Robert Romano walked into the ER intent on finding one Kerry Weaver. He saw the red-head turning a corner and increased his speed to catch up with her. "Kerry!" Robert greeted loudly.
"Good morning Robert." Kerry replied dryly. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I'm just wondering what you did with my Associate Chief of Surgery." Robert replied following her into exam three.
Kerry picked up the chart for the patient in front of them. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said, scanning the chart.
Robert rolled his eyes. "Unless the rumor mill has completely broken I'm meant to be under the impression that you admitted Doctor Corday for observation almost forty-eight hours ago. Since then she's missed a shift and a half." He replied, pushing for a response. "Now do I need to fire her for drinking on the job or should I be sending a condolences card?"
Kerry looked at him, her eyes fierce with anger. "Have you considered calling her to find out for yourself?"
"Wow Kerry!" He exclaimed sarcastically. "I definitely didn't consider doing that myself!"
"I can't help you Robert." Kerry replied.
"Well when is Mark's next shift?" He pushed.
Kerry shrugged. "Check with admit. I don't keep that close of tabs on my staff." She replied, losing her patience. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to tend to my patients."
"Of course." Robert replied, obviously tense, before heading out to admit. He approached Randi at the front desk. "Randi when is Doctor Greene on shift next?"
Randi looked up, obviously bored, for a moment before shifting to the computer to check the schedule. "It looks like he's scheduled for now, but he hasn't shown up."
"What is the point of having a schedule if none of our doctors actually follow it?" Robert replied angrily. "Well if he does bother to show up tell him I need to see him in my office."
"Alright." Randi replied as she watched his back head towards the elevators.
"Mark you aren't going in." Elizabeth said impatiently through the bathroom door.
Mark opened the door to the bathroom to face his wife. "I don't know what else to do." He said, gently pushing past her to get a shirt from the dresser.
Elizabeth followed him and quickly stood in front of the drawer she knew he wanted. "Mark you know that you should be off for at least four days after chemotherapy." Elizabeth said impatiently.
Mark sighed. "I decided three was enough."
Elizabeth shook her head. "Mark."
"Elizabeth." He pushed back. "I can't just stop doing everything because of this damn tumor."
Elizabeth looked up, trying to keep the tears from falling.
Mark's face softened quickly, he hated seeing Elizabeth in pain, and knowing he caused that pain made it so much worse. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said quickly pulling her into his arms, kissing her hair gently. "Can we please talk about this after my shift?"
Elizabeth sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Please Mark."
"I promise. We'll talk about this after my shift today." He said, moving so he could see her face. "Susan's been on for the last three shifts between mine and hers. I can't just…"
Elizabeth finally nodded before moving out of his way.
"Can you, make sure that Rachel gets her homework done while I'm gone?" Mark asked, pausing as he pulled his shirt on. Elizabeth nodded. "And please keep an eye on her."
Elizabeth nodded again. Since Rachel found out about the tumor the night before she had been acting incredibly anxious, and Mark felt terrible about it. "We'll be fine." Elizabeth assured him, handing him his pager and phone from the nightstand.
"Thank you." Mark said earnestly, gently kissing her. "Take care of yourself." He said with a smile.
Elizabeth smirked before replying. "You too."
Mark walked into the ER, quickly heading into the lounge. He saw Susan standing at her locker checking something on her phone.
"Hey stranger." Mark greeted her as he opened up his own locker.
"Mark!" Susan said, obviously surprised to see him. "How are you feeling?"
Mark shrugged. "I have no idea."
"You really don't have to be here." Susan tried to insist. "I can cover for you."
Mark shook his head. "I'm doing this shift." He insisted. "Go home."
"Alright." Susan relented. "But you call me if you need to go home. I'll come right back."
Mark smirked. "You are way too dedicated to my well-being."
Susan sighed. "You should be too." She replied. "When are you going to tell Weaver?"
"Probably after my shift." Mark admitted.
"Good." Susan replied before the door to the lounge swung open.
"Doctor Greene, Romano wants to see you in his office." Randi informed him.
Mark pulled his stethoscope from his locker before turning to Randi. "I'll head up at the end of my shift."
"He says it's important." Randi replied awkwardly.
"So are my patients." Mark retorted before heading into the ER. Kerry was standing at the admit desk shifting through charts. "What do you want to give me?" He asked, adjusting his lab coat.
"Mark." Kerry looked up at him, clearly surprised to see him. "How's Elizabeth?"
"Fine." Mark assured her, in a tone that indicated he didn't really want to socialize. "Which patients should I take?"
Kerry was handing him charts and briefing him on the patients when Robert Romano's voice boomed through the ER.
"Mark!" He said enthusiastically. "Is it a habit of yours to ignore when your Chief of Staff calls you to his office?"
"What do you want Romano?" Mark asked tensely.
"I want to know what happened to my Associate Chief of Surgery." Robert replied, following Mark to his first patient.
"She'll be back tomorrow." Mark replied.
"Care to explain why she's missed her last two shifts?" Robert asked.
Mark shook his head. "Not my place. Can I get back to work?"
Robert threw his hands into the air. "Sure! Do whatever you want!" He replied, heading angrily towards the surgical consult he had been called down for.
Mark worked through the remaining hours of his shift, stopping occasionally to prevent from over-exhausting himself. At the end of his shift he made his way into the lounge, hoping to find Kerry there.
Kerry looked up from the table as Mark entered. "Mark are you able to pull a double?" She asked, looking down at the schedule in front of her.
Mark sighed. "Kerry." He said, feeling somewhat nervous.
Kerry looked up at him curiously. "Is everything alright?"
Mark shook his head as he sat down. "I can't be on the schedule right now." He said quietly.
"Did something happen with Elizabeth?" Kerry asked, immediately concerned for her colleague and patient.
Mark shook his head immediately. "No, no. Elizabeth is doing fine." Mark assured her quickly. "It's actually me." He said softly.
Kerry looked up at him questioningly. "Mark…"
"The tumor's back." Mark said quickly. "I don't know for sure what my plan is, but I promised Elizabeth we'd talk about things after my shift today."
Kerry shook her head. "Don't worry about us Mark." She said, shocked he would even be considering taking shifts. "Go home."
Mark nodded before heading over to his locker. "Kerry can you do me a favor?" Mark asked, pulling his jacket from the locker before shutting it.
"Of course, anything." Kerry replied immediately.
"Don't tell anyone yet." Mark requested. "I don't want everyone worried."
Kerry nodded.
"Thanks." Mark said before heading out.
Mark quietly went into the bedroom, expecting Elizabeth to be asleep. He was surprised to see her sitting on their bed with Ella in her lap.
"Hey." He said quietly.
Elizabeth looked up and smiled. "Hey."
Mark sat down next to them and gently brushed his hand across Ella's forehead. He was surprised at how warm she felt. "How long has she had a fever?" He asked Elizabeth quietly, not wanting to wake Ella.
"I noticed it at dinner." Elizabeth replied. "I think it's just a cold."
"Did you give her Children's Tylenol?" Mark asked, taking his shoes off.
Elizabeth nodded. "Her fever spiked at 101, but it's gone down to 99.9."
"Good." Mark affirmed.
"How was your shift?" Elizabeth asked him.
Mark shrugged. "It was fine." He said vaguely before lying down. "I told Weaver."
Elizabeth looked over at him quickly. "Mark…" She tried to sympathize.
Mark shook his head. "It was good. I needed to." He affirmed quickly. "I'm not scheduled for anymore shifts…" He began before remembering his conversation with Romano. "But you missed one."
Elizabeth sighed. "I know."
"Romano was on the hunt for you today." Mark reported.
"I assumed." Elizabeth replied. "He's been calling and paging me non-stop."
"Is there a reason why you aren't answering?" Mark asked curiously.
Elizabeth sighed. "I don't know. I'm just trying to get used to everything, and Robert isn't exactly on the top of my list of people I want to talk to about my personal life."
"Maybe we should go somewhere." Mark suggested with a smirk.
Elizabeth sighed. "Mark you have treatment." She reminded him tiredly.
Mark sat up. "What if we went somewhere I could continue to get treatment?" He asked seriously.
"Mark!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "We can't!"
"Why not?" Mark asked her seriously. "It's almost summer, we could take Rachel with us, get her away from this place for a while. God knows you need a break, and as you said earlier today I can't work. Let's go somewhere."
Elizabeth shook her head. "Where on earth would we go?" She asked tiredly.
Mark thought for a while. "Seattle." He said suddenly.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Seattle?" She questioned.
"Doug and Carol have been begging us to come up for the summer since Ella was born." Mark pointed out. "There's no reason we can't go."
Elizabeth sighed. "I'm not saying yes…"
"But you're not saying no either." Mark finished for her. "You need to get some sleep." He decided immediately, gently taking Ella from his wife's arms.
"Don't push it." Elizabeth said quietly, laying down, obviously exhausted.
"Goodnight." Mark said with a smirk before taking Ella to her room. His daughter had begun to stir in his arms so he decided to sit in the rocking chair to calm her down. He sat there in the dark room with his daughter in his arms, gently rocking her back to sleep. As soon as he was determined she was asleep he gently put her in her crib before heading down to check on Rachel.
He gently pushed open the door to her room, surprised when she looked up at him from her bed. "Hey bug." Mark greeted her quietly. "Did I wake you?"
Rachel shook her head. "I was already up."
Mark silently moved across the room and sat next to her in her bed. He gently took her hand in his. "How are you doing?"
Rachel shrugged. "Does it matter?" She asked quietly.
"Of course it does Rach." Mark tried to assure her. "I don't want you to feel like because I'm sick you don't matter."
They sat in silence for a while before Rachel spoke up. "Do you remember when I first met Elizabeth?"
Mark chuckled. "I'm sure you do." He said, unable to keep from laughing. "Thanksgiving hasn't been the same since has it?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean that." She said, obviously embarrassed. "I just have been thinking a lot about the last few months. And I remember when I first met Elizabeth I knew I wanted you to marry her, but now…"
"Well I'm not going to divorce her if that's what you're asking." Mark said with a laugh.
Rachel gently elbowed him. "That's not what I meant… I just… I royally screwed things up didn't I?"
"Well she is British, she does have a certain appreciation for doing things royally." Mark replied sarcastically before watching Rachel begin to cry. "Oh sweetheart." Mark stopped immediately. "I'm sorry."
Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorry Daddy. I didn't mean to hurt Ella, and I didn't want to hurt you or Elizabeth."
Mark sighed. "I can't say it's okay, because you know it wasn't, and it's not." He replied honestly. "But nothing you could ever do would make me stop loving you."
"Promise?" Rachel asked, holding back a yawn.
"I promise." Mark assured her. "You should get some sleep, and so should I." He said gently as he stood up.
"Night Dad." Rachel said quietly as Mark shut the door behind him before going back up to his room.
He opened the door and laughed when Elizabeth's eyes met his. "I thought you were going to sleep." He teased her gently, getting into bed next to her.
"Let's go to Seattle." She said seriously.
Mark sat up. "Wait what?"
"We should go." Elizabeth nodded. "We both have been over-worked since before we even started dating. We need a break, or as much of a break as we can get."
"I love you." Mark said, his lips smiling against hers. "We'll call Doug and Carol in the morning."