full name: Markus Vaughn
age: 30
dob: Dec 1, 1991
hometown: Providence Peak, Colorado
current residence: Downtown Providence Peak
occupation: Emergency Room Doctor
marital status: single
sexual orientation: heterosexual
children: 1 (a son named Jonah - no custody)
siblings: 3, younger sisters, "the Vaughn girls".
trigger warnings — absentee father, mudslide, accident, injuries, traumatic event, natural disaster, adoption, cheating, affair.
Markus Vaughn was born on the first day of December in 1991. He never knew his father. His mother moved to Providence Peak, Colorado from Mexico while she was still pregnant with him and married a local man who owned a farm in Big Horn Hills. Markus took his last name, alongside his mother, and later his three, little, half-sisters. They were a close bunch. The Vaughns loved all of their children, but deep down Markus always felt a little like the odd man out.
During his childhood, Markus spent a lot of time outdoors. At the farm, and with other leisure activities. Organized sports weren't really his thing, but he loved to hike, rock climb, and camp. Growing up in the beautiful Colorado mountains gave him ample opportunity, and he spent a lot of his weekends and breaks from school exploring the state's natural beauty.
It was out in the mountains where Markus had one of his biggest, life defining moments. The summer before his senior year, when a sudden rockslide befell his hiking party. He and one other hiker were left minimally injured, but the others required immediate care. Markus sprung into action with what little first aid he knew and helped save the lives of four people. It immediately instilled in him a passion for helping others, and his dream to be a doctor was born.
That summer was one of big changes for a young man on the brink of adulthood. He found his passion and fell in love for the first time. It was so, intensely real for him that he saw their future together, long before they ever talked about what they wanted or where they were going. By the fall of the same year, Markus was happily dating his highschool sweetheart — Cora. When he found out she was pregnant he was scared but excited in a way he didn't have words for quite yet.
Markus and Cora's son was born during their senior year of highschool. Before Jonah's birth Cora decided to give him up for adoption. A choice Markus wasn't comfortable with, but one he agreed to. They were in no position to raise a baby, or to give him a good life. Markus wanted to study pre-med at North Western, and they were both practically still kids themselves. Despite how much it hurt, Markus decided for himself, adoption was the best option for their son to have the best possible life.
While attending undergrad in Illinois, Markus didn't visit home often. He was busy working hard, so he could get into a good med school. Mid semester of his first year, his dwindling relationship with Cora completely fizzled out. It was an agonizing kind of heartbreak. One that started when they gave up their son and just continued to ache a big whole in his chest. Once the break up was official he didn't really know what to do with himself, still stupid in love with someone who wouldn't even return his text messages.
For med school, Markus went to the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He chose to stay in the state because he'd started seeing someone local. It was his first, serious relationship since highschool, and he was smitten. It was safe to say that Markus didn't fall often, but when he did he fell hard. They were together three years before he proposed. She said yes, and they agreed to wait until after he finished med school to marry. Somewhere between happy and heartbroken, Markus' fiancée cheated on him, and they called off the wedding.
When Markus was offered one of only twelve spots in the residency program at Hennepin County Medical Center it was an easy decision to go. There wasn't anything left for him in Illinois, and a change of scenery was needed. His professional life thrived, as chaotic as it was. He was doing what he loved but was struggling in private to come to terms with the women in his life who had broken his heart, and the son he had who didn't know Markus was his father.
The family who adopted Jonah offered to let Markus and Cora see him. Cora never took them up on the offer, as far as Markus knew, but he wanted a relationship with his son. Even if it was one had at a distance. He was introduced as a family friend and sent presents on Jonah's birthday and at Christmas. They met a few times over the years, but Jonah didn't seem to find Markus impressionable. Markus thought it was probably better that way.
With the end of his residency looming, Markus looked to make another move. His parents were getting older, and his sisters had children now. He wanted to be close to his family again and took a job at the hospital he was born in — Providence Peak Memorial.
