Only You

Chapter 10

It had been one of the roughest nightshifts in a long time.

For Natalie in particular it had been a difficult one. She'd lost a patient; and although she had long since accepted it as part of the job, it was especially tough when the patient was a two-year-old boy. He'd fallen and hit his head attempting to climb out of his crib – his parents had called 911 an hour later when his eyes began turning inwards but by then it was already too late. He crashed en route and, despite Nat managing to stabilise him, Dr Abrahms confirmed what she suspected – the little boy had a massive bleed to the brain and there was nothing more that could be done.

His parents had been beside themselves with grief and it was all Natalie could do to hold herself together. By the time 7am rolled around she was exhausted and overly emotional.

Will had been keeping a watchful eye on her through the shift, checking in as much as being her attending had allowed. He didn't want anyone to catch on to their newfound relationship and he also didn't want Nat thinking that he considered her so fragile she needed careful monitoring. He could see she was feeling vulnerable, especially given that she had been in those parents' position not all that long ago and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her – but that would overstep the bounds of the attending-resident relationship they were attempting to maintain within the four walls of Med, so he kept it to regular, professional check-ins.

He found her at the end of the shift, staring blankly into her locker.

"Tough night – huh?"

She turned to him, a forced smile on her face. "It's over now."

He stepped towards her opening his arms. "C'mere."

Natalie moved willingly into his arms, buried her face in his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. "That could have been me –"

"But it wasn't. Nat, you can't keep thinking like that, you're okay, Owen is okay. Things are getting back to normal."

"I just, I don't know, it was just hard."

Will pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. "I know Helen takes Owen while you're on nightshifts but why don't you go get him and have breakfast before you go to bed?"

"Hmmmm," Nat considered, moving backwards to close her locker. "I have one condition."

"Which is?"

"You come too."

**CM**

They'd gone together to collect Owen and Natalie was glad that Helen had handed the boy over with nothing more than an "I'll be over around twelve thirty" and no indication that she felt even remotely uncomfortable about Will going for breakfast with the pair. In fact, she even made a point of saying how good it was that she had the morning to herself, so she could run errands. Natalie couldn't help but feel relieved that it had gone so smoothly.

The diner they chose was quiet, filled mainly with older couples and clusters of mom's grabbing coffee post-school run. Natalie watched in amused silence as Will cut up Owen's pancakes for him and helped the boy dunk the pieces in syrup, getting both pairs of hands layered in the stuff in the process.

"So he's a messy eater as well as a messy bather?" Will joked, taking the baby wipe Natalie was offering to clean his hands once Owen was done.

"If a mess can be made then my boy's gonna make it." Nat rolled her eyes. "Isn't that right buddy?" The toddler giggled in response, excitedly kicking his legs and shrieking "Mamama!" delightedly.

Will laughed and took more wipes to clean the boy up, gently wiping his sticky hands and face. "You're a disaster kid." He joked, tickling Owen's face with the edges of the wipes, smilingly as the boy giggled uncontrollably.