(I own nothing!)
I glare at the folder in front of me. It is that time of year again.
Valentine's Day, or at least what passes for Valentine's Day down here.
A holiday designed for people who have someone to rub it in the faces of those of us who don't. I force the folder back into the filing cabinet. Let's just say I become very unpleasant when this in-particular holiday rolls around.
"Did the folder offend you?" I jump and turn to see Dr. Keeton staring at me.
"No…" I hastily mutter before grabbing a new one and hurrying out to the waiting room.
"Wait." I freeze.
"Yes?" I slowly turn to look at him, jumping when I realize how close he's standing, intense blue eyes boring into mine.
"Mina said you took her head off this morning; you feeling okay?" I mentally plan Mina's early demise, but force a smile on my face.
"I'm fine." I say, the forced smile hurting my face. He raises an eyebrow, a contemplative look on his face.
"What?" I try to keep the defensiveness out of my voice.
"You just seem bothered." His eyes are about a hair's breadth from seeing right through me and having me spill my guts. So I become fully defensive.
"I said I'm fine! So just butt out!" I snarl. He has a stunned look on his face and I feel horrible.
I storm out before I start crying.
Mina sticks her head out glancing around to see if the coast is clear. Lily had been in a bad mood all day. There was a festival to night so she was readying the cots for the people who would inevitably hurt themselves.
"So is there anything else you told Dr. Keeton that I should know about?" Mina jumps and turns to see a very upset Lily behind her.
"You scared me!" she said leaning against the cot she was just preparing.
"That is the idea."
"I'm sorry, but you have been unpleasant lately. Why is that? You're usually little Miss Sunshine."
"Guess." She shrugs. "What holiday is it today?"
"Valentine's Day, but why would that- Oh. I'm sorry. Are you?" She's not comfortable in these situations so I relent.
"I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt as much as it did, but it's still a little sore." I try to smile but I can't. "I'm past Tim's death and have moved on with my life. But it's just hard on Valentine's Day, you know? Not having anyone to spend it with?"
She nods. "It's like they made up this holiday just to spite single people."
I laugh. "It is, isn't it?"
"You going to the festival?" She asks, flattening out the last of the imaginary wrinkles.
"Yeah, if I stay here I'll just get drunk and wallow in self-pity."
"What are you going to do at the festival?"
"Get drunk and wallow in self-pity, only now there will be the added bonus of possible public humiliation and getting laid."
"You sound like Tommy." I roll my eyes and snort.
"Are you a doctor?" I turn to see a man in a pair of swim trunks holding his side, where a nasty bruise is forming.
"Yes!" I hurry him onto a cot near the ultrasound machine to see if there is any internal bleeding, ignoring Mina who is mouthing 'He's hot!' behind Mr. Hot's back.
The ultrasound shows that there is no internal bleeding and a quick prod shows that his ribs are intact.
"You are fine. I want you to come back in a few days so I can check it again, but you are free to go." He stands and thanks me, shaking my hand. "Wait, what's wrong with your nails?" They're discolored and cracked.
"Oh, they have been like that for about a week now." I look at his pale skin, light brown eyes and black hair.
"How much do you go out in the sun?" He shrugs.
"Not much. I spend a lot of my time inside. I'm only here on a business trip." I nod and walk over to the basket of fruit a man had given the clinic as a thank you and pluck out two large oranges.
"Here." I cut them in half and hand him one. "Eat it."
"Why?" He eyes the orange half like it is an alien life form but takes it.
"You haven't been eating properly lately, have you?"
"Not really. A big deal is about to be closed and I've been pretty busy."
"And you haven't been out in the sun?"
"No, I only went out today to surf and relax before heading back to LA. At home I mostly get around by car."
"You have scurvy."
"Scurvy? Like pirates?" I nod.
"You haven't been getting enough vitamin C, which is why your fingernails look like that. You have probably also been feeling stiff and have a harder time getting around, those are also signs of scurvy." He begins to eat the fruit and I go to the small medicine cabinet and pull out a bottle.
"I want you to take two of theses a day." I open the bottle and fill a small bag.
"Two maggots?" I look at the bag and quickly pour the maggots back into the bag. Tommy must have been in charge of refilling the bottles again.
"Sorry." Pulling out the right bottle, I fill the bag with the correct pills.
"Do you know who I am?" I hand him the bag.
"A man who needs to eat more citrus?" I ask, smiling.
"I'm Howard Hanks. I'm CEO of a large produce company. I know it is ironic that I have scurvy."
"A little."
He just grins. "Well, I was sent here to close a business deal."
"You mentioned that. Congratulations, by the way."
"Thank you. But what I didn't mention is that I'm also looking for charities to fund."
I shrug. "So?" I label the bottles so no one else will end up with maggots.
"After seeing what you do here, I would like to add your clinic to that fund. But I want you to tell me a little more about what you do here before I donate to your clinic."
"Well first off it's not my clinic; it's Dr. Keeton's. We are the only clinic in a hundred miles."
"Do you usually have this many people waiting for treatment?"
"No, we usually have more, everyone is busy preparing for the festival, but during and after we'll be more overrun than normal." He nods.
"Dr. Brenner, we need you in surgery." I turn to see Dr. Alvarez looking curiously at Mr. Howard.
"Mr. Howard, we'll finish talking later."
"Well you seem to be busy so how about I pick you up tonight for the festival and we'll continue talking there?" He smiles.
"Okay." I quickly follow Dr. Alvarez to the scrubbing basin.
"So you have a date?" She asks, arching an eyebrow.
"What? No. He's interested in funding us. He just wants me to give him a better idea of what we do before he invests." I explain as I finish scrubbing and helping Zita into her smock.
"Chica, let me tell you something. When a man asks a woman out for any reason he has some interest in her and that man wasn't trying to hide that he is very interested in you." She says while helping me into my smock.
"Well it's not a date, it's just business." She just smiles and walks into surgery.
I pull on my mask and gloves and follow her.
Dr. Keeton and Mina are holding towels trying to stop the bleeding and Dr. Cole is stitching up the puncture wounds as fast as he can.
"Brenner, I need you over here." I rush over to Dr. Keeton's side and, grabbing a needle, begin to stitch.
Thirty-six wounds and eighty-eight stitches later the man is stable and resting. I pull off my bloody clothing and sigh.
"Chica?" I glance at Zita. "It is a date."
"No, it's not!" I nearly yell and she just laughs.
"What's not a date?" I look up at the other doctors trying not to make eye contact with any of them.
"A man asked Dr. Brenner on a date."
"It isn't a date." I moan. "He's interested in funding the clinic and asked me to go to the festival with him so I could tell him a little more about what we do here. Okay? It's not a date!"
"Really? Then why didn't he ask to talk to Dr. Keeton after you told him that he was the head honcho?"
"Well-I-I don't know. He probably thought Dr. Keeton would be busy."
"So Brenner, what are you going to wear on your date?" Mina asks, looking me up and down.
"It is NOT a date!" I shriek, storming out of surgery. I don't notice the pair of bright blue eyes following me.
I proceed to spend the rest of the day convincing the rest of the doctors it's not a date, except for Dr. Keeton whom I haven't seen since surgery, finally the sun begins to set and the festival begins.
Mina and I had gotten two dresses from a seamstress for fixing her hand after it was nearly cut off by a machete. I pull the white sundress over my head and button it up, ignoring Mina's insistent chatter about how this is a date. I have given up convincing anyone otherwise. The dress is beautifully simple; it ends just below my knees, with spaghetti straps and lace on the edges. Mina's is the same except that hers is a soft pastel purple.
"Here." I glance down and gawk.
"You brought lipstick to the rainforest?" I ask incredulously taking the tube and opening it.
"It was originally Chap Stick but I mixed in some berry juice and voila, lipstick." I roll my eyes and apply the bright red lipstick.
"Well, we should get back to the clinic."
"Oh, Lily?"
"Yeah?" I feel her hands tugging my hair out of its bun to fall in waves down my back.
"Let you hair down for once." I laugh and we head off to the clinic.
"So Brenner has a date tonight." Zita says looking over a patient's chart. "It'll be good for her to focus on something other than work. Don't you think, Dr. Keeton?" Otis looks up from where he is stitching up a foot to look at his lover.
"It's not really a night off since she is going to be talking to a potential investor." Ben says, not looking up from his chart.
"Ben, I saw the way he looked at her and business was the last thing on his mind." Ben's back stiffens and Otis shakes his head. Zita had a weakness for meddling in other people's lives.
"Where are you going?" Ben walks to the door.
"To meet the investor." And with that he leaves the room.
"You really think there is something between Keeton and Brenner?"
"A blind man in Jersey could see it, Cole."
"But they don't seem to think there is anything there."
"Well they aren't blind men from Jersey."
"And we are?"
"Shut up, I never said it was a perfect metaphor." She says elbowing him softly in the side as he wraps his arms around her and kisses her neck.
Ben walks to the front of the clinic, and standing there on the front steps is the investor. He knows it's the investor since no one else here wears a suit.
"Hello, you must be Mr. Howard, I'm Dr. Keeton." He shakes the man's hand. "I hear you're interested in funding my clinic."
"Yes. Is Lily here? She is supposed to show me around." Ben winces at the first-name basis but doesn't show it.
"She should be here any minute. So Mr. Howard what about my clinic interests you?" Ben asks leaning against one of the posts.
"Actually I was interested in the….Wow." But he isn't looking at Ben, he is looking at something behind him.
Ben turns.
Standing at the top of the clinic stairs is Dr. Brenner in a white dress, her dark brown hair floating around her shoulders, a pink flower tucked behind her ear, and her lips painted a ruby red.
I smile at Hank's stunned look, but it's the look on Ben's face that makes me blush and the butterflies to start fluttering.
"Mr. Howard, I see you've met Dr. Keeton." I can feel Ben's eyes on me and I shudder.
"Please, call me Hank. And yes, Dr. Keeton was just telling me a little about the clinic. It was a pleasure to meet you." He shakes Dr. Keeton's hand before turning to me. "Ready to go?" I nod and take Hank's hand, leading him to the festival.
"Yes but not as much of a pleasure as meeting Dr. Brenner."
"Shut up, Cole." The other doctor smiles.
"I'm not the one letting my girl walk away." Cole says sucking on the candy in his mouth.
"She isn't my girl."
"But you wish she was." Ben just turns and walks towards his office.
The festival is beautiful, the setting sun lighting up the sky.
"So how long have you been working here?" Hank asks holding out a wisp of cotton candy. I accept the sugary treat and begin picking it into smaller clumps.
"I've worked here for about two months." I pop a clump into my mouth and savor the melting confection.
"What was your first case here in the jungle?" I smile at the memory of Ed Greenman.
"I was sent out on a zip line to help a man whose arm had been caught in the wheel. He was here to say goodbye to his wife. They had spent their honeymoon here and had planned on coming back, but things got in the way and his wife died before they could come back. So he brought her ashes here to spread in the firefly lake. He had massive internal bleeding but we managed to stabilize him with a coconut transfusion, enough so for him to be able to say goodbye before he was airlifted out."
"You really look up to Dr. Keeton, then?"
"Of course, he is an amazing man. What he's done for these people. The world would be a better place with more people like him. The coconut transfusion was his idea." I chuckle at the memory of him shimmying up the tree.
We walk a little more till we reach the cantina. The other doctors are there drinking and laughing.
"Hey guys."
"Hey, Lil's." I roll my eyes at the nick name Tommy gave me. "Who's the suit?"
"This is Hank Howard. He's the one who's interested in funding us. Hank, this is Dr. Tom Fuller, Dr. Mina Minard, Dr. Ryan Clark, Dr. Zee Alvarez and Dr. Otis Cole."
"Nice to meet you all."
Across the room Ben watches his doctors greet Mr. Howards. He watches him sit down next to Brenner and order a beer. Ben's eyes narrow at the way he smiles at Brenner. He doesn't like the way Hank looks at her. His stomach is in knots reminding him that he has no claim to her which isn't helping, because he knows that all it would take would be one conversation and she would be, could be his.
Finally it's too much and finishing his beer, he walks over to the table.
"Hello, Mr. Howards. I see you've met the rest of my team."
"Yes, they're all very -ah- interesting." He says eyeing the team.
"I think that's possibly the nicest thing anyone's ever said about the band of misfits." Ben sits down next to Brenner and smiles when she almost imperceptibly leans closer to him. Ben feels a flick of possessiveness and happiness race through him. Hank sees Brenner's shift and when he then sees the look on Ben's face, his eyes widen.
"Oh…"
"What?" Lily asks confused.
"I'm sorry I didn't realize."
I am confused as to why Hank is acting odd all of a sudden.
"Didn't realize what?"
"That you two were-" He clears his throat. "So how long?"
"How long what?" I ask taking a pull on my beer, wondering what is wrong.
"How long have you two been dating?" I choke, spluttering my beer across the table.
"Me and- and Dr. Keeton? No we aren't…together." I wince as the words leave my mouth. I didn't want to say them, because if someone believed it, maybe it could be true one day.
I glance at Ben through my hair. He's watching me with an unreadable look on his face. I quickly look back at my now empty beer.
"I'll get you another one. Anyone else?" Hank stands and picking up the empties, walks towards the bar, his face red with embarrassment.
"I'll help him." Tommy stands and walks over to the bar.
"They are together, you know." Tommy says leaning on the bar next to Hank.
"Excuse me?" Hank asks waiting for the drinks.
"Brenner and Keeton."
"But they just said that they weren't."
"Look at them, do they look like they're not together?" Hank looks at Brenner who's laughing and leaning slightly against Keeton whose arm is wrapped around the back of her chair. "They are together, they just won't admit it to themselves. You go after her, you will lose."
"But she's worth the time I would get." He says watching the beautiful brunette talking with Mina.
"But you'll just end up hurting her." Tommy says taking a sip of beer.
"What do you mean?" Hank asks confused.
"Lily cares too much. When she makes a friend she will do anything for that person, even if they wrong her. When she figures out that she loves Keeton she won't break up with you because she doesn't want to hurt you. She'll sweep her emotions under a rug, but she'll still feel them, and it will tear her apart."
"So I have no chance?" Hank asks looking longingly at Dr. Brenner.
"None. Plus I hear Dr. Keeton's pretty handy with a rifle." Hank has a frightened look on his face as Tommy walks back towards the table. His work here is done.
I lean back in my seat enjoying the warmth that Ben's arm creates on the back of my neck. How does he do this to me?
Hank and Tommy walk back to us clutching our drinks.
"So is there anything else you needed to know?" Ben asks. I can feel the rumble in his chest.
"No. Thank you for showing me around, Dr. Brenner." I nod and give him a small smile. "Dr. Keeton," He turns to look at Ben. "You can expect a check in the mail every month." Hank glances back at me one more time before bidding us goodbye and turning to leave.
The rest of the night is quiet. Finally at about two A.M. the Festival winds down. Dr. Keeton and I are the only ones still awake, the other doctors having already turned in for the night. We watch as the cantina slowly empties and the villagers and tourists stumble back to their beds.
"Well, I think we should follow their example before it's time to start the day." Ben says offering me a hand. I take it and stand none too steadily on my feet. I lean on Ben for support and we begin the walk back to the cabins. He walks me all the way back to my cabin. I can hear Mina snoring loudly before we even see the cabin.
"Is someone slaughtering a moose?" Ben asks as the cabin comes into view. I chuckle behind my hand.
"Be nice." I say as we reach the steps of the cabin. I turn to say goodbye nearly bumping my nose on his chest. I blush at how close he is. I can feel the body heat radiating off him, warming me. I look up at him, realizing just how much taller than me he is.
"Good night." His deep blue eyes have the same look in them as before and it sends a shiver down my spine.
He's so close I can smell the faint smell of whiskey on his breath and the smell of something wild that always lingers about him.
He draws closer still and I have to tilt my head up further. He's standing so close I swear that he can hear my racing heart. His lips are so close to mine I can almost taste him. I don't lean forward. I don't move as he leans even closer. One more inch and he'll be kissing me, but he never makes that last inch. He runs his hand through his hair and looks away sharply, just like he did that day at the river.
"Good night, Dr. Brenner." He turns and walks off into the darkness of the trees. I stand there paralyzed. I thought that he was going to kiss me.
I turn and walk to the kitchen sink splashing cool water onto my face. I glance at the small mirror Mina had hung up when we started bathing in the sink. I saw a flustered woman. My face was flush and my eyes had a spark to them.
I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to kiss him.
I grab the towel and dry me face.
"It's never going to happen." I mutter to myself, staring into my icy blue eyes, so different from his ocean blue orbs.
I start as a hand grabs my arm and spins me around. I catch a glimpse of those same blue orbs before warm chapped lips devour mine. I moan into the kiss as I'm pushed back into the counter, Ben's strong arms wrap around me pulling flush against him. I thread my fingers through his hair, pulling slightly.
Finally we break for air, but his arms stay around me, holding me to him. My head is tucked under his chin as I look up at him, not wanting to pull away.
"I didn't like it." His eyes are bright and send shivers down my spine.
"Didn't like what?" I ask still breathing hard from his kisses.
"I didn't like watching you with Hank. From now on I deal with male funders." He almost growls, his arms tightening.
"You don't have any right to ban me from talking to them." My heart thumps against my ribcage as his hand moves to cradle the back of my head, making me look up at him. His lips brush mine as he speaks.
"I do now."