Reuniting With the Past
Part Eight
By Alexandra
AlejandraGC@aol.com

DISCLAIMER: “ER”, the characters and situation depicted within are the property of Warner Bros. TV, Amblin Entertainment, Constant C Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission but without the intent of infringement. The story written is for entertainment purposes only. The author is making no profit. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know if the medical terms are correct or not. Feedback is greatly appreciated, both positive and negative.

I’d like to thank Lori for helping me with this series. I don’t think I could have done this without her.



It was about 7:30 when Elizabeth arrived at the hospital. She walked into Mark’s room and there he was, nothing had changed. She went and sat down by his bedside. “Good morning,” she kissed his lips and traced his jaw-line with her fingertips.

After a while, there was a knock at the door. “Come in.” It was Carol.

“Hey Elizabeth. How is he?”

“Still no change.”

Carol thought for a minute, trying to change the subject. “So, where’s Rachel?”

“She’s at her grandparents. Everytime she goes over there Mark always says she’s being ‘spoiled rotten’. ” Elizabeth looked at Mark, closed her eyes and a tear fell from her eye. “I wish he would wake up, Carol. What am I going to do without him? He is my life.” She paused and took a deep breath before she began again. “I keep waiting for him to wake up and start arguing with me. Telling me I’m making too much of a big deal out of this.” She sighed heavily, “Peter thinks I should take him off the respirators...but I don’t know if I can bring myself to it.”

Carol pondered this a minute. “Elizabeth I wish I could give you some words of encouragement...but I can’t. It’s all up to Mark now.”

Later on, Rachel walked into Mark’s room and saw Elizabeth standing by the window. “Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth quickly wiped her eyes and turned around, they were bloodshot and swollen. Rachel was taken by surprise at her condition, she’d never seen Elizabeth this way before. She’d seen her cry, but not like this. Something was worse now, she could tell. “What is it?”

“Rachel, your dad’s status hasn’t changed since he’s been in the coma. I think it’s time we took him off the life-support machines that’s keeping him alive.”

“But if you take him off he’ll...die.”

“He’s already dead,” she whispered as she put her head down. She couldn’t believe what she was saying. The reality of the whole situation hit her like a ton of bricks and there was nothing she could do about it. She walked over to comfort Rachel, but Rachel pushed her away and stormed out of the room. Elizabeth started to cry harder, tears flowed freely down her cheeks, there was no holding back now.

Carol was walking towards the lounge when she heard a sound coming from the suture room. She opened the door and saw Rachel balled up in the corner crying. “Rachel?” Carol knelt down beside her then put her hand on her back. “Rachel, what’s wrong?”

She wiped the tears from her face and cleared her throat. “Elizabeth wants to take those tubes out of my dad. But if she does that then he’ll die,” she put her head down of her knees.

“Rachel, he might not die. When they take him off the respirators there’s no telling what is going to happen. It’s all up to him. But you can’t look at the bad side of things, what if he does wake up? You’re going to look back and think of how silly were.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then you can remember all the fun times you’ve had with him.”

Rachel thought about this a moment. “But then I’ll only have my mom, and I won’t be able to come here anymore. I like it here.”

“You could still come here. You could stay with Elizabeth.”

“But she doesn’t like me.”

“Who told you that?”

“No one. I just don’t think she likes me.”

“Do you remember the first time you two met?”

“Thanksgiving.”

“She took off work to plan that evening for you and your grandfather. I remember her telling me how excited she was to finally have a chance to meet you...I heard how you treated her.”

Rachel thought back to Thanksgiving night. “I was trying to get her not to like me. I thought, maybe my dad would break up with her. I even dropped one of her bowls on the floor, she didn’t even get mad. I didn’t want to share my dad. But I see how he always looks at her. He never looked at my mom like that, at least what I can remember.”

“Maybe you should tell her how you feel. I think it would make her feel better to know you don’t hate her. Come on.” She stood up and held out her hands to help Rachel up.

Once they hit the ICU floor they saw some nurses rushing into Mark’s room with some things in their hands. Rachel went to run over to the door but Carol stopped her. “Wait here ok?”

She walked closer to the door and saw a nurse bring Elizabeth out.

“Dr. Corday, it would be best if you wait out here,” and she disappeared back into the room.

“Elizabeth!? What’s going on?” she called as she ran to her side.

“He just started braiding down.” They stood, watching the doctors and nurses try to revive him. The sounds of all the machines in the room lingered into the hallway. The doctors voices echoed in Elizabeth’s head. It was all like a foreign language to her now. She watched them as they shocked his heart.

“Charge to 260!,” they yelled. “Clear!”

Elizabeth looked at the monitor, even as far away as she was, she could tell there was no rhythm. After about 10 minutes, she saw Peter put the paddles down. She ran into the room.

“Elizabeth,” Carol tried to grab her arm, but wasn’t quick enough.

“You can’t give up Peter! He can still make it!” She ran over to Mark’s bed. “Don’t you give up on me, Mark!” She took the paddles from the machine next to Mark’s bed, and then ordered the nurse, “CHARGE TO 300!”

Peter walked over to Elizabeth and took the paddles away from her. “Elizabeth...” he stopped, the look on her face made his heart melt. He wrapped his arms around her and attempted to calm her down.

After a few minutes of continuous sobbing, Elizabeth quickly tried to dry her tears and told Carol, “I have to tell Rachel, would you mind telling her to come it?”

Carol was caught a little off guard by Elizabeth, “Yeah, of course.” A few tears streamed down Elizabeth’s face, she walked over to Mark’s bed and held his hand.

Kerry walked inside the funeral home quickly and quietly hoping she wasn’t too late. Thankfully they had just started.

Elizabeth stepped up to the podium and took a deep breath. “I never imagined I would be giving the eulogy at my boyfriends...my soul-mates funeral. Mark was my life. He was the reason I woke up every morning and the one to give
me the strength to go on each day. Before I met Mark there was something missing...” she paused, tears streaming down her face. Trying to talk and breathe at the same time she continued. “And then he drifted into my life. And now...now I can’t imagine it without him. He had such a caring heart, and I will always love him.” She quickly walked away from the podium and sat down next to Peter and Kerry.

After the funeral Elizabeth stayed right up in the front row, near Mark’s casket. She just sat and stared. Carol, Kerry, and Carter noticed her sitting there but didn’t want to disturb her. After about twenty minutes, they walked over to her, “Elizabeth,” she didn’t answer. “Maybe you should go home and rest.” Still no answer.

“Sometimes when something like this happens to us, it’s for a reason. But now you know he’s not still in the hospital suffering. And that he’s probably better off where he is now.” Carter tried to help.

She looked over at him, “Well I guess I’m self-fish, it doesn’t make me feel better to know he’s gone. I want him to be here.” She started sobbing louder now.

“Are you ok?” Kerry questioned.

“I’M FINE! I’m so MAD! I don’t know what to do. I want to know why does his life have to be over so soon!” She quickly wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes and changed her tone. “No, it’s not supposed to happen this way, we’re supposed to grow old together.” Carol quickly embraced Elizabeth, she was shaking all over. By this time everyone was staring at them.

“I think it would be better if we go outside.” Kerry said quickly.

“No, I’m not leaving.” Elizabeth sat back down on the bench. They knew it was useless to argue with her, so they walked away.

Once everyone left the funeral home, Carol gave Elizabeth a little time alone to say goodbye. Elizabeth was standing beside Mark’s casket looking down at him.

“Elizabeth...it’s time to go.”

Elizabeth shook her head in agreement. “I know, it’s just, I don’t want to leave him.”

“I know.” Elizabeth looked back at Mark. “I love you,” she whispered, as she bent down and kissed his lips. Carol put her arm around her shoulder and led Elizabeth out of the funeral home.

When they walked out, Rachel was waiting at their car for them. “Rachel, what are you still doing here?”

“I just wanted to tell you that even though my dad isn’t here anymore, you can always remember things about him that made you happy. And just because he’s not here in his body, he’ll always be with you, here.” Rachel tapped Elizabeth’s chest in the vicinity of her heart.

Elizabeth started to cry harder now, she couldn’t believe what this 10 year old girl was telling her. She gave her a big hug. “Thank you,” she whispered into her ear. She dried her tears and then spoke. “I thought you were going to stay with your grandparents?”

“Is it alright if I stay with you tonight, until I have to go home tomorrow?”

Elizabeth was shocked at her question, but quickly responded, “I would like that. I just have one question...”

“You thought I didn’t like you? Is that it?” Elizabeth didn’t say anything. “I didn’t want to share my dad,” she admitted. “But after I saw how much he loved you, I knew that how I treated you didn’t matter.” Rachel turned around and got in the car. Elizabeth thought about what Rachel had just said, she knew it was true.

After dropping Carol off at home and getting a bit to eat, Rachel and Elizabeth went home. They stepped out of the elevator and Elizabeth started to dig for her keys. Once she found them she opened the door and Rachel quickly walked in and sat on the sofa. Elizabeth stood in the doorway looking around. Everything seemed so different now, yet nothing had changed. She took a deep breath and walked inside.

“I don’t want to go home tomorrow.” Rachel blurted out.

Elizabeth looked at her, she didn’t know what to say. “I’m sure your mother misses you.”

Rachel thought of it for a minute, “I guess,” she shrugged.

“Well you better get to bed, I don’t want you to be tired when you get on that plane tomorrow.”

“When my parents first got divorced, and I came to see my dad, we would stay up all night, watching movies and eating ice cream. We had so much fun.” Elizabeth looked at Rachel, her eyes were twinkling, but her expression quickly saddened, “Now we’re never going to be able to do that,” a few stray tears escaped her eyes.

“Come here,” Elizabeth went and sat beside her in the corner of the couch and held Rachel in her arms. “Do you remember what you told me earlier today?”

“Yeah, but it’s not that easy,” she lightly sobbed. Reality was slowly starting to set in for her.

“I know.” Elizabeth comforted her while rubbing her back. As time passed, the two drifted to sleep.

Elizabeth felt a slight chill, she opened her eyes and there stood Mark. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but he put his fingers to her lips. She watched him as he cupped Rachel’s face in his hand and gave her a kiss on the forehead. As he looked back at Elizabeth, she heard his voice, but his lips weren’t moving. It was like she was reading his mind.

“Take care of her for me. I love you both.” Elizabeth could barely breathe. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t. He bent down and kissed her, but in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

“Mark!?” she managed to force out. “Mark?” Elizabeth quickly awakened. She looked around the apartment and took a deep breath. “It was just a dream,” she thought to herself, before putting her head back down on the back of the couch and dozed off again.

The incessant buzzing of the alarm clock in the other room woke Elizabeth up. She looked at the VCR to see the time, 8:21. Damn! Rachel’s flight leaves in one hour. She quickly woke Rachel up. As she got ready to leave, Elizabeth double checked the apartment to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

“Flight 215 to Chicago, now boarding at Gate 29,” the flight attendant called over the loud speaker.

“Well, I guess this is it,” Rachel commented, as she turned to Elizabeth before looking back at the opened door.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, “I want you to call me when you get home, so I know you’re safe. And remember don’t talk to strangers.”

Rachel rolled her eyes, “I know, I know, my mom gave me that speech when I left St. Louis.”

“Come back and visit me sometime, ok.” Elizabeth requested.

“I’ll try.” Rachel looked back at the gate. “I guess I better go, don’t want to miss my flight,” she gave Elizabeth a hug and walked to the gate.

“Have a safe flight,” she called.

Elizabeth stood there staring into space, as people rushed by her. She walked back to her car, thinking about how much her life has changed over the past week. She got in the car and saw the picture of her and Mark stuck on the control panel. “I will always love you.”



THE END.