Open Heart One Shots (Choices)

Last Night On Earth

Summary: If it's her last night to live, there's nowhere he'd rather be than by her side.

Dr. Ethan Ramsey had a reputation for being calm, cool even, in the face of adversity. Some people whispered that he could be heartless, while others thought he saved all his emotions for his patients.

Indeed, in the ten years he had worked at Boston's Edenbrook Hospital, only a handful of people had seen him lose control, let alone cry. And yet, that's exactly what Danny Cardinal witnessed one summer night in the empty waiting area on the fifth floor.

The nurse stood in shock, watching tears stream down Dr. Ramsey's face, his eyes devastated as he stared unseeingly at a blank wall. He'd heard the older doctor had lost a patient tonight, but this was the first time he had seen the other man this emotional over it.

Danny almost went over to comfort the austere attending, but he hung back when he saw the new intern, Dr. Valentine, rush to his side. The two doctors spoke briefly before Dr. Ramsey brushed her off and marched away, not noticing her grief-stricken face.

And then she was gone too, and Danny forgot all about it as he began his hourly patient check.

One year later...

Ethan Ramsey watched from behind plastic-covered walls a man he greatly respected lose the battle against a deadly poison. The unknown pathogen had already taken one life earlier today; now, its body count had increased by one, with two more lives hanging in the balance. 

Memories swirled around him of a cold winter day five years ago when he'd come across Danny Cardinal holding his own against a patient twice his size. The young nurse had gently browbeaten the recalcitrant patient—one of Ethan's—into continuing treatment. His seemingly natural cheeriness acted as Teflon against a patient's angry tirade borne out of fear.

Since then, Danny was often assigned to Ethan's patients along with Sarah and Marlene. Naveen joked that those three were the only ones from the nursing staff brave enough to not be cowed by Ethan's frowns or growls.

Whatever the reason, Ethan had appreciated Danny's skills, even if his perpetual positivity baffled him at times. And now he watched a bright light extinguish from the world, and he knew that time was running out for Cassie.

He needed to fix this. He had to fix this!

A few hours later, Ethan watched the hands on the wall clock above the door creeping forward and wished for time to slow down. There were so many memories he had yet to make with Cassie Valentine. But he was very much afraid time was against them. He cursed himself for having wasted so much of it worrying about what other people thought, let alone his hang-ups.

The last six months with Cassie had been the best of his life. He would do anything to hold on to that for the rest of his life.

When he'd finally admitted that he was in love with her, he felt a weight lift off him, and the dark clouds of loneliness drifted away. It wasn't that he had been starved for companionship before her. He had dated and much more for years, never settling because he couldn't see the point.

Memories of those other women were as ephemeral as ghosts. But every moment with Cassie was clear as glass.

Holding her hand the first time they met last year and feeling his world tilt on its axis. When she'd come over to his apartment after learning of Naveen and her unwavering support and belief in him during that dark time.

That first kiss on a moonlight balcony in Miami. The sight of her coming undone in his bedroom the first time and every time after. Watching dawn break through the night sky outside her bedroom window after the ethics trial. Their reunion in the beer garden after his return from the Amazon.