Chapter Content Waring: Sexual Assault
Mark laughed as he watched Ella press her hands against Elizabeth's stomach. "It move!" She exclaimed in shock for the fourth time that morning.
"Yep that's your baby brother or sister." Mark affirmed, with a smile as Ella gave him a huge grin.
Elizabeth winced as she felt another sharp kick to her ribs. "Alright you two, stop encouraging this one." She said softly as she pulled her blouse back down over her stomach. Having just reached thirty weeks she was feeling more uncomfortable than ever.
Mark gently pressed his lips against her cheek as he pulled Ella away from Elizabeth so she wouldn't be putting pressure on her stomach. "Are you sure you're up to me going in tonight?" He asked anxiously. "I can get my shift covered…"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Ella will be asleep for most of your shift, I'll be fine." She assured him. "Besides this is your first full shift back. You've been looking forward to this since you got approved a week ago."
Mark smirked. "Okay but I'm giving Ella her bath before I go."
"You don't have to…" Elizabeth tried to dismiss him.
Mark shook his head. "You need to rest, I'm not going in until eight. Ella can handle an early bath."
Elizabeth sighed. "Alright, if you insist." She said with a smile. "Before you go upstairs will you help me up?" She asked as she adjusted to try to stand.
Mark looked at her, clearly concerned. "Are you still feeling dizzy?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "No I just feel huge. I forgot how hard it gets to balance when you've got a small human strapped to your front."
Mark laughed as he stood up. "Come on." He said as he held out his hand to help her up. Once she was upright he leant down to pick up Ella. "I'm going to go get Ella ready for bed."
"I'll finish up the dishes." Elizabeth said, quickly kissing him.
"You should go lie down." Mark tried to deter her.
Elizabeth cocked her eyebrow. "Mark I'm fine. I promise to rest as soon as they're done, but I can definitely do the dishes."
"Alright, alright." Mark conceded as he put his arm that wasn't holding Ella up in surrender before heading up the stairs.
Half an hour later Elizabeth went upstairs and found Mark chasing down a naked toddler. "How's that bath going?" She asked him with a smirk as he came out of Ella's room looking exasperated.
"Well pretty much all of the floors up here are wet now." He said, clearly frustrated. "Do you know where your daughter is?"
"My daughter?" Elizabeth replied with a smirk. "Why is it that when you're trying to get her to do something she's my daughter?"
Mark rolled his eyes. "Our daughter… have you seen her?"
"She's in your office." Elizabeth said with a smirk.
"Thanks." He replied with another eye roll before heading after his daughter.
Elizabeth laughed as Ella ran between his legs out of his office as soon as he got there. "Ella baby come here." She said with a smirk, causing her daughter to run directly to her and grab onto her legs. "What pajamas do you want to wear sweetie?" She asked as she took her hand, leading her to her bedroom.
Mark followed the two of them, smiling in wonder as he watched his wife and daughter interact. Ella still didn't say much, but the bond she had with her mother was undeniable. Once Ella handed Elizabeth a pile of clothes the two of them sat on the bed as Elizabeth helped her into her pajamas.
"Alright Elle go say goodnight to Daddy." Elizabeth said as she helped her down from the bed. Ella ran over to Mark and laughed as he lifted her off the floor.
"Are you going to be good for Momma?" He asked her as he hugged her gently. When he got a small nod in response he kissed her forehead. "I love you Ella." He said softly before carrying her over to Elizabeth. "I have to head out." He told her as he put Ella back on the bed. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Mark I worked a full shift this morning, I can handle putting Ella to bed."
Mark nodded. "I know, I'm sorry. It just feels weird to be leaving you here with Ella. I know you can handle it, I just don't know if I can."
"You'll be fine." She assured him, pressing her lips against his. "Save some lives tonight." She insisted.
"I'll do my best."
"Hey Mark we have an incoming trauma, MVA. Can you take it or should I find Carter?" Abby asked as he emptied his pockets into his locker.
"I've got it." Mark replied, grabbing his stethoscope and putting it around his neck before following Abby out to the ambulance bay. "What have we got?" He asked as the EMTs helped him unload the gurney.
"MVA, this is the driver of the first car. Male 30s, blunt force trauma to the chest. No external bleeding but has been unconscious since we arrived on the scene." They informed him quickly.
"Alright let's get a surgical consultant down here and let's start a CBC and CHEM7 panel. Vital signs are all good?" Mark asked as they rolled into trauma one.
"Everything seems fine, blood pressure is dropping slowly." Abby replied as she set up the monitors.
"Good. Let me know when Romano gets down here, I'm going to go check on the next rig." He said quickly before heading back out.
He was quickly wrapped up in his work and was caught off when he heard Robert Romano yelling his name down the hallway.
"Mark Green if you're going to call me down here you better have something for me to look at!" His voice pierced through the already loud ER.
"Trauma one." Mark replied, following him into the room. "Male 30s, MVA. No obvious signs of trauma, we haven't gotten the labs back but we need to rule out any internal injuries."
"Well did you assess the abdomen?" Robert replied impatiently, not moving toward the patient.
"I figured you could…." Mark began.
"I'm not here to do your work for you, if you think you have enough of a brain to be here, act like it." He replied, heading back into the ER.
Mark followed him angrily. "What the hell did you just say to me?" He seethed.
"Oh is the half-brained doctor getting defensive?" Robert asked, looking unimpressed.
It was then that Mark lunged forward, just narrowly missing Robert when Jerry pulled him back.
"Get out of here Robert." Jerry said angrily.
"How am I the one in trouble here?" Robert asked in disbelief.
"Because if you don't get your ass out of the ER in the next ten seconds I'm reporting you for harassment." Jerry replied, eyes narrowing.
Robert rolled his eyes but headed quickly for the elevators.
"You alright Greene?" Jerry asked him gently.
Mark shrugged. "Why did you stop me?" He asked angrily.
"Because if you hurt him, you'd go down. If anyone was going down for that it was going to be Romano." Jerry replied as if it should be obvious.
Mark shook his head in disbelief. "Thanks I guess." He replied, kicking a chair angrily before heading back to trauma one. "Can you call me down a different surgical consult?"
Elizabeth was woken up by a timid knock on the front door. She slowly rolled over to see that the clock read 1:09. "What the…?" She questioned quietly as the knocking became more insistent. With great effort she got out of bed and headed down to the door. She was surprised when she saw the outline of her step-daughter through the glass in the front door. "Rachel?" She asked as she pulled the door open, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Is… is Dad here?" She asked hesitantly.
Elizabeth shook her head. "He's at the hospital."
"Oh my god is he alright?" Rachel asked, the color immediately draining from her face.
"Oh Rachel, he's fine." She said sympathetically. "He's working, not a patient." Rachel looked relieved but didn't say anything in response. Elizabeth sighed, looking at the duffel bag at her feet. "Come inside Rachel." She finally said, opening the door all the way to let her inside.
Five minutes later Elizabeth was handing her a cup of tea. "Alright Rachel why are you here?" She asked calmly.
Rachel shrugged.
"If you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine." Elizabeth conceded. "Your Dad will be home soon, you'll have to talk to him."
"Can I… can I go to my room?" Rachel asked quietly. "I'm really tired."
Elizabeth looked at the teenager with skeptical eyes. "Why don't you sleep on the couch?" She suggested. "Your Dad will wake you up when he gets home."
Rachel nodded, leaving her mug of hot tea on the counter.
Elizabeth sighed, taking the mug and sipping the tea herself. She sat at the counter quietly until she heard a key in the front door. She heard Mark head up the stairs and she sighed, before getting up to follow him. She reached the top of the stairs before Mark came back out of their room to look for her.
"Hey why aren't you asleep?" Mark asked her before gently kissing her.
"Uh... I don't know how to casually bring this up… So I guess I'll just go for it… Rachel's asleep on our couch." Elizabeth replied awkwardly.
Mark looked at her, blinking several times in confusion before smirking. "I'm sorry what?" He asked.
"Rachel's asleep on the couch." Elizabeth repeated.
"When did she get here? Why is she here?" Mark asked, peering down the stairs, only seeing the back of the couch, no sign of his eldest daughter.
"She got here about an hour ago. I don't know why. She was on our porch with a duffel bag." Elizabeth told him everything she knew.
"Okay." Mark affirmed. "I'm going to go talk to her. You should go back to bed."
Elizabeth shook her head. "Now that I'm awake I'm not falling back asleep."
Mark smirked sympathetically. "Alright. I'll be upstairs as soon as I can." He said gently before kissing her once again before going back downstairs.
He rounded the couch, surprised to see a very pale Rachel lying on the couch, her eyes wide open. "Hey bug." He said softly, sitting on the coffee table across from her. "What are you doing here?" He asked her gently.
Rachel sat up, wrapping the blanket she had been under around her. "I'm sorry Daddy." She said softly.
"What's wrong?" He asked, moving so he was sitting next to her.
"I didn't mean to I promise I'm so sorry." She said again, looking down at her hands.
"Rachel what's wrong?" He asked again, this time more firmly than the time before.
Rachel shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. "I can't. I didn't mean for this to happen." She said quietly.
"Rachel I promise Elizabeth and I will help you but you have to tell me what happened." Mark said quietly, gently putting his hand on Rachel's shoulder. She quickly pulled away, curling further into the corner of the couch, hoping it would swallow her. "I'm sorry." Mark conceded quickly, putting his hands up to indicate he had no intention of touching her again. "I'm not going to hurt you Rachel." He tried to convince her, but her body continued to shake in fear. "Rachel?"
She shook her head anxiously. "Please Daddy, I'm so sorry."
"I'm going to be right back Rachel." Mark said quietly before quickly going up the stairs to his and Elizabeth's room.
Elizabeth looked up from the book in her hands. "So why is she here?" She asked as Mark shut the door behind him.
"I don't know." Mark replied anxiously.
Elizabeth looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong?" She asked, putting the book on the bedside table.
"I don't know." He repeated. "I think she did something… I don't know what. She keeps apologizing."
"Okay." Elizabeth replied, still clearly confused.
"I'm going to stay downstairs with her tonight." Mark said as he gathered a couple of pillows and a blanket. "I'm sorry Elizabeth." He said sympathetically. "I know you're not going to get much sleep tonight."
Elizabeth shook her head. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"I love you." Mark replied quickly kissing her before grabbing the pile of bedding.
"Love you too."
The next morning Rachel woke up to see her Dad sitting in the armchair across the room, he didn't look as if he had slept at all. "Dad?" She asked quietly, gaining his attention and causing him to look over at her.
"Hey sweetheart." Mark said pushing the blankets off from him. "We need to talk about why you're here." He said gently after a few minutes of silence.
Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorry I'll go. I shouldn't have come here."
"No Rach, you don't have to go. I just need to know what's going on." Mark replied anxiously. "I know you and something's wrong."
Rachel shook her head once again as she broke down into tears. "I can't tell you… I didn't mean to let it happen… I said no… I didn't… I didn't want to."
Mark's eyes widened. "Rach did someone hurt you?" He asked, hoping that he was wrong. "Rachel this is important." He tried to emphasize.
"I'm sorry I didn't want to Daddy." She whimpered quietly.
"Rachel what happened? I need to know." Mark insisted once again. Rachel looked at him with eyes full of tears. She looked like she was about to say something when Ella began crying upstairs. Mark swore under his breath. "Okay Rach I need to go get Ella, promise me you'll wait here for me." Once Rachel nodded in response he headed up the stairs to check on Ella.
He was surprised to find Elizabeth already in the nursery walking in circles with Ella on her hip. "I thought you had fallen asleep." Mark said quietly as he took Ella from her.
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm exhausted, I can't get comfortable anymore, I don't know how I'm going to handle two more months of this."
"I'm sorry." He said, gently kissing her forehead.
"How's Rachel?" She asked him as she sat down in the rocking chair. Mark tensed immediately. "What's wrong?" She asked in confusion.
Mark remained rigid. "I haven't gotten a straight answer out of her, but she said something about not wanting to and saying no…"
"Oh God." Elizabeth stopped him. "You don't think that she…?"
Mark shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't know how to ask her." He said honestly.
Elizabeth sighed. "Let's go talk to her." She said as she got up. "There's not a good way to go about this but we have to know if a police report needs to be filed."
"Dammit Elizabeth don't…" Mark tried to stop her.
"What do you want me to do Mark?" She asked angrily. "If your daughter was raped we need to know about it."
Mark looked up at the ceiling but didn't protest. Once he felt Ella fall asleep in his arms he put her back in the crib so he and Elizabeth could go downstairs.
Rachel turned around as she heard footsteps on the stairs. "No." She said angrily when she saw Elizabeth. "No I'm fine. We don't have to do this…"
"I'm sorry Rachel." Elizabeth said gently as she moved to sit on the couch. "We need to talk to you."
Mark began to pace around the room, unable to make eye contact. "Rachel when you said that you didn't want to… what did you not want to do?"
Rachel looked down at her hands but didn't respond.
Elizabeth sighed. "Rachel I have to ask you something personal and it's important that you be honest with us." She said softly. "Did someone force you to have sex with them?"
Rachel hiccupped slightly. "It's my fault." She whimpered. "I should have told Mom about it. I shouldn't have let him."
Elizabeth shook her head. "No Rachel, if you were raped it's not your fault." She insisted quickly. "When did this happen?"
"It's been happening for a long time… I don't know…" Rachel whispered. "It started with him just tucking me in, but it got worse and…he…"
"I'm sorry who?" Mark suddenly interjected.
Rachel looked down at her hands once again before whispering in response. "Craig." She said softly.
"I'll kill him." Mark said angrily, moving to pick up the phone.
"Wait Mark, let's calm down for a minute please." Elizabeth insisted, causing Mark to stop in his tracks.
"Calm down?" He asked angrily. "Her step-father violated her and you want me to calm down?"
Elizabeth's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "Rachel why don't you go into your room while I talk to your father?" She suggested quickly.
Rachel nodded before going to her room, her arms wrapped around herself tightly the entire way there. Once the door closed behind her Elizabeth got up and dragged Mark into the kitchen. "We have to take Rachel in for an examination." She said quietly.
Mark shook his head. "No we don't. We already know who did it, and he's going to rot in hell for this."
"It needs to be a formal report Mark and you know it." Elizabeth replied tiredly. "We need to know what happened before we can figure out what to do next."
Mark sighed before sitting on the barstool next to Elizabeth. "I see girls who have had this happen to them all the time in the ER… I just never thought… I swore that I would protect my daughters and I failed. I failed because I let her go back to her mother. I shouldn't have let her go."
Elizabeth shook her head. "No Mark… this wasn't your fault." She assured him gently. "You didn't know this would happen. You sent her home because you thought it was what was best for her."
"Well it wasn't." Mark replied angrily.
"I'm sorry." Elizabeth said softly. "I'm so sorry that this happened."
The two of them sat in the kitchen quietly for what felt like forever before Rachel came into the kitchen.
"Am I in trouble?" Rachel asked quietly.
Mark spun around quickly. "No, no." He assured her. "You're not in trouble. You did nothing wrong baby."
Rachel nodded, and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I don't want to go back there Daddy."
"You won't." Mark insisted as he got up from the stool, allowing Rachel to sit down. He got a glass of water and placed it in front of her, hoping she would drink it. "Rachel we're going to have to report this."
Rachel shook her head furiously. "No I don't want to."
"I know sweetheart. I know this is going to be hard but this is important." Mark said tiredly. "If you want you can tell us and we can figure out how to go forward, or you can just tell the police."
"I don't want to talk to the police." Rachel said softly.
"Okay then you can talk to us when you're ready." Elizabeth said gently.
The room sat in silence for several moments before Rachel spoke.
"I… I think I'm ready."