Medicinal Love

Chapter 6

Date: Fall 20 Year 2

Claire's sleeping arrangement had been settled; as it turned out, Elli would be sharing the room with her. Finding herself in a small, dainty, girly room, Claire stood near the door awkwardly. "Thanks again for letting me stay here for the night, Elli."

Elli laughed quietly to herself, her hand in front of her mouth. "It's nothing, Claire. I can't let you sleep on the patient's bed when you're not a patient yourself, now can I?" With a fragile hand, she motioned Claire to come over. "It's not much, but I hope you'll feel comfortable enough." A small futon was laid across from the bed.

"Say, Elli, if you don't mind me asking, but I'm just rather curious," Claire asked her, stomach pressing down to the ground. "Why is it that you're living with Mister Doctor here?" Claire figured she must have said something she wasn't supposed to as she watched Elli, flustered, fighting to form an answer to the question.

"The doctor and I have…a professional relationship…and as his nurse, sometimes when he is called, I have to come as well," Elli finally answered after getting her thoughts together. Still uncomfortable about that subject, she moved on to a different topic. "Are you getting anything for the doctor's birthday?"

Claire slowly shook her head, lost. "No…" Claire answered slowly. "When is it?"

Elli pointed to the calendar near the table lamp. "Right on the 25th, the last Monday of Fall."

"Huh, I see." Claire nodded; a look of understanding crossed her features. She glanced over at Elli. "Did you get him anything?"

The nurse's face flushed at that. She walked over to the drawer and pulled out a small bag, showing the insides to Claire. Inside there were seeds. At Claire's inquisitive look, Elli explained to her, "They're seeds for Elli grass."

Claire smiled at Elli. "How did you manage to find them in the first place? From what I've heard, they're very difficult to get." She grinned further as she watched Elli blush at that statement. "You…" Claire drawled a bit, "…must have liked him a lot to go this far—"

Elli opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off.

"—Even for someone you greatly respected and admired." Claire flopped on her back, the softness of the futon cushioning the pain. "Is it true…that you have a crush on the local doctor?"

A repeated motion of mouth opening and closing was all that Claire saw from Elli. Then there was an air of defeat surrounding the nurse as she sighed, at a loss. "Was it that obvious?" she asked, fearful that maybe the doctor had seen it as well.

"Hmm. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know. But I'm afraid that most of the women here figured that out already," Claire said, tilting her head to the side. "So how long have you liked him?"

"Ever since I started working here, I guess," Elli whispered, as if saying this would mean that the doctor might be listening. "Maybe even longer than that."

Guilt, remorse, and shame washed over Claire, though she made sure none of that showed on the outside. Claire whistled. "That's a pretty long time. I don't know if I had any crushes that lasted that long." She laughed a bit, a mischievous twinkle appearing in her eyes. "So…have you made any progress with him?" It almost sounded like girl talk, Claire thought to herself with a smile—something she hadn't done with a friend in ages.

Clouds of depression rolled off Elli. Alarmed, Claire quickly insisted, "It can't be that bad, right? I'm sure by now he must have warmed up to you." 'At some point hopefully,' Claire thought to herself. She figured a guy like him might be very hard to warm up to, regardless of his profession.

Elli remained silent and Claire frowned. "How about I help you out with him?" Deep inside, she felt the pain seize her as she spoke. "All you guys need is a little push." The pain throbbed harder and faster, but Claire still maintained a pleasant look on her face.

"Oh!" Elli gasped. "But I can't let you do that." Worried and perhaps a bit scared as to whether this would be a success or not, she bit her lip and wrung her hands anxiously.

Claire waved it off. "It's no problem, really. You're a great person and I think you'll make him happy. All he needs is to know your feelings." There were tears forming in her eyes as Elli hugged Claire. However, deep inside of her, Claire didn't feel the same level of happiness as she knew she should have for helping out a friend. Instead, she only felt heartache and a bit of lingering jealously that Elli, and not her, would have the opportunity to be with him.

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Date: Fall 25 Year 2

Days had passed by since Claire slept over at the clinic. True to her word, she had created opportunities for Trent and Elli to spend more time together in a relaxing, non-career oriented environment. Once while she was spying from the bushes, she noticed that Trent actually looked rather bored when with Elli. Because of that, she had upped the attempts. Of course, she had always made time to forage and work on her thesis. Just some more late nighters: something that she was used to thanks to school.

And so the next level of her attempts involved making meetings with the two of them without each other knowing. Needless to say, that route didn't go anywhere. Trent still remained the same way everyone in this village perceived him, which made Claire wondered how much of himself he was hiding. She had also made sure not to spend any unnecessary time with him. Any questions he asked that borderlined personal and unprofessional, she would quickly brush off. All in all, she pretty much was indifferent toward him. That didn't lessen the pain aching in her heart; in fact, it only made it worse. Yet Claire knew deep down that this was for the best.

It was already Trent's birthday. Sometime during the week—while she wasn't playing matchmaker—she had managed to finish her thesis and send it off to school (though finding a place that had a printer meant going back to the same port city that she left for the boat for Mineral Town). At the city, she managed to pick up a gift that she knew Trent would love since today was his birthday. She figured she would get him a present since, after all, he did gave her that opportunity to research in the lab (even though she had made a deal with him). Claire counted her money and silently thanked herself for spending her free time foraging for some extra cash. Currently, she could pay for the airline fee back to home; however, she still needed to forage more for the boat and hotel fees that she would use.

"Claire! There you are!" Elli's voice cried out as she came running toward her.

Claire turned around. There was a smile on her face. "Elli. How's the preparation going?"

"It's going well, though it was a bit difficult convincing the doctor to go out and gather some herbs as we are suddenly low on stock," Elli said. Then she eyed the small package in Claire's hand. "Is that your gift?" Claire nodded. Elli let out a huge smile. "That's great!" She glanced behind her. "Claire, do you think you could hold the doctor up for another hour?"

Claire slowly frowned. "Uh…why?"

A small giggle left Elli's lips. "To finish setting up the preparations silly, and to make sure the guests arrive before he gets back to the clinic." She grabbed Claire's hands and squeezed them, eyes pleading. "So can you please hold the doctor off one more hour?"

"Fine," Claire agreed as she released a sigh. She handed the package to Elli, telling her to look after that while she played babysitter for the oblivious birthday boy. "He's over by the usual area right?" Referring to Mineral Lake, obviously: home of the Kappa.

Elli gave her a smile and started to jog back to the clinic. "Thanks, Claire! I'll see you around 4pm, then."

It didn't take Claire that long to reach Mineral Lake, at least in her opinion. Maybe she was too deep in her thoughts as she debated on what she could do to distract Trent for an hour. Feet trudging against the worn-out path, she quickly spotted him. 'Well this is a first,' she thought she her eyes raked his outfit. Having left his doctor's uniform at the clinic, Trent had dressed in a new style of clothing that, oddly enough, reminded Claire of Basil's outfit [1].

"What's up Doc?" she asked as she approached him, imitating Bugs Bunny with a little grin.

A small smirk appeared on Trent's face. "Why, the sky, of course. I thought you'd be more down to earth."

"Oh, but I am, Trent. I am," Claire replied cheekily. Ever since that dreadful Harvest Moon event, she found herself enjoying more of Trent's company than she would have expected.

"A coin for your thoughts?" She sat down next to Trent, who was looking at the lake.

After acknowledging her presence, he turned to glance back at the lake. "You wouldn't have enough for every single thought."

"Well, you seem troubled," Claire said, taking note of his appearance. "And that is something that I don't see that often."

Trent was silent.

She prodded, "I bet you that if you spill, you should feel a lot lighter than before." Claire flashed him a serene smile, hoping that would get him to start talking.

"Is that so?" He said it quietly, more talking to himself rather than to Claire. There was a bit of silence between them as he closed his eyes, in deep thought. "My parents were both doctors, you know."

"Huh. Really?" Claire propped her chin on her knees. "So I take it you took over the family practice, then?" Trent nodded in reply. "So…you'd always known that you were going to be a doctor?" Claire asked. She couldn't help herself; she was curious to know if that had actually been Trent's dream, or if it had been something else entirely.

Shaking his head, he answered. "No…in fact, I wondered why anyone would want to be a doctor in the first place."

"What do you mean by that?" Claire stared at him, confused.

There was a faraway look in his eyes that, for a moment, made Claire feel like giving him a hug for comfort. But she didn't.

"I hated the fact that they were doctors," he muttered slowly. "They were never around when I was growing up. Always working in the hospital."

"It must have sucked having such busy parents," Claire replied, thinking back of her own parents and how often they went to their business trips.

Trent let out a small sound of understanding. He picked up a small pebble and flung it against the lake, watching it skip a couple of times before sinking. "I've always wondered why. But ever since I became a doctor…I…I understand why."

Claire leaned back a bit; there was a soft expression on her face as she turned to face Trent. "I'm glad. Otherwise this village wouldn't have a doctor as caring as you."

Taken back by the sudden statement, Trent looked away from Claire for a moment, stunned. After he composed himself, a small grin lit up his face. "Thanks. Sorry for having to put you up to listening to this. It's just that whenever my parents had free time, they would take me here."

"I understand," Claire said, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to let herself fall any deeper than she was falling right now. But at that moment, for a split second, it felt like she could see him. Not Trent the doctor, but the real Trent—the Trent she had known was hiding there all along. The two sat in silence, just watching the water ripple and listening to the breeze just gently blowing.

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The sound of pounding footsteps made their way near them. Familiar with that beat, Trent continued looking at the lake; however, Claire turned to see who was approaching. To her relief, it was only Gotz. Feeling a bit safer that the carpenter was there, she decided to break the tension. After all, she only had a good half hour left before she needed to take Trent back to the clinic for his surprise birthday party.

"So what brought you here in the first place, Doc?"

Dusting his pants as he picked himself off the ground, Trent coolly replied, "Nothing really. Just gathering some herbs."

Put off by the sudden tone change, Claire cautiously asked, "Oh? And why is that?"

Trent gave her a sharp look, which Claire found weird and started to question what she had done to warrant such a look from him. "Well, today this morning, Elli informed me that we were low on green and red herbs."

Claire nodded. "And?"

"I checked the inventory and we were not only low on them, we completely ran out," Trent said in a monotone. "You wouldn't happen to have taken them by any chance?"

There were no other words that could describe the ill feeling that was sinking within her at his words. "Are you saying that I took them from you?"

"Now, I'm not blaming you or anything," Trent offhandedly said. "I understand if you forgot to mention that you were going to use the whole thing."

Furious at the implications Trent was throwing down on her, she roughly poked a finger at him. Anger in her eyes, she retorted, "Listen. If I were to take them as you said, I would have told you in the first place. And why are you assuming that it was me? Don't you think it could have been Elli?" Claire added quietly to herself, 'Though it is true that Elli hid them, but, seriously, to think that I would just take what doesn't belonged to me and not asked for it….'

"No one else but you and I are ever allowed in the backroom. Elli knows not to go in there." Trent gave her a pointed look while maintaining his professionalism. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Gotz eyed the two a bit. Even now, Trent was not too comfortable with showing anyone something other than his 'doctor' persona.

Frustration slowly building up in her, Claire stood up and distanced herself away from him, disgusted. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to what you're saying. I like to think that you at least know enough about me that I wouldn't take anyone's possessions without asking them first. And even if it was a mistake, I'd take just one herb—not the whole load of shit." She started to walk away, burning with indignation. Trent was about to call after her when she stopped suddenly in her tracks. "Oh, I forgot one thing. Elli wants you back at the clinic for something. If you need me, I'll be in the Inn." Without looking back to see his expression or hear him out, Claire swiftly walked away.

Trent wanted to call out to her, to stop her from leaving, but he couldn't. He had to go back to the clinic. With a heavy heart, he set out, unable to keep a certain girl's hurt and confused face from mind.

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Instead of heading out to the inn as Claire originally intended, she stopped by the Poultry Farm. A large part of her felt hurt at the implication and the accusation the doctor had thrown on her. For now, she didn't want to go to the surprise party. Seeing him would only bring her more pain. Raising her fist against the door, she knocked. Knocked again. To her annoyance, no one was answering the door. Claire softly cursed to herself. 'Of course they would be at the party; they're his patients.' Reluctantly, she went back to the inn. As she walked inside, she told Ann and Doug that if anyone asked for her, she was not in her room. Confused at her request, they abided to it anyway. At the sight of her soft and welcoming bed, she flew on to it. Thinking back to earlier events, a small tear made its way down her cheek. "Doesn't he believe me?"

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A couple of hours passed. The guests were leaving the clinic as Elli and Trent started to clean up. He had been surprised when he got to the clinic and a good number of his patients shocked him with this party. Truthfully, Trent didn't expect them to celebrate his birthday in the first place. He figured the only one that knew about it was Elli. "What's this?" Picking up a small brown package, he went to find Elli. "Do you know who this belongs to?" he asked her.

One look to the wrapped gift and Elli remembered. "Oh, that one belongs to you. It's a gift from Claire."

Trent raised an eyebrow at that. He inspected the package then weighed it a couple of times with his hand. "I'm going to be in my room if you don't mind."

"Not at all, Doctor."

Closing the door to his room, he sat on the sofa and carefully tore open the wrapper. A sharp breath. Laying in front of him was a medical book—the recent edition—and a joke book for doctors. There was a small note on one of the books.

Trent—

I thought you might like them. The medical one, for instance, you need to update yourself on that. And the humor, you need to lively up a bit. Relax.

Happy Birthday

--Claire

"Claire," Trent whispered softly. Feeling more guilty than ever at how he'd said such horrible words to her, he felt compelled to speak with her. He could never forget that look on her face; he wanted—no, needed to see her. Trent quickly stepped out of his room and onto the first floor, informing Elli that he would be gone for a bit before rushing over to the inn. Ann was sweeping the floor when he came in. "Is Claire here?"

Remembering her promise to Claire, Ann shook her head. "Nope, I haven't seen her come in yet."

"I see. Thank you," Trent stiffly said as he remembered how he must act. 'Where would she be?' Thinking that she might be over at the Poultry Farm, he hurriedly jogged there. "Rick!" Trent called out as he spotted the young man. "Did Claire come over here?"

Rick shook his head, commenting that she had never come while they were there. Trent thanked Rick and walked away, then frowned. Ultimately, he went back to the inn; ignoring Ann's cries to stop, he walked up the stairs and stopped in front of Claire's room. He knocked on the door softly. There was no sound, no answer. "Claire?" he softly called out to her. Nothing. Trent sighed to himself. Digging through his pocket for pen, he took out a piece of paper and left a note. After finishing it, he slipped the note under the door.

Turning away, he gave it one last look. "I hope you'll read it." Then he walked away back to his clinic, as the doctor, and not as Trent.

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AN: Man, don't you want to smack those two upside the head?

Edited 1/5/09