Episode 11

"I never understood spending so much money on a fund-raiser," Tyra said tersely, pursing her lips against any further comment.

Emily looked up to see the impressively large bouquets of expensive looking flowers being carried into the hospital. It seemed odd that she hadn't noticed those before, but then...she had been distracted.

"How much are they trying to raise for Bandari's project?" Emily asked, trying to be a part of the world.

"I think, like, 500K," Tyra said. "That's got to be, like, $10,000 in flowers, am I right?"

"Oh, $10,000 doesn't get you those flowers," scoffed Cassandra, who came up beside them with Will in tow. Emily's body felt an immediate reaction to Cassandra's know-it-all tone, but then her previous thoughts took over, and all she could do it smile. Perhaps noticing this, Cassandra grabbed Will's arm and pulled him towards the hospital, "Let's go babe, I need to hang my dress."

Emily grinned all the wider at their backs. It was all just so obvious now...

"Okay, what's going on?" Tyra asked, fed up with this new behavior. "You just had a Cassandra Will encounter. You don't smile after a Cassandra Will encounter."

"It's because I have the magic eye now," Emily said, feeling somehow excited and afraid at the same time to be voicing her new theory for the first time. Tyra looked at her blankly and Emily's let her collection of thoughts tumble out: "In the books. I used to read them as a kid, you know? You stare at that picture for a long time, and at first it would seem so random, this crazy pattern, and then all of a sudden, you'd see a teapot or something, and then once you saw that, every time you looked at it, it was just so obviously a teapot, it-it," Emily felt overcome with happiness at her argument's conclusion, "It's a teapot!"

Tyra, not hearing all the context in her friend's head, was not amused. "There has to be a more direct way of telling me why you're happy."

Emily put her metaphors aside: "It's just suddenly clear that Will has feelings for me."

Tyra gave her an appraising look.

"I know it," Emily said. "And Cassandra knows it! She is so obviously threatened by me. I don't know how I didn't see it before."

Tyra nodded. "So you're going to make a move."

"No! definitely not!" Emily exclaimed. This was, after all, the essence of her new plan. "When Cassandra's threatened, she lashes out. She's going to lost it on Will. Then his eyes will be opened."

"Wow," Tyra said, looking mildly impressed. "I've never seen you so confident."

Emily felt herself glow with her (if somewhat reserved) approval. "Now I know he has feelings for me, I just have to be patient. Patient plays to my strengths."

"Cassandra has been holding tighter to Dr. Ken Doll recently," Tyra looked around. "I hadn't thought much about it, but maybe there's something to it."

"Look," Emily said, "If she's rude to everyone EXCEPT Will, don't you think he will eventually realize this. I mean, she's a jerk to you, right?"

"Well, nothing too bad," Tyra admitted, "but as a lesbian underachiever, I'm not really a threat to her."

"Well, okay," Emily waved off the flaw in her logic. "But sooner or later she is going to mistreat me, Will's close college friend, and he will want to defend me, because that is what he does. And he's going to realize that he is defending me against his girlfriend, which will cause him to rethink everything."

"If only you could get that research assistant position," Tyra said thoughtfully. "If ever there was a time and place for her to lose her cool, it would be losing the opportunity of a lifetime to you."

"Oh great," Emily held up her hands, "like there wasn't enough pressure already."

...

Micah escorted his mother into the hospital. Without realizing it, he found himself staring at Emily as she removed a garment bag from her car. That must be her dress for the fund-raising party tonight...maybe he able to snatch a dance with her...

The thought was almost too much, especially since his mother followed his eyeline and gave him a knowing smile. The last thing he needed was to tell his cancer-patient mother about pathetic intern love triangles.

"There's a party tonight," Micah said, trying to explain his inattention. "I just realized I forgot to grab my suit from the car. I should hang it up, but I can get you inside first."

"A suit?" Joyce asked, "you remembered to iron it, right?"

"Mom," Micah whined, "the dry cleaners ironed it. Don't worry about it."

"I just don't want you to look like no one is taking care of you," Joyce said.

"Yeah, well," Micah gestured for them to enter the hospital. "Let's just get you upstairs, okay?"

Micah guided her to her ward and helped her get situated.

She grabbed his arm, "so listen, I've actually been thinking about your Emily problem."

Micah felt himself stiffen. "What problem?"

Joyce shushed him and continued, "And I did a little digging, and there's no hospital policy against a resident dating one of his interns."

"What?" Micah almost shouted, unable to believe his mother's lack of common sense. This might require fixing. "Who did you ask?"

"Don't worry, I didn't say who it was about," Joyce said, reading the tenor of his anger.

"Well, you're my mother," Micah said, trying to stress how obvious she was being. "They'll-"

"The point is," Joyce interrupted, "it's totally allowed, you won't get in any trouble…"

"I know that," Micah said, having looked into it himself.

"Then ask her," Joyce insisted.

Part of him knew that his mother meant well-that she liked Emily and wanted him to be happy-but it was more complicated then just "asking her." It wasn't as though she wasn't constantly on his mind... he was tired and annoyed and frustrated.

"Mom, okay, just please, back off," Micah said, letting some of this frustration show.

"But you like her," Joyce went on apologetically.

"It's not happening!" Micah said forcefully.

"Well, it won't if you don't ask her," Joyce insisted.

"Mom stop!" he yelled. He immediately quieted down. "Just back off," he begged.

...

Cassandra read the adrenaline junkie's chart, but she was barely aware of herself or the patient. All she could think about was the way Will and Emily had smiled at each other when they had come into the room.

That was normal, though, right? For friends to greet each other warmly...every time they saw each other...

It may have been fine, except that Emily's smile had a new smugness in it, as though she had somehow gained some kind of personal confidence despite Cassandra's best efforts to the contrary.

Cassandra sighed. She needed to psych Emily out. Luckily she had a couple things on reserve for just such an emergency.

"What's with the good mood?" she asked as they walked from their patient's room.

Emily gave the same infuriating smile. "I got a new teapot."

That was it. That was all she said. What on earth was THAT supposed to mean? What was Pits playing at?

Cassandra shrugged off a strange sense of panic. "Whatever floats your boat," she said rudely. "I just thought you'd be freaking out more."

"About what?" Emily asked, taking the bait.

"The surprise tribute thing for Dr. Bandari?" Cassandra said casually, trying to sound conversational. "At first I thought it was odd that they wanted to include us, but I guess this is a teaching hospital..."

"Cassandra," Emily said, looking over with a satisfyingly scared intensity. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

That's when Cassandra let herself remind Emily who was in charge here. "Did I forget to email you?" She smiled, "Oh, it's no biggie. All of us just have to say a little something about Bandari. On camera.

Cassandra felt the world right itself when Emily's smug smile was replaced with abject fear and the awkward resolve to hide it.

...

"Micah?" asked Emily's voice as he and AJ stood doing their paperwork at the nurse's station.

Micah gave a mooney sideways smile at the pleasant surprise, "Hey."

"Can I ask you a question?" Emily asked nervously. Micah knew better than to get his hopes up, so he threw a warning glance at AJ, who had set aside his paperwork to watch them intently. Emily apologized to him for disturbing them.

"That's alright," AJ said, continuing to study them both with the grin Cheshire cat.

"How important," Emily asked carefully, "is the video tribute component for this evening?"

Micah considered this, trying to feel flattered that he was the one she sought out for such questions. He recalled that Dr. Bandari was considering her for a position as research assistant and knew that he wanted to help her get it. If she was the type to fall in love with her friends, then perhaps he needed to be the best friend she ever had.

"It is a good opportunity to flatter Bandari," he said, trying to speak calmly so as to reassure her. "You know, since she's gong to be choosing her new research assistant any day now."

"Right…" Emily sighed. Her resolve grew, though her reluctance increased also. Micah tried not to imagine the trouble socially-awkward Emily could get into on camera. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Just keep it simple," Micah said, seeing her already over-thinking things.

Emily's beeper called her away, so she backed away without breaking eye contact. "Okay, so…simple," she said, trying to soak in his advice.

"Simple," Micah reaffirmed.

"Simple!" She laughed, turning to leave.

Micah returned to his place next to AJ, who was still staring at him. "What?" he asked defensively.

AJ shook his head and scoffed, "Simple."

"Back off, dude," Micah laughed, shaking his head. "You're worse than my mother."

"What?" AJ laughed, "What's Mama Barnes saying?"

"Hey, she's sick, leave her out of this," Micah tried to focus on his paperwork.

"You brought it up," AJ reminded, "so spill. Your mom is trying to set you up?"

Micah turned to face AJ, feeling his frustration leak out. "She asked someone at the hospital if residents are allowed to date interns! Can you believe that? Now someone is walking around the hospital spreading rumors about me-"

"Are they rumors if they're true?" AJ asked, almost in tears from holding in his laughter.

"Come on!" Micah whined. "My mom is sick, I don't need this."

"You don't get the sick mother card with me, man," AJ shook his head. "And I don't know how much longer I can watch you pine after a girl. Just ask her."

"Has anyone considered that I don't want to 'just ask her'?" Micah breathed. "She's in love with egotistical douche-bag who strings her along, what does that say about her, huh? And where in that mess is there room for me?"

"Wow," AJ said, raising his brows. "That's harsh."

"Yeah, well," Micah said coldly, "that's how it is."

...

Bandari scrubbed her hands for surgery as Will, Cassandra, and Emily lined up behind her. Cassandra was becoming ever more certain that the moment she had been preparing for had finally arrived.

"Now that my project is off the ground, I am going to be selecting a research assistant," Dr. Bandari said, confirming her suspicions. "You three scored the highest on the Inservice, so you're the finalists. Dr. Keopelson, why do you deserve to be chosen?"

At Cassandra's insistence she and Will had practiced these speeches over and over. As a result she felt somewhat responsible for not only her own, but his success as well.

Cassandra could only see Dr. Bandari's back, and her confidence wavered. Barely hearing the words as she recited, she found herself having to yell and repeat things as Bandari turned on the sink.

The blood pulsed through Cassandra's ears. This wasn't supposed to be happening-Emily was the awkward one! She had worked so hard for this!

It was a moment before Cassandra realized the sink had been turned off. Her voice was now painfully loud. Breaking into a cold sweat, Cassandra cut off her words, backtracked, and started again at half the volume. By the time she finished she couldn't look anywhere but at the floor.

Will tried to say something charming to dispel the resulting awkwardness, but Cassandra barely heard. She knew that he stumbled through his practiced speech about his engineering background only because she had heard it so often.

Then it was Emily speaking, and she droned on and on. Cassandra felt Will's body shift closer to her, as though to lend her strength. She leaned into him gratefully for a moment, but then remembered his warm smile to Emily when they'd come in the room.

She shifted away.

"Well, didn't expect you to go on about yourselves for so long," Dr. Bandari frowned. "We'll continue this later."

Cassandra snapped back to attention as her idol walked from the room to take her place at the head of surgery. Her heart ached with desire to be exactly like this powerful, talented woman. A new wave of resolve flowed through Cassandra. This was not over yet.

Cassandra stepped back and looked at her competitors. "Look, we all have to go for it," she said, "so may the best doctor win."

Cassandra stepped it up when recording her on-camera testimonial of Dr. Bandari later that day. She poured all of her desire into the indecorous yet completely true flattery. When Emily walked in towards the end Cassandra didn't even flinch. This was one thing Emily could never hope to win at...she had made sure of it.

Cassandra finished her practiced speech, eyes misty but not too emotional-a calculated choice. Her gaze held on the camera until the cameraman asked who was next.

Cassandra smiled wickedly as the door swung shut behind Emily's fearful retreat.

...

It took Emily several hours to shake off the abject fear caused by Cassandra's eloquent words. She knew there was no way of competing with that-she was too honest.

When finally she felt able, Emily tried again, only to find herself equally flummoxed. This time she walked in on Will filming. He had the entire room laughing, his charming smile making the entire room glow with his presence.

"And that's how Mr. Tameny lost a toe," Will roared, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. "True story! True story, honestly!"

"Oh my god," laughed one camerman.

"Oh, hey," said the other, seeing her for the first time. "You're up."

Emily looked at the three men in the room, all this chuckling slightly, broad grins on their face. Her intimidation was complete. "Uh, actually, I'm going to come back."

"No, come on!" Will held an arm out to her from his place in the camera lights. "Let's get it over with."

Emily was desperate to continue putting this moment off, but there was something about the way Will looked so adorable sitting there at the center of the dark room, smiling and reaching for her...No one with a heart could say no to such cuteness.

"Oh, I hate these things," Emily said by way of assent.

"You're going to be fine," Will said gently, guiding her to switch places with him. "Come on."

She sat under the lights and looked into the camera.

"Ready?"

-No! What am I supposed to say? That I don't think Bandari is a good teacher? That I'm afraid of her?-Emily thought.

She gave two thumbs up instead.

"Okay," Will urged her on, smiling at the monitor.

Emily took a moment to catch her breath and compose her thoughts. It was not as though she hadn't been thinking about what to say...but what kind of statement would be worthy of Bandari's research assistant? What could Emily, who Bandari vocally disliked, possibly say?

Micah's words and reassuring smile popped into her head.

-Don't worry about the research job-She let his advice sink in-just keep it simple-

Simple.

"It is n honor to be taught by Dr. Bandari," Emily said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She then waited for someone to tell her it was over. When the room was awkwardly silent, she asked, "How's that?"

"Ah…" a cameraman offered, "short."

"A little stiff," Will said, looking up from the monitor. He seemed concerned. "Um, tell you what, why don't you just….just imagine that you're talking to-"

"Dr. Bandari?" Emily finished that thought with a shudder. "I don't want to look scared."

"Me," Will smiled. "I was going to say. Just pretend like you're talking to me."

Emily smiled at this thought. Well that would be simple-just talk about Bandari to the person she felt most comfortable with. "Oh," she said, smiling.

-Smiling, just smiling at him, makes me feel so safe-Emily let herself think about her feelings-it's like he knows that together we can do anything-

Before she had the chance to try this out, however, they were both paged to Dr. Bandari's office.

...

"You have all told me why you deserve to be my research assistant," said Gina Bandari to the three interns in a line. "Now I'd like you to tell me why the other two don't."

Will shifted uncomfortably at this thought. Could she really have just asked them to bad-mouth one another?

When none of them spoke, Dr. Bandari continued, "Medicine is not personal. You have to be able to step back and observe-be critical of yourselves and of each other. Dr. Collins. what are Dr. Kopelson's flaws?"

She could not have asked a question that was more fraught with peril. What are Dr. Kopelson's flaws? Why not just act him to stab himself in the gut?

"She, ah…" Will considered. Cassandra had said 'may the best doctor win,' hadn't she? It was only fair to be honest. "She's too ambitious," Will heard himself saying before he was sure he was ready, "which could be a problem because you want a team player, not someone who's…looking out for themselves."

"Tell me about Dr. Owens," Dr. Bandari said.

"Um," Will thought. This was a much easier question-he teased Emily all the time. "She gets too personally involved with her patients and she lacks confidence at times, which could be a liability."

He looked at Emily with an apologetic shrug, and Emily nodded her acceptance of that assessment. He didn't dare look at Cassandra.

"Dr. Owens?" Bandari prompted.

I…think the ambition thing is big," Emily began. "Like Dr. Collins said, you want a team player, and Dr. Kopelson is…too focused on getting ahead." Will prepared himself to hear about himself, "Dr. Collins is really passionate about saving lives, which is great. But, uh, in his rush to be a hero, he can be rash. He's impatient. He doesn't always trust the process. Which is not what you want."

Emily repeated the gesture of an apologetic shrug. Will felt his pulse rise for a moment, but recalled the many times she had teased him about not waiting for results. It was fair-a thing he had to work on.

"Dr. Kopelson," Bandari continued, "tell me about Dr. Owens."

Will tensed. Though he had begun their relationship with the intention of making the two rivals get along, Emily was no longer a part of their discussions. In fact, they skirted the issue artfully most of the time. Being asked what she thought of "Pits" by her idol seemed almost unfair.

"Overly involved and overly intimate with her patients," Cassandra spat, her words pushing into the room with twice the usual speed. "She gets personally involved, which can cloud her objectivity. Additionally, she's awkward in social situations, which can reflect poorly upon you." Will let out a breath of relief. That could have been much worse. His breath caught however, when Cassandra whirled on him. "And Dr. Collins scored third. And he scored third because I drilled facts into his head, just like Dr. Owens did during med school. I think you want someone a little more self-reliant on your team."

Will was taken aback by this sudden and vehement sentiment. He turned to loook at Bandari who was eyeing him thoughtfully. "I'd agree," she said. Before he could assess what was happening, she added, "Dr. Collins, you're out. You did score third. It was a long shot to begin with." Turning her head dismissively, she addressed the two remaining candidates, "I'll decide by the end of the day."

Will bit in his anger as they filed out of Bandari's office.

"Dear," he said angrily, "what the hell was that?"

Cassandra faced him, Emily between them, and hissed: "You said I was blindly ambitious."

"Which is a fair critique," Will defended.

"No," Cassandra said, narrowing her eyes, "you should have said something that could be construed as a positive, like I work too hard."

"That's ridiculous," Will said. Why would she ask him to put himself in a position of lying to his boss?

"No, it's not ridiculous-" Cassandra began.

"We agreed we were going to fight for this position-" Will reminded.

"With Emily you basically said that she cares too much," Cassandra let the heart of the argument be glimpsed.

Will was so sick of learning that every fight was really about Emily. What had poor, sweet Emily ever done to her? "Oh my god," he said, this time really losing his cool, "are you serious?"

Hearing his anger, Cassandra stormed off. "Whatever, Will."

"You believe that, huh?" Will grouched, turning to Emily. "She gets me kicked out, she's upset. Whatever."

...

Cassandra shut her patient's file with a feeling of triumph. She resisted an excited squeal, closing her eyes and letting out a happy breath instead. Any doubt she'd had about losing Bandari's research position fled from her body. She felt as though she had been unable to breathe all day.

Everything would be okay now, however. She rushed off to find Dr. Bandari. Before long she had been sited, walking with Emily, no less.

-Oh no you don't!-thought Cassandra.

"Dr. Bandari!" Cassandra called, rushing to catch up to them. She shared a victorious look with Emily, "our patient-the daredevil with the detached retina-he has Marfan's."

Bandari looked shocked by this assessment. "Really?"

"Ran the test," Cassandra said, telling Emily for the first time, "just got the results."

"Difficult disease to diagnose," Bandari said, "how'd you get it?"

"He was having palpitations, I did an ultrasound," Cassandra explained. She looked askance at Emily, "Then I started reading through his chart, which read like a slam book, by the way. He hates fish?"

Emily laughed, digging her grave all the further, "We were kidding around. I wrote other stuff."

"Yes you did," Cassandra admitted, "which was at least useful. History of anxiety and joint dislocations. All of a sudden it just clicked for me, and I realized he had Marfan's."

"Good save," Dr. Bandari said thoughtfully. "If left undiagnosed he could have dropped dead." Dr. Bandari turned to Emily with what Cassandra could only assume was a disapproving gaze. "Talk to him about the lifestyle changes he needs to make."

Dr. Bandari handed the chart back to Cassandra, who accepted it as though it was praise itself. She had just won, surely. No first year would be expected to catch such a rare disease.

Being jealous of Emily suddenly seemed ridiculous-beneath her. How could she ever have felt threatened? Sweet little Pits didn't have the tools to compete with her. Cassandra suddenly felt bad about how she had been treating Will. She needed to talk to him.

"Why don't you talk to do it," Cassandra said to Emily, pushing the medical chart into her hands. "You guys are so close and I don't want to hijack the whole case."

With no other words, Cassandra strutted away.

"Hey baby," she said a few minutes later, running her hands suggestively over Will's torso.

"Oh, hey," he shrugged, apparently still feeling ill-disposed to her. How had she let things get this messy?

"I was thinking," Cassandra said with a coy smile, "maybe after the party we can have a little celebratory party of our own. I'll make you an 'I'm so sorry' cocktail."

"Why would you think I'd want to do that?" Will asked coldly.

"I can think of a few reasons," Cassandra looked at him with her bedroom eyes. "I know just how I want you..."

"Yeah, well maybe you should have thought about that before you shot down my future," Will said, meeting her eyes with an intensity that she didn't like. "I mean, all those hours we practiced our presentations...it was never about me, you never meant for me to have a chance. We were practicing for you."

Cassandra heard a certain amount of truth in this, though a truth absent of intention. Had she really been thinking that way? Suddenly feeling uncomfortable out in the hallway. She tugged Will's arm and he reluctantly followed her into the break room.

...

Emily tried to sound positive as she talked the adrenaline junkie through Cassandra's brilliant diagnosis. She felt guilty, standing there in front of him having missed what Cassandra caught. What if she had been working with someone else? What if they hadn't caught it?

Maybe she was being too harsh on Cassandra. They were, after all, partners on the mission of saving lives. Whatever her snake-like methods, she was a good doctor.

"I does mean that um," Emily stammered, getting to the part that would most upset her patient, "you can't do any more strenuous exercise. Ever. I know that it's a big lifestyle change."

"Yeah," he agreed casually, "but I mean, I don't want to die, so…I'll take up a new hobby."

Emily wanted to give him more than that. He was gay and in love with his fellow adrenaline junkie, who was straight. Emily needed to make sure he knew that everything would be okay. "You'll find other stuff to do with Sean," she said.

He looked at her in surprise. "It's that obvious?

"Yeah…" Emily smiled. "Let's just say I can relate to having feeling for a friend."

-A hot friend, at that-Emily added in her head.

"I know he's straight," he said, "I know he'll never love me the way I want him to, but we have the other stuff, the intimacy. That's something, right?"

Emily nodded. That was what she had with Will, right? She had closeness and friendship. She had someone to talk to and tease. There would always be something satisfying about that.

"And nothing has to change," Emily said. "I mean, you've been friends since college. That's a long time."

...

Will crossed his arms as Cassandra closed the door behind them. He wasn't sure he cared what she had to say. He was fully prepared for an argument-for more accusations and suspicions...but her first words quickly made his anger disappear.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking him directly in the eye. "I may have been thinking that way- but I didn't mean to. I just...I want this so badly. I want it so much that I can't see straight. But I never meant to hurt you, Will. And if it means you would forgive me, I'll go tell Bandari to take me out of consideration."

"Cassandra," Will said, his look softening, "that's not what I want."

"Well, you being angry with me is not what I want," Cassandra replied. "So tell me what to do, Will."

Will considered her, his jaw working, his eyes shifting across the room. He sighed, then opened his arms wide.

"Come here," he said, pulling her into a rough hug.

"Can you forgive me?" Cassandra asked, her face smooshed against his chest.

"I forgive you," his voice reverberated through his body. "Let's go get dressed and win you a research assistant job."

...

"Looking good, Dr. Barnes," AJ Aquino whistled at his friend, who walked up to him in a black suit. "Swoon-worthy, even."

Micah laid his suit jacket on the nurse's station and adjusted his cufflinks. "Back off, dude."

"What?" AJ grinned, adjusting his tie, "I didn't say who you were looking swoon-worthy for."

Micah felt his cheeks burn. "I know what you're thinking," he said, shrugging on his jacket.

An out-of-breath intern swung round the corner. "Dr. Barnes!" He shouted.

The intern rushed away and Micah, heart in his throat, raced after. He didn't have to ask where they were rushing: there was only one thing it could be. Something had gone wrong with his mother.

Joyce's doctor could be seen turning the corner down the hall and Micah prepared himself to run after him. A hand grabbed his arm to stop this. It was Emily. It was only the gut-wrenching terror that stopped a goofy smile from crossing his face.

"She's going into surgery," Emily explained, talking him through the diagnosis and the emergency procedure that was about to begin. Micah nodded manically, somehow calmed by knowing.

Micah though through the operation in his head, and Emily, seeing that he was distracted, guided him into the break room where she sat beside him. It was awhile later before he realized that she was still there.

"You should go down to the fund-raiser," he said, feeling the struggle between his desire to be around her and his annoyance with the drama she created. Besides all this, he was determined that she become Bandari's research assistant.

"Micah," Emily protested.

"No, it's important to be seen by Bandari," he argued feebly, not wanting her to go.

"I don't know if you know this about me," Emily smiled sadly, "I get overly involved with my patients. So I am staying here until she's out."

Micah felt a strange lightness flood over him. Yes, his mother might be in some very serious trouble, but he wasn't alone. Considering this feeling, he decided that he didn't want to be alone.

He paced nervously for a few minutes, talking through the procedure out loud. Emily offered other details. He continued to check the clock. Unable to stand it all, he sat back down.

"We fought this afternoon," he said finally, admitting the guilt that he felt for Joyce's current state. "I got angry with her over something so stupid."

It was stupid too, he thought. If my mom makes it-and she HAS TO make it-I'll take her advice.

"Families fight," Emily said simply.

"I know," Micah said, shaking his head, "but she's sick."

"Sick families are allowed to fight, too," Emily offered.

...

"Emily is such a treasure, of course," Cassandra said to her fellow intern Michael. "It's such an honor to be competing with her for this position."

"Like she stands a chance after that Morfens catch you made, though," Michael laughed, lifting his champagne glass in a salute.

"Aren't you the sweetest," Cassandra smiled, taking a premature congratulatory sip of her own.

"When do you think Bandari will make it official?" Michael asked. He glanced at Will who had come up alongside them. "I heard you were out of consideration this morning. Rough luck."

"Soon, I hope," Cassandra grinned. She placed a hand on Will's arm. "Save my place here, babe? I should go say a quick hello to Sara before things get started."

"Sure thing," Will said, nodding his own hello to Michael.

"So how'd it happen," Michael asked, "you being disqualified?"

"Oh, you know, this and that," Will said non-committally.

...

"I, um, I had this tree house once," said Micah as the minutes of his mother's surgery dragged on. Should it be taking this long? "And I used to spend all this time in it. I would pretend it was, you know, the castle at the top of the beanstalk-"

"And you were Jack?" Emily gave him a sad, sideways grin.

"No, that would make sense, wouldn't it?" Micah answered. "No, I was a giant. I used to go up there when I was angry, and I'd stomp around, you know: FE FI FO FUM."

"I am loving this mental picture," Emily chuckled.

"Yeah, well, one day my mom and I had a fight," Micah said, becoming serious again. "I don't even remember what it was about, but I went up to the tree house and stomped on the boards so hard that they...broke."

Emily's eyebrows shot up, "Oh god!"

"Anyway," Micah continued, "I fell about 15 feet and landed on top of this pile of wood. I was rushed to the emergency room. I was fine, really, my arm was broken. But my mom...she was so upset. She was a afraid that I might die and that the last things we had ever said to each other were words of anger."

"Oh, Micah..."

"I thought then that she was being ridiculous," Micah said, "but I get it now. I don't...I know it's okay for people to argue, but I just...I get it now."

They looked at one another for a few moments before his mother's doctor came in.

"Your mother did great," he said.

Micah felt a huge weight lift, "Oh, thank you Robert."

"My pleasure, she'll be in the ICU shortly. Enjoy your night."

Emily rushed up to him and they were locked in a hug. Micah was too relieved to measure the hug for more than it was, though he was perhaps a little too aware of his brain's attempts to analyze it.

Instead, his mind returned to the thing that had been making him nervous...his harsh words to his mother. He needed to apologize. But he couldn't really apologize with Emily in the room...Besides, she still had a chance (albeit a slim one) to win Bandari's favor.

Micah pulled away from the hug, "Okay go, go to the party," he commanded. "Make an appearance. Bandari should see you there."

"Okay," Emily agreed, reluctantly seeing the wisdom in this. "But I'll be back."

That sounded perfect, actually, "Okay." Micah stared after her, more convinced than ever that he was in love.

...

Emily wound her way through the hospital's hallways on her way to the party, but had found herself drawn back into the middle of the adrenaline junkie's relationship problems. Sean said his friend was feeling down and she was more than happy to avoid the party a little longer.

It was no secret to her that the gay man's relationship to his straight friend mirrored her relationship with Will. In her elation at Joyce's successful surgery she listened contentedly to what she thought would be an assertion that everything would be okay.

...But that wasn't what happened. No sooner had Sean said that nothing needed to change than a refusal came.

"That's the problem," he said with difficulty. "I'm in love with you. And you're not in love with me. And that's not going to change…and I want to be someone's choice."

Emily felt her breath catch in her throat. She felt a discomfort settle upon her. His assessment made a certain amount of sense, but then...it seemed so extreme. What was wrong with enjoying a person's company? Emily dismissed herself and walked in a slight daze down to the party.

The tribute video was playing and Cassandra's face took up most of the screen as she finished her absurdly eloquent testimonial. The tribute ended and Emily walked up to Tyra just in time to see the recording of herself give the double thumbs-up to the cameramen. Then the screen went dark.

"Oh…" Tyra said to both her and the screen, "That was…"

"That was so cute, what you just did," a gloating Cassandra said instead.

Will grinned at her, and Emily shrugged back. Before she could say anything, Bandari rushed up to them. "Oh good, you're here," she said hastily. "So, I've made my decision."

Bandari looked at Emily, said nothing, then turned to Cassandra. So that was the decision, then. Emily prepared herself to hear of Cassandra's victory, but she was surprised yet again.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Bandari said to Cassandra, "I've chosen Dr. Owens to be my research assistant."

"Really?" Emily could hardly contain herself. This is what it felt like, she realized-this is what it felt like to be chosen. Maybe that Adrenaline Junkie knows something I don't.

"Why?" Cassandra practically shouted. If Emily hadn't known her so well, this may have been a buzz-kill. "I'm sorry, but this is just…"

"Dr. Owens gets patients talking," Bandari was kind enough to explain, "and when they're talking, they reveal things they didn't think to mention. That's how you figured out the Marfan's right?"

"Well, sort of," Cassandra argued, "but using that information I'm the one who pieced together-"

"I'm good at piecing together," Bandari shot back. Emily only felt her excitement increase at this show-down, "I need the information." She turned to Emily one last time before heading back into the crowd, "Congratulations."

"Thank you. I look forward to working with you," Emily said after her, trying once more to not scream in excitement.

"Congratulations," Tyra said.

"Thank you!"

Cassandra sighed, "Whatever." Her terse voice continued, "She basically just said she needs someone to baby-sit patients. I dodged a bullet."

Without a glance at any of them, Cassandra walked away.

"Wow!" Tyra said to her retreating back. "Ungracious much?"

Emily couldn't help but look at Will to see his reaction. She couldn't have hoped for a better display of awful-ness than that. The tea-pot, it would seem, had appeared.

"Uh, look," Will said apologetically, "she's really upset. She…she really wanted the job."

"Lets toast," Tyra nodded, willing to move past it, "here."

Emily could see Will considering his options. Or perhaps he was re-arranging his thoughts about the kind of girls he let himself become involved with. She felt ready for the next surprise of the day...ready for him to see the tea pot...ready to choose her.

"I'm…" Will stammered, gesturing in the direction that Cassandra had gone, "real quick I going to go make sure she's okay."

Emily could hardly believe her ears. He wanted to check that she was okay? Had he not heard her? "Really?" Emily asked, wanting to drive Cassandra's behavior into his brain. "She was really rude.

"Yeah," Will said casually, as though it was completely normal. "Yeah, but you know Cassandra, she's hurt and when she gets hurt, she lashes out. So I'm just going to go talk to her real quick. I'll be right back in a second. I'll be right back."

Emily felt her magic eye shatter. What if the image wasn't a tea pot after all? What if it was just a random pattern?

"Okay," she said to Will as he moved to leave. She hardly felt compelled to ask him to stay.

"Congratulations," he whispered, moving off in the direction of his choice.

"I'm done," Emily said, staring at his back as he searched the crowd.

"Hmm?" Tyra asked.

"With Will," she said, feeling both incredibly light and immensely heavy at the same time. "I'm done."

Tyra cocked her head at this, but didn't say anything.

"Also, this party," Emily said, "I'm done with this party."

"Seriously," Tyra agreed. "Mission accomplished, right? Let's go celebrate. Bar?"

"Yes!" Emily said bravely. "No! Sorry, no, I need to make sure Micah is okay."

"Oh right, his mom," Tyra nodded. She grabbed a bottle of champagne from the table and thrust it into Emily's hands. "Tell you what, you two get started on this and I'll meet you on the roof."

"You have deal," Emily nodded. She walked to the exit.

"I don't understand," Tyra said. "What happened to patience?"

"Screw patience," Emily said, exploring the new feeling. "Screw waiting. I want to be chosen."

Tyra looked mildly impressed...or she had reached new heights of cynicism? "Done done?" She asked.

"Done done," Emily confirmed. "Why am I waiting around for someone to realize that I'm great? I want to be with someone who KNOWS that I'm great. Don't say anything snarky."

To Emily's great surprise, Tyra sounded impressed. "I wasn't going to."

...

Micah walked into his mother's room, saw her slaying in the bed, and rushed to her side. She looked crumpled and somewhat dazed.

"Oh, thank god," he said, meeting her weak embrace.

"Micah Mouse, I'm so sorry," Joyce cried, keeping a shaky hand on his shoulder. "I don't mean to pressure you, I just want you to be happy-"

"Mom, please," Micah argued, "we shouldn't argue. You were right. I...I over-think things."

"No, I'm overbearing," Joyce argued in return. "I see a chance for my little boy to be happy and I...I don't understand why it hasn't happened yet, but I-"

"I know," Micah said, "I know you just want what's best-"

"-but I need to let you live your life," Joyce finished. "You don't have to tell me anything. It may be my job to worry, but it's also my job to let you be yourself."

Micah held in his tears. "Look, I...the reason I haven't asked her out is because...because she's in love with someone. Someone...not me. Okay? And it poked at that wound when you pushed, and I just...I was so wrong to talk to you like that. I'm so sorry, mom."

Joyce took this in for a moment. She nodded. "You should never be satisfied with being someone's second choice," she said, placing her hand on Micah's cheek.

Micah's expression changed, "Please, don't call me Micah Mouse here."

Joyce pulled him into a hug, "I just got out of surgery, I can call you whatever I want."

...

Cassandra was pacing back and forth in an empty hallway when Will finally managed to track her down. "Hey..." he said tentatively "you left pretty abruptly...are you okay?"

Cassandra continued to pace. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She went through in her head every single person she had talked to in the past few days-every person from whom she had accepted congratulations. It was just too, too embarrassing.

Covering her face with her hands, she leaned against a wall. And Emily! Emily was now being patted on the back for winning HER place.

"Hey, why aren't you speaking to me?" Will's voice pushed through her thoughts.

Cassandra ignored him. She was tired of Will. Not Will himself, but the constant attention she had to pay in order to stop Will's fixation on Emily. Cassandra was realizing that she didn't have that much attention to give. She felt tired and haggard. And beaten.

She fought so hard for Will. She pushed and pulled him to get top marks, top honors, top consideration (only below herself of course), but what had he ever done? He shot her down in their interview with Bandari and probably rejoiced when Emily won instead of her.

"Um, well, look," Will stammered, pointing back the way he had come, "I should get back to the party if you don't need me here."

"You didn't even stand up for me," Cassandra blurted, suddenly realizing that she did want Will around after all.

"What?" Will asked, incredulous.

"Bandari was there saying that my work was sub-par," Cassandra came at him, "and you just stood there."

"Um, wow. No," Will said, somewhat flustered. "First, you asked, and second, she was just looking for a different skill set, which Emily just happened to have. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that you're an amazing doctor."

"Ugh," Cassandra threw up her arms, "you're always standing up for her." Cassandra could barely organize her thoughts. She seemed perfectly capable of expressing anger, but even she could hear that she was lashing out unfairly. Trouble was, the heart of the matter was eluding her.

"Okay, look," Will said, retreating, "I'm going to go back and have a congratulatory drink with my friend, who I am proud of and who I walked away from in order to be with you. And you're yelling at me. So, I'm going to leave."

Cassandra snapped out of her angry tension when the mental image of Will and Emily toasting together formed in her mind. That cozy scene had to be avoided at all costs.

"No Will!" Cassandra called. He turned back to her. "I'm sorry. That just caught me really off-guard. I just needed a minute, okay?"

Will pursed his lips. "Cassandra, what's going on?"

She wanted to roll her eyes, but she fought the impulse. As though he didn't know about the jealous monster that was eating her from the inside out.

"Nothing," she said, forcing a smile. "I just want to go home, okay? Can we just go home?"

"Yeah, of course," he said, offering an arm.

...

Micah was almost as happy to see the bottle of champagne as he was to see Emily, who joined him on the roof.

"How did you know I needed that?" Micah teased her.

Emily pointed to her head and then to his-a gesture of a deep link between them, "Come on."

"So...?" Micah asked, ready to hear news about Gina's research assistant.

Emily stamped in place adorably and squealed, "It's me!"

"Oh my god," Micah laughed. "No, I mean, of course it is, why wouldn't it be. That wasn't me being surprised. Congratulations."

Emily hit him playfully in the arm, "Thank you. And how's your mom?"

"We had a good talk," he said, "I think we're good."

"You were good before," Emily smiled, "but I'm glad you resolved your argument."

Micah smiled too, then looked back at the much-needed alcohol. "What do you say we bust that puppy open?"

"Gruesome imagery, but yes!" Emily, somewhat tipsy already, squealed again as the cork flew across the rooftop. She hadn't thought to bring glasses, so Micah offered her the entire bottle.

She accepted it and offered the toast, "To your mother."

Micah watched as she took a sip and giggled. He couldn't imagine anywhere else he would rather be.

When the bottle came to him, he offered a toast of his own, "To you being Gina's new research assistant. Wow." After drinking he realized the source of Emily's giggle: for expensive wine, it was not very good.

Emily reached for the bottle, "One more," she announced, "to me…being done."

Micah couldn't think what this might be in reference to. "Done with…?"

"Will," Emily said, waving her hand as though throwing off a magic spell, "I am done with Will."

Micah's body went numb. His brain didn't have time to comprehend her words, but his heart understood them perfectly. He looked at her with a question in his eyes.

"I don't know what happened," Emily answered him. "It's like a switch just flipped and I'm free."

Micah felt a sudden wariness. Could falling out of love be so easy? "What changed?"

"I was just…sick of waiting," Emily said thoughtfully...confidently. "I want to be someone's first choice."

Micah could not help but be reminded of his mother's words from earlier. Was it the universe trying to offer him a sign? Was it finally his moment? Micah took the offered bottle: he would drink to that. Taking time to choose his words, Micah turned to her, "Well, now that you're done done, I have a question."

Emily turned to him, ready to answer...but then her eyes shifted to the doorway.

Micah turned to see Tyra who looked utterly defeated. "I just got rejected," she said, sounding shocked, "Badly."

"Here," Emily held out the champagne bottle to her. "Drink."

"Thank you," Tyra said, taking it.

Micah listened to Tyra's relationship woes and stopped kicking himself for taking too long. Emily had no idea about how he felt, and all he knew was that she was newly out-of-love. Her sudden availability made him nervous. What if she rejected him? What if he was too far in the friend-zone to be considered?

He needed to take his time...to do things right...and let her get that meat-head Will far behind her. Mostly, he needed to build a stronger foundation.

And so he would, starting tomorrow.