Prettyboy, MD (ManXMan)

Chapter 8

"Come on, Prettyboy." Dylan said affectionately stroking Adam's cheek with his thumb. "Let's take you home."

"But we're on call." Adam protested, still sniffling as he wiped the residual tears off his tanned cheeks.

"We'll figure all that out. You can't work like this and I'm not leaving you alone. Not in this state." Dylan said adamantly as he lifted Adam up to his feet. "Meet me in the parkade as soon as you've changed and gotten your stuff."

"You're not coming with me?" Adam asked meekly as Dylan cracked a slight smile and lightly pushed Adam's dark hair out if from his hazel eyes.

"We have to keep this quiet for a bit, Prettyboy." Dylan explained emotionlessly. "I can't explain it, but the other residents... They won't understand this. They might get the wrong idea about us."

"Okay..." Adam said softly, though he didn't understand what that meant, not in the slightest. Perhaps the hospital had an anti-fraternization policy between employees that he wasn't aware of? Like all hospitals, Tremblay General had a strict anti-fraternization that prohibited relationships between hospital staff and patients specifically. However like most hospitals there was no set-in-stone policy prohibiting relationships between two consenting adult staff members, so far as Adam was aware; though a level of profession decorum was expected while on the ward. 

    Adam went back upstairs to change out of his scrubs and get his things out of his locker. As he walked down the hallway he saw other families in the waiting areas, he saw patients in their rooms, doctors and nurses and other staff carrying on about their jobs. Adam knew he should have been one of them, but this patient, this case, this situation shook him to his core. It all hit a bit too close to home.

"Hey. I heard what happened." He heard a soft familiar voice behind him, turning around to see Sophia giving him a comforting smile. "Are you okay?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah... I'm fine, Dr. Messina took me off call. He thinks I should take the night off." Adam said meekly.

"I know. I think he's taking the night off too... He's called in Dr. Petrakis to taking over for him." Sophia explained as she read Adam's peculiarly disconnected demeanour.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm here for you." Sophia said, snapping him back to reality.

"Thanks." He said with a weak smile. "I'm gonna head out. I'll see you later?" he asked with a forced smile, though his eyes told a different story.

"I'll see you back home! And take care of yourself. Eat something and go to sleep." She said with a supportive smile as Adam headed off towards the hospital parkade.

Standing outside the entrance he opened his contacts on his phone and scrolled to one listed as "Maria". When he left Toronto all those years ago, he left everything behind and everyone. His sister Maria was the one who found him that night, the night he plucked up the courage to tell his parents he was gay. The night they told him he was dead to them. The night he tried to end his life.

She was the one who found him at death's doorstep, the one who helped him finish out grade 12 staying in her cramped apartment in Downtown Toronto. The who helped him get to Vancouver, giving him the money she earned in her first finance job after graduating from uni. But eventually the ties they maintained fizzled away as well. For Adam it was almost as if she represented the last connection he had to his parents, to a darker time, to a chapter of his life he didn't want to remember.

His finger hovered over the call button but retracted when he remembered it was one thirty in the morning in Toronto. I'll try again... some other day. he thought to himself as he stuffed his phone in his pocked and began to glance around waiting for Dylan.