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lucy-268 · 2 years

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Not Meant to Be

Not Meant to Be

Series/Pairing: Open Heart - Ethan Ramsey x f!MC (Samantha Carlson)

Disclaimer: Most characters belong to PB, Samantha is sort of mine

Other Characters: Harper Emery

Rating / Warnings: T / Angst

Summary: After Samantha survived her ethics hearing near the end of her intern year Ethan assured her that they would make it work. He went to the Amazon promising her they would still be together when he came back. So, who changed his mind?

Comments/Notes: Written for the Please Be Prompt event at CFWC using the angst prompt "Was it ever me?" It will be in bold. Also, I wasn’t quite sure who to tag. Obviously, my perma list and All Open Heart. I don’t have and Ethan and Samantha list. But if it includes Ethan, I figured my Ethan list should be included. And it is part of Samantha’s back story, my Tobias list is also included, as that is there story. I also need to thank a couple of people for assistance. @liaromancewriter and @jerzwriter for research and opinions.

Word count: ~1,260

Eighteen Months Ago

Harper smiled as she stepped out of the elevator and headed toward Ethan’s apartment, carrying a bottle of Pinot noir. Granted, it wasn’t Scotch, but it was his favorite wine.

She let herself into his apartment and headed to the kitchen where Ethan was preparing dinner. “Salmon. My favorite.”

Ethan leaned over and kissed her. “Wine?”

She smiled. “I thought we could celebrate.”

“What are we celebrating?”

Harper waited until he had slid the baking dish into the oven and turned to face her. “My new job.”

Ethan frowned at her. “What new job? You’re already Head of Neurosurgery. Is Carmichael leaving?”

Harper smiled and shook her head. “Not Chief of Surgery. I’m replacing Dr. Robinette when he retires.”

“Chief of Medicine? Administration? You can’t be serious, Harper!”

She glared at him. “Of course I’m serious. This is a good thing for me and for Edenbrook.”

“You’ll be playing politics and your focus won’t be on the patients.”

“Ethan! I’m not going to forget I’m a doctor first. This isn’t going to change me at all.” She rubbed her hand along his arm. “There is no reason for anything to change.”

“Except us.” Ethan twisted his arm away from her.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll be your employee. We can’t have anything other than a professional relationship.” When she opened her mouth to speak he held up his hand and continued. “It would be unethical for you to be with a member of your staff. And I’m not transferring to Mass Kenmore or Cambridge.”

“Then I guess I’ll see you at work, Dr. Ramsey.” Harper turned on her heel and headed to the door before he could see the tears glittering in her eyes.

The Day After the Ethics Hearing

"But the competition was canceled.” Ethan was horrified at the implication of Naveen’s announcement.

“Then it's a good thing I'm the top dog around here. I've just made new rules! It's settled. Dr. Carlson will spend her second year as the junior fellow on the diagnostics team... with you as her direct supervisor.” He turned from Ethan to face Samantha. “Congratulations, Samantha. You've earned it.” Naveen gave her a wink before walking away.

“So, um... how do we deal with this?” Samantha chewed on her lip as she watched him.

“We make it work. What matters is the patients. Right?”

“Right.”

"Well, then... Get to work, Rookie.”

“Yes, doctor.”

Several hours later Sami was heading to the cafeteria to meet her roommates when she received a page directing her to Ethan’s office.

When she got there the door was partially open and she stepped in. He had tossed his doctor’s coat over his chair and had his sleeves rolled up. He had several boxes around with books, medical journals, and office supplies loaded haphazardly.

“Ethan? What are you doing?”

He nodded to the small couch in his office and sat next to her. “During the time that I resigned, I talked to a colleague at WHO. He asked me if I would be interested in heading to the Amazon for a month or two. As I wasn’t planning on returning here, I agreed. Naveen knows I agreed to that and he’s happily giving me the time. I’m moving my personal effects to the diagnostic office since I’ll be there when I get back.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?”

Ethan nodded. “Naveen is sending out an email blast to the hospital tomorrow but I wanted you to hear it from me.”

“And, us, Ethan?”

“I meant what I said. We’ll make this work when I get back.” Samantha smiled as he leaned down to kiss her.

Two Months Later

Ethan hurried through the airport and smiled when he saw the display of souvenirs at one of the shops. He thought of the stuffed pink dolphin resting in his suitcase. Samantha had told him about her and Sienna being dolphins in a sea of sharks. It was only appropriate that he bring her back a pink river dolphin from the Amazon. Before long, he was settled into his seat for the first leg of his twenty hour trip back to Boston. He reclined his seat back and closed his eyes.

Many hours later, Ethan opened the door to his apartment and rolled his suitcase to the laundry room. He unzipped it and found Samantha’s dolphin before heading into his bedroom. He changed into a clean pair of jeans and a white henley and headed towards the front door.

*********************

Earlier in the day Harper had stopped in Naveen’s office. The two of them made a point to have lunch once a week since he had taken over as chief. Ethan had sent Naveen an email stating his flight number and that he would return to work the following day. She smiled at the brevity of the message. It was the only time anyone had heard from Ethan the entire two months he had been gone and he sent his mentor and boss a grand total of two sentences.

Later, Harper stood in front of Ethan’s apartment door, feeling slightly nervous. She remembered the last time she was here, happy because she’d just found out she was being promoted to Chief of Medicine. Now that she wasn’t his boss, maybe they could have another chance. She raised her hand to knock when the door opened and she faced Ethan as he was picking up a green jacket.

“Harper. Come in.” He stepped aside to let her pass.

“You’re going out? I figured you’d want to rest before tomorrow. The new interns show up and you officially start as Director of Diagnostics.”

Ethan smiled. “As Director of Diagnostics, interns aren’t my problem this year. I was heading to Donahue’s. But please, sit.” He motioned the leather sofa.

Harper sat and smiled as he continued, “I’d offer you coffee, but I’m out and unless you’ve changed, I know you don’t like Scotch.”

“I’m fine. I was hoping we could talk.”

“About?”

Ethan was surprised when she replied, “Us.”

“Us? Harper, there hasn’t been an ‘us’ since you accepted the Chief of Medicine job.”

“And I don’t have that job anymore. I’m no longer your boss.” She turned sideways on the sofa to face him. “We had so many starts and stops in our relationship and we were finally really beginning to feel permanent until I accepted that job. I haven’t felt that with anyone I went out with since. Have you?”

Ethan turned his head from her. No one except Samantha. He closed his eyes as he remembered the last conversation with Harper in his apartment. It would be unethical for you to be with a member of your staff. And here he was, planning on beginning a relationship with someone on his own staff! He faced her again. “If things hadn’t happened the way they did, we might still be together and be happy. But I think we need to stay in the past now.”

Harper headed for the door, and paused with her hand on the knob. “Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but I have to know, Was it ever me?” When he didn’t answer right away. She opened the door and left.

Ethan pulled on his jacket and headed out his apartment. He was still going to Donahue’s, but instead of bringing Samantha home with him, he was planning on telling her that they needed to take a step back.

He spotted the dolphin waiting to be taken to Samantha. He decided he would donate it to the children’s wing in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tagging - @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Perma - @a-crepusculo @bex-la-get @danijimenezv @genevievemd @jamespotterthefirst @jerzwriter @liaromancewriter @potionsprefect @writer-ish @crazy-loca-blog @quixoticdreamer16 @txemrn @zahrachoices

All Open Heart - @annfg8 @coffeeheartaddict2 @utterlyinevitable @differenttyphoonwerewolf

Open Heart - Ethan & Charley only - @ohchoices @queencarb @headoverheelsforramsey @youlookappropriate

Open Heart - Tobias & Samantha only - @burnsoslow @kat-tia801

#choices fic writers creations #cfwc please be prompt #cfwc fics of the week #open heart #ethan ramsey x f!mc #harper emery

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openheartfanfics · 2 years

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OHFFs Advent Calendar: Day 8

Project Christmas Wish

Submitted by: @liaromancewriter

Premise: Cassie Valentine celebrates her first Christmas in a new city and finds that even a grinch has his weakness. Set in Book 1.

Book: Open Heart Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Fluff. Event: OHFFs Advent Calendar Words: 1,900

There was something about snow, thought Cassie Valentine, as she looked out the window of her apartment.

White particles swirled in the wind before they fell, coating the pavement outside, covering cars parked on the side of the road, and blanketing the streets.

In a little while, the city would awaken, the plows trundling along to clear the slush and ice. But for now, she was alone in that quiet period just after dawn.

She could hear Sienna moving about next door, her ears tracking her friend’s movements as she moved from the bedroom to the kitchen.

Her friends were coming together before shift for a quick Christmas snack of hot cocoa and treats; their only chance to make merry on an otherwise long day.

She felt a pang of homesickness as she imagined her family gathered at the beautiful estate in Newport. The fireplace in the family room would give off a cozy warmth with the fresh scent of pine wafting from the large tree tucked away in the corner, presents tucked underneath.

This was the first year that she wouldn’t be with them, but likely not the last given the career she had chosen. She looked down when her phone pinged, a huge smile breaking across her face when she saw who it was from.

By the time, Cassie clocked in at work and finished reviewing all the charts of patients assigned to her, the impromptu friend get together was a distant memory.

She felt ready as she joined her cohort for morning rounds. She was glad she had done the extra work when she saw it was Doctor Ramsey leading.

She wanted to make herself small and hide, but knew it was pointless when those blue eyes lasered in on her standing beside Sienna.

Ever since the PITA incident, there had been something unspoken between them; neither ready to let the words out for fear of what they’d say.

Aside from the occasional terse instructions related to Naveen’s care, he had limited their contact to rounds or competition related updates in the atrium. No more coffee breaks at Derry to discuss Patient X or anything else for that matter.

She straightened as she met his dismissive gaze, her own expression turning determined so that he was the first to look away.

Victory, she thought with satisfaction. She was here to be the best, learn from the best, and she wasn’t going to let him stand in her way. She was finally in the top five and the crown was in sight.

That’s what she wanted, not him and not this…whatever was between them.

“Let’s see which of you will falter today,” he sneered, his gaze covering the group before it came back to her. “Valentine, you’re up first.”

For the next little while, she batted every question he or anyone else threw at her with aplomb. She deserved that number one spot; she was going to get it and keep it, no matter what.

By the time she watched Ramsey’s retreating back at the end of rounds, she felt like a batter coming out of a game that had gone on to nine innings and overtime. If that was even possible in baseball. She hated the sport so she couldn’t be bothered to find out.

“Did you hear?” said Sienna excitedly, turning towards her. “They have puppies on the seventh-floor conference room!”

“I heard they’re part of Holiday Pups for Patients where patients can adopt a puppy for the day to keep them company,” said Elijah, grinning when he saw the way Cassie’s eyes lit up and she silently mouthed “puppies”.

“I have to see them!” exclaimed Cassie, turning to grab Sienna’s arm in delight. “Let’s go before Zaid or Ines find us. We have fifteen minutes and I want Puppy Time.”

That was the last break Cassie got all morning. She missed lunch on account of a Code Blue and found herself scarfing down a chocolate bar from the vending machine. Sienna gave her a sympathetic look as they met up outside the pediatric ward.

“Busy morning?” she asked as they quickly scanned the tablet for patient notes.

“Just a long one,” said Cassie. “I have patients on three different floors today and it’s been a whole lot of running around.”

“Plus, you detoured for puppy time,” laughed Sienna and Cassie flushed at being caught. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell. Dolphin Honor.”

They walked inside the patient room, a ten-year-old girl who was suffering from seizures. She was under observation while they ran a battery of tests; it was just her bad luck that lab closures for the holiday meant she had to spend Christmas at the hospital.

“Hi Cassidee,” said Sienna, her voice bright as she caught the despondent look on the patient’s face. “This is my friend, Cassie. You both almost have the same name. Is it okay if we hang out with you a bit?”

“I guess,” the little girl shrugged, not looking up from the toy dog in her arms.

“Did you know there are real puppies in the hospital?” said Cassie, smiling when that caught the girl’s interest and she looked up.

Cassie nodded her head in confirmation. “Want to go meet them? Maybe your furry buddy could use some company?”

“Can we go now?” asked Cassidy with hope in her voice. “Is that allowed?”

“Of course,” said Sienna. “We’re just waiting on your test results. You don’t have to stay in the room all day, just every now and then.”

“What if I have another episode?” she said, despondency returning.

“Don’t you know?” said Cassie gently. “Today’s Christmas and nothing bad can happen when there are puppies around.”

When Cassidee nodded, tucking her toy dog under her arm, Sienna left to grab a wheelchair. And then they were off, breezing past cheerfully decorated hallways towards the elevator bank.

And, thought Cassie, if she got in some time with a furry little friend too…well, that was their little secret.

“Back again, Valentine?”

Cassie tucked away the phone as she watched Ethan Ramsey walk over. She wondered what it said about her that she found the man attractive especially when he had that smirk on his face.

She looked away guiltily, wondering what story he was most likely to buy, but her mind came up blank. It was not an unusual occurrence whenever he was around.

“Dr. Ramsey, I…” she stopped when he put up his hand.

“Save it,” he said.

Whatever he’d been about to say next got lost when Cassie felt herself falling forward as one of the puppies made a run for the hallway, brushing past her legs and tripping her in its haste.

She prepared for her face to meet the floor but found herself hanging mid air as strong arms held her up. She felt the butterflies in her stomach when her eyes meet his.

The stark desire on his face visible for just a second before he blinked it away so fast that she wondered if she had imagined it.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice hoarse as she straightened.

He nodded, his arms falling away. He stepped back, the distance both mental and physical.

She wondered if it would always be this way between them. This need that never went away. A want that ached at the most uncomfortable of times.

The spell around them shattered when they heard shouts coming from the end of the hallway, followed by sharp barks.

“Come on, Rookie,” he said, turning away. “Let’s get your furry little friend before he creates an even bigger ruckus.”

Cassie followed closely behind, willing her heart to settle down. She watched as he put two fingers to his mouth and loudly whistled.

The sound stopped the puppy in its track, its body vibrating as if it wanted to jump on the human but knew it couldn’t.

Ethan’s expression was neutral, but his eyes were locked with the puppy as his hand signalled a command. The young pup had no choice but to follow, whimpering as it parked its butt on the floor.

“Wow,” said Cassie not bothering to hide her amazement. “How did you do that?”

“It’s a simple command to sit,” he said, amused. “Dogs aren’t that different from unruly interns.”

“Hey!” protested Cassie as the insult sunk in.

And then she watched in shock as he laughed out loud at the expression on her face. The laughter transformed his normally austere face, making him appear more open and approachable.

The puppy thought it meant play time again and, recognizing an ally, leaped towards Cassie. She staggered back slightly at the weight of the animal in her arms, but then she was giggling as the puppy enthusiastically licked her face.

“Oh, you’re such a cutie,” crooned Cassie, laughing as the puppy burrowed into her. “I wish you were going home with me, but you can’t.”

She sniffed at the latter.

“Why can’t he?”

Cassie was so surprised at the question that her arms loosened, and the puppy dropped to the floor on all fours.

“Oh…um…well,” she stammered before falling silent as she wondered if he really wanted to know.

“Well?” he asked, arms folding across his chest. “You appear to be a dog person.”

“I am,” she confirmed. “But I’m not sure my roommates or our landlord will allow dogs in the apartment.”

“Besides,” she glanced down, eyes softening as the pup gazed adoringly up at her, “we work so many long hours that it wouldn’t be fair to keep him locked up all day in my room.”

“Plus, I have a lousy track record with pets,” she continued when Ethan remained silent. “My family has banned me from ever adopting one.”

“Hrm,” was all he said. “Let’s get him back inside. These animals aren’t supposed to be running around willy-nilly.”

It was finally end of shift and all Cassie wanted was a hot shower and then sleep. She checked her wristwatch and was disappointed that she hadn’t managed to get away to see the puppies again before they went back to the shelter.

She changed into her street clothes and grabbed her stuff before heading down to join her friends in the atrium.

“Excuse me, Doctor Valentine?”

“Yes?” said Cassie, turning at the sound of her name.

“We have Juno waiting for you in the lounge,” said the woman.

She looked familiar but Cassie couldn’t place her.

“The puppy you visited earlier,” she clarified. “Doctor Ramsey asked that you get one hour to play with him before we head back to the shelter.”

Cassie knew she was grinning like a fool, but she didn’t care. She texted Sienna and followed the woman down the hallway to where Juno waited. Her mind told her not to read too much into the gesture, but her stupid heart didn’t want to listen.

The next hour flew by as Cassie, Sienna and their new furry friend engaged in all manner of antics. Their joyful laughter echoed down the near empty hallway, reaching the ears of a certain attending that watched from the shadows.

Taking a deep breath, Ethan Ramsey turned around and forced himself to walk away.

She was the only thing he had ever wanted more than he wanted to solve the mysteries of medicine. And the one person he knew he could never have.

#submission #oph advent calendar #liaromancewriter #open heart #open heart fanfic #open heart fanfiction #choices open heart #open heart fanfics #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #ethan ramsey x mc

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terrm9 · 3 years

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Shattered

Words count: 5 200

!!! WARNINGS: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH; DEATH; FUNERAL; TRAUMA; ALCOHOL CONSUMING; SUICIDAL THOUGHTS; MENTIONS OF ILLNESS

seriously guys this is very very very dark and angsty, there is no glimpse of anything else.

Author’s note: okay, the angsty fic is here. PLEASE, read the warnings and consider if you want to read it. I would hate to cause some triggering feelings in anyone, so please if you are not sure, DO NOT READ. The story will not be relevant for any other of my fics, it is really just angsty one-shot that I needed to write and will not be mentioned ever again. You won’t miss anything important because my other fics will be pure fluff again - there is a fluffy fic about Ramsey family coming where they are all happy and healthy and very much alive. (for more notes, see the end of the story)

„You are overreacting, babe,“ Chiara chuckled and wrapped herself tighter into the sheets.

„You literally just called me ‚babe‘,“ Ethan rolled his eyes. „I have every reason to be overreacting.“

Chiara laughed – or she tried to laugh, the sound soon turning into painful groans.

„It’s just the flu, Ethan. Really, I am doctor and a capable one, so stop questioning my judgement on my own flu. It’s flu season after all. It sucks but I’ll be fine in no time.“

Ethan was not as sure, not at all. Her strained voice and burning forehead kept his mind on the edge.

„I promise I’ll let you take me to the hospital if I don’t feel better in the morning,“ Chiara added as she noticed the wrinkle of concern between his brows.

„Okay,“ Ethan nodded relucantly and kissed her cheek softly. „Now, let’s try to get some sleep. And wake me up if you need pills or water or anything.“

Nodding, Chiara shut her eyes and allowed herself to hope that the throbbing headache would disappear by the morning.

Switching the lights off, Ethan took Chiara’s sweaty hand into his a put another gentle kiss on her knuckles.

„I love you,“ he whispered into the dark room, not sure if Chiara heard him.

„I love you more,“ she whispered back, a small smile on her lips.

Ethan chuckled, the fact that Chiara couldn’t resist to play the little competition with him even now giving his mind the peace it so much needed to sleep.

Impossible, he thought before letting the sleep overtake him.

The sharp, bright rays of a sun that has risen long time ago made Ethan stir in the bed. He didn’t even check the clock, his hand already reaching for Chiara – she was the first thing on his mind every morning and this one was no exception.

With his eyes still half closed, he put his palm on her forehead and a relief washed over him at the feeling of cold skin under it.

The fever was gone.

The relief lasted mere seconds, however. Mere seconds until the words ‚cold skin‘ echoed in Ethan’s mind again.

Her skin was cold. Not feverish, not warm and not the way it normally was.

It was cold.

Cold.

Ethan sat up in an instant, the last traces of sleep long gone. He turned his head to see Chiara clearly and the terrifying, dreadful knot formed in his stomach.

Chiara looked as if she was sleeping very deeply.

But Ethan knew better. Ethan knew that Chiara has never been a deep sleeper.

„No,“ he whispered as he kneeled next to her and pulled the sheets of her.

She was pale. Her lips had the unnatural shade of purple. She was not in a deep sleep – her chest wasn’t moving up and down with her every breath. It wasn’t moving at all.

There were no breaths.

Ethan slapped her; slapped her really hard.

Chiara didn't move. The skin on her cheek didn't get flushed by the harsh contact with Ethan's palm.

"What the fuck are you doing, Chiara?" Ethan screamed at her while laying her down on the floor, as gently as ever.

But there was a part of his brain that was starting to fathom the truth, the part that knew exactly what Chiara was doing.

And that there was no need to be gentle with her anymore.

His head was spinning. Years of medicine worth nothing with the hands shaking so hard he couldn’t perform a proper CRP.

Ethan grabbed a phone and realized it was Chiara’s the moment his own face looked back at him from her locked screen.

He wanted to throw it across the room, to break it. But then, does it really matter whose phone do you use when you need to call 911?

He dialed the number, put the phone on a speaker and got back to pumping Chiara’s chest, praying to God he stopped believing in long time ago that any force that made Chiara’s heart stop could make it beat again under his hands.

The morning became a bizzare blur of action, fear and emptiness with Ethan dictating his adress to the phone one moment and sprinting to open the door for the paramedics the second, not giving them a chance to ask questions before he was kneeling next to Chiara’s motionless – lifeless – body.

The shock on all of the paramedics‘ and Dr. Stock’s face at the sigh of Dr. Ramsey in his pajama bottoms and trembling hands and Dr. Ray on the ground was evident – after all, they knew both doctors. They worked with them for years.

The young paramedic man – Ethan felt like his name was Eric, but maybe that was a pure lie his mind made up – pushed Ethan gently aside and started to perform a CRP himself, while Dr. Stock – a man Ethan’s age – asked him many questions.

When did you find her? What happened before? Was it a long time before you called us?

But Ethan couldn’t answer. Ethan didn’t know. Was it an hour or a day? What happened? He had no idea what happened. He wished he knew what happened and he also wished he would never have to find out.

Dr. Stock knelt down next to the young paramedic and with a solemn nod gestured him to stop with the CRP.

He checked Chiara’s pulse, he foricbly opened her eyes and observed them, he gave her feet a light tap.

And then he shook his head softly.

The three paramedics – two younger men and one older woman – shared a look and all of them checked their watches at once.

„8:08 AM,“ one of them spoke quietly and raised his eyebrow, a question for the doctor.

„Write that down for now,“ Dr. Stock nodded and stood up. „The autopsy should tell us more.“

The autopsy. 8.08 AM. They way they stopped with the resurrecting. Stopped with trying.

As if there was no point in trying anymore.

Ethan didn’t quite register everything going on around him. He wanted to throw up. He felt like fainting. Screaming. Knocking and throwing fists.

He hadn’t done any of those.

He kept standing on the spot, frozen and unable to move. He didn’t want their words and their actions to make sense.

"Sir - Dr. Ramsey - we are sorry."

The paramedic put a sympathetic hand on Ethan's shoulder, her eyes concerned. Perhaps it was supposed to bring some steadiness into his breaths, however the result was the opposite.

"I don't need your sorry," he shook her hand down and took two steps back.

The two other paramedics along with Dr. Stock wheeled the stretcher with Chiara’s body on it out of the bedroom, throwing one last glance at Ethan's trembling figure.

"Stop looking like that," he was screaming now. "Stop with the sorry and those looks, there's no need for them, there's no need for them."

His voice was cracking and the little part of his brain that wasn't completely coated in denial whispered 'Please tell me there's no need for them'.

"You are taking her to hospital, right? That's good, that's great," he muttered but noticing the exchange of their worried glances, his rage came back.

"Just STOP! Take her to the hospital, make her feel better! Make this okay!"

The tree men left the room, however the woman remained standing next to him.

„Why are you still here?“ Ethan asked.

„We already informed Chief Banerji, Dr. Ramsey. He asked one of us to stay with you until he arrives here.“

Ethan shrugged and turned away before replying.

„There is no need for that. You can go. Or at least leave the room, I am going to get changed.“

The paramedic didn’t look happy about his command but left the room anyway and Ethan opened his closet to choose a shirt for the day.

What a busy morning, he thought. At least Chiara is in the hospital now. I will be better at taking care for her there.

He almost laughed at the situation. They were supposed to go to the opera tonight and instead, she ended up in a hospital with the flu.

Maybe he could stop at the Derry Roasters and buy her some good coffee. But then, she probably doesn’t have the appetite and it would be just a waste of time.

No, he will go straight to the hospital. She will surely be confused when she wakes up in a hospital bed.

Ethan just finished tying the knot on his tie when the door to the bedroom opened and Naveen stepped in.

His face was grave and his eyes red, as if he was crying recently.

„Ethan,“ he said softly, not entirely sure what kind of reaction was he expecting.

„Naveen,“ Ethan nodded in a greeting. „I am sorry but I won’t even invite you for a coffee. I can’t be late for work.“

„I don’t think you should go to work today, Ethan.“

„I can’t see why not. I want to be there when Chiara wakes up.“

Every single cell in Ethan’s body, every single atom in it denied the truth. The new reality.

Ethan couldn’t admit what was happening and he wasn’t going to.

„Chiara is not going to wake up, Ethan,“ Naveen whispered, his voice broken.

„Oh, she is,“ Ethan laughed shortly, waving his hand in the air. „She has a nasty flu, but now that she is in the hospital, it’s going to be okay. They took her to Edenbrook, right?“

„They took her to Edenbrook’s morgue. Chiara is dead, Ethan.“

The air stopped moving around them.

The clock on the wall stopped ticking.

Neither of the men – the friends – moved for a long moment.

The truth has finally found its way into Ethan’s brain. His cells were not able to deny it any longer.

Dr. Banerji was ready to catch Ethan if he falls. If he faints.

But there was no need to catch him.

Ethan cleared his throat and nodded once again.

„Yes, right. Right. I need to call her mother and let her know. The funeral will probably take place in San Francisco, so we need to take care of the transport of her body.“

Naveen recognized what was happening. He has seen the scenario many times in his career as a doctor. The husbands that lost their wives, the sisters that lost their brothers – the first reaction was not always a breakdown.

Sometimes, the defensive mechanism was a forced rationality.

„I will inform Mrs. Ray. In the name of the hospital.“

„I should do it,“ Ethan replied stubbornly.

He wanted to fight with Naveen. He wanted to tell Diana Ray that her daughter died on his watch.

He wanted to take care of a funeral.

He needed to.

„Let me handle it,“ Naveen insisted.

After a long moment, Ethan agreed.

As he muttered silent ‚alright‘, little did he know that those would be the last word he would say in days.

Naveen left the room and Ethan’s glance fell on the bed.

Their bed. Her bed. The bed she died in.

The bed she died in.

She died.

She died and there was no way to reverse the fact.

It hit him like a wave, a wave one would never believe could be formed in such calm waters.

Dead. Gone.

Ethan fell on his knees and the room was filled with a desperate scream.

His scream, he realized.

It was as if the world as he has known it stopped existing in the moment Ethan’s knees met the floor.

His hands formed into tight fists and he punched the wood once, twice, he kept punching until his knuckled were all bruised and bloody.

He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Naveen heart broke at the sight in front of him as he opened the bedroom door.

The man he considered son curled up on the floor, screaming and crying and clearly not registering the room around him.

The back of Ethan’s throat was burning from all the screaming and his temples were throbbing from all the crying.

There was a gentle hand on his shoulder and Ethan believed it to be Naveen’s, but how could he be sure?

How could he ever be sure of anything anymore?

How could he be anymore?

The time stopped existing for Ethan after his first breakdown. Whether it was a day or a night, he didn’t know and he didn’t care.

The days became one and they were all coated in a thick fog, precluding Ethan to remember them.

It is as if there was a window in his mind that swallowed the memories of the first days after Chiara’s death, leaving only occasional snippets to torture his mind.

Ethan remembers the moment Chiara’s mother Diana, her sister Alicia and her aunt Livia stepped into his apartment. He remembers not being able to say a word to them and he remembers their gazes – broken and vain.

He remembers how Diana’s gaze is something more even – so, so distant.

She is sedated, Alicia explained to Naveen, who hasn’t left Ethan’s apartment. She kept fainting and her doctor presribed her the strongest pills.

Alicia cries the whole time and Chiara’s aunt Livia bites her lower lip so hard it never stops bleeding.

He remembers how he wanted to say that he was sorry, wanted to explain, but no sound left his mouth.

Ethan doesn’t sleep and doesn’t eat.

He hasn’t even cried since his breakdown. He just stands by the window, hand deep in his pockets and stares out of it – never saying a word to anyone.

Lost in the fog.

He remember the moment Chiara’s autopsy results come with the meningitis as the cause of her death.

The quickest, deadliest form, Naveen tries to explain. There was nothing that could have been done.

Ethan knows that that is a lie.

The hate he feels towards himself grows impossibly bigger at Naveen’s words – of course there was something that could have been done.

He is the best diagnostician in the country and he let his fianceé die while sleeping next to her.

He failed. Himself. Chiara. Chiara’s mother. Everyone and everything.

Chiara mentioned a stiff neck – that was it. That was a clear sign of the illness so how could he overlook it?

Why did he let her persuade him that it was just a fucking flu?

He still doesn’t cry. He grits his teeth and his hands formed in fists – always in fists – cause his nails to break the skin on the palms.

He should get ready for a funeral. They all should leave to San Francisco.

But nobody moves. Nobody is strong enough to make a first move.

That’s when Bryce Lahela walks into Ethan’s apartment, his eyes haunted and sobs leaving his body as he hugs Diana and Alicia.

Ethan remembers what happens next very well.

Most clearly of everything, it seems.

Chiara left this with me some weeks ago, Lahela speaks quietly while pulling an envelope out of his pocket. In case something happens to her.

It’s a letter. A letter Ethan doesn’t want to read but know he needs to.

My dearest,

now is the right time to use the Hollywood cliché and I am going to do it.

If you are reading this letter it means I am dead.

And I am sorry. I am so very, very sorry because I know I have hurt you all terribly. And that’s something I never wanted to do.

Mom and Alicia – I failed. I remember how we promised each other that nothing would ever happen to us after dad and Liam died and now I broke my promise. Again, I am sorry. You still have each other – please remember that. And you still have me. Just as you still have dad and Liam. We are with you wherever you go, I promise. You know how much I believe in an afterlife – and with that, I cannot only be sorry for dying, because it also means I finally get to be reunited with them and that makes me happy. Let it make you happy too. Alicia, I am the proudest older sister and I beg you to continue with your life, to find your happiness and to follow your wild heart, just as you always have.

I would also like to ask for a favor – I know that I always wanted to be buried next to my brother. I know you want me to be buried in San Francisco. But Boston is my home now. And Boston is where Ethan is. Me and Ethan, we are forever. In any form. And if I am dead, I want to be resting forever next to him – find me a place in Boston, please. Ask him where he wants me to be buried and bury me there.

I love you both. I love you more than life.

Bryce – thank you. I wish you never had to deliver this letter, but I am eternaly thankful that I have had you to do it. Thank you for being part of my life. You were the brother I lost and you were my constant. No matter how stormy my life got, I knew that somwhere out there, there is my sun, my light Bryce, my safe port I could always run to when things became too much. You deserve all the happiness this world has to provide, Bryce Lahela and never settle for anything less than that. Please, let eveyrone else know how much I loved them – and how sorry I am. Sienna, Jackie, Aurora, Elijah and Rafael – my bestest of friends.

Forgive me for screwing this, Bryce. I know we had plans and I know you were looking forward to the wedding – me too. I love you, surfer boy. Always stay so irresistably amazing.

Oh and I think you really should ask Kyra for that date.

Ethan – my dearest Ethan. My greatest love. My forever. We have both believed in a different future for us, but we were destined for this. I am sorry I left without saying a proper goodbye. I am sorry I left you, period. You know how much I love you, Ethan. And I know how much you love me too – trust me, I do. Don’t torture yourself with regrets of not telling me more. I have always known. I have always felt loved with you and I have always felt happy. Until my last moment, I felt happy because I knew you loved me. I know that no matter what caused my death, you blame yourself for it and I need you to stop with that. Unless you killed me, you are not responsible for my dying.

Ethan Jonah Ramsey, you deserve a lifetime of happiness. I am sorry I ruined that for you, for I know that there is no happiness in your life now. But you still have a lifetime. Lifetime of chances, lifetime of love and friendships and miracles (stop muttering that you don’t believe in those, I know you are doing it now!!!). There are people who love you deeply and unconditionaly and those people will help you. Don’t push them away.

We deserved better. You deserved better, Ethan. We had plans, we had a wedding date, we had a vision of a beautiful future and that has been taken away from you, from us. But I have been part of your life and I am not truly gone as long as you remember me.

Please, never forget that there were five years in your life when you have been loved so deeply and so strongly it didn’t even make sense to the person that loved you sometimes. I will never stop loving you, no matter where I am and where I am not.

You are my greatest love and greatest adventure and I am proud of the man I had the honor of calling mine.

Find your happiness again, Ramsey. Find it and keep it. Love again. Laugh again. Live again.

I am somwhere there, watching you.

I loved you, I love you and I will love you always, Ethan.

So, that’s it. If someone cares about my last wish, do you think you could arrange for Benedict Cumberbatch to crash my funeral and shout: „She was clever. Clever, yes! She’s cleverer than you lot and she’s dead!“ ? (it’s the scene from S01E01 in Sherlock, you know).

Haha this was a joke but I suppose nobody really laughs at it at the moment. I hope one day you will.

I love you all with my whole heart.

Don’t you fear for me, I am where I am supposed to be.

-forever yours, Chiara.

Ethan reads the letter over and over until he can’t anymore, until his hands are shaking so much he fears he would tear the paper, until his vision is blurry and he cannot read the words anymore.

And then he runs. He runs into to bathroom and throws up, even though he hasn’t eaten in days and there is nothing he could throw up.

He still does.

He coughs and acid that leaves his mouth burns his throat. He throws up and his whole body strains so much it brings tears into his eyes.

First tears after days and they are caused by the vomiting.

Once they are there, however, the first one is followed by another and that by another until Ethan Ramsey is hunched over his toilet seat, vomit and tears falling down.

He doesn’t remember anything after that.

He might’ve fainted and maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t. He doesn’t know.

The last thing he remembers until the day of the funeral comes is Harper Emery and her stern gaze as she sits down next to him.

"Take the pills, Ethan. You need to sleep.“

"I need Chiara."

His voice is raspy and speaking for the first time in three days feels unnatural. It makes his thorat sore and takes another remnant of his energy away.

"I understand."

Ethan almost snickers at the absurdity of her statement. Nobody could understand. Because if anybody could comprehend his desire to just wrap his arms around Chiara for one last time, they wouldn't survive the pain that came with it. He doesn't snicker, however. Instead, he whispers.

"No you don't."

"I do," Harper replies firmly and takes a deep breath, deciding to tell Ethan about the man she has never mentioned before, not once in their relationship.

„Michael and I were together for three years. We met while I was in a med school and the flame between us burned almsot immediately. We fell in love and for the first – and the last – time in my life, I felt like I found my true love. But we weren’t meant to last. The relationship was too passionate, too stubborn, too exciting, too much. It became toxic and we had a very rough breakup. I moved on and I knew that we were better off, but there was this part of me that always knew that Michael was the only man I could see my forever with.“

„It was my fifth year at Edenbrook when there was an emergency surgery needed for a motorbike rider and I was the one to perform it. I didn’t need to look twice to recognize Michael – with his face all bloody and bruised and awful, I knew it was him. And I didn’t tell anyone because they wouldn’t let me perform the surgery and I needed to do that. I needed to save him.“

Ethan doesn’t move. He doesn’t even look at Harper – he just keeps staring out of the window. He is surprised but he doesn’t show any emotion.

„I didn’t save him. He died on that table, he died under my hands. For so long I felt like I killed him. I blamed myself, I thought that if someone else did the surgery, they would keep him alive.“

She trailes off and doesn’t give Ethan the answer he needs.

He doesn’t find out is she ever stopped blaming herself.

He doesn’t know if there is a chance that he could ever stop blaming himself.

Ethan doesn’t cry at the funeral.

He is sitting on the front bench in the cathedral, next to Diana, Alicia and Livia.

He doesn’t want to sit there. He doesn’t deserve to sit them.

Can’t they see that it was his fault? That there would be no funeral if he only did his job right?

Alicia cries softly, her lips trembling. Diana, just like Ethan, doesn’t cry – no, she even smiles a little. It is the effect of her sedatives and Ethan knows that she probably won’t even remember the funeral.

Seeing Chiara’s smiling mother hurts more than seeing her crying sister.

The whole ceremony is filled with tears and love. Because everyone loved Chiara and Chiara loved everyone.

And Ethan just sits in his spot, staring at the casket, his gaze never leaving the wood it is made of.

And he doesn’t cry.

He wishes he would. He wishes the tears could get him through the day.

But he doesn’t and there is nothing to get him through the day.

People shake his hand and say their condolences and he keeps nodding and murmuring fake „thank you’s“.

He wishes he could go home, only to realize that there is not a single promise of some kind of peace with returning home.

There is no home for him anymore. There is an apartment. A place to live.

His home is gone. His home is lying in a wooden casket. His home is having ground scatterd all over her.

His home is buried six feet under him.

He is destined to be homeless forever.

Days go by and Ethan doesn’t come back to work – not that anyone expects him to.

His days consist of staring out of the window and sitting next to the toilet in case he needs to vomit again.

People insist on staying with him. Alan and Naveen mostly.

But he doesn’t want their company. He doesn’t want their compassion even.

He wants to be alone and to let his guilt and regrets kill him slowly.

He wants his medical licence removed. He should be charged for killing someone out of negligence.

He doesn’t want to be Ethan Ramsey anymore.

And he always expects Chiara to come back to him. He checks his phone for a message from her. He walks into the living room and it surprises him that there is no stupid movie playing on the TV – the one only Chiara would watch.

He opens the fridge and is shocked when he sees that the Toblerone chocolate is still there – how did Chiara not eat it already?

It is one evening, weeks after the funeral, when Ethan opens a drawer in the bedroom and jolts into Chiara’s perfume that meets the floor with surprising force and the bottle breaks into dosens of pieces.

The smell – Chiara’s smell – hits him with a force of a train and Ethan stumbles involuntarily at the feeling.

He broke her perfume bottle and it doesn’t matter anymore.

Because Chiara will never use the perfume anymore.

She is not coming back.

Ethan chokes on his sobs and leaves the room, his decision suddenly thoroughly clear.

There is no world in which he could live if the world is one where Chiara doesn’t live.

He can’t do it.

He can’t stay alive if she is dead.

Grabbing a bottle of scotch, he fills the glass and drinks the liquor in one swing.

Then the second.

Then the third.

There are the sleeping pills Harper has brought him on the counter and Ethan knows.

For the first time in weeks, he has a plan.

The plan that is supposed to be his last one also.

Chiara asked him in the letter to go on with his life. She promised him that there are better days waiting for him.

How could she? She was dead. Dead and gone and indifferent to everything she left behind.

Everyone she left behind.

Ethan Ramsey has always been a rational man. His rules and princlipes leading him through the life, the life that was predictable and safe.

That was until Chiara burst into his life without ever asking and burned his principles to the ground.

That was until Chiara left his life without ever asking.

All he wanted was to die. Ethan never believed in an afterlife and he didn’t believe that killing himself would reunite him with Chiara. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t need to be with Chiara – he just couldn’t handle being without her.

And so he drinks some more.

Suddenly, he sees it. The picture forever burned into his brain.

Diana Ray.

The eyes of a woman who lost her husband, her son and her daughter.

There is a glimpse of rationality after all. And with that part of his brain, Ethan realizes that no matter how much he hurts, Diana Ray hurts more.

He feels like he can’t breathe and he knows that that is how Chiara’s mother feels for every second every day.

He thinks of a mother that lost two of her children and with that, he thinks of his father.

Alan would lose his only child.

And Ethan sees it. Feels it. Knows it.

With his desperate desire to escape the misery surrounding his whole being, he would not only kill himself.

He would kill Alan Ramsey’s child.

The pain he feels would become the pain he caused.

It is the same exact moment the terrible, sobering realization hits him when the heavy crystal glass falls from his hand and shatters on a wooden floor. Ethan follows its trajectory almost identically and with a inhuman sob leaving his throat, his knees hit the floor - and the broken glass.

He can see blood.

The glass is quickly stained by the maroon red and with combination of an artifical light in the kitchen, the most omnious of shadows project on the wood.

There's a lot of blood and even in his state, Ethan knows that it is his own blood. He can see it, he can perceive that his skin has been cut by the sherds. But he doesn't feel it.

There is no physical pain to be felt.

It is as if the pain coming from his core - the pain that doesn't have any visible source - was at such unbearable rate that his body protected him by refusing to let him feel any more.

He could be shot right now and he wouldn't feel anything.

Ethan just wishes he could be shot right now.

He wishes he could vanish, he wishes he could erase the existence of Ethan Ramsey from the universe.

If only it was that easy.

And so with bloody hand, he reaches for his phone and dials his first emergency contact.

„Ethan?“ Alan’s concerned voice responds immediately.

„Dad,“ Ethan gets out of himself, though he is sure Alan hardly understands him thorugh the violent sobs leaving his mouth constantly. „Could you please come here?“

*** *** ***

so... one thing. The whole meningitis thing being so deadly is not something I made up. It is the very same thing that killed my best friend 7 years ago - he fell asleep with light flu (so everyone thought) and never woke up again.

If Ethan seems out of character here, I am sorry. However I believe that when one is grieving, there is nothing as out of character. People do really unexpected and weird things while grieving.

This was actually self-indulgent (even though I guess it’s weird to use it like this) - the stages of grief Ethan is going through (denial - weird rationality - breakdown - shutting himself off - not sleeping, eating, talking - unability to express his sorrow at the funeral - more breakdowns - the terrible, terrible moment he realizes she is really never coming back - wishing to die - finding the strength to stay alive...) are my exact stages of my own grief back then. And it was very difficult to write about those and also very healing.

#tw: death #angst #tw: trauma #tw: major character death #open heart #ethan ramsey

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mosaic-marquise · 2 years

Note

LMAO I SAW YOUR NOTES AND SAME TIANA AND NAVEEN SHOULDA BEEN HUMANS FOR THHE WHOLE MOVIE!!!!! LFKGJFDLGDFLGFD i swear i never cared about the tale of the frog prince sdlfkjsdljs wasnt interesting enough wish they used another tale lmaooooooo. i always liked rapuzel. aND THAT was wayyy before the movie came out-----wished they gave us that instead of the frog bullshit. TSK.

but yesss disney was scared of their hotness and that's why they were frogs for the whole damn movie sldjdslfkjsdfs like their human form is BLINDING - LIKE I CANNOT WATCH THAT MOVIE TOO MUCH OR ILL DIE FROM THE HOTNESS DSLFKJSDFDS🔥

ITS LIKE WE CAN ONLY HAVE 1 BROWN-SKINNED COUPLE LOOKING AT CHU ALADDIN AND JASMINE- ITS NOT A COMPETITION GURL GIVE US MORE.🤲🏾

But if it was a competition......WELL TIANA AND NAVEEN WOULD WIN. 💯I SAID WHAT I SAID DSLFJKSDLFJDSLFDJS😩🥵🤣

BEST COUPLE LMFAO

YEA--!!! >:( I remember WAY WAY back when it had been announced for theaters in like 2009 and as a kid, it was a fun movie, but reflecting on some things about the movie- --> I wanna know WHY Tiana's story was tied to a princess and the frog animal theme. I can't think of any other princess who is turned into an animal for a majority of her own film? Why, when finally taking an opportunity to have a black princess on screen, is she not allowed to be presented as a young black lady on the big screen? Like, her back story is compelling, it pulls at your heart strings and gives such a good insight into why Tiana gives her ALL to work so hard for her dream. She's an admirable role model who knows her worth, is diligent, and sticks to her morals. The I can't say I got as much out of other princess movies. (ex: the moral of sleeping beauty is don't be an idiot pissing off powerful witch women and also go to bed )

It's like, come on gorl, don't be shy, we got like 20 different shades of eggshell with your white Disney princesses, why didn't you do some work and give Tiana a story where she was not enchanted into something different? AND Naveen's character growth was beautiful, BUT U KNOW WHAT WOULD'VE BEEN EVEN MORE BEAUTIFULER??? TO HAVE SEEN HIM BE UWU OVER TIANA AS PEOPLE PERSONS, THAT WOULD'VE BEEN REALLY NICE AND GOOD >:(((( YOU COULDN'T BE MORE 100% RIGHT ABOUT THEIR FEAR OF INCLUDING HOT PEOPLE IN THEIR MOVIE 😖💔💔💔

I feel excitement for what they could finally do with their upcoming Tiana and Naveen project-- BUT-- I'm hoping that they have a team that involves black creators who can give more ideas and feedback for how they can develop their adventures. /_______\ (I don't know what the make up for the original movie may have been, but couldn't hurt to have a wider range of people give input on a project anyhow imo)

Rant over-!!

#ask #the princess and the frog #point. blank. PERIOD!!!!!#@the-realm-of-weirdness

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anntoldst0ries · 3 years

Text

Lost in Translation

If someone told me a couple of months ago how invested I’d be in OH and the story, I would laugh at them. But here we are, isn’t life full of surprises :)

Apologies for mistakes, if you notice any please feel free to let me know!

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x f!MC

Word Count: 2,358

Summary: What happens when it’s just Dr Ramsey and his thoughts?

Warnings: None, just a tiny bit of angst & fluff. A lot of introspection!

~~~~~~~

After what felt like the longest shift ever, Dr Ethan Ramsey finally entered his apartment. He closed the door, leaving the whirlwind of his professional life outside.

A biscuit golden retriever jumped at him with all the might in his paws and the sore muscles of a 37-year old diagnostician almost gave up under the pressure of furry ball of fluff.

“I’m happy to see you too, buddy. But you need to go easy on me today.”

Jenner just stared at him with those big black eyes, licked his hand and went back to solving the most important problem of the day: how to cadge some real food, the one hooomans eat.

Although he was far from contemplating whether dogs have what resembles an intelligence (it was someone else’s specialty) he couldn’t help but think Jenner knows. This constantly salivating, instinct-driven creature somehow understands what it is that Ethan asked him to do and why.

“Great, Ramsey. You are going crazy, may as well admit yourself to the psychiatric ward right now. Dr Keller will be delighted to see you. And all the predators of Edenbrook will finally have a proper fodder - Ethan freaking Ramsey has officially freaked out.”

Having poured himself a decent glass of scotch, he stood in front of a giant window overlooking the bay. The waters were quiet and calm, a total contrast to the fire burning inside him after taking a long sip. There was something soothing in the almost painful feeling. 10 years ago downing a whole glass of neat scotch was way beyond his repertoire. One of the perks of being over 35, he guessed. It was scientifically proven that man’s tastebuds change drastically after reaching certain age. He had to admit, there was at least a grain of truth in this. The gold liquid was no longer just bitter and harsh; it had texture, flavour, a complexity - something he wasn’t able to appreciate before. As a doctor, he also knew that he’s got 20, maybe 25 years of this experience left - until ruthless time and ageing will blend all tastes into one.

The lights of the night danced around the spacious living room, their gold reflections creating an aura of mystery in a dimly-lit apartment. He looked around and his gaze landed on antique vase, a present Naveen brought him from Greece for his 35th birthday. It complemented tasteful interior design, expensive decorations and custom furniture perfectly.

As beautiful as they were, all these things made him feel nothing. It was almost ironic that this unquestionably beautiful property, paid for with his own blood, sweat and tears, he couldn’t possibly care less about. Right now, he could have been in some shithole in Roxbury, sipping cheap beer and it would make no difference whatsoever. Except, it would have saved him a mini fortune, which he was now spending on this goddamn penthouse in Beacon Hill. A place he never ever spent more than 4 hours at a time in.

He smirked at the thought - that’s exactly what Naveen said about his own lake house before saying goodbye to his mentee last year. Back when he thought he was going to die soon. Was it surprising? No, everyone was expecting that Ethan will one day take Naveen’s place as the best diagnostician in the world. He considered this not so much an honour, but rather a tribute to his biggest idol, his friend, his father figure. If he was to ever repay Dr Banerji for everything he’s done for him, there was only one way - he needed to be the best among the best.

They called him the best diagnostician of his generation. Although he resented the title, this label given to him by the mutual admiration society (that he had zero respect for), he was very much aware that he was exceptional at his job. Ethan never thought of this as bragging, because bragging made people vain. He liked to think of it as self-confidence, which, as it grew stronger, made him work for his patients even harder than he ever thought possible. The people whose lives he saved, they had to have confidence in him. They had to believe that he knows what he’s doing. And how could he instil a sense of confidence in them, had he not had it himself?

“You can’t give what you don’t have.” - the sentence kept echoing in his head. Tobias used to say that to him all the time, he lived by these words. It was probably the only relic of their once unbreakable (or so they stupidly thought) bond and also the only thing relating to Tobias that didn’t make him want to gag.

So Ethan accepted his role as a successor of the greatest diagnostician in the country. Because there was a mission and a responsibility behind this fate. Because there was a sense of safety in predictable realms of medicine. Also, because… it felt like kicking Tobias right in the crotch. Although he’d never admit this to anyone, least of all himself, the unwritten competition they were subject to for the past 17 years, helped him keep a laser focus on the tasks in front of him. And every time he was able to wipe the smile off Mass Kenmore’s ‘star’ handsome face, Ethan felt satisfaction.

Becoming the man he was today required a lot of changes. He got rid of all the needs of usual Everyman. First, he swept his feelings under the carpet of indifference and cynicism. Then, he learned how to live among people, but without delving into deep and ‘meaningful’ relationships. This was his bauble and he was perfectly… content with it. That is, until it hadn’t been smashed to pieces because something happened to him.

Someone happened to him.

Oh fuck.

He made a desperate attempt to try and stop the inevitable, but it was too late.

His head was instantly flooded with images, followed by ubiquitous tingles that filled his body. In his mind’s eye, a face shaped instantly, the image so vivid that he was almost blinded by it. It’s as if the person was standing right in front of him. The feeling was as mesmerising as it was painful.

Damn it. She didn’t even have to be here to do things to him. To make him see things. Smell things. Hear things. Feel things.

Ethan and The Feelings. This band rarely played together. Ethan wasn’t really a team player and The Feelings were loud, untameable and too unpredictable for the likes of him. He had to learn to tolerate them, because wherever she went, they followed.

He couldn’t rid of her presence, no matter where he was or what he did. Not that he wanted to - he just couldn’t, for the love of god, comprehend all this. Having been a king of self-control and master of his own life, it was beyond Ethan’s understanding how this woman, almost a decade younger than him, managed to turn him into… well, Jenner. He’d do anything she’d ask him to do. He was an electric ride-on, the one they buy for children. And she was holding the remote.

No, this wasn’t the most fortunate comparison. Because an electric toy was not capable of feeling things. And he was. A lot. More than he ever thought possible and more than he wanted to.

The fear of being misapprehended stopped him from telling her that sometimes he hated what she was doing to him. Not her, he could never hate her. He hated this unexplainable power she had over him and wasn’t even fully aware of. It frightened him. That she clawed his composure back so easily. That her youth, enthusiasm and energy were like a tornado to the illusionary beach he used to inhabit in his head. The force of her personality wreaked havoc on the well-oiled cogs of the machine that was once his life.

It took all the strength he had to stay away, from the day he first saw her. No, that’s not right. From the first time he felt her. Ethan’s mind was definitely against him today, because the images materialised within seconds, before he even managed to fully accept the presence of the thought.

He was sitting in his office, wondering why the hell has he agreed to help Harper with reading pages of blabber from wannabe surgeons and doctors. They were all the same and if he got a cent for every time they got under his skin, he’d be a millionaire. But Harper was an old friend and his ex, he had a lot of respect for her. She’d just been promoted to the Chief of Medicine and although she was more than capable to do the job, he understood that transition from theatre to bureaucracy was scary and challenging for her. It was the least he could do to help and certainly a task way easier than being a shoulder to cry on.

Having gone through pages of “I wanna change the world and find a cure for cancer” he almost fell asleep on his desk. Not that there was something wrong with medical research or a quest for deeper meaning of one’s career - but what he read in those applications sounded like an extract from a beauty pageant. And, frankly, when he looked at some of the photos attached to applications, he couldn’t help but think beauty pageants were a better fit for some of these people than a hospital.

“Christ, are they giving away medical degrees for free these days?” He sighed loudly, sending another handful of pages onto the pile of would-be Grey’s as he called them, because he was more than certain that majority of these people derived their idea of work in hospital from the TV series Grey’s Anatomy. All Ethan knew was that he’s never seen anything more divorced from reality, having watched one episode after all the nurses kept chirping about Dr Derek Shepherd for a whole week.

Fully prepared for yet another disappointment, he turned the front page of next file. Looking at him was a young, beautiful woman with raven hair. Her gaze was daring and gentle at the same time. Even though it was just a photo, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she looked right through him.

Things only got better as he kept going through the next pages. Her application was a riveting read, it was honest, filled with passion and well written, all without being cliche. He saw the most incredible potential, but more importantly, he felt it. She made him feel things, even though he never met her. It was all just pouring from the pages. Ethan would always remember how excited and nervous it made him feel. He almost suffered from a head-on crash with gurney whilst running to Harper’s office, because he had to make sure that she gets the residency position in the hospital. His own feelings played no role here, she simply deserved this position and he knew Dr Emery won’t even question his judgement.

And then he met her.

To be honest, he completely forgot about the interns’ induction, he’s seen so many in his life already that he couldn’t care less. The new case Diagnostics Team took onboard was occupying him completely on that day.

Looking at it now, he couldn’t help but think of one of his favourite movies, Picnic at Hanging Rock. There was this line that he always felt drawn to, but could never fully understand:

“Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place“

He was walking down the long corridor, when he heard Danny, one of the nurses, screaming. A minute later Ethan was on his knees, next to a woman in her 50s. He figured out quite quickly what was happening to her, but if his diagnosis was correct, he was going to need some help. Having lifted his gaze, he looked for a familiar face. But there was no one around. That’s when he remembered about the stupid intern induction.

“Damn it, where are the doctors?!” - he asked out loud.

“I’m a doctor!” - responded an unfamiliar voice. Ethan turned around and saw a young woman with black hair in fresh scrubs. He never saw her before and figured she must be one of the new interns.

“You, Rookie. Come here!” - he literally wouldn’t mind if she was an actress playing a doctor, he needed an extra pair of hands. Right here, right now. She kneeled on the patient’s left side, her sight piercing him, waiting for instructions. That’s when it hit him.

It was her.

The fate didn’t spare her - Ethan knew as well as she did that having to deal with Hemothorax on your first day was a tricky business. But she was brilliant. A little nervous, yes, but brilliant.

All she needed was a push. That’s why he picked her to pieces, leaving her confused and probably upset. She will understand one day and she will be grateful.

He said what he had to say and then he just disappeared behind the corridor. He couldn’t be around her more than necessary. Because she made him feel. And this was the last thing he needed right now. Or ever.

What the hell?

Dr Ramsey shook his head and woke up from his daydream. He felt his loyal furry companion licking his hand with a pleading gaze. Suddenly, the weight of the thoughts crushed him like a tidal wave, the feeling so intense that his legs instantly turned into Jell-O, forcing him to sit down. That’s exactly what he was afraid of. The moment he’s had a minute, he immediately gave into thoughts. That’s what she was doing to him. Every part of him wanted to take an extra shift, but common sense and medical knowledge prevailed. He needed 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, otherwise his body would give up soon, making him no use to anyone, especially not all the patients who desperately needed him.

But he was a fool to assume this was going to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list (please let me know if you wish to be removed, I tagged the accounts I follow and truly admire!): @terrm9 @openheart12 @openheartthot @rookie-ramsey @alwaysmychoices @brooks-eden @drethanramslay @starrystarrytrouble @justanotherrookie @caseyvalentineramsey @incorrectopenheart @heauxplesslydevoted @perriewinklenerdie

#open heart #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #edenbrook #pixelberry #open heart choices #play choices #ethan ramsey x mc #open heart fanfiction #open heart fic #choices fic writers creations #fics of the week

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gryffindordaughterofathena · 3 years

Text

GRATITUDE POST

Thank you for the tag @headoverheelsforramsey and @imaneditorthankyouverymuch this was a nice trip down the memory lane.

When and how Did I discover/read Open Heart for the first time?

Bonus questions: why did I decide to read Open Heart? How long did it take to read everything?

Ans: Okay so this is a bit of a story, back in early 2020 my parents had cut my book consumption because I would read two books at the same time and I went through them terribly fast and neglected my studies. So as a retaliation, I downloaded Choices on my tab and started playing the freshman series (spoiler: I hated it) So I decided to play Desire and Decorum and used Oph for diamond mining. By the time I reached chapter 10, I was in love with not just Ethan but all other characters, but my parents found out about the game and I had to delete it.

Then 4 months later at around July, I got my first phone and downloaded Choices and immediately started Open Heart and went on to the few chapters of book 2 that were already released.

Which book is my favorite and why is it my favorite?

Ans: Book 1 hands down, the plot, the story telling, the cases, the mutual pining and the amazing friend group, what's not to love?

Which chapter is my favorite and why is it my favorite?

Ans: I don't think it's possible to choose just one

Book 1 chapter 10, chapter 15 and 17

Book 2 chapter 11 ( I'll never get over the angst)

Which scene is my favorite and why is it my favorite?

Ans: Watching over little Ethan, I believe that it's the first time Ethan starts seeing MC as something more than just another Intern and also can I dare say that it's a turning point of MC's career as a doctor.

The MIAMI KISS!!!!!!

Book 2 chapter 1 scene in the beer garden where Ethan is like "we have to be professional, consider us reset" It's just so beautiful and painful🥺🥺

ENTIRE CHAPTER 11 PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE but specially:

Bryce and MC putting their hands on the opposite sides of the glass

Ethan and MC in isolation room... THAT KISS

the single tear and MC not knowing whose it is (PLEASE DON'T PLEASE I AM DYING)

the chapter 17 kiss

The lantern lighting in book 3

Andrew the psychic telling Ethan gets 10 times happier when MC enters the room.

HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!

What is my favorite dialogue and why is it my favorite?

Ans: "I can't save every one except the people I give a damn about, not Dolores, not Naveen and not you"

"...... How much I..... I care about you"

"Have you joined a cult?"

Only reason is that I am a simp for this fictional man and I am a hopeless romantic.

Which non-LI character if my favorite and why are they my favorite non-LI character?

Ans: One of my most favorite things about OH is how every character is so likable. It's difficult to choose just one.

Sienna: our dolphin, one of the few people who stood by MC through and through and she's just so sweet.

Kyra: Look, I love her and her indomitable spirit, her portrayal as the girl with cancer and as someone who wants to fight against that very label is just so real and beautiful.... I love her.

Baz, Zaid and Ines: I am putting three of them together because of PB's portrayal of co-workers, they are real, wonderful and beautifully amazing.

Naveen: The best grand-mentor ever and I think the love for him is also because of his Indian background and my connection to it.

Aurora: I saved the best for the last, to be honest I didn't like her much in book 1, but I was always kind to her. Her struggle under Harper's shadow is something I have faced personally and also her journey with MC reminds me of my journey with my best friend, the growth from rivals (in a healthy competition) to friends is deeply personal to me and every time I read about Arora, I remind myself to give her a call so somehow this fictional girl kept me from drifting apart from my best friend in these hard times.

Who are my other favourites?

Ans: Ethan obviously and also Bryce because of his positivity and how he always supports MC and Jackie because it's seldom that we see powerful female character representation in media and she's amazing.

A memory associated with Open Heart that makes/made me smile:

Ans: There are so many of them to be honest. The first time I got a reblogged comment on my first ever fic, I was so happy and I called my best friend and screamed for an hour straight.

Me staying up till late night fangirling with Sara @genevievemd and screaming together about every little scene.

What is the best thing the series has given/giving you?

Ans: It returned me to writing when I had let my insecurities and depression stop me from doing it, I don't think I will ever stop being grateful to Open Heart for this very reason.

Secondly, this fandom, these people who make me laugh, cry and yell at my phone at ungodly times of the night, this little family of crazy people supporting and pushing each other to be the best version of themselves and helping us to learn to love ourselves and what we do, I don't think any amount of words would be enough to express the gratitude.

Tagging : @maurine07 @genevievemd @mm2305 and anyone who'd love to do this.

#open heart #choices #kinda personal #long post

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heauxplesslydevoted · 4 years

Text

Cat & Mouse

Summary: A re-imaging of the restaurant scene in chapter 2.

A/N: OH2 is supplying us with such good content. The fic ideas that have popped into my head are just *chef’s kiss*

Warning: Just a teensy bit naughty

Tags: @ao719 @x-kyne-x @paulfwesley @ramseyandrys @choicesobsessedd @a-i-n-a-a-s-h @sparklinglilac @cream-ray @perriewinklenerdie @barricades-of-freedom @dr-brianna-casey-valentine @doroshi-desu @aworldoffandoms @thatcatlady0716 @drakewalker04 @canknot @lapisreviewsstuff @akacalliope @senseofduties @badchoicesposts @ethandaddyramsey @the-soot-sprite @chasingrobbie @zodiacsign1 @choices-lurker @miyakokurono @trappedinfandoms

~v~

The restaurant Governor Rivera picked is amazing, Naomi can’t deny it. Everything at Chez Pierre feels luxurious, pleasing her senses. The view is spectacular, the Boston skyline lit up beautifully this time of night, the drinks are great—Naomi has never had such an amazing raspberry margarita before—and the food is unlike anything she’s ever had.

The conversation is flowing freely, as well as the drinks. The governor smiles warmly at her, but the older woman’s gaze is intense. “So Naomi, what does Edenbrook’s bright future look like to you?”

Naomi gulps. She wasn’t expecting to be put on the spot like that.

But she squares her shoulders and looks the governor head on. “I think it lies in our community.” She glances around the table, making eye contact with her fellow doctors. “That’s why we got into this line of work. To help people. Those same patients go back into the community and help others. That’s how a town like Boston grows and prospers. By taking care of its own.”

The governor smiles at her words. “How touching! I should have you write my re-election ads.”

Naomi chuckles good-naturedly at the compliment. She silently thanks her parents. If it weren’t for them dragging her to various parties, galas, and fundraisers growing up, she’d be completely lost in the presence of such a powerful politician. “You’re too kind, Governor.”

She locks eyes with Naveen across the table with, who winks at her, approving the answer. She winks back, as if they’re two co-conspirators in a scheme.

But she feels Ethan’s knee brush against hers and she freezes, her spine going erect and a chill coursing through her a the simple touch. He pulls his knee away before she can fully revel in his touch again. She turns to look at him, but he doesn’t look back, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Did she just imagine that? He did touch her, right?

What happened to him wanting to have boundaries? What happened to keeping things strictly professional?

She smirks to herself. Fine. If Ethan wants to play games, she can play them just as well. And win.

She slides away from him slightly so she’s able to move a bit more freely. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Ethan lift his wine glass to his lips. As soon as he takes a sip, Naomi curls her leg around his, sliding her heeled foot along his calf. Ethan chokes at the contact, spitting his Cabernet back into the glass.

Naveen frowns, looking at Ethan with concerned eyes. “Ethan, are you alright?”

Ethan nods furiously, a bit too enthusiastic to seem realistic. “Y-yes. The wine just went down the wrong way.”

“I know it’s delicious, but please don’t hurt yourself,” the governor teases. “Slow down.”

Naomi’s foot doesn’t leave his leg. She continues to lazily run it up and down the back of his leg and Ethan sucks in a large breath to stay calm. “Yes ma’am.”

When everyone resumes their conversation, Ethan shoots Naomi a glare. She gives him a coy smile in return, feigning innocence.

A few courses pass and they’re finally into the thick of their meal, with the server coming out to serve everyone filet mignon and garlic potatoes.

“So Naomi,” Governor Rivera starts, “tell me a bit about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with the basics. Are you a Boston native?”

“No, I’m a transplant. I’m from DC, actually.”

“Interesting. So what made you choose Edenbrook for your residency?”

“It’s one of, if not the best hospital in the country. I wanted to learn from the best and become the best.”

“How’s that gone for you so far?”

“Excellent. I performed an emergency surgery with one of the greatest surgeons of this generation,” Naomi says smiling at Harper. “And I get the privilege of working under Dr. Ramsey, who is absolutely amazing at what he does, and he learned from Dr. Banerji. It’s a literal dream come true. I can’t imagine working at a different hospital with different people.”

“And what about you, Ethan?” Governor Rivera asks. “Where are you from?”

“New York. I went to Columbia for undergrad and medical school, but I’ve been in Boston ever since.”

“How long has that been?”

“11 years now.” He feels Naomi’s hand settle on his knee. A few seconds pass, and she doesn’t move a muscle. Instead of bringing attention to it, Ethan continues talking. “But it feels like forever. Boston is my home, even though I wasn’t born here.”

“It’s amazing to hear just how much Boston means to those who weren’t even born here. I’d love to be able to quote one of you guys on that.”

Naomi’s hand leaves Ethan’s knee and travels north. She starts tracing a nonsensical pattern on his thigh, but again, she doesn’t give anything away. Ethan watches as she just smiles politely at the Governor. “Oh now, you can quote me only if we get something in return.”

The governor laughs. “Naomi, you are an absolute delight! I wish more young people had your wit and charm.”

“It’s a gift not everyone has,” Naomi says. Her hand venters up even higher, her delicate hand gently palming Ethan through his trousers. “But I’m willing to shoulder the burden.”

Ethan coughs loudly, and looks down at his lap. He can feel himself turning beet red due to Naomi’s ministrations.

“Son, are you alright?” Naveen asks. “Do you need some water?”

Ethan shakes his head, and coughs again, trying to disguise a moan. Jesus Christ, is this woman really going to give him a handjob at the fucking dinner table? “I’m fine.” The words come out gruff and shaky, and Ethan barely believes them himself.

Deciding enough is enough, Ethan grabs Naomi’s hand, rougher than he intended, and she instantly stills. Seconds later, she recovers and switches gears, lacing their fingers together. Now Ethan is 100 percent sure his face is bright red, holding her hand feeling much more intimate than whatever it was they were just doing.

Ever so subtly, Naomi knocks her fork off of her table. “God, I’m so clumsy.” She reaches down to retrieve it, but Ethan beats her to it.

While they’re both crouched down on the floor, pretending to grab the utensil, Ethan takes the opportunity to talk to her. “Whatever game you’re playing, Rookie, you need to stop it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Dr. Ramsey,” Naomi replies, innocently. She sits back up in her seat, leaving him dumbfounded.

Naomi - 1, Ethan - 0.

So is this the game they’re about to play? Ethan nods silently to himself. Fine. If Naomi wants to play with fire, he is willing to light the match with her.

He sits up, and adjusts the napkin in his lap. Another course is placed in front of them, a charcuterie board covered in cheeses, salamis, and crackers and various spreads. Naomi and Harper marvel at all of the options in front of them.

Ethan decides that it’s the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge. He glances down and zeroes in on the high slit of Naomi’s forest green dress. Jackpot. While she’s talking to Harper about some sort of jam that’s on the board, Ethan slowly slides one of his fingers up and down her leg. The contact catches her by surprise, her breath hitching slightly, but she doesn’t do anything else, nothing to alert the other guests at the table to what they’re doing.

His hand goes further, curling over until it’s fully squeezing her thigh. Naomi doesn’t move a muscle, happily chatting with Harper as if nothing is going on. Ethan is impressed. He didn’t expect her to have such a strong poker face. So he ups the ante. His nails dig into the soft flesh of her inner thigh, scraping along the skin. He can feel the goosebumps popping up on the disturbed skin, and Naomi squirms a bit in her seat, but again, he’s the only one who notices.

He frowns slightly to himself. She’s good. Too good. And his competitive streak has been triggered now, Ethan won’t be able to rest until she breaks.

Ethan’s hand travels higher until he reaches the thin lace of her underwear. He absentmindedly toys with the fabric for a while before pushing it aside. He watches as Naomi rocks herself side to side, her elbows pressed on top of the table. But Ethan doesn’t take it any further, rather he de-escalates the situation, placing his hand back on her knee. His thumb runs across the skin in a soothing manner.

This was only supposed to be about her, but Ethan realizes just how much he’s missed touching the younger woman. As quickly as the thought crossed his mind does he push it away. This was supposed to be about torturing Naomi. She’s supposed to be the loser, not him.

Naomi rests her cheek on her open palm and leans forward, pretending to be interested in whatever story the governor is telling them. A few well placed nods and polite chuckles buy her time, but all Naomi can think about is Ethan’s hand. His big, strong hand that is currently touching her. When she kicked this thing up, she wasn’t expecting him to actually play along.

She needs to get away from him, and the table. There’s only so much more “subtle” writhing she can do in her seat before she starts looking like a crazy person.

So Naomi clears her throat, getting everyone’s attention. Grabbing her small clutch, she stands up. “If you’ll all excuse me for a second.”

They lock eyes and Ethan watches her form retreat from their table and head towards the back of the restaurant where the restrooms are.

He silently gloats. Ethan – 1, Naomi – 1.

A minute later, his phone dings in his pocket. He discretely pulls it out and checks his notifications. He has a new text message from Naomi, with just a single word.

Dr. Naomi Valentine: Bathroom.

All of the blood rushes from his head upon reading the message. She seriously wants to do this, now? While they’re at a dinner being hosted by the governor? Ethan waits a few more seconds before getting out of his seat as well. “I apologize, but I have to make a phone call.”

“Is everything okay?” The governor asks.

“My neighbor is watching my dog,” Ethan lies casually. “He keeps sending me texts, so I should definitely call and check in.”

“Of course, of course. Go right ahead.”

Ethan smiles, grateful that the lie worked. “Thank you.” He excuses himself from the table, and when no one is looking, he weaves through the tables of the restaurant, making his way towards the back.

He looks around to make sure no one is paying attention to him. They’re not, everyone so caught up in their own dinners and conversations. He slips into the bathroom, unnoticed and locks the door behind him.

The bathroom is cozy, dimly lit and smells like ocean salt and fresh flowers. At the sound of the lock clicking into place, Naomi looks up and locks eyes with Ethan in the bathroom mirror. She doesn’t move in inch, challenging him to make the first move.

“Naomi Valentine, you are an absolute temptress.” Ethan says, slowly moving closer to the younger woman.

“You don’t expect me to believe that little knee touch earlier was innocent, do you?” Naomi shoots back. “You started it, Ramsey. I merely kicked things up a notch.”

Ethan keeps moving closer to her until he’s crowding her space, trapping her between the counter and his body. He buries his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the jasmine scent of her perfume before placing a delicate kiss on the spot.

“You’ve spent most of the night teasing me,” Ethan murmurs. “Now that I have you all to myself, I don’t know if I want to tease you senseless or absolutely devour you.”

Naomi can’t help but visibly react to that, her entire body shuddering. Fuck, was he always so good at dirty talk?

“You can do whatever you want,” Naomi replies breathlessly. She’ll probably regret the desperation once the fog clears, but right now, she doesn’t care.

That’s all he needed to hear. Ethan spins Naomi around and effortlessly lifts her onto the countertop, the bottom of her dress bunching at her waist. Before she can react, he crashes his lips onto hers, kissing her.

It’s unlike the one they shared at Donahue’s the night before. That was tentative and chaste, with Naomi having to do all of the work. But this is different. This is all consuming and it stokes the flames growing in the pit of Naomi’s stomach. Naomi can feel the kiss from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, electricity coursing through her veins.

Naomi grabs Ethan by the lapels of his green jacket and pulls him closer to deepen the kiss. One of his hands flies to her hair, pulling, getting tangled up in the mass of soft curls. She moans into the kiss. She always was a sucker for a bit of hair pulling.

Ethan takes advantage of the moan, his tongue sliding into her mouth. It curls against hers, fighting for dominance that he knows she won’t give him so easily.

His lips move across her jaw and down her neck, his beard tickling the path he created. Her head falls back, giving him more access and Ethan kisses along the side of her neck, before sinking his teeth in.

“Fuck, Ethan–” the words die on her throat as he drops to his knees in front of her. His fingers hook into the waistband of her black lace thong, and he yanks it down hurriedly, ridding her body of the material. He throws one of her legs over his shoulder and bites the soft skin of her inner thigh.

She isn’t sure where her will power is coming from, but despite everything single cell in her body dying to cry out at the sensation, Naomi manages to keep it together as best as she can. She grabs a fistful of his hair and holds him there. Ethan pulls back and runs a long swipe of his tongue against the mark, attempting to soothe the bruise. She curses quietly to herself as heat pools in her belly.

Ethan spreads her thighs apart further. A please growl escapes the back of his throat at the sight of her. “Look at how wet you are,” he murmurs. “How wet you get for me.”

She whimpers at his words. God, she just wants him to touch her already.

“What do you want me to do to you, Rookie?” Ethan asks.

“Please…”

He’s amused by her eagerness, her desperation. He huffs, not quite laughing and his warm breath on her thigh makes her squirm. “Please, what? Use your big girl words, Naomi.”

“Just fucking touch me already!” Naomi snaps, her patience nonexistent at this point.

Ethan chuckles. “Good girl.” He drops her leg and pulls himself up. “You want me to fuck you?”

“Yes.”

Ethan takes a step back and coolly appraises Naomi. Her hair is tousled, her eyes hooded, lips swollen. He’s never seen something more beautiful.

“No.”

Naomi’s eyes snap up and she looks at Ethan, confused. What did he just say to her? “What?”

“You heard me. N. O. No.”

“But–”

“You think you can tease me all night and I’d let you get away with it?” His blue eyes sparkle with mischief and Naomi doesn’t know if she wants to yell at him or cry in frustration. “Absolutely not.”

Naomi shakes her head, trying to sober herself up. Is he really saying no to her? He came all the way to the bathroom just to tease her?

She hops off the counter and fixes her dress, ignoring her weak knees and wobbly feet. “Are you fucking kidding me, Ethan?”

“Come on, you know I don’t kid around.” Ethan leans forward and presses one more chaste kiss onto the corner of Naomi’s mouth. He chuckles at the dazed look on her face. “We should head back. I don’t want it to look suspicious that we’ve been gone for so long.”

Ethan doesn’t spare Naomi another glance or give her a chance to respond, turning on his heel and walking out of the restroom.

It takes her a minute to recover from the shock of the situation. After fixing her hair and reapplying her lipstick, Naomi exits the bathroom. But before she returns to the table, she stops a passing waiter and lets them know that it’s Harper’s birthday. Naomi might as well fully commit to the lie and use it as her excuse for being gone for so long.

Naomi walks back to the table, a waiter carrying an ice cream sundae covered cookie trailing her. She sings happy birthday with the rest of the table to a very flustered Harper, and casually slips back into her seat, avoiding eye contact with Ethan.

It isn’t until they’re on the 7th course of their meal does Naomi remember that Ethan never gave her panties back.

Ethan - 2, Naomi - 1

#playchoices #choices: stories you play #open heart #open heart 2 #dr. ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc

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crystalwillow · 4 years

Text

Without You, Part One

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x Casey Valentine (F!MC)

Word Count: 3.2K

Taglist: @deansmyapplepie @schnitzelbutterfingers @rookie-ramsey @vibrantlyjaz @brycelahelalover @eleanorbloom

⚠️ Warning: Includes mention of death, pain and heavy sorrow. If you are easily upset by death, please stop reading here and I will be back soon with a happier fiction. If you really wanted to read it, and are now sad you won’t be able to, I send my deepest apologies and hugs to you. Thank you for your support, it means the world to me and keeps me motivated to keep going and creating new content. ⚠️

POV: Casey Valentine & Narrative.

==================

--- Casey Valentine ---

It had been years since I last knew what it was like to feel genuinely happy. To laugh and for it to not feel forced just so I was keeping up appearances, and people were convinced I was doing fine. With a genuine laugh came a genuine smile, and with a genuine smile? The deepest of connection with the person behind the reason for those two things. Truth is, I’d spent the last decade of my life never knowing where I would be, never knowing if I was ever going to settle in one place for the rest of my life. So I never let myself go on adventures, never lived life outside of studying at med school, and never gave myself the chance to fall in love. Because with love comes responsibility. And with that responsibility comes attachments, and those attachments... lead to you maybe, settling down and not moving unless it’s a mutual decision. How frequently I moved wasn’t even my own decision, so that’s why I couldn’t let myself fall for anyone. Because it would only ever end in broken hearts. Then when I graduated med school I made one of the biggest decisions in my life. I would move to Boston and complete my intern year and residency at one of the best hospitals in the world. Home to one of the greatest diagnosticians of all time. Dr. Ethan Ramsey. Author of Diagnostic Principals and owner of my heart when I travelled to my fantasy world. There was quite an age gap between us, ten years to be exact. But I knew when I was crushing on someone, and nobody around my age caught my eye the way he did. When I started my intern year, before I even got to my orientation, I was pulled out of the crowd by an attending. If I was just passing by and happened to catch a glimpse of him working, I would have recognized him almost immediately. But I was full of nerves that had just been heightened from being pointed at and also at the situation unfolding in front of us in the waiting room. That I didn’t notice who it was until after the fact. I went to change my scrubs for clean ones after successfully saving my first patient and was in a daze the whole time. He’d spoken to me and touched my hand. Ethan Ramsey, had touch my hand. Little did the two of us know at the time that the interaction we just had would be the start of a very long road to us finding our true happiness and being able to love each other publicly.

As I went through my intern year, he always seemingly found a way to be nearby to steal glances at me. Nobody else would see it but I could swear sometimes he would even... smile. He always checked up on me via email when I was suspended and awaiting my trial for killing a patient, even though that was never my intention. I wanted her to be able to live the rest of her life happily and the survival rate of the drug we, okay I stole, was higher than the chances of her passing away. Death still found its way to Mrs. Martinez. I regretted what I done every day. I still do. If it wasn’t for me being so ambitious and eager to give her a chance to get that picture she always wanted, she would still be wondering the halls of Edenbrook, gracing the staff with that lovely smile and wisdom of hers. Everyone loved her. Even Ethan. The only time of day where he didn’t care if people saw him smile was when he was taking a walk with her around the halls, listening to her chatter away about whatever she had been watching on TV that day or the previous night. One day after my roommates had all left for work, I was in my room at my desk still studying. Well reading at least. I was reading his book, it brought me some kind of solitude. A feeling that things would be okay, no matter the outcome of the ethics hearing. It was peaceful and I had a fresh mug of coffee next to me, when there was a knock on the door. I was stunned when I opened the door to find him standing there, a smile on his face and paper bag from a local coffee shop in his hand.

“I brought your favourite.”

He told me happily, almost like a smug kid that just proved their sibling wrong on what a parent had said, by asking the parent to clarify their statement. I stepped to the side and let him in, and we sat at the coffee table on the couch. “Ironically. I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Could I get you some?” I asked as I smiled back at him. “I would... Love some. Thank you.” He said, smiling wider. Casey went to her room, retrieving her mug and the pot of coffee before going to the kitchen and grabbing him a mug and sugar, as well as a couple of those little milk pods you get. He made his coffee and we sat together chatting about anything to do with my life before I was at Edenbrook. What kind of student I was and where I graduated in my class. Of course when I told him I had graduated top of my class, he grinned proudly. In fact he grinned proudly looking through all of my old school books and my sketches of him. How that book got in there I will never know. But at least I know knew he appreciated my not so professional art work. The day of the hearing snuck up on us quickly after that day. As I stood in the room, I looked around for his face and found him at the back on the room near the door, and he gave me a subtle nod and smile of support. The hearing to forever, and my legs felt like jello the longer I stood. You wouldn’t be able to tell it from how schooled and stern my expression was, but inside, I was a nervous wreck and had convinced myself I’d be losing my medical career that day. But when the verdict came, it was like time stopped, I had won my case! My eyes scanned the room back to where he stood by the door, a smile on his face as he gave me a thumbs up. I wanted nothing more than to run across the room and jump into his arms from the pure joy and relief I felt from the outcome. Yet I knew it would raise suspicions. As the hall emptied, Ethan came out of the shadows and approached me, pulling me into the biggest and warmest hug of my life. This wasn’t just a hug from a mentor who was happy for me, this was a hug that you’d receive from a friend or someone who really loved you. As he pulled back and looked at me, about to congratulate me, Declan Nash, came up to us smugly. Making a smug remark that I just wasn’t in the mood for. So I guess like mentor, like mentee, I turned and slugged him round the jaw.

“Nice form.” Ethan complimented

“Thanks.” I grinned as we stepped over Declan, walking out, making our way to Donahue’s for some celebratory drinks. Over my first year Ethan and I had become pretty close, closer than a mentor and mentee should have been. When he quit and I was suspended, we thought we might have a chance at pursuing us. What we were and what we could be. But with both of us returning to work tomorrow... We knew that would be difficult as we sat sharing drinks and laughs before returning to my shared apartment to get much closer. The next day when we returned to work, he stood in the atrium next to Naveen and Harper Emery. I smiled brightly and gave him a wave which he returned with a solemn nod, to which I of course playfully rolled my eyes at. As I looked back I could have sworn he mocked me. Could this have been the start of some harmless flirting between us at work? Something that lead to a relationship? I guess we will never know how that would have went because I felt my heart shatter and sink as Naveen announced me as winner of the competition to win a place on the diagnostics team. The team Ethan was now the head of. So he’d be my... my boss. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and saw his face fall when Naveen made his announcement. My second year at the hospital was going to be tough, I could tell. We both could tell. During the time between me being and intern and becoming a resident, Ethan left to go to the Amazon with the W.H.O, to fight a mysterious outbreak of a virus. At first I missed him a lot and my heart ached every time I passed his office, knowing he wasn’t in there. Yet it somehow became easier each day. Until one night when I was at Donahue’s with my friends, we were just celebrating becoming residents when he strolled into the beer garden looking even more handsome than I remembered. Gone were the beige chino pants he paired with a white/blue checkered shirt and grey jumper, and in was a white Henley, green leather jacket, black jeans all paired with a pair of... Converse? I didn’t know where this sudden sense of style had come from, but I was pretty sure he was trying to make an impression on me. He stopped by our table on his way inside and looked at me.

“Rookie.” He nodded as he acknowledged me

“Too late.” I said with a grin and shake of my head. “As of 60 seconds ago I’m officially a resident.”

“Well I guess that means you won’t be making anymore mistakes then, Dr. Valentine.” He grinned

I shook my head with a smile. “It’s good to have you back Dr. Ramsey.” I replied before picking up my beer and taking a long sip as he headed inside, and I continued to converse with my friends.

So far second year had brought a lot of emotional complications my way. Sometime I wanted to cry, sometimes I wanted to laugh. Sometimes, I’d be laughing and then stop and just cry for seemingly no reason. But things changed severely after a horrible assassination attempt on the senator, who got away unharmed while 4 of the hospitals best staff got caught in the crossfire. Two of whom tragically passed away. I felt awful and rotten for what happened that day. Like it was my fault. I did after all lead myself, Rafael and Bobby in there, unprepared for what could happen and trapped nurse Danny in after I stormed the room. Now it was 3 months after their deaths, 3 months after that accident. Almost Christmas and I was excited to be spending it with Ethan. We’d managed to get our time off so it overlapped in the middle and we could be together and share some Christmas spirit together. Okay, I’d be teaching him to love Christmas, not to be such a grinch. I was 2 hours into my shift, and I was missing him. I mean, we had a secret relationship for Heaven’s sake. We were still very much in that honeymoon phase and I was missing him like a lovesick puppy as I trudged around the ward completing my rounds. When I got a spare minute I ducked into a supply closet and shot him a few texts. None to which he replied to, but I just assumed he was driving to work and left it after a few messages, heading back to work convinced I’d see him soon. Be able to hear his voice and the distinctive rich, sexy undertone I’d picked up on in our moments alone. Smell his cologne and feel his warmth as we snuck a cuddle in his private office before moving on with our day. What I wasn’t prepared for however, was the commotion I’d hear as I passed through the ER that day.

--- Narrative ---

As she walked through the ER, Casey froze upon hearing a certain commotion.

“White Male, 38, caught in a 6 car pile-up on Atlantic Avenue. Injuries are severe.....”

But everything went to a blur and all she could hear was piercing loud white noise as she turned around to see Ethan being hurried into a bay and the curtains being drawn around him. Before she could stop herself, she screamed his name and rushed into the bay.

“Ethan! Ethan say something please!”

She grabbed his hand begging him to give some kind of sign that he was okay but got nothing.

“Dr. Valentine. I’m going to need you to leave. Dr. Ramsey is in our care, and we’re doing everything we can to-”

“No! I’m not going anywhere. He’s my boss. My mentor. My... my friend.” Those last words were a whisper on her lips as she fully took in his form on the bed, battered and bruised. Grazes and large gashes everywhere. His breathing... too shallow for Casey’s liking. She was pulled from the moment as her pager beeped. She checked it then squeezed Ethan’s hand, leaning over and whispering to him.

“I’ve got to go. But don’t you dare give up. Do you hear me Ethan Ramsey? Don not give up. Keep fighting like you always have. You’re a strong man Ethan. Hang in there. For me. For us. For Christmas. I have so many great things planned for us to do. To show you how beautiful it can all be.”

Leaning in a little closer to his ear, she lowered her voice so only he could hear.

“I love you, Ethan. I always have. Please don’t leave me.”

He must have heard her, because she felt a weak squeeze on her hand as she stood up straight again. Wiping the tears from her face and straightening her coat.

“I mean it Ethan. I need my boss and mentor, I couldn’t do any of this without you. Fight. Medicine needs you. Edenbrook needs you.”

And with that she ran off to find the person who paged her as doctors and nurses got to work on stabilizing Ethan, giving him the best possible chance of survival. The day passed on slowly as Casey tried to focus on her patients and her shift at the free clinic, but she kept making stupid little mistakes because all that kept crossing her mind was him. Ethan. All alone when he got into an accident. Probably happily coming to work, going to his personal office first and paging Casey to him. It had almost become routine for them now. They go to his office when they were both at work. Share a coffee and private moments as a couple in the safety of his office before sharing a final kiss and heading off to their respective jobs. One of the cutest thing they dong was slow dance to a shared tune in their minds. Before Ethan, Casey couldn’t slow dan very well. She only knew club dances, and dances that had gone viral on multiple social media networks. Then if they could, they would meet there again for lunch. Sometime completely skipping an actual meal and eating well.. each other instead. Sometime they were still flustered from their activities behind closed doors, so would avoid each other for the rest of the day if possible.

But now he was causing her to lose focus for an entirely different reason. His life was in the balance, nobody besides themselves and Casey’s friends knew they were dating, and she’d seen his father talking to doctors from a distance outside a room. Looks of sorrow being exchanged. She emerged from the room she had just seen a patient in when a nurse flagged her down.

“Dr. Valentine? We’ve got a you-”

“No. sorry. But get someone else to do it. My boss, mentor and best friend is somewhere in this hospital, barely breathing. I need to make sure he’s okay. I’m losing focus.” She snapped before storming out of the clinic and to find Ethan. When she found him, she looked through the window. He was in the ICU, hooked to a life support machine and a tired Alan Ramsey sat in the chair beside his son. His eyes red-rimmed and puffy. Carefully, Casey knocked on the door and entered. Alan looked at her as she turned around from closing the door and shook his head.

“They’re saying he isn’t going to make it.” He said, choking on a sob. “My boy. My precious, smart, quick-witted boy. So handsome, with so much life left to live...” Alan trailed off as Casey dragged a chair next to his. She sat and took his shaking hand in hers.

“If it will make things any easier for you. He does have a girlfriend now.”

Alan turned to her a small, but sad smile on his face. “Really? He never called to say.”

“Well... It is still sort of new.”

They both looked at Ethan for a moment and could have sworn they saw him smile, but then again it could just be a trick of the eye because they want him to be okay. They want him to live, so they’ll take all the signs they can get to know he’s okay.

Days passed with Ethan on the life support machine. Every day when Casey arrived at work, she would make a b-line for the ICU, where she would sit with Ethan and drink a bottle of water as she held his hand and talked to him. Told him the thing she had planed for them to do at Christmas. Although he was unresponsive, for her, being able to see him and talk was what got her through her days at work. At night she wouldn’t leave his side and eventually, from a decision of her own, everyone in the hospital knew of their relationship status. Ethan was going to hate her when he woke up. She chuckled as she imagined the berating he would give her for telling everyone something so personal to the both of them without his permission. Until one day, she got home and had just finished drawing a bath when her phone rang with Sienna’s contact popping up on the screen. She answered almost immediately with confusion in her tone.

“Sienna?”

“Casey... It- It’s Ethan.... He’s taken a turn for the worse. It looks like he might pass away. Tonight.”

#choices stories you play #playchoices #pixelberry studios #open heart #pixelberry open heart #ethan ramsey #dr ethan ramsey #dr casey valentine #ethan x casey #open heart fanfictions #choices fanfiction #ethan ramsey fanfiction

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blazerina · 4 years

Text

Connected - Harper/Ethan/Allie (MC) - Open Heart

Connected – Harper/Ethan/Allie (MC) – Open Heart

Word Count: 2612

A/N: This story is based on this amazing song A Soulmate Who Wasn't Meant to Be – sent to me and requested by @unusualvisionsblog – thank you so much for the inspiration to finish this story. It took me a while but I’m really proud of how it all ended up.

Tagging my two fandom BFF’s @justanotherrookie and @parkerattano because they never fail to encourage and motivate me. Thankful for you ladies!

Lyrics to the song are below – I encourage you to listen while reading. It really sets the tone!

A Soulmate Who Wasn’t Meant to Be

I never should have called

‘Cause I knew you’d leave me

But I didn’t think

You could do it

So easily

I never should have held your hand

On that cold rainy night

‘Cause further along

It would cause another fight

Stranger

That’s all I see

When I look into your eyes

A soulmate who wasn’t meant to be

Stranger

Who knows all my secrets

Can pull me apart and break my heart

A soulmate who wasn’t meant to be

I never should have kissed

Kissed your hand

I’m under your control

I will never understand

I never should have said

I love you

Never said it back

So why do I still care for you?

Stranger

That’s all I see

When I look into your eyes

A soulmate who wasn’t meant to be

Stranger

Who knows all my secrets

Can pull me apart and break my heart

A soulmate who wasn’t meant to be

Wish I could go back to the day we met and leave you be

Sit and look pretty

Never should have called

Never should have held

Never should have kissed

Never should have said…

Stranger

That’s all I see

When I look into your eyes

A soulmate who wasn’t meant to be

Stranger

Who knows all my secrets

Can pull me apart and break my heart

A soulmate who wasn’t meant to be

Harper rolled over and pulled her phone off the nightstand to check the time. She had been awake for a while but could tell by the faint light coming in through her window, that it was getting close to the time she needed to get up.

She sighed heavily as she realized her phone confirmed her assumption. Harper blinked a few times to ensure she was fully awake, already annoyed with the day. She rolled over onto her other side and gently nudged her sleeping companion.

“Sam…Sam, wake up. It’s time for you to go. I have to get ready for work.”

The man next to her was clearly in no hurry to get out of bed. He faced Harper with his eyes still closed, reaching out for her.

“Baby, we don’t need to be in a rush…” Clearly, he thought he was smooth. And clearly, he didn’t know who he was dealing with.

“I will not ask you again to get out of my bed.” Harper declared. “I told you last night this was a one-time thing.”

She slithered out of the bed, keeping one sheet wrapped around her naked body. Making her way to her bathroom, she called out to him, “I expect you to be gone by the time my shower is done. You can see yourself out. Don’t leave anything behind because I’m not calling you back.”

The bathroom door forcefully closed behind her and Harper turned on the water. Pushing herself over the sink, looking more closely at her reflection, she studied herself, looking into her own eyes.

She never meant to become the kind of person who had a string of one-night stands. It wasn’t a part of her life she was especially proud of, but it served its purpose. She was too old to be asking herself who she was, or to be trying to find her identity. Those years were safely behind her. She owed it to herself to make up her own mind. She earned the freedom to stand by her own decisions without regret. The past was the past.

Part of her was relieved that she no longer had to share this portion of her life with the hospital. For far too long everyone from fellow doctors and administrators to volunteers and janitors, knew all about her every move. She was used to living in a fishbowl, but she was definitely over it. It wasn’t enough that she was proving herself to be a well-known and reputable medical professional, or that she was running one of the state’s largest and most prominent hospitals. Everyone needed to know about her personal life. She lost count of how many times people told her they couldn’t trust her if they didn’t know what she was “really like outside of this place.”

Ask anyone at Edenbrook about Harper Emery and you get a wide range of responses. Most people know her as a fine administrator and capable surgeon. Others are notoriously opposed to the way she performed as Chief and are thankful she’s been replaced by Naveen. Across the country she’s known for her expertise in surgery and her swift, decisive actions that have saved countless lives. A majority of medical staff see her as fair but firm, with high expectations and standards, not only for herself but everyone she works with.

Of all the things people have said about her, and the gossip she’s heard behind her back for years, there’s always one statement that sticks in her mind the most and haunts her every day. She can see it in their eyes when they find out; especially the interns when they’re finally told.

She walks down the halls and all goes silent except for the clacking of her heels on the cold stone floor. A small smirk appears on her face as people try to busy themselves with work before she asks them what they’re doing.

Despite all her achievements and the work she is proud of accomplishing, she’s come to terms with the fact that she’ll be remembered for one thing as she brushes past a group and someone inevitably whispers:

There goes Dr. Harper Emery. Former Chief of Medicine and former girlfriend of Dr. Ethan Ramsey. That’s all you really need to know.

Allie sat in the cafeteria staring dejectedly into her bowl of soup, absentmindedly stirring it every few seconds. Her head was propped up on her hand with her elbow on the table. Her long red hair was in a pile on top of her head. Her eyes tired. Her feet aching. Her mind elsewhere.

Lately she had been thinking about Ethan. That was nothing new. She hated how their situation was at present. He clearly wanted to be with her, practically reached out to her on numerous occasions, but something was stopping him. She heard time and time again that it was because of his care for her. That he wanted her to be the best doctor possible and he couldn’t do that and provide for her professionally if they were more than just colleagues. She rolled her eyes with disdain remembering how and when he said that word.

Professional.

It made her retch for a moment. She had already been working for about eight-hours of her twelve-hour shift and she wondered how she’d make it the next four. Allie turned her attention out the widow that overlooked a peaceful courtyard where patients or staff could go for a moment of quiet during the day.

She knew that her outlook on her relationship with Ethan had changed drastically over the past few weeks. At first, she thought she’d be able to handle it. Ethan’s decision made sense and she’d stop at nothing to make sure she could be the best doctor possible, but lately she’d been struggling. And right outside that window, sitting on a bench next to a patient in the courtyard, was the very reason why.

Dr. Harper Emery.

Allie didn’t know much about her past relationship with Ethan, only that she had one. And clearly it wasn’t an issue for him to be with her, so why was it such a big deal if she and Ethan wanted to be together instead?

In her head, Allie knew the difference. A subordinate and a supervisor is much different than two colleagues on the same level of the org chart, but her heart…her fickle-overly-emotional-prideful-too-hurt-to-admit-it heart, chanted to her over and over again:

You’re not good enough. You’ll never be her. There’s a real reason he didn’t want you. Do you honestly think you could measure up to that? She’s perfect. What would he ever see in someone like you?

It made it worse that Harper was the consummate professional around Allie. She was polite and welcoming, not warm, but still somehow hospitable. There had been a few times that she pushed back on Allie and challenged her, but nothing over the line.

Of course, it’s easy for her to do that.

The voice in her head reminded her.

She knows she’s got you beat in every category. You’ll never be competition to her.

Allie had even been watching Harper more intently when she worked with Ethan. There were so many little things that she had not noticed before. A few days ago, as Allie arrived for her shift, she noticed Harper helping him with his tie outside the cafeteria. A soft smile formed at the corners of her mouth as she straitened it for him and looked him in the eye.

“What would I do without you?” Ethan asked, his tone a bit too playful for Allie’s taste.

“Oh, you’d find a way to manage.” Harper responded. “After all, you’re Doctor Ethan Ramsey. You don’t let anyone around here forget it.”

Her composure as polite and calm as ever, Harper turned quickly on her heel and walked away. Allie swore Ethan’s eyes followed her all the way down the hall.

Allie knew that pining away for Ethan and obsessing over his every interaction with Dr. Emery would not serve her well. She needed to focus. But it was becoming more and more difficult. She was starting to lose confidence in herself and her abilities, which made her need and desire for Ethan all the more great.

He was the one who told her she could do anything. He was the mentor that taught her everything she knew about being a doctor. He was the one she needed. The one she was meant to be with forever.

All she had to do was convince him she was worth it.

Inevitably, the seed of doubt sprouted again in that arrogant-unstable-frustratingly-emotional heart of hers.

Who am I kidding? If Ethan couldn’t even make it work with someone as amazingly flawless as Harper Emery, how the hell do I stand a chance?

There they were. The two most prominent women in his life, chatting together in the hallway, right in front of his office.

Ethan told himself this couldn’t be good. Each woman on their own was difficult enough but seeing the two of them together made his pulse quicken. He felt his throat start to itch and he loosened his tie a bit, feeling a slight sting of anxiety in his stomach as he approached them.

“Dr. Emery.” He nodded. “Dr. Valentine.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Please, come in.”

“I told you.” Harper crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised one eyebrow in triumph, nodding towards Allie.

“Told her what?” Ethan asked, confused.

“We aren’t here to see you.” Allie explained. “We are discussing tomorrow’s surgery for Ms. Hogan. And as we were talk-“

Harper cut Allie off mid-sentence.

“I told Dr. Valentine that we should probably move this conversation elsewhere or finish before you returned, otherwise you’d think our presence at your door had something to do with you.”

“Sorry to inform you that it doesn’t…” Allie looked amused.

“I see.” Ethan responded shortly, his brow wrinkled, slightly irritated.

“You walked right into it, Ramsey.” Harper teased.

“Well played. I bid you all a good afternoon then. Seeing as how I’m not needed, even though you two purposefully stopped right outside my office. Let’s carry on with our work now instead of playing games, shall we?”

Ethan walked into his office and closed the door behind him, letting out a long sigh. The sight of those two, hearing their voices, the knowing way they mocked him, it was almost too much for him to handle. Harper was always quick to prove him wrong and reveled in any opportunity to do so.

He cursed himself for pursuing anything of substance with either one of them. He hated having regrets, but to see how things has ended up for all of them, he couldn’t help it. Nothing felt natural anymore – at least not for him. Everything was thought through and carried out with the utmost precision. His actions felt robotic as he made doubly sure not to make either of those women think he still had feelings for them.

Ethan was most careful to watch himself around Allie, as his time with her was the more recent and the most potent. It was challenging, though. He was drawn to her by a indescribable force. It took everything within him to pull himself away from her. In meetings, at the front desk, in the elevator, talking with patients, she always said or did something that made him weak in the knees.

It was killing him not to be able to see her after work, to spend time with her outside the office, to hear about her life beyond the walls of the hospital but he knew it was the right thing for her. If he had any desire to protect her or keep her safe and not hurt her any more than he already had, this is the way it needed to be.

Getting mixed up with a guy like him was bad news, just look at what it did to Harper.

Harper had always been the model of decorum; prim and proper, respected by all – but Ethan wasn’t stupid. He knew that now a part of her sterling reputation had been tarnished because of him. He heard the low voices whispering behind her back as she passed by. He was all to familiar now with the light in the interns’ eyes, how they lit up with intrigue when they found out that he and Harper had been…

What had they been? It was never anything real, which he blamed himself for. They had each other when they needed each other and that was about it.

Nothing substantial. Nothing with roots. Nothing that would last.

Nothing like…

His pager went off, rousing him from his diatribe of thoughts. Silently he opened the door and went to follow the page, not even noticing that Harper and Allie were still there, chatting away.

It was the end of another unremarkable day at Edenbrook. Harper was headed with her bag in hand towards the elevator doors, but they were closing too quickly.

At the last second, she made the decision to head towards the stairs, when a familiar voice called out:

“Harper. Come on, plenty of room in here.”

That voice would stop her in her tracks anywhere.

“Thank you, Ethan.” She smiled tightly as she entered the elevator with him. He held the doors open until she was settled and then pressed the button to close them.

Such a typical Ethan-move. Harper thought to herself.

Trying to win me over with his charm and chivalry. Don’t do it Harper, don’t fall for it. Not again. He’s not worth it.

Ethan focused his eyes straight ahead trying not to engage.

Leave her alone. You have to let her go.

Allie was ready to leave. The remaining portion of her shift had not passed as quickly as she had hoped. Nervous, yawning, grumpy and ready to soak her throbbing feet, she impatiently waited for the elevator to reach her floor. She could not wait to once again be reunited with her beloved bed.

The monotone bell rang out signaling the elevator’s arrival. She stepped in and surveyed the group of people also in the elevator. Parker from imaging. The really nice man in charge of housekeeping – she could never remember his name… – and Ethan.

Of course there was Ethan.

And Harper.

Lovely.

The nameless housekeeping man was first to exit. This ride was now officially long and uncomfortable. She wondered if Ethan and Harper felt the same.

A few floors later, Parker from imaging said a courteous goodnight and left the elevator.

Only four more floors to go.

All that remained was the three of them, each one with their eyes silently fixed on the numbers above the elevator doors. They illuminated, one by one, giving them hope that this uneasy metal box would deliver them from this situation soon.

Four…

The reputable doctor marred by transgressions with a colleague unable to forgive herself for wanting true love.

Three…

The world-renown diagnostician, somehow able to have so much and yet so little at the same time, feeling remorse for hurting two perfectly fine young women beyond repair.

Two…

An innocent second-year resident, thrown into a world she wasn’t ready for, caught up in confusion about her own feelings and comparing herself to someone she secretly admired and hoped to become.

One…

All three tired of being lonely, disappointed in themselves, and wanting nothing more than true, life-long companionship.

All three connected not by choice but by fate yet going home, once again, all alone.

#blazerina babbles #ethan ramsey #harper emery #allie valentine #open heart

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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.

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

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terrm9 · 4 years

Text

CHAPTER 9 - Light

Words count: 5 000 + Warnings: cursing, hints of sex Author’s note: 1) I am sorry for The Queen references, it was not planned at all but I got carried away 2) Chiara has Ethan saved as “Jonah” in her phone, because she always forgets her phone at nurse’s station and E.R. and Donahue’s, everywhere, and so to decrease the chance of exposing them, it’s Jonah 3) I didn’t check the mistakes yet, so I am sorry for them. ENJOY!

------------- LIGHT ------------

For the first time ever, their lips met in a kiss that didn’t taste like regrets, doubts and sorrow.

For the first time ever they kissed with hope and promises and happiness.

Their lips met in a newfound feeling of odd security, something that has never happened before, as the threat of regrets always hung over their heads. The kiss started out as almost shy, Ethan’s lips brushing Chiara’s ever so softly, afraid of ruining the sacred moment if he allowed his yearning to take a full lead. But soon it was Chiara who opened her mouth slightly, inviting him to make sure that she still tasted like the Chiara he kissed at Mass Kenmore all those months ago.

The concept of time long forgotten by the couple of doctors as they discovered their new normal, kissing until the air around them changed, until the heat their bodies produced was enough for them to finally break the connection. With their cheeks flushed, hair dishelved, the buttons of Ethan’s shirt undone, they looked at each other intensively while catching their breaths.

„I think we should stop here,“ Ethan broke the silence at last.

„Are you already stepping back?“ Chiara asked with a teasing smile, which was supposed to hide her tremendou fear that Ethan actually was stepping back.

He chuckled at the question and took her hands into his, slowly running his thumb along her knuckles.

„I screwed up a lot in the past. I simply want to make things right this time. And taking you here at my couch when two hours ago I didn’t believe you would ever want to forgive me again, that doesn’t feel right. We still have a conversation to make. And I would like to at least make you a dinner before we take the… next step.“

„Good old fashioned lover boy, huh?“ she couldn’t help but tease him again.

„Are you seriously quoting Queen on me now? You know I am Under Pressure.“

„You know Queen lyrics?“ she laughed and decided to continue the little game. „That is, indeed, Miracle.“

„You underestimate me, Rookie. The show must go on.“

„Oh, Ramsey, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into with this little Queen references competition. My dad loved Freddie Mercury. I know every single lyrics. Don’t stop me now.“

„I am afraid I have to. We seriously need to talk. But you are still my Killer Queen,“ he smiled as he kissed her forehead.

He leaned back into to couch, pulling Chiara towards him, until her head rested on his lap and he could play with her hair. Her hands rested in her own lap, fingers nervously fidgeting at the thought of another serious talk. No matter how hard she tried to trust him completely, the little part of her was simply too afraid to do so. Tha little part expected to hear that it was a mistake and they needed to be professional again.

Ethan observed Chiara’s furrowed brows and her slightly shaking hands and how she kept biting her lower lips and he hated himself, knowing that she was this nervous because of him. Because he hurt her and left her and pushed her away so many times, that she couldn’t trust him fully anymore. He hated every part of his own self and he knew he deserved the hate.

„As I said previously, I want to make things right this time, Chiara. Which means that we need to talk even about uncomfortable things and that I want to stand by your side every step of the way and that I never want to hurt you again. Never in my life have I felt this way, not with Marial, not with Harper, never. And honestly, Chiara, it terrifies me. These feelings, I am so scared. I have always believed that I know who I am, that nothing can surprise me anymore and then you walked into Edenbrook and… well, I was fucked. I found out that I couldn’t recall who I was anymore, because I was changing and as a man who hates change, I fought it all I could. Until I could. And I can’t anymore, I can’t fight against you, but this new reality, it still scares me.“

His voice was trembling now, thick with emotion. He wanted to say so much more, he wanted to tell her how sorry he was that she had to deal with this broken piece of man, that he knew he would hurt her again despite his best efforts to not to. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her. So desperately did he wish he could just express how he felt, but all the words got stuck in his throat and so he just stared at the black screen of television in front of him and hated himself even more.

Chiara wasn’t staring at the ceiling anymore, rather watching Ethan’s expressions as he finished his speech. She reached his left cheek with her hand and caressed him softly.

„I am here, Ethan. No matter how scary it gets, I am here, okay? You don’t need to tell me everything now. Or ever, for that matter. I know.“

Finally he looked down at her and the intensity of compassion in her stare made him want to cry.

How did I ever deserve a woman like you?

He cupped her hand on his cheek and leaned into her touch, closing his eyes to compose himself.

Clearing his throat to make sure he wouldn’t actually start crying, he decided to start the uncomfortable conversation.

„I want to be with you, Chiara. With my whole being, I wish to be with you. But your career is only starting and you are more than just brilliant doctor. You are destined to be the best one of your generation.“

He felt Chiara tense in his lap as she opened her mouth to fight him.

„Just let me say this, okay?“ he stopped her before she could say anything. „Being with you is not illegal. It’s not even fobidden and we both know that Naveen would never disapprove of our relationship. It’s unprofessional and probably unethical, but that doesn’t matter. If we decided to go public, it wouldn’t cost you – or me – the job at Edenbrook. And as someone who has worked there for eleven years now, it would hardly affect me anyhow. But you, Chiara, your reputation…“ Ethan ran his free hand through his hair before continuing. „At the moment, everyone at the hospital knows that you are amazing doctor. Fellow residents, nurses, even attendings, they respect you, because you earned it. But if they find out about us, no matter how hard you worked to earn that respect, it will be forgotten. You will be the resident that’s dating Dr. Ramsey and therefore gets the special treatment. And nobody would give a damn about the fact that I am harder on you than on anyone else. Nobody would care, because rumours are rumours and all the respect that you earned, it would be gone. I don’t care what they have to say about me, but you are young and promising and I can’t let my need to be with you officially stand in the way of your progress. Obviously, I am not letting you go either and so one of the options is for us to be in a secret relationship until your residency is over.“

Chiara raised her eyebrow at him and asked: „One of the options? I don’t think there are any other options.“

„Of course there are. I get that keeping this a secret will be hard, that it wouldn’t be the relationship you deserve. So if you are not willing to do that, which I absolutely understand, I will transfer into another hospital.“

„What?“ Chiara all but shouted and abruptly sat up, looking at him with wide eyes. „You would never do that. Edenbrook is the best hospital in Boston. It’s your life. You belong to Edenbrook.“

„I like to think that I belong to you, Chiara,“ he smiled. „Yes, Edenbrook has been my life for the past eleven years, but it’s caring about the patients that brings me joy, not the hospital itself. And there are patients in other hospitals in Boston. Nothing in Edenbrook makes me feel as happy as you do, Dr. Ray. Just say a word and I’ll be gone.“

Since when are you such a softie, Ramsey?

„That would be so stupid, Ethan. It’s just a year and half until my residency is over. I think we are both capable of keeping things secret for that long. Iť’s not like we would make out in the waiting room anyway.“

Ethan let out a whole-hearted laugh, tension leaving his shoulders. He was serious when he said that he would leave Edenbrook because of her, but knowing that she didn’t want him to, that she respected his career as much as he respected hers, brought him soothing sense of relief.

„There is one thing, though,“ Chiara said. „I am okay with keeping things secret with most people, but if it’s alright with you, I feel the need to tell my friends. My roommates and Bryce. They are the people I trust with my life and I know that they would never spread the rumours. It would be much easier for me if they just knew, if I didn’t have to make up excuses about where do I spend my evening or a weekend. But only if it doesn’t bother you.“

Ethan shrugged, not surprised by her suggestion. Her friends were her supporting net and ever since the accident, he could see just how much they meant to each other. And for that, he was happy.

„I honestly believe that they already have their ideas about us. If you trust them, then it’s okay by me.“

Chiara smiled at him and raised from his lap, so that she could kiss him. With one hand on the back of his neck she straddled him, her free hand drawing teasing circles on his bare chest. His grip on her hips got stronger and his resolution to make it right this time was slowly decreasing with every swirl of her tongue in his mouth.

„Do you want to stay a night?“ he whispered when he pulled back, his voice raspy.

Chiara laughed softly and shook her head, wanting to ask him if he would cook the dinner now, so that they could finish what has been started.

„Sienna would go crazy with fear if I didn’t come home tonight and I don’t want to tell her I am staying with you through the phone. They all have a day off tomorrow, I’ll tell them at brunch we have planned.“

„Yes. Sure. That’s… reasonable. I am working tomorrow, but I have a free Sunday, so what do you say about me picking you up tomorrow evening, making you a dinner and you staying here for the night and then on Sunday?“

„That definitely sounds like a plan,“ she grinned and crashed his lips with hers once again.

The brunch was reaching its end, all the spinach quiche has been eaten, mini chocolate tarts made by Sienna in the hands of young doctors and Chiara still couldn’t find her courage to tell them. By the look Sienna gave her last night when she got home, Chiara knew that she was waiting for some kind of explanation and as much as she trusted them to be supportive and happy for her, she felt extremely nervous to drop this bomb.

„Guys, I.. uhm, well.. I kinda have to tell you something. I’ve got some news.“

„Are you moving out?“ Jackie raised her eyebrow.

„Don’t tell us you are transferring to Mass Kenmore too,“ Elijah added.

Chiara laughed and looked at Sienna, who – with a smug smile on her face – nodded softly, sign of encouraging her to simply say it.

„No, I am not moving out and I am not transferring. It’s about Dr. Ramsey.“

„What about him? Is he transferring?“ Elijah gasped again, eyes wide with shock.

„You really haven’t gotten past my transferring E, have you?“ Aurora chuckled.

„He is not,“ Chiara took a deep breath. „Last night he gave me a ride home from the party and we had a chance to talk about… lot of things and we decided to give it a shot. To give a relationship a shot, I mean. We have had feelings for each other for some time now and he never wanted us to be more than collegues but now he kinda changed his mind? However, it needs to be a secret until I am an attending, but I needed to tell you because I can’t keep secrets from you and I love you and I just want you to know that I am dating Ethan Ramsey.“

She expected them to be shocked. Maybe to tease her. She expected the long stunned silence she knows from movies. Despite her hope, she even expected them to be angry or to despise her. What she didn’t expect was their soft laughter and Jackie’s question: „Okay, and now the news? I thought you wanted to share some news with us.“

„That is the news!“ Chiara exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

„Oh,“ she breathed out and then added. „I think I am saying this for all of us Chiara – coming clear with your feelings and making things official between the two of you, that’s great. Really, good for you. We are happy. But saying that it’s news? Pleaaaase, we all have known for some time now that you two had something going on.“

„She is right,“ Aurora nodded, grinning.

Chiara sat there with her mouth open, looking from one face to another and really, they all simply smiled knowingly, without a sign of surprise or anger.

„We are really, really happy for you, Chiara. You deserve to be happy and so does Dr. Ramsey, I guess,“ Sienna smiled and hugged Chiara tightly.

„But if he ever hurts you, I am going to kick his balls,“ Jackie couldn’t help but add, joining the hug. Soon, they were all hugging and suddenly, it wasn’t about Chiara and Ethan at all, it was about the friends that support each other through thick and thin, it was about the love they shared.

Chiara couldn’t suppress the smile that spread across her face as she read that one text over and over again.

She would swear that Ethan didn’t really have to get back to work and only wrote that so that he wouldn’t have to carry on with the conversation. She could just imagine how hard it must have been for him to write those words to her and was pretty sure that his cheeks blushed the bright pink colours she adored so much.

As he promised, Ethan parked his car outside Chiara’s apartment at six and since all her roommates have already known about them, he decided to pick her up instead of just calling her to come out.

No matter how many times he told himself that it wasn’t such a big deal, that she spent the night at his place already, he still felt incredibly nervous. What if she didn’t like the dinner he would cook? What if she realized that she actually didn’t want to spend her night and Sunday with him? What if she started to feel the same hatred he felt for himself, because he wasn’t capable of telling her how he really felt while looking into her eyes?

Shaking his head abruptly to get the thoughts out of it, he knocked on the door, hoping that it would be Chiara who opened them.

It was Sienna.

„Dr. Trinh,“ he nodded towards her and seeing her expression, he corrected himself. „Sienna. Good evening.“

„Nice to see you, Dr. Ramsey!“ she smiled. „Come in, I’ll go tell Chiara you are here.“

He stepped into the apartment, watching her back as she walked towards Chiara’s room. Before she could step in, she turned at him once again and added: „I am really happy for you two, Dr. Ramsey.“

„Ethan is just fine, Sienna,“ he said, right corner of his lip lifting softly. „And thank you.“

Soon, Chiara stepped out of her room and smiled oh so brightly when she noticed him standing in the hall. Before she approached him, she hugged Sienna quickly and whispered something into her ear, at which Sienna grinned mischievously.

„Shall we?“ he asked as he pressed his lips against her temple. Chiara simply nodded and followed him into his car, suppressing the need to pinch herself to make sure that any of this was real.

After they finished the dinner – Georgian stuffed chicken, which he promised her all those months ago – they found themselves tangled on his couch, glasses of fine wine in their hands. Chiara insisted on talking about work and Ethan insisted on talking about anything but work.

Before they could argue about why they should or shouldn’t talk about work, they weren’t talking about anything anymore, using their lips for much more pleasing activities.

Covering her petite form with his body, Ethan broke the kiss only to continue pressing his lips on her jawline, on the spot behing her left ear that he knew would make her moan and then sucking on her neck gently. His hands roamed her torso under the sweater she was wearing and just as he was about to tuck the sweater up, Chiara opened her eyes and pushed his hands away.

„Don’t,“ she whispered, shame written all over her face.

Ethan’s brows furrowed at the sudden change in the mood, but of course he immediately stopped in his tracks.

„Sure. Yes, I am really sorry, Chiara. I didn’t intend to be inappropriate. I am really sorry.“

„It’s not that, Ethan,“ she breathed out, her voice so small he almost missed what she was saying. „It’s not about me not wanting… you. Just… well, the accident and then the surgery left me terribly scarred. There are hideous scars all over my stomach and some on my chest too and I don’t want you to see how ugly it all is.“

His chest tightened at her words and he caressed her cheekbone so softly she felt like she was making the touch up.

„Oh, Chiara,“ he whispered. „Don’t ever say something like that ever again, okay? Nothing on your body is hideous. Could I see them, please?“

She nodded and closed her eyes as he rolled her sweater up to her breasts, not wanting to see his expression when he’d see how destroyed her body was.

Keeping her eyes shut, she couldn’t tell if he even looked at her at all, but the fact that for a moment there was no movement around her and no sound that would break the heavy silence of the room was enough for her to think of the worst.

He is disgusted by how I look.

The light warmth of his fingers on her stomach made her open her eyes.

Ethan’s gaze, fixed on her abdomen, was so intense and so adoring it brought tears into her eyes. He traced every single one of her scars with his thumb so softly, so gently it almost tickled. After observing her, he lowered his head and put a feather-like kiss on the first scar while whispering „you are beautiful“. Then the second one („and you are beautiful“) and the third one right over her left breast („and you are beautiful“).

„And you are the most beautiful,“ he whispered as he raised his eyes to look into Chiara’s green ones. She had to close them again, overwhelmed by the gentlesness in his voice and his actions.

Returning to kissing her fiercely, Ethan ran his hand up and down her thigh while sucking and biting the soft flesh above her hip.

„That’s going to leave a mark,“ Chiara all but moaned.

„Nobody will see it here,“ Ethan murmured, not concerned about her words at all. „Or will they?“ he added quickly, looking back at her, his eyes dark with lust and also… was it possiblity of jealousy?

Shaking her head, Chiara got rid of her sweater and started to work on the buttons of Ethan’s shirt, not patient enough to be teased without feeling his skin on hers.

Taking a clue, Ethan ceased the movements of his mouth on her hips only to take her into his arms and bring her into his bedroom, so that they could finish what they started in the comfort of his king-sized bed.

Monday morning came all too quickly for their liking and as excited as Chiara was to get back to work, the comfort and security of Ethan’s apartment were enough for her to complain when she had to leave it.

Ethan and Chiara drove to the hospital together, however once they’ve gotten to the parking lot, Chiara decided to leave the car first while Ethan waited some time longer, so that they wouldn’t raise a suspicion. Once seated in the diagnostics office, Chiara sent a quick message to Ethan that it was safe for him to come to work now.

The door opened after a while and in came both male doctors of the team, Ethan’s expression neutral, while Baz Mirani almost jumped of joy when he noticed Chiara behind the round table.

„Oh, my favourite doctor is back! I am so happy you are here now, Chiara, working with those two grumpies without you was a torture!“

„Excuse me?“ Ethan raised his eyebrow at the remark.

„I am happy to be back too, Baz,“ Chiara laughed, ignoring Ethan’s (pretended) offended expression and stood up to hug Baz tightly.

„You still have a cane?“

„Yup. hopefully not forever, though. It’s more an accessory now,“ she grinned.

„Cool!“ Baz exclaimed. „We should call you Dr. House while you have it! Right, Ethan?“

Ethan’s confussion – unlike his offended face – wasn’t an act when he innocently asked: „And why would we do that?“

Chiara and Baz exchanged an amused look at Ethan’s hopeless unfamiliarity with mainstream hospital dramas, while he watched them both with his brows furrowed, knowing too well that they would tease him for it for days.

˜ Weeks turned into months and by March, Chiara felt as if the accident happened years ago. She didn’t need the cane anymore – which made Baz both happy (for her) and sad (because the Dr. House jokes had to stop) – and with the amount of nights she’s been spending with Ethan, even her nightmares have seemed to disappear.

„Dr. Ray,“ Ethan acknowleged her presence as he reached the nurse’s station. „I was about to page you. We have a patient to see.“

Without saying a word, Chiara followed him to the room, listening to the information he was sharing with her: „Ellie Barnes, five years old. Losing weight, severe headaches, stomach cramps. Her mother brought her here this morning with fever.“

With the list of possible diagnoses in her head, Chiara walked into the room, ready to talk to the little girl. However, before she could open her mouth, Ethan approached the bed Ellie was laying in and smiled down at her.

The little gril with wide smile and curly blonde hair, dressed in pink pajamas with Rapunzel on top of the shirt, was hugging her princess doll tightly, while her mother kept stroking her hair gently.

„Hello, Ellie. I am Dr. Ethan and this is Dr. Chiara. We will take care of you while you are here.“

„Are you my prince?“ Ellie asked immediately.

Ethan laughed softly at the proposition, but shook his head.

„I am afraid I might be too old to be your prince, but I could be your knight. What do you say about that? I will be the night that will fight all the bad things that are making you feel sick now.“

„Okay,“ Ellie shrugged. „Knight sounds good.“

„In that case, Princess Ellie, we will need to draw some blood so that we can discover the villain in your body and fight it.“

„Will you hold my hand, Dr. Knight Ethan?“

Kneeling next to her bed, Ethan took her small hand into his huge one and smiled even wider at the princess girl.

„Of course I will. And Dr. Chiara here, she could be the fairy in our story, hm? Well, she will draw the blood and talk to your mom, okay?“

Ellie nodded, hugging her doll even tighter with one hand, while Ethan rubbed the other with his thumb.

„You were pretty good with her,“ Chiara said as they left Ellie’s room to run the tests.

„I am pretty good with all my patients, Dr. Ray,“ Ethan grinned.

„Well, yeah, you are, but you know what I mean. I have never seen you with kid patient before, I guess. It just surprised me to see how natural you were with Ellie.“

„I like kids.“ Ethan shrugged, not knowing how to react to Chiara’s compliment.

And I can never give them to you, she thought bitterly, biting her lip so that she wouldn’t ruin their day by the remark if she said it aloud.

That evening, Ethan found himself sitting on his couch with Jenner’s head in his lap, reading a medical journal, when the comfortable silence of the apartment was disturbed by ringing of his phone.

„Chiara? Is everything alright?“ he picked it up, horror audible in his voice.

„Yes, sure. I am fine. I was just wondering if I could come in tonight?“

„Aren’t Tuesday nights reserved for your roommates?“

„Yeah, but they decided to have a group date night and since Elijah is taking Phebe and Sienna is taking Danny, I can’t bring you with me and I don’t feel like going alone. So, um.. I thought that maybe you wouldn’t mind if I came?“

„Of course you can come. Do you need me to pick you up?“

„Nope. I’ll be there in an hour.“

„Okay Ethan, I need you to tell me what’s wrong. Did I interrupt your peaceful evening? Should I go home?“

Chiara’s been at Ethan’s place for more than an hour now and his mood was only getting worse. Not wanting to talk about it, he left her in the dark, only guessing what was wrong.

„No, don’t go home, please,“ he finally responded. „It’s not about you. Just… argh, I am just so angry.“

„With me?“

„No! With myself. With circumstances. With life.“

„Did something happen at work?“

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair. Wearing a gray Henley t-shirt with dark jeans made him look younger, more relaxed and yet, at this very moment, Ethan Ramsey looked simply… defeated.

„After you called me, I had to think about what you said. That you can’t bring me with you because there are people who don’t know about us. And it got me thinking, it made me admit the one thing I’ve been so afraid to admit.“

„What are you talking about?“ Chiara asked gently, taking his hand between hers.

„I am so scared that you will sooner or later realize that you could have so much better than me, Chiara,“ he whispered, voice heavy with fear and vulnerability. „That you deserve so much more. You deserve a relationship in which your man takes you out for a dinner and holds your hand in public and kisses you in the middle of the street. You deserve to be able to bring your boyfriend with you when meeting your friends. You deserve so much more than sneaking around and having dinner at my apartment, making sure that nobody sees us holding hands or being careful to not to stare at each other for too long in the hospital halls, because that would be suspicious. And I can’t give you what you deserve. Lahela could give you that. Aveiro could give you that. Goddamnit anyone could give you that, anyone but me. And I dread the day you realize all of this and leave me. Because neither of us got what we deserved. You’ve gotten much less with me than what you deserve. I, on the contrary, have gotten so, so, so much more with you, than what I deserve. And it’s not fair.“

There was a long silence. All Ethan could hear was his drumming heart in his ears.

„I knew what I’ve gotten myself into when we agreed to give us a try, Ethan,“ Chiara broke the silence at last, her voice barely above whisper. „I know who you are and I am very aware of what we can and cannot be. I am also aware of what I could have with other boys. I am a grown woman, Ethan, I can make my decisions and I realize the consequences of them. And I need you to listen to me now. I want to be with you, Ethan Jonah Ramsey. I would rather sneak around with you and hide in your apartment than hold my hands in public with anyone else. I chose you and I keep choosing you every day. You need to start believing that you are good enough. Not only for me, for everyone. Because you are enough, Ethan.“

The next moment, Chiara felt like she was being crushed by the force with which Ethan hugged her. She could swear she felt his tears moisten the skin under her hair, however before she could confirm her suspicion by looking up at Ethan, he cleared his throat and gently pulled away, standing up from the couch.

„I’ll be right back,“ he murmured and left the living room.

When he got back, he played with his antique phonograph for a while and as the room was filled with gentle tones of one of Frank Sinatra’s songs, he lit up three candles and switched the lights off.

Only then he approached Chiara, still sitting on his couch and with almost shy expression that adorned his face, he asked: „Can I have this dance?“

With a brught smile, Chiara stood up and took his hand, the other one landing on his chest.

„I would never believe that Ethan Ramsey owned candles,“ she teased him.

„In fact, I like candles very much. I enjoy staring into the fire and since this apartment doesn’t have a fireplace, I light up the candles from time to time and just look at them while listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.“

She smiled at the picture forming in her head, Ethan’s relaxed form with glass of whiskey in his hand, softly humming into the tones of violin, thoughtfully looking into the small flame of a candle.

They slowly swayed in the middle of the room, Chiara’s head resting just under Ethan’s shoulder, while he kept kissing the top of her head, his eyes closed.

How did I get this lucky?

The thought ran in Chiara’s head over and over.

What did I do to deserve this? was the one Ethan kept replaying in his mind.

„Thank you. For having me,“ he whispered into her hair.

„Thank you for letting me have you.“

#open heart #open heart choices #open heart fanfiction #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #pixelberry

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zigtheeortega · 4 years

Text

day 6: pets | ethan/bryce x mc

pairing: ethan x mc & bryce x mc

@choicesfebruarychallenge | @bi-cookie ; @cxld-play

word count: 1,712

author’s note: this fluffy fic was inspired by the john mulaney bit where he jokes about american politics and compares it to a “horse being loose in the hospital”. i took it literally! hope you enjoy - i still think it might be a dumb idea but i’m hope it makes you laugh!

Spencer’s phone buzzed in her scrubs pocket, taking her out of the intense reading she was doing on Ms. Martinez’s file.

EMERGENCY. MEET AT THE SIDE ENTRANCE OF THE BUILDING. BE SNEAKY. Sienna’s text in the group chat came as a shock to Spencer. She’d never seen a message quite that serious from Sienna before.

She power walked down the hallway, trying to make it to the elevator unnoticed. Just as the doors opened, Dr. Ramsey rounded the corner.

She stepped in calmly, then mashed buttons as soon as she was safe. “C’mon, c’mon close,” she muttered to herself, clicking the close door button repeatedly.

“Hold the door, rookie,” he called, and they locked eyes through the slit of the closing doors.

“Sorry,” she mouthed, tapping her watch and shrugging.

His eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything, the elevator’s numbers lowered, quickly bringing Spencer to the first floor.

She blew air out of her cheeks. Avoiding Dr. Ramsey since the night they’d nearly had sex at the convention had been hard, but worth it for Spencer’s sanity. She couldn’t take much more of the “will they, won’t they” sexual tension between them.

The doors opened, and she snuck out the side door, almost running into the back of Elijah’s wheelchair.

The whole group was assembled, talking in hushed voices.

“What’s wrong? I came as fast as I could,” Spencer panted, eyes darting between her friends’ concerned faces.

“We have a huge problem,” Sienna frowned.

“Okay, bring me up to speed. What can I do to help?” She said, already putting her game face on, ready to rack her brain to help Sienna diagnose a patient.

“There’s a dog loose in the hospital,” Sienna grimaced.

She squinted her eyes, confused. “Is this a prank? I really don’t know if I’m in the mood to joke around, guys.”

“Unfortunately, Sienna isn’t lying. I saw the dog when his owner brought him in,” Jackie said, her arms crossed firmly across her chest.

“You’re telling me a service dog is roaming around, not listening to his owner? Did they lie about him being a service dog?” Spencer wondered aloud, trying to piece the story together.

“No, he’s definitely certified,” Elijah said, shrugging. “I asked to pet him and his owner’s mom declined. She said he was working.”

“I guess she knew taking his vest off wasn’t a great idea,” Landry added, eyeing Sienna.

The door behind them opened, revealing Bryce. “Thanks for including me. This is the most action I’ve gotten all week. Appendectomies just weren’t cutting it today,” he grinned.

“Okay one, weak, and two, thanks for finally joining us,” Jackie rolled her eyes.

“I can’t help that I’m not in your roomie group message,” Bryce shrugged.

“Can we get back to the story, please?” Sienna asked quietly, worry written across her features.

“Okay, so you took the vest off the dog, he thought he clocked out, and he’s just doing what a normal dog would do?” Spencer said, rotating her wrist so that Sienna knew to speed it up.

“I’m not that careless, Spencer. His owner is here for a routine checkup for her epilepsy. He was looking kind of sad while I was going through her chart with her mom, so when they went back for an MRI I thought it’d be a good idea to let him be free for a few minutes,” she said, regret written on her features.

Spencer’s look of disapproval prompted her to continue. “I know it was so dumb of me. I didn’t see him as a service dog on duty, just a sad pet that wanted to take a break and play. I need everyone’s help to find him.”

“Where’d you lose him?” Bryce asked.

“Well, I was near the construction… you don’t suppose he managed to go back there or down the stairs?”

“Let’s hope not,” Landry said nervously, wringing his hands in front of him.

“Okay, we’ll split up in pairs to look for him. It’ll definitely be quicker that way,” Spencer said.

“Elijah and I will check the ER,” Landry volunteered, already heading towards the door, Elijah tailing him.

“Jackie? Sienna? You okay with taking the next couple of floors while Bryce and I look through the labs, the construction, and any other restricted areas?” Spencer asked.

“You got it, boss,” Jackie smirked, walking inside.

“I guess it’s just you and me,” Bryce smiled, his hand on the small of her back, coaxing her towards the door.

----

“Goddammit, where is that dog?” Spencer muttered, frustration creeping into her voice.

“Hey, if you look on the bright side, we’re kind of like Mystery Inc. and we’re looking for Scooby Doo,” Bryce said, as you both jogged down the hallway, peering into the labs.

“What, did you say that because you want me to say you’re Fred?” She laughed, glancing back at Bryce’s smirk.

“And you’re my Daphne,” he said before checking the largest lab on that floor.

“I’m definitely not Daphne. Sienna is more of a Daphne-type than I am,” Spencer smiled, running into the elevator. “I’m definitely Velma.”

“I guess that makes me Shaggy, huh?” He said into your ear, and you became acutely aware of the heat from his body.

“So who’s Fred now?” She said, pushing a numbered button to head towards the wing under construction.

“Elijah, hands down,” Bryce chuckled, his arm propped up on the bar on the wall of the elevator, his skin grazing her scrubs.

“What about Landry and Jackie?” She said, glancing at his face, so close to her own.

“Probably the people they unmask at the end. They’re too competitive to have everyone’s best interests in mind,” he shrugged.

“Awe, that’s no fair. I wouldn’t guess a scalpel jockey would understand our competition,” she teased, turning to place a soft kiss on his jaw.

He leaned in with his eyes closed, but Spencer put a finger on his lips. “We’re getting distracted. We gotta find this dog first.”

“What’s its name anyways?” He said, stepping out into the hallway as the doors opened.

“Huh, good question. I’ll ask,” she said, typing a quick text to Sienna.

She replied immediately. I don’t know. I know she said it, but I was so focused on the patient’s charts and the mom being so stern I forgot.

“Sienna doesn’t know the dog’s name,” she said to Bryce, and he shrugged.

They slipped into the construction side unnoticed, eyes scanning the hallway. Spencer already had a distraction ready in case he wanted to check the rooms and stumbled across Naveen.

“Here, boy,” Bryce called repeatedly, making kissing noises.

“I don’t know if that’s going to work. He should only respond to his name, right?” Spencer mused.

The golden retriever bounded around the corner before they scan the rooms, mouth open, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

Bryce eyed her up and down. “I told you so.”

He ran to meet the dog, and fell on the ground, cuddling the wiggling ball of fur as he happily lapped the side of Bryce’s face. “Hey, boy, awe, you’re so good,” he laughed, scritching behind his ears.

Spencer enjoyed the sight of the hot surgeon and cute dog playing for a few more seconds before texting the group.

“Okay, so Sienna’s going to meet us with his vest, and we’re sneaking him back into the waiting room on this floor. The mom should be showing up there soon since they’re almost done with her brain scans.” She shoved the phone back in her pocket.

Bryce laid on the ground, spooning him and completely ignoring her. He hugged the dog to his chest, kissing his head.

“This is really cute, Bryce, don’t get me wrong, but we have to bring him back right now,” she said, extending a hand to him.

He grabbed it, and pulled her down on top of him. “Bryce! We have to go –”

He pressed his lips to hers, cutting her off. She sighed contentedly against his lips.

She knew she was falling for Dr. Ramsey, but she couldn’t see him defying the rules to be with her. Even if she was just fooling around with him and didn’t plan on anything serious coming from it – regardless, Bryce made her feel good.

Things were much more simple with him than with Ethan.

She pulled back, and he gazed at her, smirking. “You have to admit that was smooth.”

“Alright, if it’ll get you to get up any faster, then yes.”

They stood up, walking with the dog towards the entrance. Sienna burst through the clear tarp, followed by the rest of the gang.

“Hi doggy! We’re gonna get you back to your owner now. Please don’t tell them about this,” she whispered to him, clasping the buckle on his side, fastening the vest to him.

“Okay, now if that’s over, I’m gonna get back to my patients,” Jackie said, and stalked off without another word.

“Me too,” Landry said nervous, scuttling away.

“I’m happy Horse is back safe. Hopefully they haven’t noticed –” Elijah said, but Spencer and Bryce were quick to cut him off.

“His name is Horse?” Bryce asked.

“You’re telling me there was a Horse loose in the hospital?” Spencer asked.

“That’s what his name was! I remembered it being weird, but I forgot it was the name of another animal,” Sienna said, smacking the side of her head with the palm of her hand.

“Is there a story behind it or something?” Spencer was dumbfounded, and Bryce couldn’t stop laughing at the situation. HIs laughter was infectious, and before she knew it, she was doubled over, and Elijah and Sienna followed soon after.

When they caught their breath, Elijah explained.

“She named him when she was young, before the seizures started. Her parents sent him off to be trained as a support animal so they wouldn’t have to get another dog.”

“On that note, I’m gonna head back to my patients.” Spencer headed off, waving at her friends.

She knew that she couldn’t avoid Dr. Ramsey for much longer, and the situation stressed her out to no end; Regardless of it all, she still had the ability to laugh, so she knew she was going to be okay.

----

#choicesfebruarychallenge #open heart #bryce lahela #ethan ramsey #playchoices #jade writes choices fics

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lilyoffandoms · 4 years

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Open Heart Birthday Drabble (Ethan Ramsey x f!mc/Casey)

For my talented and beautiful friend @keepcreative! Happiest of happy birthdays to you, lovely! I hope it is filled with all good things, lots of cake, candy, celebrating, and everything your heart desires.

Here is a small little birthday gift for ya featuring our favorite grumpy doctor!

Winning the competition had been the final nail in the coffin so to speak of their relationship. It was was no secret that there was something between them. Or at least, that there had been something between them. There had been rumors but after they had not so subtly left Donahue’s together those rumors had spread a hundredfold. Those that had been at Donahue’s that night and had witnessed it only confirmed those rumors and soon the entire hospital was in the know.

Then it had been announced that she was won the position on Ethan’s diagnostic team and with that public announcement she had seen that look in his eyes. That look that told her, this, them, it was all over. And so they had returned to the day to day. Pretending that nothing had ever happened between them. That nothing was still happening between them.

“You two have got to stop this,” Sienna broke through Casey’s thoughts late one night as they were standing finishing up paperwork at the nurses station. Casey didn’t look up and just continued on, pretending that she had not heard.

“I know you don’t want to hear this and I know you are only pretending to not hear me, but I’m your best friend and I’m going to say it because that’s what friends are for.” She the tiniest hint of a smile tuck at the corner of Casey’s lips.

“Everyone in this hospital knows you two were together. That there was something there. The majority believe it is still going on, Case,” Sienna launched full ahead. “You two are only hurting yourselves by pretending that you feel nothing for each other. You can’t keep doing this to yourself. You know that right?”

Casey closed the file and tucked it away. Squeezing her friend’s hand lightly she gave a small smile that was meant to convey happiness but failed miserably.

“Thanks, Sienna, but this is for the best. I’m going to head home and crash. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Giving her friend a small hug before walking down the hall towards the locker room.

“But it is your birthday. You can’t spend it home alone. Come out with us to Donahue’s,” Sienna said tossing her file to a nearby nurse and catching up to Casey.

“Please tell me you guys didn’t plan something. I said, no parties. I’m not one for celebrating my birthday, Sienna.” Casey turned and saw her friend’s pout. “Oh god, you are really here to get me to go out with you so the rest can surprise me at Donahue’s aren’t you?”

“No, we kept it small. Just our group and a few others. Drinks, dancing, pool, darts, whatever you feel like.”

“I’m really not up for it, Sienna. Thank you though. Please let the rest know that I appreciate it but I’m exhausted and just want to go home.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Happy birthday, Casey,” Sienna said hugging her friend and bounding off towards the hospital entrance.

-------------------

“Naveen, I’m not going to sit here and listen to you tell me what I should and shouldn’t do with my personal life. You want to order me around the hospital fine, but leave my personal life out of it,” Ethan all but shouted as he paced in front of the windows in Naveen’s office. The ones that looked out onto the parking lot.

“Ethan, my boy, neither of you are happy. You hide it better than she does because most around here just assume your personality if miserable,” Naveen chuckled as Ethan shot him a glare. “She is less adept at hiding her feelings. No one in this entire hospital is unaware of your feelings for each other and have you heard any talk, any talk at all, about it? No, you haven’t and neither have I.”

“I find that very hard to believe and you are not the liar you think you are,” Ethan said quietly while continuing to watch staff move about the parking lot as they left or arrived for their shifts.

“Alright you caught me. I have had some staff come to speak to me about it but they all say that I have to push you to be with her so that you are not so mean to the new batch of interns. Everyone that has come to me has said that you are nicer when you are with her.”

Ethan spun to face Naveen. They remained silent as they looked each other over. Ethan trying to determine if there was a lie beneath Naveen’s words.

“You aren’t lying,” he said a bit surprised.

“I’m not. Now, Ethan,” he stood and made his way over to where Ethan stood at the window, “you know what you need to do. Stop being a fool and go after her.” Naveen nodded his head out the window and they watched Casey leave the building and begin the walk towards her apartment.

“I don’t think she will....,” Ethan began.

“Nonsense, of course she will forgive you,” Naveen smiled.

Ethan met his eyes and then turned on his heels to go chase after here. He flung the door open and stopped short as he nearly ran into Sienna standing with her fist raised ready to knock.

“Dr. Trinh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Ethan said as he moved aside to let her in the office.

“No worries, Dr. Ramsey,” she giggled as she watched him hastily make his way down the hall. “Oh, and Dr. Ramsey, it is her birthday today in case you didn’t know,” she called out after him.

He turned to take in her words and thanking her continued on his way. Sienna shut the door and turned to face Naveen.

“You were able to get the rest out of the apartment for the evening?” Naveen asked. Sienna nodded in amusement.

“Looks like it worked,” Sienna beamed.

“It just may. I guess only tomorrow will tell,” he returned her smile knowingly and handed her some tea as they sat to discuss their next steps.

--------------------

He ran to his office and changed out of his clothes. Tossing on his everyday attire. He glanced at the watch on his wrist and sighed. Nothing would be open this time of night. He shot a quick look around the room hoping that something would catch his eye and be suitable for a gift. Letting out a groan of frustration at his own stupidity he locked his office and made his way down to the atrium.

He stopped stunned when he noticed the small shop was still open. The shop that offered flowers and balloons and stuffed creatures of every sort for those visiting the hospital to gift to loved ones. What were the chances? Hell, he though, he wasn’t going to question it. Not when he had lucked out.

He entered the small shop tucked into the corner of the hospital atrium and saw the sleepy clerk waiting at the counter.

“What’ll it be,” the woman asked tiredly.

“How many red roses do you have?” Ethan asked.

“Um, let me see,” she sighed as she left the counter and made her way in back. “Three dozen or so,” she hollered back at him over her shoulder.

“I’ll take them.”

She gathered them together and wrapped them together. Tying the bundle up with a ribbon before returning to the counter and running his payment.

As he finished signing and slipped the credit card back into his pocket he asked, “Did the hours of this place get changed?”

“Hell if I know. I was asked to work overtime today and who am I to turn that down,” she smiled slightly. “Have a good night, Dr. Ramsey.”

He looked at her skeptically but decided he didn’t have time to figure this out right now. He had to get to Casey’s before she went to bed for the night. He thanked the clerk and left for his car.

After he had gone the clerk picked up the phone and dialed a number. “We are all set. I’m gonna close up and head home now. ------ No problem at all, Dr. Banerji.” With that she hung up, locked up, and returned home.

-------------------

He was standing outside of her door. Flowers in hand. His heart hammering wildly in his chest. What if she said no? What if she didn’t want this any more? What if he had messed up one too many times? He knew he had messed up more times than he should have. She would have to be an idiot to take him back after all he had put her through.

But he knew he had to take this chance. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he raised his hand to her door when it opened on him. He jumped back surprised as she giggled at his reaction.

“You going to creep outside my door all night or are you coming in?” she asked, stepping aside to gesture that he should enter.

“How did you know I was out here?” he asked, unmoving.

“You were taking out loud to yourself, doctor,” she laughed. “Now are you coming in or do you want to finish your conversation in private?”

He scowled at her but entered. He watched her shut the door, taking in her appearance. She had changed for the night into silk pajamas and he was rather enjoying the way they hung on her curves. Her hair loose and cascading around her shoulders as she turned to face him.

“These, um, these are for you,” he said thrusting the flowers into her arms.

She inhaled their scent and smiled up at him. “Thanks,” she said and made her way to the kitchen to place them in a vase.

He followed and watched her work in silence for a bit before clearing his throat, “Casey, I fucked up. Again. And it took a rather uncomfortable and awkward conversation with Naveen to realize that I was being a complete idiot when it came to us.”

She finished arranging the flowers but remained with her hands planted firmly on the counter, facing away from him. He swallowed hard before he continued on. He had to get through this because she deserved his apology regardless of what she decided would come of it. But he had to see her face as he talked to her. He had to face the pain he had caused her and so he slid up beside her, leaning against the counter to face her.

“I’m so sorry, Casey. I keep pushing you away and then pulling you in again only to push you away. I’ve let my strict and misconstrued ethics get in the way of.... Of your happiness. Of my happiness. Get in the way of us and I hate that I have caused you to hurt as I have. And I love you, Casey and I....”

“I love you too. Now shut up and kiss me, Ethan,” Casey said quietly turning to face him and he saw the tears streaking her face.

He gently reached a hand up to brush them from her cheeks before slipping a hand behind her neck to pull her lips to his. They met softly, tentatively at first before her arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him tightly to her. The passion of that kiss growing to match the force of them holding themselves together.

“Happy birthday, my love,” he said as they broke for air.

“I’m going to need you to make it even happier, Ethan,” she smirked.

#happy birthday keepcreative #i hope it is the best one ever #open heart #ethan ramsey

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