𝟘𝟟𝕩𝟙𝟙
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Those few seconds that you feel as your whole world is crashing down, that's what Natalie was feeling that night as the words left from Mark's mouth. "I cancelled the wedding." He told her and Natalie could barely breathe, let all speak.
"What?" She managed to whisper devastated. Because she never thought that Mark would hurt her like that. And in those seconds she hated herself from trusting someone enough so he could hurt her all over again. Like her past wasn't enough.
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12 hours earlier
The morning started with Mark and Natalie on bed kissing. Natalie had her arm wrapped around Mark's neck keeping him close to her. "Oh. You're gonna make us late." Mark said when Natalie wouldn't let him go. They had to leave for work.
"Okay. Okay. Go. Go." Natalie let go of him for few seconds, before she pulled him back on bed. "Nope." She said and kissed him making him smile against her lips.
"Oh, there's gonna be plenty of that tomorrow on our wedding night." Mark promised her.
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"Mark, why are you here?" Amber asked when Natalie and Mark walked downstairs to get some breakfast.
"Where was I supposed to be?" Mark asked clueless.
"You're getting married tomorrow and it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding." Amber reminded them. She had taken the traditions a little too serious.
"Honey, we don't care about that stuff." Natalie told her daughter. "Where's your grandmother?"
"I sent her to check if we have everything ready for tomorrow." Amber smiled proudly.
"Look at you bossing everyone around." Natalie said and then her pager went off. "Oh there's an emergency at work."
"But we need to–"
"We have time Amber." Natalie cut her off. "Mark let's go."
"And then I'm bossing everyone around." Amber mumbled to herself as Mark and Natalie grabbed their coats ready to leave for work.
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"A major Seattle-area shooting. We have reports that a gunman has opened fire on students and faculty at Pacific College. Students and faculty are still in the building. I'm trying to get some answers, but what we know so far is that a gunman opened fire at Pacific College and that there are at least 20 victims."
The doctors were gathered at the lobby watching the news that had brought them all in at work earlier than usual. Something that had scarred them not that long ago.
Mark wrapped his arm around Natalie's shoulder, keeping her close to him as Natalie tried not to cry as she felt the memories of her six months ago trauma, all over her body.
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"There are 15 ambulances on the way. Maybe more to come. First one is three minutes out." Owen informed the surgeons who were gathered at the ambulance bay. Some were crying, others were trying to keep their minds sharp so they could save everyone they could. And Natalie had her hands wrapped around her stomach protectively. As if her baby was going to be taken away from her again.
"People... People..." Webber got everyone's attention, knowing that they needed words of encouragement to go through the day. "Our own trauma is fresh, and we are going to have feelings today, and there is no shame in that. What I want to say is, what we went through six months ago, they are going through right now, which makes them our brothers and sisters, which makes them fellow travelers, which makes them our own. So to the very best of our ability, we are gonna do our work first. And you're gonna have your feelings later."
"Nat..." Mark glanced at Natalie, hoping he could do something to take some of her pain away.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." Natalie reassured him, but didn't dare to look at him. She knew that one look at his eyes could make her break down.
"You could go to the pit, make sure we're stocked. Call the blood bank..." Mark suggested wanting to keep her as far away from all that as possible.
"I'm fine." Natalie argued.
"Call the blood bank." He insisted. "Tell them to give us all the O neg they have."
"You can call the blood bank. I am getting this ambulance." She snapped at him and walked at the ambulance that arrived.
"Are you okay?" Owen asked Natalie as he joined her.
"None of this is okay. How am I supposed to be okay?" Natalie asked back and turned her attention to the paramedic who walked out of the ambulance to open the back.
"Jared Swork, 20 years old, single entrance wound to the left fifth intercostal space. No exit wound. Lost vitals in front of us. This is the emergency thoracotomy we called in about." The paramedic informed them.
"You did a thoracotomy in the field?" Natalie asked.
"No, I didn't." He pointed at another person inside the ambulance. And to both attendings surprise, Cristina was in there, with her hand on the man's chest.
"I had to crack his chest." Cristina remarked.
"Can you feel the lesion?" Natalie asked as they were taking the trauma into the O.R.
"Yes, he's got a big hole in his right ventricle, but as long as I keep my hand here, I can feel a good heartbeat." Cristina informed the cardio surgeon and in that moment Natalie knew that Cristina was back.
"Cristina." Owen said worried.
"What? What?"
"You're going to the O.R.?" He asked her, not knowing in what state she was at.
"She's got her hand on the hole, Owen." Natalie pointed out.
"I'll be fine. I'll be okay." Cristina promised and joined her attending to the O.R.
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"You paged me?" Jackson joined Natalie in the O.R. and for his surprise Cristina was also there. "Yang?"
"She was at the scene."
"Oh, I was at the scene." Natalie and Cristina said at the same time as they prepped the patient to get him on bypass.
"He's got a tear on the right ventricle." Natalie informed Jackson. "And there could be torrential bleeding once we get in, so I just, uh, just wanted a little backup, just a little extra backup."
"She's not sure if I can handle it." Cristina pointed out the obvious.
"I'm ready. I'm in. I'll go ... I'll go scrub." Jackson walked out of the O.R. and into the scrub room.
"All right." Natalie said once she put her gloves on. "Let's get this boy on bypass."
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"Dr. Turner, you have a G. S. W. to the chest?" It was few hours into the surgery that Webber passed by to check into. "Dr. Yang." He noticed the young resident, not expecting to her in there.
"Dr. Yang was on the scene." Natalie informed him as she kept her mind on the surgery. Trying to forget the whole reason she was doing it. "She performed an emergency thoracotomy in the field."
"You all right, Dr. Yang?" Webber asked.
"Yes, sir. I'm staying, if that's okay." Cristina reassured him, because for the first time she was ready and she was thankful that her attending gave her the chance and time to be ready again.
"Uh, Dr. Yang, can you tell me what your patient was wearing?" Webber questioned, remembering the whole reason he came into the O.R. in the first place.
"Uh, they were cut off at the scene. It was, um, a green hoodie, jeans." Cristina remembered.
"Is he a redhead, about 20?"
"Yes. Uh, why, sir?" Natalie said as she glanced at the patient's face.
"Send me down any bullet fragments you pull out of his body." Webber tried to avoid telling them the whole truth,
"Chief, what's going on?" Natalie asked worried.
"Your patient's the shooter. Send down any bullets immediately. They're evidence." And everyone in the room froze and for a brief second Natalie prayed that she could be anywhere but there.
"Okay, um..." She paused for a moment as the chief walked out of the room. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that her baby was okay this time. "Okay. Where were we?"
"You were about to reconstruct the ventricle." Cristina broke the silence.
"Right. Right. Thank you." Natalie nodded her head. "Okay. Hand me 3-0 ethibond, please." She asked the nurse.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I can't, Dr. Turner." The woman refused to continue helping.
"You can't hand me the ethibond?"
"I can't."
"She can't save this guy is what she's saying." Jackson spoke with anger in his voice. "He just shot up dozens of people, and this surgery is gonna take all day."
"Dr. Avery." Natalie tried to calm his down.
"That's taking three doctors and four nurses away from helping other people, people who didn't shoot up a campus full of innocent kids..."
"Dr. Avery." Natalie almost yelled in her attempt to stop him. "I operated on a man that had raped three women once. I didn't like it, I wanted to leave him on the O.R. table to bleed to death, but I did the surgery, because I'm a doctor, and I took an oath. You're not a jury or a judge. If there's a life to be saved, we save that life, regardless..."
"I'm not doing this. No." Jackson shook his head and walked out of the room.
"Anyone else?" Natalie asked understanding what everyone was feeling, especially Jackson who lost his best friend that day.
"I'm sorry." About three people joined Jackson. But Cristina didn't move.
"Dr. Yang ... Are you staying?" Natalie asked her, because she also needed the support even if she was in charge of the surgery.
"Yes." Cristina assured her.
"All right. Okay, great. Uh, 3-0 ethibond, please." And they carried on the surgery.
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"Thank you for staying today, Cristina." Natalie told the resident. "I know it can't have been an easy decision."
"Know what, though? It was." Cristina and Natalie shared a look like they were thanking each other for everything, like they understood each other better than ever before.
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While Cristina and Natalie were still operating, all the surgeons gather in the gallery. Their patient was the last one. They had managed to save everyone else. So the two women were waiting for the heart to start beating again. "37 degrees. Should be any minute now." Cristina informed Natalie as she glanced at the monitor.
And then the heart started beating. Natalie and Cristina looked up at gallery at their friends and they all smiled down at them, telling them that they were there for them. Natalie tried to find Mark's face in the crowed needing to see him for just a second, so she could get the strength she needed to continue.
But he was nowhere to be found.
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When Natalie was done with the surgery, She walked inside the bathroom. She looked herself in the mirror. She surprisingly looked calm. But she felt anything but that. She felt angry, she felt disappointed and she was upset.
And most of all she needed Mark. She thought that he would find her when she was done, he must have known that she was operating on the shooter. That's what she thought. But he was nowhere. Not even when she tried to find him. No one had seen him. no one knew where he was, the car wasn't there. She tried calling him but it went straight to voicemail.
So Natalie just put some water on her face and saved her feelings for later. Because she wasn't crying in the toilets anymore.
"Amber?" She called her daughter to ask for a ride. "Is Mark there?"
"No, I haven't seen Mark since this morning." Amber replied to her mother.
"Whatever," Natalie sighed getting more frustrated than before. "Can you just come pick me up from work because I don't have a ride. He took my car."
"No, sorry mom" Amber cleared her throat. "Okay, bye!" She hung up the phone before Natalie could say anything.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Fifteen minutes and an awful taxi ride later, Natalie returned home making sure to slam the door shut the moment she walked inside. The sound of a slamming door made Mark ran at the other side of the house. And as he was expecting, Natalie was mad, outraged. "Hey, I-"
"Where the hell have you been?" Natalie cut him off before he could say anything. "Do you have the slightest idea what I've been through today? I called you and I... I didn't even have my car to return home."
"There's a perfect explanation for everything." Mark said calmly, realising that Natalie was mad and she had every reason to be, because she didn't know the whole truth.
"Okay, let's hear it." Natalie crossed her arms on her chest.
"I cancelled the wedding." Mark announced but when he realised that he shouldn't have started with that, it was a little too late.
"What?" Natalie whispered and stayed quiet as she felt the ache in her chest. But then she got more mad than before. "You changed your mind a day before the wedding? After I went out there and bought a stupid dress and you're just... are you bloody kidding me?" She yelled.
"There was a problem with the venue and it was going to be available again in a week." Mark started explaining.
"And you just completely cancelled it because you couldn't wait for a week? Was that so inconvenient for you?" But Natalie cut him off again.
"Yeah, actually." Mark stated. "I wasn't going to wait one more week to be married to you. Love, read the atmosphere." He pointed at himself and the grey suit he was wearing. "The wedding is happening today. If you still want to be married to me."
"You're wearing a suit." Natalie noticed and then she got confused.
"I am wearing a suit." Mark repeated.
"Hey, there you are." Amber walked into the living room seeing her mother there. "Sorry for earlier, I would come to get you but I had a problem lighting up the fire."
"What fire?" Natalie look more puzzled than before.
"Didn't you explain to her?" Amber looked at Mark.
"Briefly, really. She's kinda mad." Mark cleared his throat and smiled at Natalie.
"Just come on." Amber sighed and took her mother's hand, leading her upstairs. "You need to get dressed."
Natalie looked back at Mark as she walked up the stairs. "I love you." Mark called out.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Natalie was inside the bathroom getting dressed and Amber was in the bedroom explaining to her everything that went down that day while she was in the O.R. "The weather is going to be pretty bad tomorrow so the original plan to do the wedding outside got cancelled. Then, I remembered the chapel close to the lake, but the chapel is under construction, so I called Mark, because I didn't know what to do. And well, he came, he yelled at people and then I had this idea and everyone helped, everyone that wasn't busy at the hospital at least. And..." Amber paused as Natalie came out of the bathroom wearing the wedding dress. "Mom, you look... you look so beautiful."
"Thank you." Natalie smiled and fixed the dress around her waist. She still didn't have the slightest clue what Amber and Mark had planned, but she went along with it. Because she trusted them and the only thing she wanted was to be married to Mark.
"Okay, let's do the quickest make-up that has ever been done. Amber get the hair." Bella ordered as she burst through the door. "Natalie" she paused for a second taking in the image of her sister in a wedding dress. "You look incredible." She smiled as her eyes got watery. "Oh thank god for waterproof mascara." She joked and wiped the tip of her eyes carefully. "Let's get to work."
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
"Wait, who's gonna walk you down the aisle" Amber realised as her and Natalie were walking down the stairs to meet everyone in the backyard for a very romantic setting they had prepared for the wedding. It included lights, candles and well fires because it was December and it was cold and Natalie's whole back was exposed with the dress she was wearing. "It could be Derek but he is the one who's getting you guys married and..."
"Derek's getting us married?" Natalie asked surprised and fixed the back of her dress when she stepped on the last step.
"Yeah, I could get Liam or..."
"It's gotta be you." Natalie cut her off. She was going to ask her anyway. "I couldn't have done if it wasn't for your love and your support. So will you walk me down the aisle?"
"Me?" Amber asked and Natalie nodded her head confirming. "Okay, yeah, it'd be my honour." Amber chuckled happily and hugged her mother. "I am really happy for you. Thank your for teaching me that love can still exist after all the tear and the ache. You are the greatest mother I could have asked for."
"Now, don't make me cry." Natalie smiled with her eyes shining from all the love she was experiencing in that moment. She wasn't expecting her day to end like that. Not with the way things turned out. But life never stops surprising you. And Natalie was thankful for her life after a long time.
"Okay, okay, come on. I promised everyone that they wouldn't have to stand out in the cold for too long."
Amber opened the door that leaded to the backyard and Natalie came face to face with something that looked a little too magical. A small path was created with candles left and right, and at the end of that path Mark was waiting for her with Derek on his side. "Oh my God, look at what you guys did. It's so beautiful." Natalie looked at the small fire pits that were around and she smiled at her friends who were all gathered as close to the fire as possible so they wouldn't be cold.
"Perfect time to get caught on fire." Amber joked and mentally prayed that they hadn't done anything wrong with the fire pits.
"I think you are the greatest daughter I could have asked for." Natalie looked at Amber for a brief second before her eyes landed on Mark again.
"You look so..." Mark said once Natalie and Amber were standing opposite of him.
"She knows." Amber butted in. "Now, I am giving you my mother and you better take good care of her Mark." Amber warned him.
"I will, I promise." Amber nodded her head pleased and took her place in the crowd, making sure to be close to one of the fires they had lighted up so the winter's cold would be a little bit more tolerable until they could go inside for the wedding party.
Mark took Natalie's hand and intertwined their fingers. He looked at her magnetised, like he never thought that she could be more beautiful than she already was. But then again Mark found her beautiful in the morning when she woke up with her hair on her face. "I hope you're not too cold." He said quietly at her.
"I can handle a little cold." Natalie could barely feel anything. All she felt was love and magic and happiness.
"You do look just so beautiful." He kissed the top of her hand. "I'm sorry, I wasn't there, I know what happened today and I should have been there..."
"You're always here. I love you." Natalie said and Mark gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
"Okay, we haven't reached that part yet." Derek cleared her throat making them come apart. Everyone laughed at his comment.
"Well, hurry up." Mark complained.
Derek shook his head and started with the traditional speech, giving it his own little twist. "Dear friends and family, we gathered here today to freeze to death and also join two people we all never thought that would be a good match, but here they are proving us wrong. Natalie, Mark, believe me when I say that after all this time, I could never picture you with anyone else but each other. The way you love, challenge and support each other is just... inspirational. "
"Thank you." Natalie mouthed to Derek with a small smile at her face.
"Do you Mark, take Natalie to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do." Mark spoke and his eyes never left Natalie's, not even for a second.
"And do you Natalie, take Mark to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"
"I do." Natalie could feel her heart pounding so loudly in her chest from all the excitement of the moment. Because of the way Mark looked at her and the promise that he was going to look at her like that for the rest of his life.
"And now the rings. Who has the rings?" Derek questioned. As a best man, he was supposed to have the rings, but things changed the moment Mark asked him to be the one who was getting them married.
"Oh that would be me, sorry." Amber two few steps closer to the couple and handed the small box to Derek. "Here." Natalie looked between Amber and Mark, wondering if that meant that Amber was Mark's best man. And it meant exactly that.
"This ring is a promise of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you." Mark put the ring on her finger.
"I give you this ring, as I give to you all that I am, and accept from you, all that you are. Let it be a reminder that I am always by your side." Natalie put the ring on Mark's fingers and as they exchanged their vows they looked at Derek anticipating for the moment they were waiting from the start.
"By the power vested in me by the internet thirty minutes ago, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Derek took a small pause just to mess with them.
"Say it." Mark muttered at his best friend annoyed.
"You may kiss your bride." Derek exclaimed and Mark kissed his wife. And Natalie kissed her husband. And everyone in the crowed cheered happy at their happiness.
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Few hours later, everyone was inside the warmth of the house, celebrating Mark's and Natalie's wedding.
Natalie found herself outside, the fires were turned off, but few of the candles were still lighted up so she sat down there making sure to put a coat on this time.
"Pineapple juice for my wife." Mark joined her seconds later with a glass of wine and something more exotic and non alcoholic for Natalie.
"Thank you my husband." Natalie flashed him a smile as he sat down next to her.
"And an extra jacket, because I want both of you to stay warm." Mark gave her a knitted jacket to put over her dress and under her coat.
"You don't like my wedding dress?" Natalie gasped offended.
"Oh, I love it. I am certainly going to enjoy taking it off later." Mark whispered in her ear.
"Mom and Bella are leaving tomorrow. And not to mention there's Amber." Natalie reminded him.
But Mark had everything planned as usually. "I booked us a room out of town. So we are not kicking anyone out, but you should pack some clothes, because in an hour we're leaving for a two hour trip. And the weather is getting bad, so we might just stay there a little bit longer than planned..." He informed her and left small kisses at her exposed neck.
"Aren't you creative when it comes to getting laid?" Natalie laughed feeling ticklish from his beard.
"Wait until you see what I have planned for you." Mark raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"All those promises and we've been married for two hours." She put her hand on his arm caressing him softly, knowing how much he enjoyed it.
"I am planning on fulfilling every single one for the rest of my life."
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
ᴡᴇʀᴇɴ'ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ ꜱᴏ ᴡᴏʀʀɪᴇᴅ? ꜱᴇᴇ? ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ'ꜱ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ <3
ɪ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ꜱᴏ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ...
ɪ ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʙɪᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʙᴛᴡ