Why me? ~ mark sloan

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"Mark, we don't need-" Vanessa tried to reason with Mark but he put the toys in the basket anyway.

"Why not?" He drew out the last word and made Vanessa giggle, dropping the argument and accepting the toys in the basket.

"You are the worst at baby shopping." She commented as she tugged on his arm that she was clutching as they turned the corner and into an isle of baby clothes.

They were visiting the baby store that was just downtown so that they could buy everything they would need for the babies that were coming.

She was now 24 weeks pregnant with twins and her stomach was fairly round which made it difficult for her to do her everyday activities and she didn't find comfort in the fact that she still had 3 months left to go.

"I am not the worst." Mark protested, looking down at her fondly as they both walked through the isle, looking through the racks of clothes together.

"You're buying things we don't need." She laughs and he looks at her, mouth agape in fake shock.

"We're having two babies - we need more stuff than we would need for one baby." He defends himself and she tugs on his arm again absentmindedly, something he thought was one of the cutest things ever.

"Maybe we should wait until after tomorrow to do the shopping?" Vanessa suggested and Mark looked at her incredulously, "The gender reveals. It would be easier to shop if we knew the genders." 

"We don't need to know the genders. Neutral colours, baby!" He smirked and Vanessa shook her head fondly.

"Fine. I have a question for you seeing as you seem to know everything." Vanessa joked and Mark looked at her, ready to answer any question she threw at him.

"Where are we fitting two babies and all of the stuff we need for them in your tiny apartment?"

"Our tiny apartment." Mark corrected her and she smiled at him before going back to looking through the clothes.

"Okay. Our tiny apartment then." She repeated, still wanting the answer too her question.

"Well," He started, gathering up the courage to say what he was about to say, "I thought we could move into a bigger place. Together." He proposed and she stopped looking through the clothes and smiled back at him.

She moved closer to him, knowing how big of a step this was for him. She kissed his cheek softly and looked up at him as he looked down at her.

"Okay." She says simply, gazing at him with love in her eyes.

"Okay?" He repeats, surprised she would agree so easily. She nods and he leans down, capturing her lips in a sweet kiss. She smiles into the kiss and pulls away, turning away and continuing to look through the racks.

She looks back at Mark to see him pouting childishly at her. 

"I'm already carrying two babies I don't need another one." She jokes and starts to walk away. Mark paces toward her and wraps his arm around her waist, spinning her around, pressing her body to his and staring into her eyes intensely.

"We are literally in a store for babies." Vanessa points out, her heart rate quickening with the way he was looking at her.

"Mhmm." Mark hummed, not really listening to what she was saying. She pushed away from him and continued walking through the isle, determined to get through the shopping trip without any more distractions.

***

"Thanks for letting me come over you guys. Mark won't stop talking about our new house and looking at different houses, it's driving me crazy." Vanessa walked through the door of Jackson's house and took the bag of chips (crisps lol) out of Charles' hand, eating some for herself.

"You guys are moving?" Jackson asked, closing the door and walking to the sofa.

"Not out of Seattle." Vanessa put a finger up, "Mark seems to think we should get out of Seattle but I love it here and I don't want to leave." 

"Then don't. Don't let Sloan dictate what you do - you're literally pregnant with his children - he's pretty much at your mercy right now." Charles pointed out and Vanessa moved her pointed finger over to him, a bright smile on her face.

"Someone who has something smart to say." She comments and Jackson laughs as all three of them plopped down onto the sofa.

"I mean we have got to get a bigger place with the twins and everything but if that means moving out of Seattle I'm not sure I want to do it." 

"You're not gonna break up are you?" Jackson questioned, not wanting to have one of his good friends go through a break up, especially while she was pregnant.

"No. No, I love him more than anyone I've ever loved before." She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince, Jackson or herself.

Vanessa took some more of the chips (ahh crisps) and chewed on them, needing the food to calm down her stress. She knew it was probably nothing and that Mark would eventually find a place he liked in Seattle - he wouldn't want her to move to somewhere where she wasn't happy, right?

"I mean, I don't know. What if we end up moving away and I hate it there but I can't move back because there wouldn't be a job left for me here? What if something happens here but we can't get here in time? There is so much that could go wrong if we leave. And I don't want to miss either of you or Owen or Cristina or Alex. My whole life is here and so is his. I don't know what I might do if he insists on moving away - I can't do it." Vanessa rambled as the two boys just listened. 

Jackson knew that neither of them - no matter how close they were to her - could truly comfort her during this time. He knew just who to get over here. She had spoken about him before and Jackson had met up with him a few times - he was Vanessa's oldest friend. Who just so happened to have recently moved to Seattle.

He discreetly texted the address so that Vanessa wouldn't know and waited for the knock at the door. Vanessa carried on talking about how she couldn't leave and Charles was totally invested, nodding along and giving his input wherever he felt necessary - which was quite a bit.

Vanessa started to cry slightly just as Jackson heard a knock at the door. He quickly excused himself as Charles just patted her shoulder awkwardly. He never knew what to do when women cried - it was always so complicated.

"Nessa?"As soon as she heard his voice her head snapped up and she cried more, running into his arms and hugging him tightly.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling away from the hug and holding him at arms length which was difficult for her because he was so much taller than her.

"I just moved here. I was trying to find a way to surprise you but Jackson texted me and I figured I should probably come." He looked over at Jackson and so did Vanessa. She shot him a grateful look and he just nodded, pulling Charles into the kitchen so that they could talk alone.

"Jake, I've missed you so much. You have no idea." She gushed, tears drying on her face.

"I think I do have an idea. Remember how I thought you were dead for two years?" He laughed and she giggled, remembering how she just couldn't put Jake through that pain so she reached out to him. He had wanted to tell Owen but she begged him not to - as much as it hurt her for him to be hurting for the loss of both of his sisters, it hurt more to remember the life she used to have whenever she was with him.

"Sorry about that." She mumbled and his eyes drifted down to her stomach.

"Woah." He breathed and she looked down as well as if she didn't already know what was happening.

"Yeah, 24 weeks with twins." She informed and he smiled widely at her. 

"So is there a dad or..." At that moment a knock came at the door and Vanessa called out that she would answer it. Jake followed behind her and she opened the door to see Mark there and she smiled at him. He didn't smile back.

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A/N: I got nothing.

Thanks for reading :)