Mark didn't say anything in response, at least not reactionary. He was too prone to a short fuse when his head was messed up like this and Sam didn't deserve copping it just because they happened to be room mates in the womb. There was more to his silence than that, though, and he couldn't find the words he needed yet. Not through lack of trying. Words were never usually an issue for him, especially with his twin. "Sammy, I——" He had to stop again, partly to brace himself but mostly because he didn't want to fuck this up. "Can you just shelve being a twin and a doctor and a son and an uncle and a partner for a bit and just tell me how you are. Really are. You're trying to protect me by not telling me how you're really feeling about this and I don't want that. You need me. Maybe not in this state but it's all I've got at the moment. And you don't need to spell it out for me. If Jus was awake and knew all the ins and outs here, he would give me a kick up the arse not to fuck this up. I fuck up a lot and this isn't going to be part of it..."

He grabbed his bottle of water but he didn't drink any. Something to do with his hands so he didn't grab Sam and beg him not to die. "Sammy, you're so in love with Alexis. Possibly as much as you ever did with Michelle. I've seen how you look at her and, mate, it's the same. So, I know that all you want is to make her happy and give her the support she needs making up for lost time with Jus. But none of that erases the trauma you've been through too. Losing Michelle and Louis in the worst way, before you even got to meet your son. You grieved for the both." He started to tear up then because he had been with Sam for every moment of that grief. "You know what it's like to lose the person you love to cancer and it's never something you'd want Alexis to go through. Tell me what you're feeling, Sammy. All of it. I can take it."