68. Parents

A/N: A lot of sex in this chapter but nothing completely explicit so have fun with that. Em and Mark sure are ;)

This is part one of a two or three part special so stay tuned this week and next week so stay tuned.

Are you two talking yet, or is it just sex?

-Meredith Grey

Their lips met with hard, ferocious passion as Mark hitched her closer. The shower rained down on their heads, gliding over their skin and in the cracks and crevices of their bodies as her legs tightened around his waist.

"Mark, I have to get to work," Emily mumbled with a bruised mouth as his lips seeked hes. They travelled up her neck and to her lips as her eyes, closed against the stream of hot water, scrunched tighter. Her arms tightened around his neck as he pressed against her.

"You can last longer than that." His hands travelled up to her ass as her fingers raked down his back, hooking around his chest as her mouth fell open in ecstasy. His slow rolls of his hips were torturous and she loved every second of it.

"I know I can," she managed to say through pants, "but I need to go to work." When he just smiled against her face, she laughed. "Mark! This is the fourth time this week."

"Fine. Fine." Letting her descend back onto wobbly feet again, he smirked. "Can you stand?" His hands were steadying her as she nodded and he fell to his knees. "Good, 'cause you might not be able to after this. Hold on."

.

Reading an email on her phone, she sipped on her coffee and frowned when Lexie came over. Her cheeks were a bit blotchy and the older brunette frowned.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, I just have to hand these scans over to Dr. Torres. You're, uh, on her service, and," she sniffed and Emily stood up straight. "Sorry."

"What's wrong?" Emily murmured and Lexie blinked, forcing a smile. "Lex…"

"It's nothing." The brunette shook herself out. "Can you just give this to Dr. Torres?"

"Yeah, of course." Spotting the book the woman was holding, Emily smiled. "Hey, isn't that the book about Kate and Alexander and Nathan?"

"Yeah, they're really good. Really good after a breakup." Eyebrows raising sympathetically, Emily opened her arms up. Lexie gave her a brief hug.

"I didn't know you and Taylor broke up." Flicking a strand of hair out of her face, Lexie smiled and Emily wiped a stray tear away from her face. "I thought it was just… I thought you guys were still together. He said he'd stick it out."

"Well, the way he said it it sounded more like a break up," Lexie said with a shrug. Emily's mouth dropped open.

"If you want, you can come over. We can talk-"

"No, it's okay. It's, it's fine, I have to get back to my aneurysm patient." The fourth-year resident walked away quickly but Emily knew there was more than what meets the eye. She needed to find Taylor.

.

"You broke up with Lexie?" Emily exclaimed down in the pit as he snapped on a pair of gloves. She was tying up a trauma gown around herself. ETA was five minutes for an ambulance. He glanced at her before turning his head away. "You said you moved out." Grabbing his arm, she tugged him to make him look at her. "What did you say to her?"

"What'd she tell you?" he asked at last and she pulled her lab coat tighter around herself. The ambulance bay was quiet but it probably wouldn't be for long.

"You tell me."

"It's none of your business."

"Taylor?" It must've hurt, to walk away from the woman he loved, but still, her head ached at the turmoil in his eyes.

"I said we weren't - we aren't after the same things and that there was no reason for us to be together if it makes us miserable." Emily tied up her hair when she heard the ambulance sirens coming around the corner. Tying up her hair, she heard the doors whoosh open behind her.

"So what was the point of saying you were gonna stick it out?" Tying it around herself, her gloves slapped to her skin as the ambulance pulled in. Taylor was stoic, his mask unbreakable. The paramedics opened the back as Emily walked after him. "Taylor, it's not any of my business, but I love the both of you. I can't… I can't see you guys like this."

"I'm not the one for her," he stated simply. "She should have someone who loves her, who wants what she wants."

"So should you," Emily said and blue eyes met hazel before Taylor looked to his patient, listening to the paramedics recite the history.

.

"Hey." Noah sat down beside Mark at the cafeteria.

"You give out any autographs lately?" Mark asked and the peds surgeon rolled his eyes. "Genuine question." The smile faded from Noah's face as he looked to Mark, inspecting him the way Emily did at times. With narrowed eyes and lips pressed firmly together, the Moore siblings looked identical in expression. Now, Noah looked to his sandwich.

"How are you feeling?" he asked softly and Mark felt his throat cinch immediately. Lungs hardening until he couldn't breathe, he looked down into his tray. His appetite was lost.

"Not your business," he said after a quick glance around to make sure his wife wasn't around. It was something Emily would worry herself to death over, always checking on his emotional levels and he knew she had more things to worry about. Chief Resident, plus she was already being scouted out by the major leagues for fellowships. On top of being a mother of their six-month old who was a tumbling ball of energy. Mark honestly didn't know how she kept it together.

Well, he did. He knew sacrifices were being made but he missed his wife.

"Have you even talked to your dad?" Noah asked and Mark's jaw clenched as he forced himself to take a bite of his sandwich. "No one likes you, man. You've been in a bad mood for five days."

"Have you talked to your mom?" His voice snapped like a whip, harsh and flat.

"Touché." So he hadn't. A new presence collapsed in the chair across from Mark with a sigh as Derek gave them a look.

"You're actually in the living light for once," he commented upon meeting Mark's eyes. Upon Noah's confused expression, Derek smirked. "Look at his neck. He's been holed up in on-call rooms with your sister every day this week." Noah's eyes travelled to where Mark was suddenly cusping his neck.

"Disgusting." Noah averted his eyes to his soup to avoid the weird thoughts in his head about his sister but it didn't help when said sister showed up. "Hey, Emi. Just learnt about your sex life. Very healthy." A strange look crossed the brunette's face before she turned to Derek with an inhale as if to wipe it from her mind.

"Okay… anyway, have you seen Cristina's heart-in-a-box?" The three attendings shook their heads as Emily frowned. "You guys are missing out."

"Then, what are you doing here?"

"Came to see my favourite big brother," she said, lightly tapping her brother's head. "Just kidding. She's getting discharged in a bit and we've been invited to dinner with Leonardo and the two perfects." With a forced smile, the two siblings met each other's eyes frigidly. "Yeah."

"With her?"

"Yes. Their treat." Derek slouched in his chair, not eager to break up the two siblings. "Anyway, they just wanted me to pass the message to you." Mark looked up at his wife and she smiled slightly at him. For a moment, the storm that settled on his head cleared and he smirked, the thoughts in his head satisfying him for the moment. Noah sipped on his soda, eyebrows furrowing.

"How'd they get the message to you? We've been boycotting the room since the surgery."

"They sent Andrew, who is not hard to hate."

"Ah." Noah offered his soda to his sister who took it gratefully. She turned to Mark whose eyes glinted with evil, she set down the cup.

"Well, I'm gonna go catch up on some work. See you later."

Derek waved whilst Emily puckered her lips and blew a kiss at Mark. She headed out of the cafe and Mark waited a good two minutes for getting up and following after her. Noah's knowing, disgusted look followed after him but he ignored it as he walked to the nurse's station where his wife was leaning against the counter, doing charts.

"Hey, jailbait," he whispered huskily and she turned to him, smiling. Kissing him chastely, she returned to her task. When she realized he was hovering, she looked to him, expecting. "You needed anywhere?"

"Not particularly, no," she murmured with a flourish of her pen in a signature. Closing the chart, she gave it to the nurse and clicked her pen, tucking it into her lab coat pocket. "I'm gonna go see heart-in-a-box. What is it that you need?"

"This." His hand came to wrap around her neck, mouth fitting hers. Smiling, she pressed back as her arm tossed around his shoulder, pulling him closer. His free hand trailed into her lab coat, holding her close and her nose scrunched up as she laughed into their next kiss. Lips trailing down her jaw and to her neck, he grinned. "Mmm, and this." Head raising, she couldn't help the laugh bubbling in her chest.

"Mark—" Her tone was scolding in a way a owner would scold their cat— "what is it?"

"On-call room?" he proposed, raising his head and she narrowed her eyes at him, trying to search for an answer she didn't have. "Five minutes."

"See, that's what you say and then it ends up being hours." Her effortless smile had him pecking her mouth again and again as his arms wrapped around her waist and they stumbled across the hall into the on-call room across the way.

.

"Hey, sweetheart," Emily whispered, leaning over to pick up her son. Wincing when a part of her back protested against the movement, she made a mental note to swing by Mark's dad's place just after. Hoisting the diaper bag on her shoulder, Emily went to the elevator and made her way to the oncology wing.

"Baba," Everett said and Emily completely agreed to whatever sentiment her son was expressing as she knocked on the door quietly of her husband's father.

"Hello," she murmured and Richard Sloan turned to look at her. "I, uh, I brought my son this time."

"I see that," he replied. His tone was reserved and Emily came in uninvited. "Do you need something?"

"Dr. Altman has told you about your prognosis?" He nodded and she sat down, letting the diaper bag fall to the floor as she sighed. Sighing, Emily held up her son who stood up in her lap, bouncing energetically as he smiled at his grandfather. "I'm sorry."

"You probably want me dead."

"I really don't. What I said… I'm protective of Mark." She shrugged and Richard extended a weak hand towards his grandson. Everett leaned forward to grasp at it and Emily scooted her chair closer. She set her child on the bed but still kept hands on him. "There's no other word for it. I know him, and I know that he deserved better than what he got. That's all." Richard let out a soft exhale, smiling at his daughter-in-law and Emily attempted to match it but found it hard. "Is it true?"

"About what?"

"That… that your wife was murdered?" Emily couldn't imagine the face of Mark's mother. All the features she saw before her echoed those of her husband, and some of his personality too. But maybe it was when he held his son and Sofia together, or when he smiled - perhaps that was his mother's smile.

"She was."

"When?"

"March 5, 1976. My son was eight and she was gone." Emily avoided his insistent eyes despite the burning they left on her skin. "Seven stab wounds because she told a man 'no.' That she was married." He exhaled sharply. "Mark doesn't know that. He… he thinks she was murdered for no reason."

"Did the murderer-"

"He's rotting in jail." Richard Sloan raised his chin, defiant. "I may have been a terrible father, but I know how to use my power to ensure justice."

"Justice." Emily looked to Everett who rested on his stomach. "You know he can't even remember what day it was? Is there… is there a way I can find it in the newspaper?"

"Yes, of course, but-"

"Can you show me if I bring you my laptop?" Richard Sloan pushed himself up, coughing and Everett wrinkled his nose at his grandpa. Crawling back to his mom, he took a hold of the fist on the bed and rested his cheek against her hand. Smiling, she turned to squeeze his cheeks gently.

"Yes, of course." Emily looked up to him and offered a smile. He returned the favour, extending a hand towards her. She slipped her hand into his.

"Thank you."

.

Mark walked by the neuro wing to meet up with Derek for drinks. Little Grey looked up and offered a smile as she went into Em's mom's room.

"Sloan! Hey, I just have post-ops and then we can go." Derek smiled and Mark nodded as he turned to look into the room.

"How's she?"

"Good. No neural deficits, normal post-op pain. She's talking, she's responding well." Derek tapped the end of his pen against the counter as Mark sighed, stuffing his hands in his lab coat pockets. Lexie left the room, writing something down in the chart before handing it to Derek. The brunette gave each of them a smile before heading off to presumably do some more work as Derek clapped his best friend on the back.

"I'm heading to change. You coming?"

"Nah, wait up in the lobby."

"Yeah, sure."

Mark watched him go for a moment before heading after him.

"Wait, doctor?" Pausing, he turned around to see who called after him or if they were calling after him in the first place. "Doctor, in here." Glancing into the room, he saw the woman sitting up in the bed and walked over to the door, leaning against the frame.

"Yes?" He kept his tone flat and Sofia DeLuca cleared her throat. Man, he hated how she had the same name as his goddaughter.

"You're… you know my daughter."

"So?" He didn't need to deny it. Sofia cleared her throat and he pushed off his shoulder to walk into the room.

"How well? Are you just colleagues… or-" Mark knew she was fishing and he crossed his arms with a shrug. "Friends?"

"What's it to you?"

"Last I heard, she was dating a man and he did not look like you."

"Last you heard was fourteen years ago. Lots changed," Mark muttered and Sofia's eyes slid closed as she sighed.

"I know my mistake. And I am sorry I hurt her. I know I left her alone, I know I hurt her, but-"

"No, do you? Because she's had her heart broken more times than what she deserved and every time she's come back stronger and that is no thanks to you." Mark's hands rolled into fists, his thumb running on the inside of his wedding ring. "Emily loved you. I think a part of her still does and even if she doesn't think it, she's probably going to forgive you. That's the kind of person she is."

"Doctor-"

"Dr. Sloan."

"Dr. Sloan…"

"Everything she knew was a lie. You don't know how that feels, living a lie." Mark's eyes flitted to the floor and he took a deep breath. "You don't get an opinion. You don't get a second chance." Taking a step forward, the man took a deep breath to calm his rising voice. "I don't know why you invited her to dinner, or why you care, but I will be there and if you even think of manipulating her to forgive you, we will leave. Understood?"

"Crystal, Dr. Sloan."

.

"Yours over mine, everything's fine. Mine over yours, babies in the morgue." Standing in the O.R., Emily chuckled to herself. "It actually works." She was a terrible person for thinking it but Alex's mnemonic device was catchy. Closing her eyes, she imagined the conjoined twins' spinal cord. The separation wouldn't be easy but it'd go smoothly as long as they paid attention. With one ortho surgeon on each team, her on one and Callie on the other, hopefully it'd go well.

Of course, her being only a resident wasn't helping.

"Forty-six year old male, presents with an elevated heartbeat, sweating, dilated pupils, and a flushed complexion" Lowering her hands from the imaginary body, she turned around to see him standing there. Smiling, she returned back to her imaginary surgery. Separating the spinal canal of Andi from Brandi…

"Mark, I'm practicing for the conjoined twins surgery."

His hands came down on her shoulders, kissing the exposed side of her neck.

"I'm helping you relax…" His husky voice traversed down her spine and she suppressed a shiver as she let her head drop forward. Leaning against the table, she let him whisper a trail of fire down her neck and his fingers tugged her shirt to expose the plane of her shoulder. "You'll do fine."

"But," she whined and he chuckled in her ear, placing a delicate kiss on the shell of her ear. "I guess I just need a distraction."

"I know your dinner's this Sunday, but you don't have to go."

"The only way I won't be able to go is if I'm in the hospital," she whispered and he laughed at her defiant tone.

"I'm coming. It won't be so bad." Her smile lessened but he didn't seem to notice.

"Good. That's... good." Turning around in his arms, she looped her arms around his neck and pecked his mouth. "Whaddya say we go home?" He nodded and a smile split across her face. "Perfect! I'll go get Ev-"

"Nuh-uh." Confused, Emily paused and he smirked, a devilish glint sparking his eyes. "I've got a sitter."

"Why?" Pouting at the thought of losing time with her son, Emily pulled away but held onto his hand as they walked out of the O.R. "Do you have a conference? I thought the New Faces in Plastics yadda-yadda-whatever is next week."

"It is." He swung their joined hands and she sent him a curious look. "But, I have an idea."

"An idea."

"Yeah. Come on." Pulling her close, her laugh echoed in his ears as he growled against her jaw. Her cheeks red and aching from smiling, she kissed his jaw. "Tonight. Me naked, wine, chocolate. Thoughts?"

"Sounds better than the on-call rooms, is what I think." Sighing longingly, she ran a hand over his arm and sighed, palm running over his sleeve. "Have you decided anything about your dad? You are his proxy, you know that."

"Yeah. And I just found out a few days ago. He didn't sign a DNR, or specify anything. He isn't on the vent." His head fell to stare at the space between them. "I'll do something about it when there's something that needs to be doing. That's a choice I made." A feather-soft smile found its way onto Emily's face and she cupped his cheek.

"Okay. I just think you should talk to him." He began to pull away and her arms fell down to her sides. Staring forlornly after his retreating figure, she called after him, "Mark!" He stuffed his hands in his pockets, refusing to look at her.

"I'll see you tonight, Em. Time makes the heart grow fonder." His weak attempt to make her smile failed but she forced one anyway.

"Yeah,yeah. I'll see you." She watched him go. When her husband was gone, the smile dropped off her face and she leaned against the nurse's station. Burying her head in her hands, she took deep breaths before straightening up and brushing her curls away from her face.

Shaking her head to herself, Emily glanced around her. No one was looking so she dropped off her charts and walked to the nearest elevator. It'd been a habit ever since Mark took her up to the roof but Emily found staring out at Seattle was a soothing experience. She could scream in catharsis if she wanted and no one would hear.

So she took an elevator to the roof, and stood near the edge, hands by her sides. A bird flew overhead and she felt her heart ache. There were moments, she thought, moments like these where she was well and truly alone.

Emily sat down, just staring out over Seattle's skyline and in her mind, she could pinpoint the exact cause of her ache. There were moments, and she wondered if Mark had them too, where he missed his mom as much as she did.

.

Walking into the apartment, Emily sighed and tossed her keys onto the couch as she pushed off her shoes. Collapsing on the couch, she closed her eyes and laid down. Legs splayed, she tried to sleep but found it evading her like a scared mouse.

"Hard day?" The couch area between her legs dipped and she felt her husband lean over her. Opening her eyes at half-mast, she sighed again and took in his handsome face. Hazel eyes flitted from his eyes to his lips before she tossed an arm around his neck and brought him into a crushing kiss.

His hands made quick work on her jeans as her fingers clawed at his shirt. His lips pressed hotly against hers as her hips rose. He pulled down her jeans and she shimmied them off as his shirt was tugged off his head.

"We should talk," she whispered and he smirked, instead pressing another hot kiss against her open mouth. "I'm sorry-"

"Later, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

Picking her up, he carried her into the room and slammed the door shut behind him. He pinned her to the shut door, trailing down her neck and to her chest, and all thoughts, all rational thinking, flew out the window.

.

The twins surgery had so far been a success. Emily would be damned if they screwed up the most vital part of it all. Except her leg was protesting in pain. She had stood longer than this and she had never felt such a weird twang in her hip. It was fucking fire.

"Damn it. Spinal dermoid cyst. It's all tangled up in the spinal root." Derek switched his instrument for one slimmer in his hand, gently cocking his head to get a good view.

"Yeah, there's a lot of scarring in there. I don't see a clean approach," Callie muttered as Emily looked through her loops across from Callie. Holding a cauterizer, she blinked hard to avoid dry eyes and took a deep breath behind her mask. Her hand was aching as she retracted the skin.

"Well, no, well, you have to take it out because the cyst could become malignant," said Arizona as if they did not know. Emily tilted her head back, hearing her neck click. Noah, who stood beside Arizona, glanced at his colleague with narrowed eyes and surprise.

"Yes, we're aware. Thank you."

"Maybe if I can come in from an angle… like this, but then we risk the contents spilling out—" Derek tilted his tweezer-like instrument to gesture what he was talking about. Emily looked up to Callie, only to see her mentor staring intently down at the spinal cord. Clearing her throat as softly as she could, the brunette took a breath.

"Which could cause a chemical meningitis."

"Dr. Robbins, we've got this." Bokhee handed her the syringe filler to squirt saline onto the field just as Callie proposed, "Okay, what if we stretch the nerve root here?"

"Well, that might paralyze Brandi." Arizona's voice pierced her focus and Emily's eyes closed for a moment as Callie looked up at last to face her wife.

"Yes, Brandi might end up paralyzed. Yeah, no one understands that better than us, which is why we will be making this decision, okay? Us. Not you. Us. You alright with that?"

Derek's eyes flitted up to meet Emily's and she nodded to him, suctioning off where he intended to cut. Arizona sighed in defeat when Callie pinned her with an iron glare, "Just make sure that-" A clearing of the throat and Arizona's voice faltered. "I - Yes, I'm okay with that."

"No more talking from anyone in this O.R. I need complete silence from now on. Dr. Moore, suction. Going in at an angle…"

.

"Thank the Lord it's over," Emily mumbled, walking out of the O.R. and cracking her neck. Rolling it out underneath her palm, she sighed. Noah crossed his arms with a look back in the O.R. "Now, it's time for dinner." Every step cause a flare of pain in her leg and she set her jaw, forcing herself to walk normal.

"I'll get my suit from the lounge. Do you have your dress?" he asked and she arched an eyebrow. "Going home first?"

"Yeah." Tugging her scrub cap off her head, she sighed again before reaching up and tugging the hair tie out of her hair. "I'll meet you there?"

"Yeah. Are you bringing Everett?"

"No, uhm—" Walking down the hall, she pushed open the doors to get to the O.R. nurse office— "It's a family thing," she said and he looked to her. His pale pink scrub cap with little heart stamps, which had sat firmly on his head, was now in his hands, worried between fingers.

"Mark won't like that."

"Yeah, well, we don't come as a matched set." Noah frowned and she rubbed at her eyes. "He can't be there every time of the day." She shook her head, looking at the O.R. board. "It's gonna be a long night."

"We'll get through it."

"Of course." Noah wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. "We always do."

A/N: Thank you for your continuous support. Hopefully you guys are still with me!

Next: The dinner.