Open Heart One Shots (Choices)

Secret's Out

Summary: When everyone at Edenbrook finds out Cassie's identity, she realizes who her true friends her.

Cassie Valentine was having a good day. She had just returned from a week-long vacation on the French Riveria with her family. After the year she'd had, the time off was exactly what the doctor ordered to reset and refresh.

Intern year was almost over (a few more days to go!) and she finally felt confident in her ability as a doctor. She was looking forward to mentoring her own intern and starting her junior fellowship on the famed Diagnostics Team with her medical hero and secret lover, Dr. Ethan Ramsey.

Speaking of, she checked the calendar app and the notification she'd set with a red heart emoji. There were exactly five days left until Ethan came home from his mission with the WHO in the Amazon. It had been a long eight weeks!

She hugged the knowledge to herself as she made her way to the locker rooms to change out of her scrubs.

Her friends were waiting for her at Donahue's. She was only an hour over shift, she thought checking her wristwatch; they were well-used to her ways by now to complain.

Well, Jackie would complain and drink her share of the shots. Cassie knew it was still hard for Jackie that she'd lost out on the junior fellowship, even if she said she'd accepted it. It would take time; in the meantime, she would just have to be patient with her friend.

Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't immediately register the presence of others in the locker room or what they were talking about until she heard her name.

"I can't believe she's that Valentine," the male voice exclaimed. "What is she doing slumming over here?"

"She was probably laughing behind our backs every time we vented about student loans," a female voice griped. "Her family could pay off all our debts and never notice. What a two-faced bitch!"

"Probably doesn't even need to work," said the man. "Imagine a spoilt rich brat taking a residency spot from someone that truly deserved it."

Cassie recognized the voices as belonging to two Emergency Medicine interns that she'd worked with during her ED rotation.

Working in ED was like being in the trenches together and she thought she'd gotten along quite well with these two. And they with her.

She had never lied about her last name, but she admitted reluctantly, neither had she broadcast her family's status at work. Deep down inside she knew that it would have created a barrier between her and her fellow interns.

Wealth always did as she had cause to know from past experience. So, she had kept the knowledge to herself and pretended to be like everyone else.

Sienna was the only one she had confided in, trusting her completely to not judge or treat her differently. She wasn't even sure if Ethan fully knew or understood her background. Or if he cared. He never talked about his family or where he'd grown up. There was so much they still didn't know about each other.

"Maybe I should send an anon to HSTea about exactly where this Valentine Twin has been hiding," the male intern said maliciously.

"Do it!" his companion laughed. "Be sure to grab a pic of her being puked on. That'll teach her to lie to everyone."

A locker door slammed shut and Cassie realized that she was still standing frozen inside the door. The gossiping duo would see her as soon as they came out from behind the wall of lockers.

She quickly ducked into a row of lockers at the far end and turned her back to the opening. She heard footsteps, the murmur voices and then the sound of the door closing. The eerie silence told her she was alone.