Asystole ✷ Mark Sloan

𝟬𝟰𝟲 how to break a heart

I chuckled to myself as he very politely greeted the interns, feigning the slightest interest in the conversation.

"Guys, this is Doctor Mark Sloan, our new Plastics Attending, he'll be taking over from Doctor Kilpatrick." One by one, we each raised our hands and nodded respectfully towards the new doctor. "This is Doctor Tran, Doctor Cochran, Doctor Brooks and..." I straightened, pushing my hair out of my face. "Doctor Montgomery."

Finally, he met my eye and I tried to pretend that I hadn't showered with this man this morning.

"Nice to meet you, Doctor Montgomery." He shook my hand very professionally.

"Welcome to the team, Doctor Sloan."

It felt like the dating event round two except everyone was looking at us and we didn't have fake names to hide behind. Our handshake was very very professional, very very professional indeed. It was just the right length and our hands dropped to our sides and Mark moved onwards as if nothing had happened. 

Inwardly, I rated the exchange an 8 out of 10, there was room for improvement but he'd done very well.

As soon as he left, Faith turned to all of us, her eyes so wide that they almost fell out of her head.

"Okay, why did no one tell me the new attending was so hot?" In the corner of the room, Isaac let out a very loud snort. I watched her, a small smile playing on my face. When no one said anything, she just waved her arms around. Faith was visibly shocked by the lack of agreement. "Am I going insane? Or is that one of the most attractive men I've ever seen in my life?"

God, I thought to myself, I hope Mark doesn't hear that. He really doesn't need that ego boost.

It seemed that the rest of the hospital made up for the lack of locker room talk. While I sanitised a laceration in the ER, I overheard a couple of nurses talking about him at the station. When I glanced over at them they were staring at him as he consulted a burn victim that had just come in from a construction site on the other side of the river. 

I mean... they weren't wrong. He looked very attractive in ManWest scrubs. We all wore dark maroon, and for some reason... it just worked. 

The sight alone was almost enough for me to forgive him for starting to work here. Another little pesky smile fell across my face as I finished the sanitisation.

This time approaching my suture, I didn't need to page anyone at all. After expressing my frustration over not having been mentored properly with technique, Mark (the resident hotshot who apparently was also skilled as well as handsome) had grabbed a banana and proceeded to show me how to do the perfect suture. 

It'd taken a few evenings but I'd managed to perfect it pretty quickly. Mark was, admittedly, an amazing teacher.

"I'm not saying that I'd let him... you know..."

A resident walked past, talking in an undertone to an ER tech. They glanced at Mark as they passed him and the resident made a face as if to say that actually, on second thought, she really would let him... you know. He was very casually just placing his hand on his chin, acting as if he didn't know that everyone was gawking at him. 

I sighed, shaking my head as I started my sutures. This was really going to boost his ego. I had a suspicion that by the end of this shift, his ego wasn't going to fit into the elevator up to my apartment and he was going to be very difficult to take places.

"Nice sutures," The jackass swanned by me, having finished his consultation. I didn't even glance up at him, just chewed on the inside of my cheek as I concentrated. I only looked up when he stopped, looking down as my work as if to critique. "Montgomery, right?"