You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

87┃promise, and sealed

She lunged herself towards his wide-held arms; he secured her tightly in his chest while she buried her face on his neck. They held each other for a long time, a very long time.

"Are you crying?" he whispered next to her ear.

She chuckled, nodding at his neck. "Of course, I am! You really scared the living soul out of me, Mark-I'm really not kidding," she nagged through tears.

"I know, and I'm sorry," he mumbled back as he wrapped his arms tighter around her body. She had her face buried in his chest; the beating heart under it was one she would never forget.

"This time..." he spoke up, and she lifted her head to him, "This time, I'm not going anywhere anymore."

"We're not going anywhere anymore," she corrected with a grin on her tear-stained face. "That's a promise, one that we can never, ever break. Okay?"

"Promise, and-" he leaned forward, pecking a kiss on her lips, "-sealed."

He wiped away the tears under her eyes with the pad of his thumb; the exhaustion and anxiety had really got to her. He had his own trauma and guilt to deal with, too, but none were important at that very moment.

She was smiling, grinning, beaming-the hazel eyes finally met the blue ones, once again.

"Navy scrubs," he pointed out with a proud smile on his face, and she nodded with a sobbing chuckle.

"You really scared the crap out of me..."

"I'll make it up to you," he assured with a smirk, "With many, many steamy hot s-"

"Alright-got it. Is that seriously the only thing in your head right now?" she rolled her eyes with a soft chuckle, and he shook his head, pulling her in for a kiss. "I'll be waiting. I'll always be waiting for you."

It ended up taking five surgeons to successfully pry Norah away from Mark, who was, too, in major protest. Then, it took the same group of surgeons to convince Mark to pass Kai over to Norah, so that they could examine him for a full check-up.

The whole hour, she stayed right outside the glass door with the little boy sitting on her hip; he squealed and giggled as though he knew his father was awake again.

The new interns and nurses who passed by were all in awe of the little boy. Kai would let out a small squeal every time he made eye contact with the adults, then hid his face at his mother's neck.

That night, she sat by his bedside and cried for hours.

Happy tears, she claimed-which was not entirely true-but it was not a lie, either.

She had lost too much in one tragic event, too much. There were still lives to be mourned and grieved, but right now, at this moment, she felt the first pure relief in months.

Because when she was on the verge of completely losing herself, the world returned her with a glimmer of hope.

Maybe the world had finally stopped hating me. Maybe, just maybe, it's not too bad of a place, after all.

❦ ❦ ❦

"PRETTY AMAZING RECOVERY, right?" Jackson voiced out outside Mark's room, his face beaming.

"Yeah, his SATs are good?" Derek queried with a bright smile, and Callie nodded. "He's being weaned off pressors?"

"Yeah, BP is 110 over 60," Jackson notified.

The group of surgeons stood outside the room, watching the pair's faces lit up as they flirted shameless with each other, just as they used to.

Norah had moved the armchair right next to Mark's bed, and he had shifted closer to the edge of the bed; their hands linked into one, him tracing on her palm.