The light shown through the curtains and hit her eyes. She groaned lightly and turned to face away from the light.
Eva's eyes opened and looked at the clock. The red symbols saying 6:45. She groaned once more as she sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. She still wasn't used to the Miami sun.
She got up from her bed and took a brisk shower. Letting her hair dry in loose curls, she put on a salmon pink floral dress for the day. After making sure she had her keys and hospital I.D she walked out of her house, the clacking of her white heels on the stone driveway. She got in her jeep and drove down the coastal highway enjoying the early risers surfing on the beach.
Eva felt the breeze flow through her hair and smiled. She entered the hospital parking lot and drove into her designated spot.
She stepped out of her car and slung her purse over her shoulder.
"Hey Eva!" Chris called out after her. He rushed to walk next to her pulling his bike beside him.
"Hey caballero. How was the morning commute?" she asked looking over his bike.
"I was clocking like 23 miles an hour coming over that causeway." he said with a ragged breath.
"Oh?" Eva said.
"And some nimrod in a Hyundai forgets to check his his blind spot." Chris wiped sweat from his forehead and looked at his beeping pager as Eva chuckles. "We got incoming, right?"
"Yes. A gas explosion in Biscayne Bay." She responded.
They both hurried to enter the building, Chris only stopping to lock up his bike.
They entered the locker room and Eva grabbed her scrubs before heading into the women's bathroom.
"Who do we have today?" Chris asked through the doors.
"Well, it seems as though there was a gas explosion at a local ice cream shop." She said putting on her pants and walking out. Eva looked up sheepishly as Chris had yet to put on his shirt.
"Aw man. Please don't say it was Daniel's Ice Creamery. They have the best mint chocolate chip." He said with so much worry. She just laughed lightly as she continued to talk.
"I don't know about that, but I do know that most of the injuries were superficial and they were sent to the ER." She said putting her clothes away and wrapping her stethoscope around her neck."
"We got at least four incomings." Tuck said with Serena trailing behind closely.
"First up, auto versus pedestrian, it's about six minutes out. We've also got a third- trimester pregnancy with multiple lacerations. EMTs are trying to stabilize her on the scene before they put her on a bird." He said putting his clipboard down to grab a cup of coffee.
"Is Rayner here yet?" Serena asked. Tuck just shook his head as she stood confused. "Whatever happened to 'on time is two hours early'?" she said mockingly.
"Third shift in a row." Tuck just said shaking his head once more, just as worried as everyone else. Eva chimed into the conversation.
"Wait?" she said. Rayner was the man who had helped her through a lot. "No one's seen Raynor?"
Just then a man walked into the locker room as everybody visibly felt relieved.
"I have and he looked like crap." Rayner said joking about himself. They all laughed, but Eva was still slightly concerned.
"Alpha team only, please." Rayner said as the rest of the doctors left the room to allow them to talk. "Chris, Eva, when things quiet down, I need five minutes of your time."
They both just shook their heads in agreement wondering what they would be needed in.
"Our gunshot wound to the neck from this weekend will be discharged this afternoon, thanks to Dr. C's elegant jugular vein repair." Rayner said with everyone clapped on. Eva lightly patting his back and teasing him. He gave a small bow.
"Nice job, Dr. C." Serena said from across the room.
"Way to go!" Tuck said also joining in.
"And we should offer our congratulations to Dr. Warren on having achieved her three-months mark in the discipline of team trauma." The team hotted and began to praise the young doctor as all of their pagers went off. Serena just blushed lightly.
"Well done. All right, let's get to work." Rayner said one last time before leading his team out quickly.
It had been a stressful day. Rayner had left them and this new guy was his replacement. Matthew Proctor was a great doctor, but she didn't know know him like she knew Proctor. He had helped make her a better doctor.
Eva had agreed to meet everyone at the local bar only a block from the hospital. She had decided to clean out her locker. She had finished changing after everyone had already gone and left her bags in her car before deciding to walk to the bar.
Eva walked up as Proctor finished telling a story.
"I'll tell you, after two weeks in Kuwait, we were so desperate we were making martinis in empty IV bags." Everyone laughed as she walked up and made eye contact with Chris smiling at her.
"Well, if you think Kuwait made you desperate, try working with Chris for three years." She smiled brightly, her eyes shining.
"Oh! Look what the cat dragged in." He said teasing her.
"Oh, bite me, cowboy." Eva sat down and lightly smacked his arm.
They shared a moment of silence as everyone made excuses to leave.
"I'll pick up the next round."
"I'll help you carry it."
"I said I would pay."
They all left the table leaving Eva utterly confused as she looked to Chris for insight.
"Is it my imagination, or did everyone just scatter?" Eva asked.
"I don't know. Maybe they think we're sleeping together." Chris said with a cocky smirk.
"Oh, they do, do they?" She said still smiling with a mischievous look.
"Umm…" Chris gulped suddenly thirsty. He grabbed his drink and finished the last bits of liquid. Eva laughed out loudly.
"Did you check your cell phone?" Eva asked playing with her fingers. A bad habit that she had adopted years ago. Chris shook his head.
"We got calls from Admin." she said continuing.
"They're giving you Rayner's position, aren't they?…" He said trying to get a hint from her face.
"They're giving me Rayner's position…" when she didn't reply back he knew the answer.
"Ha! Proctor." He said to Eva.
"They wanted us both to know." She said.
"You could be Chief, you know that, right? You proved that today." She smiled as Chris tried to comfort her. He knew that she was a natural born leader. He had hoped that she would have been declared Chief because he knew how much it would have made her happy.
"You proved that a thousand times before." Chris said. Eva bit her lip smiling.
"Well, if I were Chief, you'd be the first doctor I'd want on my team." She said as the rest of the team returned with more drinks. Eva said her thanks as Proctor handed her a drink.
The night continued late and one by one each of her team mates left.
"I should probably go." she said getting up.
"I'll call you a cab. I can pick up the jeep tomorrow if you would like?" he asked taking out his phone. Eva sat up.
"Thank you. I'm just going to go to the bathroom." she smiled at him. She passed him her keys and pushed her hair behind her ears.
Chris stared as Eva walked away with her hips swaying. He was brought back to reality as the man for the taxi company spoke to him on the phone.
Eva entered the bathroom and quickly washed up. Her phone ran from her purse and she grabbed a paper towel before reaching into her bag.
"Zambrano." She said answering the phone.
"Not sure it is, dearie." the familiar voice replied. Eva felt her heart drop into her stomach.
"Who is this?" she said knowing full well who that voice had belonged to.
"Why, aren't we quite forgetful. It is unbelievable that you would forget your old tutor, but I guess you don't really need to use magic in your new life." Eva's olive skin visibly paled.
"How did you get this number?" she said with so much hatred in her voice that it scared her. She hadn't any need for that kind of tone in years.
"That doesn't matter. You can no longer play pretend. You enacted this curse and it will soon fall apart without you here." Mr. Gold said into the phone's receiver.
"What are you talking about?" Eva said.
"People are remembering. More residents in Storybrooke are hiring Dr. Hopper to analyze their strange dreams. Everyone is going crazy." he said with concern in his voice.
"Well what does that have to do with me?" Eva said as a knock was heard from the door.
"Eva? Your taxi is waiting outside." Chris said from the other side of the door.
"I'll be out in a minute." She said holding the phone to her chest.
"I need you to hold on for a second." She whispered into her phone before leaving the bathroom and facing Chris.
"Hi. Who were you talking to?" he asked motioning to the phone in her hand. She stayed silent, not really knowing how to respond.
"Are you okay? You look pale." he asked concerned. Eva felt sick, but she knew she had to keep talking to Rumple.
"I-I'm okay." she stuttered. "I just got a call from someone I used to know. I just it caught me off guard. I'm fine, I promise."
Chris led her to the taxi and opened the door for her. He gave her a hug before letting her leave and watched as the taxi drove off.
Eva rubbed her temple as she began to get a headache.
"Regina? Regina?" she heard from the phone as she remembered who she was talking to.
"My name is Eva." she said into the phone.
"Well, Eva. You have less than a year to find a way to mysteriously disappear from your new life because if you don't get back Storybrooke is not the only thing that will be destroyed." He said. Eva eyes went wide.
"Wait what are you talking about?" she asked as the taxi stopped at her house. She payed the driver and exited the car.
"You weren't meant for this world. It has caused a disturbance in the universe. The curse may have created you a new life, but it won't last. Find a way to come back, Regina. And make sure no one knows where you go. If i think if a plan I will let you know." he said before finally hanging up.
"Ugh!" Eva yelled as she dropped her purse on the ground and sat at the dining room table.
"I have about one year. One year to figure out how to leave my life." Eva felt hot tears escape from her eyes. She rested her head in her hands.
Eva sat in the dark for hours just thinking until she finally fell asleep from exhaustion.
She awoke with only 4 hours of sleep at 6:30. Her eyes were bloodshot and her head screamed at her. She groaned as her joints creaked from the uncomfortable position.
