A/N I had no idea that just by adding Addek into the story I would get 3 reviews on a story that I have struggled to get two on. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. It is pretty Mark-centric

Old Wounds

Mark walked into the house that he had lived in until he went away to college. It hadn't changed much from what Mark remembered. It was still filled with the same furniture and the same pictures on the mantle. Derek, Addison and Callie hung back to give Mark a little time to adjust being back in his parents house again. Eleanor smiled at Derek and Addison and hugged them. She hadn't seen them since the med school graduation ceremony fourteen years ago. She head heard about their divorce from Carolyn a year ago. She looked at the other woman and guessed that this had to be the girlfriend and the mother of her grandchildren.

"You must be Mark's girlfriend." Eleanor said as she looked at Callie. Callie nodded with a slightly nervous smile.

"Callie Torres." Callie introduced herself to her children's grandmother.

"It's wonderful to meet you dear. I always hoped that Mark would settle down and have kids someday." Eleanor told Callie.

Mark was still looking around at the house trying to figure out if his parents had changed anything in the house in the last twenty two years since he had lived here on a regular basis. The only thing that seemed to be different was the light rose colored paint had been replaced by eggshell colored paint. Mark looked at his mother and asked,

"Can I go up to my old room?"

Mark felt like he needed to visit his old room while he was here. When he was small and no one was home, Mark stayed up in his room with every light and tv and radio on in the house.

"Yes, of course." Eleanor told her son softly. She knew that her husband and she had made a lot of mistakes with Mark. She had come to realize those mistakes after fourteen years of never talking to him or seeing him.

Mark walked upstairs with Derek, Callie and Addison wordlessly following him. None of his friends were going to let him do this on his own. Only Derek knew how lonely Mark's life had been without his parents around much. Addison had heard a few things from Derek about Mark's childhood. As for Callie, all Mark had told her was that his parents sucked and that he felt more at home at the Shepherd's house. When they got to the top of the stairs, Mark turned right and went to the first door on the right. He had no idea what he was expecting to see. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it and pushed the door open.

He was shocked when he laid eyes on his room. They really hadn't changed much of it. He still had Navy blue walls and bedding with the Yankees emblem on it. The thing that was different was that they seemed to have followed him in the paper whenever he appeared in it. They had framed all of the articles about him and had put them up in his room. Mark knew that the parents that he had had when he was small would never have done this. Derek put his hand on his old friend's shoulder and he squeezed it.

"You okay?" Derek asked Mark quietly.

Mark couldn't take his eyes off the articles that had his parents had framed. He remembered when these articles had been written up. They were usually after a groundbreaking surgery or a famous patient.

"Yeah, I'm good." Mark assured Derek.

Addison and Callie couldn't believe that the parents that Mark had told them about, had actually framed articles about their son and put them up in his room.

"There's an article on our wedding Addie." Derek told Addison softly.

"What?" Addison asked, clearly surprised at the fact that an article on their wedding had made it onto the wall of Mark's bedroom.

"Yeah, right here." Derek told her as he pointed it out to her.

"They probably put it up because it says that I was the best man." Mark pointed out as his eyes zeroed in on the article about Derek and Addison's wedding.

"There's an article on you after Seattle's ferryboat accident." Callie pointed out as her dark eyes zeroed in on a picture of the ferryboat accident.

Mark, Derek and Addison looked when Callie was looking and they seemed surprised that the ferryboat accident had made it up on the wall. But when they thought about it, they had done a nationwide search for Jane Doe's family so it made sense that New York would have heard about the ferryboat crash in Seattle.

"How did they know I was in Seattle?" Mark asked. He knew that he had never told him he was moving to Seattle.

"Maybe my mother told them." Derek suggested.

Mark figured that was probably what had happened. Mark decided not to worry about how they had found out that he was in Seattle. Because it really wasn't important.

"Let's go downstairs." Addison suggested softly. She had a feeling that Mark was done up here. Plus she didn't want him dwelling on his childhood too much.

The four of them went back downstairs and met Eleanor in the living room. She had a pot of coffee and three cups waiting for them. She had water for Callie because she couldn't drink coffee because of the pregnancy.

"Why now Mom? Why did you put up all of those articles about me?" Mark asked as soon as he sat down on the sage green couch and took the offered coffee cup.

"Because your father and I were aware that we had messed up with you and we wanted to keep track of you even if you weren't speaking to us." Eleanor told Mark.

"Why the hell would I speak to you? You didn't even give a flying fuck about me when I was little." Mark demanded. He had a hard time with his temper when his parents were concerned.

"Mark, please don't get mad." Eleanor pleaded with her grown son.

"You lost any right to tell me what to do when you left me home alone. I was six years old." Mark growled.

Callie and Addison exchanged glances. It seemed as though Mark had a lot of things to get off of his chest. Derek kept a watchful eye on his best friend. He knew that Mark's temper could accelerate pretty quickly and he didn't want Mark to do or say something he would regret.

"I wanted to stay home with you. "Eleanor whispered. It was true. She would have rather stayed home with her son, but her husband had told her that she was coming with him and Eleanor didn't have a choice in the matter.

"If you wanted to stay home with me, then you could have." Mark insisted.

"You father told me that I was coming with him. He said that he wasn't going to let a six year old keep him from taking his wife out." Eleanor admitted.

"Why the fuck didn't you stand up to him Mom?" Mark demanded. He could not believe what his mother was saying to him.

"Because I was told that a wife did what her husband said without argument." Eleanor explained with a soft sigh.

"Even if that meant abandoning your son?" Mark asked harshly.

Derek wanted to stop Mark before he said or did something stupid, but the look in Addison's eyes told him to back off and let Mark and his mother talk. Derek fully intended to intervene if it became necessary though.

"Mark, I did what your father told me I was going to do. I didn't know how to stand up to him." Eleanor told her son softly. Eleanor was telling the truth. Edward Sloan could get very angry very fast if he thought that his wife was disobeying him. Edward Sloan was more controlling than Eleanor would ever tell her son.

"I could have died Mom. I could have fallen down the stairs and been bleeding from a head wound for hours and you wouldn't have found me until the next morning." Mark pointed out.

"Mark, did you really think I didn't care about you? I asked Carolyn Shepherd to come by and get you when I knew that your father and I were going to be out late." Eleanor told her son softly as tears glittered in her green eyes. She didn't want to fight with her son. Not after fourteen years of not seeing or talking to him.

"What?" Mark asked in disbelief. He was glad to hear that apparently his mother had thought of him, but the realization that he really had been the Shepherds charity case hurt. Derek was listening to this and he was almost sure that Mark thought that he was the Shepherds charity case. Derek didn't want Mark to think that. He knew for a fact that the Shepherds loved him as if he was their own son. Derek had always thought of him as a brother.

"Carolyn and I both worried about you being home alone and so I asked her to come get you when your father and I were going to be out late. So please Mark, don't look like that. Carolyn cared about you and she still does." Eleanor could tell that her son thought that he was only a charity case for the Shepherds and Eleanor hated to see that on his face because she knew that he wasn't a charity case for the Shepherds.

"I wanted you Mom. I was glad to be over at Derek's because it felt like a real home, but I wanted my parents." Mark told Eleanor

"And we should have been there with you. I am truly sorry that I didn't stand up to your father when you were small. Maybe then your childhood would have been different." Eleanor told Mark honestly.

"Of course it would have been different. I wouldn't have felt like a fucking charity case at the Shepherds house." Mark finally yelled at his mother.

Derek put his hand on his best friend's shoulder and almost immediately, Mark threw it off. He was perfectly in control of his emotions. Or at least he thought he was.

"You weren't a charity case for them Mark." Eleanor insisted.

"Well you'll forgive me if I don't believe you, right?" Mark asked with a scowl.

"Mark, your mother is right. You were never a charity case for us. My mother loved having you around. Sometimes I felt like she loved you more than me." Derek admitted.

"Don't be stupid Derek. You were her son. She gave birth to you. She was always going to love you more." Mark insisted.

Derek decided to drop the subject. He had a feeling that Mark was upset enough where he wouldn't accept anything that his mother or Derek said.

"I went to college and then I met your dad and then we had you." Eleanor told Mark softly. Mark was stunned to hear that his mother had gone to college. He honestly had had no idea.

"I should have stood up to your father. I had a college education and I swore that I would be nothing like your Grandma Miner. Instead I turned out exactly like her. All the way down to abandoning my son and allowing my husband to make decisions for me and to control every aspect of my life." Eleanor told Mark honestly. Okay so her original plan of not telling Mark that his father was controlling had gone out the window. Mark was stunned that his mother was actually admitting to so many mistakes that she had made. Mark didn't know what else to say so he asked,

"Can I go see Dad now?"

Mark could think of plenty of things to say to his father. Things that he had already spoken to his mother about.

"Yes of course. His bedroom is where the study used to be." Eleanor told Mark. Eleanor needed to catch up with Derek and Addison and get to know Callie anyway. Mark nodded as he walked down the hallway to the study.

He remembered exactly where the study was. Once he got to the door, he took another deep breath before he opened the door. The study had been transformed from it's old use as his father's study and now it appeared to be a sickroom. Mark guessed that his father probably couldn't make it up the stairs to the Master bedroom anymore so his room was now downstairs so he didn't have to worry about stairs anymore.

Mark closed the door and walked over to the chair that was next to his father's bed. Now that Mark was sitting next to his father's bed, he didn't know where to start. How could he attempt to talk to someone who didn't even remember him? Mark wished he had the answer to that question, but he didn't have the answer.

"Hello?" His father mumbled as he opened his eyes. His eyes were exactly like Mark's eyes. Mark barely remembered that his father had his eyes. Now he was remembering that fact.

"Dad, it's Mark." Mark told his father quietly.

"I don't remember you." His father told Mark. Mark had expected his father to say that, but it definitely was still painful to hear.

"I know you don't Dad." Mark told his father lightly. He grabbed a picture of himself from the nightstand beside his father's bed and put it in his father's hands. Mark guessed that his mother had been showing his father old pictures of their son in hopes that Edward would remember his son.

"My son is a doctor." Edward mumbled as he ran his fingers over the picture that Mark had put in his hands. Mark had chose the picture of himself at his med school graduation to put into his dad's hands. Mark nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"What did you say your name was?" Edward asked.

"It's Mark." Mark repeated.

"I have a son named Mark. Or so my wife tells me."

Mark really had no idea how difficult this was going to be until he was actually sitting next to his father who didn't realize that his son was talking to him.

"I screwed up when he was small. I pulled his mother away from him when she wanted to stay with him." Edward murmured.

Well at least he remembered the mistakes that he had made even if he didn't realize Mark was sitting right next to him.

"I turned into my father. Controlling demanding and a lousy father." Edward continued to mumble.

"My son deserved better than me. So did my lovely wife."

Mark still wasn't sure what to say to his father. Mark couldn't believe that his father was owning up to everything that he had done to both Mark and Eleanor.

"I am sure your son would be glad to know that you realize your mistakes." Mark told him softly.

"My wife says he lives in Seattle now. Damn rainy place." Edward murmured.

"Dad, it's Mark." Mark tried again, hoping that Edward would become lucid for just a little while.

Edward's blue-grey eyes seemed to widen a bit as he focused on Mark. It was as if he was realizing that the grown man talking to him was his son.

"Mark?" Edward whispered, disbelievingly.

"Hi Dad." Mark greeted him quietly.

Mark wasn't prepared for his father to start weeping. Edward started crying for many things. Missed opportunities with his son and missed chances to tell him that he was so sorry for the way Mark had grown up.

"I am so sorry Mark. For everything." Edward told him, desperately hoping that Mark would forgive him for everything. Before Edward died, he wanted to have his son's forgiveness if Mark would give it to him.

"I know Dad." Mark murmured. There was nothing else to say to him. Edward and Eleanor Sloan had become aware of their mistakes and that was the one thing that Mark had wanted from both of his parents. Mark had gotten an apology from both of his parents, which he thought would never come.

"Please forgive me. I cannot go to my grave thinking you still hate me." Edward told his son.

"I forgive you Dad." Mark told his father. Next Mark did something he never thought he'd do. He hugged his father and whispered,

"Go in peace Dad."

When Mark pulled away from his dad ,he became aware that his dad was still crying.

"Take care and don't distance yourself from your mother again. She wants to be involved in the babies lives." Edward told Mark. Eleanor had already told Edward that they were going to be grandparents.

"She will be involved." Mark promised his dying father.

"I'm sorry I won't meet them." Edward whispered.

"So am I." Mark whispered softly. He was sorry. His father had changed so much in the past fourteen years and it was sad knowing that he would never meet his grandchildren.

Edward started to fall back asleep so Mark stood and said,

"Goodbye Dad." That was all that needed to be said now. Mark felt so much better that he had made amends with his parents. He had really needed to do that.

He returned to the living room where Eleanor and Derek and Addison and Callie were sitting and talking. Eleanor could tell just by looking at her son that Edward had been lucid for a little while.

"Can we go now?" Mark asked Callie and the others. He really needed to get out of this house. So many old wounds had been opened and now they were healed.

"Yes." Callie agreed as she stood up. Derek and Addison stood up too and the three of them hugged Eleanor.

When it came time for Mark to say goodbye to his mother, he pulled her into a hug and hugged her. He figured that if he could hug his father, he could hug his mother.

"Call me when those babies are born." Eleanor whispered.

"Call me when Dad passes." Mark whispered back

"Will do." Eleanor promised her son. Smiling she added,

"Callie is a keeper son."

"I know she is. I want to put a ring on her finger." Mark admitted quietly to his mother.

"You have my blessing. She is wonderful." Eleanor told him.

"Thanks Mom." Mark told her quietly before he pulled out of the hug.

"Get home safe." Eleanor told the four of them with a smile on her face. She was happy. It seemed as though Mark had forgiven Edward and her for the horrible childhood that Mark had had.

The four of them all thanked Eleanor for her hospitality and then they got back into the car in complete silence.

Mark was dead quiet during the ride back to the hotel. He was thinking about the conversations that had taken place today. Emotionally charging, but he was glad that his wounds had been fixed. He no longer held resentment towards his parents.

"How about dinner tonight?" Addison suggested. She had broken into his thoughts and Mark nodded in answer to her question.

"I want to change though." Callie protested.

"You look fine Callie." Derek told her from his place in the driver's seat.

"We can go change Callie. Derek we are going to the hotel first." Addison told Derek firmly.

"But I'm hungry." Derek complained.

"Stop complaining and shut up Derek. Take us back to the hotel." Addison told him with her patented "Satan glare"

Derek sighed and he drove the car in the direction of the hotel so they could freshen up before they went back out for dinner. Derek wasn't too surprised that Mark was so quiet. Derek had a feeling that Mark had a lot to think about from the conversations today. Derek was not going to push Mark to tell him what had happened in Edward's room today. Derek knew that Mark would talk when he was ready to talk. Derek knew that the women wouldn't push him on it either. They respected Mark's space and they wouldn't push him to talk.

Derek pulled up to the hotel and parked in a parking place so that they could all go inside. and get ready. Derek was hoping that there was something to eat in his room so he wouldn't starve. He let the women go ahead of Mark and him as they all went into the hotel. Derek hoped that they could get out of there within an hour, but he wasn't thinking that was going to happen.