This is 100% thanks to my favourite girl. My sista from another mista, Grace. Not only did she inspire me, but she is the best beta in the world! I don't have the words to thank you.

Enjoy some Delbrano - I can't contain my heart eyes!

Hate To See Your Heart Break

For all the things that you're alive to feel
Just let the pain remind you hearts can heal

There isn't enough scalding water in the world to wash away the gruesome images from her day, the heinous nerves that bubbled monstrously in her gut. Even Macy Gray blasting and echoing through the shower room can't distract her mind from it all. Her forehead has been leaning on the cool tiles since she first stepped into the steaming stream. Her mind wants to forget it all, but her heart... that vexatious mound of pulsing muscle responsible for every flash of heartache, it won't let her forget the moment she held her breath for what felt like hours.

A day in the field was rare for trauma surgeons. Usually the patient ends up in their pristine ORs with their immaculate tools… but not today. Instead her day was chaotic, engulfed in a sooty atmosphere as downtown Miami worked diligently to keep everyone safe. Firefighters, police officers, paramedics, every emergency service imaginable working in tandem around the loud scream of sirens and frightened voices.

Fire roared through the entirety of an office building. The type of office didn't matter, what mattered were the injured employees riddled all around, shocked and confused.

Their team weren't called in until the building collapsed in on itself. The number of broken bones and cases of internal bleeding skyrocketed and the chances of survival were slim enough without patients having to be transported through the backed up streets.

They wasted no time upon their arrival. Proctor and Serena teamed up wordlessly, seeing to a number of head injuries. Chris fled to assist with a broken femur and Eva found herself tending to a woman with several broken ribs and a pierced lung. Arguably a quick fix in the comfort of her operating room, but in the smoke filled streets of downtown Miami, not so much.

Quickly and efficiently, they patched up everyone in need of immediate attention as much as they could, stabilised serious wounds so their patients would survive the journey to nearby hospitals. Then as things appeared to be winding down calmly, the team were preparing to make their way back to the hospital when a fireman called out from behind them; there was a gentleman inside trapped beneath the debris… and that's when things went south.

Eva shakes away the recollection, presses her head even more firmly against the wall of the shower and switches off the firm stream of water. She doesn't move right away, takes a moment to listen to her breathing. She inhales and exhales heavily six or seven times, then pushes off the wall to stand straight, wrapping herself in the fluffy white towel that she brought from home and dresses relatively quickly into loose sweatpants and a white tank top. She doesn't bother to dry her hair, leaves the short tendrils soaked and dripping as she makes her way back to the darkened break room to pick up her keys.

"I thought you might still be here." Chris is sitting at the table, an almost empty mug in front of him. He's been here a while.

"I needed to shower," she said, clearing her throat, making a bee-line to her locker, barely sparing him a single look. He doesn't speak a word whilst she rifles aimlessly through her possessions. She doesn't need to look at her phone, doesn't want one of the tic tacs that she had forgotten were even in there, she just wants him to stand up and leave. She can't look at him, not yet.

"Our shift ended three hours ago."

Irritated, she slams her locker closed swiftly, and bites out a "you don't think I know that?"

When she swivels round on the balls of her feet to face him, he's standing with his hands raised defensively, then there's that silence that she usually enjoys with him. Right now, however, that silence sounds like a high-pitched scream that demands to be heard.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he assures softly, guilt laced in his tone.

She scoffs, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and away from him for a moment. "You didn't scare me," she says unconvincingly.

Truth be told, she was terrified when Chris ran off to assist the firemen inside with a man trapped under the rubble. He waltzed into that burning building without a single moment of hesitation and her heart stopped as she called out to him, looked back at her team to see their equally startled faces, but what startled her most is how quickly her subconscious urged her to go after him. Her legs started to run in the same direction, though she never made it far.

Proctor's arms gripped around her middle like a vice grip to keep her in place, assuring her that Chris would be fine, the he'd have it under control, but Proctor couldn't have been less convincing even if he'd tried. What Chris did was undeniably brave and everything she would expect him to do, but God, reality smacked her in the gut when she realised that he could actually get hurt.

Then she heard people around her muttering that the building was going to collapse again, the the south walls were so unstable that there was only a matter of seconds before they crumbled along with the rest. She, and the rest of the team, were ushered back, told to hurry and get out of the way. Eva's heart battered inside her chest, bruising every inch of her rib cage, as her eyes were glued to the small opening of the building that Chris entered, but he still wasn't coming out.

"Okay," she admits softly, a slim lining of tears welling up in her eyes. "You scared me." He frowns tightly, begins to apologise, but she won't let him do that. "Don't apologise for saving a life. Please."

Chris made it out with mere seconds to spare, carrying most of his patient's weight as they scurried to make it to safety. When Eva caught a glimpse of his face, the breath she'd held hostage in her own lungs was finally free, it escaped much like the soft sob that erupted from the back of her throat as she bent towards the ground, her worry assuaged.

"I won't," he said truthfully. "But I am sorry for making any of you worry. Proctor has already ripped my ass a new one…"

Eva laughed softly. "Is he the one making you go around and apologise?" Chris shakes his head chuckling, quipping that it wouldn't surprise him if Proctor actually did make him do that. They share their soft bout of humour, even if it's short lived. "My personal feelings aside, I am really proud of you for what you did today."

"Thank you," he says, letting his shoulders slump.

Eva closes the space between them and steps into his arms tentatively, her arms reaching up and looping around his neck. Chris reciprocates fully, linking his wrists together at the base of her spine.

"But if you ever do that again," she mumbles into shoulder, "I'll kill you myself."

He snorts before dropping a chaste, firm lipped kiss to her damp hairline and they chuckle softly together. "Whatever you say, Peaches."