AU • MARK DIES

group of surgeons watch from the outside of Mark's room as Eleanora sits on the edge of his bed and helps him hold both the boys at once. The twins are obviously excited to see their dad awake, and are giggling and playing with his hospital gown.

The smile on Eleanora's face was the biggest relief for half the people in this hospital.

"Pretty amazing recovery, right?" Jackson asked, having a grin of his own on his face at the sight of his mentor and friend alive and well.

"Yeah." Derek agreed, a large, happy and relieved smile on his face. "His STATS are good, he's been weened off of pressors?"

"Yeah, BP is 110 over 60-" Jackson added, Callie grinning from beside himself

"-and he's making inappropriate jokes about Eleanora infront of the new interns." Callie chuckles. Derek nods, going to lean beside them. Richard makes a noise from beside them, Derek glancing over with a raised brow.

"You think it's the surge?"

"Mhm." Richard hummed, shrugging as he watched Eleanora happily play with Elijah and Luca, Mark having an arm loosely wrapped around her waist. "Might be."

"I don't....I don't think it is." Derek decided, Callie and Jackson agreeing with him. Brooks, one of the new interns, furrows her brows behind the two Attending's, speaking up.

"What's the surge?"

Webber looks over at her, face a little grim. "In many terminally ill patients, they have a final surge of energy. They get before they get ."

Derek and Jackson share an unamused look, Jackson glancing back inside his mentors room. "But, this is not that."

Richard shrugs, following the young fellows eyesight. "But in a little while, he'll do what all patients do. He'll have epiphanies, he'll tell you what really matters in life, ask for his family."

Derek shakes his head, huffing. "The man is telling dirty jokes. It's not a—not a surge."

Back in the room, Eleanora feels her pager vibrate. She glanced at it for a split second before focusing back on her family. Mark raises a brow, taking his own glance at the pager.

"Aren't you gonna take that, doll?"

"No, I'm not." She said carefully, turning her eyes to him. "It's fine, Mark. Hunt said I could take all the time off I need from surgery, a few more-"

"You've been off this whole time?" Mark asked tightly. Eleanora furrowed her brows a bit, but before she could speak up, her husband continues. "You were built for surgery, Nora. You've missed the beginning of your fellowship. I'm fine now, okay? You can have Avery take the twins to the daycare and go handle that. I'll be here when you get back."

Eleanora bit the inside of her cheek, worriedly glancing down at the boys. Mark sighed, but there was a soft, fond smile on his face.

"Go, doll. I'm okay, you can go answer a page."

Eleanora finally caved in, leaning forward to press a deep, meaningful kiss to his lips. They stayed there for a moment, Elijah and Luca babbling to each other.

Eleanora leaned her forehead against Mark's, her voice soft. "I love you so much, Mark Sloan. do that to me again, okay?"

"I promise, Nora. And I never break a promise."

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want you to promise me something." Mark tells Jackson, the two alone in his room going over charts. "If you love someone, you tell 'em. Even if you're scared that it's not the right thing, even if you're scared that it'll cause problems, even if you're scared that it will burn your life to the ground, even if you're scared this smiley and beautiful person will bring you to your knees and then find someone better, you say it, and you say it . And then you go from there."

In OR 2, Eleanora takes her place at the head of the operating table. She takes a deep breath as they place the headlamp on her, rolling out her Navy-Scrub covered shoulders.

She nods to herself, that Wilson girl at one side ready to suction and Bokhee on her other. Eleanora smiles under her mask, not having to push away any worry or fears because all of them vanished the moment Mark woke up.

"Alright, everybody. Let's do this." Eleanora called out, offering her hand. "Drill, Bokhee. Please and thank you."

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tell Callie." Mark informed Richard weakly, the older man fastening the oxygen to his face. "She's about to operate on Derek. And don't tell Nora, not yet. Wait until she's out of surgery. She's the only other trustable Neuro Guy in the building, that person needs her."

"Okay." Richard said softly, taking a small step back. He starts to lower the bed, Mark staring up at the ceiling with a blank face.

"Derek doesn't need to go into this surgery worried, so don't say anything to him."

"They can reschedule the surgery, Mark." Richard told him, raising a brow. "And someone else can fill in for Eleanora. I'm sure they'd want to."

"No." Mark coughed out, the pain in his chest slowly rising again. "That surgery's gonna get Derek back into the OR where he belongs. Nora is finally in the OR where belongs. And she doesn't need to watch as someone else slips through her fingers. She just can't."

Richard goes quiet, slowly sitting down in the chair beside Mark's bed. He pats the man's arm, Mark slowly nodding as if he's trying to reassure himself that he's right.