Brown and green
Chris partly ran, partly walked back to her car that stood parked outside the pub. As she got inside the vehicle, she was panting heavily from the different emotions that came up inside of her. She could feel heat on her cheeks again, and hated herself for blushing. Why did he have to do that? And why, in the name of all that was holy, had she put her hand in his? But it had felt natural at the time, as if their hands belonged together. No! First and foremost he was a patient of hers, and he was eleven years younger. It would never work out, and she couldn't cause such a scandal, she thought to herself. She feverishly started to look for her car keys, just to take her mind of Daniel Wellings, and when she found them she drove off so fast that the tires screeched.
Daniel was deep in his own thoughts and only vaguely heard the screeching noise. Twenty-two years old, he had never come close to experience what had just happened. The closeness between two people that was more than just a friendly gesture. The wonderful feeling of reaching out to someone who answered. Suddenly he felt as if he couldn't breathe, and gasped a little for air. "This can't be happening," he thought and he felt disgusted by himself for making that ever so gentle caress with his thumb on her hand, or even for opening up his hand. How could something that had felt so right at that precise moment, feel so horrible minutes after? Daniel got up and walked away from the rotunda.
Chris and Kate was busy preparing dinner, when Daniel walked in.
"The food's almost ready, you are just in time," said Kate who was setting the table. Chris saw in the corner of her eye that Daniel was looking at her and she threw a quick glance towards him and said: "Hi," so that she wouldn't seem impolite or get Kate wondering.
"Hey," he answered and there was a few seconds of awkward silence between them.
"Uh, what you got cooking?" he said
"Just pasta and some sauce," Chris answered and tried to sound as natural as possible, while her heart was racing. Daniel limped over to the table and sat down.
"Oh, by the way Daniel , we are flying out to the gas fields tomorrow, and we'll be staying overnight so you'll have the whole house to yourself," Kate said as they were seated.
"What are you going to do all the way out there?"
"We are doing a clinic run. And then there's a party apparently that Emma, you know Emma Patterson, has to show up for as she was voted Queen of the Outback, so we decided to join her and Sam. You think you can handle being here all by yourself?" Kate teased a little, but her brother seemed immune to her joke.
"I think I'll manage," Daniel answered shortly.
The dinner went by, pretty much in silence, except for the occasional comment exchanged between Chris and Kate about the upcoming trip. When Chris was done, she excused herself and said she had paper work to do and fled into her study.
"What's the matter?" Kate asked when the door to the study was closed. "Have you been in a fight with Chris or something?"
"What? No! Why would you think that?"
"Because neither of you have said one word to the other during the whole dinner, and just yesterday you two got on like a house on fire. So, what's going on?"
"Nothing, we haven't had a fight!"
"If you say so," Kate said and started to clear the table.
Daniel stood by the school's basket ball court, where he had spent as much time as possible during his childhood. Or rather, what was left of it. The hoops were gone and instead various toys were scattered on the ground. He picked up a packet of cigarettes from his pocket an lit one. He rarely smoked, but this heartbreaking scene reminded of himself. That he lacked some vital part of how to interact with other persons. Or one in particular. After filling his lungs with the smoke of the cigarette one time, he threw it on the ground and put it out with his shoe. "They're leaving tomorrow," Daniel thought and though he knew they would be back the day after, he couldn't help but missing Chris already, and he hated himself for it.
Chris was sitting in the Nomad, trying to concentrate on a book, but all she could see was two different colored eyes, and the sensation of her hand in his. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get rid of the butterflies in her stomach, when thinking about his beautiful eyes. She heard the others talking as if from a distance. In frustration she slammed the book shut.
"Are we there yet?" she asked Sam.
"Yep, it's just about time for you to fasten your seat belts.
As the group from the RFDS entered the hall where the party was held, Chris took a deep sigh, when she saw all the decorations and the balloons. It was a party, and she was to have fun and not dwell about Daniel. They had barely been seated when Kate said: "Hey, there's a new face," and they all turned towards the door . Chris saw a tall, blond man who was shaking hands with the foreman on the gas fields. Chris thought him handsome, but also that he probably knew that fact himself. He seemed very confident. The foreman took him to the RFDS table and introduced him as Dr Mike Lancaster and he all shook hands with them. Sam came back from getting drinks and Mike apologized for something to Sam that Chris didn't understand what they were referring to. Geoff bid the stranger to sit down.
"So you are doctor?" Kate asked.
"Only a PhD, I don't save lives." he smiled and caught Chris' eyes. His eyes were both crystal blue and yet she couldn't help but comparing them to Daniel's more intense, hypnotizing gaze. The night went on and Mike asked Chris to dance the last dance with him. He flirted with her, she could feel it, but she played along, since this was the only night they would see each other. "This is a man that I could fall in love with," she thought in the back of head.
Daniel tossed and turned in his somewhat uncomfortable bed. How he hated the night. How he hated sleeping! Sometimes it wasn't so bad, he could get a decent night's sleep. But most of the time, he was actually afraid of going to sleep. The nightmares... They were so vivid and so real, that he could feel everything, smell everything, taste... Daniel threw himself up in a sitting position and breathed heavily, feeling as if the oxygen didn't fully reached the bottom of his lungs. That he couldn't assimilate the oxygen. He rushed up out of bed, and without caring about the pain in his leg, he ran out of the door. The feeling of fresh air helped him a bit, he could calm himself down. As his breathing returned slowly to normal, he looked up at the dark night sky and the twinkling stars, and cursed the fact that he was still alive.
As Chris busied herself with work, there came a call from the gas field. There had been several explosions and one man had been badly hurt. When they reached him, Chris saw that it was the man from yesterday, Mike Lancaster.
"I think my arm's broken," was the first thing he said. "Fancy meeting you again," he continued when he saw Chris. She just smiled lightly and helped Geoff examine him. When they got back to the Nomad, Chris saw that something was wrong with Geoff's leg. He could hardly walk. "Want me to take a look at it?"
"No, I'm fine"
Chris felt concerned but didn't pursue.
It turned out that Geoff had seriously injured his knee, and though Chris both longed for and feared the idea of spending a day alone in the house with Daniel, she insisted that Kate should go to Broken Hill with Geoff. Chris went in to see how Mike Lancaster was doing. His bed was full of instruments and papers that he apparently was examining.
"What is all this?"
"If I'm going to be cooped up in here, I might as well get some work done."
"Wrong, what you need is rest!" Chris said and and with the help of a nurse she cleared the bed and put Mike into it.
"How long do I have to stay here anyway?"
"We'll let you out in three days on good behavior. Provided there are some," she said with a strict look at Mike who smiled. Chris left the men's ward with a lot of mixed feelings.
