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“I can’t believe that you graduated from medical school and didn’t want a graduation party!” Carter told Lucy, sounding confused. It was the night after her ceremony, and he was taking her out to dinner on his dime.
“Why are you surprised?” Lucy asked. “You didn’t even go to your own party, but for different reasons than why I didn’t want one. You were taking care of a sick kid; I just don’t like a lot of attention and huge parties. Plus, I had a party when I finished my undergrad. Then again, four years ago, I didn’t have an anxiety diagnosis. Being the center of attention in a big crowd drains me now.”
“I can see where you’re coming from. I didn’t even think about that.”
Lucy still couldn’t believe that Carter showed any interest in attending the ceremony, or buying her dinner to celebrate. She was almost amused in the lead-up, though, thinking about just how much they used to despise and disrespect each other. She knew some of it was her fault, like lying about knowing how to start an IV when she could have just been honest from the start. And he later regretted listening to her recorded thoughts on her computer, where she detailed just how much she couldn’t stand him or her work environment. Go figure, her surviving a stabbing attack carried out by a psychiatric patient was the thing that brought them closer together and reignited her secret crush on him.
“We’ve come such a long way since my first rotation,” she said, verbalizing her thoughts. “I never wanted to hate my first resident, but God, we were like oil and water.”
“Remember when Mark had to mediate between us in the lounge during your first performance evaluation and even he couldn’t fix things?” Carter asked. “Finally, he gave up and left, and you and I just stared at each other, knowing he was forcing us to talk but neither of us wanted to even be in the same room. It felt like an eternity before you told me to just be honest about your performance so you could at least believe you were learning something.”
“Yeah, I was pretty immature.” Lucy admitted.
“It’s no problem. We were all immature med students once.”
“Makes it even harder to believe that we ended up practically making out in the X-ray room.” She giggled, recalling how she pushed the boundaries of a forbidden crush and flirted with Carter before they started fooling around on the floor. Then, of course, Chuny caught them and rumors flew through the ER.
“We still shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “Although it was like your feelings for me never died, even when we were at odds for the 500th time. You hated me, but you always wanted to like me at the same time. I was still surprised when you invited me to sit with you at Doc Magoo’s the same night I gave you a hard time about taking Ritalin.”
“You changed after that, though. You were a lot easier to work with once I told you about my GAD. And…I don’t know. I guess it helps that you worked so hard to save my life after I was stabbed.”
She got quiet, and Carter looked down at his plate, unable to respond. He was still haunted by the night he found her in Curtain 3, bleeding to death and being ignored while the rest of the staff was having a Valentine’s Day party. He felt guilty even though she survived because he knew he should have been monitoring her treatment of Paul more closely, and he nearly worked himself into exhaustion running her trauma before trying to come into the OR to observe her surgery. Benton had pretty much forced him to wait outside because he was in no shape to be in there interfering with the surgeons’ jobs. He resented it at the time but realized later that, naturally, Benton was right.
“The kiss on the cheek you gave me once I was well enough to want affection,” Lucy said slowly. “Was that an ‘I love you’ kiss?”
“I was trying to make you feel better. You were so worried about going back to work, and it was more of a friendly gesture than a romantic one; at least that’s what I thought I was doing. Did it give you the wrong impression?”
“No, not at all, now that I’m thinking about it. You just wanted to help. I thought it was soothing, like an ‘it’s going to be OK’ type of moment. But that’s what really started to make me see potential for us, and it made me look forward to graduating even more so we could get on with it. It showed me that if you could be there for me during the worst point of my life and realize you had had a bad attitude toward me when you first met…well, I believe in second chances. I got one with you when you told me not to lie to you again. And now here we are: celebrating my graduation and my residency match in the ER.”
“I can’t wait for what’s to come either.” Carter reached over and took her hand. “What do you think everyone’s going to say when we announce that we’ve kind of been seeing each other and keeping our relationship under wraps before we’re really ‘supposed’ to be dating?”
“Chuny’s not going to be surprised; that’s for sure.” Lucy giggled again. “I think she always thought we were going to get together. Kerry and Mark might silently disapprove of how we snuck around and that you and I had some date nights while I was still a student, but at the end of the day they can’t really do anything now that I’m graduated. We’re both going to be residents. I’m just looking forward to being more public and no longer having to worry about getting caught.”
“We definitely can’t make out in the hospital again, though. It was too obvious the first time we did it.
“And oh, one more thing: we have to tell Gamma.”
They both laughed. Lucy had met Gamma, but since she definitely wouldn’t approve of Carter being in a relationship where there was a clear power dynamic, he had introduced Lucy to her as his medical student and later, he told her they had become good friends. In fact, Gamma had welcomed Lucy to her house when she felt lonely or stressed after the stabbing and needed company. So hopefully, the news of their new romance would go over well.
“We can always tell her a white lie,” Lucy decided. “We don’t have to tell her we’ve been trying to keep our romance under wraps. We can make it seem like that now that I’m out of medical school, I realized I had feelings for you, or vice versa, and we decided to take the leap. And it was just one of those things that we didn’t want to move forward with until it was appropriate to do so.”
“I like that story. Like finding love in an unexpected place. She always did tell me what a good friend I was to you during your recovery, plus she already likes you. She didn’t bite her tongue on some of the other girls I’ve introduced her to over my last several dating years.
“What about your mother? Do we have to worry about her?”
“Nah. When it comes to romance, she’s always trusted my judgment. If anything, she’ll just give some platitudes about how she wishes us well and then will otherwise back off unless we decide to get married. She’s always said she’s looking forward to helping me plan my wedding, so if we get that far, then you’ll see and hear her a lot more often.”
“I can deal with that.
“Hey, not to change the subject,” he said. “But do you want to open your graduation gift?”
“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot you had that! Sure, I’d love to. We’re pretty much done eating anyway, it seems like.”
Carter reached for the box on the chair next to him and handed it to Lucy. She took off the wrapping paper and opened the lid of the box, and then she ran her hand over the gift: a new white doctor’s coat. After a brief minute, she took it out and held it up, admiring the L. Knight, M.D. embroidery.
“Carter, you really didn’t have to—” she started to say before he smiled and nodded.
“Look, when I graduated, Benton gave me a lab coat too, but he just left it in a box at the front desk. I wanted to pass the tradition down, but given that I’m not him—and never will be, as he reminds me—I wanted to dress it up a little bit more for you. Plus, it felt really special to do this for you when you weren’t sure about staying in medicine, much less had some precarious days when we thought you wouldn’t survive your injuries.”
“I…see what you’re saying.” She beamed and put it on for a minute. “I feel like a real doctor now.”
“Well, enjoy your time off because starting in July, everyone’s going to look to you to make all the decisions and help the new med students. You won’t supervise a student, but they will want your guidance. I hope you’re ready.
“And the other thing is…I’ll always feel guilty that we got off on the wrong foot, but I hope things get better going forward. I hope you don’t think I’m buying my way into our new relationship, though.”
“Please, I don’t. Now, let’s quit kicking ourselves about the past.” She stood up from her chair and gave him a kiss. “No more. On to the next chapter.”
“You’re still making the first move. That’s exactly what a good doctor needs to do when someone’s life is on the line.”
“It’s also a sign that you have a strong and confident girlfriend.”