Love Me Tender (A Kaimelia - Kai Bartley/Amelia Shepherd - fanfiction)

Part 6

I've been on edge ever since that message. Took me quite a few minutes to respond, with Maggie giving me advice on what to say and how to phrase it and my brain still not comprehending exactly what this meant.

The only thing making me feel better is knowing that Kai was nervous too, because they sent a new message when I hadn't responded quickly enough, saying how they were sorry if they misread the whole thing.

Which they obviously didn't.

So I'm quite nervous to get off my flight this time. In addition to this revelation about me and Kai, something else is on my mind.

I'm more used to flying back and forth. Link has been nicer to me these last few days. Work has been under control and my sisters are surprisingly off my back and busy with their own stuff.

So why is my head still constantly pounding like I'm going through the worst hangover of my life?

The small part of me, that wants to be a regular person, is still screaming 'it's stress' but a bigger, smarter part of me knows that something is up. Especially since the headache has been accompanied by some blurred vision lately.

So instead of going straight to the lab, I'm off to another part of the hospital today, to see a neurologist. If I could, I would not involve anyone else and just do the examinations myself, but sadly it's sort of hard to do alone so I'm forced to consult someone else.

At least I get to do it in Minnesota and hopefully no one will find out about it.

--

After about 30 minutes of going through my medical history and symptoms, we're still not clear on what's going on.

We have even gone over my scans from the last surgery, but I highly doubt that Tom missed any tumor cells when he was cutting me open. There's a reason I trusted him to do the surgery.

"I'd like to schedule you for a new MRI, but sadly I don't see an opening for today.. How's tomorrow morning work for you?" Dr. Newland asks, looking up from the tablet, a warm smile on his face.

Doctors are all masters of faking that same exact smile. The one that's supposed to make the patient feel better, safer, like everything's okay. I know better though.

"Uh, yeah. What time?" I say, already getting up and grabbing my stuff. I'm assuming that this appointment is over now and I need to get to the lab. Luckily I didn't tell Kai what time I was getting in so there won't be any questions.

"9AM is the earliest I can do," he says, looking at me expectantly. I nod in agreement and he pencils me in.

"See you tomorrow then," I say as goodbye. He does the same and I walk out, more confused than before. I guess I'll know more tomorrow, but I hate waiting.

It also means getting in later than usual tomorrow and they will definitely notice that. But I'll deal with that tomorrow. Right now I need to get to work.

--

Work hasn't actually been all that awkward. I definitely needed a deep breath before entering, but Kai is their usual self which has put me on ease as well.

We're currently trying out different injection techniques and I'm very aware of them moving around me, close enough that their white coat swishes against my back from time to time.

My mind keeps going back to those texts and how we sort of haven't addressed the whole thing but it seems weird to just randomly bring it up so I'm trying my hardest to focus on work instead.

"Number three is also not working," Kai says with a heavy sigh and I grab the list to cross it out. We keep hitting the same exact wall and the frustration in the room is quite tangible.

"Okay, that means that number-" I glance at the list for a second, "-five won't work either since it's pretty much the same without the extra saline that apparently did nothing anyway."

Kai just nods and sits down on the chair next to me, sighing tiredly. We've been at this for hours and so far there's no progress so I can see why they feel defeated.

"We'll get it eventually," I remind them. It's not a hope, it's a fact.

"With two bright minds like ours, how could we not," they turn to look at me and agree with a smile. I notice how their eyes glance down to my lips for just a second before turning to the papers again.

Is it me, or did the temperature rise by a couple degrees?

"So, I was wondering.. Are you doing anything tonight?" Kai asks out of the blue.

I can already feel my heart rate increasing in anticipation, but try to act cool. "The usual plan of crashing in my hotel room and bugging room service about making the pasta actually al dente this time," I say with a small laugh.

Why do I sound nervous already?

"Wanna get dinner at a place that doesn't need a reminder about that?" Kai offers then and I have to mentally count to three so I don't yell 'ABSOLUTELY' immediately as an answer.

"That sounds good," I say instead, still trying to act chill but my voice is definitely shaking a bit.

"How about I meet you at your hotel at say.. seven?" they say with a look that says they're pretty pleased with themselves right now. I guess they're not naturally bad at this after all.

"Yes, seven works."