Open Heart One Shots (Choices)

You Weren't Meant For Me (AU)

Summary: Years after he left for the Amazon, Ethan finally returns for a bittersweet reunion with Cassie.

Ethan Ramsey checked his wristwatch for the third time as the taxi inched along Fifth Avenue and realized that he was inexcusably late for his own celebration. A person only received the Distinguished Service Award once in their lifetime and he'd never hear the end of it from Naveen if he missed the ceremony.

Telling his mentor that the delay was purely the airline's fault wasn't going to cut it. Naveen would just counter that by saying Ethan should have booked an earlier flight. There were definitely disadvantages of someone knowing you so well and for so long.

The fact that he hadn't been enthused about receiving an award for doing his job was a secondary consideration, thought Ethan.

The hotel where the event was taking place was still ten blocks away. Making a swift decision, he told the taxi driver to drop him off at the next corner and then hiked the remaining distance on foot, walking fast as he zigzagged past tourists, gawkers and street food carts.

By the time he entered the low-lit ballroom, he was slightly breathless. The usher silently closed the door behind him just as a mass of people stood in roaring applause for the award recipient currently on stage. Even though his height gave him an advantage, the sheer size of the crowd made it difficult for him to see who it was.

Ethan checked the ticket again for his table number and recalled the usher telling him it was up front and to the right of the stage. So as to not cause any disruption, he walked towards the side of the ballroom and deftly made his way up the room, scanning the table signs to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

Eventually the cheers started to die down as everyone took their seats again and the emcee stepped in front of the mic. Ethan absently glanced over to the far side of the stage and froze when he saw Cassie Valentine clutching a glass trophy, smiling and holding out one hand for someone waiting for her at the bottom of steps.

Memories flooded his mind. His hand on hers as he walked her through an emergency thoracotomy, working on Naveen's case, kissing her on a moonlit balcony in Miami and then again in his opera box. How she'd come apart in his arms when he'd finally let go of his principles and made love to her in his apartment during her suspension, and then again in her apartment after her ethics trial, their bodies pressed against each other all night long.

How they'd agreed to start a relationship soon after and those brief weeks they'd spent together as a couple before he left for the WHO mission in the Amazon. The desperate embrace and lingering kiss at the departure's hall at Logan International Airport, and the promise he'd made to come back to her.

But he hadn't. Two months had become six when he saw an opportunity to help the indigenous people get access to quality health care. Then he'd been offered a one-year contract to set up a community clinic at the local hospital and train a new crop of physicians to run it; he'd accepted thinking it would be temporary.

He remembered the tearful phone calls with Cassie as he explained why he needed to do this. She promised to wait for him. But as work took over and the mammoth size of the endeavor became all consuming, his phone calls, texts and emails started dwindling until one day he realized so much time had passed that there was nothing left of them.

He felt an incredible sense of loss when past and present converged and regrets for what could have been rose as they often did when he thought of Cassie. He caught Naveen's raised hand out of the corner of his eye and returned it in acknowledgement before making his way to their table.

The next little while passed in a blur. Naveen introduced him and outlined his accomplishments to the audience, and then Ethan walked up to the stage to an applause that wasn't quite as loud as it had been for Cassie but was respectable, nonetheless. He knew that he hadn't exactly made friends among his peers over the years with his acerbic tongue and often impatient manner.