A/N – And so we reach the climactic moment – and the reason for the T rating.

Chapter 10

"Well, now that we're alone, is there someplace private we might go to?" Patrick suggested once the others had dispersed.

"Private?"

He glanced around, then guided Colleen away from the bumper cars' exit towards the other side of the perimeter fencing where bulky equipment was stored. The chain-link was covered in green burlap, providing a partial screen from the ride. "You said I would get to do my favorite thing. Kissing you is by far my favorite thing."

"Patrick, I meant favorite thing at the fair."

"This other stuff is childish, Colleen. Vegetables? Bumper cars? Why can't we have some adult fun?"

"We've had adult fun. We've gone dancing, and to the movies… and our picnic, you brought camembert and caviar."

He sighed, "Those were nice, but you know what I mean."

"Patrick, I told you I'm not ready for that, that I want to wait."

He shook his head and started fingering her hair. "And I told you there's plenty else we can do," he countered in a low voice, taking a step closer and towering over her shorter stature. "Like this," he murmured seductively, lowering his head and kissing her gently.

Although a bit uncomfortable with the public display of affection, Colleen surrendered to his kiss, hoping it would mollify him.

"I love how you taste, Colleen," he said as he continued to kiss her, gradually backing her into the fence.

Feeling the barrier behind her, Colleen startled. "Patrick…"

"You're such a tease, Colleen," Patrick went on, one hand in her hair, the other on her shoulder. "There's passion inside you, I know it. Don't be afraid to release it." Abruptly his lips were on hers again, his hands tightened around her, and his body pinned her in place.

"Mmph… P-P-Pat… rick… s-s-st-" Colleen struggled but she couldn't get the words out, his mouth refused to let her get the words out.

"Get a room," she heard someone call out, and Colleen whimpered in dismay.

:

Arriving at the home arts building, Andrew found little interest in going inside. The knot in his stomach from earlier had pulled tighter with the confirmation that he had no future with Colleen. There had never been a future, really. He'd known it from the beginning, but Sully had planted the seed of hope last week that he might possibly have been mistaken. That seedling was now withered and dead, his modest effort a textbook case of "too little, too late."

He wasn't Colleen's dream guy.

Although his original plan for leaving the fair early involved waiting until lunch to blame it on blisters, Andrew decided his stomachache was sufficient of an excuse to leave now, telling Michaela, Snowbird and Ingrid that he wasn't feeling well and that he was going home.

"I'm sorry, Andrew," said Michaela gently, aware of the real reason he was leaving.

Andrew nodded his appreciation before retracing his steps back to Gate 3.

:

Behind the bumper cars ride, tears stung Colleen's eyes. Patrick was simply too big and strong for her to break free. It was frightening, being so powerless to stop him, until she belatedly remembered that there were other ways to fight back besides the use of brute strength.

"Ah!" he hissed in reaction to Colleen biting his lip, hard.

Taking a gulp of air, Colleen yelled, "Let me go!"

"Colleen, you don't mean-"

"Take your hands off her!" a masculine voice demanded from somewhere, to which Colleen gave a sob of relief.

Patrick whirled around at the approaching interloper, one hand still gripping Colleen tight. "Stay out of this, Doctor. It's none of your concern."

"I said let her go," Andrew seethed, eyes glaring up at the taller man.

Without warning Collins took a step in Andrew's direction and landed a punch to his face, knocking him backwards.

"Dr. Cook!" Colleen cried in dismay.

Fueled by frustration, anger and adrenaline, Andrew came rushing back at Collins. Both men hit the dirt, and despite his disadvantage in size, Andrew managed to land a few punches to Collins' midsection before two security guards noticed a crowd gathering around the commotion and rushed past the onlookers to pull the men apart.

"Hey, that's enough!" one burley guard ordered, grabbing hold of Andrew while the other clutched Collins. "I said that's enough! You're both coming with us." The guard noted Colleen's tear-stained cheeks and swollen lips. "Miss, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm… I'm okay," Colleen said, brushing the moisture from her face.

"Then could you come with us please? We'll need your statement for the incident report."

The group headed off in silence to the security tent. Along the way Andrew inspected his hand, flexing it several times. Fortunately, nothing appeared to be broken. Over-the-counter pain reliever should be sufficient to cope with the soreness to that and his torso. The doctor in him wondered how Collins was fairing, guessing that that man was feeling a similar level of discomfort. As for Colleen… she had told the guard she was all right, for which he was extremely grateful.

At the security tent, Colleen explained what had happened to the guard. "Patrick was kissing me, and I didn't want him to. I tried to tell him to stop but he wouldn't listen. Dr. Cook came over to help."

"Helluva bedside manner you got there, Doctor," the guard quipped. "You may want to visit the first aid station for that lip."

Andrew had been so full of adrenaline and concern for Colleen and then his hand that he hadn't noticed anything was wrong with his lip. "How bad is it?" he asked Colleen.

She leaned over to assess his injury. "The laceration is fairly superficial. I don't think sutures are warranted."

The guard stated they were free to go. Patrick Collins, on the other hand, was warned that he was no longer welcome and was banned from returning for the remainder of the fair. "No great loss," was his only muttered comment.

As the other guard was about to escort Collins off the premises, Colleen stepped forward and held out the bracelet. "You can have this back," she announced, throwing it at his feet. "And I don't ever want to see you again." He retrieved the trinket from the ground before being ushered out.

Andrew joined Colleen at her side. "We should go get cleaned up, then I could take you home if you want."

"No," she objected, calmly but firmly. "I'm not leaving. I won't let him ruin the fair for me."

He simply gave a nod of agreement, not entirely surprised. This was a girl who had survived the deaths of her mother and her best friend. What was one crappy boyfriend by comparison?

She began leading him towards the nearest restroom, but lamented, "I'm sorry about all this, Dr. Cook. I should've seen what kind of person he was sooner."

"No, Colleen, it wasn't your fault." It was mine, for leaving you alone with that jerk. "Please don't blame or second-guess yourself. Men like that know how to hide their true nature. I'm just glad he took it out on me and not you."

She was quiet a second, then asked, "Why were you there? I mean, I'm glad you were, but I thought you'd gone off to see the exhibits."

"Oh. I, uh…" Andrew didn't want to admit he had been on the verge of abandoning her to Collins, so he quickly ad-libbed, "I was looking for the restroom."

"It's over here," she gestured, and they parted ways at the entrance.

:

Examining his face in the restroom mirror, Andrew concurred with Colleen's diagnosis. Like his hand, his lip would be bruised, swollen and tender for a few days, but it should recover without medical intervention. He knew it could have been a lot worse. What if Collins had directed his violence towards Colleen? Andrew shuddered to think of it and about his own role in all of this. How much of today would have gone differently if he'd only taken that leap Sully had spoken of? But he hadn't, too fearful that the story would end in a tearful goodbye. Instead, he'd taken the coward's way out, and Colleen had ended up in tears anyway. Coming on the heels of today's disaster she might not be willing to try another relationship again so soon… but Andrew understood that he needed to let Colleen make the decision this time instead of taking the choice from her.

He needed to take that leap.

:

When they were reunited again, Colleen had a request. "Would you mind if we went back to the home arts display? I haven't seen it yet."

"Is that your favorite thing?"

"My favorite's the cake decorating, but I still like to see all the quilts and stuff. They're Dr. Mike's favorite."

"Sure, we can do that, but I was hoping we might sit and talk for a minute first?"

"If this is about what happened with Patrick, I really don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Oh, no, no, no… this is… well, it's just something I've been thinking a lot about lately and wanted to get your opinion."

"Oh. Okay."

They sat on a nearby bench, a tree offering shade from the warm summer sun. Andrew let out a breath before delving right in. "Colleen, I'm glad I was able to be there for you today when you needed me. And… if you want, I could always be there for you."

Her brows knitted together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I care about you, Colleen. I care about you a lot. I didn't tell you before because I thought I'd only be here temporarily. But I don't have to go, at least not right away. I could take a break from traveling. You could get to know me as just ordinary Andrew, a regular guy, and not the doctor who's your supervisor. But I'd only stay if you wanted me to, Colleen. Would you like that?"

The sounds of the fair surrounded them - the ringing of bells, the roar of the rides, the shouts of excited attendees - but all Andrew heard was the pounding of his heart, waiting for her answer. He hoped that she could see the sincerity in his eyes, the fondness, the yearning for her to say yes.

"You would stay for me?" she asked in astonishment.

"Yes. I would."

A smile spread across her face, that beautiful smile so dear to his heart, and when she spoke again, with quiet confidence, it was music to his ears. "Please stay… Andrew."

Hearing her say his name was glorious, and his smile exceeded her own. She was willing to give him a chance - and he would make the most of it.

Starting now. "Can I buy you a lemonade?" he inquired, confident of her response from their lunches together.

Colleen's face shone with delight. "I love lemonade."

A moment later, cups in hand, they strolled through the fair, headed in the direction of the home arts building, but not in any hurry to get there.

"I have a confession to make," Colleen said. "I've had a crush on you."

Andrew was floored, and nearly choked on his drink. "Really?"

"Since the day we met. But I didn't think you'd ever ask me out because you wouldn't be interested in dating someone still in college."

"Is that why you started dating Patrick? You thought I wouldn't date you?"

"Well, you didn't," she pointed out.

Andrew could only shake his head. "You're right, I didn't. I had all sorts of reasons in my head of why I shouldn't get involved with you, but I never minded the fact that you're still in school. Actually, I volunteered to help you study thinking it would be the closest I'd ever get to dating you."

"You're kidding! I thought you offered to help me to pay it forward, and I said yes because I thought it'd be the closest that I'd get to dating you." They exchanged amused grins at this shared belief before Colleen changed the subject. "So, what will you do after your break? Career-wise, I mean, if we…"

"You mean if we get closer?" he filled in for her, recognizing her reluctance to say fall in love. He himself was far down that path already, but she had just broken up with another guy, and probably had mixed feelings about it, so it didn't feel appropriate to use such loaded terminology just yet. However, the fact that Colleen was already asking about the future spoke volumes, warming his insides like a mug of hot chocolate on a frosty day. "I guess I'd need to switch from looking for a locum tenens post to a permanent job somewhere in Colorado Springs, or at least someplace within an hour's drive so I could continue to see you. You still have another year of undergrad before PA school, right?" Colleen nodded. "Maybe I could work out some type of job-sharing arrangement with Michaela, working as her partner."

"Partner?" Colleen sounded uncertain.

"You don't like the idea of me working with Dr. Mike?"

"No, it's fine, it's just… it's just that I thought I was going to be the one joining her practice."

"I wouldn't be taking your place, Colleen. I'd never do that. Besides, I don't even know if she'd agree to the idea, or if the medical group administration would approve. I'll just have to take things one step at a time and see what happens, okay?"

"Okay."

Andrew gazed down at her tenderly then put his free hand lightly to her back to steer her to the side of the main pedestrian traffic. He wished that his next words were unnecessary, but following the incident with Collins, Andrew felt it best that he stated it upfront. "And the same is true for us, Colleen," he said in a quiet voice. "We'll take it one step at a time. I won't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do, and I'll respect your right to tell me 'no' or 'stop', even if you've told me 'yes' before. Alright?"

Colleen cradled her lemonade cup with both hands, flicking nervous glances between it and his eyes. "I want to wait," she said quietly, "for marriage, I mean, before…" her eyes focused solely on him, "so if kissing and cuddling won't be enough for you, just tell me now." This last part was said in a rush, a touch of anxiety in her tone.

He didn't know if this was a religious conviction she was expressing, or if it was her own personal philosophy. That would be a conversation for a later time, as they got to know one another better. For right now, she needed his reassurance that this wasn't a deal-breaker for him. "It's your body, Colleen. Your choice. If you want to wait, then we wait."

She looked up gratefully. "Thank you."

Andrew smiled warmly and finished off his lemonade. "Now, why don't we check out those quilts I've heard so much about?"

:

Meeting up later with the family for lunch, Colleen and Andrew explained what had happened with Patrick. Everyone felt terrible about it, and Colleen's brothers wished they had witnessed the brawl (or, alternatively, pummeled the guy themselves). Andrew and Colleen happily stuck to each other's sides the rest of the day, often hand in hand, partaking of some carnival games, viewing the photography and art competitions (Sully and Snowbird's favorites, respectively), and going on a couple more rides (Andrew decided that the Ferris wheel - where he got to sit next to Colleen alone for several minutes - was his favorite fair activity). When it was time to leave, Colleen announced to her family that Andrew would be taking her home - making her declaration before he even had the chance to offer her a ride. But he wasn't complaining.

And he wasn't complaining later when, parked in front of her house, she said, "I'm glad Sully invited you to come along, but I'm sorry you got hurt. Hope this makes you feel better." Colleen leaned in and – mindful of his injured lip – kissed Andrew on the cheek before getting out of the car. "See you Monday."

Driving back to his apartment, it suddenly hit him that his days as a traveling doctor appeared to be coming to an end. But this, too, was no cause for complaint.

Because his days as Colleen's boyfriend were just beginning.

:

:

A/N – This was my original, first draft ending. But then an epilogue started typing itself out…

: