Medicinal Love

Chapter 4 – Part 1

Date: Fall 13 Year 2

"…."

No response came from the screen.

"…."

Half the document was filled with letters while the other half remained white. Clean white. White like the walls from the clinic white. 'Clinic….' Claire slammed the monitor of her laptop down. Her eyes widened as she realized the full consequences of her action. "Oh shit." She quickly opened her laptop. Seeing the document still there, Claire let out the breath that she was holding. She pushed herself back away from the miniature table. Blue eyes wandered.

It had been almost two weeks since she had arrived in Mineral Town. Already she had made some friends here and there. There was also the matter of the gossiping trio. Claire pursed her lips in annoyance. Unfortunately she had the horror of meeting their acquaintance as they flocked around her and bombarded her with questions. In her opinion, the mob mentality had gotten worse once word got around that she would be working with the doctor and was good friends with Rick and Jack; this led to several negative feelings from the eligible females of the village and fed more ammunition to the gossiping trio. 'It's like high school all over again. The unnecessary (but it's going to be there anyway) drama.' Eyes flickered back to the laptop. "Well, it looks like it's you and me tonight, pal," Claire told her laptop.

The night had already begun and daylight was almost over. Earlier, Claire had gone around the village only to find that every store was closed. Claire was not sure whether Jack would be free or not, but found herself too lazy to walk over to the farm. She had decided to work on her paper, but even that was tiresome. "Hmmm," she muttered to herself. "I wonder why all the stores are closed. Even Ann is not cleaning today." Claire waited for a couple of seconds before deciding that waiting would not find her the answer and that she had to continue her paper.

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A rapping noise echoed throughout Claire's temporary room. So in tune with typing up her paper, she had failed to notice the constant noise. It was not until banging sounds pounded the room that it caught her attention. Annoyed beyond belief, Claire marched over to the window and harshly threw away the blue curtains. "Ahh!" Claire yelled as she fell backwards. In front of her window was Jack sitting on one of the tree branches. He cheekily waved his cap to her.

"Jack!" Claire whispered harshly as she opened the window; her head looked back and forth. "What are you doing over there?"

Jack climbed into her room. Patting his jeans off from any dust he might have accumulated, he said to her, "Well, the Inn was close and you weren't out so I thought I'd come over and ask you if you want to go see the Harvest Moon with me tonight."

Climbing on to her bed, Claire faced Jack. "Harvest Moon?"

Jack leaned against the wall, playing with a piece of paper from her desk. "Yeah. Well, it's basically watching the full moon at Mother's Hill. It's like a holiday over here."

Claire looked thoughtful. "That explains why all the stores are closed today."

"Yeah." Claire watched him shuffle his feet. "So you're interested in seeing it?" Jack said, though not meeting her eyes.

She flopped back on the mattress. 'I should be working on my paper…but I am interested in seeing the full moon from the mountain top. And I'll have Jack with me, so it won't be too awkward watching it by myself.' "Sure. Why not?"

"Great." Getting off the wall, Jack smiled to her as he headed toward the window. "I'll see you in front of the Inn at eight then?"

Claire looked at the clock. It was 5:30. "Ok. That'll give me some time to get ready, then."

He ducked his head as he carefully made his way to the branch. "See ya tonight." As soon as Jack was gone, Claire sighed.

"I might as well go take a shower."

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Jack was already outside waiting for her when Claire came out. Dressed in jeans and a hooded jacket, he stood leaning on the street lamp.

"Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting," Claire apologized. She had decided to dress for the weather, figuring that at Mother's Hill, the night would be extremely chilly. "Will there be anyone else coming to watch the moon?"

They started walking.

"There might be. This only happens once a year. It is the only time where the moon would get so full that it's as if you can reach out and touch them." Jack took a sneak glance at Claire.

"Really?" Claire was excited now. She had always thought moon-gazing was one of those things that people needed to do in life. And at the peak, it looked like one could touch the sky as well. Never had the thought occurred that moon-gazing was usually one for a more romantic setting. It had been so long since Claire had dated. School was taking her time as well as labs, volunteer and clinical work. In fact, it was often a running joke among science majors that a person's boyfriend or girlfriend was his or her lab or hospital. Other couples were in front of them. Claire recognized Ann with Cliff and Manna dragging Duke along. 'Today's Wednesday. I wondered if he's going?' Claire nearly snorted. 'With his disposition, it's highly unlikely that he would attend.' All of the sudden, she felt herself being pulled back toward Jack. "What the…?" Lost and confused in the sudden change of motion, a part of her body fell onto him.

Jack managed to catch Claire. But the descent was not really that deep. If he had not caught her, she would have just tripped over her feet. In the end, he had caught her anyway so it did not really matter that much. He helped Claire stood up. "Sorry, Claire. I should have warned you that you were going to step into that puddle over there."

On Claire's path, there was a large mud puddle just sitting there...waiting to be stepped on. Once she got herself orientated, she realized that they had passed by Jack's farm and now they had entered area where the lake was. Stepping back a bit, she put her hands to her hips as she glared at Jack. "Yeah, you could have warned me at least." Then she started walking. "Thanks anyway." Claire did not look back; she just kept on going.

"Wait up!" Jack ran to catch up to Claire.

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There were several other people on top of the mountain, Claire noted. Blankets were spread around and food was scattered amongst the blankets. People chattered in low tones, giving an aura of privacy. Claire was shocked to find that almost the whole village was here, witnessing this event. Jack gave a slow whistle. "Boy, this is going to be tough. Hey, Claire. Why don't you go walk around here for a bit while I go find us a good spot?" He rolled his eyes when he mentioned 'good spot'. With this many viewers, it was highly likely that some, if not all, of the best spots were already taken.

Taking Jack's suggestion, Claire walked around the area. She made sure not to stray too far as she was not familiar with the mountain at all. "I wonder if this event has any historical tradition to it?" Claire asked herself.

"Claire…darling." A long drawl came from her left.

Claire turned to the sound of the voice. Once she saw who the person was, she forced herself to politely smile at the person. "Manna!" Claire said in a shocked tone. "Do you watch this yearly?" Claire asked, referring to the Harvest Moon holiday.

Manna laughed as she covered her smile. "Yes. It's one of the few events that I can enjoy spending with Duke here." Getting closer to Claire, Manna lowered her voice. "Though I always had to drag Duke out to come watch the moon, otherwise he would be drinking tonight in his cellar."

Before Claire was able to respond, Manna quickly interrupted her. "So…who are you with?" There was a sly tone in Manna's, one that summed up impending gossip should Claire answer. Then again, Claire realized, she would have to tell Manna, because there was a slight chance that she might bump into Jack.

Either way, Claire was doomed, she figured. "I'm here with Jack," Claire casually replied. She even included a shrug of her shoulders in her posture.

"Oh. I see," Manna said to Claire, her eyes slightly widening a bit as she put a hand over her mouth as if she was hiding her shock.

Claire narrowed her eyes. She did not like where this was going at all. Manna could be a pretty decent person to talk to, Claire concluded. Unfortunately for her, Manna struck Claire as two-faced. One face, the gossiping one, happened to dominate Manna most of the time. 'What's taking him so long?' Claire thought about Jack's lateness and hoped that he would come back before Manna started harassing her for some information; no doubt any information that Manna managed to get from Claire would soon be all over the town. Claire watched Manna slowly forming the words that would soon doom Claire until someone interrupted.

"There you are, Claire. I've been looking for you. Jack sent me to fetch you."

A familiar voice washed over Claire. Without turning to see who spoke to her, she knew. There was no way she could not know who the owner of that voice was. 'But,' Claire pondered to herself, 'why is he here and not Jack?' She could hear the annoyance coming from the fetching part.

Claire faced Trent. "Really? Where is he, then?"

There was a slight shift in his posture. For a split second, Claire had thought Trent looked uncomfortable from her question. "He's with Elli." Trent looked at Claire, expecting to see her reaction to the revelation.

Claire was startled with Trent looked at her. A part of her did not know what to expect out of this. 'Is he expecting something?' Claire thought. She did not want to speculate this any further; for all she knew, that look could have meant anything. Another part of her scolded her for being too paranoid and looking into his actions too deeply. Somewhere deep in her mind, she remembered that she needed to respond back to Tim. But what her response would be, Claire did not know. Frankly, she didn't care that Jack was with Elli at the moment. "I see. Well, if he's with Elli, then I'm guessing he found a spot."

Trent nodded. "Yes. Quite near to us actually. Read to go?"

"Yeah. Let's go," Claire said a bit weakly; she found herself shivering due to the unexpected low temperature. She knew that tonight would be cold, but she had not expected the temperature to be this low. Realizing that Manna was still there, Claire stopped and turned back towards her. Somehow during the moment, she had started to follow Trent without realizing her actions. "Sorry, Manna. But I have to go now. Have fun spending the time moon-gazing with Duke."

Manna giggled. She played with her skirt. "Oh, I will. Have fun with Jack." Knowing eyes left Claire as Manna head back to her own blanket. But to Claire, it felt as if those eyes had never left.

Inwardly Claire sighed. Her feet were following Trent's, but her mind did not pay attention to the surrounding area. Claire had a hunch that in the following days, she would be the main topic amongst the gossipers. Momentarily, she wondered if this was how Jack felt when he first moved to Mineral Town. The stares. The supposedly quiet whispers. The atmosphere.

"What do you think of this?" Trent asked Claire, who looked like she was having an inner conversation with herself. When he had found out that Claire was watching the moon with Jack, he wondered if Claire knew the legend behind the event.

Claire's mind paused to think about Trent's question. "It's alright." She paused. "But…I noticed that most of the people here are usually couples."

Trent raised an eyebrow at that admission. "Not all of them are together romantically you know." There was a slight amusement in his tone as he watched her fumbled for a bit.

"I know that!" Claire screeched; her hand itched to whack the smirk of his face. She forced herself to calm down and look reasonable. "It's just that, there was an excluded atmosphere coming from each one that is very similar to a loving couple. An intrusion of privacy."

"Then I guess you don't know about the legend to this then." Trent said it as more of a statement than an observation.

"There is a legend to this?" There was a curious expression on Claire's face. She was shocked to find that there was something mystical about watching the Harvest Moon.

"That's what I said didn't I?" Trent teased her.

One week ago, Trent had signed himself up for potential headaches when he agreed to have Claire help him out around the clinic. One week ago, he had found her irritating. Of course, he still did find Claire irritating. But during that course of time, Trent found himself highly amused whenever he teased the poor thing. He had not teased anyone for a long time. Not since Elli started working with him as his nurse. When Elli first started working, Trent had teased her mercilessly. But soon found her reactions to his teasing a bit lacking. In fact, it took away the humor. Watching Elli flustered and stuttering around him was not really appealing; nothing like Claire's reactions to his teasing. With Claire, it was like toying with a small harmless kitten. If he had to compare the reactions between Claire and Elli, Claire was a kitten and Elli would be a mouse. 'Hmm. The kitty doesn't look too happy. I better placate her.'

Trent was right. Claire was not happy at all. 'If only he weren't my superior I would…' Claire made a list of all the things she wanted to do to him. The conversation had started being civil and continued being civil to the point that Claire almost forgot her dislike of the man. That was until he responded. Then things went downhill in Claire's mind. "Pray tell, oh mighty one. What is this legend that I seek to know?" There was a haughty worship tone that she did not need to physically bow to Trent; it was already done.

"Well, Claire…" There was a slight smirk to Trent's face. "Legend has it that when two people spend the night watching the Harvest Moon, there is a special bond. A bond that can't be broken for it is said that the moon spirit foresees everlasting love between those two people. So whomever you spend the night with watching this moon, you'll be with that person forever."

Complete silence reigned. But it was broken by the sound of Trent's laughter. "Did you really believe that for a moment?" At the same time, Claire had already moved her mouth.

"And everyone believes the legend?" Sarcasm dripped from Claire's tongue as she folded her arms together. She was skeptical of what the doctor had told her, but she could not deny that some part of her believed the legend—not that she would said that aloud.

Trent continued with his chuckling. "No. Not really. It's just something for people to enjoy."

"I see," Claire said, as she looked away from Trent. They had settled walking at a casual pace as the moon as not at maximum point in the sky.

Claire was dying to know who the doctor had gone with to see this event, though she had a pretty good hunch that his reason for attending was because of his nurse—Elli. "Are you here with Elli?" she blurted out unintentionally. Claire tried very hard to stop herself from covering her mouth in surprise.

"Yes."

"Huh." Claire looked to the side. She felt…a bit heart-wrenched when he replied 'yes.' Trent must have mistaken her expression as disbelief, for he continued.

"Elli wanted to witness the event, but her family was unable to attend and she didn't want to go by herself, so I accompanied her."

"Oh, I see." There was a pause. Then Claire smirked at Trent. "Such a nice guy."

He scoffed, but played Claire's little game. "Nice enough to let you help out at the clinic."

Claire twittered, she was about to say something when someone interrupted her.

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AN: Evil way to end the chapter, but I'm going to have to post this as two parts since chapter 4 is getting a bit long and we're not even at the climax point (of this chapter) yet. …I think. Maybe we're already there? We'll see in the second part. Beta'ed by The Scarlet Sky.