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

Part 10

I'm sorry for the infrequent uploads. My mind isn't in a writing space but I do have some of the story written/planned out so we shall see where this all takes us.

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AMELIA

I walk into the radiology unit, seeing the familiar figure from far away. Please no.. I plead mentally, looking around in the final hopes that it's not Ashley who paged me. I can handle small talk during lunch but working together is something I was hoping to avoid. But sure enough, she turns just in time to face me as I walk in the door and smiles widely, if maybe somewhat awkwardly.

"Dr. Shepherd, hi.. Thank you for finding time for this." Her smile seems genuine and if the situation wasn't weird, I would probably find her nice to be around. But instead my mind is wandering, picturing what her and Kai together must've looked like.

"Yeah, it's no problem. You needed a consult?" I gather my thoughts and form a smile on my lips as well, taking a seat behind the table when Ashley motions towards the chair next to her. She sits down as well and pulls up some scans on the screens in front of us.

"I know peds isn't your specialty, but tumors are so.." she says, trailing off. Honestly, the pictures speak for themselves. By the birth date in the upper corner I can tell that the patient is only nine years old. It's unbelievably unfair that children so small can develop such horrible diseases.

"What are her symptoms?" I ask, taking control now and flipping between different scans, taken at different angles. It's pressing, well.. everywhere. With a brain so tiny and a tumor so large, it's hard to find an area that's not affected.

"That's the main part I need your help with," Ashley sighs and I already feel anxious. From the scans themselves, this seems to be a very tricky surgery. "She went blind two weeks ago," she adds and I frown immediately.

"Why haven't you intervened sooner? How long has she been symptomatic? I mean, the sooner you take it out, the better-" I go off, not really noticing the slight changes in Ashley's expression. Eventually she just cuts me off, looking quite defeated by my rant.

"Her parents are.. difficult. To say the least. Their last doctor said that there's a big chance she won't make it through the surgery so they just decided not to do anything about it. And when she went blind, they very naively thought that it was temporary and would.. I don't even know. Go away?" Ashley sounds tired and I can imagine how many long and hard conversations she's had to have with the parents.

It makes me feel slightly regretful of my outburst, but I can't exactly help it. Leaving a child helpless like this is criminal. Or should be at least. "Go away? What, they thought they'd pray the tumor away?" I chuckle dryly, shaking my head. Not that I have anything against religion, but in this job you encounter a lot of extremists.

"No, I think they just don't really understand stuff like this. But I've managed to convince them to agree to this surgery and I was really hoping you'd scrub in. We will have a team of four doctors, us included and it's planned for Friday morning. I know that's not a lot of time to prepare but I'm willing to help in any way I could, answering all questions you may have," Ashley explains further and I already feel a headache coming on.

It's Tuesday for Christ's sake. That's less than three days away. But it's not like I can say no to saving a little girl's life. So I nod instead.

"Okay. I'm going to need updated scans as well as labs-" I start, but get cut off again. She has a habit of doing that.

"I've already put in the orders for tomorrow and given you access to her files," Ashley says, that same smile back on her face.

I don't really know what else to add so I get up from my seat, feeling suddenly quite awkward. I wonder if Kai knows about this? Probably not, right? Doesn't really matter I guess. "Okay well.. I'll find you if I have any questions," I say, smiling as well, and turn to leave, pushing my chair under the desk. But a hand on mine stops me and forces me to look back at Ashley who has stood up as well.

"Thank you.. This means a lot to me and I know us working together may be a little awkward, so I'm just really appreciative of you doing this," Ashley says and for a moment I wonder if she might shed a tear. Are all peds doctors this emotional? Probably. Then again, I would be too if I had to deal with sick kids all the time.

"It's no problem, really," I assure her with a nod. Her hand leaves mine at that and I can finally walk away, sighing a breath of relief. A little awkward is an understatement, but I won't let that stand in the way of work.

I find my way through the hospital and into my office, pulling up the girl's file once again and burying myself into her case.

That's how Kai finds me a few hours later, knocking on my door even after opening it to get my intention. I lift my eyes at the sound, wincing as a sharp pain runs through the back of my neck. Haven't really moved my head a lot apparently.

"A tricky case?" they ask, walking over to me and placing a warm cup of coffee into my waiting hands. The heat of it soothes my fingers that are tired from typing away and the faint scent of coffee emerging from the small gap in the lid is enough to wake me up a little.

"Yeah and I only have until Friday to prep for surgery," I nod, sighing of relief when Kai places their hands on my shoulders and starts massaging the tension away. "It's Ashley's patient," I add, not wanting to hold any information from them.

Kai's hands stop for just a second before returning to work on my sore muscles, but they still don't say anything for a few moments. "And you're okay with that? Working with her?" Kai asks then, their tone careful.

"We do work at the same hospital, we're bound to run into one another and work on cases together. I'm fine with it," I nod, actually meaning it. She seems nice enough and it's not like we're going to discuss our dating lives over the operating table so why would it matter.

Kai seems to settle for that response, not asking anything else and focusing on the expert massage they're giving me. I'd honestly fall asleep due to how good it feels if it weren't for the coffee in my hands that I can now occasionally sip. The combination is making me feel revitalized again and I opt to continue on working, but Kai drags me off to lunch instead. I guess I can handle a 30 minute break.