Hurts So Good (Neil Melendez (The Good Doctor) x OC)

A Difficult Parting

Two surgeries, a hundred and twenty-seven exams, two armchairs, thousands of bouquet ideas and three songs later, Claire tells me that it is my last day at the hospital. They're discharging me tomorrow just after lunch. 

"Are you happy?" that's the one million dollar questions. Am I? In these weeks I've grown attached to all of these people, so much so that not seeing them on a daily basis will probably feel weird. 

"I'm not sure to be honest, Claire. Even in spite of everything that happened, I enjoyed my time here. You all made it bearable and I'll never stop saying thank you. I'm grateful you were here since Second Zero, you've been so caring and understanding and... can I tell you something?" I had noticed one of her colleagues, Dr. Reznick, calling her by the nickname "Saint Claire" and her reaction hadn't been that great.

"Yeah, anything."

"You should embrace the way Dr. Reznick calls you, you know? Saint Claire. Dr. Browne, you are a saint. You are patient. You care for your patients in a human way. We feel appreciated and understood. Don't ever change, Claire. Be who you're supposed to be and remember to only fly towards those flowers that will support you no matter what. Leave the rest aside if they don't make you happy or if they don't make you a better person."

I see she has tears in her eyes, it wasn't my intention to make her cry, I don't know why she's crying, but I signal for her to come closer and hug me. 

"Thank you, Jade. I really needed to hear that," she sobs on my shoulder, "do you think we'll be able to go out sometimes?"

"I don't see why not! All I'll be drinking will be fruit juices and water, but I think we can make it happen," I say while laughing just thinking about it. 

"You'll make a great mum. I hope next time I'll see you here will be to bring her out of there," she says pointing at my belly.

"Oh I hope so too! No more trips here... Unless..."

"Yep. Unless."

"Unless, right?"

*

*

"I wanna see how you're doing again in two weeks, alright?"

Unless. Unless Melendez tells me I need to come up here to check in on things again. I'm sitting on my armchair and he's standing right in front of me when I mockingly answer, "Aye Doc. I'll see you on September 15th then," he gives me one of those looks I came to know very well during my weeks of staying, those "not a joke" looks, that make me all warm inside. We had started spending more and more of his free time and breaks together just talking about everything and anything. On a personal level, he was still as much a mystery as when I had first met him, but you could ask me anything about his career and his work at the San Jose and I'd know the answer. He knew a lot more about me: I had told him about my mum, her illness, my pregnancy, my job and other hobbies, and that was enough for us to talk for hours if given the opportunity.

"And if everything's good we'll start physiotherapy, so we can get that arm to work again and you'll be able to hold your baby like you've always wanted," he says moving his eyes from my bump to my face.

"Who's gonna help me with that?"

"Uh, about that," he gulps down the remaining coffee in his black cup, "I hope you don't mind, I have contacted a friend of mine, she has her own private practice here in San Jose."

"Private practice? Neil, I don't have enough money for a private practitioner to help me out, I sell flowers not flower shaped diamonds," the boutique was doing good, great actually, but paying for a private practitioner was going to be expensive.