*A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER*
"Alright, see you when you come back - you're gonna do great." Vanessa hugged Alex before he got on the bus and Jackson stopped in front of her.
"Repeat after me," She ordered and Jackson nodded, "I can do this."
"I can do this."
"I will do this."
"I will do this."
"I will also give Vanessa the money that Mark handed me."
"I will also give Vaness- what?"
"Give it." She held her hand out and Jackson placed the money in her hand. Vanessa smiled up at him and kissed his cheek.
"You'll smash it - don't let anything stop you, no distractions." She instructed and Jackson nodded, hugging her tightly before stepping on the bus. April walked in front of her, crying and sniffling.
"Stop." Vanessa ordered and April tried, wiping her eyes as Vanessa placed her hands on April's shoulders.
"Repeat after me, I am a soldier."
"I-I am a s-s-soldier." April wept and Vanessa shook her slightly, trying to snap her out of the crying trance.
"I am a soldier." Vanessa repeated, her voice steady.
"I am a s-soldier!" April screamed and Vanessa smiled.
"Get on the bus." April ran up the stairs and Vanessa heard her start crying again and she sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head as Cristina stationed herself in front of her.
"Good luck - if anyone's gonna pass, it's you." Vanessa patted Cristina and Cristina just nodded, knowing she was telling the truth.
"Go smash it, Yang." Vanessa smiled and Cristina smiled back as she got on the bus, ready to ace her boards. Vanessa sighed and stood back, she had spoken to Meredith, Alex, Jackson, April and Cristina and she liked to think that she gave them some confidence to take with them into the boards.
She watched as the bus drove away with her friends in it and she whispered a silent prayer that they would all succeed. She felt an arm around her shoulder and looked up at Mark who looked down at her as they began to walk back inside, ready for their day of work.
***
Alex
I'm on my way back
Vanessa
What?! You are not! Get back in that hotel, buddy
Alex
I need to be there
Vanessa
If I see you at this hospital I'm going to hand your ass to you - pregnant or not
Alex
I'll just avoid you then :)
Vanessa
You can run but you can't hide
---
Jackson
I have a problem
Vanessa
You and me both - did Alex actually leave?
Jackson
Yeah - I have a problem that I need your help on
Vanessa
You should be asleep - it's the night before the boards
Jackson
I slept with April and now I don't know what to do...
Vanessa
...
Jackson
Seriously? I need your help
Vanessa
I think this is more of a Mark thing...
---
"What is wrong with these residents? Bunch of idiots." Vanessa mumbles as she turns her phone off and climbs out of bed as quietly as she could to not wake Mark - something seemingly impossible as he stirred.
"Shit." She whispered as she quickly started to get changed to go to the hospital. Mark groaned as he reached out to her side of the bed and upon realising she wasn't there he sprung up out of bed and looked around frantically, all remnants of sleep gone.
"Over here," Vanessa whispered and he turned his head in her direction, taking in her fully clothes appearance and furrowing his eyebrows, "They uh...need me over at the hospital. I won't be long you can go back to bed." She walked over to the bed and kissed him on the head gently before going to walk out.
Her hand was grabbed and she looked back at Mark, leaning over the side of the bed in order to reach her, "You're okay, right?" He asked, remembering that she sometimes uses the hospital as an excuse so she didn't panic in front of him - he always ended up getting called to bring her home though.
"Yeah," She walked away from the door and closer to him, "I'm fine - promise." He smiled as she moved her lips down to his and when she pulled away he flopped back down onto the bed and she left the room, whispering a goodnight to him that was completely ignored as he fell asleep.
---
"Alex, I swear to God-" Vanessa stormed into the NICU where Alex was holding Morgan's baby in his arms. She lowered her voice but still stared at him intensely.
"I had to leave my husband in bed to come and kick your ass - go the hell back to San Francisco." She ordered and he looked at her tiredly before nodding his head and placing the baby back in it's box.
"Right," She smoothed out the arms on coat, "You need to go now and you should just make it but I swear if you fail this because you didn't get there in time because of your girlfriend's baby-"
"She's not my girlfriend." Alex protested and Vanessa rolled her eyes.
"Go." She motioned for him to leave and he did, running out of the doors to get a taxi to the airport.
She sighed and checked her phone - she had text messages from almost everyone as they all panicked about their boards in the morning.
***
Jackson
I'm freaking out - I need you to talk me down
Meredith
I keep throwing up. I don't think I can do this
Cristina
I know I can do this but I need someone else to know too
Vanessa
Jackson - you're an amazing surgeon andyou're gonna do great on your boards.There's not one reason I can think offor you to not be a surgeon. As for theother thing - leave it for now, you don'tneed the distraction. Call me when you'refinished :)
Vanessa
Can't believe you're doing your boards withthe stomach flu. You'll do great - mind overmatter. If you don't allow yourself to throwup you won't. Put an IV drip in if Cristina hasn't already. Call me when it's over :)
Vanessa
Everyone knows it Cristina. Keep Meredith positive - mind over matter! Callme once you're out :)
***
Vanessa groaned as she turned her alarm off, letting her arm drop off of her bedside table as she closed her eyes again, so desperately trying to get back to sleep.
"Wake up, beautiful," Mark mumbled as he kissed her shoulder lightly. Vanessa hummed in response, really not wanting to get up, "Alrighty then."
Mark wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up and off of the bed. She squealed as she was set back down on the floor, forced to wake up and get dressed.
"You're horrible." She hissed at Mark as he got up at well.
"You love me." He countered, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her from behind.
"Mm not anymore - you forced me to get up." Vanessa wiggled out of Mark's grip and walked to the bathroom to have a shower. She hopped into the hot mist and started washing her hair. She closed her eyes and suddenly she was seeing a memory displayed on the back of her eyelids.
///
"Come on," Owen urged as he pushed Vanessa toward the shower, "Come on."
"No...I don't want to. What if he codes or-"
"Everything is going to be fine - shower."
Owen closed the bathroom door behind him as he left her in the bathroom to shower. Vanessa guessed he was putting the twins to bed - she could barely even bring herself to look at them. They reminded her of Mark and Mark was dying.
Mark was dying.
Vanessa got out of the shower and wrapped the large towel around herself. She frowned at the size and looked down at the towel Owen had pulled out for her - Mark's 'favourite' towel.
That was the breaking point.
She sat down on the toilet seat and broke into uncontrollable sobs - her body not even in control of her mind anymore as the different scenarios played in her head. She buried her face in her hands and continued to cry.
She heard her bedroom door opening and she acknowledged that Owen could probably hear her but her body just wouldn't stop. Her cries were ones Owen would never forget - they still haunted him in his nightmares sometimes.
"V?" He called through the door and she only cried harder, not able to stop.
"V, open the door," She couldn't move her body no matter how hard she tried, she was stuck sitting on the toilet seat as she cried the hardest she'd ever cried before, "Vanessa, I need you to open the door."
Owen's voice was panicky as the worst case scenarios ran through his head. 'She could be hurting herself in there' was his main one as her cries continued to sound through the door.
"Open this door right now or I'll break it down." He called and she so desperately wanted to move her arm, open the door but it was like the tears controlled her every move and they didn't want her to open the door.
"3...2...1" She heard the splintering of wood as Owen probably kicked the door down. The door made a large bang sound but Vanessa didn't even have it in her to flinch as her cries just grew louder and her breaths became shallower as Owen picked her up off of the seat and into her bedroom.
(If you've ever watched JTV *spoilers* I pictured Vanessa to be crying like how Jane was when she found out Michael died just less screamy if that makes sense to you lolll. If you haven't watched it search it up - makes me cry every time :))
///
"Vanessa!" She opened her eyes to see Mark in the shower, fully clothed and shaking her harshly to get her to open her eyes.
"Wha-what happened?" She asked him, confused as to why he felt the need to rush into the shower with all of his clothes on.
He just turned the water off and pulled her into one of the biggest hugs she had ever received. She hesitantly hugged him back, still confused.
He stepped out of the shower and wrapped her in a towel and she looked up at his worried gaze.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" She asked, growing concerned herself.
"With me?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows, "Did you not- you were just...you were just crying so loudly I thought you had seriously hurt yourself or something. What happened?"
Vanessa looked to the side, trying to gather her thoughts. She placed a hand on her forehead and looked back at Mark who hadn't looked away from her once.
"I was uh...I just closed my eyes and I had some kind of like...flashback or memory or something. It's fine, I'm fine." She assured him and he pulled her in for another hug, burying his face in her neck and breathing in deeply.
"Sure?" He mumbled against her neck and she smiled, pushing his head away from her and holding his cheeks in her hands, looking deeply into his eyes.
"I'm sure," She kissed him quickly on the lips, "Time for work." She moved away from him and he pulled her hand, spinning her into him as he captured her lips in a sweet kiss. He placed his hands on her cheeks as she kept hers on his arms.
She pulled away and smiled up at him as he pressed a kiss to her forehead before walking away to get changed out of his wet clothes.
*******************************************************
A/N: Ahhh Idk how to feel ab this chapter but i figured I should tell u that i already (pretty much) know what's happening with the plane crash situation - some of u will be happy w it some of you will not - but whatever happens the story does not end with the plane crash - you will see the characters move on whether it's with Mark and Vanessa or not :$
i tried a different thing with the text messages - lmk if you like it or not :)
didn't proofread so point out any mistakes pleaseeee so i can fix them
Thanks for reading :)