The Smart Sister

What's the problem?

After the disaster that was their first date, Amelia began to avoid Reed. If he came to work on the yard, she would leave and do errands elsewhere. She didn't want to deal with him anymore. She had high hopes for Reed. He had messed things up before they even began. 

So she did the only thing she could do. She focused on work. She had a new vigor for her patients. She was determined to get her patients back to 100% as soon as possible. He wanted to see a doctor. Hell, everyone wanted to see a doctor. So, that is what she would be. The best damn doctor there was. 

After another two weeks, she had room on her roster for three more people. She was proud of herself for getting her patients out into the real world again. She was excited for them, but she had to admit she was selfish. 

Three empty spaces that were prime for new patients. Higher-risk if she got her wish. So as the assignments were given out at the arrival of new patients, Amelia made sure to stand in the front. She wanted to make sure her supervisor Dr. Marchand saw her. Sometimes, the presence was the only thing that you needed. 

It wasn't enough. She was given another senior with a broken leg that had no care at home. She took the case and dealt with it. 

Two more spots left. 

Then, she was given the case of a minor concussion. Then, she had only one more spot. 

Finally, she was given a baffling case of hives on a young girl that no one understood. Amelia thought maybe this was the case that allowed her to prove her usefulness. 

She was studying the case file of the little girl during one of her breaks. She wanted to know everything about the girl to see if she could figure out what was wrong. 

"Oh, is that the case of the Anderson's little girl with the hives?" said Wyatt Sanders, another resident. 

Amelia absently nodded as she flipped through the pages. She could feel the presence of Sanders reading the file over her shoulder. 

"Oh!" Amelia looked up to see Sanders having an "aha!" moment. 

Amelia tried to hold back her surprise. It was obvious that Sanders knew what was wrong, but she didn't see it. 

"You see what's wrong, right?" asked Sanders as he sipped on his coffee.

"Of course. I just like to study my cases very deeply."

Sanders smiled as he said, "Right? It's so obvious. Well, I've got to go deal with my patients." 

Then, he left. Except Amelia didn't see it. It wasn't obvious to her. 

So she sat there and tried to figure it out. Well, she did have all the time in the world. All of her patients were very low-risk. Besides, if they needed her, the nurses knew to call her or find her in the break room where it felt that she spent most of her time. 

It felt like forever when she noticed what was wrong. It was a reaction to a bug bite of some kind. It was all there. The family had went on a camping trip this past weekend. The little girl probably got bit during the trip and had been picking at it ever since. 

When she figured it out, she felt like an idiot. It had been there. Right there. 

Maybe there was a reason she wasn't given the harder cases. She couldn't handle the simpler ones. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Reed came back to clean up Amelia's yard after their first date, he was determined to fix everything.

They had a nice dinner and great company. He let his own insecurity ruin it all. 

He needed to fix this.

So he did his usual job of fixing up the flowers and yard. He made sure everything looked spectacular. He didn't want there to be any complaints on that front. 

He cleaned up as best as possible and sat on her porch. And waited. He knew she had been avoiding him, but he was going to wait for as long as he needed.

He knew they might fail even if they got together, but he needed to see it through first. 

It didn't seem long before he saw her car pull into the driveway, but it just stood there in the driveway, idling. 

Reed could see her disbelieving face through the window. He had let her avoid him, but today was different. He stared her down from his place on the porch. 

Maybe she recognized that he wasn't to be moved because the car turned off. Then, she opened the door slowly. Reed had to remind himself to breath. 

"What are you doing here, Reed?"