Chapter 2 Paging Dr. Mitchell
It always takes hard work and patience to live out your dreams and Logan Mitchell was no exception in this. Ten years it took him, but now people finally call him Dr. Logan Mitchell.
Sure, he had to make sacrifices to get here. It took saying goodbye to his friends, going through a long six years of college, living off of every penny and spending little time with his family to become as succesful as he is now. But it was all worth it. Every day he walks into the ER ready to help people who are hurt and make them all better.
Yep, he is living the dream… Right?
Sure, he doesn't have a lot of friends now, besides some high strung colleagues at Minnesota Memorial. And maybe he doesn't spend a lot of time at home. But he has to earn money. He has to take care of his family. Everything is how it's supposed to be. This has always been his dream and he is happy, isn't he?
Well, he always thought he would be. But then again, he always hoped he could have children of his own. But unfortunately that wasn't in the cards either...
When Logan left LA, he was distraught for a while. The fight with his friends left him in shambles and it took him some time to get over it. He stayed with his parents and his little sister, who all tried to cheer him up and help him move on. But his friends weren't the only ones he found missing. There was one more person he loved more than anything and he didn't even realize he left her until he was off the plane again.
But he didn't call her right away. He couldn't. They weren't even together anymore. Well, not at that moment anyway. Logan had had an on and off relationship with Camille Roberts for years. And the last time, he was the one who screwed up. He couldn't tell her how he really felt, so she was driven into the arms of another man, Steve. He never resented the guy. It wasn't his fault. But as much as he tried not to get upset with Camille, he couldn't help his heart breaking into a million pieces.
That was why he was so surprised when she called him a month after he left. He never heard her sound so upset. He never realized how worried he had made everyone when he turned off his phone. He just wanted some privacy. He figured some people would try to contact him. But he never expected 101 missed calls from Camille.
He called her immediately and they talked for five hours. Their connection was back to where they started and within five months they were a couple again. This time it was for the long haul. It was long distance for a while, but then she made the decision to move out to Minnesota to be with him. He couldn't believe she did that, but she told him that he was more important to her than her acting career.
She stayed with him throughout his entire six years of medical college, even when their finances were as low as they could be. While he continued to learn, she took on every job she could, eventually settling for a job as a drama teacher at the local high school.
They got married a month after he graduated and tried to start a family immediately. But this didn't go as easy as they had hoped and after a year of trying they found out that Logan was unable to have children. Camille didn't want to know about sperm donors, so they were set to have a life without children.
Camille soon started looking into adoption possibilities, but he wasn't interested. It was noble to give these children a chance. But he always noticed the sadness in her eyes when she saw young families walking through the street. It was something he couldn't handle. Which was exactly why he was working a triple shift once again in the ER ronight.
"Yo, Mitchell!" He lifts his heavy head slowly and sighs when he sees his colleague Marshall Williams walking up to him. He has a big smile on his face and Logan has to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he refocuses his eyes on the charts on the desk in front of him.
"What do you want, Marshall?" He asks grumpily as he flips through the documents of new patients, carefully trying to decide which one to treat next.
"Oeh, someone is a little tired, huh? When did you even go home last night, dude?" This time Logan does roll his eyes at the immature ways of the young man next to him. "You did go home, didn't you?"
Logan sighs and looks up again. "What do you want, Marshall?" He repeats, sounding more annoyed now.
Marshall's smile doesn't falter. The eagerness in his body reminds Logan of a friend he used to have… He shakes his head to whisk the memories away.
"Ok, you see, I have a super hot date tomorrow night with that new night nurse. You know the one, Angie, with the long legs?" Logan just blinks at him. "Anyway, I kinda have a shift tomorrow, but she can't make it any other night. So, I was wondering, maybe you could…" Logan looks at his files again and interrupts the man's rambling.
"Sure." Marshall stops talking right away and looks at his colleague in confusion.
"You didn't even hear my question."
"Didn't need to. I'll trade shifts with you, it's no problem." Logan tells him, all the while not looking at him. Marshall furrows his eyebrows.
"No, man, I was hoping you could talk Brans into switching with me, since you get along with him so well." Marshall explains and LOgan looks up.
"You don't need to switch with him. Switch with me. Problem solved." Logan tells him and grabs another chart to look through. Marshall suddenly grabs it from hs hands, making Logan look at him with a questioning look.
"No offense, dude. But I think all of us would agree that you shouldn't take on another shift. In fact, you should just go home for a week or two. When wasthe last time you even took a vacation?" Logan tries to grab the file from Marshall's hands, but he uses his height to his advantage and keeps the chart from his reach. Logan sighs.
"I don't need a vacation, I like working." He argues. Marshall raises his eyebrows. "I'm fine. Just give me the chart."
"Logan, if you were fine, would you really be looking through the charts of dead patients?" Logan stops reaching for the folder and furrows his eyebrows. He quickly grabs one of the other charts on the nurse's station and opens it. He shakes his head and throws it down again, quickly grabbing a second chart. He reads it in disbelief. Marshall sighs beside him and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Look. Why don't yo put these down." He tells the exhausted doctor and gently tkes the folders from his hands, handing them to a nurse. "And go home for a few days. Just rest."
"No, I'm fine. I can work." Logan argues again, but Marshall grabs his shoulder and starts to steer him towards the locker room.
"Yeah and maybe you should look in a mirror sometime." Marshall tells him with a sympathetic smile. "I get it, you don't want to go home for som reason. But dude, you're starting to freak out the patients." Logan looks up in disbelief. "Seriously, why do you think you haven't had any patients for the last two hours? Someone actually asked me if you were okay…"
When they are inside the locker room, Logan lets himself sink onto one of the benches.
"Just go home, okay? Grab a cab, take care of whatever is forcing you to come here every night and taking triple shifts every week. Rest up and come back fresh and ready to be a doctor again, alright?" Marshall pats his shoulder and heads out into the hallway, leaving Logan alone with his thoughts.
After a while he stands up, annoyed that he let a kid like that push him over. Marshall is just antsing to become the best doctor and show to everyone that he himself can't handle things. He feels anger boiling and stands up, ready to get right back to work. He'll show that immature, unprofessional little boy who is the better doctor in this hospital.
He stalks towards the door, when he catches his reflection in a mirror. He stops and hesitantly steps back. He is shocked at what he sees. His skin looks pale, his eyes are bloodshot with dark circles underneath. He looks exhausted, sick even. Okay, so maybe it is time to go home. Slowly he steps away from the mirror and takes off his white doctor's coat. He places it in his locker and grabs his own jacket.
When he has all of his stuff he quickly exits the locker room and heads for the door. His colleagues look up from their patients and throw him a quick approving nod along with a genuine smile. He hesitatingly smiles back and heads outside, keeping his head low.
He walks through the parking lot, ignoring the gusts of cold wind sweeping across his face. He hardly feels it anymore. He doesn't even remember reaching his car until he finds himself sitting inside, doors closed.
He sits there for a while with his hands on the steering wheel, but not ready to start the car. Because that would mean he needs to go home. He knows he shouldn't even be behind the wheel anyway right now, but he is fine. Sure, he's a little tired, but he can handle himself. The only reason he's going home is because he doesn't want his reputation to go down the line for being tired on the job.
He sighs and puts his seatbelt on, before starting up the car. It revels to life and he slowly takes off. He turns on the radio quietly, enjoying the soft tunes filling his ears.
"Afternoon, folks. Here's a classic for all you lovers out there; this is Bryan Adams with Everything I Do." Logan groans and switches the station.
"Welcome back to our top 100 love songs.." Logan quickly switches again.
"And now here's a fan favorite of our boyband top 50; Worldwide from Big Time Rush". Logan's eyes grow wide and he switches the radio off all together. He drives on in silence.
It's not that he doesn't love Camille anymore. He loves her as much as he did the first time he met her. But he knew that she was disappointed in him. How could she still love him? He couldn't give her the one thing she had always wanted; children of her own. He can see it in her eyes every time he faces her. She has always assured him it's not true. She does love him and she doesn't care about not having children, as long as she's with him. But he can see the longing and the pain in her eyes.
The thoughts run through his mind every day. The only time he is able to stop them is when he's working. Being at home with his wife just hurts too much. When he does come home, he makes sure he is very late and that she's already sleeping. Unfortunately, she's a light sleeper and always wakes up when he lies down. But instead of kissing her hello or talking to her, he turns his back to her and pretends to be asleep himself. He can hear her sigh and do the same thing.
It's not that he wants to hurt her. He knows he is pushing them apart. But this way it will be easier for her, easier to let go and to go looking for someone who can give her what she needs. It will make everything more painless. Well, at least that's what he tells himself every day.
The thoughts keep on going. Suddenly, he hears the soft tunes of 'Worldwide' floating through the interior of his car. He looks at the radio, but the screen isn't lit. He looks around, but can't figure out where the song is coming from. Slowly, he starts to hum along to it and without realizing it, a smile starts to appear on his face. His thoughts go back to a time when things weren't so complicated. He was living the life with his three best friends in LA, not a care in the world. His friends… he wonders what they're doing now?
A loud ringing interrupts his thoughts, growing louder and louder. Where is it coming from? He looks around, but everything around him is black suddenly.
"What the…" His voice trails off and he tries to see what's in front of him. But there's nothing there. He has to put his hands on his ears as the loud ringing is increasing ever so much. He starts to scream right along with it, when…
He suddenly jolts up and opens his eyes. The loud ringing is still there, but it's his own car, alerting him that the car has stopped moving in a dangerous area. He fell asleep… He lifts his head from his steering wheel and slowly looks around. The car has come to a standstill in the middle of the freeway. Cars passing him honk loudly. He holds up his hands in surrender and mouths an apology.
His heart is beating insanely fast and he fumbles to start the ignition again. He runs a hand through his hair as he starts to drive again. That was crazy… Maybe he should try to sleep more.
This time he does turn on the radio and makes sure to switch to a rock station, just to keep himself awake.
It works as he finally starts to reach more familiar looking surroundings. The neighbourhood he grew up comes into full view. He drives down the streets and tries to ignore the pain in his own heart when he recognizes old familiar faces with their own children. He sends some forced smiles to the people who see him and wave. He quickly turns his head forward when he almost misses a turn.
His heart feels heavy once again when his own street becomes visible. He slowly drives down and keeps his eyes on the plain white house in the middle.
He stops the car a small distance away and watches as Camille tends their small garden. She is smiling with her hair tied in a messy bun. She wears overalls, which are already dirty. But she looks happy as she sits on her knees and plants a new flower.
He sighs as he watches her. He smiles a little and vows to stay right there, but he knows he will have to face her sooner or later. So he slowly starts the car again and heads for the paved driveway. When she notices him, she looks confused and stands up rigth away. She takes off her gardening gloves and makes her way to the car.
Logan takes one last deep breath before stopping the car and getting out.
She greets him right away. He puts on a small smile and lets her hug him and kiss him on the cheek.
"Hey, you're home early." She says, sounding a little confused.
"Yeah, I guess I am. Why? Is that a problem?" He asks her and she frowns.
"No, of course not, I'm just not used to you coming home at this hour anymore. I mean, it's still light out." She says, chuckling a little. He just looks down and her own smile disappears. There it is. The awkwardness that has been around them for weeks now. Did he cause it? Maybe. But he has his reasons. There is just no other way…
"Well, uhm… Why don't we head inside and I'll make us some sandwiches?" She offers with a new smile. He nods with a smile of his own. But neither are real, neither smile reaches their eyes. Camille heads back to the garden to grab her gardening supplies, while Logan heads for the front door. They are about to open it, when a large van drives by. Camille looks up.
"Huh. It's a moving van. I didn't know we were getting new neighbours." She muses. Logan follows her gaze and scrunches his eyebrows.
"Neither did I…" he trails off as they watch the moving van drive down the street.
A/N Hi! First of, I am so sorry for not updating this long. I have been very busy with school and I had writer's block as well. I finally have a break from school now, but I did get a new job. I will try to update again soon, but all this crazyness with school blocked my creative inspirations. So bear with me as it slowly returns ;)
Thanks for all of your support on my stories and I hope you haven't forgotten about me yet!
Too bad the guys aren't performing in Germany these couple of days. I don't live too far from there, but I'd rather go see them live then chasing them through Cologne. I'm past all that (my Backstreet Boys days, don't ask ;))
Anyway, I was glad to see a new episode for them last night. Wasn't my favorite, I have to admit. It seemed a little rushed and overdone. Didn't get the sudden romances in the end either. But I guess they needed one episode, so they could tie the show and the movie together. Glad to hear that the movie will have less sound effects, because it's a little much lately.
For now, I am just waiting for the movie to come out. And by the way, so happy for Carlos to finally admit his relationship with Samantha Droke. It must have been hard to hide it all this time. Am sad to hear about all the bad reactions he got, but that was the reason he kept it a secret in the first place, so I'm guessing they knew what would happen.
Now, back to the story :P Let me know what you guys think, I still like this story :) Will continue the others soon, but for now, I hope you liked my Logan chapter. Can you guess who's next? And who are the new neighbours Logan and James saw?
Until next time!
Love, Baxxie