Asystole ✷ Mark Sloan

𝟬𝟰𝟲 how to break a heart

𝙓𝙇𝙑𝙄.
HOW TO BREAK A HEART.

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Okay.

A disclaimer.

Technically, Charlie and I hadn't been together when I'd had drunken sex with Dominic Fox.

Dom and I had been a one-off. I didn't particularly remember it either. It'd been back when I'd been struggling with sobriety. It had been a single night that was very much vodka filled. It'd been a layover flight between France and Boston and I'd been very, very drunk. I'd left before we could speak about it and I hadn't seen Dom since.

I'd done both Dom and Charlie dirty. 

Sleeping with your almost boyfriends best friend was a certified dick move. There had been absolutely no feelings on my part involved, just a very big bottle of vodka and very persistent alcohol addiction. I'd never spoken about it to anyone aside from Eli. 

It'd been a very matter-of-fact conversation and Eli had insisted that it wasn't cheating. It felt like cheating to me so I was very reluctant to call it anything else.

Dom was in town because there was some sort of family reunion going on and he wanted to cover all of his bases in case his aunt's father-in-law got sick. Said father-in-law, apparently, was very ill and needed a medical team on standby a lot. Also, apparently he was going around to all of the hospitals in Seattle, checking them out as his family's lawyer to make sure that the hospitals were up to code. 

It sounded dramatic but I was familiar with his family: high profile, extremely public and very famous in the surgical world. I'd heard it through Meredith who sat with me during my lunch break four days after Dom turned up. She had no qualms talking to me as I knew exactly who Dom's aunt's father-in-law was.

Thankfully, there was no reason for me to be anywhere near him or his family. That was until, three days later, when Dom wheeled Harper Avery into the ER and sent shockwaves through the hospital.

"Dom mentioned he saw you on the conference call," Charlie made light conversation. 

He was on his way home, waiting for his flight in the airport over in Boston. He'd been on a conference call with Dom yesterday, meaning that Dom had brought up the fact that he'd come across me in the middle of the surgical department, sandwiched between Mark and a wall. 

"He's happy to see a familiar face."

I was stood in the woman's restroom, just checking to make sure that his travel plans were going okay. Flying, even when other people were the ones doing it, never failed to make me break out in hives. I hummed to myself, washing my hands under the faucet and pressed my phone in my shoulder.

Happy was definitely not the word I'd use to describe how I felt.

***

NEW YORK

Everyone at ManWest went crazy for Mark.

Our introduction was very formal. He'd already been here for a week but we'd agreed that it was best if we tried our best to avoid working at the same time. Our first overlap happened when I was at the beginning of mine and he was halfway through his. 

We were in the middle of getting ready for our shift when the Chief of Surgery swung into the locker room with Mark in tow. Apparently, he found it very important to introduce us all to the latest member of staff. Our resident appeared too— he introduced us each individually. Mark stood in the doorway, a little smirk on his lips as he avoided meeting my eye. I was in the middle of tying my laces, stooped and ponytail hanging awkwardly across my face.