Comments | the_blank_slate: How do you measure a year in the life

make_creation in the_blank_slate

How do you measure a year in the life

Oct 12, 2008 16:59

Mark had known for years that it would eventually be Roger's time. Eventually the disease would take its toll. He'd been there when April had taken her own way out. When Roger had overdosed. He'd been there for Angel and he'd been there for Mimi on Christmas, and later when Angel wasn't waiting to tell her to turn around and listen to that boy's ( Read more... )

prior walter, dr. toshiko sato, angela montenegro, mark cohen

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toshiko_san October 13 2008, 02:02:20 UTC

There were things that were never as simple as they seemed, and Tosh knew that. There was no just when it came to someone with HIV and illness. There never would be. The simplest thing could turn so much worse, but none of them needed reminding of that.

She had known Roger was ill, if only because of her work in the lab. She'd seen Mark there, and for the most part let him be, not wanting to intrude. But when she'd gone to bring him coffee, and he wasn't there, she decided to look for him.

Outside of the compound wasn't the first place she looked, or even the second or third. The coffee was lukewarm when she found him outside, holding it out to him, and ignoring the cigarette. It wasn't like she hadn't ever had a drunken one or two on a big night out. "I wasn't sure if you'd want this, but I thought it wouldn't go badly."

make_creation October 13 2008, 02:52:53 UTC

Mark took the cup and nodded his gratitude, but didn't say anything until after he'd taken a swallow of the tepid brew.

"Sorry I haven't been around," he said as he lowered the cup. "I figured you--I mean, I thought you'd...understand." He'd hoped, anyway. It was just one more common experience they shared, even though it was by far one of the worst.

toshiko_san October 13 2008, 03:13:27 UTC

Tosh leaned against the wall, slowly sinking down it until she sat next to him.

"Is it wrong of me to say that I wish I didn't?" Her words were soft and her coffee untouched, "but I do. And I'm here, if you do need me."

make_creation October 13 2008, 03:56:03 UTC

"It's not wrong. I always thought that the people who didn't get it were lucky. I mean, it'd be nice if they could be more tolerant...at least back home...but, yeah. So fortunate they just don't get it."

toshiko_san October 13 2008, 06:24:37 UTC

"I guess it isn't so wrong," Tosh sipped at her coffee, more because it was there than because she truly wanted it. "It's not so bad this time. For Roger."

make_creation October 13 2008, 07:09:09 UTC

"No," he sighed. "Not this time. Maybe not next time. But I've been through this with too many other people to be naive about it, Tosh. It's...hard."

Understatement of the decade, right there.

toshiko_san October 13 2008, 07:14:28 UTC

"You're right, it is," cup in one hand, the other rested on his knee, knowing that he knew the reality of this so much better than she did, "at least you're both here. He's not alone, and there are much worse places you could be, I'd imagine."

make_creation October 13 2008, 21:53:50 UTC

Mark couldn't do anything but nod in agreement. They could have still been in New York. Worse, He could have been alone in Scarsdale. He could have been here with only Roger, helpless to do a damn thing.

"Things can always be worse," he said as he took one last drag before smashing it dead against the ground. He took hold of his cup in both hands and looked at it like it might hold some deep wisdom, but like every other cup he'd contemplated, it only knew that time made it grow cold.

"House can make him better. For now. It'll be okay," Mark continued, telling himself first, then Tosh...and then the cup as if it were able to be engaged in all of this.

toshiko_san October 14 2008, 08:03:19 UTC

"It will. Greg's a good doctor," she reassured him, even though they both knew this wasn't going to be easy. No matter how good a doctor House was, there was only so much he could do.

Tosh sipped at her coffee, sitting silent for a moment, not really knowing what else to say. "Have you gotten any rest?"

make_creation October 15 2008, 03:54:38 UTC

"Little bit," Mark agree, then went quiet. There wasn't much he could say. Not much he really needed to say. Tosh understood. Maybe not at the level he did, but she understood and it was enough.

Mark took her hand and drank his coffee and sat in silence. The simple comfort of the connection would be enough for the moment.

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