Life After You; Time Heals All Wounds

Elena

Ethan's POV 

Walking into the clinic I see one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid eyes on. She's small, maybe 5'6", wearing a nice sundress, but what really catches my eyes are the freckles all over her body and the riot of red curls that cascades down around her shoulders and to her lower back. If her hair was straight it would surely brush the tops of her knees. She wore no makeup, her face fresh and youthful. Her face was buried in a medical journal, and I could see adorable red lips mouthing out words as if she could commit them to memory just with that action. 

I must have been staring longer than I thought, because she looked up and closed the journal, tucking the curls that had fallen forward while she was reading behind her ear. Her eyes were hazel, that's all I could think when she met my gaze. I wasn't expecting her to blush, making the freckles on her neck and chest stand out even more. 

"Hi I'm Elana." she held her hand out to me, tucking the journal behind her as she stood. 

"I'm uh, I'm Ethan. Doctor Ethan Mortison." I can't believe I tripped on my words, way to make a good first impression. 

"I know, I saw your article about bone cancer treatment in the Boston Medical journal a few weeks back. Very impressive, it's amazing the answers that you have come up with in the last few years." 

"Oh, are you a doctor?" If she was a doctor then maybe this could work. I didn't even know what this was, but if she was another doctor then I wouldn't have to worry about her being a patient or even being sick. 

"Not yet, I'm finishing up my degree and then hoping to do my residence soon." So she was a bit younger than me, around 26 likely if she getting ready to go into residence. 

"Oh, well, this is a great place to do your residence. I love this hospital." Keep it neutral, don't make it seem like you are a creep, maybe she will stay and you can get to know her like a normal personal Ethan. The voice inside of my head was all too happy to berate me for how horribly I was messing up this meeting. I knew I was better than this. 

"Yes, I'm meeting with a few possibilities today, hopefully it works out." It made sense now that she would be here, she was likely meeting with the head of the program for a residence position. That was excellent, it meant I would be seeing her again soon. It also meant we had interests in common already. 

"Well, it was nice to meet you Elana. I need to talk with Doctor Frame now, but I look forward to seeing you again." I chanced a wink which made her flush again and giggle, a sound I would love to hear every day. I don't know what it is about this girl, but she's already under my skin and I've barely talked to her. 

Leaving her behind in the waiting area I walk into Doctor Frame's office, looking around at the piles of paperwork and old lab coats decorating every surface. Research science wasn't a pretty profession, between the need to document everything, the long hours, and the generally obsessive nature of the people in the field. It took a few minutes for him to look up from his half buried computer, sorting through reports and entering them in rapid fire before putting them in a box to be filed. 

"Ah Ethan, my boy! Brought over the doses for the week?" I slid the temperature controlled bag I had brought with me across his desk, taking care not to mess up any paperwork. 

"I did, I see that you are working hard. Anything interesting?" 

"Oh just some trials coming to an end, I have a lot of filing to do and then maybe I can get my office back until I get some more information on the current trials we are running. I'm lucky that your new treatment is so important, for the first time in a while I'll be focusing on one thing. I have until the end of the week to go through some of this stuff, get it filed, and get the results out to the people who crunch the numbers." 

He groaned and moved to rub his back slightly before stretching. I felt a bit sorry for him, I currently had barely any paperwork and had been spending a lot of time in the lab. 

"Well, I just thought I would bring these by and wish you luck. I'll get out of here before the patients start to arrive." 

"You know, you could meet some of them, see the people whose lives you are changing." 

"If my treatment works, if not I'm just giving them false hope. Don't make me a hero until I've actually saved someone." It was an old argument, while the treatment showed promise in non-human trials and the first week of results was good, there was no proof that I had actually done anything good. I could rest easy after a few years when it was clear people were doing better, then I could work on treating other forms of cancer. 

Thinking about my work brought me back to thoughts of Rosa and I felt the now familiar pang in my chest at the thought of her death. It had been so long, yet the wound was still fresh. 

Leaving the clinic I didn't see Elena again, but maybe that was for the best. Thinking about her now made me feel like I was betraying Rosa, the one who had always trusted me to be there for her. We may not have been married, but I had promised her forever. What kind of man was I that a woman could smile at me and blush and I was thinking of her in this kind of way? Rosa forgive me, I am weak.