"Vanessa. Got here as soon as I could, I was in a surgery." Alex came into the door, sitting down where Mark was sat a few hours ago and looking her over, "What happened?"
"I don't know, something to do with exhaustion." She shrugged, looking over at him, "It's all rubbish - I should be out of here by now."
"Didn't you just go home? Sleep?" Alex asked as if it was the easiest thing ever.
"No. My patient needed me and if I would have gone home then that baby could've died."
"Hey! Have some faith in me I could've saved her." He defended, narrowing his eyes at her playfully, popping a crisp into his mouth and chewing it.
"Yeah I know but I saved her sooner." She groaned, looking up to the ceiling and closing her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to get up and do her rounds - and she had tried - but Owen caught her and carried her back to her room, taking the kicks and punches as she fought him.
"I want to get out." She breathed, looking over at Alex with a meaningful glare, "Please help me get out."
"What do you need?" Alex asked, ready to help - he was bored and needed something to do, "If you collapse again I'm not catching you." He adds, looking at her with a playful smirk on his face.
"Yes! Yes! You're the best." She gushed, getting up off of her bed and grabbing Alex's hand for support. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along, looking both ways before leaving the room and grabbing her charts from the nurses station.
"Who are we avoiding?" He asked, hiding her as much as he could next to him with his arm around her, keeping her close and stable.
"Owen definitely and Mark Sloan - if he's in a bad mood, if not he might support it." She pondered how Mark would react to her being up and on her feet. Technically she was supposed to be working now - she had rested and done everything they told her to. It was only exhaustion but Owen had insisted she stay in bed longer. She didn't know how Mark felt about the subject.
"So two of the most influential surgeons in this place? How am I supposed to do that?" He looked at her incredulously and she just shrugged, spotting Lexie Grey and moving Alex toward her.
"Lexie." She whisper-shouted, startling the young doctor.
"Doctor Hunt aren't you supposed to be in bed?" She asked, looking concerned.
"Yes and I need you to shadow us, make sure that neither Mark, Owen or anyone that could tell Mark or Owen sees us." She demanded and Lexie nodded, taking the instructions on board.
"Nice." Alex commented sarcastically, pulling Vanessa toward her first patient and discreetly pulling her into the room, closing the door quietly behind them as Lexie stood outside, leaning on the wall to try and be as nonchalant as possible.
"Joan, how is everything going?" Vanessa asked, looking over at her patient.
"Doctor Hunt? They told me you weren't going to be here for a couple of days?" Joan's mother asked, looking happy.
"Well I'm not supposed to be here," She gestured to her hospital gown, "So don't tell anyone okay, shhh." She leant down to the little girl on the bed, giving her a wide smile as she assessed her.
"It looks like you've healed really well, we'll be keeping you here for a day or two to make sure there's no risk of infection but other than that - you're doing really good." Vanessa smiled, patting Joan's arm and letting herself be engulfed in the hug that her mother sent her way.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Alex looked out, his eyes widening when he saw Owen about to walk into the room to check on his sister's patient.
"The bathroom, go!" Joan croaked, laughing wildly and moving her head to follow Vanessa and Alex run desperately into the bathroom as Lexie tried to stall Owen for as long as possible.
"Yeah, okay Doctor Grey, thank you?" Owen opened the door, still talking to Lexie before he turned to the people in the room and smiled, closing the door on the other doctor.
"Joan Reed, eight years old, you had surgery yesterday?" He asked, reading off of the chart, slightly confused about the wide smile on the little girl.
"Yeah she did." Her mother answered, discreetly closing the door to the bathroom all the way - reducing the risk of Owen seeing the two doctors hiding in there.
"Alex shut up." Vanessa whisper-shouted as Alex knocked something over in the bathroom, creating a loud bang.
"What was that?" Owen asked, looking toward the bathroom door.
"Probably just my wash bag falling, happens all the time." Joan covered quickly and Owen narrowed his eyes, suspicious of whatever was in the bathroom.
"Okay. Do you mind if I take a look at your leg to see how it has healed?" He asked and she nodded, lifting her robe higher up her leg and showing him the scars.
"Wow, looks like they're healing very well. We should keep you here for a bit longer to reduce th-"
"The risk of infection. Yeah, I know." Joan interrupted, realising her mistake as soon as she said it.
"Wh- how did you know that?" He asked, amazed that the little girl knew so much.
"Uhhh... just a guess?" The girl said but Owen noticed the lie in her tone.
"Joan, who else was here?" He asked, still smiling slightly. He knew who else would be here - it was her patient after all.
"No-one." Joan replied way to quickly for it to be a good lie. Owen's eyes flitted to the bathroom door and he rose from the bed slowly, his steps calculating as he edged toward the bathroom.
"Wait!" Joan tried to stop him but he opened the door to reveal both Vanessa and Alex standing there, small smiles on their faces.
"Hi?" Vanessa offered, voice a few octaves higher than it usually was.
"What are you two doing in here?" Owen asked and Vanessa could hear Alex laughing behind her, trying to cover it up with a hand over his mouth.
"Just checking up on my patients." She shrugged as if it was nothing, trying to calm the rage she saw in her brother's face.
"Get back into bed, now." He flicked his finger at her and then at the door, she sulkily walked out of the bathroom, scowling at her brother playfully when she saw Joan looking, giving her a large smile before leaving the room and walking back to her own.
"And you." Owen started, pointing at Karev angrily.
"Doctor Hunt can you please come over here?" Someone called from outside of the room and Owen gave a look to Alex to tell him it wasn't over before storming out of the bathroom, giving Joan's mother a small smile as he left the room completely.
Alex stepped out of the bathroom, cautiously checking to see if the coast was clear, widening his eyes jokingly at Joan, who was giggling uncontrollably in her bed as she watched the scene unfold in-front of her.
He left the room with a large smile on his face, looking for people to annoy with his inappropriate comments and jokes.
When Vanessa entered her room she was greeted by Mark laying on her bed on his back. He turned his head toward her when she entered and let out a sigh.
"Where'd you go?" He asked, swinging his legs off of the bed and walking toward her.
"I was doing my rounds." She explained, sliding past him and flopping onto her bed dramatically, hearing him chuckle behind her.
"You were supposed to-"
"Stay in bed, I know! But I'm going to go mental in here." She groaned, moving further onto the bed and closing her eyes, the tiredness creeping up on her. She felt Mark's gaze on her and she opened an eye to see him staring at her.
"You're staring." She acknowledged, closing her eyes again but she still felt his eyes on her.
"I'm gazing." He justified, leaning back in his chair but still looking at her intensely.
"It's creepy." She stated blankly, pulling her pillow over her face and holding it there.
"It's romantic." He blurted and she took the pillow off of her face.
"Why are you being 'romantic'?" She mocked his voice on the word 'romantic', looking at him sceptically.
"Nothing, no-one, I didn't say anything." He stuttered, placing his head in his hands and groaning. Vanessa started giggling, covering her face with her hands as well.
"What did you mean by romantic?" She asked again, suddenly serious. Silence filled the room until Mark let out a deep sigh.
"I like you, okay?" He raised his voice slightly, still holding his head in his hands. Vanessa was shocked into silence, completely stunned by the possibility of him ever liking her back. She was sure she fell asleep and that she was dreaming - so what was the harm in telling him how she felt.
"Mm? Really?" She muttered, looking at him as he looked at her, eyes narrowed as if he was trying to find the answers to all of his questions in her eyes. He nodded, not being able to form words, half because of his embarrassment and half because of the girl in-front of him.
"You're joking." She groaned, leaning her head back, her eyes closing slowly as Mark reached his hand out, bringing it over hers and rubbing his thumb over the back of it in soothing lines.
"I'm not joking." He said simply, watching her eyes open gently and her lips curve into a small smile, the tiredness clear in her eyes.
"Mkay. Well in that case," She breathed a deep sigh in, "I like you too."
Mark smiled, looking down at her, moving his other hand to stroke her hair as she drifted off to sleep. She loved the feeling of his hands on her, his touch so soft it was almost non-existent.
She smiled in her sleep, leaning into Mark's touch and sighing lightly as he touched each of her delicate features gently, admiring her face.
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A/N: Slightly crap ending for this chapter but it was very long so...
again i didn't proofread
how are we feeling with Mark and Vanessa finally confessing their feelings?
Thanks for reading :)