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𝙲𝙷𝚁𝙸𝚂𝚃𝙼𝙰𝚂 𝙴𝚅𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝟸𝟺, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟿
"IT LOOKS SO PRETTY" MAEVE smiled as she and lexie finish up decorating the christmas tree with ornaments
"thanks to you" lexie smiled to maeve as she places the last ornament. maeve's smile widens
"how's it feel?" mark asked lexie as he walks up to the two "still tingling?" he questions as he grabs lexie's hand
"oh, it's fine. i pretty much have full sensation" lexie replies
"great. good" he says before softly placed his hand on his daughters cheek, squeezing them softly as a greeting. maeve pushes away her father's hand before walking towards the fridge to grab a water
"so... have you, uh... i mean, uh, you think you could ask her, how long she's planning to stay?" mark asks lexie, referring to sloan
lexie glanced to sloan before looking towards her boyfriend "mark, it's been a month, and you've exchanged three sentences with her. two of them were 'pass the cereal'. in the spirit of the holiday, maybe you can ask her yourself. she's pretty easy to like once you get to know her"
"really? mark questions as he glanced to sloan, before his eyes drifted to maeve was looking inside the fridge
"no. she's a vapid, vapid girl. i-i mean maeve doesn't even like her. and maeve likes everyone" lexie says as mark nods in agreement "but she's your daughter, okay? so- so try. okay? try- try to be her dad"
as lexie and mark continued to talk, maeve glanced at sloan, who was painting her nails. sloan felt eyes on her so she glanced up maeve "what?" she snaps
"please leave" maeve said before walking away, but she comes to a stop as she notices her dad leaning on the couch. he calls her over
"what have i told you? stop being rude to her. why are you so mean?" mark questions
"because she shows up out of nowhere, steals my home, steals my room, and now she's stealing my dad" maeve says
"mae—
"i want her out of here!" maeve slightly yells before storming away from her father and goes into mark's room, where lexie just happened to be
mark exhales deeply before clearing his throat, causing sloan to turn around. mark was smiling to her daughter
"what are you looking at, you old perv?" sloan glares at him. mark nods his head before turning around and heads to his room
♥︎
"i want to bolt. i want to quit. i want to... go back to new york with maeve or i don't know arkansas. somewhere no one can come looking for me and my daughter. i don't know how to talk to sloan. i... and i don't know what she wants from me. it's the guilt, you know? it's like every time i look at her, it just" mark sighs "the guilt is like a punch in the gut every day" mark rambles to derek
"well, you shouldn't feel guilty. you didn't know, just like with maeve" derek tells him
"but i did know" mark said as it caught the attention of derek, who immediately looks up to him "with sloan, i mean. i knew when her mom got pregnant. she told me. i gave her a couple hundred bucks and i left town, and i never saw her again. i figured she got an abortion. hoped. but i did know"
"well, you're a different guy now, you're not 18 anymore. you've grown up. especially, since maeve came into your life. well, kind of. but, you're capable of better"
