Title: Forever and Always
Author: SneetchesToo
Rating: R
Pairing: Ethan/Leanne, with mentions of Mario/Noa. There's also a heavy dose of Team!Family love.
Summary: "She sits by his bedside, holds his hand too tight.
They talk about the kids they're gonna have, and the good life,
The house on the hillside, where they would stay.
Stay there forever, forever and always;
Through the good and the bad and the ugly.
We'll grow old together, and always remember,
Whether rich or for poor or for better.
We'll still love each other, forever and always."

-"Forever and Always" by Parachute

Author's Note: This was a prompt from Latina-cosas on Tumblr! It was supposed to be one-shot. Somehow it turned into 20 chapters with at least 2 more stories in the series! The title is inspired by the song "Forever and Always" by Parachute and it helped inspire the rest of the story as well, except, with an obvious happy ending! Because, as much as I love angst, I think everyone deserves a happy ending, especially these two.

Chapter 1 – "the Accident"

Ethan was late. And Ethan was never late. In fact, he was always unusually early. Except for today. No today, he was late. And Leanne was beginning to worry. She had tried calling him twice but it went straight to voicemail, and he wasn't returning her texts either. She knew he had been fine last night. They had gone to dinner after shift and then back to his place for a movie. Except they only made it about 20 minutes into the movie before they were both fast asleep on the couch. Which is where Leanne had left him a few hours ago when she went in for her shift.

A shift that was supposed to be combined with his, starting 45 minutes ago, except he never showed. She had asked Campbell about Ethan's tardiness, and Jesse, both of whom seemed as confused as her as to why the normally punctual doctor wasn't around. She had one last stop to make and that was Noa, praying that the perky young resident had a clue to her boyfriend's whereabouts.

"Anyone seen Dr. Kean?" She asked quietly, the heads of the nurses near her all turning in her direction.

"She's in dispatch." Risa said, closing the chart in her hand and offering Leanne a smile. "Dr. Dixon needed a break."

"Thank you Risa." Leanne returned the smile and grabbed her cup of coffee, heading in the direction of the small dispatch room. She saw Noa's head immediately and offered the younger woman a smile through the window before heading for the door. She entered quietly, and shut the door behind her before leaning against the desk. "Busy morning?"

Noa yawned and leaned back in her chair. "Not really." She closed her eyes and ran a hand over them before sitting upright and turning to face the other woman. "Elliot said his butt was going numb from sitting here all morning."

Leanne let out a chuckle and nodded her head in understanding. She had been in the dispatch room more than she cared to admit and she remembered all to well the ache that could take over after sitting in that godforsaken chair for too long. "Understandable." She took a sip of her coffee before getting to the point. "I was actually here to see if you had talked to Ethan this morning."

Shaking her head Noa sat forward in the chair, taking a sip of her own coffee, which she noted was cold at this point. "Nope." She returned her cup to the desk and looked up at Leanne with questioning eyes. "Why, did something happen?"

"He hasn't shown up for his shift yet." Leanne's tired eyes gave away more emotion than she let on, and Noa could see the concern in them.

"I'm sure he just ran into some traffic." She reached out and squeezed Leanne's arm, hoping to offer the woman some reassurance.

As if on cue a voice came over the radio, staticky and uncertain, but they both knew immediately that something was up. The voice on the other end dragged on for a minute, the details of what they were trying to say not coming through very clear at all. Noa asked them to speak up but it was hard making out what was going on. Then they spoke clearly for a few seconds, and all Leanne heard was "there was an accident" followed by some more incoherent mumbling. Then came the part that pierced her heart right through the middle. "They're bringing Dr. Willis in by ambulance now." And then everything around her became blurry. The blood began rushing to her ears and she felt her knees start to shake.

"Wait…" Noa's voice was shaky as she picked up the radio and spoke into it, "did you just say Dr. Willis?"

The voice on the other end mumbled something back, but between the static, the hollering in the background and Leanne's racing breaths, Noa couldn't make out any of it. She turned to look at Leanne, her face as white as a ghost and she felt her heart break. Not only for the woman who was like a sister to her, but also for herself. Ethan was probably one of her best-friends and she couldn't even fathom what she would do if something serious had happened to him.

"Ask them to double check." Leanne's voice was harsh and Noa could see the tears falling, her shaking hands reaching for the radio. "Tell them to check again!" This time it was all but shouted and Noa reached out to pick up the radio.

"Please confirm the identity of your patient." Noa said, her head bowing as she crossed every proverbial finger and said every prayer she could think of. Please don't be Ethan. Please don't be Ethan.

"It's confirmed Angels Base," The voice that came over the radio this time was much clearer and sounded much more familiar, "one of the patients coming by ambulance is Dr. Willis."

The gasp that left Leanne scared Noa, causing her to drop the radio to the floor. But she didn't care. All she cared about was the man currently on his to way them in Lord knew what condition, and the woman currently behind her sobbing. Standing, Noa moved to wrap her arms around Leanne, shocked when the woman returned the hug, clinging to her tightly.

"Noa!" The voice that came over the radio this time was much louder than before, but it was still the same familiar voice. "Noa!" It shouted again, causing the two women to jump apart.

Noa grabbed the radio and took a deep breath before answering. "What Mario?"

"Meet us outside." This time his voice was softer, the irritation from earlier having faded.

Leanne reached to take the radio out of Noa's hand and pressed the button to speak before Noa could stop her. "Is he okay?"

"Dr. Rorish?" Mario's voice did nothing to betray his confusion. "I didn't know that you were listening."

"I can tell." There was a hint of anger in her voice and Noa reached out to place a reassuring hand on the older woman's arm. "Is he okay?" This time she enunciated each word and rolled her eyes when she heard Mario huff.

"I'm not sure. He's on the other bus." Mario braced himself for the impact of an angry Dr. Rorish, but it didn't come.

"We will meet you outside Dr. Savetti." And with that she dropped the radio and took off out the door, Noa hot on her heels as they headed towards the ambulance bay.

They rounded the corner just in time to see the ambulances pulling up, Angus and Rollie joining them within seconds. Leanne watched in horror as the doors to one of the vehicles opened and out jumped an EMT, Ryan something-or-other, pulling a gurney behind him. Ethan was strapped onto it, his left arm resting on his stomach, blood pooling on the bed next to his right ear, the laceration in his head deep and raw looking. She knew that she needed to move forward. She knew that she needed to go to him. To help Rollie and the residents with the patients. But she couldn't. The sight of Ethan laying bloody and broken on the stretcher made her freeze, and she couldn't make any of the muscles in her body work.

"Leanne." The voice in her ear was soft, and she instantly recognized that it belonged to Jesse. She forced herself to turn her head towards him, biting her lip in order to keep from crying. "You go with Angus, we've got Ethan." She wanted to protest. She wanted to tell Jesse that there was no way in hell that she was leaving his side. But she knew that she shouldn't be the one taking care of him right now, her emotions nowhere near in check. So she simply nodded her head and turned back towards the scene in front of her.

"We'll take good care of him Leanne." Rollie squeezed her shoulder as he wheeled Ethan's still body past her and through the open doors.

"Dr. Rorish!" She heard Mario's voice loud and clear from the back of the ambulance and she shook her head to bring herself out of her daze.

"What do you have Dr. Savetti?" She knew that if there was anyone in this world that she trusted to take care of Ethan it was Rollie, Jesse, and Noa. And just like that she went from being Leanne, the scared and broken girlfriend, to Dr. Rorish, the strong and unbreakable trauma doctor.

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