flatline [m.s]

vi.

- - -
any first year med student knows that an increase heart rate is a sign of trouble. a racing heart can indicate anything from a panic disorder to something much, much more serious. a heart that flutters, or one that skips a beat, could be a sign of secret affliction or it could indicate romance which is the biggest trouble of all.
- - -

lia wakes up to the sound of her phone going off on her nightstand. she reaches over to find out who woke her up, keeping one eye closed.

from karev:
i'm glad you came last night. i just wish you hadn't left so early, i could've taken you home ;)

she shakes her head with a slight chuckle before replying.

to karev:
maybe next time, karev

when she places her phone back down on her nightstand, she is startled by a groan and someone moving on the other side of the bed behind her. she rolls over to see mark asleep on his front, the covers lazily draped over him so she the muscles on his back are visible.

"why are you in my bed?" she asks, nudging him awake whilst holding the covers up to cover her chest.

"huh?" mark groggily answers, rubbing his eyes having only just woke up. "you were at the bar, i showed up, you asked if i wanted to get out of there, we came here and had sex... four times."

"i know that!" she snaps. "but why are we at my house? why didn't we go back to your hotel? or your car? or anywhere but here?"

"i don't know. you said 'let's go to my house', so we went to your house," mark shrugs.

"oh god! oh god! how drunk was i? why would i do that?" she says, shaking her head in disbelief.

"what's the big deal?" he asks, moving so that she's lying back down and he's hovering above her. he moves his head down and tries to kiss her, but she turns her head away.

"my house," she she explains slowly to him, as though he is unintelligent. "is also my dad's house."

"you couldn't have said that earlier?" mark asks before pausing then raising his eyebrows. "webber doesn't let you have boyfriends? interesting."

"webber does let me have boyfriends, but i don't think he'll like finding out that i'm having casual sex with his plastics attending! which is why you need to leave!" lia whisper/shouts resulting in a chuckle from mark.

"you're cute, when you're panicking."

"do you think now's the time to joke around?" she asks, cocking her brow. "because it's not. it's really not. i'm going to get dressed and go and have breakfasts with my parents to distract them, and you will leave without my dad seeing you, okay?"

"yes, ma'am," mark jokingly salutes, and lia playfully hits his chest.

she then gets out of the bed and gets dressed for the day, ignoring mark checking her out as she does so.

once she's dressed she opens her bedroom door to go downstairs, but before she does she quickly runs back to her bed to kiss mark.

he puts his hand on her back to pull her closer to him, but she breaks the kiss. "i'll see you later," she smiles.

"i thought you weren't sleeping with me again?" mark smirks.

"i'll see you later," she repeats, before heading to the kitchen to find her mom and dad sat at the kitchen island.

her mom is eating her breakfast and her father is reading a newspaper. lia takes seat next to her mother where there is an empty plate ready.

"did i hear you bring a boy home last night?" richard puts his newspaper down and raises a brow.

"richard, leave the poor girl alone, and go and get her some french toast," adele shakes her head at her husband.

richard sighs but stands up, taking his daughter's empty plate over to the stove. once adele is certain he is out of earshot, she brings her head close to her daughter's.

"did he hear you bring a boy home last night?" she whispers.

lia looks over at her father who is busy plating up her breakfast with his back to them, before turning back to her mother and nodding.

■ ■ ■

lia is busy scrubbing in for her next surgery when mark enters the scrub room, and begins to scrub in too, despite not being scheduled for the surgery.

"what are you doing?" lia questions.

"um... scrubbing in?" he tells her as though it is obvious.

"you're not on this case," she says, rolling her eyes at his response knowing he knew that's not what she meant. "this is my case."

"well, i wanted to see you in action, and spend some time with you," he explains. "so i put myself on this case, and took yang off."

"you can't just put yourself on my cases, mark. this was a perfect opportunity for yang to learn. and if you want to spend time with me you can just ask me," she tells him, slightly irritated by what he's done.

"okay then. what do you say to coming to my hotel room later... and there will be wine... and sex. lots and lots of sex," he proposes and she can tell he's smirking behind his surgical mask.

"i would say; that sounds like a date," lia says, turning to face him. "and i told you that i wasn't dating you."

"you also told me that you weren't sleeping with me again," he argues.

"and i'm not," she shrugs.

"didn't seem that way last night," mark teases.

"shut up, now," she giggles. "we've got a surgery to do."

- - -
it seems we have no control what so ever over our own hearts. condition can change without warning. romance can make the heart pound just like panic can. and panic can make it stop cold in your chest.
- - -

mark is lying on the hotel bed, with a beer in his hand, watching tv. due to the fact lia had rejected him, yet again, he had decided to order room service. so it came as no surprise to him when there was a knock on the door.

he places his beer on the side cabinet, and walks around the bed to answer the door. when he opens it, to his surprise, he finds lia which results in a puzzled expression on his face.

"i was told there'd be wine and lots of sex," she grins.

"oh, lots and lots of sex," he smirks, pulling her towards him and shutting the door behind her.

- - -
it's no wonder doctors spend so much time to keep the heart stable, to keep it slow, steady, regular to stop the heart from pounding out of your chest from the dread of something terrible or the anticipation or something else entirely.
- - -