You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

86┃i'll live

"Well, get back to a hundred percent," Mark merely shrugged while he cuddled Kai in his arms. "Right, little man? Tell your Uncle Derek that he's gonna get back to a hundred percent."

Derek shook his head with a low speck of hope. "It's not gonna happen."

"Don't give me that crap," Mark sent him a look while his son placed a gentle hand on his face and giggled. "See? Even Kai knows that Uncle Derek loves a hopeless case."

"Well, Kai here is right," Derek lowered her head to the little boy. "It's the only reason your dad and I are still friends." Mark chuckled at his joke, and Derek exhaled with a smile, "I'm glad you're doing better."

"Me, too," the plastic surgeon nodded back, pressing a kiss on top of Kai's head, and the little boy cooed. The smile on his face slowly turned into a frown as he lifted his head back to his friend. "How's Norah doing? You visited her, right?"

"Yeah, I bring a case to her every day," Derek replied with a heavy sigh, sitting down on the armchair beside his bed. "I don't know what should concern me more, honestly... Her being restrained, or her not speaking a word to anyone."

Mark's face fell at the mention of it, yet he mustered up a smile to the little boy grinning back at him. He knew about her condition, internal bleeding and so on, and the utter silence and lack of emotion. She had flushed all feelings away at the crash, and he was there to witness it.

"Is there no way I can-"

"You can't," Derek shook his head with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry..."

Mark sighed. He needed to be by her side, and he needed her to be by his, too. She was pushing everyone away-shutting everyone out-and he recognised it, yet he was stuck in a hospital bed, unable to move around.

"Don't be," he stated, earning a confused look from the neurosurgeon. "Honestly, I don't even know if I can look at her after..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "She's not gonna forgive me, Derek."

Derek furrowed his brows at his words. "What do you mean?"

"The reason... The reason Tim was on the plane was because Avery didn't want to go... and I picked the next best resident in plastics," Mark admitted wearily. "I... I basically sent her brother to... to die."

Derek could see the guilt in the other man's eyes; the plastic surgeon was self-blaming for her suffering. He watched her suffering, and he could not do anything.

"Nobody could've predicted the plane was gonna..." Derek trailed off with his words caught in his throat. "Nobody."

Mark let out a dry chuckle. "How do I even tell her?"

"You tell her when she's ready, when you both are ready," Derek replied, giving him a reassuring look. "And you better live, because she'll really not forgive you if you don't."

Mark lowered his head to Kai, who was staring interestedly at the IV on the back of his dad's hand while his small hand held onto Mark's wrist. The boy leaned against his dad as the latter tucked him under the blanket.

"Our love is strong. I'll live."

That was the last conversation they had before Mark fell into a coma.

❦ ❦ ❦

4 DAYS LATER

NORAH WAS SIGNED OFF to get discharged, and she quietly packed her things into a bag with the pair of crutches under her arms. Her wrists were still sore, not that she minded.