Both Elizabeth and Rebecca watched as Michaela stood at the window weeping. Rebecca moved to pull Michaela into her arms but Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Rebecca looked at her mother with questioning eyes and raised eyebrows. "She needs to say goodbye to the future she had planed" whispered Elizabeth. The three women stood in silence as Michaela's weeping started to subside. Mom is right. I need to face this and the sooner I do that the better. Wiping the last tears from her face, Michaela slowly turned and looked at both her mother and Rebecca. Elizabeth stepped closer to Michaela and opened her arms. Michaela stumbled across the room and once again fell into her mother's arms. The three women embraced as Michaela started to come to terms with her new, unexpected life. This is what Joseph encountered when he entered the room a few minutes later. It was the perfect anecdote to the encounter he just had with David. He knew then that Michaela was going to make it through this and she would eventually find happiness.
There was a rather large collective sigh of relief when Michaela was finally persuaded to sleep in her bed. The next day Michaela woke to the sun shining through her window and her father slumped over in her reading chair, a book had slipped from his hand and was lying on the floor. Guilt swept through her as she realized what she had put her family through the past couple of days. Women get dumped all the time, Michaela, snap out of it! You're stronger than this. Pull yourself together. Mustering a reserve of strength she wasn't sure she had, Michaela pulled back the royal blue satin comforter and forced herself to get out of bed. As she walked across the room she bumped into the chair at her writing table, sending a book and several pairs of shoes tumbling to the floor. The slight commotion in the recently silent room caused Joseph to wake with a start. Confused he looked at Michaela's empty bed and frantically looked around the room before he saw her slight form wedged under her writing table picking up the book she had dropped.
"Mike…? Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Joseph said quietly. This was the first time in days Michaela had voluntarily moved and he was afraid to spook her. Michaela recognized the tone of voice. It was the voice he used when talking to his young patients that were terrified and alone. Another wave of guilt washed over her. She stood up and placed the book on the table and turned to look at her father, determined to put on a brave face for him.
"I wanted to take a shower and I knocked the chair. I was just picking up the book. I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry." Michaela forced a smiled and gave her father a quick hug. Surprised, Joseph awkwardly hugged his daughter and watched her retreat into the bathroom where he could soon hear the sounds of the shower. He looked around the room at the elegant, dark décor. Michaela was right, it was better before Elizabeth decided to redo the room. If Michaela is staying we should brighten this place up a bit. Joseph caught himself. Is Michaela staying? It was then that Joseph realized just how lost Michaela must be at this moment.
Michaela never knew what her mother said to all the guests, family and friends that had gathered for her wedding that morning. She never knew how she managed to get rid of the media that had camped out in their front yard for weeks. She never asked and Elizabeth never offered. She was simply glad to see that she didn't have to face a mountain of wedding gifts when she ventured downstairs that morning with her father. No one brought up what had happened but rather thought it best to just move on – if only Michaela could move on – not that she didn't try. As days turned into weeks and weeks into months the Quinn family returned to their regular schedules. Joseph, returned to a full schedule of patients at his clinic. Elizabeth went back to her charity work and spending time with her beautiful grandchildren. (Marjorie and Everett recently announced they would be having their second child). Each of Michaela's sisters and their husbands went back to their daily responsibilities – children, husbands, jobs. Michaela did a fairly good job of making everyone think that she was moving on with her life, and she was honestly trying. After taking a week off, she went back to work and started returning friend's phone calls. She accepted invitations to parties and concerts and she had even been on several dates lately. Yes, to the outside world Michaela Quinn was moving on with her life and forgetting all about David Lewis – quite a fete as he was constantly on television making speeches and in the news. Everyone was amazed at how well she was coping and attributed it to her stubborn streak and fighting spirit.
However, Michaela wasn't fooling everyone. Both her mother and sister, Rebecca, knew not all was well in Michaela's world. Whenever anyone mentioned his name she flinched as if someone had slapped her. It had been four months and she was still living with her parents. If anyone asked when she was getting her own place, she simply responded with a quiet "Soon" and promptly changed the topic. Rebecca had tried to get her to open up about what she was feeling but Michaela adeptly answered her questions with non answers and navigated the conversation to safer territory. Both Elizabeth and Rebecca didn't want to force Michaela to talk about it but both kept a close eye on her. As the Christmas season approached the Quinn's tried to embrace the spirit of the season. Michaela was slowly coming back to her old self but there were moments, when she thought no one was watching that the sorrow would fill her eyes and she would momentarily withdraw into herself. Fortunately, these moments came with less frequency and eventually all thought Michaela was well on her way to being over David Lewis. Christmas was her favorite time of year and helped Michaela to cheer up considerably.
The annual Hospital Fundraising Gala was two weeks before Christmas. Only the most well known and renowned doctors were invited to attend and schmooze with the wealthy donors. Michaela hadn't been at Boston Memorial long enough to warrant an invitation and hadn't given the Gala much thought. She was surprised when she was invited to go by Dr. William Burke. He had a reputation for being a brilliant surgeon and oddly enough for a surgeon, a kind and sincere man. In Michaela's experience, most surgeons as talented as William Burke had a healthy sized ego to go along with the reputation. But William was grounded, genuine and infinitely charming. More than one nurse on the surgical floor harbored at least a small crush on the kind and generous doctor. Since Michaela was specializing in pediatric oncology, she had worked with William rarely but he had always been very kind to Michaela - especially since she returned to the hospital after the "David Affair" as many staff members referred to it. He made it very clear that he would not tolerate any gossip about the situation and had severely reprimanded more than one foolish intern that choose to ignore William's directive. While most people were unsure how to act around Michaela, William treated her as he always had. It was because of his continued kindness to her that Michaela did not hesitate to accept William's invitation to the Gala.
As she was getting ready for the event she thought back over the last several months and was surprised to see how often William kept popping up in her memory. She sat at her vanity table slowly brushing through her long auburn hair, partly to calm her nerves and partly from habit. A distracted smile played across her face as she remembered her first day back at the hospital.
Michaela dreaded her first day back at the hospital. She dreaded the stares and the hushed conversations. Fortunately William had been the only person in the Resident Lounge when she arrived for the day.
"Michaela, welcome back! You know, this hospital just isn't the same when you're away." William said enthusiastically. He was sitting on the couch across from her cubby. He was reading a medical journal but put it down when she entered, giving her his full attention.
"Morning William." Michaela responded somewhat shyly. William tended to make her a little nervous as she had always suspected that he was interested in her as more than simply a colleague. However, since she had been with David for as long as she could remember, she had never worried about it. She knew that William was the perfect gentleman and he would never say or do anything inappropriate. But I'm not with David anymore. Suddenly Michaela was embarrassed and unsure of what to do or say. This was completely uncharted territory for Michaela. For the past decade she had been David's girlfriend and then David's fiancée. For the first time, in a very long time, Michaela was her own woman. Caught up in the meandering of her thoughts, she was not paying attention to William's ramblings and only noticed he had said something when he stopped talking and looked at her expectantly.
"I'm sorry William. I'm afraid I'm a little distracted this morning. What were you saying?"
"Oh, no need for apologies, Michaela. I understand. I was only saying that I am very glad that you are back and I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch later. I could catch you up on all you've missed in the past week. I also recently read an article you may find interesting." And so began Michaela's furtive friendship with William Burke. It was easy and easy friendship from the start. He never pressured her to give or be more than she was. Spending time with William was also teaching her something about her relationship with David. While Michaela had been David's cheerleader and ultimate support, it wasn't a reciprocal relationship. Oh, he was proud of her accomplishments but it was due more to how to would reflect on him. Michaela slowly understood just how selfish David actually was. William celebrated every victory, great or small because he wanted to celebrate Michaela. At first it made Michaela uncomfortable but eventually she grew accustomed to William's attention and slowly, her heart started to mend.
A gentle knock on the door brought Michaela out of her reverie. "Come in!" Michaela called as she tried to focus on the task at hand…her hair. In the mirror behind her Michaela saw her two sisters, Rebecca and Marjorie, as well as Rebecca's oldest daughter, eight year old Stephanie.
"How's it coming? William should be here in about ten minutes." Offered Marjorie as the three walked into the room towards Michaela's vanity table where she was attempting to pull her hair back into a neat but elegant chignon over her right shoulder. Michaela let out an exasperated sigh and threw her hands up in the air as her hair fell out of the pins attempting to hold it in place, spilling over her shoulder and down her back.
"I give up! My hair just won't stay put!" Both Marjorie and Rebecca laughed as Stephanie watched in awe.
"I think you should wear it down. You have such beautiful hair and you always wear it up on formal occasions." Rebecca said soothingly as she stepped behind Michaela and started to arrange her hair for her. She pulled it all over to the right side and pinned it into a low ponytail so the curls cascaded over Michaela's shoulder. She pulled a few strands down to frame her face and touched up a few stray strands with the curling iron. Pulling back a bit to survey her work she smiled, "perfect! You know, I feel sorry for poor William tonight. You sure are going to put his gentlemanly manners to the test, Michaela!" Marjorie chuckled as did little Steph, even though she wasn't quite sure what she was laughing about. Michaela blushed and quickly looked anywhere but her sisters. Marjorie pulled Michaela up off her stool and towards her closet.
"Come on, let's get you into your dress. You know I'm living vicariously through you and your ability to wear a size 4." Michaela stopped and stooped down to talk to Marjorie's belly playfully;
"You hear that baby? Your mommy is sacrificing her waistline for you, so you had better be good and don't come out until it's time." Michaela stood up to see both Marjorie and Rebecca staring at her. Somewhat taken aback Michaela asked, "what…what did I say?" Without a word both women embraced their youngest sister. Not wanting to be left out Steph tried to wrap her arms around the legs of all three but only made it around her mother's.
"Oh Michaela….it's just so good to hear you be silly like that! It's been so long!" Marjorie exclaimed, wiping the tears from her face and laughing. Seeing the tears Michaela started to apologize. Knowing her youngest sister, Rebecca stopped her before she could apologize.
"Just ignore the tears. She's a hormonal pregnant woman…she cries watching Oprah!" teased Rebecca.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you or did you not cry every time you saw that Hallmark commercial when you were pregnant with Steph?" countered Marjorie. The three sisters all laughed. Michaela took her sister's hands in hers and smiling said,
"I love you both so much. I'm lucky to have you for my sisters." The three women smiled and looked at each other for a moment when yet another knock on the door brought them back to their senses. Elizabeth poked her head in to see three of her four girls clasping hands and Michaela still in her robe.
"Michaela! You're not dressed yet! William is waiting for you downstairs! He's sitting in the front parlor with your father, Everett and Richard." Michaela looked at her mother and sisters with anxiety written clearly across her delicate face.
"You left him alone with them? Mother, you know what they're like! Rebecca…you have to go down there and stop them from threatening him! Don't laugh…you know they will!" urged Michaela as she gently pushed her oldest sister out of her room. "Steph, will you go choose which earrings I should wear? There are three pairs on the vanity. Thank you, sweetie." Michaela watched the excited eight year old run to her vanity and study the three options very seriously. Marjorie gently pulled her arm to get her attention.
"Come on Michaela, let's get you into this dress before the Dad and the others scare the poor man away!"