When Friends Become Lovers Chapter 3: Secrets, an er fanfic

Thank you to tv-crazy and abigailc for your reviews.

I'm glad you guys are enjoying this, I'm enjoying writing it!

Secrets

Mark awoke the next morning and momentarily forgot the previous night's events, until he felt something move next to him. Susan, who was sleeping peacefully next to him, rolled over and unconsciously draped her arm across Mark's chest. Mark shifted his body under her weight and she stirred. Mark leant down and kissed her lightly on the lips. Susan opened her eyes and smiled.

"Morning," she said groggily.

"Morning."

Susan leant up and kissed him again.

"Are you working today?" Susan asked, laying her head down on Mark's chest.

"Nope, it's my day off. I was supposed to be going down to see Rachel, but she's got a school trip," Mark answered, running his fingers through her hair. "You?"

"Yeah. What time is it?"

Mark looked across at the bedside clock.

"Eight-thirty-three," Mark read.

Susan bolted upright.

"Argh, I'm late. I've got to be a work at nine," Susan moaned. She started to move across the bed, but Mark leant across and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back towards him. She fell back onto his chest.

"Stay," he pleaded.

"Mark, I've got to go," Susan whined, trying to resist him.

"You can be late," Mark grinned at his suggestion.

"I can't, it'll give Kerry cause to moan at me all day," Susan said. She felt her willpower weakening as Mark ran his hands up and down her back. He pulled her in for another deep kiss.

"I can be late," Susan murmured as she relented.

"I can't believe you made me late!" Susan moaned an hour later as she raced out of the bathroom dressed only in a towel and ran around Mark's apartment trying to get ready.

Mark grinned from the kitchen, where he was regretting not cleaning the dishes from the night before as he scrubbed away at congealed bolognese sauce.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Mark asked.

"No, thanks, I'll grab something at work," Susan called from the bedroom. Moments later she reappeared fully clothed, her hair dripping wet.

"You shouldn't go out with wet hair," Mark said.

Susan pulled a face at him. "Well I don't suppose you and Doug have got a spare hairdryer lying around this place," she said.

"Do I look like I have a need for a hairdryer?" Mark asked. Susan laughed and stroked his bald head. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Can I borrow your toothbrush?" Susan asked.

Mark nodded and Susan disappeared into the bathroom. As he finished clearing up the dishes he heard the front door and Doug came into the flat.

"Uh, hey Doug," Mark said.

"Morning," Doug said, coming into the kitchen and dropping his keys on the counter. "Good date last night?"

"Yeah, thanks," Mark said, his eyes inadvertently wandering to the bathroom door. Doug followed his gaze and grinned.

"I bet it was," Doug laughed, and he wandered across the flat.

"Doug…" Mark started.

Doug stood outside the bathroom waiting for Mark's mystery date to appear. His mouth dropped open when Susan rushed out, almost knocking into him. She looked over at Mark, who shrugged his shoulders, and then laughed at Doug's surprised expression.

"Hey Doug," she said breezily.

"Uh, Susan, hi," Doug stuttered.

Susan moved past him and, picking up her bag, walked over to the front door. Mark followed her.

"I'll call you later," Susan said.

Mark nodded and leant down to kiss her. "Bye."

"Bye. See you, Doug," Susan called.

Mark shut the door and turned round to see Doug grinning widely at him.

"So, you and Susan, huh?"

Mark tilted his head. "Don't start."

Doug held up his hands. "Hey, I'm pleased for you, buddy. Both of you," he said. He shook his head. "Man, I should have guessed, the way both of you were acting at work yesterday."

Mark grinned at him. "Listen, can you keep this secret for now? We just want to take it slowly, you know, without everyone making a fuss."

"Sure, no problem," Doug said, nodding.

"Thanks. Well, I'm going for a run," he said.

Doug watched as Mark left the flat, then picked up the phone and dialled.

"Hey, Randi, is Carol there? Thanks. Carol? You're never going to believe what I've just seen. Are you sitting down…?"

Half an hour later, Susan arrived at work. She went into the lounge and opened her locker, dumping her bag and taking out her lab coat. As she did, Carol came into the lounge. Susan looked up and smiled at her.

"Morning Carol," Susan said.

"Morning. Good night last night?" Carol asked casually.

Susan smiled to herself. "Yeah, really good thanks."

Carol walked over and leant across the locker next to Susan's, facing her. Susan looked up to find Carol staring at her.

"What?"

Carol grinned. "So, you and Mark huh?"

"Doug?"

"Yep."

Susan shook her head. "Can no-one keep a secret around here?"

"Nope," Carol laughed.

"Does everyone know?" Susan asked.

"I haven't told anyone," Carol said. "But you know what this place is like, you won't be able to keep it a secret for long."

"I know. I think we just need some time to get used to the idea, before we let the world know," Susan said.

Carol nodded. "Well, my lips are sealed."

Susan smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

Carol shook her head disbelievingly. "God, I'm so glad you two finally got your acts together."

"Me too," Susan said, grinning.

"Hey, it's rude to gloat," Carol laughed.

Susan laughed too, as Lydia stuck her head round the door.

"There's a GSW coming in, ETA now," Lydia said.

"We're on our way," Carol said, pushing Susan out of the door as she continued to smirk.

Meanwhile, Mark spent the day running errands and tidying the apartment. While he enjoyed some aspects of living with Doug, Mark often felt like his maid rather than his flatmate. It took him most of the afternoon to clean the flat from top to bottom, as he often did when he had nothing else to do. As he was adjusting the pillows on the sofa, he heard a jangling noise. He lifted one of the cushions and saw Susan's keys. He checked the time and realised that she would be finishing work in a few hours. He thought about heading to the hospital, but decided to be spontaneous and go to her flat to wait for her to get home.

Mark made his way to Susan's apartment. When he arrived, he unlocked the door and went inside, leaving the door open so that Susan would be able to get in. He was immediately hit with the scent of perfume…Susan's perfume. He inhaled deeply and the smell brought back memories of the night before, when Susan had fallen asleep in his arms, his skin touching hers and their fingers entwined.

Mark wandered around the apartment. There was a mountain of dirty clothes in the basket where Susan hadn't had time to do her laundry for nearly a week. There were photographs scattered around, mostly of Little Susie at various stages of her first year of life. Mark recognised some of them – a photo he had taken on the swings the night Susan had decided not to put Susie up for adoption, where their last minute celebration had consisted of ice-lollies from the local store. There was also a photo of Susie wrapped up as Susan pulled her around the ice rink, another of Mark's, taken the day he had persuaded Susan to go ice-skating with him and Rachel. Lying next to the frames were the photos that he and Susan had had taken two nights ago at the fairground. Mark smiled, realising he had played a part in Susan's life for longer than just the past two days.

He walked into the kitchen. A half drunk mug of coffee stood on the counter, stained where drips had fallen down the side and onto the surface. He wandered through to the bedroom. The bed had not been made; the sheets were tangled and hanging out of the side of the bed. An old t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants lay crumpled at the end of the bed. Mark picked up the giant frog that lay on the floor and tucked it under his arm, grinning as he remembered how he had won it at the fair, a momentary wave of pride washing over him again.

Mark looked at the clock. It read 9.14pm. Susan would be on her way home. He went back through to the kitchen and went to boil the kettle. As he did, the telephone rang. He contemplated answering, but decided to let the answer phone pick up a message instead. Susan's voice filled the quiet apartment as she asked the caller to leave their name and number, followed by a beep.

"Hello, this is Katie West from PhoenixMemorialHospital returning your call. We're currently interviewing for a Chief Resident position in the ER and we'd love it if you could come for an interview next week. Please call the office to arrange a date and time that would be suitable for you."

Mark stood in shock as he listened to the message. Susan was thinking of leaving? She hadn't said anything about going to Phoenix. The kettle started to whistle as the water boiled, interrupting Mark from his thoughts. He wandered over to the sofa and sat down, his mind in a state of confusion.

At the same time, Susan was slowly making her way up the stairs to her apartment, distracted as she dug around in her bag hunting for her keys. She reached her door and crouched down, ready to empty the contents of her bag onto the floor, when she noticed that the door was slightly open. She stood back up and cautiously opened the door, preparing herself for the worst. As her apartment came into view, she looked around at the mess and breathed a sigh of relief as she realised it was her mess. As her eyes wandered across the room she noticed Mark sat on the sofa.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she said, walking in and dropping her bag. "And how did you get in?"

She leant over the back of the sofa and planted a kiss on Mark's cheek, unaware that anything was wrong.

"You left your keys at my apartment," Mark answered. Susan failed to notice the funny sound in his voice. She took off her coat and hung it on the back of a chair. Noticing a flashing red light on her answering machine, she pressed the big green button to listen to her messages.

"Hey Suse, it's Chloe. Just calling to say hi, we haven't heard from you for a few days. Um, Little Susie's doing great. Call me."

Susan wandered around her apartment as she listened. She laughed when she saw the frog sat on the kitchen counter, waiting for her. The kettle was hot and two empty mugs sat next to it.

"Mark, do you want some coffee? Mark?"

Susan went back into the lounge, wondering why Mark wasn't answering, and as she did the second message on her answer phone began to play.

Susan froze as she heard the message. She looked at Mark and saw his back tense as the message played, suddenly realising why he was so quiet.

"Mark?"

He didn't move; he simply sat staring straight ahead of him. Susan walked over to him and sat on the coffee table in front of him, placing her hands on his knees.

"Mark…" she started.

He flinched at her touch, moving his legs from under her hands.

"You're thinking of leaving?" he asked.

"No. I mean, I was," Susan stuttered.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"There wasn't anything to say. It was just an idea…"

"You've got a job interview. That's more than an idea," Mark interrupted bitterly.

"I called them weeks ago," Susan attempted to argue. Mark looked away, frustrated by her excuses. Susan sighed. "I was thinking about it. I was missing Susie so much and I just wanted to be closer to her. So I called them to find out how to go about transferring my residency. I hadn't made any decisions. I didn't even know if it was possible."

Mark kept his stare directed at the floor as Susan tried to explain.

"I just felt so alone," Susan said.

That got his attention.

"You had me," Mark exclaimed. He got up from the sofa and started to pace up and down the apartment.

"I don't get why you're so upset," Susan said, confused by his over-reaction. "There was nothing going on between us then."

"And now?" Mark asked, standing still and looking across at her.

"And now it's not even an option," Susan said. "Why would I leave? Why would I want to leave?"

"For something else. For something more," Mark said. "Jen left. I mean, look at me. I'm 33 years old and I'm living in a bachelor pad with a guy who brings home a different woman every night while I watch re-runs of sixties cop shows. I spend too much time at work. I have no life. My wife left me for some corporate creep and took my daughter hundreds of miles away. Why would you stay?"

"Because I love you. Mark, I don't understand all this. And what has your ex-wife got to do with this?" Susan asked incredulously.

"Because I wasn't enough for her!" Mark yelled. "So why would I be enough for you?"

Mark picked up his jacket and moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Susan said, grabbing his arm. "Don't just walk out like this."

Mark shrugged her off. "I need some space."

"Mark, please," Susan begged, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Don't go."

Mark ignored her and opened the door.

"I love you," Susan called desperately after him. She stood in the middle of her apartment and watched the door slowly close itself before bursting into tears.

An hour later, Susan was curled up on the sofa when she heard a knock on the door. She uncurled herself and went to the door. She looked through the spy hole and saw Mark stood, looking sheepish, his hands behind his back. She sighed, hoping he wasn't back for round two, and opened the door. She stood and looked at him, not bothering to greet him or invite him in. Mark could see that her eyes were red from crying.

"I'm an idiot," Mark stated.

"Yes, you are," Susan agreed.

"I just…I'm scared of losing you," Mark said.

Susan softened slightly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Really?"

"Really," Susan insisted with a sigh, wondering how many times they had to have this conversation.

Mark noticed her frustration. "I'm an idiot," he repeated. "I'm sorry."

Susan stood considering whether to forgive him so easily when he brought out a paper bag from behind his back.

"I didn't have time to wrap it."

Susan looked from the bag to Mark and back again. "This had better be good."

She opened the bag, pulled out the box that was inside and smiled.

"A hairdryer?" she questioned.

"You shouldn't go outside with wet hair," Mark said.

Susan smiled, pulled the door open and stood back, letting Mark come inside.

"You still owe me a cup of coffee."