Open Heart AU 1 (Ethan Ramsey x Valerie Valentine)

Love, Hate And Principles: AU1 Chapter 14

Valentine.

I walked down the hall with my folder cradled in my arms and heading to the diagnostics team. Things.... have been surprisingly normal. Apart from Rafael nearly getting himself killed and getting suspended. He's a sweetheart but never weighs up the risks. Sadly, this was one too many times.

"suspended? What did he do?" Ethan said when I had told him.

"well... he climbed down a cable that was suspending a car off the edge of a bridge with a teenage driver in it to save him." I had explained.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed "my god..."

I smiled and shook my head, remembering his priceless reaction, but that soon faltered when I approached the same Ethan Ramsey, pacing up and down and pinching the bridge of his nose.

When he heard me approach, he stopped and looked up at me,an unreadable expression on his face.

Uh oh...

"Rookie." he said, not in the normal tone, but similar to that of my first days of Edenbrook when it was a demeaning name..

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" He folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

I gulped silently and swallowed.

".... about?" I said cautiously.

Ethan

"About this!" My voice came out harsh as I gestured to the patient's window I was referring too.

"a high solicit patient!" I approached valentine.

"Even after we discussed it and I gave you my view point on it, you went behind my back and did it anyway." I glared her down.

I expected some retreat but instead she looked right into my eyes and said "This is about helping a patient no matter their status in the media and society. If she's being pushed away by every other Doctor doesn't she deserve our help? And If on top of it we can help Edenbrook, what's the problem ? "

I ran my hands down my face and sighed deeply. "The problem is that that is not what the team is about. It's not what Naveen wanted and what I've tried to uphold! There are rules, boundaries and values, Doctor Valentine. Ones that should be kept."

"Part of being a doctor, Doctor Ramsey, is taking care of people who need it. By doing this, we can. Now... and for the foreseeable future."

"you don't know if this is going to work. Why would you come to me about it if you would just going to do it anyway?"

"...Because...I thought you would see it my way..." She sighed.

I looked back into the room of Gwyneth Monroe, some kind of 'internet celebrity', sitting in the hospital bed, talking and smiling at cameras dotted about the room.

And then I glanced to Valentine, who was now nervously chewing her lip, glancing down and tapping her nails silently against her folder.

I sighed and said "Bite any harder, you'll draw blood."

She looked up, suddenly alert and removed her teeth from her lower lip, leaving a swollen, red mark.

"We will continue this discussion later, but now you have a patient." I raised a brow.

"Yes doctor Ramsey..." She released a breath she was holding and nodded, before heading towards the door.

As she passed, I gently took her elbow and looked into her eyes once more. "I know you have a good heart, Rookie. I know you want to do what you think is best... and sometimes... most of the time, that's the right call. But we don't know what's going to happen here...it could backfire and anyone could get hurt... including you. That paramedic Aveiro, he does the same and look where that's got him. This situation is trickier...you know that I don't take risks. Especially if this team... and your career is out for quits. But going against my standards and principles is something else I can't do..."