𝟘𝟟𝕩𝟘𝟜
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
It was already too dark when Mark and Natalie got back home from the hospital. They both had a tiring day, like always, but at the end of their shift Mark had a surprise for Natalie. "I can't believe you bought me a ring." She shook her head as she got out of the car. It was only minutes ago that Mark appeared a small velvet box in front of her.
"I may have missed the chance to ask the question, but I wanted to give you this as a promise that I will love, respect and protect you for the rest of my life. I want you to have a piece of me with you, always." He told her and Natalie couldn't even think about rejecting the ring. She never wanted to take it out.
"That doesn't change the fact that I asked the question. Derek is going to make fun of you for the rest of your life." Natalie continued as she unlocked the door. The ring in her finger shining.
Mark slid his hands on her waist and whispered to her ear as they walked inside the house. "I may know some ways to make you keep this a secret."
In the kitchen the teenager was there and she looked up at them when she heard the door. She made a disgusted face when she saw them a little too close and decided to announce herself before she'd see anything she didn't want to. "Kid in the house, don't scar me for life, please."
Both adults pulled away from each other and looked at Amber with an apologetic look. But then Natalie was confused, because it was Saturday and on Saturdays Amber was out since the previous night usually, sleeping over to her friends' houses. "Amber? What are you doing here?" Natalie asked.
"I'm sorry, was I not supposed to be at my house?" Amber rolled her eyes.
"I swear, you two are the same." Mark commented as he grabbed a glass and poured some tab water on it.
"It's Saturday, I don't remember the last Saturday you spend at home." Natalie said, deciding to ignore the remark.
"I decided that I should pick a wedding dress for you." Amber informed her and pointed the magazine on her hands, making sure that Mark wouldn't see. "I found this gold, boho one and I think you'll look great with it."
"Amber..."
"Let me see." Mark tried to take a peek, but Amber closed the magazine quickly.
"No, if none of you is going to keep the traditions, I will." She argued. "I also found this perfect place, it's by a lake and it's going to be so romantic."
"Amber what you doing?" Natalie asked. When they announced to her that they were getting married, Natalie knew that she was going to be supportive, like she always was. But she didn't expect that. She didn't expect a wedding planner.
"I am helping out with the wedding. I am so happy for you guys. By the way are Arizona and Callie going to be your bridesmaids? And aunt Bella maybe? Because I should choose the right colour for them." Amber rambled, making Mark and Natalie share a look. "What?" Amber asked when she noticed the look on their faces. "I have nothing better to do with my life, okay? Let me have this one."
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"I am worried about Amber." Mark finally said when him and Natalie were alone at their bedroom.
"See? And you thought I was overacting." Natalie remarked as she changed into her pyjamas.
"I am not going to say you were right because you want to hear it." Mark rolled his eyes at his soon-to-be wife.
"I don't need you to, I know that I was right." Natalie commented as she lied on bed next to him. She smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss, basically telling him that he was going to deal with that for the rest of his life.
"Okay, seriously" Mark said in a serious tone, "the wedding can wait if you need some time to make sure that everything is okay with Amber. And I want to help, yeah? I know I am not her father but I want to help her as much as I can." Natalie smiled at him as he continued speaking. "And honestly about the wedding, if you really don't want to wear a dress it's fine. I'll marry you any way."
"I love you." Natalie said making Mark's face broke into a smile.
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"Hey, good morning." Arizona greeted Natalie the next morning when she saw her at the corridor. Arizona wasn't aware of the wedding that was going to happen, not just yet, because the couple had only told Derek and they were going to share the news with the rest of their friends during the week.
"Good morning." Natalie smiled at her. "I need a favour. I mean, I wouldn't normally ask, but Amber got so excited and she wanted this to be a real wedding. She said she'd plan the whole thing and I specifically said that I don't want anything much..."
"Wait, who's getting married?" Arizona cut her off confused.
"I am. Mark and I... yeah I should have started with that." Natalie realised.
"Congratulations!" Arizona exclaimed, trying to sound excited, but she wasn't a big fan of Mark.
"Thank you! Mark wanted the four of us to go out tonight so we could share the news with you." Natalie informed her as they started walking towards the nurse's station.
"Oh, sounds like fun, but I can't." Arizona cleared her throat, making Natalie understand that she was lying.
"You can't because you don't like Mark?" Natalie asked.
"I like Mark." Arizona argued.
"Please Arizona. Besides, I need to do something more fun than dictating charts all night." Natalie let out a yawn. Her night was cut shortly when Jackson paged her for a patient, resulting her to sleep lot of hours less than she was going to.
"Well, you know, there's a thing called a resident that can do that for you." The peds surgeon pointed out at the two women reached the nurse's station.
"Yeah, and my resident is Avery." Natalie sighed. She appreciated how Jackson had saved their lives the day of the shooting, but she missed Cristina more than ever.
"He still knocking over trays in the O.R.?" Arizona questioned.
"Yes, and scribbling patient orders in his third-grade scrawl and paging me in the middle of the night for patients who are nowhere near dying." Natalie shook her head and took a sip of her coffee.
"At least he's nice to look at." Arizona pointed out.
"True." Natalie agreed and both of them were oblivion of the fact that the resident was standing right beside them and that he had heard everything.
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"Hey babe, I was looking for you." Mark called out when he spotted Natalie. He gave her a kiss on her head and rubbed her waist.
"Mark, I don't have time right now, I need to get to surgery-" Natalie began saying making Mark give her a confused look.
"Time about what?" He asked. "I just wanted to tell you that I scored a table at the new sushi place that's impossible to get in to."
"No way." Natalie smiled at his excitement. "I was craving for some sushi." She said and then spotted Callie and Arizona passing by. "Hey guys, how are we feeling about sushi tonight?"
"Great." Callie smiled excited.
"8:30, table for 4." Mark informed them.
"Oh, you know, I don't ... I don't eat sushi." Arizona said.
"Yeah, you do." Callie argued.
"Yeah, I did. I did, but then I got sick after I ate one of those prepackaged rolls at the cafeteria. Bad memory. You three go." Arizona lied and both Callie and Natalie gave her a look.
"I'll change the reservation to three." Mark said and they all continued working.
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Natalie was working on a patient along with Meredith and Jackson that day. Lila, the patient, came into the ER after being in a laundromat into which a woman ran her car. Lila also had Huntington's Disease. "Lila, your C.T. shows that you have a ruptured diaphragm, so you're gonna need surgery." Natalie informed the patient. "So how will we proceed, Dr. Avery?"
"Part of your stomach's gone into your chest. So we'll place your stomach back and repair the diaphragm with mesh." Jackson said, pleased with his answer.
Natalie kept a straight face and turned to Meredith. "Dr. Grey, do you agree?"
"No, I would do a direct repair with suture instead of mesh because the defect is so small." Meredith replied.
"That's right. All right, Dr. Grey, draw pre-op labs. You're scrubbing in." Natalie announced and Meredith gave Jackson an apologetic look. "Lila, do you need us to call anyone for you?"
"No. It's just me. But I would like it if he would wait by my bedside." The woman looked at Jackson.
"Yeah, get in line." Natalie joked. "All right. I'll see you in the O.R." Natalie smiled at the patient and walked out of the room.
Jackson didn't lose the chance to follow the attending, wanting to also be part of the surgery. "Dr. Turner." He called out at the surgeon stopped and looked at him. "Um, did you need me to scrub in?"
"The question should be 'may I scrub in?' Like you want to." Natalie corrected him like she had been doing for the last weeks. And she was tired of it.
"Right. It's may... may I?" Jackson changed his question.
"No, I think I've got all the hands I need." Natalie turned around to leave.
Jackson made a face at what he was about to do, but he did it anyway. "Dr. Turner..." He called out and Natalie looked at him again. "I know. Okay, I've been off my game lately, and you've suffered because of it. But right now, I need you to give me another chance. Okay? Please. Look, I want to scrub in, okay? Please." He flashed her a charming smile, not giving up until he heard the word yes.
Natalie hesitated, taken aback by the smile Jackson was giving her and his flirty tone. But she didn't want to think much of it. So she decided to give him another chance. "Um... Okay. okay."
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"You seriously not coming for dinner?" Natalie found Arizona right before her surgery.
"Sorry." Arizona apologised and shook her head.
"Do I also need to look for a different bridesmaid?" Natalie asked, trying not to seem annoyed just yet. But she needed some support.
"I don't know Nat."
"You don't like Mark. Admit it."
"I like Mark. I like him. I do. We're just, you know... We're different." Arizona made up an excuse, knowing far well that it wouldn't work at Natalie.
"Oh, my God." She exclaimed annoyed this time. "How are you different? Tell me, 'cause I don't- I don't think you actually are. I'm waiting."
"Look... It's not that I don't like Mark. It's just that he's... Mark. You know, what you see is what you get. Besides, you're marrying him, so what do I care if his abs are where his soul should be?" Arizona shrugged.
"Well, I care, because you are one of my oldest friends and I want you to get along with the person I want to spend the rest of my life with." Natalie stated. "Look, I know how much someone can dislike Mark. I didn't like him a bit when I first met him. We would be having a conversation and he'd stare at my boobs. He'd start with my face, but then somewhere along the way, he'd get distracted and end up on my boobs. And I know how annoying that is and I know how much you hate it. But he's not that guy anymore. I mean, he still stares at my boobs but whatever. He also makes me breakfast everyday because he knows that if he doesn't, I'll feed myself coffee and only coffee. And he was really patient with me when I couldn't commit myself to him. And he is so good with Amber and I know when you first look at him, you think that guy is not cut out to be a father. But you know, I want to have kids with him. A year ago, I didn't want any of that. But he changed my mind because he is just so good."
Natalie sighed when she finished with her speech and Arizona was only looking at her guilty. "Look, whatever, it's not like I can change your mind. I won't change your mind if you don't give him a chance. But do whatever you want. If I've learnt one thing is to never beg people for anything."
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At surgery the three doctors were discussing the fact that Lila was travelling around the world, as she knew that she didn't have much time to leave and she wanted to have the best time of her life. "I'd probably retire early and spend every minute possible with the people I love. I'd probably move to my mother's hometown in Ireland, I don't want parties and travelling." Natalie commented what she would have done if she was at Lila's place. "Suction." She ordered.
"I'd do what Lila did. I'd quit, sell the house, and bum around the globe." Meredith said.
"And how would Derek feel about that?" Natalie chuckled knowing that Derek wouldn't really be into that.
"Ah, he could come along if he wanted." Meredith laughed.
"There's something sad about that, though." Jackson stated. "Wandering around, living in hotels... That's ... that's not a life. This, though, even if I was gonna die tomorrow, I'd still want to do it." He said keeping a dreamily voice. And then he looked at Natalie, thinking that his plan was going to continue working since she let him scrub in. "Can I try the diaphragm repair?" He asked her, his eyes piercing through hers.
"What?" Natalie asked, taken aback by the intense look for a second.
"The repair, can I... Can I try it?" Jackson insisted.
"No, you can't." Natalie said strictly and then cleared her throat not wanting to make a scene when she was operating on someone's chest. "I'm ... I'm good, though. Thank you."
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So once the surgery was over, Natalie decided to talk to Jackson about the incident at the O.R. hoping that it was all in her head. "Dr. Avery, I need you to..." She said as she entered the resident's lounge, but once she saw Jackson shirtless she stopped. "Oh, I'm... I'm sorry. I'll come back." She said.
"No, no, no, please." Jackson stopped her and made sure that every part of his chest was in display. "It's, uh, it's cool. What do you need?"
And Natalie noticed and decided to go along with it, see how far he could take it and how much he disrespected her and most of all himself. "Right. Are you ready to go to the on-call room Avery?"
"What?" Jackson's eyes went wide, not expecting that. He thought that some shameless flirting would help him, but nothing more than that.
"I'm doing a cabg tomorrow." Natalie continued. "So tell me all the things you will do to make me let you scrub in. Are you going to flirt some more? Are you going to flash your smile at me and tell me how pretty I look? Or do you want to take our relationship to the next level?"
"Dr. Turner I-" Jackson realised that the attending didn't mean any of what she was saying and that she was annoyed at him.
"Do you even know how to do a cabg?" Natalie cut him off. "Speak. How do I start?"
"Um, divide the sternum, open the thymus, incise the pericardium, then take down the mammary artery with the cautery." Jackson replied.
"Bypass has started. Now what?"
"Cross-clamp the aorta, instill antegrade cardioplegia, followed by retrograde- now I want to take him off bypass. Rewarm, check the flow of grafts, vent the root..."
"That's enough." Natalie stopped him. "I'm relieved. You're actually more than the pretty face you make yourself out to be. You knocked over a tray in my O.R. You get the answer wrong sometimes. Your penmanship needs work. None of these are fireable offenses. But flirting?" Natalie made a face. "Flirting into my surgery, batting your eyes while I'm inside a chest cavity? I should go to the chief and have you fired right now. I'm not gonna do that this time. Now put your shirt on and take care of these post-ops." She threw a folder at him. "And show yourself some respect for fuck's sake!"
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Natalie tried to ignore how upset she was when she found Mark and Callie. She was completely mad at Jackson and she hoped that she handled it well enough and it wouldn't happen again. "Hey, are you okay?" Mark asked when he noticed the look on her face.
"I just..." Natalie shook her head and decided against telling Mark. "Yeah, everything's cool. We can go."
"Change of plans." Arizona appeared and the three of them turned to look at her. "Mark, you're taking me to dinner tonight."
"What?" Mark asked confused.
"We're going on a date, you and I, alone." Arizona informed him and Natalie gave her a grateful look.
"Is this to make up for the fact that you don't like me?" Mark asked.
"Mm. You told him?" Arizona looked between Callie and Natalie.
"They didn't need to." Mark said before either of them could reply. "Fine. Let's go, but you are buying." Mark agreed.
"Thank you." Natalie mouthed at Arizona. "I love you." She then told Mark in which he replied with a kiss, telling her that he loved her back.
"You, uh, you still want sushi?" Mark asked Arizona as they walked away.
"I hope that goes well." Callie commented as they watched their significant others walk away. "You want to get a drink?"
"Bloody hell, yes." Natalie sighed. "You know Avery was flirting with me earlier. Should I tell Mark?" Natalie wondered as the two of them walked outside.
"Oh no, don't, never." Callie shook her head.
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"There you are!" Natalie said when Mark entered their room. She was already in bed reading a book. "Did you guys have fun?" She asked as Mark approached her for a quick kiss before he started changing to get into bed with her.
"We did" Mark nodded his head pleased. "She even said that she can't wait to be your bridesmaid." He informed her and once he was all set he lied on bed beside her. He rested his head on her lap and Natalie put the book on the side.
"You know" Natalie ran her fingers through his hair. She paused and just looked at his face for few seconds.
"Hmm" Mark hummed, enjoying her caressing his hair. He closed his eyes and waited for her to continue her thoughts.
"I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren't good enough. It wasn't your fault. You are amazing. I'm thinking that if I've let you in sooner, I'd save myself a lot of heartache."
Mark opened his eyes again and looked at her. "It's okay, you weren't ready."
"But I'm ready now." Natalie continued. "And I am going to wear the damn wedding dress. I am going to do it right, because you are the right one for me."
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ᴍᴀᴛᴀʟɪᴇ ʜᴀꜱ ᴍʏ ᴡʜᴏʟᴇ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. <3
ʜᴏᴡ ꜱᴏᴏɴ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇᴅᴅɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ?