[ back to normal ]
"Dad. I've told you. I'm fine. I really am. You don't need to worry, okay?" I said, as I grabbed his suitcase from him.
"Okay, but Brandy, I can carry it myself," He insisted.
"This is your vacation, your break. You get a break from working," I told him.
"Well, I didn't come over here for a vacation. I came to take care of you and make sure you're okay," He told me, as we walked away from the luggage claim and made our way to my car.
"I don't need you to take care of me," I frowned, as the doors slid open as we approached them.
The hairs on my arm stood up as I was met with a cool Seattle breeze, as we walked out. I walked to my car and opened the trunk, putting my dad's suitcase in the back.
"You know, it's okay to feel scared or upset about what happened," My dad said, once we were in the car.
I sighed, "Dad. It's really fine. I'm over it. I'm okay. I'm okay, emotionally and physically. My friends are okay now. Mark is okay too. It's okay now."
"Okay," He nodded, getting the idea that I was done talking about it, "So, I'm finally going to meet this Mark guy?"
"Yes, you're finally going to meet 'this Mark guy,'" I rolled my eyes.
"Hm. I already don't like him," My dad pursed his lips.
"Dad, come on," I groaned.
"Oh, I'm joking. You've always had a great taste in boys. Better than that sister of yours," My dad shook his head.
"Very true. Remember that geeky kid with the mullet and those ugly glasses?" I laughed.
"Yeah, I think he had a retainer too. Total nerd. He was in the calculus club," My dad said.
I laughed and shook my head, "Total nerd."
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it sooner," My dad said, "I saw it that night on the news. I wanted so badly for you to be home. I needed you home."
"Dad, you don't need to apologize," I frowned, as I flipped the wipers on, as drops started to fall on my windshield, "You're here now. I'm here. Everything's back to normal."
°°
"Sounds big. I'm betting MVC. Multiple MVC," Alex said, as we all watched our pagers go off on the table as we got dressed.
"Or an apartment fire," Jackson speculated, his eyes not leaving the pager.
"When is the staring gonna stop?" April asked, as she looked at all of the new interns, staring us down.
"As soon as the novelty wears off. Just ignore them," Jackson said, pulling his shirt over his head
"Owen washed my hair. And he told me to eat this grainy nut bar," Cristina said, holding up an unopened package with a granola bar in it, "And he booked me into surgery this morning."
"But trauma guy didn't clear you," Meredith furrowed her brows.
"Yeah, but he said he'll figure that out,"Cristina said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yes. Okay, I am the crazy one. I am the one who freaks out and screams at people," Lexie paused, realizing the irony of her statement, "Like that."
"Hey. Go gawk at each other for a while," I ordered them.
They quickly got to their feet and ran out of the locker room.
"Are you okay?" Meredith asked Lexie.
"Would everybody please just stop asking if I am okay? Okay?" Lexie looked between the three of us, before storming out of the room.
"Are you back yet?" I asked Meredith.
She rolled her eyes.
"Still?" Cristina asked.
"I resorted to tears. I wore bad mascara so he wouldn't miss them," She complained.
"What-what did Derek say?" Cristina asked.
"Oh, I will be avoiding him today," Meredith shook her head.
"So you don't have to talk to him about the baby thing?" I leaned against the cubby and crossed my arms.
"No," Meredith shook her head.
"Oh, because you left him in the pokey," Cristina said.
"Yeah."
"Wait? What? Derek's in jail? Why? How long? Did you tell him not to drop the soap?"
"Not important right now. Did you get cleared?" Meredith asked.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the folded up yellow slip. I gave Meredith a smirk as I wiggled it in her face.
"No way! I thought you'd be last," Cristina frowned.
"You just gotta give Perkins what he wants," I shrugged my shoulders, "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta find surgery before this withdrawal kills me."
°°
"Holy crap," I said, as I scrunched my nose, walking into the elevator, "Is that new cologne? I'm sorry I hope you didn't spend a lot on that because it smells like fucking piss."
"It is fucking piss," Derek said in a low tone, and rolled his eyes.
"Oh that's right," I started to laugh, "You're a felon now! How was the slammer? I've always wanted to know what it's like. I mean not enough to actually go there, but I've wondered a little. You made sure not to drop the soap right?"
Derek let out a loud sigh and the elevator doors opened.
"Well this is my stop. We'll talk later. I got a bunch of questions for you. I'd talk now but I need to find a surgery. See ya!" I called at Derek before I ran down to the ER, excited for the multiple MVC, apartment fire, or whatever wonderful surprise was waiting for me.
"Hey, Alex," I walked up to him, as he was examining a patient, "What do we got?"
"Lighting strike," He said, not looking up from his patient.
"Oh all this for one lighting strike," I frowned, noticing Alex had already taken the patient.
"Yeah, there's multiple," He said.
"Holy fuck, really? You're kidding," My jaw dropped.
"Totally serious," Alex said, "Sloan and Torres got one in trauma two," Alex said.
Before Alex could say anything more I took off and headed straight to the room. Mark looked up to me as I walked in. I smiled at him, as I grabbed a pair of gloves and a trauma gown. He gave a small smile back before continuing to examine the patient. He was acting a bit strange but I decided to just brush it off. Besides, it was my first day back and I needed a surgery.
"Hey, Kerry. A friend of yours, Russ Gammie, is asking about you," Meredith said, after walking in.
"How's Warren Griffith? Is he okay? Did he ask about me?" Kerry asked, clearly worried about this Warren and not giving much attention to Russ.
"Which one is Warren?" Meredith asked, confused.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. I-," A man burst in and pushed Lexie and Meredith out of the way to get to Kerry.
"Who's this, Russ or Warren?" Mark asked.
"Mitch?" Kerry frowned.
"Mitch now?" Meredith asked.
"Man, she's pulling all the hoes," I said quietly, earning a look from Mark and Callie.
"Sorry," I quickly apologized.
"Hey, have you seen Warren? Is he okay?" Kerry asked Mitch.
"Kerry, I gotta say this," Mitch glowed as he sat down next to her bedside, "We both could've died out there. That lightning bolt was like a one-in-a-million shot, so I gotta take one, too. I love you, Kerry, and if we get through this, I want you to know, I will love you forever."
Mark looked between the four of us with a confused face.
"What?" Kerry asked as if she couldn't hear him.
"Sir, I'm sorry. If you're not being treated, then you're gonna have to go to the waiting room. We'll keep you posted," Lexie said, showing him out.
"Kerry," Mark looked at her, "can you hear me?"
"Yeah, I can hear you fine. I just didn't want him to know that I heard that," Kerry said with wide eyes.
"You're a popular girl," Meredith told her.
"No. I'm sure he's just overexcited. It is like a one-in-a-million thing," Kerry brushed it off.
"Actually, it's more like a 1-in-6, 250 kind of thing. Lightning kills between 150 to 300 people every year in the U. S. alone," Lexie rambled.
"Lexie," Meredith scolded her.
"Well, no, I mean, it's-it's still rare. I mean, it's not, like, say, handgun death. I mean, that's-that's 1 in 325," She continued to ramble.
"Lexie," Meredith looked at her, "You okay?
"Yeah. No, I'm saying- I'm saying she's lucky. That's ... you know, hey, yay, you," She nodded and gave a fake smile, before motioning to the door, "I'm just gonna, uh yeah." Lexie walked out the door.
"Can someone just please check on Warren for me? I need to know if he's okay," Kerry asked again.
"Is Warren your boyfriend?" Meredith asked.
"No. He's- No," She shook her head.
"Okay," Meredith said, deciding to stop asking questions.
"Well, you've got two burst eardrums, but they will heal themselves," Mark told her.
"Great. Thank you," She smiled.
"Does that mean there's no surgery? Can I go? 'Cause Dereks here somewhere, so he might have something," I said, my gloves snapping as I slipped them off, getting ready to head for the door.
"Maybe you should stick with me. Kerry will need a workup," Mark said, not looking up at me.
I wanted so badly to protest and call him out but I didn't. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but something was definitely up.
"You're still free for dinner tonight right?" I asked, "My dad's really excited to meet you."
"Yeah," He nodded.
"Great," I smiled.
°°
"Warren? You love Warren?" Russ frowned, as the two of them sat by her bedside, as I watched Lexie clean out her ear.
"Warren's bald, Kerry," Mitch said, obviously not getting what she saw in the bald man.
"I know that, Mitch," She rolled her eyes, 'You guys don't love me. I'm a girl who's down with flag football, so you think you love me. Plus, we got struck by lightning, so that's-" She stopped herself as she started to cry.
"Nice," Russ sighed, "You made her cry."
"Oh, crap. You know, sorry. You know, Warren's a good guy. He could probably get a hairpiece or something and-" Mitch quickly tried to fix it.
"She's crying because everything's changed. Okay?" Lexie interjected, "Lightning struck, and everything changed. You were her team. She was one of you, and-and now you're just-you're looking at her differently.
"Um, n-no. I'm crying because I'm worried about Warren. Could you please find out if he's okay?"
"I'll go. You can handle this right?" I asked Lexie.
"Yeah, I got it," She nodded.
"Great thanks. I'll get you an update on Warren as soon as I can," I assured Kerry before I stepped out to look for some cases.
°°
"Really?" I furrowed my brows at the sight of Cristina and Meredith slumped down in a chair in the waiting room, their eyes fixed on the TV screen.
"This is what I'm cleared to do. I'm cleared to solve this puzzle," Meredith shrugged.
I sat down and watched as a lady spun the wheel.
"I'd like to buy an vowel."
"Don't buy a vowel, you idiot," Meredith shook her head as the lady proceeded to buy an I.
"Scarlet pimpernel," Cristina said.
"How did you-there was one c and an m?" Meredith looked at her friend with wide eyes, "How did she-?"
"I've learned not to question her anymore," I shrugged.
"Have you talked to Derek yet about the-" Cristina started to to ask.
"Today's not the day," Meredith shook her head.
"Right. He just got out of the joint. Let him ease back into society," Cristina nodded.
'You ready? You up for this?" Jackson asked, sitting next to me.
"Up for what?" Alex asked, joining us.
"Teddy's rebuilding a woman's atrium out of a sack of cow meat," Cristina answered.
"Ooh, you need anyone else on that?" I asked.
"But you're not nervous at all?" Jackson asked.
"You're lucky. I get to watch an intestinal perf repair. Bailey won't let me operate till I get this bullet out," Alex looked down at his chest.
"I'll take it out. I'll cut it out right now," Meredith said, almost jumping out of her seat.
"You sound like a junkie," Alex shook his head, "What the hell is a pimpernel?"
"You're supposed to be checking on Warren," Lexie frowned at me.
"Oh right. Yeah, that," I remembered.
"Intestinal perf. Going to surgery," Alex answered.
"Intestinal perf. Going to surgery," I repeated to Lexie, earning myself an eye roll from her.
"I'm never gonna operate again. Everyone thinks I'm gonna carve my initials into a patient," Lexie sighed.
"I'll never operate again because one man thinks I'm crazy," Meredith slumped back into her chair.
"Hey, guys, look at this. Look at this," Jackson said, pointing at the TV.
"A bystander's cell phone captured the shocking end to a flag football practice in lawton park this morning."
"Shit," I said to myself as I watched the video replay.
"Oh! Oh! Oh, my ... Ooh."
"We've got that amazing footage, plus all your news, traffic, and weather, coming up after this."
"Oh, my God. She never saw it coming. No. No. No, no, no," Lexie muttered as she ran off.
"$50 says she back in the cuckoo's nest by lunch," Cristina said, before sitting up and walking off.
I did the same as I saw Mark walk past. I decided I'd try and talk to him and see if he was still acting strange.
"Hey," I said as I joined him.
"Hi," he gave me a small smile, staying tuned in on his pager.
"You're not nervous about dinner at all? My dad's really not scary or anything."
"No, not at all," He shook his head and clipped his pager back to his belt.
"Okay, good," I smiled, "I was a little worried. It seems like something's up."
"No. What makes you think that?" He gave me a confused face.
"I don't early. Earlier in the trauma room," I shrugged.
"Everything is good," He nodded.
"Okay, I'm glad," I said, still not totally convinced.
"Hey, how was your night in jail?" He walked up to Derek, leaving me behind, eager to see his friend, "You shank someone right off the bat? You gotta let the other cons know not to mess with you."
"That's not funny. They almost charged me with reckless endangerment," Derek sighed.
"I'm sorry. What? You mean that's where you've been all morning, in jail for reckless endangerment?" Webber took off his glasses and closed his chart.
"You fucked up now," I shook my head and took a seat in one of the open chairs at the nurse's station, ready to see what happened next.
"Nobody was endangered," Derek told him.
"I can't have this, Derek. I won't," Webber said in his angry, crabby, old man voice, which Derek seemed to be immune to.
"Have you ever been over 120 miles an hour before? Richard, have you ever been over 80?" Derek asked.
He played that one off nice.
"It's fun. It's really fun. I mean, especially when you go through a corner like that at that speed, and," Derek started to go on.
Mark let out a breath and shook his head, playing along with Derek.
" ...And you're not sure if the rearend's gonna stick or not, and you lose control, and then you put the throttle down, and the car corrects a little bit, and you take it to the limit and you don't lose control, you just grab it. Have you ever done it?"
"Uh, uh, no, Derek, no," Webber shook his head, unsure what was going on with Derek.
"You want to? I'll take you. You should," Derek told him, "It's really great. Let's go right now. Let's do it. Come on."
"Nothing better than peer pressure," I marveled, "Usually it's more like, 'Hey Brandy, smoke this blunt. You'll love it.' Then it turns into, 'Brandy try a line, it's amazing.' Next they'll be telling you, 'Just one more needle, you'll be fine.' And then you've tried every drug under the sun. It's a trap, Richard. Yeah 80 doesn't sound bad, but soon hell get you going 90, 100, 125, all the way to like 250 or something."
Derek and Mark gave me a weird look before Webber spoke up, "I'd like that," he nodded his head with a slight smile, ignoring all that I had said.
"Yeah? Right? Good. We're going," Derek said, before grabbing the man's arm and lightly pulling him away until he went willingly with him.
"You just peer pressured The Chief," I turned to Mark, "He just peer pressured The Chief. Thee Chief."
"Hey, all that you said. You didn't...?" Mark furrowed his eyebrows.
"No," I shook my head, "I mean I used to be a big pothead in high school but that's it. I would've told you. Okay?"
"Okay," He nodded.
"Are you sure there's nothing bugging you?" I frowned.
"Yes, I'm fine," He nodded, "Can you check on Kerry please?"
"Lexie's on it. I meant to ask Derek about any surgeries, but I forgot. I'm see if I can get on that intestinal perf. It shouldn't take too long, so I'll be done before dinner."
"I assigned you to Kerry," Mark said, pushing himself up from the counter, "Lexie has her own cases."
"She can handle it. There was no reason for both of us to be on Kerry's case," I told him.
"You had no right to take yourself off that case. Have you seen Lexie lately? You really think she could handle it on her own?" Mark started to raise his voice.
"I'm not doing this here," I shook my head, "I'm not being that couple that fights at work."
"This is about work. I'm your boss and you didn't listen to me. I make those decisions! You don't!" Mark started to yell.
"I gotta go," I told him, before covering my mouth and running towards the bathroom. I pushed the door open and ran into the nearest stall. If I was any second later, I would've vomited all over the bathroom floor.
"Holy shit," Cristina said, as she looked at me laying next to the toilet, "Are you hungover?"
"No! I'm not hungover. I do wish I had some alcohol right now though," I sighed, "Could you get me some water please?"
Cristina nodded and went over to the sink and filled up a cup for me, "Careful," she said as she handed me the cup, "You better not get me sick with whatever you have."
"It's probably because of that awful take out Mark and I got last night," I said, before taking a sip of water.
"Oh god," Meredith said, as she walked in, "What the hell happened to you?"
"The shitty Chinese place on fifth," I shook my head, "Mark and I had it last night."
Tears started to fill my eyes.
"What's wrong?" Meredith frowned, "Someone didn't die again?"
"Please stop crying. It's making me really uncomfortable," Cristina cringed.
"I'm sorry. It's just-just," I wiped my eyes, "Mark is being a huge dick. I don't know why. Also I miss George and Izzie. And lighting could strike any second and kill us."
"What the hell," Cristina shook her head.
"I'm sorry, I guess maybe I've been a little moody lately. The shooting's been messing with me," I wiped my eyes.
"Wait," Meredith thought for a second.
"Oh my god," Cristina said, looking to Meredith, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Moody, puking, what about-" Meredith stopped herself before punching me in the boob.
"Ow! What the fuck!" I yelled, getting mad.
"Tender breasts, mood swings, and vomiting are all signs of-"
"Did you miss your period?" Cristina asked me cutting Meredith off.
My eyes widened as I caught on to what they were implying, "You guys are fucking crazy. I'm not pregnant."
°°
"Well, I can't pee with you guys standing right outside watching me!" I yelled at the three who stood outside the small bathroom, as I tried to pee in a cup.
"Just hurry up and fricking pee!" Cristina yelled.
"I can't believe Sloan knocked you up," Alex shook his head.
"Alex!" I yelled at him, "Keep your voice down."
"Don't tell me your pulling a Meredith and not telling him," Cristina said.
I groaned as I went to wash my hands.
"I'm going to tell him, just not today," Meredith said.
"Right, the whole reckless endangerment thing," I could hear Cristina through the door.
"Is it clear?" I asked before I opened the door.
"You're good," Alex told me.
"Here, take this up please. I gotta check on Kerry before Mark crucifies me," I placed the cup in Alex's hand.
"I don't want this," He said throwing it to Cristina.
"Hey! Be careful with my pee!" I yelled, getting a couple looks from people passing by.
"Pregnant pee," Cristina said.
"I'm not pregnant!"
"I bet this pee says otherwise," Alex said, "Looks like pregnant pee to me."
°°
"See? You went down before the lightning even struck," Lexie had pulled the video up on a laptop and was showing it to Kerry.
"Oh, my God. Warren. I never even saw him coming. Is he okay?" Kerry asked.
"He's in surgery now," I told her.
"Kerry, your new scan shows an epidural hematoma. It's blood in your spine that's compressing your spinal cord," Derek informed her.
"We didn't see that before?" Mark asked.
"Probably too small to see, and it's been bleeding for hours. It's an easy procedure to relieve the pressure," Derek answered.
"And I'll walk again?" She asked.
"You'll be out on the field in no time," Derek assured her, then turned to me, "Book an O.R. I'll see you in there."
"Seriously?" I asked, not believing I was actually going to get in the OR.
"Yes," Derek nodded, before the three of us walked out.
"Derek," Mark increased his stride to catch up to him, "Are you sure she should be doing this?"
"Kerry needs the surgery-"
"No. I don't think Brandy's ready for surgery," Mark said.
I scoffed, "Are you serious?"
"Mark," Derek stopped and looked at him.
"That's why you've been acting so weird today? I'm ready for this surgery. I know I wasn't cleared right away like you were, but I'm ready now. I can do this. I don't need you telling me what I can and can't do. You're not my dad, you're supposed to be my boyfriend," I said with tears started in my eyes, not believing that he was acting like this,"I'll go get the O.R. booked."
°°
"Brandy?" Derek frowned, standing in the doorway that lead from the scrub room to the O.R., "We need you in there."
"I-I don't deserve this. I don't deserve to be here," I shook my head.
"Look," Derek pulled the mask off his face and walked over to me, "Mark meant well you know that-"
I shook my head, "I don't care about that. I don't deserve to be here because-" I sighed and let my head fall, "This is hard but I had a problem. A bad one."
°°
mark's pov
"You're supposed to be my boyfriend."
It was all I could think about. Her words hurt. But she was right. I had to do something to fix it. I had to apologize.
I ran down to the O.R. and spotted her inside the O.R. with Derek. I opened the door, but stopped for a minute when I heard her talking with him. I wondered if she was telling him how angry she was at me, (rightfully so).
"I had a problem. A bad one," she said.
What was she talking about? I could tell she was upset.
"It started out as nothing. I used it as a distraction, once or twice a week. Then it became more often, when things got worse. Then I got into other stuff. It became bad fast. My brother saw the needle marks and he took me to rehab. I barely made it to medical school. I almost died. That's why I don't deserve to be here."
She lied to me.
I couldn't believe it. Why would she lie to me about that. What else was she hiding?
°°
brandy's pov
"Brandy. You do deserve to be here. I've seen you do amazing things. You made a mistake. It happens, people mess up," Derek told me, "My sister had an addiction too. She got through it, now she's an amazing surgeon like you."
"Thank you Derek," I gave him a smile, "George was my person. He still is, but I haven't really had anyone to talk to since he died. But you've been there and you've helped me a lot. So thank you. Let's start, I'm ready."
"Great, scalpel please," Derek told one of the scrub nurses, and held out his hand, a scalpel placed in it, "Here."
I looked down his hand outreached to me, "You mean I can make the first cut? This is my first surgery back."
Derek nodded, "I'll be right here the whole time and you deserve it."
°°
Kerry's surgery went extremely well. There were no complications and she should be able to walk again. I was so happy with the results. It was my first surgery back and I felt like on I was on fire. Derek had made me feel a lot better. There was still the problem with Mark, but I was on my way now to fix it. I decided I was just gonna apologize and we'd move on. But then there was the fact that we might be having a baby. I hated to admit it but I was a bit excited. We hadn't talked about it much, but I knew someday we both wanted to have kids and maybe now was our someday.
"Wow, you look hot. What's all that about?" Cristina asked, as I slipped into my heels.
"Mark's meeting my dad tonight, we're going to some fancy place," I shrugged my shoulders, "Not really my thing, but my dad was really excited about it."
"You mean grandpa," Alex said.
"What?" I looked between her and Meredith.
"We tested your piss," Cristina.
I felt butterflies start to form in my stomach,"You're not saying what I think you're saying are you?"
"Look at the results," Meredith handed me the paper.
My jaw dropped as I saw what it said, "Oh my god. I'm pregnant."
"You're pregnant," Cristina laughed.
"I-I don't know how to feel. Is this good or bad?" I frowned.
"Well do you want a baby?" Meredith asked.
"I-I think so. Yeah," I nodded.
"Does Mark want a baby?" Meredith asked.
"We haven't really talked about, but I think maybe," I looked up at her.
"Then be happy!" Meredith said.
"Okay! I'm having a baby!" I jumped up and squealed.
"Congratulations!" Meredith smiled.
"If you and Mark die in a plane crash or get arrested for money laundering, I want to be the one who gets it," Cristina said.
"You mean godmother?" I asked.
"Yeah, that thing," She nodded.
"I'm not making any promises. My sister probably already claimed that title years ago," I sighed, "Besides, I'm taking this one step at a time. I need to focus on telling Mark first."
"Tell Mark what?" Jackson asked, as he walked in.
"That she's carrying his kid," Alex shrugged.
"This isn't your secret to tell! Keep your mouths shut. I don't want Mark to hear from some nurse he barely knows or Garry the gossip gynecologist," I rolled my eyes.
"Ugh, you're no fun," Cristina said.
"Oh well, I gotta go. We're already running late," I said, before grabbing my stuff and heading out the door, "Also, thanks you guys."
I walked as fast as I could in heels, we didn't have much time, so I hoped Mark would be ready by the time I found him. I spotted him at one of the stations, looking through a chart.
"Hey," I smiled as I saw him, "You need to go get dressed. We're gonna be late, but before you go, I want to apologize for everything and let's just forget about it and move on, okay?"
"You're sorry about lying?" He said, his eyes not leaving the chart.
"What?" I frowned.
"Don't act so innocent. You lied to me. Straight to my face," Mark said, slamming the chart shut.
"Look, I didn't know how you'd react. I didn't want to freak you out. I wasn't sure if you were ready or not, for awhile I didn't think I was ready either. How did you find out?"
"I heard you and Derek talking about it," He said.
"What? I didn't tell Derek about it. I've barely told anyone. I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you myself. I'm sorry you didn't find out in a better way, but now you know. You seem kind of upset. I thought you'd be happy about this. I'm happy," I frowned.
I really thought he would be happy to hear about it. I was surprised that he felt the way he did.
"I heard you and Derek talking about in the O.R. I don't know why you're happy about this. You lied to me and now you're happy about it? Anything else you're keeping from me?" He shook his head.
I realized what he was talking about now. He didn't mean the pregnancy. He meant my addiction. He heard Derek and I talking. I grabbed him and pulled him to the stairs. By now, a lot of people were staring.
"I'm not proud of it," I said once we were in the stairway, "But I don't need your judgment. I made some bad decisions. I went through hell and back. It's over now. I fixed it and I changed my life. I turned it around. So just save it. I don't need it from you too," I shook my head.
"I'm not upset about that. You lied to me. You could've just told me. You can't keep stuff from me. This is a relationship. We're a team. We have to work together," He said.
"You don't understand," I shook my head.
"I don't understand, huh?" He scoffed.
"Were you ever addicted? You don't understand. You didn't go through what I went through. It was the worst year of my life. It's not easy to talk about. When you asked me it caught me off guard," I started to raise my voice.
"Not easy to talk about? It seemed to roll right off your tongue with Derek," He too, raised his voice.
"How do you-Were you listening to our conversation?" I frowned.
"It's not like that," He shook his head.
"It seems like it is that," I frowned.
"I came to apologize and you and Derek were talking and I just heard it."
"Well, keep your apology. I don't want it," I started to cry.
"Brandy, please don't do this," He shook his head.
"Don't do what? I don't want your apology. Why don't you let me make my own choices? I'm an adult! I'm capable of doing it myself!" I yelled at him.
"I don't do that. You turn me into a bully! I'm trying to do what's best for you, but you freak out on me, like you're doing right now!" He yelled.
More tears started to run down my face, "I can't believe you right now. Just stop making choices for me please. Stop living my life! Stop ruining my life!"
"Stop ruining your life?" He furrowed his brows.
"I-I didn't mean that," I realized what I had said, "Mark I-"
"No, save it. I'm done living your life. I'm not gonna ruin it anymore either," He said and walked out.
"Mark," I let out, before I broke down crying.
What happened to us? Why was this happening?
I looked down at my phone as I felt it buzz.
"Shit," I said, as I saw it was my dad.
I quickly wiped my tears and tried to get myself together.
"Hi Dad," I said, as I answered.
"Hi hon. I'm here. Are you guys already inside?" He asked.
"Oh, dad. I'm sorry. I meant to call you earlier, but I've just been really busy. Mark's in surgery right now," I lied.
"Oh that's fine," He said, "I can wait."
"He's not gonna get out for awhile, dad. Probably early this morning. I'm really sorry."
"Oh, that's quite alright. Maybe we could have a father daughter dinner," He suggested.
"Dad, I'd love to, but I'm really behind on some stuff. I just really need to get it done. Maybe we can reschedule for later this week?" I asked.
"Oh, you know I forgot to tell you, but I ended up getting an earlier flight back. I have some work issues. I'm leaving on Thursday," He said.
"Okay, well, we'll figure something out," I said.
"Sounds good. Good night, pumpkin. I love you."
"Night Dad. I love you too."
°°
First off I'm soooo sorry this took so long. I intended on this being up a couple weeks ago, but I had a lot of setbacks. I'm sorry if this isn't that great, plot holes, grammar, etc. I didn't really read through it I just wanted to get something published! I hope you enjoy it though! A lot happened in this chapter! So please comment what you think about it and what might happen next! Also thank you for all your support and understanding!