stormy003: hey, welcome to my story and thanks for the compliment! I hope you enjoy the ride so far ^^

teamBLAZE: yeap it's a very nice song! Rod and Leighton will have some hard time, but like they say, hard time strengthens :))


On the fifth day, Neil told her five secrets about himself—including how he always slept with a cow-shaped plushie (named "Moo") when he was a kid that he couldn't sleep without holding something in his arms until now.

The sixth day was marked with six liquor truffles from her favourite place, and it marked the transition from the "sweet" gifts to the more "emotional" ones.

The seventh would be a series of small notes titled "Reasons Why I Love You". He didn't give all at one go, but instead gave it to her one by one as the day passed. It started, unsurprisingly, with a comment on her "strong voice". The second would be how she "runs like a whirlwind". The third mentioned about her "intern-like sincerity" (he meant it in a good way, of course). The fourth would be her "unblemished honesty". The fifth was her "cracking laughter" (and she almost thought he found that annoying). The sixth pointed out something about her sassiness—like "a hurl of wind in the midst of summer".

He gave the seventh note just before her shift ended. She didn't hide her curiosity from him and immediately proceeded to open the note, even with him standing in front of her. Neil didn't leave as well, perhaps waiting to see her reaction. The note read: "7. Because with you, I can forgive all my mistake yesterday, accept who I am today, and see who I can be tomorrow."

She smiled and closed the note. Without saying much, she kissed him for a quick moment before she took her coat and left.

The eighth day gave Reine a small tour to the past where Neil gave her a list of patients that marked the milestones of their journey. The list included Rosa Bianchi where she reconnected him with "the human in [him]", John Lee (the man with the axe stuck in his chest) who let him see the "daredevil" in Reine—and it was the first time he really saw her, Edward Brown, where she prompted him to "learn how to forgive himself", and of course Andre Jackson—and his elder brother—who had reconnected them in a very unexpected way. In this list, he finally admitted to her:

"The whole Jackson case is the hardest case I've ever handled. Not because of the procedure, but the stakes involved in it. That case was dangerously too personal…"

The ninth day allowed Reine to see his dreams chronologically. They were in his office, sitting next to each other on the couch as she read the dreams he listed down. Since Georgia had been promoted as an attending, Neil did find more free time for himself—that's why he could afford this free time when it would have been a luxury in the past.

It started, rather adorably, as the Santa's assistant ("Perhaps this is why he went through with twelve days of Christmas theme.") It changed to "astronaut" when he was five, and quickly turned into a professional sniper when he was eight. Surprisingly, his next dream was to be a farmer, and then animal trader. He told Reine that was because he thought farmer didn't need to buy food since he grew it on his own while animal trader… well… animal.

His dreams changed into a more grounded one, she guessed, as the next one mentioned vet surgeon. The next one, when he was sixteen, was the first mention of a trauma surgeon. However, he wrote that during the same period, he was thinking of being an FBI agent as well.

She was initially alarmed, but she thought that it wasn't strange to dream of becoming an agent. Many did, although perhaps not many really went through with it. She turned to look at him. "FBI?"

"My father owned a jewellery store," he said. "I was told that there were five or six of them."

Reine held her breath as Neil closed his eyes and leaned back. "They didn't manage to catch them."

"Then, why not?"

His lips tugged up into a small smile. "My father managed to reach the hospital, but he didn't pull through the surgery," he said. "As I was thinking of which one should I choose, I thought that my family would end on a happier note if my father—not the gold—stayed with us."

A heavy silence settled down between them. Reine moved her hand slowly to meet his and intertwined their fingers. He rarely opened up, especially regarding his emotions, but Reine knew that didn't mean he was devoid of them. In fact, sometimes those who closed their emotions up held more emotions inside than others could hold up. She leaned to his shoulder. "I'm glad I met you," she said. "So… what's the last one? I suppose you have nine?"

She could hear him chuckling. "Do you really need to ask?" he asked back. "It's right here."

"Hm?"

"Do you remember you said you could spend your life listening to me talking about stuff?"

"Yeah."

"That's it," he said. "I want a life where we could just sit comfortably like this and we tell each other stuff, because—like you know—I can't get enough of your voice, too."

Reine laughed. "I'll tire your ears out eventually," she said. "Especially since you remember everything you've heard."

"So you're saying you're tired of seeing me?"

"Of course not!" she retorted. "Literally and figuratively no."

"Vice versa," he replied calmly. "Quod erat demonstrandum."


After ten stalks of red roses, Reine wondered what Neil had in store for the eleventh day. Surprisingly, the white folder wasn't waiting on her desk that morning. Reine tried not to think too much about it as she began to check her emails.

An email from the HR came in. Her transfer had been finalized: tomorrow she would be assigned as the Physician-in-Charge of Transplant Department.

Oh, I see… she thought to herself.

"Reine!"

She jerked up and Allen's red head popped up in front of her with his wide, teasing grin.

"What?"

"Let's go to the cafeteria now!" he said, pulling her even before she could answer.

They hid behind one of the potted plants, looking at a certain table. Reine immediately understood why Allen dragged her along.

"What are they doing there?!" she whispered frantically.

Allen shrugged. "Talking to each other?"

A few metres away from them, Neil and Gwen sat facing each other with a cup of tea each. Neil crossed his arms while Gwen crossed her legs, and they were acting as if they were doing a staring contest. They had breaks in between when they sip their tea, though.

"Their lips are not even moving—how could they talk to each other?!"

"I suppose they do," the redhead replied. "In language of silence."

Reine rolled her eyes although she couldn't deny that the idea sounded equally plausible, as it was hilarious. "So… can you enlighten me on what they're talking about in this language of silence since you sound so pro at it?"

"Nah, I don't translate language of silence," he said. "I do translate language of moans and grunts, though, wanna try?"

"No," She retorted. "I'm perfectly content with the language of punches—if you get what I mean."

Allen chuckled. "No, but, seriously, I think Gwen is transmitting a big sis message to Neil."

"Huh?"

"Like 'take-care-of-my-lil-sis-or-I-will-hunt-you-down' message," Allen said. "She is so adorable—your sis, I mean."

"Dr Kreiss, what's wrong?"

Reine turned in surprise to see Chelsea standing behind them. Neil and Gwen turned to find Reine rose sheepishly from where she was hiding together with Allen. Allen immediately went over to Gwen and kissed her cheek before she could ask what was going on. Reine went over to Neil after greeting the nurse who caught them red-handed, smiling sheepishly.

Neil gave her a white folder. "I guess this is your last case on the ER, huh?" he said.

She opened in and inside there was already a new note pasted.

11th Day of Christmas:

11 hours

Start: 13.00 p.m.

"Don't we have work?"

"I have notified Egan that she should stay in ER to get accustomed to the pace," he said. "And there's Laughlin."

"Right."


After lunch, Neil and Reine spent the rest of their day together. They went around the city, dropping by at a park and took a long walk where they just talked to each other, hand in hand. They grabbed dinner at a small, quaint restaurant they never tried before (thankfully the food turned out great).

"So… what's next?" Reine asked. "It's not eleven hours yet, right?"

"Hm… I decided the restaurant," he said. "You decide the next one."

"It's getting late, though…" Reine murmured, before an idea popped up in her mind. Blood rushed through her system when she thought of it, but she decided to ask him anyway. "How about my place?"


It was almost midnight when Neil woke up on her bed. She was sleeping next to him, her body only covered in the soft pink comforter as she used his arm as her makeshift pillow. Neil carefully moved her body and covered her before he stood up and wore his trousers.

He then walked over to Reine's desk, where her laptop was. He sat on the chair and opened it, where the screen prompting for a password was displayed. He thought for a moment, before keying in her birthday.

It was wrong.

The hint surfaced, though.

Preferito Canto di Natale

What the…? Neil thought frantically. Er, Natale sounds like… Christmas? She speaks Italian…

He then decided to key in the words: Twelve Days of Christmas.

The page was loading for a moment before it switched to her desktop screen, where apparently she put on a collage of all the gifts he had given her the past ten days.

Neil didn't have much time to look at the wallpaper, though, as he immediately opened her folders. He then remembered he often saw her carrying a hard drive. He opened the side drawer of her desk and he easily found it. He immediately plugged the hard drive into the laptop and another screen asking for password popped up. This time, he didn't need to think too hard and he keyed in the combination of letters and numbers he had been given.

Another window popped up, showing folders arranged by the names of all the staff of Oakbrook General. Neil scrolled it down until he found the folder tagged "Forrester, Neil Keaton".

He turned around to look at the peacefully sleeping Reine. He then thought of his grandmother's engagement ring, now safely kept in his room. He had purposely left the ring there, knowing that he would hesitate.

Before doubt won him over, Neil quickly turned again to face the screen and clicked on the folder bearing his name and pressed the button Command-Delete in a quick succession.

The sound of crumpled papers was heard as the folder disappeared and Neil sighed heavily.


He wasn't there when she woke up some time after three in the morning. When she saw her laptop lid was opened, she was immediately alarmed, especially when she found the hard disk that was supposed to be in the drawer. She ran over to her laptop and that's when she noticed a Post-It pasted near her laptop.

What's this?

There were eleven names written on it; some of them were glaringly familiar, such as Rod, Felicity, Dr McNamara and Mark. However, many of them were once in her suspect list.

This couldn't be… she thought and finally clicked the power button.

The screen lit up. The window was still left open and Reine realized that the folder under Neil's name was no longer there.


She immediately went to his office the first thing in the morning and locked the door behind her once she entered. He was sitting on his chair calmly, even as she stomped towards him.

"You're working for Transplant now," Neil reminded her coldly.

"You know I'm not going to talk about that,"

Neil refused to look at her eyes. "Do your job, Special Agent Kreiss," he remarked.

Reine held her breath. "So, it's you…"

Neil finally stood up and walked over to her. Reine reached for her concealed gun, but Neil immediately held her hand firmly before she could draw the weapon out. Reine tried to struggle, but Neil was able to hold her down. "Are you sure you want to shoot me here? How would you dispose of my body?"

"Why…?!" she asked in a strained voice.

"I'm doing my job," he replied. "Remember what I told you, about how we can't mix up our emotions with the kind of jobs we have?"

"How could you?!"

Reine swung her free arm, aiming at his face, but he effortlessly dodged her attack and twisted her arm to her back. "Don't force me, Agent—not after the twelve names I give you," he whispered in a quiet voice.

Right. His is the twelfth name. For the last day of Christmas.

"Feel free trying to regain what you've lost. But know that I'm watching your back, now."

He let her go and she fell to her knees, her tears finally broke free. "Why…?" she wept. "From all the people here… why must it be you?"

I've been asking myself the same question, Neil said inwardly.

Reine quickly composed herself and stood up again. "Well, this is quite a twist," she said in a forced calmness. "But I will get to the truth, even with you watching my back."

She turned around and went to the door. She could feel the hot tears started to build up again. Another figure already stood on the other side, but Reine didn't notice it since she was looking down until he called. "Reine?"

Her head immediately went up at the familiar voice. His warm blue eyes greeted her alongside a friendly smile. "Hey," he said.

"Mark…?"

During that time, Neil already stood behind Reine. "Welcome back," he greeted flatly. "Our Head of Transplant."

Reine immediately looked at Mark's coat embroidery. There was a slight change on it.

Dr Marcus S. Pearce, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Head of Transplant Surgery


With Neil ending the twelve days of Christmas in an unexpected way,

and Mark comes back to the arena as the new Head of Transplant,

how will Reine cope?

Stay tuned for the next update!

Thanks for reading! Please rate and review! ^^

A/N: I don't know whether you guys remember but in Chapter 4 and 40 there are slight mentions of a mysterious man who knows Reine's identity. The hints are very subtle but that man is, well, Neil. In his first appearance, he is holding a "cloudy" liquid. Shaken martini (Neil's usual drink) is cloudy in colour. In his second appearance, he plays the piano before the phone call comes in and as we know Neil, too, plays piano. I guess this is all I can tell you at this point. ^^