Why me? ~ mark sloan

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"Discharge papers." Vanessa sings as she hands Mark the set of papers for him to sign. He smiles at her happiness and signs the papers and hands them off to Bailey who smiled quickly before walking out of the room.

Vanessa leaned down and kissed him shortly. She moved to pull away but Mark laced his fingers through her hair and brought her head down to his, capturing her lips in a sweet and passionate kiss.

She moved away from him and he pouted before getting up off of his bed where he was sat and following her out of the room, grabbing the bags before closing the door. Vanessa turned around and quickly took the bag off of him, carrying it herself.

"You," She gives him a pointed look, "Are not supposed to be carrying anything heavy." 

"I'm fine." Mark drew out the last word but Vanessa turned away and continued to walk toward the exit of the hospital. 

"Owen's at the house with the kids so we're gonna see them there." She reminded him as she pulled out the keys to his car.

"Gimme those." He reached for them but she pulled them away, making it so that he wouldn't be able to get them.

"You are not driving my car - you're a terrible driver." Mark groans and Vanessa feigns sadness, jutting her bottom lip out quickly before opening the car and sliding into the driver's seat. She threw the bags in the backseat and looked at Mark through the windshield.

He was stood there with his arms folded across his chest, looking at her with a playful smirk on his face. She held eye contact with him as she put her seat-belt on, showing that she wasn't moving.

Mark shook his head fondly and opened the passenger side door before climbing in and clicking his seat-belt in - something he never usually did.

"I will remind you that if we crash I may never recover." He jokes and she hits his arm playfully as she pulls out of the parking space, ready to drive home.

***

When they arrived at their house Vanessa's eyes couldn't stop drifting to where Mark was stabbed. Of course they had replaced the stones so the blood wasn't visible but she could still see it, clear as day, in her mind. 

Her hands shook as she carried the bag out of the car and locked it behind her. Her mind racing with the scenes of Mark falling to the floor and blood - a lot of blood.

Mark watched Vanessa as her whole body began shaking as she stood still, eyes glued to the spot where he almost died. He reached a hand out to her, placing it on her arm gently and pulling her out of her mind. 

"Hey." He breathed quietly, rubbing his hand up and down her arm in a calming manner as she breathed in and out deeply. Vanessa looked up at him, noting that he was alive and well, and leaned her head on his shoulder, fighting back the mix of happy and sad tears that were threatening to spill.

"Everything's fine - we're fine." He whispered into her ear and she took a shaky breath in, nodding her head slightly and bringing it off of his shoulder.

Mark lifted his hand and wiped the tears that had fallen down her cheeks and she smiled at him, taking his hand from her face, kissing the palm and entwining her fingers with his as they walked into their house. 

Vanessa hadn't seen their house in a while - she had practically lived inside the hospital because Mark was there - but she came home occasionally to get clothes and things, but never for longer than a few minutes because whenever she spent longer than a few minutes in the house she started to panic, her mind immediately going back to the day Mark was stabbed.

She pulled a brave face on however and walked into the living room to find Owen and Cristina playing with Charlie and Amelia. They were both around 3 months old - time had gone quickly - and rolling around on the floor as Owen and Cristina tickled their stomachs, laughing with them.