Consider Me Gone

Chapter 9.

Toni

"You are incredible and I'm proud of you, and what you just did showed real maturity, Thatcher." I tried to listen as Mark showered me with praise for being civil with Gemma, but his words felt undeserved. I mean, had Mark not swooped in to rescue me at the last second, we'd probably still be standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Mark," I sighed, "I didn't do anything."

"Nonsense, you didn't run for the hills, that has to count for something." He gave me a small smile to counteract the pout I had on my face. He knew as well as I did that the interaction was painfully awkward for me, and he also knew how much I didn't want to do it. But Mark had mentioned a potential job offer for me in Seattle this morning to administration, and as luck would have it, Margaret was in that meeting.

Since I was one of the few ortho surgeons at St. Thomas, it was standard to communicate transfers or changes of employment with my superiors. Mark informed me that in that meeting, Margaret expressed her concern about my ability to communicate with the other doctors. I don't think I needed to hire Inspector Gadget to know that she was referring to how I have chosen to function with Tara in the last three years.

Although Mark was coming from a good place, it irritated me that Margaret tried to sabotage me in an effort to land her star pupil a job. Tara and I barely crossed paths in the last three years at the hospital, so I don't see why my "communication" with her was relevant.

"Look, as long as you keep playing nice in front of the bosses, I can have you packed up and out of Charming when I leave. That's less than six months from now babe. Six months and you'll be buying umbrellas and ponchos for good old Seattle!" Mark seemed victorious as he tried to convince me that playing nice with Tara would be a good thing. But I'd lived in Charming for long enough to know that dealing with anyone who was even adjacent to Samcro was a bad idea.

"Good old Seattle, huh?"

"Good old Seattle," he repeated.

"Yeah, well, what's so good about it?"

Mark smiled, "Well for one, you don't have to worry about avoiding anyone there. You'd be around yours truly," he said spinning himself around in my chair. "And it also gives you and me a chance to get to know each other a little better."

"Mark," I groaned. Mark had made previous attempts at trying to "get to know me a little better," but I was hesitant to do anything simply because I didn't want to ruin a potentially good professional relationship. I had never dated anyone that I'd worked with before, and I had heard plenty of stories of work relationships that had gone bad to scare me.

It also didn't help that I genuinely liked Mark and was a little afraid of getting back out on the dating scene. I tried to jump back in after my divorce with Jax was finalized three years ago, but the experience had been so traumatizing that I was afraid of getting back out there.

"Look Toni, all I'm asking for here is a fair shot. If things don't work out, I'll be more than happy to leave things where they are between us." Mark looked sincere as he said this, and I so desperately wanted to believe him.

"Really?"

"Yes, scout's honor," he said while holding three fingers up.

He was such a geek that I couldn't help the smile that spread over my face upon seeing him pledge to honor his word. "Alright, I accept, BUT...I don't want a word of this coming out."

Mark placed his hand over his heart like he was offended. "Are you ashamed of me?!"

I snorted, "Surprisingly no, I just...I don't want anyone thinking that I only got the job because of you. Especially Margaret, that woman plays dirty, I know she'll find a way to flip this somehow."