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They were finally back at Castle Bravo after the shit show in Boston. They had lost too many lives trying to save the earth once again and even then those sacrifices would had been in vain if it weren't for Godzilla. Sam was thankful for making it alive but he could barely enjoy it since he was quickly drowned by his responsibilities in Monarch. It was a fucking disaster. In a rare break he had, he went looking for Mark. The man had disappeared shortly after reaching Castle Bravo. He looked for him in his quarters but nothing. He wasn't with Maddie either which was weird. Sam started to get worried for the man. It was a bit pathetic that he had fallen in love with the scientist in such little time. Sure, at first he had tought it was admiration since he was a fanboy of Emma and Mark's work but in no time he realised he was in deep. He walked the almost empty halls of the base for a few minutes when he heard hushed sobs coming from an archive room.
"Mark?" he asked tentatively as he got in "are you there?"
"Ye... yes," a weak voice came from the pitch dark room "just trying to process what happened. I don't want Maddie to see me like this, that's all"
"I'm sorry about Emma" He said after he turned up the lights and sat down next to the man he had fallen for in the midst of a global monster attack. He was being earnest. He hadn't personally known the woman but he knew her work by heart. She had been an amazing scientist and a brilliant mind. Her death was a huge lost for Monarch and the scientific community as a whole.
"I can't believe what she's done," Mark kept his eyes fixed on the floor like he was trying to find the answers he needed there. "I can't believe she's gone" He got up and walked toward the opposite wall like a caged animal. "This is crazy" Mark punched the wall in frustration and after all the destruction Sam had seen that day, for a second he believed the man could have torn that wall apart. "Dammit Emma!" he groaned and covered his face with his shaking hands.
"MARK!" Sam jump to his feet and took the man's hand in his. It could be broken "Seriously? We don't need more people in the infirmary" Mark looked at his with his watery eyes full of fondness. He felt his face bulshing and looked away feeling suddenly unconfortable. He suffled his feet and reached for his back pocket "Here... Maddie told me to give you this" he pulled out a folded photo that had the signs that it had been once crumbled. Mark took it, his hand trembling as he opened the picture. When he saw it he let out a drowned cry. "You haven't lost it all, Mark" He slowly reached to caress Mark's cheek almost expecting to be rejected "You saved your daugther and she needs you more than ever"
"I'm sorry" Mark whispered as he stroke the faces staring at him with his thumb. He looked up and repeated himself "I'm truly sorry"
"For what?" he asked, confused. Mark didn't answer straight away, instead he grabbed Sam by his waist and pulled him closer.
"Before Godzilla came back from the death... Before Mothra appeared " he whispered "I told you Emma and Maddie were all I had left"
"Mark..." Sam tried to interrupt him. It had hurt hearing Mark saying that all that mattered to him were Emma and Maddie, of course it did but he couldn't blame the man for worrying for his family. With all the titans running arounld the planet, it was the logical thing to do. Specially since Mark had only known him for a few days, whatever they had wasn't solid enough at least for the older scientist. It all had been serendipitous really.
"It wasn't true" Mark said with a raspy voice. Before Sam could think an appropriate answer, Mark was kissing him like he was his lifeline. Sam deepened the kiss whising he could take Mark's sadness away. Mark broke the kiss and frowned when his eyes scanned Sam's face. He softly traced the few cuts Sam had on his forehead. It was nothing considering what he had been doing hours earlier.
"Don't worry, it's just scratch," he took Mark's hand away "but your hand might be broken. Next time don't take the Godzilla approach to process your emotions, please" he said making Mark huff.