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"Could it impact her baby's development after birth?"
"I don't know. I would need a second opinion."
“We need a peds consult.” Addison concludes,
“Yep. We need the best. Millin, page Beltran.”
There is a tense pause. Millin stands there staring at Amelia with hollow eyes. Amelia’s face in a wide smirk clicking back through the scans, calibrating how she was going to explain the case to her favorite colleague — her brain registers suddenly what she just did.
“Who’s this Beltran? I’ve never heard of her.” Addie asks curiously.
“Nevermind. Page peds. Any peds attending.” Amelia tries to change the subject, her face morphing into a dark shade which Addison picks up on.
“Wait. No Millin, page Beltran. I want the best.”
“I’ll go call Peds.” Millin leaves frantically wiping away tears.
Amelia is fumbling with the pencils, trying to pack everything back together in the small ziploc bag with shaking hands, evidently triggered and distraught.
“Amelia, what’s going on? Are you okay? Why can’t we get the peds surgeon you were so excited about? ”
“We can’t,” Amelia says flatly.
“Yes. We can. Your eyes practically lit up when you mentioned them. I’d like to meet them.” she chuckles playfully.
“She died.” Amelia croaks, her voice breaking, trying to let it out.
“Her not being here anymore… is the reason why I’m supposed to be on sabbatical right now, Addie. Please drop it.”
“Please.” Her eyes are glassy.
“Okay.” Addie nods, rubbing her shoulder.
***
“I’m sorry about earlier. For a moment… I thought everything was just as it was before… for a moment I thought she was alive… and then it just… hit me. All at once.”
“Beltran. Tell me about her.”
“She was beautiful.” Amelia’s eyes glistened with nostalgia, with sorrow, with love.
“She was kind, brilliant, stubborn, a pain in my ass.” she laughed to herself and met Addie’s empathetic eyes.
“I despised her. She pushed me to my limits, she pushed me to be the best version of myself, she thought I could do anything… even the impossible.”
“Well, she was damn right,” Addie murmured under her breath.
“She had these big brown eyes, this deadpan sarcasm, and the brightest smile that lit up the room. She made me feel invincible, capable, like I was the measure, not the measured.”
“She really was the one. Wasn’t she?”
“Yeah. She was.”
“I’m sorry.”