- - -
we, doctors, take pride in the fact that we can basically sleep standing up. anytime, anywhere. But it's a false pride, because the truth is after about twenty hours without sleep you might as well just come to work drunk. doctor or not.
- - -
lia sighs as she enters joe's, looking around until she sees derek, mark, callie, bailey, and arizona all sat at a table. she walks over to them and takes a seat across from mark, next to derek.
"what, you're back already?" callie asks in surprise, picking up arizona's arm to check her watch. "that date wasn't even, like, what, an hour?"
"i need a drink," lia groans, picking up a glass containing a blue liquid from the table.
"ooh, careful," arizona warns.
"hey, hey! that was mine," bailey points, clearly already drunk. "now you have to order me another one."
"oh, god. that's disgusting," lia winces, placing the empty glass back down on the table. "right. okay, so get this- his very first question- 'so what's your favourite food?'"
"what'd you say?" mark asks.
"mexican, but that's not the point. why would he ask me what my favourite food was? like he read that that's some good icebreaker from some internet handbook that was handed out at the loser fair? ugh!" lia groans, hitting her head on the table and staying there.
"this is why you don't meet people on the internet," derek highlights.
"you're married!" lia lifts a finger to shake at derek, but keeps her head on the table, and derek chuckles at her. "you don't get to have an opinion about my pathetic forays into internet dating."
"you do need a drink," mark says, sliding his scotch across the table to her.
"thank you," she lifts her head from the table to finish mark's scotch. once she has drank it all she turns to callie and arizona. "be thankful you two have each other and never have to go on a first date again. and that you have meredith. and you have warren. and you have julia. dating... is evil."
"get ready. get ready," lia hears cristina's voice coming from somewhere behind her, so she turns to see her pouring shots and drinks for a bachelor party. "chug! chug! chug! chug! oh, yeah! oh, yeah! who's first?! oh, whoo!"
"what the hell did i miss?" lia lets out a laugh of disbelief as she turns back to the group.
■ ■ ■
"how are we letting this happen?" lia asks, referring to cristina, as bailey drinks another one of cristina's creations. "i mean, seriously, how are we just okay with it?"
"oh, i'm not okay. i'm jealous," callie shakes her head. "cristina gets to live out the twenties we never got to cause we were stuck in med school."
"hey, i'm still in my twenties," lia protests.
"do you want me to hate you? do you?" callie asks, and lia takes a sip of her drink, earning a laugh from callie in response. "shut up then."
"watch, ten years from now, we'll all have a midlife crisis and end up doing the same thing," arizona says.
"except we'll be in our forties and won't look as cute," bailey adds whilst pouring everybody's leftover drinks into her glass.
"how many of those have you had?" mark asks bailey, gesturing to the blue drink.
"hey, my son is with his father," bailey informs him. "i am twenty four hours child free. if cristina yang can tend bar 'cause she wants to, then i can drink 'cause i want to."
"i can't believe this. i honest- i can't believe i'm here again," lia groans.
"oh, no, no, no, no, no," callie protests. "you're not doing this. you're not going down this rabbit hole."
"i have to start all over. all over," lia shakes her head. "i don't even know how to do that."
"i do," mark interjects, and she turns away from callie to look at him. "you might need a little sexual palate cleanser."
"a palate cleanser?" arizona raises her brow. "are you serious?"
"what? it works," mark shrugs.
"sexual sorbet?" bailey laughs hysterically. "i love it! i like it."
■ ■ ■
lia stumbles out of the bathroom at joe's, and back to her table to find that only mark is left sitting there.
"where- where, um, did everyone go?" lia asks, almost falling as she retakes her seat.
"bailey went to the hospital, and torres and robbins went home," mark explains, and lia sighs. "i didn't want you to come back from the bathroom, and for everyone to be gone."
"is derek still here?" lia groans.
"he's watching yang 'til hunt can get here," he informs her.
"i guess i'll just... make my way home then," lia slurs slightly as she slips down from her chair.
"uh, i don't think that's a good idea," mark admits, going over to help hold her up. "you can stay at my place- julia's not there."
"no, no, no," lia shakes her head. "i'm- i'm fine. i'll just go home."
"lia, please, just come with me so i know you're safe," mark pleads, looking into her eyes, their faces inches apart.
"okay," she nods, giving in.
■ ■ ■
"i hate being drunk," lia groans with a chuckle as she is sat on mark's sofa, lying back. mark takes a seat next to her, and lifts her leg up to remove her boots. "you think it's gonna make you feel awesome and happy, but it just makes you feel tired and gross."
"well, yang looked like she was having fun tonight," mark points out.
"what, the crazy party girl thing? that's crap," lia scoffs. "every girl who climbs up on a table thinks she's the hottest girl in the room, but... really she's just dancing alone."
"you okay?" mark turns to look at her.
"yeah," she exhales deeply. "i just... need to sleep. i need to sleep."
"alright," mark nods, spinning her legs round while she shifts her hips so that she's now lying down on the couch mark had made up into a bed. he then pulls a blanket over her and pats her leg before heading to his bedroom.
- - -
so it's no wonder that fatal medical errors increase at night when we doctors are, proudly, sleeping on our feet. recently, our communal pride has been shattered, and our egos have been wounded by new laws that require that we sleep all day before we work all night. we're not happy about it. but as someone who may one day need medical care, you really should be.
- - -
mark is in his kitchen, shirtless, getting himself a drink from the fridge. when he closes the fridge door, he sees lia walking into the kitchen.
"i was just thirsty. i didn't wake you, did i?" mark asks.
"oh, no," lia shakes her head, stopping a couple of feet away from him. "no, i was, um... awake."
"water?" he offers, holding up a glass.
"i want, um..." she exhales deeply. "sorbet."
"sweet tooth?" he asks, taking a sip of his water before beginning to look through his kitchen cupboards. "i think i have some cookies around here somewhere."
"mark," lia says softly, and he stops looking around for cookies and looks at her.
"oh. oh," he repeats, raising his voice an octave when he realises what she's insinuating. "lia..."
"i said i didn't know how to start over, and you said you do," she reminds him. "so, teach me."
"what are you doing?" he asks, watching her begin to remove her clothes. "don't do that. stop."
"teach me," she repeats, continuing to undress.
"stop. we can't do this," he protests.
"teach me."
"ah, lia..." mark groans, shaking his head.
"come on. we've done it before. am i really so bad?" she asks, now in just her underwear.
"no. i am," mark says, stepping forward to close the gap between them.
he leans down to kiss her, and places his hands onto the back of her thighs to lift her onto the kitchen counter as her hands run through his hair and tug it slightly.
- - -
under the cover of darkness people do things they'd never do under the harsh glare of day. decisions feel wiser. people feel bolder. but when the sun rises, you have to take responsibility for what you did in the dark. and face yourself under the cold, harsh light of day.
- - -