61. Richard

If it's taking this long, nobody survived.

-Mark Sloan

"You dropped out of the Chief's trial?" Emily tucked her knees to her chest as she clacked her chopsticks and laid them in her sushi tray. Jackson, across from her, sighed as he sat back with his own frozen lasagna that he heated up in her microwave. "Why?"

"I was hanging out with Lex and she said… said something about awards." Realization dawning on her, Emily set down her half-empty tray and straightened out her legs along the couch. Jackson sighed from where he sat at the island in Emily's flat. Rocking the cradle, she looked into Everett's little face. Mark was off in a surgery and the two friends were hanging out.

"Jackson-"

"I know what you're going to say." Emily quietened and she picked up her child. Jackson got off from the stool and sat near her legs. Sitting up straight, she smiled at how Everett's adorable little face seemed to scrunch up as she took a hold of his little hand in its mitt. He was in a onesie that covered his tiny feet and hands, and Emily's heart melted when Everett let out a squeal, stretching in her arms.

"Baby's waking up," she whispered and he nodded, coming closer as she angled herself so she leaned against the back cushions. Jackson leaned in beside her as Everett opened his eyes, mouth opening as he woke. "You know, just 'cause Harper's your grandpa doesn't mean you let it hold you back. I get it, you know."

Jackson was quiet as Everett peered up at his mom's friend curiously. The man extended a finger for Everett to bat at with his mitted hand and there was a soft smile upon his face as he turned to Emily.

"I know."

.

Mark groaned when the baby monitor began to emit a high-pitched cry. Emily threw a hand over her eyes, exhausted.

"I got it," he mumbled blindly, sitting up like a robot. She rolled into his space on the bed as he went, completely passing out after having been the one to take care of their child over the past few months. It was nice for Mark to do his share of work.

It was nice to just sleep.

.

Lies come out, whether it takes years or days.

Emily tossed her braid over her shoulder as she stood beside Jackson who was explaining Mark's latest pettiness. Her husband seemed to have something against the Avery and she was determined to get rid of it. If her husband couldn't take her best friend, then it would cause a lot of problems.

"It's probably because I slept with you once and I hang out with you too much," she teased as Meredith approached the nurse's station. Emily was working on charts for Mark's supposed father when a storm settled over the atmosphere. Looking up from where her cheek was resting against her hand, she tapped her pen against the chart.

"So they're probably gonna fire me." That caught all their attentions and she straightened up. Emily shared a glance with Jackson before returning her gaze to the blonde. "Are you happy?"

"Oh, come on. They're not gonna-"

"I want your crap out of my house by the end of the day."

"What the hell was that?" Cristina asked but before anyone could answer, their pagers blared. All the residents went down to the lobby and they saw a huge group of doctors already waiting. As the Chief explained the situation, she stood by Mark who immediately placed a hand on her shoulder, sliding it down to rub her arm. Tying up her hair, she slid her ring off and onto her necklace.

"Now, get to your stations."

Every doctor, nurse, and any other kind of worker sprung into action as people immediately began organizing charts. Her station was in the pit so she followed Bailey and Hunt down with the other residents. Taylor was already down there, organizing the chaos around him as he shouted orders like he was back in the military.

"Dr. Bailey, let's clear any beds that we can. Discharge or transfer."

"We have no ETA so we need to be ready!" the blond trauma attending yelled to the workers before he stormed over to them. Bailey and Meredith went to clear beds as Hunt continued.

"Alright, Torres, you'll be with me. Kepner set up the E.R. for triage." He passed a clipboard to the redhead, "Other Grey, I want you running the family center." Another to Lexie. "Take over the cafeteria. Yang, blood bank."

"Sloan can be the Candyman," Taylor added as the residents split up. "Let's be liberal with pain meds for the vics. Sedatives for patients that we're transferring. Avery, you help him. Moore, get up to the O.R. floor. Be our rotating resident for the day. You schedule that board like your life depends on it."

"Let's move, people."

.

She erased the whole board as Mark came up. He looked like he raided three whole cabinets of pain meds and sedatives. "Any new info?" she asked shortly and he shook his head.

"No."

"What about on Meredith?" Mark raised his eyebrows and she proceeded to explain, "She stormed up on us and told Alex that he got her fired. So whatever it is, it's bad." Sighing, the blue-eyed man nodded and headed for the elevator.

.

The whole board was clear and still no one was in. She was sitting in the pit with Mark, watching him play Angry Birds.

Her lab coat was gone, ready to hop into surgery if needed as she scrunched up her nose when he missed. "Mark, I love you, but your aim sucks," she teased and he nosed at her cheek, pecking her lightly. The news was on, replaying information they already knew as Lexie came down from the cafeteria.

"Still nobody? Oh, their families are going crazy." She sounded exhausted. "What is taking so long?" Taylor walked over, rubbing his girlfriend's arms.

"Fishin' two hundred people out of the water isn't easy." He pecked her forehead and Lexie crossed her arms, head dropping. Scratching the side of her neck, she only looked up when Owen began to speak.

"They'll do triage at the waterfront. It takes time. Actually, if they're taking this long, there's gonna be hypothermia. Kepner." The redhead hopped off the computer.

"Oh, yeah. Warm blankets, heated lamps, and heated I.V. fluids. Got it," she listed, heading to the supply closet as Emily took Mark's phone away from him. He'd been stuck on the same level for the past ten minutes.

"Give me that."

"Yeah, they're asking to speak to my supervisor," Lexie added and Taylor grimaced slightly. "Wanna come up?" She tried to propose the idea as inviting but it sounded anything but. In the end, the blond and brunette headed up.

"You post Chief Resident yet?" Mark asked as she got it on her first try. "Oh, that's rigged."

"I've been stuck at home with our son for the past eight million years. I need to be good at kid games," she riposted as Owen huffed a slight laugh.

"Uh, no. Not yet," the ginger answered after a moment. Emily looked up, realizing that it was the 'attending time' for them to all gossip. Rolling her eyes at how much of an impatient gossip Mark was, she went to find Jackson after handing Mark's phone back to him.

"What's the holdup?"

"The suspense ain't killing me. It's gonna be Grey," Callie sighed, pushing out from where she was sitting on a stool, reading a magazine.

"That's cold, hard betrayal," Mark called out. "You invest all your time in Emily and then say it isn't gonna be her. Harsh. I think it's going to be her."

"You have to," Arizona laughed, "She'll kill you if you don't say that. Well, I thought Karev made a great play for it. A plane full of orphans… that's pretty impressive."

"Ah, he's already decided," Callie told her wife and Mark scoffed. "You don't have to lobby for your boy." Arizona gawked at her in offense as the Chief walked past them and towards Alex. Emily returned with Jackson for sedatives and Mark watched her interact with the man.

She patted him on the arm with a smile before saying something about delivering them to the patients.

"I'll meet you up there?" she asked and Jackson turned to Mark's wife with a nod. She turned away, sending a smile Mark's way before leaving the pit. Jackson was about to go when Mark put down his phone, got up and called to him.

"Avery, wait." He looked up, green eyes meeting blue ones. "I know there's always been… this thing between us. Because of Em and then you quit the Chief's trial - it all didn't make sense to me. You're a good man, and I get why Emily likes you. So… we're okay. With all the sleeping and the breaking up and now you hang out with her a lot, and I'm saying… I'm saying that we're okay."

"We were… always okay, but sure?" the resident trailed off, walking after his friend as Mark stood there, awkward.

"Real smooth, genius," Callie called and he scowled at her.

"Hey, he slept with my wife."

"Yeah, years ago," Arizona scoffed and he glared at the blonde.

"So Karev sleeping with Torres doesn't bother you anymore?" The perky blonde was quiet and then conceded.

"Fair point."

.

After telling all her assigned families that their members were dead, she sat in the E.R. bed. It was empty, quiet, as Mark sat down beside her with Everett in his arms.

"Hey," she greeted wearily and he sat down beside her. "Did you check up on your not-Dad?" He shook his head.

"He's been transferred to Seattle Pres. Coming back tomorrow," he informed quietly and she rested her temple against his shoulder. "You alright?" He knew when she was being quiet, she wanted to say something.

"I got Chief Resident," she informed quietly and Everett grabbed at her shirt. Picking up her son, she sighed and cuddled him close. "Hey, baby," she whispered, kissing his cheek as he wrapped his arms around her neck. He cooed back at her and she smiled tiredly, inhaling his soft scent. Leaning against Mark, she just looked at their son who had his father's eyes.

April was pushing a computer back to its original place and Mark got up, stretching his legs. "I had a reason to come in here," he said, clicking his pen and going over to the list of clipboards. "I needed to sign some people in. Cafeteria is pandemonium. Wailing people everywhere." Emily scooted back onto the bed, settling her three-month old son in between her legs as he rested his head against her stomach.

"Are you admitting anyone?" April asked softly, walking over to the stationary med cabinet as Mark answered that they're admitting people for sedatives. The computer beeped and Everett made a whining sound at the back of his throat at the computer. Emily picked him up, hoisting him onto her chest as the phone rang.

Mark returned to his wife and child, swooping him up and kissing his cheek before holding him close as the phone rang. April went to pick up as Emily stood.

"E.R." There was a pause and the Sloans looked at the redhead. "There's a survivor." Emily and Mark shared looks. "It's a kid."

"I'm taking him back up to the nursery," she said swiftly as Mark shrugged off his lab coat.

.

Bending over, she took the granola bar through the vending machine near the E.R. Patients were being brought back in and she gazed through the blinds and saw Mark standing there. Putting in a few more coins, she bought a can of soda and took the two items to stand beside him.

"Hey," she whispered, handing him the can of soda. "Is he back yet?"

"Yeah. Biopsy is still going through he's, uh, he's near the bottom of the list so…" She nodded. His pager beeped and she glanced at it when he didn't pick it up. Grabbing it for him, she saw it was from Bailey.

"Bailey's paging you. Have you done a paternity test yet?" He nodded and together, they went to the General wing. Mark sipped on his pop nervously in the elevator and Emily wondered if he realized he was gripping onto the elevator rail like a lifeline. Pressing the button for the nursery, she crossed her arms and looked at him.

"Em?" Why wasn't she coming out with him?

"I'll be right back. If you want to find out by yourself, you can but I think Everett might be able to work his charm on his Papa," she said fondly and he tried a weak smile. It was true. Their son could cheer him up from almost anything. So he got out, the doors closing behind her and found Bailey who handed him a sheet of paper without any words. The short woman just gave him a understanding look through her dark eyes and he nodded, taking it and sitting down. He didn't want to look and only read the title.

DNA Paternity Evaluation Report

Followed by his blood type and other such listed items. The elevator dinged and there he saw his son in an adorable knitted pumpkin hat even though it was summer and he wore these socks on his tiny feet. He was sleeping soundly and Emily was holding the diaper bag on her shoulder as she walked over and sat beside him. She slung the diaper bag off before adjusting her grip on Everett so he was more comfortable.

"Mark." Her voice was quiet to prevent from waking his son up and he gazed into his baby's soft face. God, he was so cute. "So?" His blue eyes searched her face, then landed on the rings on her necklace. She was there, she was there for him. He leaned over and kissed her slowly before taking a deep breath, bracing himself.

Then he looked at the paper. It was arranged in a table of sorts. Name, race, dates.

DNA Paternity Evaluation Report

Mother: Janet Martha Sloan (née Parkers)

Child: Mark Everett Sloan

Alleged Father: Richard William Sloan

Case Number: 6821 Report Date: June 20, 2011

Then there was a bunch of crap about genetic makeup and at the bottom, all the numbers of the paternity index were added together, labelled as Combined Paternity Index. Next to it, Probability of Paternity: 99.99%

He read the number over and over again, trying to make sense of it all before raking his eyes downwards near the bottom.

Richard W. Sloan cannot be excluded as the biological father of Mark E. Sloan. Using the above systems, the probability of paternity is 99.99%...

There it was. His signature, followed by his father's and the physicians.

"Fuck," he croaked and Emily came closer immediately. She hugged him and he hugged both her and his son, trying to swallow back his tears. "Em, it's him. After all these years, it's really him. That son of a bitch," he whispered and she kissed near his ear. "I need to see him." Her arm tightened and she nodded. Together, they stood and Bailey lead them to where a man was on the bed. He was awake and when the family went in, he raised his bed so he sat up.

"Are you my surgeon?" he asked and Mark scoffed. Emily's anger flared up inside her and she held Everett closer. Her son buried his face in the shade of her neck and hair and continued to snore softly as she glared at him. The man who made Mark's life hell, who made him run to the Shepherds, was here in front of her. And she hated herself for how she immediately identified the parts of Mark in that man's face.

"Figures you wouldn't recognize your own son," Mark snapped, arms crossing. "Why are you even here?"

"Mark?" The man sat up higher and she slipped her free hand into Mark's. He was wearing his silver band and she squeezed his palm tighter. "I was in Boston and I heard Dr. Noah Moore in the news - you went to med school with him, right?" He squinted at them and Mark had the look of utter disgust on his face.

"Glad to know you actually paid some attention to him," Emily finally commented sharply and Mark sent her a warning glance.

"And who are you? Some girl he roped into with his kid?" She felt the same disgust that showed on Mark's face curl up on her face.

"I'm his wife, actually," she said coldly. "And this is our son. Richard, right? Or do you prefer to go by Dick? My bad, where are my manners?" A smirk occupied her lips without meaning to and Mark snorted. Before Richard could say anything, Mark continued.

"Why are you here, anyway? I'm pretty sure you aren't here for a family reunion. You haven't properly talked to me since - when was it?" The cruel tone in Mark's voice made Emily wince and she looked up at him. Wrapping an arm around his bicep, she watched him, mask of stone. "Since dear old mom's funeral, isn't that right?" Everything froze over and she tried tugging him away.

"Mark, you know I tried-"

"Really? Because I never got a single damn call." He swallowed and Emily could see the fragile kid neglected - who turned on all the lights so he could pretend someone was home. "Em, go home. Everett needs to sleep." Her arm loosened but she still kept a grip on him.

"I'm not leaving you alone with Dick." She cocked an eyebrow expressively at the nickname and he smirked weakly, kissing her forehead and cupping her face.

"I'll be okay," he assured her and she backed away. His blue eyes glowed at her pleadingly and she nodded.

"I'll have dinner waiting. I promise."

A/N: Edited - November 29, 2018

Next: Meredith's lies are fully revealed and Dick Sloan's biopsy results are returned.