The doctor and the Babysitter

Chapter 23

Sarah and I were a whole different story. The New Year's kiss was our first and for a short time, I thought it was our last.

"I'm sorry, but we can't," Sarah told me after our kiss ended. It was a short and innocent one. But for me a really emotional one. I never kissed a woman with such intense feelings before.

"Why can't we?" I asked wondering what her answer will be. Sarah already opened her mouth to speak as Will entered the kitchen.

"I was wondering where you were. Come on!" he said also a bit too tipsy and we left the room with Will. Without another word to each other. But I won't give up. Everyone started to leave around the same time, so I kind of begged her to stay. She did.

Even if it was almost two in the morning I needed to know and I am sure Sarah needed this talk as well.

"Tell me, please. Why can't we do that?" I'm sure that her reasons were good ones.

"Sophia, she's so young. I don't want her to get confused or feel left behind. What about work? We will work together and it's strictly forbidden for someone like you to date someone like me." She said and I almost laughed. Someone like me? I was a normal young man. Just because I was already a Resident wouldn't change what I think of her. But clearly, others did.

"Sophia loves you and I am sure that she won't get confused, we just have to be honest with her! About work, they can't really do much with it, we dated each other earlier than we started to work together." My points were valid, but hers were too. Sometimes our staff could be so cruel. I wanted to protect her. But I don't want her to go. She should be with me. But what if being with me hurts her?

"Let's make a deal. We will take it slow. We will go on dates and 3 Months from now, we will see where we land?" I asked, I wanted to respect her wishes and I did. I don't need to like them.

"Alright, under one condition, no one knows and you will treat me like anybody else at work." She demanded and I agreed. Little did she know.

"I will, but I can be relentless!" I said and she nodded. Sometimes I could be a real asshole.

"I will have to live with that." She said and smiled, the first time this year. After that she left, although I didn't want her to leave alone, I demanded a call if anything was wrong or one after she got home.

A week after New Year I invited her to our first date.

We went ice skating. I wasn't very good but I heard from somewhere that she loved doing it. I might have asked someone at work to give me ideas. In the end, I fell most of the time with Sarah standing there. Laughing at me. I was having fun. So it was okay. After that I cooked at home, Claire couldn't take Sophia the whole night so she ate with us. As much as I wanted it to be just Sarah and me, we both loved having Sophia there. She brought such easiness to this dinner.

The second date, two weeks later wasn't that much special. We had lunch at the diner near the hospital. As we both had a shift that day and I didn't want to wait any longer. By all means, dating another doctor wasn't easy and I wondered how Will and Natalie were managing that. Because after almost two years of dating they still were so much in love like in the first week they got together.

Now, four months later we were dating. Not quite official yet, but we did inform Mrs. Goodwin and she approved. We also were already talking about our future. After we managed four months of this crazy schedule we were sure we could stay together forever. Sarah was the first woman I ever could imagine marrying her and having children together.

Since we talked with Mrs. Goodwin, we had similar shifts, which meant we would start together or end together, but either one of us had a long shift. Mostly I had the longer shift, as I was the resident and lucky for me Sarah rarely had the night shift. So most of the nights she slept at my place and looked after Sophia. They wanted to ease her into the day shift first and later on, she would also work the night shift. Because if you can do day shifts you should be able to handle the night shifts as well. Night shifts were harder, yes. But the income of patients was less than at the day.

Most Emergency incomes were Car accidents, due to drunk driving and gunshot wounds. As the gang activity was higher at night.

If Sarah and I were working on an afternoon that Sophia was off of school or the school day finished Claire would take her home to her and one of us would pick her up for Dinner and the night.

Unfortunately, on Weekends we mostly worked a different shift, so Sophia rarely was alone. Sometimes she spent the day with Claire and her cousins or would have a play-date with friends. Which meant Sara and I didn't really have time together, besides lunch or dinner. I loved when my girls came to eat dinner or lunch with me. Most of the time the break was a short one but we all enjoyed every minute.