Mark

Between Winning the Battle, Losing the War and No Man's Land

Mark frowned at the cell phone resting on his desk. It was emitting the unknown caller ring tone and he wasn't altogether sure he wanted to answer it. He was busy with paperwork and he'd stayed up way to late last night on the phone with his Angel. All he wanted to do was crawl back into his bed and pretend his world hadn't been smashed by one woman's selfishness.

His shoulders relaxed when the phone went silent and he turned his attention back to his paperwork. He'd barely set pen to paper when the phone started up again. Glaring at the offending piece of machinery he tossed the pen to the desk, scooped up the phone, hit the answer button and brought it to his ear. "Sloan," he growled in a threatening tone.

"Do you know how hard it was to get this number?" A waspish female voice snapped. "And then you don't answer and it's not like I have a lot of time to call you, you know?"

Mark frowned and stared at the wall across the room. He vaguely remembered this woman's voice but he couldn't quite reach the memory. "Maybe I don't have a lot of time to answer," he shot back as the woman's face continued to elude him.

The woman on the other end of the line laughed in a low, rolling tone. "If I was Mer calling you, then you wouldn't be saying that."

The recognition of the voice clicked in his head and he grinned almost unwillingly. "Cris if you were my Angel then I'd never answer."

Cristina laughed again. "You say that now…" she paused and then cleared her throat. "You know I actually had a reason to call you. I've got a question for you."

Mark relaxed back in his chair and grinned. He really did like Cristina so far. Hell, he liked all of Mer's friends. "Shoot," he invited.

"So last night while we were watching that facial reconstruction you said…"

Mark smiled as he listened to her describe exactly what she wanted to know in expert terms and shook his head. His Angel had really lucked into some good people.

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Mark set the phone on his desk again after he finished the call with Cristina and picked up his pen again. He did need to finish these charts. He made two entries and his phone was ringing with the unknown caller tone again. He sighed wondering who it was and stabbed the answer and speaker buttons. "Sloan," he answered with a hard tone.

"Growly much?" A bright female voice shot back at him. "When's Mer's birthday? Cuz she won't tell me and I really need to know."

Mark rubbed at the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "What makes you think I'm going to just give out that kind of classified information, Izzie?"

Izzie groaned aloud and then sighed. "Because you're a good brother and want her to be happy on her birthday?"

Her knowing tone startled a laugh out of him. "Sure," he drawled. "You just keep telling yourself that."

"Come on," she snapped. "Just tell me already!"

Mark shook his head and continued to deny Izzie with a humorous tone to his voice. How the Hell had they both wheedled his number from his Angel? She usually guarded it like it was a state secret.

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Half an hour after he'd hung up from Izzie his phone rang again. He sighed but answered it even as he locked his office door behind him and headed down the hall to go home. "Alex or George?" He asked in lieu of a hello.

"Alex," the man answered promptly. "How did you know and why didn't you list one of the girls? Does your phone have some magic ringtone that lets you know the gender of the caller?"

Mark laughed and stabbed the elevator call button with a finger. "That would be amazing, wouldn't it?" He shrugged. "The girls have already called me today."

"How'd they get the number?" Alex's voice was nearly a squawk. "I had to promise her scut duty for a week and a month of coffees whenever she wanted them!"

Mark couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him. "You been had, man," he told the other man between chuckles. "She'd have given it to you anyway. She keeps saying you and me need to meet or talk or whatever."

"Bitches probably jacked her phone last night or something," Alex muttered. "Anyway…I called for a reason."

"And that reason was…" Mark exited the elevator and headed through the parking garage to his car.

"So I got this friend…" Mark could hear Alex swallow and hesitate before he made his request. "She's got this kid, right? And the little boy was burned in a fire a couple months ago. He's four." Alex went on to explain about their financial situation and how no one would help the kid because of it.

Mark jumped happily on the chance Alex was handing him on a silver platter. He'd been getting super bored lately. He missed his Angel and he missed his brother. He'd never get the second one back but maybe…just maybe he'd get to see his Angel if he took this surgery. It wouldn't stop the pain of Addie's decision but the surgery would give him something to look forward too. He'd become a doctor to help people after all.

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Angel's ringtone filled the silence of his car as he pulled onto his street. He jabbed the answer button as he finished the turn. "How did Cris and Iz get my number, Angel?" He asked before she could say anything.

"How did who what now?" She asked startled at the abrupt question.

"Cris and Izzie both called me today," he explained. "I was just wondering how they got this number since I know you wouldn't give it to them without talking to me about it first."

"They stole my phone!" She growled. "I knew the settings were different when I found it in the kitchen this morning!"

Mark laughed helplessly and parked in his driveway. "Poor Angel," he teased. "Gonna have to passcode your phone from your own friends."

"This sucks," she grumbled. "What did they say?" If they had irritated Mark she was going to deal them some damage.

"Nothing important," he consoled her. "They were fine. On the other hand…you might want to refund the scut duty for Alex."

Now Meredith laughed happily. "I notice you said nothing about refunding the month of free coffee."

"I'm not stupid," he told her and knew she'd hear the grin in his voice. "I'm not about to get between you and your coffee."

"Always knew you were a smart man," she complimented. "Are you feeling better? You sounded sad last night."

Mark sighed and unlocked his brownstone. "Yes and no," he admitted. "I'll get through it and having the phone calls helped today…" He shook his head and debated telling her about what Addie had done.

"She's had the procedure hasn't she?" Meredith asked with that uncanny insight that she sometimes called on.

Mark wasn't even surprised at her intuition. "Yeah," he sighed and sank into his favorite chair. "And she didn't even tell me about it until it was over."

"Dammit," Meredith cursed. "I'm so sorry," he could hear the tears in her soft tone. "I…I wish I could do something."

Mark laid his head back and set his phone on the arm of the chair. "Just talk to me," he requested. "About something else. Something stupid and insignificant."

"Hmm," she hummed. "Had a guy come into the emergency room today that was making sausage and didn't even realize he'd cut off his finger until he'd rolled the sausages."

"You're kidding," Mark laughed. "That's…gross actually. Did he serve the sausages or did he realize in time that his finger was in there somewhere?"

"Mark," her voice whispered nearly an hour later. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah," he murmured. "Sorta."

"Go to bed," she ordered softly. "Call me in the morning or something, okay? I miss you."

"Yeah, okay," he agreed. "I miss you too." He clicked off his phone after they'd said their goodbyes and stared at it for a long moment.

He glanced over to his bedroom door and just couldn't bring himself to go in there. He didn't want to lay down in that big cold bed alone. He'd slept alone for years and he suddenly couldn't do it. So he clutched his phone in his hand and stretched out on the couch. He couldn't have either of the women he wanted tonight and so he'd hold the only connection he had to his Angel and pray it would be enough to let him sleep.