mark was too young to hold proper resentment towards his father but debra remained bitter for a long time, especially as david and maggie soon married and seemed to be very happy together. debra never did remarry and raising three kids left little time for dating. mark finished school having done well and enrolled in syracuse university to complete his general studies before transferring to nyu. he had a passion for music though he never felt he was talented enough to pursue a career in performing, and instead found interest in radio. he had been involved in college radio at su and was excited to continue that at nyu, though naturally the pool of student djs was much bigger. to try and get his foot in the door and also gain more experience, he found a job doing office work in one of the city's major radio stations. it sounded more glamorous than it was and he rarely ever even saw the djs, but he managed to work his way up and was finally on the air a few years after graduation.
meanwhile, through mutual friends, mark had met a girl named stephanie when he was 21 years old. it was a whirlwind romance and the two were married within a year. there were early signs that the relationship wasn't meant to be, but from the time they started dating, anytime their lack of common interests led to a lull they reacted with what would be the next step in a successful relationship. once being a steady couple was beginning to drag, they got engaged. they were among the first of their friends to be wed and had few people to compare relationships to, not to metion they never spoke to anyone about their problems so they and everyone around them lived under the illusion that it was a happy marriage. truth be told, it wasn't unhappy, it was just fine, but neither saw "fine" as enough of a reason to separate. eventually they were coexisting and living different lives together, and one day, at age 28, mark met a girl who would make him see things for what they were. rachael was younger, beautiful and full of life, and from the moment he met her, he knew what he had with stephanie was a problem.
cheating was wrong, everyone always said so, but he couldn't help and think how cheating didn't turn out to be so bad for his father. rachael brought out a side of him that he never knew existed, and if he were single, nothing would stop him from pursuing her completely. he and stephanie had been trying to conceive a child for two years, and when the doctor said stephanie was perfectly healthy, mark took it upon himself to secretly get tested. he never told his wife the results, which were that he was the reason they were unable to conceive, and he thought of it as a sign that maybe he should stop trying to fix a relationship that didn't want to be fixed. but his damaged pride took a turn for the worse when one day stephanie told him that surprise, she was pregnant. mark wasn't honestly shocked that stephanie must have been cheating as well, but knowing that it resulted in a baby while he would never be able to give that to someone was too much to take. he told stephanie the truth and the two decided to finally call it quits.
instead of seeking comfort in rachael the way that his father had with maggie, mark temporarily cut her out of his life. he broke off their affair with an e-mail of all things. it was cowardly but he couldn't imagine telling her the truth and explaining that he needed some time for himself to settle his divorce before he intended to move back to syracuse. he was his usual self to her at work in front of others, but he acted as if she didn't exist outside of work. it hurt to do so but a few weeks later when he arrived in syracuse, he ignored all of rachael's attempts to contact him. being a dj for z100 in nyc meant that nearly any available position in syracuse was his for the taking. he adjusted quickly to a routine there and tried his best to start over. he even started seeing someone, regardless that it was probably far too quickly for him to be in a relationship again, but she reminded him of rachael, the only thing he truly missed about his life in nyc. things with him and his new girlfriend barely lasted more than a few months, and as it turned out, dating someone so similar to rachael only made things worse.
nearly nine years later, mark has been doing well for himself. he co-hosts a popular podcast with his friend (open) and though he hasn't had any lasting relationships, he feels he may have finally, finally shaken the rachael bug. who knew it could last so long? in the wake of his sister's divorce (because literally everyone in their lives seems to ruin their marriages), his presence has been requested back in the big apple to help alex keep her life together and mark promised her a year but didn't promise anything more. he and (open) both arrived in nyc in early march and are pleased to host big city editions of their podcast. mark hasn't gotten in touch with any of his old contacts just yet, including rachael and stephanie, but he knows that he should soon. but nine years is an awful long time...