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: Setearly in the second year of residency, Cassie and Ethan have agreed to start arelationship (discretely) after her ethics trial and his reinstatement. ButEthan's having a hard time keeping it strictly professional at work, especiallywhen other doctors keep hitting on his girlfriend.
On the fifth floor of Boston's famed Edenbrook hospital, two doctors stood on opposite ends of the nurses' station seemingly engaged in the monotonous task of completing patient charts.
Between phone interruptions, rapid fire texting, and the occasional witty rejoinder from the Head of the Diagnostics team to his junior fellow, who studiously ignored her colleague beyond a quick glance every now and then when he wasn't watching, it was obvious to anyone watching that the stack of charts would not be cleared today.
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"Excuse me? Are you Dr. Valentine?"
Cassie glanced up from her phone, eyes unfocused and a smile still on her face from reading Ethan's last message.
A young doctor she'd never met before was standing off to the side, a question mark on his face. He was tall with brown eyes and messy black hair that looked like he'd run fingers through it. He was wearing scrubs, but Cassie could tell he wasn't from the new batch of interns because of the self-assured way he carried himself and the expensive watch on his left wrist.
"Yes, I am."
"Dr. Buchanan, Fellow, Infectious Diseases," he said, right hand outstretched. "Just transferred here from New York-Presbyterian."
"Nice to meet you," replied Cassie pleasantly as she shook his hand. "Welcome to Edenbrook, and please, call me Cassie."
"Thanks, Cassie. Mark." He moved closer, resting his elbow on the counter as he leaned against the station, taking the weight off his feet.
"I've heard a lot about you since I got here. Number one intern, junior fellow in Diagnostics," he continued, counting off her accomplishments with his fingers, "and a doctor that solved the unsolvable when she saved Dr. Naveen' Banerji's life."
"I'd love to take all the credit, but being a physician is a team effort," said Cassie, thinking of how each of those scenarios was tied to one man and how he challenged her and pushed her to excel. "I couldn't have done what I did without my friends or the guidance of my mentor, Dr. Ramsey. He taught me never to give up."
She glanced over at Ethan as she said the words, standing on the other side of the station. He was clearly listening despite the fact that his head was down, seemingly focused on the patient chart in front of him. But his pen hadn't moved at all in the last couple of minutes.
"You're being too modest, Cassie." Mark eyed her in earnest. "You're brilliant and you should own it."
"Thank you," she said, fiddling with her pen. "It's kind of you to say."
