What if We Don't Die?

Chapter 6

Two weeks later, Lexie had her last surgery, finally. Mark spent most of his time at the hospital for her, staying with her through her surgeries, watching over her while she slept, and amusing her while she was awake.

He was cleared for surgery two days ago, but he wanted to practice on one or two other patients before operating on Lexie. But today, he worked together with Callie to bring her leg back into shape and stabilize the bone so she would get full function back.

He had been nervous before the surgery and worried throughout the whole procedure. He understood why surgeons weren't allowed to work on their loved ones normally. He had to persuade Owen a lot so that he allowed him to do that one surgery on Lexie. At first, the chief didn't even want to hear him out, but Mark's argument that ultimately convinced him was that all the best surgeons in the hospital are her family and that he would have to bend the rules a little if she was supposed to get the best care.

But doing the procedure was a whole other thing than just talking about it. He was sure that he could put his feelings aside and focus on his work, but seeing the woman he loved more than anything on his table sent an uncomfortable shiver down his spine, reminding him of how fragile she was and how easily he could lose her, how close he had been to almost losing her in the woods.

Callie had watched him and talked to him meanwhile, trying to distract him from his thoughts. He had put on a smile sometimes to soothe his best friend's worries, even though the talking hadn't really helped with his own. Still, he did flawless work, probably even better than usually if that was even possible, because he was well aware of the importance the outcome held.

When Lexie woke up afterwards, he was sitting right next to her bed, holding her hand as usual. He hadn't left her side since the surgery.
"Hey," he smiled. A wave of calm washed over him at the sight of her deep brown eyes looking into his, confirming that she was actually okay.

"How did it go?" she was nervous to know. This would determine whether her life would drastically change, if she wouldn't be able to use her right leg ever again, or if she was going to go back to normal.

"Perfect. You're going to be alright." he quickly assured her in a calming tone, knowing that she had a hard enough time dealing with this as it is, but if anything would have gone wrong she wouldn't be able to take it.

She let out a relieved breath and said, "Thank you."

Since everything went well, she didn't have to worry about it any longer and had a chance to look at her surroundings. Mark was still wearing his dark blue scrubs and his matching scrub cap along with a surgical gown were lying on an empty chair next to his. "You haven't scrubbed out." she established.

"You know how much I enjoy watching you sleep," he smirked, brushing it off so they wouldn't have that conversation again where she would tell him to stop worrying and he had to explain to her that he simply couldn't.

He gave her a kiss on the forehead and stroked her hair gently. As much as she wanted to scold him, she couldn't help but smile at the fluttering feeling in her stomach at his touch. "You can go home, you know. You look exhausted." She pressed nevertheless. Of course she enjoyed him being by her side every second, but she also didn't want him to feel like crap because he had to sleep on hard hospital chairs. It was a constant issue, but he just wouldn't listen to her.

"I'm on call, anyway." he argued, keeping his voice soft and steady, not wanting this to turn into a discussion again.

Lexie sighed. She didn't want to argue either, but she was concerned about taking up all his time. There was no way he didn't have back pain from the weird positions he had slept in on the chairs in her room. He should at least get a good night's sleep after he had done this for her today. And if anything was happening, he'd be at the hospital in no time. "Your apartment is five minutes away. I doubt that makes a difference." she tried.