Counting To Fifteen [Grey's Anatomy]

chapter fifty nine - grief groups & hearing losses

Daisy woke up to the smell of burning food on Sunday morning.

She was intrigued to discover the source of the burning, but didn't make a move to stand from her warm bed.

The girl had planned on hiding out in her bedroom all day. She was too embarrassed to have to speak to Mark, she felt that she had overreacted.

Hiding was so much easier than having to face confrontation, so Daisy buried her head underneath a mound of pillows, aching to escape the scent of charred pancakes.

It was a fine plan until the apartment's smoke detectors started screaming out moments later. A shrill beep beep beep that made Daisy want to bang bang bang her head.

The sound was loud, and Daisy gave up any hope of sleeping in and having a Mark-free day.

She swept her pride to the side, standing from her bed to ensure that Mark wasn't burning their home down.

Daisy wrinkled her nose at the burning smell that was much stronger the closer she walked to the kitchen. A light fog of smoke surrounded Mark, the man looking sort of stupid trying to waft the air away from the smoke detector.

Daisy thought maybe she should help, but she could only stand still. It was like watching a tragedy unfold, and Daisy could only watch in horror as she tried to recall the fire department's phone number.

It only took a few moments for some of the smoke to dissipate, and the alarms stopped screaming out in panic.

Mark defeatedly placed the brightly-colored oven mitt down on the counter, looking like he felt dejected about getting his ass handed to him by a batch of pancakes.

He seemed to notice Daisy's presence for the first time as the smoke cleared, opening his mouth to speak before ultimately deciding otherwise.

Maybe he was going to apologize. He had missed the entirety of Daisy's birthday after constant reassurance he would be there. He had missed it.

Maybe he was going to tell Daisy she was upset over nothing. Her emotions were too big, and she had gotten angry with Mark over something so minuscule. Birthdays really weren't that important, anyway, and Daisy shouldn't have been so brash.

Mark chose neither apology nor belittlement as he pushed a plate of pancakes toward the end of the kitchen island, close to Daisy.

"I cooked pancakes."

"You grilled pancakes." Daisy corrected upon surveying the plates, cakes that were supposed to be airy and buttery but had been burnt to resemble lumpy coal.

"Yeah." Mark grimaced, immediately dumping one of the two plates of failed pancakes into the trashcan. "You want cereal? I'm good at making cereal."

"I'm okay."

It was uncomfortably silent for a moment as Daisy rejected Mark's proposition of a breakfast together. She really just wanted to go back to bed.

"Okay." Mark nodded slowly, eyes averting to the untouched birthday gift on the kitchen island. "You never opened your present."

I didn't see it. I didn't realize it was there.

Daisy wanted to lie so badly. But the gift bag was front and center on the countertop in a hue so translucent it strained Daisy's eyes. The vases of daisies looked as though they had wilted from when she last saw them yesterday, seeming hurt about being ignored.