~ You were only waiting
for this moment to arise ~
•••
In which Laura Allen begins her internship at Seattle Grace. Facing challenges, friendship, love, and a few too many life-or-death situations along the way, she works her way towards becomin...
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•••
1 day before intern exam
The intern exam was less than 24 hours away and Laura was freaking out. She was pacing in a supply closet, shakily rubbing her chest as her breaths came out in shallow huffs. She'd spent so much time stressing over the exam and pulling all-nighters to study, neglecting sleep, food and her general wellbeing to always cram in just one more study session before she was satisfied - problem was, that feeling never came and she just kept going. She was so obsessed with succeeding that she forgot about everything else.
Now, it seemed everything was catching up to her and she was crashing.
She jumped when the door opened, and when she saw it was Mark, who was just there to get some suture kits, she began to cry. She felt like she was always crying these days.
"I- I can't breathe," she panicked.
His eyes widened and he hurried towards her, but when he touched her arm, she flinched away, letting out a heavy sob. "Laura--"
"I can't breathe," her hand shook as she looked at him desperately. "What do I do? Oh, god, I feel like I'm gonna die."
"Hey, no, no, look at me," Mark forcibly grabbed her face, looking at her steadily. "You're not dying, you're having a panic attack."
"A panic attack," Laura repeated breathlessly, clutching his forearms tightly.
Mark didn't know exactly what to do, he didn't have experience with panic attacks, so he just did what he could think of; he wrapped his arms around her shaking form, holding her tightly against his chest. He didn't know if it was helpful, because she fought him at first, but he held her tighter and shushed her gently, softly cradling the back of her head - and eventually she stopped fighting.
"Breathe with me," he encouraged, making sure to take steady, even breaths that she could match. "That's all you have to do, okay? Just breathe," he soothed.
Laura was doing her best to match his breathing, and she finally felt like air was actually entering her lungs again, but her breaths were still shaky and uneven.
They stood for a little while longer, perfectly still, until Laura, now calmer, whispered: "Thank you."
"No problem," he replied. "Laura?"
"Yeah?"
"How much have you been studying for that test?"
"A lot," she confessed. "Probably too much."
"What do you define as too much?" he pressed.
"I haven't slept properly in three days, I didn't eat at all yesterday, and this morning I put energy drink in my coffee."
