Toris stared across at the newly transferred doctor before him who appeared young though not really all that much younger than Toris if he was.
There was something in his vivid blue eyes that told of so much more as well as it told of his determined energeticness that shown that however long he'd been a doctor that he was not left behind with only the broken shards of his hurt soul left within him.
It was refreshing as if this doctor had never lost a patient, and to Toris, it felt soothing like this friendly doctor would try his hardest to keep everyone safe and okay.
Toris smiled as he walked towards the other doctor to hear of his name and to come to know this new employee better.
"Hello, I'm Toris Laurinaitis, one of the doctors here." Toris told the blond, energetic man.
"Hey! I'm Alfred Jones. I just got transferred here," The now named blond smiled as he answered him, a little louder than Toris had expected him to do.
"So how long have you been a doctor?" Toris had never been good at small talk.
"About five or six years, you?" Alfred asked with that gleam in his eyes.
Toris was certainly surprised that the newest doctor could carry on so purely after six years of working as a doctor as he couldn't have not lost a patient in that time, "I've been working here for ten years."
"Good job." Alfred smiled at that, "It gets tough sometimes, doesn't it?" His voice softened as he spoke to Toris now.
"It does." Toris responded, watching the American man carefully.
"I wish that we could do more sometimes as we sometimes can't save everyone." Alfred responded rather sadly before he switched the topic, "So where is my office if you don't mind me asking?"
"It should be up a floor." Toris responded as if the previous topic had never happened and led the way up the stairs to an office door that stated Doctor Jones on the top.
Alfred thanked him though this was just the beginning for the two of them.
Toris didn't see Alfred much after that for quite some time as the two doctors were often times too busy to greet each other and had different lunch breaks.
The next time he'd see him would not be as close to cheery as their first meeting was.
Toris despite his own quiet nature and ways never could just keep walking by whenever he heard someone crying, and so he entered the hospital room to one Feliciano Vargas to find Alfred on his knees beside the bed, crying as if there would be no tomorrow.
"Mr. Jones?" Toris had never been quite good enough at comforting those who were hurting.
"I'll call the family soon. I just can't right now." Alfred looked up as tears caked his face and continuously fell down to drench his lab coat and the clothes underneath.
"I'm sorry about what happened. Do you need any help?" Toris muttered quietly, frankly a little unsure of how to comfort the almost stranger.
"Just let me call the family. They have to hear from me. I'll get a hold of the morgue later." Alfred responded as Toris knelt down beside him.
"You seemed so happy the time that I met you." Toris muttered as he stared at Alfred and back at the lifeless body on the bed, "Did you know him well?"
"Not really, but he was happy, and he smiled when I would not have been able to despite his pain. He's friendly and his family and loved ones came everyday to see him. I knew that he wouldn't make it much longer, but he put on a brave face and refused to have anyone cry over him while he was here. He's a much better optimist than I was, but it just seems like it's too soon. He was so young." Alfred muttered as he stared back at the face of his patient.
"I'm sorry that this happened." Toris murmured softly watching the way that Alfred glanced at his patient not unlike the look a grieving brother has when he realizes that he can't see his brother in this life again.
"It's not your fault. He was too far along for us to save him. I still wish that there was something that we could have done medically to save him. His family will probably be worse than I am. I should call them. Thank you for coming in even though I'm a wreck." Alfred stood up from his spot on the floor and grabbed a phone to call Feliciano Vargas's family.
"Was he your first?" Toris could not finish that sentence right now.
"No, I've lost other patients before him, but it never stops hurting." Alfred answered as he waited for Feliciano's brother to pick up the phone.
"I should go. I'm sorry that this happens despite all of our hard work." Toris muttered.
"We need to just work harder and hopefully cures will be found." Alfred answered, optimistically.
"Yeah, we do." Toris responded before he left the room as Alfred finally spoke a heartbroken, "hello" through the phone and a plea for the family to come over here quickly as he had to tell them some important news.
Toris sent out a quick prayer for Alfred, Feliciano, and for those that Feliciano knew.
Hopefully, things will get easier in time even if that seems impossible.
The next time that Toris saw Alfred, the American was in good spirits, talking excitedly to one of the nurses.
Toris felt a smile start to form on his own lips at seeing the American so chipper though he found himself wondering if the American still hurt deep down, some place where his pain could hide as Toris knew what it was like to hold that pain tightly in his heart.
The Lithuanian however never tended to show his emotions as strongly as the American did though he could understand the kind of pain that could leave someone crying like that and the hopelessness that one felt whenever their patient did not make it through.
It was a kind of feeling that often left one beating themselves up time and again over it.
Alfred grinned wider at seeing Doctor Laurinaitis nearby.
"Hi, Toris, right? I hope it doesn't bother you if I call you by your first name, but after the last time that we saw each other, we could pretty much be best friends in my opinion." Alfred shrugged with that grin still on his face though the slightest hint of a deep sadness was buried in his eyes.
"We are at work, but I don't think I can stop you." 'I don't really have the heart to make you call me something more professional,' was really what Toris meant however.
"Okay. Have you met Katy yet? She has a little brother and sister. The brother is named Ivan and the sister Natalya." Alfred admitted.
She shook her head as really her name was a lot longer than the nickname that Alfred had chosen to call her by.
Toris smiled, "I've met Nurse Braginskaya before."
"You can call me Katyusha if you would like to." Yekaterina Braginskaya murmured towards Toris.
"You don't mind?" Toris answered her.
"It's fine." Katyusha answered as she smiled before realizing that she had to get back to work and so told the two men goodbye before she left to check up on her patients.
"I work with her often. She's really sweet." Alfred told Toris with a cheerful smile.
Doctor Laurinaitis had spoken with Yekaterina before and could easily see the her and Alfred getting along.
"She is." Toris finally chose to respond.
"Are you on lunch break too? We could get a bite to eat together?" Alfred asked Toris with that wide smile of his.
"I am." Toris ended up sitting beside Alfred who could be really chatty and ate more food than Toris would have ever expected him to.
With the switch to a different schedule, Toris and Alfred managed to have lunch together everyday, and Toris found that the conversations they had tended to vary based off of Alfred's current mood.
Sometimes it was just work related, but other times, it was about his brother when he visited or their adoptive parents, and sometimes it was about Alfred's newest puppy who got along fairly well with his cat who sometimes batted the dog in the nose, knowing that the puppy was sometimes scared of her.
Toris found that whenever Alfred told a story from his life that Alfred was so cheerful and animated that Toris found himself listening intently with great interest and cheer himself.
He'd never expected a friendship like this to form between him and the newest doctor though he'd also never expected the feelings that slowly arose in his chest that left Alfred on his mind often.
The Lithuanian doctor found himself thinking of Alfred even on his days off, making him wish to spend more and more time with the other doctor and to know him better.
He wished that their lunch conversations could be longer and that he could meet those that Alfred spoke of so often whether they were the American's family or the pets that Alfred adored.
Toris longed to really know Alfred so much more than he currently knew him; he wanted to be able to see Alfred outside of work or to talk to him somehow when they both had days off.
He wanted to know Alfred to the extent that no one could say that they weren't close friends or perhaps something more as he found that he wanted to know of how Alfred's lips tasted and wanted to go on dates with him.
Toris never expected to have met another doctor and fall in love with his new friend.
"Alfred, do you like anyone here more than normal?" Toris stammered out awkwardly as he worried that his feelings would be found out now.
"Well, yeah, but he'd probably never like me as much as I like him." Alfred smiled though at the thought of whoever he liked so much despite the spark of sadness in his blue eyes.
"I think he'd like you back." Toris murmured as he could not think of someone who would not fall for this stubborn, cheerful, and compassionate man that happened to work at the same hospital that Toris did.
"I'll try then." Alfred smiled, "Do you like me too, Toris as I like you a lot? Can we be more than friends and coworkers?"
"I like you too. Even if we aren't allowed to be, I'd still try to be with you." Toris muttered despite the fact that they worked together or that times could get rough as working in a hospital is never as easy as it may first appear to be.
Alfred smiled widely and hugged the other close.
He knew that somehow among the joys and the heartbreak of working at a hospital that they could make it work for the both of them.