chapter forty

love and addiction.season four, episode two.

."Wow," she breathed out heavily, turning her head to the side with a grin. "I mean, seriously. Wow."

"Believe it or not, that's not an uncommon reaction," Mark smirked, his eyes burning into the side of her head.

Cassie laughed, smacking him on the chest. "Shut up." She moved to lay on her side, wrapping her arms around his torso, looking up at him with her head on her chest. "Can I sleep here tonight? I don't feel like driving home."

"That's new."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't do sleepovers," he stated factually.

"Okay," she shrugged. "Well, I do now."

Mark thought for a moment, a strange sense of hope brewing in his chest. "Okay, but... why?"

"I just told you, I don't feel like driving. I'm super tired, and not really in the mood to fall asleep behind the wheel."

"You could walk," Mark suggested teasingly.

"Sure, yeah," Cassie scoffed dryly. "I'll walk, and then I'll be sluggish and disoriented, and then I won't pay attention to the stoplights, and then I'll get hit by a bus, and then I'll die. Sounds good to me."

"I'm kidding, Cass. Of course you can spend the night." He looked down at her relaxed figure, testing the waters a bit. "And you're sure... there's no other reason?"

Cassie tensed for a moment, not wanted to admit why she was staying. "Nope," she answered quickly. "No other reason."

Mark sighed softly to himself in disappointment, but quickly changed the subject. "So, are you going to tell me why you're so pissed at O'Malley?"

Cassie removed herself from his body, leaving him feeling much colder than before. "I-I'm not mad at George."

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes. "I could see you glaring at him during rounds from a mile away. You can tell me, I won't say anything."

"Nothing to tell."

"Tell that to your face."

"It's not..." she paused. "It's not a big deal."

Mark sighed exasperated. "Just tell me!"

She narrowed her eyes at him with a scoff. "Oh my god, you are a gossip!"

"Am not."

"Are too."

It was silent for a moment. "So... you're really not going to tell me?"

"Mark!"

☆

"What's wrong with the Chief?" Mark wondered, coming up to Derek, who was standing in front of the OR board.

"He's a junkie," Derek mumbled, tiredly rubbing his dark eyes with a huff.

"Him?" he raised a brow, giving his friend a once over. "You're the one who looks all strung out."

"I'm just tired."

"Let me guess," Mark smirked. "You and Meredith are back together, and you've been up all night doing the horizontal salsa."

"Mambo. Horizontal mambo," Derek laughed. "Meredith and I, we're just friends."

"Sexy friends."

"You're like, the worst, most juvenile human being I've ever met in my life."

"You know, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem."

Derek gave him a look. "Yeah? And how many nurses have you slept with this week?"

Mark's smile faltered for a moment, his brows furrowing as he thought about it. "None, actually."

"None? What, are you sick or something?"

"No, I just—" Mark let his eyes trail to the nurses station, where Cassie was explaining a procedure to one of her interns. "—uh, found something better . That's all."

Derek nodded slowly, completely oblivious but not in the mood to ask questions. "Alright then."

☆

Callie came into the trauma room after being paged, with Mark following closely behind. With a brow raised, Cassie sent a smug smirk to Izzie. She have paged Callie even though she wasn't needed at the moment, and she be planning to make the blonde's life a living hell until George tells the truth.

"Hello, Mr..."

"Roche," the patient said. "Archie Roche."    

"Age 60, second and third degree burns on his chest and upper abdomen, facial contusions, and fracture," Cassie presented.

"I was reading the sports section, and the next thing I know, I'm looking up at a hole in the ceiling in Dave and Marla's apartment."

"Burns should be debrided," Mark told Cassie.

"I'm on it," she nodded, turning around to face Rue, who was on the case with her. "Lennon, help me out?"

"You got it," Rue nodded immediately, trying to hold in her excitement as she moved to sit by her resident.

Callie looked to Izzie. "We'll need to do a trauma series and shoulder films, Stevens."