Asystole ✷ Mark Sloan

𝟬𝟰𝟰 the dominic effect

He actually shushed me. "No, this is nice- keep it coming."

"Alright." I sounded exasperated but a huge smile was plastered over my face. "If you want more, you're going to have to get your ass back here. I don't want to be the sappy girl who begs their boyfriend to get back to them but... fucks sake, I'm going to end up begging you to come back."

"It's cute."

"Cute?" My face scrunched up like a discarded piece of paper. "I sound like a teenager."

"We would have been a cute couple in high school."

"Probably," I really didn't want to think about high school. "We would have been annoying. I would have punched myself in the face. Like that weird affectionate couple that people can't make eye contact with."

"It would have been cute."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say, Char."

Being alone in the apartment while my life seemed to fracture into pieces wasn't the ideal situation. I avoided telling Charlie about the lawsuit. If he was busy, he didn't need the extra stress. I wanted him in Seattle but not enough for him to screw over his family business.

Plus, he'd just want to fix it in the usual way men were- he'd try to get Dom or Calum to come to Seattle and I didn't need them here. It'd get crowded and then I'd be even closer to a mental breakdown.

I apologised about Charlie's absence at dinner. Derek and Meredith both shrugged it off and said that they understood how busy people can be. The table had been set for four but Derek cleared it away. I watched him do it.

Once we were all making light small talk I eyed the two of them. It was weird, watching a domestic Derek Shepherd. He'd never made an effort to do these sort of things when Addison had made him host her parties and dinners with her. Actually, he'd been stand-offish about the idea. Now, he was in a brilliant mood.

It made me wonder what the hell his good news was.

"Addison's calling."

The kitchen filled with the sound of the ringtone, causing my skin to crawl.

There was a brief pause, in which Derek frowned at me from the other side of the room and his wife picked up my cell phone, holding it out towards me. I stayed seated and just glowered at the flashing name tag on the screen.

"Let it go to voicemail."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Meredith set my cell phone back onto the countertop, and Derek frown very subtly in my direction. I just huffed to myself. The two of them seemed to have a non-verbal conversation with their eyes. Eventually, Derek cleared his throat.

"You should probably talk to her..."

It was in his concerned voice. It was 10 pm and the house was empty and Derek and Meredith had been talking about their day at work. I'd been offhandedly dropping in comments about what I'd seen around the hospital but hadn't really mentioned anything too exciting.

"You're right," I said, causing Derek to grin, thinking that he'd just single-handedly ended world hunger. "But I'm not. She can choke for all I care."

I was being petty. His smile withered.

Derek seemed to sense a shift in my attitude and didn't bring it up for a while, instead, letting me simmer in my anger in the corner. Full disclosure: this was not how I'd envisioned my evening to go. There was a very dry look on his face as he ordered takeout on the phone; he kept glancing over at me as if he was expecting me to blow into pieces. A phone rang again and Derek shot me another look out of the corner of my eye. I rolled my eyes- that wasn't my ringtone.