𝟘𝟝𝕩𝟙𝟞
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The next morning Natalie was in the kitchen with Liam and Bella. Both of them were chatting and laughing about something Natalie hadn't really listened, because she was looking at the dark colour of her coffee, wondering if her soul was the same colour. She didn't think she could be more awful after the way she left Mark's room the previous night.
She completely freaked out. For multiple reasons. She had told him that she felt strongly about him too, but she didn't expect the L word to show up like that. So even when Mark tried to tell her that it was okay if she was not ready to say it back, Natalie took off, with no further talking. She just needed to be alone and think. Because the last time a man had told her he loved her, it ended really bad.
"Do you think she can hear us?" Liam wondered, his eyes right on Natalie. Bella was also looking at her sister concerned. "I thought we would have gotten just one reaction out of this, you know?" Liam had just shared his news with them, but hadn't heard a word.
A lot had happened to her for just a night and she needed a while new way of handling things.
"Good morning." Amber said as she entered the kitchen. "Oh, did you tell her that you're staying? And she's trying not to yell?" Amber asked Liam when she saw the look on her mother's face.
"We think, she can't hear us." Bella told her niece. She felt a whole lot better now that her sister knew the truth. She was worried that she was the reason her sister was in that state.
"Wait..." Amber told them before turning her full attention to her mother. "Mom, can I go to a concert with my friends tonight?"
At the sound of the word 'mom' Natalie snapped out of her tray of thoughts. Her mom mode was up in just seconds. Natalie looked at her daughter, dead serious. "A concert at a school night? I don't think so." She got up from her seat with the mug still in her hands.
"Can we discuss my thing now?" Liam called out as Natalie was walking up the stairs, completely ignoring him. "Fine, but don't freak out when you see me in front of you at the hospital." He mumbled.
"She doesn't know you're going to work with her?" Cara questioned as she entered the kitchen. "Liam, it's like you don't know her at all. She needs heads up at least one month before anything happens. She doesn't adapt well to change. Counter to my other daughter who hasn't lived the same day twice in her life."
Bella gave her mother a toothy grin before excusing herself to go talk to Natalie.
"Hey." She knocked on her bedroom's door and slowly opened it in case Natalie needed some privacy. "Are you okay?" She asked and entered the room.
Natalie was sitting at the edge of her bed the same look on her face. The only thing that had changed since she walked out of the kitchen was her clothes.
Natalie looked up at her sister, but before she could say anything Bella continued. "If this is what we talked about last night, you don't need to worry. I've learnt to live with it. Of course I'm still learning, but I didn't tell you to worry you. I just wanted to share it with you."
"I'll always worry about you, no matter were you are or who you are with. Or anything... I'll always worry Bel. You're my little sister. I don't know how to not worry about you." Natalie smiled at her. She hadn't truly worked in her head about what was going on with her sister. But she didn't want to show her that. Her illness didn't change the fact that she was her sister. And she was proud that she didn't let it hold her back.
"I love you Nat." Bella said and sat next to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulder. Natalie couldn't help but let out a sound at the phrase her sister had told her. "What?" Bella asked confused. Natalie stayed silent. "You wanna tell me what's wrong with you?"
Natalie let out a sigh. "When you went to bed last night, I left. I'm sort of seeing someone. Not sort of. I am seeing someone." Natalie began saying.
"The hot plastic surgeon." Bella interrupted her. "I saw you sneaking him out of your room one morning. I wanted to make fun of you. You have levelled up since the time you were sneaking Isaac out of your room." Bella teased her. Natalie gave her a glare as a reply. "Oh please, you're lucky mom didn't see you. You would have never heard the end of it." Bella remarked.
"I need her to go back to San Francisco. You can stay, but she needs to go." Natalie sighed. She couldn't take any more of her mother. She loved her but it had been way too many weeks. "But if you insist on leaving, please take her with you."
"I will, I promise." Bella laughed. Being the one who left the house way too soon, Bella knew how crazy their mother could get, so she could tolerate the craziness a little bit more than Natalie. "Now tell me about Mark."
Bella laid down in bed and Natalie followed her lead. Natalie was looking at the ceiling as she spoke, and Bella was focused on her sister. "Last night I went to see him. We haven't been together long. But we had this thing going on since I got divorced. But there was always something happening and we reached a year and a half later to actually be together."
"So last night," she continued "he told me that he loved me. And I freaked out and he knows that I freaked out and he tried to tone it down, but I took off and I haven't spoken to him yet." Natalie finished the short version of the story.
"That's it?" Bella asked confused. "I thought you found him cheating on you or something."
"Oh please," Natalie scoffed. "I'd be in prison for cutting his penis off, if that happened. He knows I'd do it. I broke it once, I'd do it again if I had to." She stated.
"You broke his penis?" Bella exclaimed and sat up in excitement. "I'm so proud of you."
"Shut up." Natalie laughed at her. "I felt so bad. He was in pain for weeks."
"Wow. I need to tell Liam." Bella said making Natalie sat up.
"Don't you dare." Natalie warned her.
"Fine. Fine." Bella promised. "So you don't feel the same way? That's why you freaked out? Because I don't see any problem with what he said. He seemed really concerned about you in the hospital."
"I do. That's the problem. I do feel the same. But I'm terrified that those feelings are going to burn me to the ground. And I don't want to burn again."
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At the hospital the elevator's doors opened, revealing Natalie with Amber next to her. "So why did you follow me at the hospital exactly?" Natalie asked her daughter, knowing the answer already.
"My chemistry teacher is sick and I got a free period. So I thought that I'd see how my mother gets things done at work." Amber tried to be way too sweet, so her mother would let her go to the concert.
"And it has nothing to do with the fact that you want to go to the concert?" Natalie asked, not buying it for a second.
"Mom please." Amber begged her. "Tom bought me a ticket."
"Well, you can tell Tom to not waste his mother's money like that." Natalie stopped at the nurse's station. "Can I get the chart of Mr. Peterson?" She asked one of the nurses. "Thank you." She smiled when the nurse gave her the chart a second later.
"I'm a waste of money?" Amber gasped offended.
Natalie gave her a look, basically telling her to drop her little act. "No, the ticket is a waste of money, because you're not going. We're going to spend a lovely night all together because they're all leaving tomorrow."
"I can come by after the concert." Amber suggested.
"No."
"Good morning. Is it bring your kid to work day?" Mark joined them as soon as he spotted them. "Hey kid." And he tried to act normal, as normal as possible at least.
"Mark." Natalie said surprised.
"Hi Mark." Amber said and an idea popped in her head. "Since we're having family dinner tonight, Mark should join us. I'll call grandma to let her know."
Natalie grabbed the phone out of her daughter's grip. "Did I not mention that you're grounded? Definitely this weekend and we'll discuss it again for the rest of the year. That means, no phone, no sleepovers, no concerts. Only school and homework. How does that sound?" Amber opened her mouth to say anything, but she was so mad and she didn't want to make a scene in front of the whole hospital. "That's what I thought." Natalie smiled. "Now how about you go study instead of wasting your free period here?" She suggested.
"Wow, what did you do?" Mark asked the teenager.
"I just wanted to go to a concert." Amber grumbled.
"That sounds like fun." Mark said earning a glare from Natalie. "Or not. How would I know?" He corrected, not wanting to cross any lines when it came to Natalie's relationship with her daughter.
"Here, take a taxi to school and take your phone to call me when you arrive." Natalie gave her some money and her phone back. Just because she was worried to let her go alone, but she couldn't leave work to drop her off to school.
"Hey, wait up." Mark said when Amber was about to leave. "I'll drop you off, I have a surgery in two hours so I think we're good. Go get something to eat and I'll meet you downstairs, okay?"
"Sounds good. Thanks." Amber said and left without talking to her mother, just to show her that she was mad.
Natalie looked back to Mark, who was already looking at her. "Thank you, but you don't have to." The awkwardness so obvious between them.
"No, really I don't mind. I saw that you have a surgery in half an hour. So it's not a problem. She's your kid anyway." Mark told her and before they could fall into an awkward silence, Callie walked up to them and saved them from themselves.
"So, did you scope her out yet?" She asked Mark.
"Who?" Mark questioned.
"Arizona." There was a whole new romance blooming inside the hospital, once again.
"What about Arizona?" Natalie questioned, suddenly interested in the conversation since they were talking about her old friend.
"No, I haven't had a chance to swing by peds and ask the nurse to point out the attending who kissed my friend in a dirty bar bathroom." Mark said sarcastically.
Natalie gasped. "Arizona kissed you? Isn't she a great kisser?"
Both of them turned to look at Natalie, way too confused. "How do you know that?"
"Yeah, how do you know that?" Mark repeated Callie's question.
"We went to med school together." Natalie shrugged, not sharing more of the night Arizona accidentally kissed her.
"That doesn't answer my question." Mark complained and Natalie only smiled back.
"That's not going anywhere." Callie muttered. "Well, at least you're still good for coffee." She told Mark who was holding an extra cup of coffee.
"Oh, that's not for you." Mark pulled it away from her.
"Coffee?" Addison, who was still at the hospital, joined them. "Why, thank you, Mark."
"Well, it's, uh, that's not for you, either." Mark turned and looked at Natalie who was checking at the charts of one of her patients. "Hey, um, I was hoping we could talk, after I drop Amber to school." Mark suggested as he offered her the coffee.
Natalie politely accepted the coffee. "Yeah, maybe later?" Natalie suggested and left before she had to answer to anything she was not ready to. "Thank you again. Tell her to call me if she needs anything." She called out as she was walking away.
"What did you do to her?" Addison asked him.
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"There you are..." Natalie joined Derek on the office he was at. He had been working nonstop on his patient, Jen. Addison had warned her that he was not himself at all that day and Natalie wanted to check up on him. She also wanted to talk to him about the situation with Mark, but she couldn't say anything, not when Mark hadn't shared the news with him. And there wasn't really anyone else Natalie wanted to talk with, so she patiently waited. "How are you?"
"Good." Derek smiled at her. Natalie recognised that he wasn't really himself, but he tried to downplay it. "How are you? Is your family still driving you crazy?"
"Oh I made up with them, so we're good." Natalie said. "So you know, I wanted to talk to you..."
"There he is..." Mark entered the room interrupting the conversation. He was looking straight at Derek, "the legend himself. How are you, legend? Oh and my favourite cardio surgeon." He said when he noticed Natalie.
Natalie frowned her eyebrows at him, not understanding what was happening to him. "What's happening?" She whispered to him.
"Are you drunk? Should I be worried about you?" Derek asked his friend.
"And he's got his sense of humor back." Mark laughed and took a seat next to Natalie.
"Yeah."
"How's your patient?" Mark asked.
"She's good. Stable. You know, today's the first day in a long time that I remember what it feels like to be good at my job." Derek was so oblivious about everything that Addison had told Natalie. And she was more worried than before.
"You?" Mark exclaimed. "Come on. You're like the Dalai Lama of surgery. People from all over the world come here to let you cut into 'em, and you know what else? You look good doing it. I like the facial hair, by the way. Keep it that length ... no more, no less." The compliments kept coming.
"Okay, okay, all right, stop." Derek had enough of his weird behaviour.
"Derek, there's something that we need to discuss and Nat is here so even better."
"Go ahead and have sex with Addison." Derek said before Mark could finish.
"Addison? What? No." Mark and Natalie shared a look.
"Go for it." Derek insisted.
"I don't want to have sex with Addison." Mark argued.
"Really? Well, what did you want to discuss?" Derek asked.
"Nothing." Natalie spoke up. "Nothing."
"Okay." Derek said and grabbed his coat before leaving the room.
"I was going to tell him. Why did you stop me?" Mark complained when they were left alone. "I can't tell you that I love you and lie to my best friend about it." And then Mark walked away, leaving Natalie alone.
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So the next time Mark found the opportunity to talk to his best friend, he didn't hold back. What Mark didn't know was that it was a really bad moment to talk to him. He had just lost his patient, and he was the one to blame. He had done everything wrong.
But just like Mark had told Natalie, he couldn't just hide anymore. He wanted his best friend to know, because he had never wanted anything else to work out as much as his relationship with Natalie.
Derek was at the catwalk when Mark found him, he was trying to compose himself after Jen's husband had called him a murderer.
Mark didn't use any introductions like he had tried to do earlier. He just let the words come out of his mouth. "I'm seeing Natalie. Well, I'm sleeping with her, too, but it's more than that. We're happy. I'm happy. I'm in love with her Derek." Derek only punched him in the face in reply.
"Okay, that's..." Mark paused and touched his face where Derek had hit him. "Maybe I deserve that. No, you know what?" He realised. "I didn't deserve that. You have no right to tell me who I can sleep with..." Derek punched him again. Mark groaned and punched him back, causing Derek to fall. Derek pulled Mark to the ground and they repeatedly punched each other. Up until the point Owen broke them apart.
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"Okay, well, it's not broken, but you should ice it." Callie had put Mark's hand in a splint. "Lots and lots of ice, okay?" Natalie stood in the doorway looking upset. She was about to leave when she found out what happened, and she hated every moment of it. "Bye." Callie said and gave Natalie a small smile on her way out.
Natalie walked into the room and stood close to Mark. "I'm so sorry. This shouldn't have turned out like that. I'm sorry you're hurt because of me. I keep breaking you. Your penis, your hand. And now your friendship. I don't want to be a reason for you and Derek to fight."
"You think you broke me?" Mark questioned. "Natalia, you're the one that put me back together." Natalie smiled. "And it's okay if you're not ready to say it back." Mark continued, finding the opportunity to talk to her about it. It was unnecessary to explain any further what 'it' was. "But I do love you and I just wanted you to know. I held back so much with you. I don't want to hold back anymore."
"I love you too." Natalie took a step closer to him, she gently touched his face, too careful to not hurt him more. And as she looked at him beaten up, she realised that love does burn you to the ground sometimes, but she was more than willing to burn for him.
"You do?" Mark whispered looking deeply in her eyes.
"I do. I just freak out sometimes." She chuckled. "You put me back together. How can I not love you?" She questioned.
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"This is really not the appropriate time to meet your family." Mark tried to fix his shirt with his good hand as they were standing outside of Natalie's house. Mark didn't want to leave Mark alone, but she also didn't want to miss one last dinner with her family, especially now that her relationship with her sister was finally working out.
"Oh come on, they won't even notice." Natalie looked at his face, not really believing anything she was saying. "They're all leaving tomorrow so I promise, it won't be as bad as it was with Derek."
"Okay," Mark agreed. "How do I look?"
"Like someone beat you up." Natalie teased him. "But still very handsome." She pecked his lips softly.
"That's really helpful, thank you." Mark complained.
"Yeah, yeah." Natalie said as she unlocked the door. "Hey, I got company, please don't embarrass me." She called out as she got into the house. "Come on." Natalie took Mark's good hand in hers and guided him towards the kitchen.
Everyone was in there and the moment Natalie entered the kitchen with Mark behind her, they all stopped what they were doing and just stared at them. "Hi." Natalie said breaking the silence. "Um," she looked back at Mark who was trying to smile through his pain. "You remember Mark."
"I don't remember his face like that." Liam pointed out what everyone was thinking.
"Yeah, there was an accident at the hospital and I thought that he deserved some homemade food, right mom? You always feed everyone." Natalie looked at her mother, begging her with her eyes to be nice.
Cara looked Mark up and down for a little too long, and Mark looked at Natalie feeling unease. "Of course" Cara finally said. "You should have told me to set up the table. Amber go put an extra plate on the table." She said to her grandchild.
"Oh, wait, I have something for you." Natalie let go of Mark's hand and reached for her purse pulling out a CD of the band Amber was supposed to go see that night and giving it to her. "Since you're not going to the concert."
"You're not funny." Amber said annoyed and put the CD on the counter before getting a plate for Mark. "You know Mark, I really sorry you have to deal with her."
"Hey" Natalie exclaimed. "You love me." She reminded her daughter.
"Can I help with anything?" Mark asked politely. "Oh, I brought you these." He remembered and handed out the bottle of wine, in which he spent over 50 dollars.
"Thank you," Cara said taking the bottle. "So what exactly happened to you?" She asked Mark and he looked at Natalie for help.
"There was some stairs involved and..."
"Yes, stairs." Mark agreed with Natalie.
"Well, you're in luck because I have this cream for bruises, it's homemade." Natalie smiled thankful at her mother, "I'm gonna get it."
"Did Natalie do this to you?" Bella asked once Cara was out of the room. "She did say something about cutting your penis off, so..."
"Bel!" Natalie hissed at her sister. But she secretly enjoyed that her family had welcomed him.
"What?" Mark asked scared and Natalie shook her head at him.
"I'm just messing with you." Bella laughed. "Natalie is an angel, if you don't piss her off."
"Oh, I know." Mark laughed.
And right then Mark relaxed, feeling fully welcomed into Natalie's life. And for once it looked like things were going to work out between them. With no secrets and no hidden feelings.
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ꜱᴏ ɪ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ʟᴀʀɢᴇʀ ɢɪꜰꜱ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏᴘ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴋᴀᴛɪᴇ ɪꜱ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ ꜰᴏʀ ɢɪꜰ ɪᴄᴏɴꜱ, ꜱᴏ ɪ ꜱʜᴀʟʟ ʙʟᴇꜱꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇʀ ɪɴ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ. ɪ'ʟʟ ꜰɪx ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀꜱ ᴀᴛ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ɪ'ᴍ ᴛᴏᴏ ʙᴏʀᴇᴅ ɴᴏᴡ ʟᴏʟ
ɪ ᴀᴍ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ɪ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴛɪᴠᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ.
ꜱᴏ ᴡʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ɪɴ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ?