You Promised | Mark Sloan ✓

AU│right beside you

IN WHICH Norah gets shot and Mark lives through hell, until...

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Before starting this chapter, I highly recommend re-reading the last part of Chapter 56 'hurting and memories' for the best effect... 😌😉

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[CW: gunshot, character deaths, and just lots of tears]

S6 EP23&24

"Mark, I love you... I-I always... had, and I always... will..."

Norah Lawrence knew for a fact that the world hated her. It was something that she had accepted a long time ago and had since grown to adapt.

'Accept and adapt' was her version of 'fight or flight', her key to surviving the cruelty of the world.

Yet why was it that every time the world threw her a disastrous surprise, she hated herself for it?

Her subconscious mind would take over because her conscious one would go still; the very same subconscious that overwhelmed her with self-hatred and self-destruct.

Hence, when she was faced with a gun pointing at her, again, the first and foremost thought that rushed into her mind was to accept and adapt.

This time, however, 'accept and adapt' was not aiding her survival.

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NORAH SHOVED HER BAG into her cubby, feeling her eyelids drooping heavily. She had missed her coffee run due to waking up late; she woke up late because she was tossing and turning for the best part of the night.

All she needed was a great adrenaline rush to kick start her day.

Clipping her pager onto the waistband of her scrub pants, she dragged her legs out of the residents' locker room. She stiffened back a yawn as she walked down the hallway, wiping off the tears that pricked her eyes.

Mark passed by her but she did not seem to realise; he saw her as a walking zombie wandering the hallways of the hospital. "Good morning?" he called out, the words leaving his mouth rather abnormally.

Norah stopped in her tracks, turning around to see him retracing his steps to her. "Oh, morning," she yawned before shaking her head, "Can't say it's a good one, though."

"Here, take my coffee," he extended the paper cup to her, watching her eyes drift to the coffee order they shared, then back to meet his eyes. "No, I mean it, take the coffee," he insisted, "You really look like you need it more than I do."

She was hesitant at first, but accepted it anyway because she really needed the caffeine in her system. "Thanks, Mark."

He hated their interaction; it felt so normal, yet so, so distant.

She was about to walk off before he called her back. "Norah?"

Her legs stopped her from moving as per cue, and she glanced back at him; the blue eyes swam with conflict and uneasiness, hers did, too, even though the layer of exhaustion was covering it.

"We can still be friends, right?" he asked unsurely before adding, "Just friends... If that's what you want."

"Of course... yeah," she replied, gripping the warm coffee in her hand just a little bit tighter, as though it was a source of relief for every inch of her body that was screaming back at her.