ETWentHome, thank you for your review. I don't want this to be entirely a sad story so it's really good to know you're enjoying Cal's antics despite your concern for Ethan.
Becs2202, I couldn't use that line in its original context, but I had to put it in somewhere because it was just so funny! Thank you for your review.
Tanith Panic, thank you for both your reviews! I have to agree the last line is genius, but like all my best lines, it was stolen from an episode. It actually refers to Cal and Taylor, but it was so good, I had to give Ethan another reason to say it.
Tato Potato, thank you for your review. I'm glad you think Ethan's excitement is sweet. I was really hoping you would all be able to enjoy the moment as well as worrying about the future, so I'm really glad you said that!
20BlueRoses, I did want Ethan to get a little bit of revenge on naughty Cal! I'm really happy you find it convincing that Ethan would fall for Taylor. Thank you for your review.
At twenty-eight minutes past seven (after spending five minutes waiting in the car), Ethan rang Taylor's bell. She was already ready and told Ethan she'd be down in a minute. Ethan nearly fainted when he saw how beautiful she looked. She had her hair loose again and was wearing a floaty, knee-length black skirt with black heels and a white blouse.
"I'm not too dressed up, am I?" said Taylor, an amused smile on her face.
"Oh, no: of course not," said Ethan, who was obviously wearing a suit. "You look… nice."
Taylor tilted her head to one side. "Nice?"
"Very nice," amended Ethan, and motioned awkwardly towards the car. "Shall we?"
He felt a bit awkward, partly because he wasn't sure if he should ask about the typhoon or not – he knew the experience must have upset Taylor and he didn't want to cause her any further pain – but Taylor soon put his mind at rest.
"Ethan, I promise you I'm going to do my best not to talk shop tonight. I love my work, I really do, but I don't want to bore you to death."
"Oh, I don't mind if you bore me to death," said Ethan. "I mean… no. Sorry. I don't mean you're boring."
Taylor rested her hand on his arm. "You don't need to explain, Ethan. I always know exactly what you mean."
She didn't move her hand straight away. Ethan's pulse was jumping and he could barely concentrate on the road ahead, but then Taylor asked about his day and Ethan managed to drag his mind away from the fact she was touching him and calm himself down before he caused an accident.
"I know you can't tell me very much about what happened at work because of confidentiality, but I hope everything went well," said Taylor.
Ethan, rather to his surprise, found himself telling Taylor about Cal and his girlfriend, starting with their unconventional meeting and finishing with their escapades on the sofa (though he didn't go into detail about that and described it as delicately as he could).
Taylor grimaced. "Your brother sounds… interesting."
"I think he'd find you interesting too," said Ethan with a little sigh, but Taylor winked at him.
"Don't worry. I don't think he sounds that interesting."
Ethan smiled. He liked the way that Taylor had made her feelings about Cal clear without actually being too rude about him. "It was a good day apart from that. Very busy, of course. A few difficult patients, but they're part of the job and it can be difficult to keep calm sometimes when you're ill." Slightly embarrassed, he added: "But I'm sure you know that already."
"To an extent," said Taylor. "Being ill is normal to a lot of the people I help. It's tragic how much they just accept as normality. But it can be really difficult to win their trust. They're just not used to people wanting to help."
"That can happen in the ED too," said Ethan. "Not everyone trusts doctors."
"I trusted you as soon as I saw you," said Taylor.
Ethan felt himself going red. "I know it's not quite the same thing. But I trusted you as soon as I saw you as well."
Ethan and Taylor stayed for pudding and then coffee, before Taylor decided with real reluctance in her voice that she had to be getting back. "I don't want to go. I've had such a lovely time, Ethan. But I have an early start tomorrow and I imagine you do too."
Ethan checked his watch and couldn't understand where the time had gone. "It's after ten o'clock! But I don't think I've ever enjoyed two hours more."
"I only wish we could make it three hours," said Taylor.
After Ethan had tried and failed to attract the attention of a waiter and Taylor had managed it with minimum effort (being beautiful probably did help), Ethan asked for the bill. "I'll pay."
"Oh, no. I couldn't let you do that," said Taylor.
"I insist," said Ethan.
Taylor didn't argue anymore. They left the seating area and went to the cloakroom, where Taylor collected her coat and Ethan very clumsily helped her to put it on.
"I'm sorry. I've never done this before," he admitted.
"Don't worry. You're a natural," said Taylor, and smiled at him.
Ethan knew he wasn't a natural, but the fact that Taylor very clearly didn't mind robbed him momentarily of the power of speech.
"I can't bear those suave men who've obviously done it a million times and think I should consider it an honour that they're doing it for me," said Taylor.
Ethan couldn't help but smile a little bit because he had a feeling that all of the above applied to Cal. It wasn't that he wanted Taylor to dislike Cal, but it amazed and thrilled him that such a beautiful, intelligent, remarkable woman could like him more than someone like Cal.
Though perhaps she would feel differently if she actually met Cal…
They went outside and made their way to the car park. Taylor slipped her arm through Ethan's and smiled at him. Ethan smiled back at her, unable to believe this was really happening. As they approached the car, he got his keys out of his pocket and promptly dropped them. Taylor laughed, but not in an unkind way.
"Sorry," said Ethan.
"Don't be," said Taylor. "It's only your keys you dropped, not me!"
Ethan unlocked the car and went to open the door for Taylor, only to discover the door was locked. "Oh, gosh. Did I really leave it open the whole time?"
"Don't worry," said Taylor comfortingly. "If someone decided they wanted to break into your car, I'm sure they wouldn't do something as sensible as checking the doors."
"You're probably right," said Ethan. He unlocked the door and held it open so Taylor could get in. As soon as he was inside, he wondered if he should have held her hand and helped her in, but perhaps that would have been over the top. He smiled at her, very nearly melted at the smile she gave him in return, and shut the door gently.
Of course, he didn't shut it properly so Taylor had to open the door again and give it a proper slam, but she didn't seem to mind that either.
