Why me? ~ mark sloan

CHAPTER TWENTY

Vanessa was very busy going from surgery to surgery so when Mark paged her she had to get a nurse to page him back for her, telling him she couldn't meet him until later. 

She spent the entire day wondering what Mark had wanted to speak to her about. She didn't even have time for lunch as she was too busy treating her patient.

By the end of the day the soles of her feet were hurting and all she wanted to do was sit on the sofa with Mark and watch a movie but it seemed the universe had other plans for her.

"Vanessa!" She heard a call from behind her and she turned around slowly to see Jackson there, running up to her.

"Hey." She greeted groggily and continued to walk to her car. 

"What's going on?" He asked, putting a hand on her arm, making her stop.

"Nothing - I'm just tired." She smiled weakly at him and he took the keys from her hand. 

"Hey!" She whined, "I just want to go home." 

"I know and I'll drive you there. I'm not letting you behind the wheel." He laughed and she rolled her eyes, climbing into the passenger seat as Jackson started the car.

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When they arrived Vanessa hugged Jackson, thanking him for driving her home. He just smiled, waving goodbye at her and walking to his apartment.

 She opened the door and was greeted by a blonde woman stood in the kitchen, Mark no-where in sight.

"Hi?" Vanessa closed the door slowly behind her, looking at the girl cautiously.

"Vanessa?" She heard Mark call from another room and she smiled slightly upon hearing his voice.

"Yeah." She called back, hearing his footsteps enter the kitchen, "Hey." She greeted when she saw him and he smiled lightly, not kissing her which she found weird. She took her shoes off and deposited her keys, walking over to one of the stools and sitting down in it, eyeing the two other people in the room.

"Uh Vanessa this is Sloan Riley." Mark introduced and Vanessa found the name quite funny - Sloan would always be a surname to her. She smiled brightly at the young girl, deciding whatever she had to do with Mark couldn't be that bad considering she looked to be about 18.

"Sloan this is Vanessa." He looked at the blonde and she smiled a little bit, her attitude stood out to Vanessa and she hoped whatever she was here for would be a quick visit and then she would leave.

"Vanessa, Sloan came to visit me today and she thought I was her dad. And turns out Sloan was right... about her...parentage, I am her dad." He explained hesitantly and Vanessa choked on nothing, her eyes wide.

"Sloan here is going to live with us for a while." Mark added and Vanessa stopped all movement that was happening in her body. She nodded slowly, turning to Mark.

"Okay." She breathed and he seemed to be surprised at her answer.

"Okay?" He asked, looking over at Sloan. Vanessa nodded, standing up and turning to Sloan.

"Hi." She smiled at her and when Sloan returned the gesture Vanessa turned to Mark.

"I had a really long day so I'm going to go to bed." She breathed and he nodded, grabbing her hand gently and rubbing small circles on the back of it before letting it go. Vanessa walked to the bedroom and changed for bed.

She didn't know what to feel about Sloan. If Mark already had a kid how invested was he going to be when he had another one? How long would she be staying with them? Why did he allow her to move in without even speaking to her first?