Open Heart One Shots (Choices)

It's a Match

Summary: When Cassie receives an unexpected email, it forces her and Ethan to settle a pressing issue.

Cassie Valentine was engrossed in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and a hematological case study about success in patients with amyloidosis using autologous blood stem cell transplants.

Ever since she had to give Suzette the diagnosis, she had started to expand her own knowledge about the condition. She had even dug up Ethan's old research on systemic amyloidosis hoping to find inspiration, something he might have missed.

Of course, he never missed, and she had reached the limits of her medical understanding.

She closed the journal, flinging it to the other side of the bed in frustration. Her trip to London was meant to help her gain perspective and reset. Now just one day since her return she was back to feeling hopeless.

Lying on her back, she tapped her fingers on her belly in tune to the music coming through her headphones and stared at the ceiling; her thoughts running a mile a minute.

She recognized how lucky she was to have received a crash course in medicine's toughest mysteries as a junior fellow on Edenbrook's Diagnostics Team. But there was no denying that she was still only a third-year resident wearing her training wheels and would be so until the board exams next year.

Maybe she should consider a fellowship in hematology or rheumatology. But if she was honest, neither really interested her. She had always been drawn to human behavior, hence her undergrad in psychology, and also why diagnostics was so appealing to her.

Neurology or neuroscience research would be a better fit once her residency finished. While Edenbrook had a good neurology program, the one at Hopkins was better. It was also closer to home, and yet, D.C. and Arlington didn't feel like home anymore.

Before she could contemplate the future further, her phone pinged. She held it up in front of her face and saw a message from Ethan inviting her for a night cap. She texted him back to say she was on her way.

Half an hour later, she unlocked his apartment door, calling out his name when she found the living room and kitchen empty.

"In the guest bedroom," he called back, accompanied by the sound of furniture scraping against the floor.

She followed the sounds and stood in the doorway admiring the way the muscles on his back and upper arms rippled as he pushed a chest of drawers against the back wall.

"Redecorating?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Hardly," he grunted as he adjusted the angle before stepping back to make sure it was straight. "There was something stuck between the drawers and the wall. I wouldn't have noticed except the cleaning service left a note about it."

He dusted off his hands and took a few steps towards her, pulling her in for a quick kiss. She wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat.

Between her trip and the types of cases they had been working on before she left, they hadn't had much time to spend together as a couple. Inhaling his scent now, she realized how much she had missed this, missed him, missed them.

"Hi," she whispered as they drifted apart.

"Hi," he said gruffly before clearing his throat. "Feeling rested?"

She made a face as if to say she wasn't sure.

"Why don't you head on out to the balcony?" he suggested. "I'll bring the wine."

By the time Ethan joined Cassie outside, she was curled up on the padded bench scrolling through her Pictagram feed for messages she'd missed during her trip. She shifted to make room for him, entwining their fingers together as she draped his arm over her shoulder and cuddled closed.