Asystole ✷ Mark Sloan

𝟬𝟰𝟵 silent witness

𝙓𝙇𝙄𝙓
SILENT WITNESS

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I DIDN'T TAKE sick days often.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd missed a day of work.

But today was different.

Someone was screaming.

It was a horrific sound. It was distant, slightly muffled but it was there. It was loud enough for me to pause, my skin crawling and my heart clenching.

I'd woken with an awful headache, my head pounding and body aching. When I'd first heard it, I was almost inclined to think that it was part of the ensuing migraine like whistling in my ears. But then I'd heard the banging of doors and Charlie muting the television in the next room. 

The screaming, the yelling and the mania outside in the hallway seemed to all be disconnected from the haziness in my head— I leant against the sink in the bathroom and blinked slowly:

Something was wrong.

Charlie was stood in front of the front door. He was shirtless and trying his best to look through the peephole, trying to gauge what was going on without throwing the door open. When I asked him what was going on, he just shrugged saying that his view was disturbed. 

I sighed, scooping my hair into a ponytail and slipping past him, managing to get into the hallway; Charlie was cautious— he held out a hand, grabbing my arm as I came across chaos. I came to a complete halt.

"What's going on?"

In front of me, Arizona was making a very determined beeline to Mark's apartment, her eyes wide and urgency plastered over her face. She didn't answer my question, just squeezed a suture kit in her hands and disappeared into the apartment next to mine. 

I exchanged a look with Charlie— the screaming was louder out here. It was clearer, bouncing through the building. It reminded me of the sort of shit we'd heard during our trauma cases: it made me flinch.

But I recognised that sort of cry. It was a familiar one of pain.

Oh.

As soon as I'd had that revelation, Callie appeared and confirmed my thoughts: "Sloan's having the baby."

Instead of overthinking anything, I just nodded. "What do you need us to do?"

"Don't worry—" She faltered, stuck in between the two apartments. "We've got this."

There seemed to be a storm in her eyes as she glanced towards where her girlfriend had disappeared off to. 

I opened my mouth to interject, to remind her that once upon a time I'd been chasing medical cases and performing surgeries like all of them. But something about the way she shook her head stopped the words from leaving my mouth.

Silently, my head jerked up and down in understanding. I watched as they slammed the door of Mark's apartment shut, muffling the sound of Sloan riding out her contractions. I stared at the barrier for a few moments, letting out a breath that I didn't even know that I was holding. 

Once I had processed everything, I turned to Charlie. He was looking at me with a softness in his eyes that almost made my heart tear. I patted his arm and retreated into our apartment. I turned up some Debussy so that we couldn't hear the sound of what was happening next door.