Multifandom Oneshots (II)

Stephen Strange x Reader

Your phone rings, but you don't answer. You reach out and turn it off, turning your face into the pillow as a defense against the sun streaming in your window.
It rings again. You open your eyes to see the clock reading 9:45.
It's too early to handle whoever's calling.
But, of course, if they had called twice, it must be important, so you pick it up. "Hello?" You mumble.
"Y/N?" Stephen says, not sounding at all like himself.
"Hey. Are you... What happened?" You sit up in bed, worried.
"Yeah. I'm okay."
"You sure?"
"No. Not at all."
"What happened?"
"I messed up."
"You messed up?"
"Yeah. My patient... he... I messed up, and now he's dead."
"Oh, man." You get up and start putting on clothes. "How did you mess up?"
"I don't know. I thought I did it right... I don't know. How did I...?"
"I'm gonna come see you, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm going to hang up now. I'll be there in less than ten minutes."
"Okay."
You're there in seven. He's waiting outside.
"Stephen." You say.
He turns and gives you a distracted little smile. "Hey."
"Can I take you home?"
"They told me to go, so I suppose."
"Come on, get in the car." You kiss his cheek lightly and take his hand, pulling him to your car.
"Thank you." He opens the passenger door for you, because normally he drives.
"Why don't I drive, darling?"
"Yes, that'd be wise." He agrees, getting in.
You drive to his house in silence.
"Do you want to talk about it, Stephen?"
"I don't have patients die, Y/N. It doesn't happen."
"Sometimes bad things happen." I said, unlocking his door.
"Not to me. I pick who I operate on very meticulously. I do that so I don't have this happen. How did this happen?"
"Not everything can be as easy as you tell yourself it is. Let me see the file, I know you have it."
He pulls a manilla folder from his coat and hands it to you. "I documented everything."
You skim the papers and look at the scans.
As his girlfriend, you don't want to tell him what you've found, but as a doctor, you know you have to.
"Look at this." You point.
"That's his amygdala. We took a lesion out from right there." He points beside where you are.
"I saw the lesion, yes. And I know that's his amygdala. Look closer, right there." You tap.
He looks for a second, then takes it from your hands. "My God." He says, standing up and holding the scan up to a light. "How did I miss that?"
"Well, I spend whole days looking for blood clots."
"He had a damn aneurism on my table, and I missed it! My God!"
"No, look at this one. It didn't burst until after you'd finished."
"I'm going to hand in my resignation tomorrow."
"Stephen." You sigh.
"No. I've failed. I'll be an unskilled laborer or something. I can't do this anymore."
"I know it's hard to lose a patient, Stephen, but you're a gifted surgeon. If I needed brain surgery, I'd want you to do mine."
"I couldn't."
"Then I wouldn't get surgery."
"What?"
"You think I'd let just anyone operate on my brain? No. I wouldn't trust anyone but you. Well, maybe Sanjay Gupta too."
"Oh, darling, I wouldn't put your brilliant brain in anyone's hands but God's."
"Oh, so now you have religion."
"My work is my religion and my hospital is my church." He says, getting out his computer.
You close his laptop. "Exactly. You don't see people giving up their religion for one unanswered prayer, why should you renounce yours for a single mistake?"
"I don't make mistakes."
"You aren't God, Stephen. You make mistakes. Everybody does."
"Not me, Y/N. I don't."
"Stephen, promise me that if I need you to operate on me, you will."
"No. I can't. I'm too close."
"You're my emergency contact, and I want it known that nobody's to touch my brain unless it's you."
"Well, good thing you'll never need brain surgery." He opens his laptop and types his resignation.

But, of course, less than a year later, you do need brain surgery.
After a long night of shaking and screaming his throat raw, Stephen Strange walks into the hospital, perfectly composed.
"Doctor Strange! Hello." The receptionist says, pleasantly surprised.
"Hello." He walks past and into your room.
"Good morning, Doctor Strange." You say, trying not to make it harder on him than it already will be.
"Hello, Ms. Y/L/N." He says gruffly, angry. He gives you a pleading look.
"You can do it, Stephen." You smile.
"Somebody give her some anesthesia." He says, and walks out.
Admittedly, you're rather anxious. It's been a year since he's even stepped foot in the hospital, and he was about to cut into your skull. But, of course, you have a point to prove.
When you wake up, Stephen's sitting in the chair beside your bed.
"Why am I in ICU?" You ask immediately.
"You scared the living shit out of me!" He snaps angrily. "You've been out for two days! Do you know how many times we had to resuscitate you?"
"No."
"Twice! Twice! You could have died! I could have killed you!"
A nurse comes in. "Doctor, remember what we talked about?" She says warningly.
"I am calm!" He snaps, then pauses, taking a deep breath, standing. "Well, Ms. Y/L/N, how are you feeling?"
"Pretty well, given the circumstances." You say as the nurse walks out. "You look... terrible."
"Yeah, some of us have been awake for forty-eight hours. Let me look at your head."
You turn your head so he can look at the incision. He gently moves your hair out of the way, humming as he does so. "Looking good." He says quietly.
"You only thought you could get rid of me."
"One can hope." He puts your hair back down and kisses you. "You should refrain from any exerting activities for a while."
"I know."
"So, you know."
"I don't know." You give him a weird look.
"So, you know, you should stay out of my bedroom."
"I'm recovering from brain surgery and that's all you can think about?" You laugh.
"I may be a world renown neurosurgeon, but I'm still a guy." He smiles, kissing you again. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"I don't know."
He pulls back and gives you a concerned look. "Do you have memory troubles, Y/N?"
"Gotcha." You smile. "Trust me, I'd remember if you'd told me. Unless you told me while I was unconscious."
"No. While you've been asleep a couple of times, but not within the past few days." He looks relieved. "But you did just ruin my moment."
"Sorry. Redo?" You smile.
He kisses you. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"In my sleep, apparently."
"Whatever. I have other things to do." He walks out. "I love you!" He yells as he leaves.