I Believe in You

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My cellphone buzzed in my pocket while I sat in my sister's hospital room with her waiting for our parents to pick her up after mom's chemotherapy session. Two weeks before Christmas.
In coming twenty three year old male with suspected congenital heart disease. Need you.
Conrad's text read.
"I'm needed in the ER but I'll check back in with you before your discharge." I smiled and touched her hand before leaving.
"What have you got?" I asked walking up to Conrad in the emergency room.
"Micah Stevens. Twenty three year old black male with continuing chest pain and erratic heartbeat. He's been in and out of the hospital for the last week." Conrad explained before we walked into the examination room.
"Micah, this is Dr. Meghan Bishop. She'll be consulting with me today." He said smiling at the man in the bed.
"Hello." He greeted me.
"Are you like his boss?"
I laughed.
"She wishes she was my boss." Conrad teased me.
"The ring says I am." I flashed him our engagement ring with a smile.
"She's got a point there Dr. Hawkins." Micah laughed.
"Can you tell us more about your symptoms?" I asked reliving my new fiancè.
"Mainly it's the shortness of breath and I've been struggling to keep up with the excercises I used to be able to do." He explained grimly.
"I'm thinking an Echo, and an EKG." Conrad said looking at me.
"I'd start there and follow it up with an MRI and a cardiac catheterization depending on what the Echo and EKG show." I suggested.
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Better to be certain." He agreed.
I nodded.
"Dr. Hawkins is going to run a few tests to confirm our diagnosis then we'll see about starting you on some medications to manage your symptoms until a long term treatment plan can be put in place." I assured him.
He nodded and smiled at me.
"You're in good hands."
I smiled and placed my hand on Conrad's shoulder on my way out of the room.
"Meghan." He called my name walking after me.
"Yeah." I turned back to him.
"Thank you." He whispered as he got close to me.
"For what?" I asked touching his arm.
"For the help with the treatment plan."
"Sweetheart, you know what you're doing. You don't need my help." I assured him.
"Maybe, but I want it."
I smiled at him.
"You always have me. Whatever you need." I kissed him gently.
"Incoming, Meghan! It's Lily!" Irving called from across the emergency room.
Conrad followed me across the room to where Lily was being wheeled in on a stretcher.
"Hey, there." I smiled at her.
"It's so hard to breathe." She forced out.
"We're going to get you back on oxygen and start you back on broad spectrum antibiotics and knock out the infection before it can really take hold. You're going to be just fine." I assured her reaching for the oxygen mask Conrad prepared for her.
"Take a couple deep breaths for me." I instructed after securing the mask.
"Is that better?"
She nodded.
"Push five hundred milligrams of amoxicillin." I told Nic who joined us for Lily's intake.
"Dr. Hawkins or I will check back in on you in an hour or so to see how you're feeling, okay?" I touched Lily's hand.
She nodded glancing at Conrad over my shoulder.
"Get some rest."
Conrad followed me out of the room.
"She's cautious of me." He sighed.
"I told her when I first started treating her eight months ago that I was seeing a doctor here. Since I've explained to her unequivocally that I'm not dating Irving she's intrigued by a new doctor working closely with me." I laughed touching his arm.
"So, she doesn't hate me?" He chuckled.
"I have no idea if she hates you. I don't hate you." I smiled at him.
"I'll take it." He smiled back and kissed me.
"Go run Micha's tests. I've got to do my rounds."
"I hate being away from you." He complained.
"We'll reconvene in an hour. It'll be fine." I sighed teasingly.
He groaned theatrically walking away from me. I shook my head and began my rounds ending in Lily Kendall's room.
"How are you doing?" I asked sitting down beside her.
"Better as expected." She sighed.
"It's completely normal for someone undergoing an intense chemotherapy regimen as you are to be experiencing these kinds of infections." I assured her.
"I know. It doesn't make it any easier to go through it."
"I know. My mom was diagnosed with stage four metastatic pancreatic cancer around the same time I met you. She fights things like this too."
"I didn't know that." She whispered apologetically.
"I don't talk about it much. It's painful." I smiled sadly.
"Is there no hope?" She asked.
"My mom's case is very severe but I wouldn't say there's no hope. Dr. Hunter is working on her case too."
"She's a good doctor. I hope she'll find a way to help your mom."
"Thank you. Me too." I smiled again.
"Are you talking about me?" Conrad asked poking his head into the room.
"I'm always talking about you." I smiled at him.
"Should I be afraid?"
"Terrified." I teased.
"Lily, this is my fiance Conrad Hawkins. Conrad,  this is Lily Kendall." I provided the introductions and Conrad came in and took my hand.
"I missed you." He complained.
"It was less than an hour." I teased.
"Too long." He whined.
I shook my head.
"Micha's test results are in." He sighed looking at his phone.
He leaned down and kissed me before running off again.
"Is he always like that?" Lily asked.
"Most of the time, yes." I laughed.
"He really loves you." She sighed.
"I really love him too." I toyed with my new engagement ring.
"You can tell... Chad and I were like that once." She reached for my hand to examine my ring.
"It's beautiful. He did a great job." She smiled sadly at me.
"I'm sure Chad will come around. Cancer can be scary." I tried to assure her.
"I'm scared too."
"I know you are."
"How did you meet Dr. Hawkins?" She asked changing the subject.
"He and his friends were throwing a Halloween party our last year in medical school and I literally ran into him trying to walk out into the backyard."
She laughed a real hard laugh.
"You guys are a real life meet/cute story."
"Yeah I guess we are." I admitted giggling.
Later that night I laid in bed with Conrad lost in thought.
"What's wrong, Meg?" He asked gently kissing me behind my ear.
"You'd stay with me if I got sick, right?" I asked quietly.
"Of course I would." He assured me holding me tighter.
"Where's this coming from?"
"Lily has a fiance but in eight months I've only seen him a handful of times." I sighed.
"They aren't us. I'll always be right by your side." He kissed my skin again.