⋆◦★◦⋆

it was the new year and lydia now lived with mark and had some stuff at meredith's house. alex wanted her to keep some things with him at meredith's, so that's exactly what she did. she liked that she could stay at meredith's sometimes because it was just fun, and good for emily.

lydia was laying in bed with mark, the two smiling at each other when mark started talking.

"i need something from you." he stated.

lydia nodded her head and rolled over to kiss him deeply.

"well... that, too." he said. "i need you to give sloan an ultrasound. it's been almost three weeks."

"can't someone from o.b. do it?" lydia asked him, kissing him again.

"well, yeah, but, she likes you." mark said, lydia rolling on top of him, engaging in a sensual make out session. "all the sloan's do."

the two were kissing, lydia on top of mark, when they heard a voice.

"hey, do we have any more--" sloan said, walking into her dad's room. "oh! ew!" she yelled, seeing her dad making out with his girlfriend.

"sloan!" mark yelled.

lydia got off of him and laid back down, putting the pillow over her face. she took a deep breath and got up to put her robe on. she picked up emily from her bassinet and walked into the kitchen in time to hear mark apologize to sloan.

"she's the one who didn't knock before she came in." lydia said.

"i'll get some cereal this afternoon. how about some juice?" mark asked, giving sloan some juice before talking directly to her. "uh, lydia's gonna give you an ultrasound today. why don't you pick up some breakfast at the hospital?"

"it's gonna be more." sloan told her dad, the latter handing her some money.

"you need some for lunch, too?" he asked.

"yeah, yeah." she said, while mark handed her some more twenty's. lydia looked at her, wide eyed.

"i'm gonna shower." lydia stated, handing emily over to mark.

"oh, can you hold on a minute? i'm probably gonna have to hurl this." sloan asked her.

"it's fine. i'll just go to my sister's apartment then." lydia told her with a smile.

lydia walked across the hall with her towel and opened the door to arizona's apartment and saw cristina sitting, eating cereal and reading the paper.

"sloan sloan monopolizing your bathroom again?" she asked, pausing from her cereal.

"yeah, your's?" lydia asked.

"owen's in mine." cristina answered.

lydia walked to the other bathroom and opened the door to see her sister and callie making out in the shower.

"oh my god!" she yelled. she covered her eyes with the towel and rushed out of the room. she walked into the kitchen and said, "they're in there."

"yeah, you should knock first." cristina said, taking a bite of her cereal.

"i'm late. okay? my hair is dirty. i have child vomit on my boobs. and mark just gave sloan eighty bucks for a muffin and a sandwich." lydia ranted to her friend.

"that's quite a sandwich." cristina joked.

lydia gave her an annoyed look. "she's just gonna end up spending it on a pair of jeans that show off her butt crack, and then she's gonna ask me for half of my pasta salad. i believe there's so much more to her then she gives off but she needs to stop acting like this."

"you sound like my mother."

"um, knock much?" callie asked lydia, walking out of the bathroom with arizona while wrapping a towel around herself.

"i'm so sorry cal." lydia said, running to the bathroom.

"oh, there's no more hot water." callie told the woman.

"honestly, not a problem right now." she yelled, turning on the shower, feeling the cold water against her fingers.

lydia quickly hopped into the shower and let the icy water cover her body. she thought about sloan and mark and how she wanted to talk to sloan about money. she thought about emily and alex. ten minutes later the girl got out of the shower and quickly dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her.

⋆◦★◦⋆

later that morning, lydia was with sloan, giving the younger girl an ultrasound. it was going surprisingly well in lydia's opinion until sloan asked her for money.

"hey, um, do you have any cash? i lost the headset to my phone."

"how about you hold the phone up to your ear?" lydia asked sarcastically, still looking at the monitor.

the woman instantly felt bad for her remark and apologized. "sorry, it's just, you should have plenty of cash left over for a headset from your dad from what he gave you this morning."

sloan looked over at lydia and also felt bad for asking. the girl was starting to like lydia and she didn't want to mess up the relationship the was starting to form between the two. "no, i'm sorry, i shouldn't have asked you for money. you're right. i probably have enough."

"if you don't have enough, let me know, i'll help you out ok? i just won't pay for the whole thing. we're all making compromises." lydia told sloan. "okay, here's the head."

sloan looked over at the monitor and chuckled. "it looks like an alien."

"well it's gonna be a very cute alien." lydia smiles at sloan.

"a boy alien or girl?" sloan asked.

lydia looked at the monitor intensely. something wasn't right with the baby and she didn't know how to tell sloan.

"dude, does it have a thing or not?"

"no, i'm not looking at the sex. um i don't..." lydia told her worriedly. "um, let's go upstairs ok? there's a better machine, we can get a better look."

⋆◦★◦⋆

"hey is everything ok?" mark asked lydia, meeting her outside sloan's room.

"i-uh, don't know. something's wrong with the baby." lydia told her boyfriend worriedly.

mark sighed and brought his girlfriend into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. they walked into the room and met the with other doctor.

"see right there on the left thigh." lydia pointed out.

"yeah. on his other ankle, too." the doctor said.

"wait. it's a boy?" sloan asked.

"i hadn't gotten that far." lydia sighed, crossing her arms.

"oh, sorry, congratulations!" the o.b. said. "uh, there's a lot of swelling on the right foot. it's very constricted."

"what the hell are you talking about?" sloan asked.

"well the baby's got strands of amniotic tissue wrapped around his legs. they're called amniotic bands." her father explained.

"there's a danger of them comprising one of his limbs." the doctor told sloan.

"so what? one of his legs is gonna l, like, fall off?" sloan asked nervously.

lydia walked over to the girl and put her hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"that's the worst-case scenario."

"he's gonna have stumps?" sloan asked scaredly.

"we don't know what we're dealing with yet. whatever it is, we're gonna take care of it." mark told her comfortingly.

"i can't have a stumpy baby. can't you fix it?" the young girl asked the o.b.

"um, i don't know." she answered truthfully.

"you know, i have an idea. how about we don't answer any patient questions with the phrase 'um, i don't know'?" mark said protectively. "let's get a fetal m.r.i."

"you know, i'm not sure if i'd recommend—."

"i wasn't talking to you. you're done." mark said.

⋆◦★◦⋆

mark wrapped his arm around lydia as they walked towards the elevators. "come on, let's go meet addison." mark told his girlfriend.

"wait, addison's coming?" lydia asked excitedly, smiling brightly.

the man chuckled, "yes, i asked her to come help with sloan."

mark and addison's past didn't bother lydia at all. she was great friends with addison before she even knew mark. so she was very excited whenever addison came to visit.

the two stood in front of the elevators when they revealed a smiling addison montgomery.

"i adore you." mark told the woman.

"i was in the middle of breakfast." addison said to mark.

"addison!" lydia yelled, unhooking herself from mark to hug her friend.

addison reciprocated the hug and walked in the middle of her two friends.

"she had an m.r.i. right's worse than the left." mark said.

"i just need to say it once." addison said.

"go ahead." mark grumbled, making lydia laugh.

"grandpa." addison laughed. "grandpa, grandpa, grandpa."

"oh, okay. that was four times." mark said as addison put an arm around him. lydia laughed and left to go to sloan.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the room now consisted of arizona, mark, lydia, addison, and sloan. addison pointed out the bands on sloan's baby's legs.

"as the legs continue to grow, the bands will cut off his circulation. if we wait, we risk severe damage to the left leg, possible loss of the right entirely. but if we operate--22 weeks, it's still risky."

"but if you don't operate, you're not gonna kill the baby. we can rehabilitate the remaining part of his leg after he's born, and we can fit him with a prosthesis. it's entirely possible that he'll walk." arizona told sloan.

lydia put a hand on sloan's shoulder for comfort.

"oh my god." sloan said nervously and turned to mark.

"honey, we've got options here. if we operate, dr. montgomery can remove the bands, he''l be just fine. or we can wait a few weeks till he's bigger and stronger, and we know the surgery is less risky." mark told his daughter.

"well which one of you did he sleep with? well, besides lydia, obviously." sloan asked the other two women in the room.

all the women in the room looked at mark strangely before arizona answered.

"oh, not me."

"you told her?" addison asked mark, obviously very confused.

"she's my kid. we were bonding." mark said with a straight face.

"when i said talk to sloan this is not what i meant!" lydia said and slapped mark on the back.

"that is not how you bond with children." addison told the man.

"i'm still getting the hang of it."

"so you're sure that he didn't, like, knock you up and leave you with a child to raise on your own or something?" sloan asked. "you're not just, like, really pissed and you're trying to get revenge?"

"no, it was a long time ago." addison assured the girl. "the fact is, mark, your father, is a good guy and i think you're a good kid, and i'm gonna do everything i can to help you with your baby."

"okay, well, let's just get these things off his legs right now." sloan said.

"i'll book an o.r."

⋆◦★◦⋆

addison chose lydia and lexie to scrub in on sloan's procedure. lydia did the ultrasound and lexie stood there and watched.

"okay. got the first band. let's move down so i can take a look at the second." addison said.

"like that?" lydia asked, doing what addison said.

"good." addison said. "why can't i grab his leg?"

"problem?" mark asked.

"no, it's just one of the bands is holding the leg in place, making it a little difficult to get around. can you move the ultrasound up here?" addison asked.

lydia did as she was told.

"oh, come on."

"what's the matter?" mark asked addison.

"her uterine arteries are engorged. but the only way in is in between them. okay, i'm gonna need another trocar. you want to hold this?" addison asked lexie.

the girl nodded and addison gave it to lexie to hold.

"are you sure you have enough room? those arteries are huge." mark pointed out, coming closer.

"that's why i'm going to be very, very careful. scalpel." addison said.

"what happens if you nick them?" mark asked addison.

"dr. robbins."

"she could bleed out. they both could." lydia told mark.

"i don't like it. it's too dangerous."

"mark, i have assessed the risk factors i'm 95% confident i can get around the arteries. i'm choosing to continue my surgery." addison said.

"and i don't like the other 5%. you hit any one of those, she bleeds out right on this table." mark told addison.

"look i get that you're nervous-" addison started.

"i'm a surgeon, and i'm looking at a time bomb in a uterus. shut it down. now addison."

lydia and lexie watched as mark and addison stared at each other before addison decided to close her up.

⋆◦★◦⋆

it was a few hours later and sloan had woken up from surgery. lydia and lexie were finishing up her chart and mark was explaining to his daughter why they couldn't do the surgery.

"if dr. montgomery had hit it during the procedure... it's dangerous." mark said, sitting on the edge of sloan's bed.

"well, what about that band that's squeezing his thigh? he's not even gonna have a knee?" sloan asked her father.

"sloan, you coulda died."

"well, i can't have a gimpy kid." she said to him.

"honey, i know i haven't been your father for long, but if you say "gimp" one more time, i'm gonna smack you." mark told her sternly.

"you don't get it." sloan said, her voice breaking, "he needs legs. okay? he doesn't have a dad, and he's got a stupid, slutty mom. don't you see? i've already hurt him enough by giving him me as a mother. he needs feet."

"sloan--" mark started.

"look, i don't know how to take care of any baby, okay? i can't have one that's hurt. i just can't handle it. my mom doesn't even talk to me. i'm doing this alone. please." sloan said, almost crying.

"listen, you're not stupid. and you're not slutty. the sloans are a passionate people."

lydia moved from her spot next to lexie to sloan's left.

"you dragged yourself across the country so that you could get help taking care of this baby. that's not being stupid. that's being a mom." lydia said to sloan.

sloan looked to her left and leaned over to give the woman a hug. mark felt so happy that his daughter and the woman he loved were getting along.

"i'm not gonna let anything happen to you or the baby." mark said to sloan.

"go to l.a. addison said 95%. that's not that bad. let her do the surgery." lexie told mark.

"looks like we're going to l.a." mark said. lydia smiled as she watched her boyfriend hug his daughter.

"you're not going to do this alone." mark said. "hey. stay. after the baby's born, live with me and lydia. raise the baby with us. i'm still learning about being a dad and you don't know anything about being a mom. maybe we could figure it all out together."

"really?" sloan asked, shocked.

lydia's smile slightly faltered. mark didn't notice, but lexie did. sure, she could stand the girl for a few months but forever? lydia had her own baby to take care of.

lexie and lydia left the room to give mark and sloan some privacy. the two girl talked about sloan moving in as they made their way to the nurses station.

"so, what do you think of sloan moving in with mark full time?" lexie asked the girl.

"oh my god, i can see it now. once she has the baby she's going to leave him with us while she going shopping with her friends." lydia told lexie, "i mean, i have my own kid, i won't have time to parent hers."

lexie gave the chart to the nurse and the two girls headed for the elevator.

"i get it. i mean he didn't even ask you how you felt about it." lexie said to lydia.

lydia pressed a button and the elevator doors closed. "i know, but i'm sure we're going to talk about it later. i hope it doesn't screw everything up though."

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia opened the door to mark's apartment and found him sitting on the couch, skimming through a book. the girl walked in and shut the door behind her. she made her way over to mark and sat down beside him.

mark sighed and set the book down. "i should've asked you first, but i was so excited. and i was so sure it was the right thing. and you know why? 'cause of you."

lydia opened her mouth to say something but mark kept talking.

"since you, i know, for the first time in my life, what the right thing is."

"i'm happy for you. i really am." lydia told him. "something happened today. you became a dad, a real one. not just a second father figure to emily. and sloan, against all odds, became a mom. i want to be there for you and some part of me wants to be there for her. but have you thought of everything that goes into this?"

"what do you mean?" mark asked his girlfriend.

"i mean, this apartment obviously doesn't have enough space for five people. there will be two babies and a young adult. that's a lot to deal with."

"i know, but i've been looking at houses and i really want this to work." mark said, taking her small hands into his larger ones.

"we can try." lydia told him with a small smile.

⋆◦★◦⋆
-𝐴/𝑁 ℎ𝑖 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟! 𝑝𝑙𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑚 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠!

12/15/20