn't taller than me but she was damn near close. She had fire-engine red hair and pale skin. Her eyes were a vibrant green and her smile was as white as a celebrity's. She was slim, but had the physical features any man would go crazy about.

I pulled her closer and pulled my mouth away from hers, "You're home early."

"Yes," she smiled and turned back to her suitcase, "are you just getting home from the hospital?"

I nodded and sat down on the bed, leaning back until I felt my back hit the comfortable mattress. "I stayed for a while, because none of her family showed up. Her doctor called her mother after I had been there for a couple of hours and her mom should be there late tonight. But, her husband never came."

"That's sad," she commented, shoving the empty suitcase under the bed, "are you going to go back?"

"Yeah," I sat up and pulled my jeans down my legs, kicking them off the rest of the way, "before or after work sometime I'll stop by."

Emely crawled in the bed beside me and I felt the comforter thrown down on top of my head. I moved it out of my face and scooted up in the bed, getting under the covers. I threw off my shirt and leaned back in bed. She turned to face me and bit her bottom lip. "I want to come with you one time."

I nodded and pulled her close to me, "Sure."

I could feel it even if she couldn't. Emely was starting to feel insecure. She did this often, mostly when I start getting attached to a project. However, Rory and Marina weren't projects. They were people. People who just needed an extra friend in their lives. I can understand where Emely would start getting uneasy and I could assure her that nothing would happen with our relationship. But, I don't know if that'd be a promise I could keep.

We've drifted apart before and I don't think we could survive doing it again. You see, Emely is a Neurologist. And a damn good one at that. The thing about Emely is she travels a ton. She's always gone because she isn't the kind of doctor to just have one office. Well, about four months into our relationship her traveling was non-stop.

Honestly, I never saw her. And I'm not the kind of guy who mopes around and dwells on how much I miss this girl or how much I want to be with this girl, but I missed her. I did. So one night when she calls me I sound pretty pissed off. She catches on. I deny it. (Truth be told, I was pretty pissed.) We get into this huge fight about how much both of our careers mean to the other.

And then the fight turns into how different our lives are going to be. I don't like the way it's going so I change the subject. That's the only way our relationship survived that fight. We still don't know how we'll work it out, but right now it's enough.

"Are you going to sleep?" she asked me, her cold fingers grazing my warm stomach.

I shook my head and intertwined our legs together, pressing my lips to her bare shoulder. "Not yet."

She scooted up until her face was inches from mine and pressed her lips against my mouth. My hand traveled to the back of her head and I held her there, moving my lips against hers. Her fingers grasped onto my forearm and she pulled herself closer to me.

I felt her hips connect with mine and I smiled, pulling her on top of me. Her hair fell over her face and framed mine as she hovered above me. My hands cupped her cheeks and I pulled away just to look at her. "Huh, someone missed me."

"Shut up," she snapped, hitting my chest.

I smirked and saw a smile appear on her face. "Well?"

"Okay, I did," she kissed me again; I could feel her hands grab my shoulders. My hands ran down her back and pressed her into me. She moved her lips to my chin, then to my neck. I held her closer and turned us over.

"I missed you too," I mumbled, pulling up her shirt.

"Marina," I called, stepping out of the car, "I'm home!"

The house door opened and Rory stepped out, smiling, "You can't call for me anymore?"

I shook my head and grabbed a big pink box out of the back seat, the label on the right said 'To Marina'. When I turned back around a two year old girl ran up to me and hugged my leg, reaching up for the gift.

"Hey sweetheart," I grinned and picked her up, handing her the box. I walked up the sidewalk and kissed Rory's forehead. "And other sweetheart," I smiled.

She gave me a smile and kissed my cheek.

I blinked a couple of times, waking up to the sun streaming into my open blinds. I hated when Emely left the blinds open. I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes and I glanced to the left of me. Smiling, I saw Emely face down into the bed, her back revealed. The sheets fell down to her lower back.

I couldn't really remember my dream. I remember Rory.

Rory and Marina.

An older Marina.

A nice house. A nice car. A big pink box.

I shook my head, deciding not to strain myself. I rolled to my side and placed an open mouth kiss on her shoulder blade. "Em …"

She grunted and buried her head deeper in the pillow, "Go away."

"I'm about to," I smirked, nudging her gently, "that's why I am waking you up."

Emely sighed and rolled over, pulling the sheets up to cover her breasts, "Bye Jess."

"I swear, sometimes I think you're just using me for my body," I teased, leaning down to place a kiss on her lips. She smiled and swatted at my chest.

"You know that's a lie."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I guess so. Bye Em."

She nodded to me and pulled the sheets over her head, blocking out the morning sun. I only chuckled, not bothering to pull the blinds to a close. I had to suffer, damn it, she could too.

I went to the bathroom and stepped in the shower. I couldn't stop thinking while I was washing myself off. That dream. It was a little odd to me. I rested my head against the shower wall and let the hot water roll down my back. Was Marina my daughter in that dream? Was Rory my wife? Am I looking too much into it?

Yes, yes I am.

I sighed and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a hand towel to wipe my face and grabbing the larger towel to dry off with. I pulled on clean boxers that Emely conveniently thought to keep in an extra cabinet next to her underwear.

Not a bad idea, I'll give her that.

Once I was dry and in my under garments, I walked out to the bedroom and finished dressing. I'm not required to wear scrubs, but I liked them.

I threw on my black ones and grabbed my wallet off the counter once I was out of my room. I snapped on my Fossil watch and slid the keys off the marble, letting them fall into my hand.

I was out of the door in a second.

Once I was in the car and driving to the hospital, I let the thoughts about the dream come back to me once again. Why would I dream about them two? Besides Marina being in my head most of the day she was in my dream too? But older?

I didn't get it.

I pulled into the hospital's parking lot after running by McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast and walked through the sliding doors. I walked past the counter and smiled at the receptionist before knocking on Rory's door. I heard a weak: "Come in."

And I opened the door, walking inside. I smiled at her and handed her a biscuit, "Hey, don't know if you like them, but I happen to think sausage biscuits from McDonald's are godlike."

She laughed a little and took it from my hand, "Thanks Dr. Mariano."

"Can you just call me Jess? It'd make me feel much better about visiting you this much. Pretend we're old friends," I smirked and sat beside her.

"Well, thanks Jess," she leaned back in the bed and looked up at the TV. I glanced up at it, but ended up just looking back down at her.

"So, anybody show up?"

"Oh," she grinned, nodding to me, "yeah. My mom is here. She went down to get some coffee, though."

"No sign of your husband?"

"No," she shook her head, "Garret hasn't made it, but he did call me."

I nodded. I didn't want to say anything. Honestly, because that made a small spark inside of me. You could say that thoroughly pissed me off. He called? Big deal. I delivered the baby. I've been here every chance I could. The father can't even make an appearance?

"He's been a little busy with his new case," she shrugged, "it's not a big deal."

It is to me. I wanted to say it, but I just couldn't. I just nodded and sighed, instead. She must have caught onto my odd anger.

She opened her mouth to say something to me and I was prepared to listen. However, we were interrupted by the large wooden door opening up and an older brunette woman walking in.

"Mom," Rory smiled and took a bite of the biscuit. "This is the doctor I was telling you about. The one that delivered Marina in the library."

"Oh!" The woman set down her coffee cup and smiled at me, "Hi, I'm Lorelai, Rory's mom."

I smiled and nodded to her, "Nice to meet you."

In my opinion she looked too young to be the mother of Rory, but I didn't make any comments. Teen mom, I was sure of it. She was a taller woman, and Rory resembled her a good bit. She had wild; dark hair and a pretty smile. She was wearing a rhinestone jean jacket with a pink shirt underneath.

Very pretty, actually.

"Thank you for helping Rory," she nodded to me, a grin on her face.

"No problem, ma'am," I smiled and stood up, wiping my hands on my jeans. "I guess I should head to work. How long are you going to be here, Rory?"

"The doctor hasn't let me know, yet," she shrugged, "are you coming back?"

"If you don't mind," I smirked down at her, "when I get off work I'll come by and see Marina. Is that okay?"

"Absolutely," she smiled at me.

"Nice meeting you," I said, nodding to her mother. And then I was out of the room and back outside. I got into my car and drove down to the office.

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