"Clamp, please!" Sean put the scalpel to the side, with which he had just made a cut inside the nose of the patient and stretched his hand in Christian's direction. But his partner didn't react.
"Christian? I need a clamp!" Sean repeated impatiently.
"What?" Christian only looked up now. But his facial expression made it clear that his mind was still somewhere entirely different.
Sean walked round the operating table himself shaking his head and got himself the item from a small table that stood nearby.
"I'm sorry," Christian closed his eyes exhausted, "I'm not really myself today."
"Yes, I can see that," Sean muttered, "the same way as you haven't been for weeks," he glanced at his associate with a dissecting eye, "what's wrong?"
"Not now," Christian said disapprovingly, "let us finish here first, okay?"
Sean nodded, "perhaps I could convince you otherwise with a dinner at our house," Sean tried to bring his friend out of his shell, "Julia would certainly love it."
Christian suppressed a sigh. Julia was the last person he wanted to see right now. He got nervous for a moment when he thought about what Gina could know about him and Julia. This bitch! He clenched his fists unconsciously.
"What do you think of that?" Sean's voice intruded into Christian's flow of consciousness.
"Of what?"
"For God's sake, on which cloud do you actually live on these days?" Sean said shaking his head again.
"I'm sorry."
"You repeat yourself," Sean pushed a bit of cotton wool into the patient's freshly operated nose sighing. Then he turned to Liz, "you can let him wake up now slowly again," he pushed Christian towards the door, "come on, we have to talk!"
A little while later the two friends positioned themselves opposite each other in the sitting room. Sean took the initiative, "it can't go on like this, Christian. You are not punctual, you're erratic and make error after error!" He took a deep breath and his shoulders tensed before he continued, "I know, it is not easy for you just now. And I am sorry about what happened with you and Kimber. But the practice shouldn't suffer because of this. I'm sorry to have to say this, but I can't let you operate on patients in your present condition."
Lowering his head, Christian had listened mutely the whole time Sean was criticizing him. But he looked up at his friend startled now, "you want to get rid of me?" he asked astounded.
Sean shook his head, "I wouldn't say that. I would rather say I want to grant you a vacation. Like the time when Quentin had attacked..." He didn't finish the sentence, but cleared his throat instead, "you know what... to give you some time and give Kimber some time. She's still in shock. You will see, time will heal the wounds, and quite soon you will be together again. You know yourself, loves conquers all", he added grinning.
Christian shook his head now with a hardened expression, "Kimber came over today", he said with an empty voice, "wanted to get her things. And I screw it, I simply screw it all up," he brought his hands up to his face to cover it and groaned quietly.
Sean stood up and went round the table. He put his palm on Christian's shoulder lightly, "what happened? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, worried about the state of his friend.
Sean listened to Christian patiently while he told him about his afternoon. His face didn't show what he really thought. He only dared to make his point when Christian had finished talking.
"You are really incurable and you don't learn from mistakes!" He said disapprovingly, "what did you think will happen? Didn't you promise that you won't sleep with our patients anymore?"
"It was only once!" Christian tried to defend himself.
"Once more than enough," Sean regarded him frowningly, "and you are surprised that Kimber left you!"
Christian ignored Sean's words, "I know that she still loves me," he sighed, "officially we are still engaged. She never broke the engagement."
"If you think you have any rights because of that, you are wrong. Such a thing is just a formality these days. She broke up with you. Her telling you once that she was going to marry you doesn't mean all that much anymore."
"But it is a fact that we would be married just now if Quentin didn't kidnap her," persisted Christian stubbornly.
"Stop dreaming!" Sean rolled his eyes angrily, "don't you see that you only torture yourself this way! As your friend and as your physician I order you to take a week off! Have fun, rest, try to switch off. Forget everything."
Christian nodded, "that also means that today is the first day of my new life, right?" He rubbed his hands together, "great!"
Sean regarded him sceptically. He didn't trust Christian's sudden outbreak of joy, "but no nutty business, okay?"
"Of course not," Christian agreed and smiled so wide that one could see his sparkling white teeth, "you're right," Christian's shoulders tensed, "life is too short to waste even one day. I'm still young, successful, good looking, and I can have any woman I want."
Sean began to have serious concerns about his friend after that, "you shouldn't rush into anything," he reminded him.
Christian patted Sean's shoulder jovially, "I'm really happy that we talk so openly and honestly with each other."
Sean watched pensively as Christian left the room whistling merrily. He had known Christian for a long time now, long enough to recognize when his friend and partner headed straight into a heavy crisis, "I wish only you would be so honest with yourself as we are with each other," he sighed.