Mia's Open Heart (Choices Open Heart AU)

Prologue/Introductions

Author's Note: Hey everyone! This section is going to be an introduction of the entire book, as far as explaining where the book picks up, the timeline, the backstory of some characters, etc. There will also be points in this where I will reference to previous works of mine, which can all be found on my Instagram @pixelberrychoicesaddict. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Timeline: This AU picks up at the end of OH2. However, this book starts off at the beginning of the year in about January. This story will be written as though the time jump in OH2 did not occur. Mia and her group of friends have become senior residents, and they are about to embark on the journey that is Bloom Edenbrook.

Main Character: The Mc for this book is named Mia Singh. She is 28 at the time of the book starting, her birthday on New Year's Eve (Read the multi-part fic "Pain" for more information and her birthday with Ethan, plus the amazing gift he gave her). She is of South Asian descent (she's Indian), but she grew up in Los Angeles. Her parents are very strict and traditional, and Mia went through a lot of emotional abuse as a child which took a toll on her as a person. Being their first and only child, she had a ton of pressure to uphold their reputation and never let them down. When she got into medical school and got a job across the country in Boston, she immediately took it and distanced herself from them. They were extremely traditional in the sense that they wanted her to marry an Indian man of their choice, so when news came out about her dating her boss, a white man 9 years older than her, they made her choose between her life in Boston, or them (Read the fic "Family" for more information on how this specific situation went). Now her parents do not consider her their daughter, something that brings a sense of freedom to her life she never had, but yet this takes a large toll on her, living with the fact that the people who are supposed to love her hate her. The only family that Mia talks to, however, is her cousin Moira and her husband Matt. Moira is 8 years older than her, and Matt 10, and they have a 6 year old and 2 year old daughters. Growing up, Moira was like a sister to Mia, and she moved to Rhode Island to become a lawyer after dealing with the struggles of her family, who were also strict but not as strict as Mia's, therefore not abandoning her when she married the white, not-Indian lawyer Matt. Matt and Ethan became friends too, relating over their experiences of being with these crazy yet unique individuals. As far as the senator incident, Mia developed mild PTSD, and often blames herself for the events of that day (See the multi-part fic "Drowning on Dry Land". She and Ethan have also moved in together into his apartment.

Alan and Louise Ramsey and Naveen Banerji: At this point, Louise is out of rehab, doing well and living with Alan. Ethan and her have been working on their relationship, and things are actually looking up for them. Alan and Louise love Mia, as they can evidently see how much she does for Ethan. They, along with Naveen, are the parental figures in her life that she never really had before. Alan and Naveen have become good friends, bonding over their shipping of Ethan and Mc in their earlier months. Whenever they do a parent get-together, Alan, Louise, and Naveen are all there.

Ines and Zaid: Ines and Zaid are engaged and about to get married. Ines has also just found out that she is pregnant, and the only people that know other than her and Zaid are Ethan, Mia, and Baz (see the fic "Not What You Think") to see how they find out and see Ethan and Mia talking about the future. Zaid and Baz have been working on their relationship, communicating more about how they feel and Zaid starting to branch out more from under Baz's shadow. Ines, Zaid, and Baz have also just become attending. Zaid, Ethan, and Esme have also somewhat become friends, their headstrong personalities that soften up around the people they care about being one of the things that really bring them together.

Other than that, the other characters are at about the same point. Rafael does not have a job and is exploring his options, still going through with physical rehab. Bryce is working as a surgical intern, coming more under the wing of Harper Emery. Harper and Aurora are working more on their relationship, it improving. Aurora is back at Edenbrook. Jackie is working past her allegations of working with Panacea, trying to improve her reputation in the field. Sienna is trying to work past the death of Danny, and is working on becoming more headstrong and not letting people take advantage of her like Mitch did.