"Ladies and Gentlemen we are now beginning our descent into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. We'd like to remind you to stay seated until after we have arrived at the gate, and if you could all wait so we can escort a passenger from the plane before you exit it would be greatly appreciated."

Mark sighed looking over at Elizabeth who had Ella laying across her lap, asleep. "I can't believe they're escorting me off the plane." He said after several moments.

"Mark." Elizabeth replied tiredly. "Let's just get it over with."

"Are you feeling alright?" Mark asked her gently.

"I'm fine." Elizabeth replied, not looking up at him.

They sat in silence as the plane landed. Elizabeth gently woke up Ella and Rachel.

"Mr. Greene?" A flight attendant approached him with a wheelchair.

"Yup." Mark replied with a sigh, getting into the chair.

They wheeled him up the ramp into the airport and parked the chair next to the gate desk. "An attendant will be here momentarily to unhook you from the oxygen." They said before heading down the terminal.

Mark rolled his eyes. "The amount of effort they put into avoiding lawsuits around this place is ridiculous."

Elizabeth was trying to console a now screaming Ella when they heard a familiar voice.

"Mark!" Doug called down the terminal, rushing toward him. "What happened?"

Mark looked up, shocked to see him. "Nothing." He replied, finally pulling the cannula out of his nose himself. "There was a bit of a scare during the flight. They insisted on me waiting for them to take this off, but who really cares?"

"If you're sure?" Doug questioned, looking incredibly worried.

Elizabeth nodded as Mark leaned down, turning off the oxygen tank. "He's fine Doug." She assured him.

"This must be Ella!" Doug replied excitedly, reaching out to take her from Elizabeth. "I'm your Uncle Doug and I'm going to teach you everything I know."

Mark shook his head. "Please don't."

"Oh come on." Doug teased, hiking Ella onto his hip, and grabbing Elizabeth's suitcase. "You don't want her to become a nationally recognized leader it pediatrics?"

"You owe me five bucks." Rachel suddenly interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Doug said, eyeing her with a smirk.

"Dad does." Rachel said, holding her hand out toward him. "I bet him it would take less than five minutes before you brought that up."

"I thought you might be a little less vain." Mark laughed, handing the bill to Rachel. "Let's get out of here."

"Carol and the girls are waiting at home." Doug said before glancing at his watch. "And she's on shift in an hour so you're right."

"Carol!" Doug called into the house as they all piled in from the garage. "Carol I'm back you can head to the hospital!"

Carol ran into the kitchen. "Hey!" She greeted them excitedly, quickly hugging Mark and Elizabeth. "I'm sorry to greet and run, but I've got to get to the hospital."

"No problem." Mark assured her. "When are you off?"

"Nine." She replied, grabbing her jacket. "Doug the girls just ate and are napping. Make sure they're awake by four."

"Of course." Doug replied, kissing her as she ran out the door. "Well let me give you the tour!" Doug said excitedly before pointing around. "This is the kitchen, that's the living room, through there is the front room. Upstairs are bedrooms. And now you know it all."

Mark laughed. "Very nice. I can't believe how long that took."

"I'll show you all to your rooms." Doug replied, heading up the stairs with the family in tow.

"Rachel you'll be in the loft." Doug said, pointing through the glass doors. "There's a futon in there, it's very comfortable."

"You would know." Elizabeth teased him with a smile.

Doug rolled his eyes. "And you two get the guest room." He said, heading down the hallway. "We set up one of the playpens in here for Ella, but if you want we can put her in with Tess and Kate."

Elizabeth looked down at her daughter who was asleep in her arms. "She'll probably do better with us."

Doug nodded. "Well as Carol said the girls are asleep so I'm a free man for an hour or so." He said before looking to Mark. "Up for a game?"

"Only if you're up for losing." Mark replied, dumping his backpack on the bed. He was about to run out with Doug when Elizabeth spoke up.

"Doug can I have a second?" She asked, looking incredibly exhausted.

"Yeah. Of course." Doug replied. "I'll be outside." He said, closing the door behind him as he left.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked her quietly, trying not to wake up Ella who had begun to stir in the playpen.

"Be careful." Elizabeth said quietly, pulling him into her arms.

"I'm fine Elizabeth." Mark assured her quietly, kissing her forehead. "You however are acting…"

"I know, I know." Elizabeth cut him off, pulling away from him. "I'm just nauseated. I think I'll take a nap."

"Alright." Mark smiled sympathetically. "Let me know if you need anything." He requested, waiting until Elizabeth nodded before heading out, closing the door behind him.

He began to head downstairs, stopping quickly at the loft. "Hey Rach. I'm going to be outside with Doug."

Rachel looked over at him. "What am I supposed to do?" She asked with a sigh.

"There's a TV in here. Try turning it on." Mark said with a smirk.

"Gee… thanks…"

Mark and Doug were starting their fourth game when Doug stopped dribbling and looked over at him. "What's up Mark?"

Mark looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"You and Elizabeth." Doug replied as if it were obvious. "I've never seen you two so quiet."

Mark shrugged. "We're fine."

"Carol's going to ask Elizabeth about it. I can find out from her or you can tell me." Doug pointed out.

Mark sighed. He knew Elizabeth wouldn't tell Carol about the tumor, and that he shouldn't say anything about her pregnancy. "We're just… dealing with stuff." He replied lamely.

Doug raised his eyebrows. "Wow. I am amazed."

Mark shook his head. "We were separated for a bit and I guess we haven't really gotten back to normal."

Doug looked up at him, immediately concerned. "What? What happened?"

"Ella took some of Rachel's ecstasy." Mark replied, tired just thinking about it.

"God Mark." Doug replied angrily. "How stupid can your kid be to feed her little sister drugs?"

Mark sighed. "It was an accident Doug."

"Oh of course." Doug immediately apologized. "I didn't actually think Rachel would do anything that stupid."

"I didn't either." Mark replied. "Can we just play?"

Doug nodded, passing him the ball. "Why are you guys even here?"

"I thought you invited us." Mark replied, making a shot and missing.

"Yeah but you don't just decide to pick up and take two months off from work Mark." Doug replied, rebounding the ball.

"Doug." Mark replied warningly. "Let's just play."

"Alright but I'm going to win this one."

That evening Carol arrived home to find Elizabeth sitting in her kitchen with her daughter in her arms.

"Hey." Carol said quietly, not sure if Ella was awake or not.

Elizabeth looked up. "Welcome back. How was your shift?"

Carol laughed when she saw Ella's hand reach up to grab some of Elizabeth's hair. "It was fine. How was your day?"

"Fine." Elizabeth replied, untangling Ella's fingers from her curls. "Doug took us all out to dinner and we walked around downtown a bit. All the other kids are asleep and the boys are in there watching some sort of sport on the television." She gave her the run-down of the day.

"And what is this one doing up?" Carol asked, rubbing her finger down Ella's cheek.

Elizabeth sighed. "I don't know. She's been acting fussy since we were on the plane so I think she may need her ears to pop, but she's not rubbing them so who really knows."

"Do you want something?" Carol asked after a few minutes of rummaging through the fridge.

She shook her head. "I couldn't stomach anything." She said before realizing she probably had let too much information out.

Carol closed the fridge, a container of leftovers in her hand, before turning around. "Are you alright?" She asked her friend immediately concerned.

"I'm fine." Elizabeth tried to assure her, but Carol's face clearly indicated that she didn't believe her. "I've just been stressed Carol." Elizabeth tried to stall. She and Mark had decided they wanted to tell Carol and Doug about the baby after Mark told them about the tumor, but she didn't know if she could keep this from her friend for much longer.

"Why?" Carol asked, obviously concerned. "What's going on?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I really can't talk about it Carol." She said quietly.

"Elizabeth…" Carol began to chastise her.

"Carol." Elizabeth insisted. "I'm not ready to talk about any of this."

Carol began to look genuinely concerned. "Is something wrong between you and Mark?" She asked, eyes wide.

Elizabeth sighed. "Not anymore." She replied automatically.

"Anymore?"

Elizabeth swore internally. "Carol…"

"What happened Elizabeth?"

"Mark and I were separated for a while." Elizabeth finally admitted.

"What happened? I mean did something…" Carol tried to ask questions, but she didn't know what to say.

Elizabeth looked down at her daughter, willing herself not to cry about this again. She had spent too many hours crying about this. Finally she spoke up, her breathing shallow. "Ella had an amphetamine overdose."

Carol looked down at the small girl in her friends arms. "God what happened?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Rachel had ecstasy in her backpack and Ella swallowed it."

"I'm so sorry Elizabeth." Carol tried to sympathize.

Elizabeth looked down at her daughter again, this time unable to keep her tears from falling onto her hair. "I was just so angry with her. I told Mark I wanted her gone, but he insists he needs to fix her or something. I feel like such a bitch for not wanting her here but I also can't forgive her."

"Hey… hey…" Carol said gently as she pulled her into a side-hug. "It's okay."

Elizabeth shook her head. "She's his daughter. I can't make him choose between his children."

They sat quietly together for nearly half an hour before Mark and Doug came into the room.

"Hey ladies." Doug greeted him, giving Carol a quick kiss before looking over at Elizabeth. He saw her sullen expression and immediately was concerned. "Is everything alright?"

Mark looked at his wife and sighed. He made eye contact, making sure that she was in fact going to be okay before he took Ella from her. "Let's go to bed." He whispered quietly to her. She nodded and took his hand. "Night guys." Mark said quietly before heading out of the room with his wife and daughter.

Carol looked down angrily at the plate of leftovers that had grown cold long ago.

"What's wrong?" Doug asked her gently, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Did Mark tell you about what happened with Ella?" Carol asked, incredibly tense.

Doug nodded. "Yeah. It sucks…"

"It sucks?" Carol responded harshly. "That's what you have to say? Ella could have died and somehow Elizabeth feels guilty about it. It wasn't her fault that Rachel was so irresponsible. Speaking of which how is Rachel that irresponsible? She was such a good kid Doug. I can't believe her."

"Hey." Doug backed off, putting his hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that."

Carol sighed. "I know." She admitted quietly. "I just can't believe this. We've seen this type of thing happen to other people's children on a daily basis for years, I just never thought I'd see the day where this happened to someone we care about."

"I know." Doug confirmed. "Mark seems to feel pretty guilty about it too." He supplied.

Carol shook her head, dumping the contents of her plate into the trash can. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" She asked him softly after putting her plate in the sink.

"I ask myself that every day." Doug reminded her, pulling her into his arms. "I still don't know what the answer is. I just have to keep believing that this is all going to work out."

"But what if…" Carol began before Doug interrupted her with a kiss.

"Mark and Elizabeth are perfect for each other. I know it and you know it. They're going to be fine." Doug promised her quietly. They stood in silence for what seemed like forever before Mark spoke up. "Let's go to bed."

Carol simply nodded, following him up the stairs, hoping the next day would somehow be better.