Home { S. Crosby }

The Future is Now

In a convention center filled with hundreds of pediatric specialists, doctors, PA's, and researchers Mollie Holden stood petrified waiting for her turn at the podium at the center stage.

It was a short speech, honestly 10 minutes tops, a simple overview of her first year in her own practice. It was meant to be casual, a breeze to most, but Mollie detested conferences and never thought she would wind up speaking at one.

Yet here she was.

It was mandatory, the speech, all ten of her Johns Hopkins residency classmates were speaking throughout the weekend and Mollie was unfortunately leading off.

And it wasn't that she hated public speaking, it was just that she couldn't control how red her face got, or how she stuttered, or how sweaty her hands and feet got. 

Okay, so maybe she did hate it.

But here she was, and the emcee was calling her name, and she was just praying to God on repeat that she wouldn't trip in her heels as she walked across the stage.

Leaning down on the podium Mollie took a deep, shaky breath, her knuckles blanching as she held on tightly. Exhaling she mentally focused on the note cards in front of her, she could totally do this.When she looked up and 200+  sets of eyes locked on her, Mollie no longer felt the same way.

Powering on despite her fear she smiled as big as she could at the crowd, adjusted the microphone, and introduced herself. "Hello everyone, my name is Dr. Mollie Holden and I practice general pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's clinic. I am a 2015 Harriet Lane Pediatrics Residency scholar, and a 2013 University of Pittsburgh school of medicine graduate."

Mollie's hands were shaking as she flipped onto another notecard full of talking points, after she got through her introduction and finally got into talking about medicine she felt herself settle in.

That was until she took a deeper look into the crowd.

When her eyes locked in on his Mollie's brain suddenly stopped functioning.

A convention center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia was the absolute last place Mollie thought she would ever see Jonah Halstead.

But there he was.

His facial hair was thicker now, his hair a tad longer, but all in all the last year hadn't changed him much. There he was and he knew she had seen him.

Jonah smiled at her, his signature grin big and dopey as if he was trying to encourage her to keep going. In order to do so and regain focus on the reason she was even speaking Mollie quickly looked away, cleared her throat, and looked back down at her notecards.

Five minutes later Mollie rushed off the stage, rounded the corner backstage in a flash, and grabbed a bottle of water off the Kraft Services stable. She ripped the lid off and chugged half of the bottle as she leaned against the wall.

Her nervous system was shot and she wasn't confident whether she wanted to vomit or pass out. Or both, both was also an option.

She closed her eyes trying to will it all away but the only thing she could think about was him, all she saw was him. And in all honestly Mollie thought she would never see, him, Dr. Jonah Halstead ever again.

Their lives were in separate cities now, he was in Chicago, she was settled back in Pittsburgh. She had gone back to her old life and Jonah had gone off to a new one. This 48 hour trip to Atlanta, Georgia was not supposed to bring her down memory lane.

She was wrong.

Knowing she couldn't hide from him forever Mollie regained her composure, straightened her skirt, tossed her water bottle into the trash and began walking back towards the main room. It didn't take her long to spot him, but she wasn't quite ready to face the music so when she heard her name being called in the opposite direction of where Jonah was standing Mollie was relieved.