From Friendship to Love
Chapter 1
"Faith! Faith!" Elizabeth shouted as she hustled to catch up to Hope Valley's resident doctor. Faith was heading away from the Infirmary to get herself some supper at the cafe before she had to check back in on her current in house patient and she wasn't slowing down, if anything - she quickened her pace. Elizabeth was quickly becoming a nuisance that she found herself loath to deal with.
"Faith! Please!" Elizabeth shouted again, louder this time. Faith rolled her eyes, halting suddenly without bothering to turn around. Elizabeth struggled to stop without running into her.
"Faith, really! What is wrong with you?!" Faith finally turns to look at Elizabeth.
"How can I help you, Elizabeth?" She measured each word. She knew what the woman wanted and it really grated on her.
"How is Nathan? I'd really like to see him. I need to see if he's okay or if he needs anything, or if he'd like for me to take care of Allie."
Faith sighed heavily. This woman has some nerve, she'll give her that. She'd heard that Elizabeth was intent upon visiting her current in house patient. She thought back to last fall when Nathan & Newton had been hit by a car. Nathan had spent a couple of nights in the Infirmary and Elizabeth was his first visitor and then Lucas, no less. They both seemed to have a healthy dose of self importance. What came out of her mouth next surprised her, but it just needed to be said. Should've been said a long time ago.
"Elizabeth, I'm going to say something and I really want you to take some time to consider it. You are an engaged woman - engaged to someone other than Nathan, whose heart you've already broken, by the way. Yet you still seem to have an unhealthy attachment to the man. Have you ever considered that he may not really feel a need to see you right now?" Faith found herself tapping her left foot, arms crossed.
Elizabeth's mouth dropped open and her cheeks colored. "Faith! Really! Why would you even say that?! He's my friend. We're great friends! And, I'm Allie's teacher. Of course he wants to see me!"
Great, now they were drawing attention. Faith leans forward and speaks in a low, but firm voice, "Elizabeth, you broke the man's heart, for Heaven's sake. Which I already mentioned, but you seemed to ignore. You've not ever given him any space. Demanding all manner of assistance from him, doling out advice to his daughter, whom you also hurt and did you once apologize to him or give any consideration to his feelings?" Faith stared, unblinking, then gentled her voice. "Just think about it, Elizabeth. How would you feel, if it were you?"
Elizabeth's eyes widened and she seemed, for a moment, to back off. Faith took this chance to continue.
"Allie is staying with Opal. She's fine. Nathan's fine. He fell off a ladder and he dislocated his shoulder, but it's been reset and he'll be fine. I will tell him that you've asked to see him, but I think that you should maybe stop treating him like your second boyfriend." Before Elizabeth has a chance to respond - her mouth gaping open like some sort of fish, Faith turns back towards the cafe. Once there she asks Minnie if she could please take her meal in the back room and not be disturbed, unless there's an emergency. She realizes that part of her problem with Elizabeth may have a lot more to do with her own feelings for Nathan. Feelings that she'd been thinking she shouldn't be having as his doctor.
Meanwhile in the Infirmary, Nathan is propped up in bed while Allie sits beside him reading from one of his favorite books. He was enjoying this time with his girl. They hear the front door open and Molly talking to someone. Suddenly, the door to his room bursts open and Elizabeth rushes in with Molly hot on her heels, trying to stop her. "Elizabeth, you can't just barge in there!"
Nathan groaned inwardly, all the while keeping a straight face. This really was getting somewhat awkward. There seemed to be no end to her attempts at 'friendship' with him and her need to involve herself in his life. And the 'friendship' seemed to require much more from him than it did her. How had he never seen this before? There was no doubt that he'd loved her, but he'd absolutely never really paid attention to her constant need to meddle. He looked up and sent a silent okay message to Molly. He'd have to deal with her sooner or later, though he figured her fiancée ought to be the one to do it. He wondered for a moment if maybe she just wasn't really as happy as she seemed to be trying so hard to prove to everyone, likely even herself. Even so, it shouldn't be his problem. It wasn't his problem.
"Nathan! How are you feeling? I just had to see for myself that you were alright! And, how are you, Allie?" When Elizabeth turns her gaze back to Nathan, Allie rolls her eyes, thinking this was just weird. At first, she'd thought it was good that her dad and Mrs Thornton were able to be friends, but now that she was engaged to Mr Bouchard, it just seemed kind of wrong. It was like she expected her dad to be obliged to fix all of her and Mr Bouchard's problems - like he was their servant or something.
"I'm fine. I was fixing a window and dropped a tool, lost my balance. Fortunately, I wasn't very high up and only dislocated my shoulder. Dr Carter wants to keep me here overnight to make sure I rest and I should be back home tomorrow." He watches her face, noticing that her mind seemed to be going a mile a minute. Calculating. These days, she always seemed to be calculating, working an angle.
Elizabeth looks at Allie and back at Nathan "I can keep Allie tonight, if necessary..." she looks back to Allie with an almost pleading look in her eyes.
'Weird' Allie thinks to herself again and shakes her head. "Thanks, Mrs Thornton, really. I'm staying with Opal tonight. They'll be here soon to pick me up."
Before Elizabeth can form another word, the door bangs open again and Faith bustles in (Molly had run to the cafe to get her). If only she could get ahold of that woman right now, she'd break her oath to 'do no harm'. Then Nathan would have to arrest her, but it might just be worth it! "E-liz-a-beth", she ground out, "a word, please?" jerking her head towards the front room. When Elizabeth didn't respond, Faith said firmly, "Now!"
Reluctantly, Elizabeth followed Faith out of the room, casting one last, somewhat longing, look at Nathan. Faith continued out the front door, waiting for her to follow. When Elizabeth was outside, Faith reached past her to close the door and walked about five feet away from the building. She turned and crossed her arms, just staring at Elizabeth, waiting to see if she would speak first. When the woman only looked down at her feet, Faith spoke up. "You completely ignored me. Right now, I'm speaking not as your friend or even Nathan's, but Dr Carter. And this," she gestured towards the Infirmary, "this is my office, my practice, my business. You asked to come see him and I told you to wait. I told you I would mention this to Nathan and then you immediately turned around and marched over here anyways! What is wrong with you?" Elizabeth sputtered a little and Faith held up a hand "You know what? Nevermind. I'm going to have to insist that you have a little more respect for my wishes in regards to the Infirmary and its patients in the future - unless you are directly related to them, please abide by my direction. And please actually take the time to reflect on what I said to you earlier in regards to Nathan. Sometimes, Elizabeth, enough really is enough." With that, Faith turned and hurried back to the Infirmary, just in time to see Ellen & Opal Weise show up to gather Allie. While Ellen, Opal and Allie were saying goodbye to Nathan, Faith pulled Molly aside and told her what happened and asked her to not let Elizabeth visit unless it was cleared with her and Nathan, then told Molly that she could go home and get some rest for awhile before they traded places. She really needed to hire a nurse. While Nathan wasn't critically injured, she did not feel right leaving him alone there overnight.
Faith took a few moments to compose herself and wait for everyone to leave before she went in to check on Nathan. She really could no longer deny her feelings. Over the course of the last - somewhat trying - year she'd fallen for him - despite her best efforts not to. When she'd heard that he'd fallen off a ladder, her heart nearly stopped and her struggle with 'falling in love with a patient' seemed to cease. She was done ignoring those feelings. Wasn't that what Elizabeth had done? Run from her feelings? Tried to deny them to the point that she'd run into the arms of a man who's lifestyle could likely be more dangerous than Nathan's career?The only thing was, she wasn't sure how Nathan felt and right now he was her patient so she may need to wait. Smoothing her hair and her skirt, she pulled on her white coat and grabbed Nathan's chart, then entered his room. When her eyes met his, she knew something was different. She stilled at the foot of his bed. Really, those eyes...whew!
Nathan looked up when Faith came in. He'd heard her out there and was anxiously anticipating her return. He'd also heard her speaking, very firmly, with Elizabeth outside and it did funny things to his insides. He couldn't remember ever having anyone, besides Colleen, defending him quite like that. He'd already started to notice how Faith laughed at his awful jokes, the jokes Allie always groaned at, and he also found himself getting lost in her sky blue eyes. She was always brutally honest with him as well - not meddling, bossy or demanding - just honest, and it was refreshing. For a moment, time stood still, before Faith seemed to shake herself mentally and try to turn into doctor mode. He smiled to himself. Maybe it wasn't just his imagination and wishful thinking.
That smile, Faith thought, her insides going to jelly. It was a miracle that this man was even still available. Just goes to further prove the point that a certain self important woman was not done monopolizing more than one single man's life in this town, otherwise someone would've snapped this one up long before now and it seems that God's hand might've set the timing just right for her to maybe have a chance with him. Clearing her throat, "So, how are you feeling?"
Nathan smiled bigger. "I'm doing just fine, well a little sore. Okay, maybe a lot sore. But, I think I should ask how you're doing?" He raised an eyebrow in challenge, wondering if she'd try to evade having a conversation about what just happened.
She looked down, as if checking his chart - feeling her cheeks warm, then back into those crystal blue eyes. "You heard. I should've known you'd miss nothing. Please tell me Allie didn't..." Nathan shook his head. She sighed in relief. "Look, I'm really sorry about the whole thing. She chased me down on the way to the cafe and it got on my last nerve. She seemed more concerned about her being able to see you than how you were actually doing. I told her that, with her being engaged and all, maybe she shouldn't be spending so much time trying to insert herself into your life. I also told her I'd check to see if you wanted her to visit and she must've immediately turned around and barged in here. I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn."
She looked a little distressed and he tried to wipe the smile off of his face, but he just couldn't. There was a time when he'd have been thrilled that Elizabeth was trying so hard to see him, but Faith was right - she was an engaged woman now and she'd essentially ripped his heart out and ground it underneath her heel before running into Lucas's arms and then seemed to constantly either need something from him or was continuing to try to manage his life. "You didn't speak out of turn." He pauses a moment, pointing to the chair beside his bed, then waits for her to sit down. "Faith, you were absolutely correct. You were right and I've continued to let Elizabeth mow right over me. At some point, my vow to watch over her and Jack Jr became some sort of penance or servitude and it's time that it stopped. She is engaged. She's now Lucas's responsibility, which from what I can tell, should be interesting as it seems neither one of them can manage to care for themselves let alone one another. But, I think they're going to have to do it without me. I've never set any real boundaries and I really need to." Faith takes a breath and starts to speak, but Nathan holds up a hand to stop her.
"There's one more thing". He says and holds out his right hand, waiting for her to put hers into it. As she does, he notices her cheeks growing rosier. His heart races a little as he prepares to be somewhat bold. "Faith, no one and I mean no one, besides my sister, Colleen, has ever stood up for me quite like you did tonight." Surprisingly, he has to stop because he starts choking up. And the feel of her hand in his was a bit distracting. "Thank you doesn't seem to convey just how much that means to me, that you had my back like that."
She had to look away from those eyes for a moment. What he was saying was so very important. But, holding his hand like this? She could barely concentrate! Looking back up, her breath caught in her throat at the look in his beautiful eyes. Part of her wanted to back up and run, using the doctor - patient argument, but really she didn't want to end up like Elizabeth Thornton. Trapped in some sort of nowhere land between a fiancée whom she didn't really seem to have deep emotional feelings for and a 'friend' whom she loved deeply but had denied herself out of fear. If she fled from every man because they were a 'patient', she'd never find anyone because she was the only doctor in town for now.
"Nathan, I..." she swallowed hard "I will always have your back. I'm only sorry that I didn't have it sooner. I didn't see what was really happening with Elizabeth until recently. When she asked you to go searching for Lucas because he'd run off...again, that's when my eyes started to open. There was a time when that woman would've moved Heaven and earth to find her man and wouldn't have sent someone else after him. And, you being you, of course you helped her. It's who you are. It's what you do. And it's one of the things that I love about you." Realizing what she'd just said, her eyes flew open wide and she sucked in a quick breath. But the man just smiled that endearing, heart stopping, crooked smile. Then, being incredibly cheeky, he slowly brought her hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips over it ever so softly, and she thought she might faint dead away.
"Was that too forward?" he asked. He was actually torn on this. Part of him was concerned because she was, basically, his closest friend besides Gabriel and Bill, but mostly he'd like to do it again and soon. "Look, Faith, I don't want to ruin our friendship, but I can't seem to stop thinking about you or trying to find any excuse to see you." He watched her eyes light up and his heart soared.
"You weren't too forward, Nathan. You've become one of my closest friends as well. I can't imagine this last year without you. Somewhere along the way, I started feeling the same way and I, admittedly, tried to avoid it as you were my patient. It seemed that the more I fought it, the stronger my feelings became. Seeing Elizabeth tonight? It made me realize that I don't want to end up without you because of fear, so I'd already determined to be brave and tell you how I was feeling - but I think you may have beat me to it." She could feel her heart tripping all over itself as she waited for his response.
This is really happening! Nathan thought. He squeezed her hand tighter. "Faith, would you let me take you to dinner in a couple of days? When my doctor clears me for activity?" They both laughed with no small amount of relief on both parts.
"I'd like nothing more!" she replied. They both started as they heard the front door open.
As Faith moved to go out and see who had arrived, Nathan pulled at her hand, halting her movement. "And, Faith, you should consider this an act of courtship." They stared into one another's eyes for a moment, both of them more hopeful for the future than either had been in a very long while.
