S C H M I C O || A collection of short stories

4,619 Miles (part two)

The past year had gone by dreadfully slow.

It felt as if the world was purposefully dragging it out, preventing Levi and Nico from ever reuniting with one another. It was painful, but bearable for the most part. They managed to get through it. Only just.

The year apart had been interesting for both of them, as so much had happened which they couldn't exactly share with each other. Nico had been learning so many interesting things working at Manchester and constantly had stories to tell Levi, which would never fail to entertain him. It seemed that the people in Britain had it out for them, with how much shit they seemed to get in to. Nico had also noted how they weren't always the friendliest people, especially around the part he was working at.

One of his favorite stories to tell Levi was the one about the five-year-old who'd fallen off her pony and broken her arm. She was the most joyous, wonderful little girl and let Nico do everything he needed, without question. She was smart and she had this humor about her that little girls generally didn't have. Nico had described her as an old soul trapped in a young body. That was the patient that made Nico realize that maybe kids weren't as bad as he thought. It was probably one of the only patients he'd had that made an impact on his life.

Levi's life had been pretty hectic back at Grey Sloan too. He was no longer an intern but had struggled to decide something to specialize in. Part of him wanted to go into general, as he knew that was something he was good at. After all, it's what he had been focused on for so long. However, that didn't feel right for him. As much as he enjoyed it, it isn't what drew him in. Eventually, with the help (more like persuasion) of Link, he decided on ortho. Link could see that Levi had potential when it came to ortho, as he had proven so many times before. Casey went into pediatrics, which surprised no one. Casey had a way with the younger ones. Taryn went into neuro and Qadri went into trauma.

Being alone at home wasn't something Levi enjoyed. It made him feel strangely uncomfortable. He wanted Nico to come home so badly, but he wasn't about to ask him to come home and ruin the amazing opportunity he had. So, one night whilst they were face-timing with each other, they got to talking. Well, Levi got to talking, Nico just listened.

By the end of the call, Levi had convinced Nico to let him get a dog. They'd been wanting one for a while now and were just waiting for the right time to adopt one. It seemed like the right time now. Especially since Levi was so lonely, it would give him something to look forward too when he came home. A few days after that call and Nico received a photo from Levi.

It was a selfie of him with a little black Pomeranian, who looked as if she was smiling. Nico had been having a busy and stressful day at the hospital, so seeing that photo made his day so much better. The little dog was named Samurai. It seemed fitting.

The one thing that Nico would hate himself for was not being there was Levi got seriously sick. It'd been radio silence on Levi's end, no matter how many times Nico had texted him. The first few hours, Nico had just thought that Levi may have been busy. After a whole seven hours of not being answered, that is when he started to feel as if something was wrong. It wasn't at all normal for Levi to not give an answer. Nico had never been one to get overly anxious, even in super stressful situations, but this was definitely an exception. He'd never experienced so much anxiety in his life.

Eventually, he'd made contact with Helm to try and find out why Levi wasn't replying. He hoped that Helm would tell him that Levi was perfectly fine, that he was perhaps in a long, complex surgery, or that he was sleeping or something that didn't involve Levi being dead or injured. When Helm told him that Levi was in surgery, he felt himself relax. When she'd also told him that yes, he was in surgery, but he was the one being operated on, his anxiety only skyrocketed.