This is a series of one shots based on Pixelberry's Open Heart, featuring Dr. Ethan Ramsey and Dr. Cassie Valentine. The stories follow canon to a certain extent but diverge after book 1. In this AU, there is no trip to the Amazon and no need for a...
Summary: It's the anniversary of the death of his closest friend and Ethan needs to get away from everyone and everything. Cassie's worried when Ethan goes silent for the day and she can't help but wonder if he wants out of their blossoming relationship. When she finally confronts him, the truth is not what she expected.
Rating: Teen; mention of death
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The bright rays of the sun filtered through the shades, bathing the bedroom in a soft light as it did every morning. Normally the occupant of that bedroom wasn't around to notice, his day often starting before the sun came out. But today, Dr. Ethan Ramsey lay in his bed and watched the diffused light turn bright as the sun made its way higher in the sky.
He ignored the ping of an incoming message, knowing who it was without looking. It was after 10 o'clock in the morning; on a typical day he'd be heading out right about now to grab a coffee and a 15-minute break with his girlfriend. Those precious moments when they weren't attending and resident ─ just Ethan and Cassie.
When Cassie had started her Diagnostics fellowship a few weeks ago, a part of him had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to push her, that he'd want to make it easy for her because her happiness was everything to him. But he'd soon learned that no one pushed themselves harder than Cassie Valentine. She had something to prove, not just to others but to herself, and she wasn't going to let Ethan go easy on her. And because the medicine and mystery excited her as much as it did him.
Since their talk on the first day on how she could contribute more, she had been reading case studies and journals every free moment when they weren't together (and even when they were). She was his equal in every way. Knowing that and accepting it settled something in him they had needed to be resolved ever since he'd taken that step toward starting a relationship with her.
In some ways, what they had had begun from the first moment they met but hadn't crystallized until the night Dolores had died and they'd stayed up watching over Baby Ethan. She had been harder on herself than she'd deserved, and he'd dropped his mask long enough to comfort her because he'd recognized something in her then...kinship.
Dolores.
An early morning phone call from her sister, Alma, had filled his mind with memories, sadness taking over his heart and weariness consuming his body until he had no energy left. For the first time in 10 years, he'd called in sick, wanting nothing more than to stay under the covers and forget everything and everyone.
It was a year ago today that he'd lost one of his closest friends. He'd thought of her often this past year, wanting her wisdom and guidance as he struggled against his feelings for Cassie and everything that had happened with Naveen. He had always had trouble letting people in, but Dolores had slowly chipped away at his self-imposed walls until Sunday dinners and holiday get togethers had become the norm.
Dolores had a way of making him see the truth even when he was in self-denial. She would have approved of Cassie, not only because of who she was but because she would have seen them together as two parts of a whole.
