#the doctor x harper spiel | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

omgjasminesimone · 4 years

Text

Kept Part 3

Bryce x MC x Ethan

Previous Part: Part 2

Next Part: Part 4

Word Count: 2800

Casey stirs her martini with her straw distractedly. She’s bored with the table conversation of the older doctors.

If it was medical talk, she’d be tuned in, taking in all the information like a sponge. But instead, they’re discussing their kids, and SAT prep classes, and college applications, and their vacation homes in Cape Cod that they’re worried they might need to sell to pay college tuition since their children won’t qualify for financial aid, which these wealthy doctors seem to think is unfair. Casey rolls her eyes. God forbid they have to give up their third homes.

“Would you like to dance?” Ethan offers, picking up on her desire to flee.

Casey downs the rest of her martini before nodding enthusiastically, gripping Ethan’s arm and standing from the round table.

Ethan draws her to him, resting a hand on her lower back as his other hand grips her’s. They sway to the light jazz playing softly from the stage.

“You look beautiful tonight Cassandra.” Ethan praises.

Casey glances down at the tight-fitting red dress Ethan bought for her. It’s not really her style, and she’d be more comfortable in something looser, with a higher neckline, but the dress does look good on her, which is evident by the way many of the men here are looking at her. Their wives throw disapproving looks in her direction, and she hears one woman whisper loudly that Dr. Ramsey seems to have brought an escort as his date.

Casey looks down at the ground, feeling insulted, but knowing ultimately, it’s not far from the truth.

“Ignore them. They’re just jealous because you’re young and beautiful.” Ethan tries to comfort, drawing her closer and placing a kiss to the top of her head.

Casey grips the lapel of Ethan’s suit, not feeling comforted, but at least Ethan is trying.

The song ends and Ethan takes Casey’s hand. “Another drink?” He asks.

“Yeah, that would be great.” Casey replies, allowing him to pull her toward the open bar in the corner.

She feels Ethan’s hand tense in her’s when they make it to the bar. She glances over his shoulder to see what has upset him.

“Ethan.” A beautiful woman greets, eyes briefly drifting over to Casey. She’s speaking to Casey now, but her eyes return to Ethan. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

Casey smiles, offering her hand for a handshake. “No, we haven’t, but I know who you are Dr. Emery. I’ve followed your work, it’s truly inspiring. A black woman serving as head of surgery, and then chief. Just, wow.” Casey spiels. “Oh, and my name is Cassandra Valentine. I’m in my second year of medical school at Tufts.”

“Second year of medical school? Wow, you’re so young, but already running in these elite circles.” Harper observes, a smile that doesn’t quite meet her eyes aimed at Casey.

“Harper, I didn’t know you’d be here.” Ethan says, his tone almost apologetic as he lets go of Casey’s hand.

Casey decides to make herself scarce, picking up on some unspoken tension between the two doctors that seems to need resolution. Casey excuses herself to the bar, taking a seat on a stool.

“Hi, can I get a glass of sangria please?” Casey orders.

The handsome bartender nods, opening a new bottle of sangria that looks like it was imported from Spain. Casey pulls a 5-dollar bill from her cleavage and drops it in the tip jar. The bartender gives her a grateful nod as he slides her glass over.

Casey turns in the bar stool as she sips on her drink, observing the room. This is one of Casey’s favorite things to do at these fancy parties Ethan drags her to, people watch. Sometimes when she’s out in Boston with Ethan, they’ll guess at each person’s story. He’s surprisingly adept at reading people for a man who definitely prefers as little human interaction as possible.

Casey observes the doctors networking, the largely empty dance floor, and the many doctors sitting at their tables on their phones, looking like they’d rather be anywhere than this gala. She glances at her watch, groaning when she sees it’s only 9:06 pm. How long until she can get out of here?

Ethan slips into the bar stool beside her, ordering a whiskey and slipping a $20 into the tip jar when the bartender turns away. “Sorry about that.” He apologizes, placing a hand on her lower back in a familiar manner.

“So, you and Dr. Harper Emery, huh? Quite the medical power couple. What broke you guys up?” Casey questions.

Ethan bristles, looking like he doesn’t want to tell her. But then he sighs and looks resigned. “She’s my boss now. An administrator. It changed her. It changed us.” He admits.

Casey’s eyebrows furrow. “So, you didn’t like the change in power dynamics?” She clarifies.

“It’s not the power dynamics, not really. It’s the fact that she completely went back on everything she believes in, that she told me she believes in, for a promotion. She’s all about hospital policy now. She doesn’t strive to be innovative, to take risks. That’s not the Harper I knew. Not the one I fell in love with.” Ethan explains.

“Well, sometimes the tried and true method is the best path of action. I’m sure Harper Emery knows when to take risks, versus when to go with the standard.” Casey tries to defend, but she trails off when Ethan frowns at her.

“Hospital standards are seldom the best course of action. You’ll find that out once you start your residency.” Ethan insists.

Casey wants to respond to that, inform Ethan that just because she’s still in school doesn’t mean she’s ignorant about hospital policy, but she’s interrupted when more doctors approach. One of the newcomers claps Ethan heartily on the back.

“Naveen.” Ethan greets, obliging the man with a small smile.

“Ethan! Why didn’t you tell me you would be here?” Dr. Naveen Banerji, another well-known doctor whose work Casey is familiar with, asks.

“I wasn’t planning on being here, but my girlfriend Cassandra was down here so I thought I’d come down and surprise her.” Ethan responds.

Casey flinches at being referred to as Ethan’s girlfriend. She’s Bryce’s girlfriend. She’s simply Ethan’s paid play thing. She hides her initial reaction, determined to continue with the act. She can act like Ethan’s girlfriend for the night if that’s what he wants. She flashes a brilliant smile at Dr. Banerji.

“Nice to meet you Dr. Banerji. Cassandra Valentine, and I’m a big fan of yours. I’m interested in going into Diagnostics myself.”

Dr. Banerji smiles. “We could use you in Diagnostics Cassandra. I can tell that you’re a good judge of character.”

“Diagnostics would also benefit from some more diversity, and I can’t tell what you are exactly, but you’re at least part black, right? So that would be good for black patients. They’d feel like you’re really listening to them, that you care. The diversity angle must have helped you when you applied to Tufts, I heard it was very competitive last year.” A young man around her age interrupts.

Dr. Banerji frowns, glancing at the blonde male. “This is my research assistant, Dr. Landry Olsen. He recently graduated from medical school and started his residency under me.” He explains.

Casey’s blood boils at Landry’s insinuation that she only got into Tufts because she was a minority candidate. Of course, it couldn’t be because of all the studying she did between working several part time jobs in college, or her stellar recommendation letters from professors who saw how talented and passionate she was.

She glances over at Ethan to see if he’s going to defend her, mention all the promise he sees in her, the promise that spurred him to pay for her textbooks and tuition initially. But he’s watching Harper talk to some pharmaceutical reps out of the corner of his eye, seemingly not even listening to the conversation.

She can’t help but compare Ethan’s reaction to how Bryce reacted when a drunk, rude frat boy asked her what she was at a Harvard party he brought her to. It’s not like she’s not used to the question, with her mix of Black, Latina, and some European DNA, but no one had ever stuck up for her before Bryce.

“She’s a who, not a what, asshole.” Bryce replied, taking her hand and gently pulling her away from the questioner.

Bryce was always doing nice things for her, going above and beyond what she expected. He planned an entire romantic Cape Cod weekend for them, and she ditched him to hang out with her sugar daddy who’s clearly still in love with his ex and using her as some kind of more comfortable and powerless replacement.

Casey frowns, glancing down at the floor and wishing for not the first time tonight that she was at dinner with Bryce. Casey turns her attention back to Landry. “And where’d you go to school Dr. Olsen? I assume your parents must have made a large donation to get you in, since I can’t imagine you did well at your alumni interview.” Casey snaps back.

Landry’s jaw drops, and Casey notices Naveen biting back a smile. Ethan still isn’t paying attention.

“Please excuse me.” Casey says, squeezing through Naveen and Landry to return to her table.

“I like that one.” She hears Naveen tell Ethan as she leaves.

She’s alone at the table for several minutes before Ethan returns. He’s brought more drinks, and he nurses a whiskey as he watches Harper for the rest of the evening. Casey isn’t jealous, but she is annoyed. Normally, Ethan would have wanted to leave by now, but he seems determined to watch Dr. Emery all night.

Casey lets out a sigh of relief when Dr. Emery finally slips out of the building with a handsome anesthesiologist around 11 pm. Casey has made all the small talk she can muster, eaten every appetizer, and she’s sleepy drunk at this point. Now they can finally go. Ethan downs the rest of his fifth or sixth whiskey, slamming the glass down on the table when he’s done.

He stands and offers Casey his hand. “Let’s go.” He says shortly.

Casey nods and slides her hand into his, nodding at the doctors still at their table as they excuse themselves. Ethan picked her up in a Dryve ridesharing car, and he orders another one as they wait outside in the crisp Cape Cod Fall air.

Their ride arrives fairly quickly, and they clamor into the back seat. Casey frowns when the driver goes past where she knows she needs to take a right to get back to Bryce.

“Did you set it to go back to where I’m staying with Jackie and Sienna?” Casey questions.

Ethan blinks slowly. She’s never seen him so drunk. “Oh, I forgot. Why don’t you just stay with me in my hotel tonight? I’ll order you another Dryve in the morning.”

Casey frowns. She wants to go talk to Bryce, convince him to continue with their current status quo, tell him that she loves him too, but she can’t give up the lifestyle Ethan provides. But she can’t tell Ethan any of this, so she simply nods.

When Ethan closes his eyes again and starts to nod off, she pulls her phone from her purse and texts Bryce.

‘Hey, I’m still out. Don’t wait up. I’ll be back in the morning before it’s time to drive back to Boston.’ She texts.

She sees that Bryce has read her message, but he doesn’t respond. She frowns, but now is not the time to address that.

The Dryve pulls up to a very nice hotel, and Casey shakes Ethan’s shoulder to wake him from his drunken slumber.

They make their way up to his room. Ethan stumbles with the key card a few times before managing to successfully slide it into the door.

Casey walks into the suite, looking out the floor to ceiling window view of Cape Cod and the bay. It’s stunningly beautiful, but of course she’d expect no less from Ethan. He’s taken her on a couple of vacations before, and he always spares no expenses.

Ethan stumbles over to the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water. “Would you like a glass of water Cassandra?” He asks, and Casey nods gratefully, joining him at the kitchen counter.

She gulps down the water quickly, releasing a happy sigh when she’s done. “What?” Casey questions when she notices the way Ethan is looking at her.

“Do you think Harper is going to sleep with that doctor she left with?” Ethan asks. He’s trying to sound nonchalant, but his feigned disinterest is unconvincing.

Casey shrugs. “If you still love her, you should tell her. She can’t read your mind.”

“I don’t still love her. I have you now. You need me, you let me help, you listen to my advice. Everything is easy with you. Nothing was easy with Harper.”

Casey glances into Ethan’s stormy blue eyes. “Easy isn’t necessarily better.” Casey presses.

“Trust me, it’s better.” Ethan insists, arms going to either side of her, caging her in against the counter. He kisses her sloppily.

Casey turns her head to the side to break the kiss, but Ethan is undeterred, lifting her onto the counter and stepping between her legs. “What are you doing?” Casey asks, attempting to push him off her.

“Don’t you see? I’m not your boss. There are no weird power dynamics like what I have with Harper. So, we can do this. We can do everything.” Ethan explains as he begins to unzip her dress.

Casey pushes him away with more force this time, and he stumbles back, surprised. “No weird power dynamics? You’re literally paying me to pretend to be your girlfriend.” Casey retorts.

Ethan’s eyes narrow. “You’re right. I am paying you. And if you want those payments to continue, I’m going to need more than your companionship and a few kisses here and there.”

“I’m not a prostitute.” Casey counters, eyes narrowing.

“Could have fooled me.” Ethan retaliates. Before she can think better of it, Casey slaps him.

She breathes heavily in the aftermath of the slap, her cheat heaving with rage. “How DARE you. I wanted a mentor. Someone with more experience who knew how to navigate the medical world. You’re the one who turned it into this, and I went along with it because you’re an amazing diagnostician and I thought I needed to stay in your good graces, but fuck you Ethan Ramsey if you think I’m going to sleep with you just so you’ll invite me to these parties where the doctors I’ve studied and respected treat me like I’m an escort and you do absolutely nothing to defend me.”

Ethan scoffs. “So, you’re done? Then I’m done paying for your penthouse apartment, and your tuition.” He threatens.

“Do what you have to do. In your mind you’ve warped this into you being charitable, helping out someone in need, but that’s not what this was. You’re a narcissist who is in the midst of some midlife crisis because your ex-girlfriend is more successful than you, so you had to find someone weaker and try to keep them down so you could maintain the upper footing. Well, I’m done letting you step all over me.”

Casey slips off the counter and slams the door behind her.

It’s raining when Casey makes it to the lobby, so she waits inside for her Dryve, literally shaking with rage. She doesn’t know how she read things with Ethan so wrong. She really never thought he would take it this far. She assumed he had some respect for her, but obviously, she was very wrong. She squeezes her eyes shut, resisting her desire to cry. Bryce was so right about everything.

When her driver finally arrives, she slips into the car and sits in silence, going over the night in her mind, planning her next steps. She’ll need to move. Maybe she’ll see if she can become an RA on campus. The free housing RAs get would be a major perk. The only thing in her future that is clear to her is that she wants to be with Bryce, if he’ll still have her.

When the Dryve pulls up into the driveway of Bryce’s professor’s summer home, Casey quickly runs out and through the rain to the front door. She pounds on the door heavily as she continues to get drenched.

Bryce opens the door, in his pajamas with his hair disheveled from sleep. “Casey? I thought you were staying with Ramsey- “

Casey cuts him off by gripping the front of his pajamas and pulling him down into a passionate kiss. Despite the fact that she’s dripping wet, Bryce pulls her to him anyway, slipping his tongue into her mouth.

“I want you Bryce. Only you.” Casey decides, before kissing him again.

…

Author’s Note: Next chapter will be an epilogue to tie everything up.

taglist: @octobereighth @akrenich @lovehugsandcandy @regina-and-happiness @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicesarehard @lizeboredom @desiree-0816 @hellooliviaolivia @dreaming-of-movies @friedherringclodthing @weaving-in-words @fairydustandsarcasm @goldenjellyfish12 @pessimystic-fangirl @mimikoasahina @srta-give-me-my-jax-rl @god-save-the-keen @caroldxnvxrs @cora-nova @emceesynonymroll @ohsnapitzlovehacker @choicesgremlin @anxious-arliah @cordoniasmost @lahelable @annekebbphotography @liamzigmichael4ever @crispycrunchyleaves @mskaneko

#choices fanfiction #bryce x mc #ethan x mc #open heart #bryce lahela x mc #ethan ramsey x mc

80 notes · View notes

starleska · 1 month

Note

I am definitely here to find out more about your OC Harper if you wanna share 👀👀👀

oh my god yes yes yes thank you so much Jam i would LOVE to gush about Harper Spiel and their bizarre backstory, thank you so much 🙈💖 Doctor Who OCs are so fun to make!

my dear Harper's story begins right after the events of The Giggle! Harper Spiel is a 26-year-old ludologist, or games specialist: a former world champion in several board games who turned their fascination with games into a lucrative career. previously they worked with the British government investigating high-profile gambling rings and other criminal operations which involved gameplay mechanics! 👀

following The Giggle, UNIT wanted to find out all they could about the Toymaker, and so they hired Harper to create a full report on him...against The Doctor's wishes, and without his knowledge. during their research, Harper discovers that the Toymaker is not an isolated incident: he has cropped up in gaming lore and texts throughout history as a godlike entity no one can win against. most people would steer well clear...but Harper takes this as a challenge 🔥 so, they begin a series of experiments with the Toymaker's Toybox. Harper spends weeks trying to engage the Toymaker without opening the box, attempting to coax him into a game, but comes up short. until they have a mad idea! on their birthday, Harper brings a sand timer to the Toybox, and challenges the Toymaker to emerge before the sand runs out. they have no way of knowing if the game is accepted... until a bang!! then, a flash of light...and the vague image of a grin with far too many teeth, beaming through the fog. when Harper awakes, they are no longer in their own timeline. they are in 1984, in an empty lot where the UNIT building hasn't even been constructed yet! 😱 it takes a few days for the Doctor - specifically the Sixth Doctor - to find Harper, and it's because the TARDIS has become absolutely fixated on London in 1984 and he can't work out why. this leads him to Harper, who the Doctor recognises as a temporal anomaly: a living entity displaced in time who should not be able to exist in this reality, but has been rejected by their own. according to the Doctor, Harper's birthday - originally March 22nd, 1998 - is now March 22nd, 1956...which would make them 65 years old according to their original reality!! if not...that means they're minus 40 💀 the Doctor, horrified by this mess, takes Harper into the TARDIS and tries to bring them back to 2024...but the TARDIS nearly implodes! he then tries every workaround he knows, but something about the game Harper opened up with the Toymaker has caused their own timeline to shun them. like it or not, the only safe place for Harper to exist (at least without increasing timey-wimey shenanigans) is within the TARDIS 😉 so!! Harper gets stuck with the Sixth Doctor, to his chagrin and their delight. Harper is familiar with the Doctor, but only his most recent regenerations, and they take delight in playing off his bombastic, arrogant personality. they're always getting stuck into some part of the TARDIS they shouldn't be, or wandering off and nearly causing a category 5 space-time event. they're a magnet for disaster and time distortion, and it drives the Doctor mad! 🙈 but as funny as their relationship is, there is real grief here. the Doctor soon recognises Harper to be somewhat like him: a scientist whose fascination often overrides their emotions, so the process of understanding that they will never see their friends again (as they have no family to speak of) is tough. it doesn't take long for the Doctor to soften towards Harper...after all, Harper is something which the universe itself is trying to reject. who can relate more to that than the Sixth Doctor, whose regeneration was characterised by fear, anger and feeling like an alien in his own body? aaaand that's Harper Spiel!! unwitting companion to the Sixth Doctor and challenger of the Toymaker 🥰 their adventures would be characterised by them attempting to find some way back to Harper's original timeline safely, with Harper insisting they need to find the Toymaker to make it happen...😭

#giggles oh i love making Doctor Who OCs. everyone should do it!!! thanks so much for asking about Harper 🙈#also yes - Harper's birthday (dd/mm) and the time they get yeeted back to (dd/mm/yyyy) is the start of Colin Baker's tenure as the Doctor 😉#i needed a ridiculous character to ship with both of my favourites okay and THIS WAS THE COMPROMISE #doctor who oc #harper spiel #the doctor x oc #the toymaker x oc #sixspiel #toyspiel #sixth doctor #6th doctor #the doctor #the toymaker #doctor who #dw #starleskasks #starleskawrites #long post

19 notes · View notes