Holiday Season

*Thanksgiving Day*

"Why am I on your service? You know I'm not going into Plastics and I could spend my time on Ortho or-" Ivy tries to reason with Mark.

He interrupts her, "Because you need to have a well-rounded education. Come on, we have some burns to work on."

Ivy rolls her eyes and follows him to a patient with severe burns from a deep fryer. She helps Mark clean up the tissue, listening to him scream, when a young woman comes up to them.

"Dr. Sloan?"

"Yeah," Mark looks up, a look of small recognition occurs.

She introduces herself, "Hi, um, so this is a little weird, but, my name is Sloan Reilly. And, uh, my moms Samantha Reilly. And uh, I'm pretty sure your my dad."

Ivy's mouth drops open as Lexie comes up. Ivy briefly recalls Mark talking about a Samantha Reilly when they were younger, but nothing this rememberable.

"Uh, Dr. Sloan, would you like me to order a blood test?" Ivy asks them.

○○○○

Ivy gets the Sloans situated in a conference room while she gets the necessary tests ready. They are silent when she walks in, Callie following behind for support.

"Hey, how's it going in here? Lots to talk about huh? Okay. So have we broached the topic of a paternity test? Cause we came prepared," Ivy preps.

Mark nods at her. Callie goes to Sloan to get her prepped while Ivy goes to Mark.

She whispers to him, "You should talk to her, say something."

He stays quiet, "Outloud. You know share with the class. We aren't mind readers."

"Dude, are you, like high or something?" Sloan asks.

Thankfully, Derek enters, "Sloan."

He takes in everybody as Mark pops up, "Yeah,"

Sloan also answers, "Yes."

"Mark, I need you on something," Derek chuckles.

He nods, "Come on Little Shep."

Ivy is quick to follow as Torres whispers to her, "You can't just leave me."

"I fought to get on your service, but Mark isn't letting me go so... have fun."

She follows after her brothers, "I have a daughter, Derek."

"Yeah."

"An 18 year old daughter. I am too young to have an 18 year old. Its a nail in my coffin. Its like death has come to call." Mark goes on.

Ivy giggles at his pain, "Okay. Can we put a pin in your existential crisis for a minute?"

"No. That's why they call it a crisis."

Derek stops in front of them, "Look, Dr. Robbins and I have a 6 year old with an inoperable A.V.M. We need your help to make it operable."

Mark takes a deep breath.

○○○○

Ivy has the Sloans test results back and goes to find Mark.

"Mark, its true. Shes your daughter."

Mark nods, "Yeah I figured. Whats Lexie going to do?"

Ivy shrugs, "Who knows but for know, start by telling them both."

Mark gets up, "Thanks Little Shep. Happy Thanksgiving."

They hug and Mark goes to find Sloan to bring her to the apartment.

"Oh my God. To be a fly on the wall for that conversation," Ivy mutters to herself.

○○○○

*Christmas Eve*

"I can't believe Grey cut off the tip of her finger," Reed says to Ivy.

Ivy leans against the wall, "Yeah well, she just learned that her boyfriend has an 18 year old daughter. I think it was warranted."

Reed snorts, "I guess, hey how's that-"

She is cut off by Ivys pager, "Sorry, Marks paging. Gotta go."

Ivy runs off to the room where Mark and Derek are testing the new instrument and talking.

"I want to bolt. I want to quit. I want to go back to New York or I don't know Arkansas, somewhere where no one will come looking for me." Mark complains.

Ivy shakes her head, "Don't go to Arkansas, you would hate all the dirt."

"I don't know how to talk to her. I... and I don't know what she wants from me. Its the guilt, you know? Its like every time I look at her its like, the guilt is like a punch in the gut every day," Mark explains.

Derek sighs, "Well, you shouldn't feel guilty. You didn't know."

"I did know," Derek and Ivy look at him, "I knew when her mom got pregnant. She knew me. I gave her a couple hundred bucks and I left town, and I never saw her again. You know, I figured she got an abortion. Hoped. But I did know."

Derek looks back at the model of the brain, "Well, you've grown up now. You're not 18 anymore. You're capable of better."

"Nicholas is back in the E.R. hes got a nosebleed, bad. I've been trying to stop it for an hour," Robbins comes in.

Derek doesn't look up, "We can't operate, we're not ready."

"All right, well, then I'll admit him and keep transfusing until the equipments done, which is gonna be soon, I hope?" She says.

The Shepherds and Mark share a look. They need to figure this out quickly.

○○○○

Ivy walks outside to get some fresh air and sees Altman, Cristina, Jackson and a patient standing out there. Ivy walks towards Jackson, crossing her arms to warm herself.

"Whats going on?"

Jackson looks down on her, "She loves the snow. She has no heart, so Altman decided to give her snow."