Part 3
Mark woke early in the morning to find that it was still dark outside.
Turning around
to face Elizabeth, he found her on her side facing the other way, eye's
closed and one
arm placed protectively on her stomach. Mark smiled to himself as he watched
her
sleep. 'Elizabeth looks much more peaceful with her eye's closed than when
they are
open' he thought to himself. But after a few minuets, he noticed that she
wasn't
sleeping at all. Mark was debating with himself on how he should 'wake her
up', when
Elizabeth grabbed him and rolled him over on his back and started giggling
at his
surprised expression.
"Your awake." he said as if he didn't know it just a few seconds ago. "How
long have
you been up?"
"I don't know, a little while." lied Elizabeth giving Mark a kiss on the
lips. Mark
looked at her but didn't say anything. "Ok, fine a couple of hours."
"Is She keeping you up?" sympathized Mark.
"Ummhumm." said Elizabeth softly, snuggling against Marks bare chest.
"And Charlotte?"
"Yeah. I just feel so sorry for her..."
"There's more to it isn't it?" asked Mark pulling the hair back from
Elizabeth's face
and giving her a cuddle.
"Sought of." admitted Elizabeth. "I don't really want to talk about
it."
"Elizabeth, you know better than that-"
"Mark can we just drop this?" pleaded Elizabeth flipping over onto her
stomach.
"No Elizabeth, it's obviously bothering you and I know you better than to
just let it go
like that." demanded Mark. "I just want to help you." he said in a softer
tone.
"I know, but I still don't want to talk about it." said Elizabeth.
Mark got up from the bed dejectedly and made his way to the door.
"Mark..."
"I'm going to work." came his reply as he quickly put on a pair of pants and
a shirt.
"I'm sorry-" said Elizabeth sitting up.
"Elizabeth, I don't keep secrets from you and you shouldn't keep them from
me." said
Mark walking out of the room.
Elizabeth heard the front door slam and then she too got up herself and put
her head in
her hands. "What the hell have I done?"
Mark, angered by Elizabeth's stubbornness put his head down in recognition
of
what he had just said. But he was way too strong headed to go back in and
apoligise.
Instead, he continued walking to the EL tracks glancing back at the house
and
watching as the lights went on, slowly one by....one.
~*~*~*~
Charlotte opened her eye's to find Elizabeth watching her.
"Morning." greeted Elizabeth simply.
"Morning." said Charlotte, sitting up. "I'm hungry."
"That's good because I brought you breakfast." said Elizabeth getting up and
placing a
tray of disgusting hospital food infront of Charlotte. However Charlotte
didn't notice
and started eating like she never had before. After a few bites of cereal
and making
sure that the food wouldn't disappear, she put her spoon down and wiped the
milk
from around her mouth with a corner of her blanket instead of using the
napkin.
"What's wrong?" asked Elizabeth.
"Why are you sad." asked Charlotte back.
"I'm not sad. Eat." lied Elizabeth for the second time that day.
"No. Did you have a fight? Everytime I have a fight with my next door
neighbor I'm
always sad and then I go 'say sorry' and everything is all better."
"Something like that Char but sometimes saying sorry is really hard to do."
said
Elizabeth, wishing that it was as simple as Charlotte had said.
"Why?" asked Charlotte before going back to her breakfast but eagerly
waiting for
Elizabeth's answer.
"It's complicated and one day when your older you'll find out."
"Ok." said Charlotte happily. "How long do I have to stay in hospital
Elizabeth?"
"Your full of questions this morning." said Elizabeth, keeping an eye on the
glass door
for any sign of Cathy. "About a week maybe less."
"Why??"
"Because your not ready to leave yet."
"Og hidj hoiud jk boding harre." said Charlotte, her mouth full.
"Char, I have to talk to someone, I'll be back soon." said Elizabeth getting
up and
walking out of the room. Chalotte continued talking to her spoon, only
nodding in
response to Elizabeth's departure.
"Cathy." called Elizabeth as she approached the social worker that was
chatting
to the nurse at the desk. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It just a few minuets." said Cathy.
"What's the word?" asked Elizabeth anxiously.
"Well... there are no foster homes available to care for her at the moment.
They are all
either full or way too busy at the moment."
"So what's gong to happen?"
"If we can't find a home by tonight, she will have to stay at a halfway home
for a while
until we can find somewhere. She'll be out in a week, right."
"Yeah maybe earlier." answered Elizabeth with a sigh. "So it looks like the
halfway
home is the only solution."
"Yeah. Sad I know but if we don't find anyone who is willing to care there
is not much
more we can do for her."
"Thankyou. Please page me if you receive any news."
"Of course." said Cathy walking down the hall.
The nurse at the desk looked in Elizabeth's direction. "Dr Corday, she was
crying and
screaming for you all night long. I think she was having bad dreams."
"Why didn't you call me?" asked Elizabeth.
"Dr Legaspi said that it was important her to learn that you might not
always be
there." explained the nurse. Elizabeth knew she was right, Charlotte was
already
becoming too dependent on her.
~*~*~*~
"Dr Greene?" asked Carter coming up to the desk. "I though your shift
starts
at
eleven. It's only nine."
"I know the time Carter." said Mark looking up from his chart Q&A.
"Just
thought I'd
pop by see if I can lend a hand."
Carter stood nervously, wondering if he should ask his next question.
"Everything ok
at home?"
"Everything's fine." said Mark going back to work.
Carter thought for a moment about what he should say next and then asked,
"Wanna
grab a coffie at Doc's it's slow at the moment."
"Yeah, uh I think I'll take you up on that offer." said Mark stacking up the
charts and
following Carter to the lounge.
"So how's everything going?" asked Carter again. They were seated in a
window boot waiting for their orders.
"Everything's ok. Something just happened this morning between me and
Elizabeth."
said Mark sadly. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have walked out like that."
"Was it about Charlotte?"
"Yeah, sought of. How did you know?" asked Mark.
"Gossip that's going around the hospital." explained Carter. "There's a
rumor saying
that your going to adopt her."
"Yeah, well, we might." said Mark taking the mug from the waiter and staring
into the
dark liquid.
"So the rumor mill is right for once." said Carter surprised.
"Well... maybe. I asked Elizabeth this morning why she was so... I don't
know how to
explain it." said Mark. "She told me that she didn't want to talk about it.
I guess I was
mad because she wasn't telling me something that I knew was important."
"And then you stormed out." said Carter pushing the pieces together.
"You got it buddy."
"Well, maybe it's something that's not exactly easy to tell someone you
love."
suggested Carter.
"What are you saying?" asked Mark suspiciously. "What else have you heard
from the
nurses."
"Nothing, it's just that maybe it's something that just doesn't come up in
ordinary
conversation everyday. Talk to her."
"It's not that easy Carter." said Mark shaking his head at all the times it
wasn't 'that
easy' to tell someone something.
"Yeah, well, you have to talk sometime. You can't just go home tonight and
pretend
that nothing happened." reasoned Carter.
Suddenly a beeping sound of a pager could be heard and they both looked at
their
pagers. Only Mark's wasn't beeping.
"Look's like they need me." said Carter getting up. "Think about what I
said."
"Yeah, I will. Thanks Carter."
"Anytime."
Mark watched as the younger doctor rushed out of the door and on his way to
County
as he pondered the profound words he had just heard a few minuets ago.
~*~*~*~
Elizabeth rounded the corner to see Mark working on another stack of charts
at the
desk. It was slow and she knew he wasn't on 'officially' for a whille and
that all her
elective surgeries had been pushed back till that afternoon.
She didn't walk straight up to him, but instead opted to watch him from a
distance.
The way he kept stopping and glancing at his watch told her that he wasn't
really
paying attention and couldn't wait till his shift started and that hurt a
lot. Elizabeth
knew that after she explained her 'secret' that things might never be the
same again.
She ducked once more out of sight of Mark and took a deep breath. The baby
which
they had found out to be a girl just a day ago hadn't really been kicking
since that
morning and it was worrying her but that wasn't the point at the moment. She
had to
tell him. Now.
"Mark. I was wondering if you want to go for a walk by the Lake." asked
Elizabeth nervously. Mark looked up and nodded lightly. Without saying a
word he
piled up the charts, got up from his seat and grabbed his jacket.
"Let's go." he said quietly as they left the desk.
~*~*~*~