Fic: Alphabet Meme - U is for Unexpected (Alex and Mark)

[waltzmatildah]

Title: U is for Unexpected...

Word Count: 960

Rating: PG

Characters/Pairing: Mark and Alex.

Summary: This is so far from how Mark had been intending to spend the early hours of the morning... (no slash...)

Spoilers: Season 5 but only if you squint.

Author's Note: Written for

citron_presseas part of the alphabet meme... prompts still available if you like what you see...

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and all the characters, settings, and events thereof, are properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Referral to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

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Mark has heard rumours of alcohol fueled benders, of bar fights picked with random strangers capable of inflicting maximum damage with minimum provocation, of hangovers and nightmares and sullen, unrelenting silence. But rumours are one thing, scientific, photographic evidence is something else entirely and he is finding it harder and harder not to care.

 

The left cheekbone is definitely fractured, as is the corresponding eye socket. The jaw is thankfully still intact and the nose isn't broken, this time. There are numerous cuts that will require suturing and a scalp laceration that is bleeding profusely, staining previously white gauze pads a dark black-red. Mark runs his hands over his face and presses his palms deep into his eye sockets in an attempt to block out everything that isn't helping him make a decision about what to do next.

 

He shudders slightly at the thought of what the girls may have woken to had he not made the early hours of the morning decision to sneak in and wrap himself around Lexie's sleeping form. He'd not even made it past the front door.

 

He leaves the x-ray where it is, lit up like some macabre wall hanging, in the hope that Alex will see it and react. Anger, horror, fear, at this point Mark really doesn't care, anything will be better than the wide eyed stare and complete silence he's received so far.

 

He pulls a chair up beside where he has stealthily stationed Alex on a gurney in the otherwise deserted clinic. He is concussed, severely, and has no business even being conscious, but he is and Mark is planning to keep it that way.

 

“Karev?”

 

It's not the first time he's tried this tactic, and like all previous attempts he is studiously ignored. He sighs and turns his wrist, peers bleakly at the hands of his watch as they mockingly display the time, 2.27am.

 

“He never really meant to hurt her, you know? I get that now.”

 

At the sound of Alex's words Mark looks up and finds him staring intently back at him, as if expecting a response; Mark has no idea what he is talking about.

 

“Ah, no. I guess not,” he supplies anyway and it must be at least semi appropriate because Alex simply nods and screws his face up in a ghost of a grimace that is not even vaguely congruent with the amount of pain he should actually be in.

 

“M'shoulder feels like crap.”

 

“I'm not surprised, it's about two inches lower than it should be. Doctor Torres is on her way, hopefully she can help me get it back where it's supposed to be and you cleaned up before someone figures out that we're not meant to be in here.”

 

There is a shaky pause as Alex seems to process what Mark has just told him... or not.

 

“M'glad she wasn't pregnant. Don't think I would've made a very good Dad...”

 

Alex is back to staring at him and the conversational tone he has adopted is unnerving Mark more than the eerie silence that preceded it ever could.

 

“D'you think he broke m'nose?”

 

“Nope, I know he didn't, but unfortunately I can't say the same for the rest of your face.”

 

“Oh... well, s'pose it doesn't matter. S'not the first time.”

 

“Yeah, so I can see from the x-rays. What'd you use to do? Use your face to catch footballs?”

 

“Guess I just walked into a'lotta doors when I was a kid...” Alex shrugs, a one shouldered, lopsided movement that should be excruciating; he doesn't even flinch, “...doesn't really matter anyway, Izzie 'n I can make a baby... if we want. The Chief made us make a frozen baby, like peas... or popsicles.”

 

Alex's incoherant rambling is starting to make Mark nauseated. He feels like an intruder, like he's eavesdropping on Alex's most private thoughts and he's desperately trying to drag up any remnants of memory he has from compulsory mental health classes he took during medical school. He knows there was something about empathy and apparently sleeping with your clients is a big ethical no no in psychology too... but other than that he is drawing a terrifying blank.

 

“She's not coming back, is she?”

 

Mark sighs, a mixture of exhaustion and an overwhelming realisation that he is currently way out of his depth. All he wanted was to wake up next to his girlfriend in the morning, he did not expect this, he is not prepared for this, for Alex Karev, of all people, to be unintentionally revealing his deepest, darkest secrets. He's not even supposed to like the guy.

 

“No...” Mark sighs and closes his eyes briefly, starts to pray that Callie will arrive any moment now to rescue him from this, to think he should've woken Meredith and dragged her along for the ride, to wish he'd never made the decision to change beds in the first place, to realise that maybe this is what he gets for betraying his best friend more times than he can count, “...no, she's not...”

 

Comments

[citron-presse.livejournal.com]

Actually, I like it even more without the false Meredith twist! (I can appreciate fiendish cleverness - but really I tend to like my fic more emotional!) In that case, my heart just goes out to Alex; and Mark is incredibly sweet struggling to cope with Alex and with his own feelings. I loved when he tried to dredge up facts from psych class; and, now that this has become a simple line again, I adored this: All he wanted was to wake up next to his girlfriend in the morning. Aw!

(It was the changed beds and the betraying Derek more times than he can count that made me think it was Mark/Meredith; without these, Mark wishing he'd woken Meredith would have seemed innocent. And, like I said, I'm really pleased it was!)

You wrote the dissociation so well (that's how I picked up on it); and I'm glad to know that he came out of it at the end. Honestly (especially now) I think this is one of my favorite one shots.

[waltzmatildah.livejournal.com]

“No...” Mark sighs and closes his eyes briefly, starts to pray that Callie will arrive any moment now to rescue him from this, to think he should've woken Meredith and insisted she deal with this instead, to wish he'd never gotten out of bed the first place, to realise that maybe this is what he gets for betraying his best friend more times than he can count, “...no, she's not...”

Should I edit to something more like this? Or do you think it's okay as it stands?

And I'm so glad you like it without the Meredith twist. A lot of people bag the Lexie/Mark relationship, but I actually find its progression quite believable and realistic so... I wouldn't wanna mess with it by stereotyping Mark any further...

[citron-presse.livejournal.com]

I think that takes away the ambiguity, certainly. But I also think it's okay as it stands - because now I know the twist isn't there, I can't really see it anymore!

I really like Mark/Lexie - especially what the relationship has done for him in terms of growth, self-esteem etc and I am all for not stereotyping Mark :)