Animal Magnetism [Chris Evans]

Chapter 27

Chris

Our last day of filming is pretty cruisy, we've put in so many extra hours lately that we only have two easy scenes to shoot to wrap up. Tomorrow night there's a small gathering at Bondi and then Amelia and I have the weekend alone before I leave on Monday. I feel sick when I think about it; I've prepared as best I can but I've accepted the inevitable heartbreak to come.

I deliberately haven't told Amelia we wrapped up early so I could surprise her at work; I'm hoping my efforts today will go some small way toward making up for being an arse last time. I've grown quite fond of Piper's little squeak of excitement every time I walk in the doors to the surgery, I might even miss it a little bit.

"Perfect timing, her last patient just went in." She opens the reception door and launches herself at me, almost knocking me off my feet with a forceful bear hug. "We're going to miss having you around, Chris. You've been so good for our Amelia."

"I'm gonna miss you guys too," I say with a laugh. "I'm nothing special, Piper. I just got lucky."

She's blushing furiously as she releases me and sits back down, refusing to look at me. "I hope that was OK, I just thought you should know."

"Of course. I'm a cuddly kind of guy."

In an effort to keep it low key this time I'm sitting in the lunch room reading emails on my phone when Piper appears in the doorway. "She shouldn't be too much longer, this consult has gone way over."

"It's OK, she's just doing her job. We've got a bit of time."

Finally I hear her voice and I wait until her patient has gone to head back out to find her.

"Oh, sweetie," I overhear Piper gasp. "How awful."

"What's awful?" I ask gently from the doorway. Amelia has one hand covering her face but I can see tears welling in her eyes. "What happened, babe?"

She rushes at me and falls into my arms, burying her sniffles in my shirt. After a minute or so of rubbing her back she leads me to the kitchen. "Buddy has cancer."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." I pull her back into me and wrap my arms tight around her while she cries, her tears absorbed by my t-shirt.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" she asks while blowing her nose into a tissue.

"I might have organised a couple of late afternoon surprises."

"Oh. I have patients up until 6."

"No, Piper put those in. They're not real ones, Buddy was your last for the day."

"What are you up to, Boston?"

"I was just thinking, if you want to skip it and have a quiet night in I understand."

"Absolutely not."

"Ok. You ready to go?"

"I just... um..." She moves behind the desk and starts gathering notes and folders, tugging at her ear like she always does when she's stressed. "Piper, I need... I can't think."

"Sit," she instructs, pointing at the second chair and taking a notepad and pen. "Tell me what needs to be done for Buddy."

"Adam Barton, the oncologist. Can you email him Buddy's file for me and I'll call him from the car to explain. He can get a head start on a treatment plan and we'll go see him first thing on Tuesday if he can get us in."

"Done. Anything else?"

"See when the MRI is available next, it will probably be late next week. Use all of your sweetest words and see if you can get it earlier."