Open Heart AU 1 (Ethan Ramsey x Valerie Valentine)

An Open Heart To An Open Heart: AU1 Chapter 6

The lab tech looked to me and Ethan and gave us a slow nod.

I looked up to Ethan, who sighed and pushed his hair back, an obvious look of devastation appearing in his eyes.

"You know how you said you've never wanted to be wrong about something more than you were today?" I looked up to him, my eyes teary but my voice steady.

"...Yeah...I know Rookie." He said.

"I...I don't know If I can do this." I turned to him as the Lab Tech left.

"You can. I know you can. This is what being a doctor is about. Being there for your patients and telling them the difficult truth." He watched my eyes.

I nodded and took a deep shaky breath, closing my eyes, I felt a tear fall down my cheek. When I opened them, Ethan brushed the tear away and said "If anyone can do it, it's you. And I'm going to help you, alright?"

I picked up the diagnostics folder and collected the sheet from the test we had just done for Lamar. "Yeah...Okay.Let's do this."

Ethan nodded with assurance and we left to go and break the news to the Stevenson's.

Tertiary syphilis.

That's Lamar's diagnosis.

I'm guessing it's from his time in the green corps. He hasn't known about it but now it's in it's tertiary stage, his sight, brain and nerves are all crashing. Lamar and his wife...they're so picture perfect. In love and have this perfect house and a seemingly perfect life...but now their world is falling around them. They don't deserve that...nobody does.

So I can't help but feel sympathetic.

No matter how many times I have to break bad news, it never gets easier, but as I look to Ethan now, I see his composure has returned from that obviously brief moment of emotion.

I don't think I will ever be able to be like that. But I have to try.

Liz was sitting in the waiting room, eyes cast down and hands clasped together.

I halted in my tracks and grabbed the sleeve of Ethan's coat.

"Come on. It will be okay..." He turned slowly and placed a gentle hand on mine.

I took a deep breath and centred myself.

Come on...you can do this...

Ethan believes in you...so believe in yourself.

I straightened myself out and before I knew it, I took a confident step past Ethan and went over to Liz.

As she rose from her seat, she pleaded with me. "Do you have any answers for me? Please..."

"I looked into Lamar's green corps record after his hallucinations today on a hunch. It turns out that three of his colleagues were called Tommy, Alex and Fiona. So, we collected cerebrospinal fluid for a V.D.R.L test and..."

I could tell she wanted to hear something that wasn't the worst-case sceneario...but she knew all too well that that wasn't the case.

I took a quiet breath in and said "Mrs Stevenson, I want you to know that this is not a reflection of who Lamar is and how much he loves you..."

"I...I know...I just can't bear a moment longer not knowing what's wrong..."

"...We confirmed that Lamar has tertiary syphilis."

Her eyes widened with shock, before closing. Tears falling down her cheeks.

I had to look away.