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"Amber, come on, I am going to be late." Natalie called out from down the stairs. "Mark, come on." She said next, before reentering the kitchen. She poured some more coffee in her cup, too lazy to make breakfast. Mark had stayed over the previous night as the three of them had movie night, Amber's idea as a sorry for the way she spoke to Mark. Amber had truly warmed up to Mark, they were getting closer and Mark was really great with her, always trying to help her with anything she wanted. But he was careful, not wanting her to feel that he was taking her father's place. It was a little complicated, and there were times Amber would forget that it wasn't always like that. Because she needed the family time she had lost because of everything that had happened the previous year.
Natalie was warming up to Mark being around more often. She didn't want to admit it though, not even to herself. Too proud to just change her mind after Mark had bought a house. She could probably never live in the same house as Mark, just because she wouldn't be able to admit that she changed her mind. Natalie hated changing her mind.
Her thoughts got interrupted when her cell phone went off. "Hello?"
"Good morning. Is this Dr. Turner?" On the line was a man, but Natalie's couldn't recognise his voice.
"Who is it?" She asked, not sure what to expect because Isaac had been calling her a lot lately and she had stopped answering the phone.
"I am Steve Herrmann, chief of UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute." The man introduced himself. "I would like to offer a job to you. I want you to be in charge of the clinical trial of cardiothoracic surgery. You will be mostly focusing on antirejection techniques for heart and lung transplantation; ventricular assist device therapy, including pediatric VADs, to help the heart heal itself; and minimally invasive cardiac and cardiothoracic surgical techniques to reduce length of hospital stay." Natalie stayed silent not expecting a call like that so early in the morning. Not expecting a call like that at all. Because in her mind she had reached the point in her career that she was satisfied with. But when there are so much more, it's not easy to say no.
"Dr. Turner, I understand that you are the head of your department in Seattle Grace Hospital, but if you're interested in something new, we would love to work with you." The man said everything he had to say and for the first time Natalie was at loss of words.
"Thank you so much for this opportunity Dr. Herrmann, but I need to think about it." She kept her voice steady, even though she could feel herself freaking about what that meant for her and the people around her. If she wasn't a mother, there was no way she wouldn't say yes. It was an Institute that focused on the organ she had been working on for the last years.
"Take as much time as you need" the man reassured her. "But if we need to find someone better than you, you got to let us know soon, because it's going to be hard."
Natalie smiled softly, she had missed that kind of appreciation for her name. Because chief Webber hadn't been so appreciative towards her for a long time. Even if he had recognised his mistakes and made her chief of cardio. "Thank you sir. I will be in touch."
"Think about what?" Amber asked once her mother had hung up the phone.
"Hm?" Natalie turned around and saw Amber opening the fridge to get some juice. "Nothing, just some things for work."
"Okay" Amber shrugged it off. "I am ready. Today's your surgery with Layla, right?" Layla was a six year old that Amber had befriended at her time at the hospital, volunteering. She had a heart condition and Natalie was working on her. "Can I watch?"
"Absolutely no." Natalie refused.
"Mark said I can watch. He'll be in the gallery with me." Amber argued.
Natalie gave a look at her daughter. "Well, I gave birth to you, not Mark or any other man. I was in pain for 8 hours because you didn't want to come out in the world."
"No one's taking your credit for that, mom. Jesus." Amber rolled her eyes.
"Amber, seeing the inside of a human body for the first time is really scarring. And you've said it yourself, you don't want to be a surgeon."
"I was thinking about being a social worker." Amber informed her. "I already applied to volunteer in the community center. I am gonna take Mulan with me after school and help around with whatever they need."
"Another day I didn't fail as a mother." Natalie smiled proudly at herself.
"Good morning." Mark entered the kitchen and ruffled Amber's hair.
"Hey, don't mess with the hair. I am not five." Amber grumbled.
Natalie spaced out, she still looked at them and smiled, but she couldn't hear them. Because in her mind she was trying to find a way to not lose that and move forward in her career.
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That morning the chief had called all his attendings at the conference room for a meeting. Mark was sitting between Natalie and Derek, watching all the food the chief had brought in for the meeting and trying to choose which one to try first. "I know it hasn't exactly been easy around here the past few weeks. And I know you want answers. But I'm afraid I don't have them. Not just yet..." The chief was talking, but Natalie turned her attention to Derek who was annoyed with the merger most than anyone.
"He brought us down here to make himself feel good." He complained.
"Well, at least he sprung for good danish." Mark said and grabbed one.
"You know how many nurses got fired for that danish?" Natalie pointed out to Mark and he quickly put the danish down.
"The Mercy West staff will be arriving in three days" Webber continued, "and when they do, there will be more cutbacks and more layoffs. And I need each and every one of you to step up and be leaders. And when I can answer your questions, I will." The doctors started talking at once. "If you would like to make an appointment to talk about your concerns..."
"Is my hyperbaric lab getting shut down?" A doctor asked and the chaos in the conference room carried on.
"You were right. Excellent danish." Derek said and started eating as he watched the hospital fall apart.
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After the meeting, Natalie followed Derek outside of the room. She wanted to talk to someone and since she was not mad at him anymore, she was going to talk to him. Derek stood by the nurse's station and Natalie stood opposite of him. "So I got a call this morning."
"Are you talking to me?" Derek questioned and looked around.
"Is there anyone else around?" Natalie rolled her eyes annoyed. She had stopped a long time being mad at him, but he didn't need to know that.
"Are we back on being friends?" Derek asked next.
"Do you want a contract or something?" Natalie said sarcastically.
Derek shook his head with a smile on his face, "so you got a call this morning." He carried on knowing that Natalie would never say the words I forgive you. Out of pride. And that woman had a lot of pride.
"They offered me to be in charge of a clinical trial at UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute." Natalie shared the news and felt her chest a little bit lighter now that she had told someone else.
"At the University of Pittsburgh?" Derek questioned and Natalie nodded her head. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?"
"As far as I am concert the states haven't changed." She rolled her eyes.
"I really forgot how nice you are." Derek commented.
"I didn't forget how stupid you are."
"Thank you, very much!" They bickered with each other, like five years old siblings.
"Come on, I was just kidding. I don't know what to do." Natalie sighed.
"You're not actually thinking about going, right?" Derek questioned. He didn't want Natalie to just leave.
"I don't know, things aren't really great around here." Natalie pointed out. The merger had been destroying everyone. People had been fired and more would be too. Nothing was working out. Not when they had to fight for the job with people who were going to do the same.
"It's not like someone's gonna fire you."
"Well, the chief had been keeping me away as head of cardio for too long." Natalie didn't questioned herself often, at least as a surgeon, but with the way the chief had treated her, she wasn't sure what to expect.
"The chief has been making bad decisions lately." Derek scoffed. "Nat, you're head of your department. And you got a life here with your daughter and Mark."
"I know that Derek. Don't point out the obvious."
"What does Mark think about it?" He asked her. "Did he completely lose it and told you to not go?"
"I didn't tell him." Natalie confessed.
"You told me instead? I feel special."
"Well, you're my friend and I wanted to share it with you. See how far I've come?" She chuckled and just like that they were back to normal.
"I'm proud of you Nat." He laughed. "But seriously talk to Mark. And for the record I am not a big fan of you leaving the hospital."
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When Natalie was done with her surgeries, she met up with Mark at the lobby to wait with him for Amber to meet them. "Hey" she gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him smile brightly. "Can we talk?"
"Sure, what about?" He asked.
"Are you leaving without me?" Amber ran to them, eager to leave for the day. She had more important plans in that moment. "You can't leave without me, I need to be home as soon as possible. I don't have much time to get ready."
"We were waiting for you." Natalie told her.
"Where are you going anyway?" Mark asked her.
"She has a date." Natalie teased her and they three of them walked towards the car outside.
"Mom!"
"I'm just explaining why you're suddenly going all crazy." Natalie laughed.
"Are you selling us out?" Mark said faking to be offended.
"Hanging out with you two once a week is fine. But you're both old and I need to be with my people." Amber mocked them back.
"I'm not old, Mark's old." Natalie said as she unlocked the doors of her car.
"Excuse you." Mark scoffed actually offended.
"You're seven years older than me, just saying." She reminded him.
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"Okay how do I look?" Amber asked when she was finally done getting ready. She walked down the stairs and stood in the middle of the living room, showing off her outfit to her mother and Mark.
"Beautiful." Mark smiled as he looked at her from the couch.
"You look amazing honey." Natalie stood up and headed towards her to fix her skirt. She really wanted to help her daughter get ready but she wouldn't let her. She hadn't been letting her do many things lately and Natalie hated every moment of it, because she knew that her daughter was growing up fasted than Natalie wanted. "Do we need to have the talk?"
Amber's eyes went wide. "We've had the talk, I am not going to have sex mom." She whispered, feeling embarrassed that Mark could hear them.
"I was talking about alcohol. Of course, you're not going to have sex." Natalie scoffed.
"I am not going to drink alcohol either. Oh my god!" Amber exclaimed. "Can I just leave without further talking? I've hanged out with Tom before. You know Tom, you like Tom. And I said I am sorry for what happened."
"Fine, go, but don't be too late. Don't make me wait for you behind the door."
Amber groaned and ignored her. "Bye Mark."
"Have fun and be careful." Mark said.
"I will." Amber said and opened the door.
"I love you." Natalie called out and Amber just waved at her. "I hate that she's growing up." Natalie said sadly as she closed the door. Mark was now standing behind her and he quickly gave her a hug. He wanted to suggest having a kid with her right then and there, but that would be a reason for them to fight because they weren't on the same page yet. So he kept his mouth shut.
"What do you want to do to take your mind off?" He kissed her shoulder.
"I want cheesecake, do you want to make cheesecake with me?" She asked.
"Yeah, of course." He pecked her lips.
"Come on Mulan. It's dinner time." The dog quickly followed her inside the kitchen.
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"This is good." Natalie said with her mouth full. The couple had finished making the dessert and even if it was not frozen enough they cut a big slice to share. They were back at the living room. The TV was on, but neither of them was paying attention. Natalie had her legs on Mark's lap and Mark was resting his arms on her legs.
"Right? We make a good team." Mark said and looked over at her as she carried on eating.
"Hmm." Natalie agreed and took another bite.
"Oh, you got a little something." Mark said and took the plate out of her hands and placed it down on the table. And before Natalie could react Mark crashed his lips on her.
"Smooth." Natalie said against his lips, but soon carried on kissing him. Natalie climbed on his lap, standing on her knees between his legs. Mark soon starting kissing her neck and started lifting up the bottom of her blouse. But Natalie remembered that she still hadn't talked to him and she really needed to talk to him. "Wait, wait Mark."
"What?" He asked taken aback.
"I really need to talk about this." She sat back down on her side of the couch. Her body was facing Mark. "We're together and that means something to me, and even though the choice is mostly between me and Amber, I really want your opinion." Mark frowned confused, not sure what was happening. "I was offered a job at UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute."
"At Pittsburgh? Pennsylvania?" He exclaimed, even if he didn't want to get upset.
Natalie almost rolled her eyes at the fact that he and Derek asked the same question, but she stayed silent as this was serious. "Yeah, it's a really good offer, but I am not going to make any decisions unless I talk to Amber about it."
"Wait, and my opinion doesn't count?" Mark asked, finally carrying on with her previous words.
"Of course, it does." Natalie reassured him. "That's why I wanted to talk to you about it. It's about a clinical trial-"
"You said that the choice is between you and Amber." He cut her off, not wanted to know anything about the job offer. "And what am I to you? Just someone you pass your time with? We're together, we're supposed to make these decisions together." He yelled and got up from the couch.
"No, I meant, that I can't ask you to move away across the country with me. I didn't mean that I am counting you out." Natalie stood up too, but she stayed calm when she saw the fight coming.
"Well, that's worse Natalie. Because I would move across the country with you. But you probably wouldn't even ask me." He argued.
"Why are you picking up a fight?" Natalie asked. She wasn't even sure if she was going to accept the job, she just wanted to talk to him about it. But there were things that still bothered Mark and those words had really set him off.
"Because I don't know where we're standing, is there even a future here? Because you said that you don't want to get married again, you said you don't want kids and I can't just continue pretending that I don't want all that. Because I do and I want it with you."
And then Natalie knew that Mark wasn't okay with the way things were going, even if he was in her life, even if she was not shutting him out, he wanted more and she wasn't ready to give it to him.
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ꜱᴏ ᴍᴀʀᴋ ʜᴀᴅɴ'ᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ɢᴀᴠᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴠɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ꜱᴛᴜꜰꜰ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇꜱ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ. ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴀᴛᴀʟɪᴇ ɪꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ꜰᴀɴ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ, ꜱᴏ ᴡᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ꜱᴇᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɢᴏᴇꜱ.
ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ɴᴀᴛᴀʟɪᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴍᴏᴠᴇ ᴀᴡᴀʏ?
ᴀʟꜱᴏ ɪ ᴀᴍ ꜱᴏʀʀʏ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱᴜᴄᴋꜱ.
ᴀɴʏᴡᴀʏꜱ, ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴡᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ! ᴍᴀɴʏ ᴋɪꜱꜱᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ.