A/N (03/11/15): Hello friends! As hard as it is to believe, it's been about two and a half years since I last updated one of my stories. My sincere apologies to all of my loyal readers for essentially dropping off the face of the earth, and thank you to everyone who kept reading, reviewing, and messaging me while I was lost in "real life", whatever that is!
I am working my way through this story, tweaking it slightly to take it in a direction that will better bring it to the conclusion I always intended it to reach. I'll be posting the updated versions of the existing chapters in batches until it's all caught up and we get back into new material. Most of the changes are minor in the first 15 or so chapters, but there are a few bigger changes in the later chapters of this new version. So even if you've read the story before, I encourage you to start at the beginning and work your way forward - I'll date all the updated chapters as they go up, so that it is clear what has been updated. Thank you all for your patience!
A few weeks later, nearly three thousand miles across the country, Mark Sloan groaned as he lifted a large box out of the trunk of his sister-in-law's SUV. He'd parked as close as he possibly could to the front porch, but it still seemed like an endless trek up the hilly driveway to the door.
"Is that the last one?"
Mark nodded as he carefully dropped the box next to the others assembled in the living room and turned to his wife. "Doesn't look like much, does it?"
Lexie Sloan frowned and shook her head as she surveyed the small pile in front of them. "Who moves and only packs six boses?"
"Meredith, apparently," Mark shrugged. "Most of it isn't even her stuff, it's Jack and Suzie's."
"There have to be more boxes coming."
"I watched her pack, Lex, she's only got another box or two more back at the house. She left the old place almost fully furnished, down to the pots and pans in the kitchen."
"Well, it's not as though she uses those anyway," Lexie pointed out. "I guess she wasn't kidding when she said she wanted a fresh start."
"I still think this is a bad idea," Mark said, looking around and grimacing as he gingerly plucked at one of the sheets covering the furniture. "This place is a dump, Lexie."
"It's not a bad house, it's just…well, it's un-lived-in, I guess," Lexie said defensively. "It's been empty for at least a decade, Mark. It'll need some sprucing up, but we can help her with that."
"I just don't see the point of it," Mark said. "Meredith has a perfectly good house on the other side of town that doesn't need any work at all. She's lived in that house for the better part of seventeen years and never had a problem with it. Now all of a sudden she wants to move back into her mother's house? It doesn't make any sense, Lex."
"Mark, we've been through this a thousand times," Lexie said with a sign. "I don't know if this will work, but we've tried everything else, so it's worth a shot. She's a grown woman and she's going to make her own decisions. If Meredith thinks this is going to help them, then we have to support her in that."
"We're enabling her, Lexie," Mark said. "You're so afraid of offending her that you're not willing to tell her to suck it up and pull it together."
Mark winced at the glare Lexie shot him, knowing almost immediately that he'd chosen the wrong words.
"Is that what you really think? That she should just 'suck it up'? For God's sake, Mark, we're not talking about a five year old throwing a tantrum!"
"Lexie…"
"I'm going back to the house to get Meredith," she interrupted him, grabbing her purse off the counter and glancing back over her shoulder as she headed for the door. "Open a few windows and air the place out while I'm gone. And when we get back, you better keep your damn mouth shut unless you have something supportive to say, got it?"
Lexie didn't wait for an answer, slamming the door behind her as she stormed out of the house. Mark sighed as he watched her leave, knowing he certainly hadn't heard the last of his slip of the tongue.
He didn't have much time to dwell on it, though, because almost as soon as Lexie was out the door, his phone began to ring in his pocket. Pulling it out, his sour expression relaxed a bit when he saw the name flashing on the caller ID.
"Hey there, gorgeous."
"Loser."
Mark grinned as the female voice on the other end of the line dissolved into a fit of giggles. Even over the phone, she couldn't insult him without cracking herself up, and it never failed to make him smile.
"We have got to work on that poker face, kid."
"Nah. You want to play poker, you can call Evelyn or Mom. You want to have fun, you call me."
"I'll keep that in mind," Mark said, shaking his head as he pictured the vivacious blonde grinning wildly on the other end of the line. "So, what can I do for you, Annie?"
"What makes you think I'm not just calling to say hi?"
"Annette Cristina Grey, the last time you even pretended to be calling to 'just say hi,' you wanted me to go with you to tell your mother that you were pregnant. Baby girl, I love you to pieces, but you haven't called me once in the last four years without wanting something."
"Fine." Mark heard the annoyed sigh, and knew if he could see her, he'd see that her smile had faded into a pout. "Suzie called me this morning."
"And?"
"And she was very upset and not making a whole lot of sense. Something about moving into Ellis's old house?"
"What's your point?"
"Tell me that it's not true. Mom is not seriously moving Jack and Suzie into that dump, is she?"
"It's not a dump, Annie. It needs a little work, sure, but it's just…un-lived-in." Mark grimaced as he heard Lexie's words coming out of his mouth.
"It's a dump, don't bother trying to convince me otherwise. No one's lived there for, what? Ten years? I'm surprised the roof isn't falling in. She's got a perfectly good house. There's no reason to move."
"Annie…"
"She's having a mental breakdown, isn't she? Is that what this is? Some sort of weird PTSD moment?"
"Annie, PTSD is not a moment, it's a traumatic mental illness. As far as I know, your mother does not have PTSD and she's not having a mental breakdown. She's just having a bit of a hard time dealing with everything that's happened, that's all."
"She has no business uprooting Jack and Suzie from the only home they've ever known, especially not at a time like this. And you…I can't believe that you and Aunt Lexie didn't stop her! Quite frankly, that makes you almost as guilty as her! If I were there, I…"
"Stop right there, young lady," Mark interrupted, a sharp edge to his tone. "You can think whatever you want, but let's make sure we're clear on one thing - you are not here. You don't have a damn clue what's going on, what your aunt and I have or haven't done, or why your mother is doing what she's doing, so don't you dare judge what's going on out here, because you have no right."
"When it comes to Jack and Suzie's welfare, I have every right! That's my brother and sister we're talking about, remember?"
"It's also your mother we're talking about, Annie," Mark reminded her. "If you have a problem with the way she's raising her children, maybe you ought to try talking to her about it."
"Don't go there, Uncle Mark."
"It's been four years, Annie. Whatever happened between the two of you, don't you think that it's time you got over it? No matter what, she's still your mother, and quite frankly, she could really use you right now."
"If I wanted a lecture, I would have called Evelyn, not you, Uncle Mark. Just…don't let her hurt Jack or Suzie, okay?"
"Your brother and sister will be fine, Annie. Meredith loves them, just like she loves you and Evelyn. No matter what happens in her life, she would never do anything to hurt any one of you, and you know that. Maybe if you came home for Thanksgiving next week, you could…"
"Goodbye, Uncle Mark."
Mark started to reply, but stopped and frowned when he heard a click as Annie hung up on the other end of the line.
"If it's not one, it's the other," he muttered to himself, putting his phone in his pocket and getting to work removing the sheets covering the living room furniture. "Damn Grey women are going to be the death of me."