Now or Never ➼ Mark Sloan

𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘆𝗻 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗻 (𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗲)

Bella sat in the NICU by Maddie's incubator. She held her tiny hand and sighed. Mark walked in and smiled. "Hey. How's our girl doing?"

Bella sighed. "Still small. Still my fault she's here," she mumbled as she wiped away tears that fell.

Mark looked to her. "Bella this isn't your fault. She's a fighter. She's survived the first 24 hours. She's tough. Like her mom," he told her.

Bella shook her head. "No. I knew there was something wrong with her. And I just... I don't know. I ignored it. Thinking I was losing her. What I did, it was worse than losing her," she said.

"Baby you fell down the stairs. She was breach. This really wasn't your fault," Mark said as he took her hand and kissed. "Is she here a lot earlier than what we wanted? Yeah. But we get an extra 11 weeks of loving her."

Bella turned to her tiny little girl. She sighed and smiled. "She really is perfect isn't she?" She said as she wiped the tears away.

"She's yours. Of course she is," Mark said as he kissed the top of her head.

****
Derek smiled as he saw Grace. "What are you doing?" He asked as he sat with her.

Grace smiled. "I'm getting some clothes for dolly."

"Dolly?"

Grace nodded and grinned. "It's my nickname for Maddie. She's a tiny doll. So I nicknamed her dolly. Personally I think they should name her dolly."

Derek rolled his eyes and smiled. "Well she's still in the NICU. So I think she's gonna stay a little doll," he told her as he kissed her head.

Grace looked to him. "Mark has text. He says Bella is blaming herself for what happened."

"It's not her fault. These things happen," Derek said.

****

A few days later, Mark and Callie were sitting in bed together. Bella was having a shift at the hospital. She needed a distraction. She wasn't healed completely. But she needed a distraction from Maddie and how unwell she was.

Callie looked to him. "You have to say something. Words. Make words," she told him.

"Holy crap."

"Yep."

"A baby?"

Callie nodded. "Growing like a weed in my uterus," she told him as she sighed.

Mark turned to her. He smiled. "Not like a weed. Like a mighty oak. You're gonna be a great parent," he said.

Callie looked to him. "How's the baby?" She asked. Knowing how unwell Maddie was.

Mark nodded. "She's getting there. It's Bella I'm worried about. She blames herself for what happened."

"Does she have a name yet?" Callie asked as she smiled.

"Madelyn-Grace Sloan. I don't know if Bella wants Shepherd in there. But that's the name she's had since Bella found out she was pregnant," Mark told her.

Callie smiled and nodded. "Well I should go and talk to Arizona," she said as she walked off.

****

Grace walked into the NICU. She saw Bella wasn't there and frowned. She found it odd considering how Bella hadn't left since Maddie had been born.