Season Two
Three
Intermezzo
Stephen stood on the sidewalk, across the street from the main entrance to Metro-General Hospital. Hands in pockets, he surveyed the familiar structure. It was early evening, and lights were beginning to flicker on inside.
Visiting hours were open, and a sporadic trail of people came, and went.
He lingered there, just watching, for awhile.
As the sun warmed asphalt and cement cooled, a slight breeze twisted up, tickling thru his hair, and brushing Cloak.
He waited, listening for the sound of arriving ambulances, squealing up to the emergency entrance. However, it seemed a quiet evening, which was perfect.
He hoped to have a conversation with Christine, between patients, in a semi-neutral environment.
She hadn't been to the Sanctum for more than a week, and he wanted her know he was grateful.
For everything.
Of course, he could have called, but, that just didn't feel right.
There were too many things, between them, that needed addressed, and such things required face to face time.
Finally, he drew a nervous breath, squared his shoulders, adjusted the lapels of his jacket.
Cloak gave a wiggle, a fluff, straightened its collar, and Stephen chuckled, softly.
He'd opted for business casual dress, but knew darn well that Cloak would still draw attention.
He was way past worrying about what people thought. If they wanted to believe he'd become really eccentric, that was fine.
This was New York, after all, and he never went anywhere, without Cloak.
After a quick traffic check, he crossed the street, headed in.
He spotted her at the nurses station, scribbling on a clipboard.
He waited until she'd finished, passed the notes over to the man behind the counter.
'Excuse me, Doctor Palmer, do you have a few moments?' he interrupted, as she turned.
She met his eyes, offered a strained smile, a nod, eyebrows raised in surprise,
'Stephen. Is everything alright?'
'Oh, yes, yes, I'm fine. I wanted to stop by, tell you how much I appreciated you going out of your way, for me.'
She shrugged, folded her arms, almost defensively,
'No problem.'
He hesitated, awkward silence, several seconds, before explaining,
'I, ah, also wanted to let you know I'm resuming my duties...'
Her brow furrowed, disapproval, as he finished,
'I might be away, more often. Like, Kamar-Taj, or, ...someplace. I wanted you to know, in case you happened to stop by, and I wasn't there. So you wouldn't be concerned.'
She gave a sharp, brief nod,
'Thanks.'
Her manner was so cold, so dismissive, that Stephen shifted feet, smiled weakly, made one last attempt,
'Maybe, we could have dinner...?'
She was shaking her head, eyes closed, before he could finish the sentence,
'I'd really rather not, right now.'
Stephen nodded, keeping his chin low, hoping she wouldn't see the pain on his face.
Although her reaction wasn't completely unexpected, it still hurt.
He managed to compose his features, ask,
'How's Nick?'
'He should be back to work, the end of next week.'
Stephen sighed, looked at his trembling hands, realizing all the bitterness he'd carried, for so long, was gone.
Gave a genuinely happy smile,
'That's great.'
Obviously impatient to be away from him, Christine said,
'Look, Stephen, I'm sorry, I have to get back to work,' as she grabbed up another clipboard.
Stephen took a few steps back, apologetically,
'Hey, I understand.'
He paused, looking at her, offered a crooked smile, but her features might as well have been carved in marble.
As she turned to go, he took a brisk step toward her,
'One more thing, please,...'
She turned back, annoyed, clutching the clipboard like a shield.
'Do you know what happened to the person I hit?'
After a moment, she replied, shortly,
'What?'
Carefully, he took one more step, speaking urgently,
'The wreck. It was my fault. I need to know what happened, to them.'
She stared, confused by the desperate edge to his voice.
After a moment, she huffed,
'I don't know. Whoever it was, left the scene. No one ever filed a report.'
Her jaw tightened, and she added,
'If they'd called 911, we would have found you, that much sooner.'
Her expression softened, slightly,
'I'm sorry.'
Then she swung away, headed off down the hall, without a backwards glance.
Stephen stood, very still, hands fists, brow furrowed, eyes squeezed tight.
Cloak tightened around his shoulders, concerned. He drew a deep breath, relief, as a heavy burden of guilt slid away.
He could endure the consequences, what had happened, to him, much more readily, now that he knew no one else had suffered as a result of his arrogance.
'Sir? Is everything alright?' someone asked, pulling his eyes open.
He flashed the orderly a smile, gave a nod,
'Absolutely.'
Then, with a confident stride, but, a heavy heart, headed home, to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Hello, all my patient peeps! I apologize for the long delay in posting. I work retail, and the time period from the week before Thanksgiving thru the last week of December is a brutal schedule for me. so here is a little riff to get you thru to the next set of adventures! I hope you've had time to check out my newest art; I've added an anime style Doctor Strange, and will post another very me know if you like them, and send me those reviews! I savor every tidbit of feedback!