Time to Spare
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Summary: Life moves slowly in Flowerbud Village, and that means you have time to move slowly, too, and figure things out for yourself. Alex/Ellen fluffiness. Their first meeting.
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Before she even met him, Ellen was afraid of the young doctor coming to establish a clinic in Flowerbud Village.
She had always been afraid of doctors, and city-men, so it wasn't such a surprise. Doctors always meant that she was going to lose someone else the way she had lost Mama, and city-men were so good at saying things that made her cry.
But it hadn't taken long to figure out that Dr. Alex was different. He wasn't going to take Papa away for weeks at a time and eventually forever, and he got so flustered when she looked sad that she knew he wouldn't try to make her cry.
As for being afraid of him, that ended the second she came racing from the pasture after a little runaway, to the sight of Dr. Alex shying away from her puppy, just a little yapping ball of fur coming to say hello. She rescued him from Shin, and even convinced him to hold the tiny Shiba for a little while and not flinch when a tiny pink tongue shot out to lick his face.
And as a matter of courtesy, as Nina's mother calls it, and pretty manners as Papa calls it, she didn't laugh, however much she wanted to, when she came in for her check-up, and he recognized her as the girl with the crazy puppy, and blushed.
She didn't think she really wanted to laugh at him, though; she just wanted to laugh because she was happy, and he was cute when he blushed and it made her happy.
When he agreed reluctantly to let her bring Shin for a puppy-check-up, she was really happy.
She had always been afraid of city-men and doctors, and city-doctors especially, but somehow, it was really hard to be afraid of any man who would agree to put aside a grudge with all things canine just to keep a little girl, fifteen her last birthday, from being sad.
They bid a cheerful goodbye, Shin crunching on a puppy treat and Ellen slurping gently at a lolly and trying not to hear Martha suggesting mildly to Dr. Alex that she's cute, she'll make someone a sweet, sensible wife someday.
After that, he seemed to spend a lot of time just outside of the Blue Sky Ranch, wandering to and fro at the river, just at the time of day that she typically spent out in the pasture.
She would come bounding over the fence, as eager to say hello as Shin, but without the barking or licking his face, and they would talk until people started watching them strangely.
And eventually, she went from just not being afraid to loving him next to Blue as a wonderful older brother.
It was to be a long time before Ellen, sixteen and cheerful and innocent, would come to love him and be afraid of him in a different way, and even a longer time before she would have any idea what it meant.
But she would get there eventually; and he would be waiting for her.
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Alex had never been much of a dog-person.
It wasn't that he didn't like dogs, it was just that they made so much noise and mess, and their hair made his nose plug up and his eyes water.
Of course, he didn't blame the poor creatures, because they had no concept of dog allergies.
It was generally the dog-people that won his irritation, when they insisted upon shoving their pets beneath other people's noses, insisting he likes you and he won't bite and he's friendly and he likes when people hold him.
Alex had never been much of a dog-person-person.
It was strange, then, that when the little brunette at the Blue Sky Ranch, Hank's daughter Ellen, came catapulting over the fence after her pet and stayed to show him off to her new neighbour, Alex found himself with a genuine smile for the girl, so proud and earnest, and found himself taking an instant liking to her.
Despite the antihistamines he spent the rest of the evening drowsy from.
Even when she asked him, at her check-up soon after, with huge, pleading eyes that showed faint signs of recent tears, if he could take a look at Shin, because the puppy had been listless recently and she was worried that he might be really sick.
Feeling decidedly as though he might find a special place in Hell if he let this sweet, soft-hearted girl's fuzzy little best friend languor in illness, he agreed, set up an appointment for the dog despite not being terribly good with animals, and tried very hard to feel bullied and cheated beneath the beaming warmth of that smile.
And just before the appointment, more antihistamines.
Once Ellen was reassured that her puppy just had a slight springtime cold, he hurried off to the supply cupboard and hunted up an extra-special strawberry lollipop, just as a little light teasing to a girl he was quickly coming to regard as a favourite little sister.
Also, one of the liver-snaps he had bought especially for the occasion.
Quite opposed to being offended by being offered candy like a little girl, Ellen flushed delightedly that he remembered her favourite, and left with another enormous smile.
It was a few weeks before Alex was able to admit to himself just why he found himself so often outside the Blue Sky Ranch on his walks, glancing toward the pasture in hopes of seeing a shining little brown head bobbing amid the long grasses.
But once he did, life was far more comfortable, because he no longer had to hurry away when he saw someone watching them in amusement, no longer felt frantically guilty in addition to his little blush when he overheard someone laughing about how little Ellen over at the ranch was a special favourite with that new Dr. Alex.
Because after all, Martha was right when she said that Ellen was a sweet, pretty little thing who would make someone a good wife someday. And there had to be a reason that he frowned at the idea that it might be to someone other than him.
But she was still young; Alex knew that. And just because it seemed simple to him, he knew that girls her age had a strange ability to confuse things.
She was smart, too, even though she laughed sheepishly and said that he must be bored silly talking to a simple little country girl like her, and he had every confidence that she would figure it out eventually.
Until then, he wasn't going anywhere; he could wait.
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End Notes: My only concession to totally-appearance-based shippiness! He looks like Doctor, she looks like Elli, and together, they look like my favouritest Harvest Moon pairing evar!