Hey there! Very sorry for the delay on this one, real life gets busy sometimes, so please be patient when you wait for a new chapter.
I hope you enjoy this one. Thank you for reading!
NEW BEGINNINGS
Lea was in the living room with Jake, both were sitting on the green sofa while playing video games. She was bouncing a bit on her side of the couch, giggling every so often and holding tightly onto her controller as they raced against each other on the game.
"Ugh! You're too good at this!" Said Jake, twisting his controller to the side while pressing the buttons, as if it were a steering wheel.
Lea let out a booming laugh and stood up in a rush of excitement as she was about to win again.
"Nooo, no! Dammit!" Jake exclaimed with annoyance as Lea had won the race and she laughed doing a small victory dance. "Right, rub it in again…" He rolled his eyes.
"Again?" She asked with a cocky smile, challenging him.
"Yes! The night can't end like this!"
"You're getting better!"
"I'll believe it when I win" He nodded and shifted on the sofa to sit straight, ready to play again and Lea chuckled, watching him as he was so determined.
"Ahh, we're gonna be here all night then…" She teased and he grinned.
The whole vibe in the apartment changed the moment a drenched Shaun walked through the door; he had walked all the way home in the rain.
"Hey Sha…" Her words were cut off a soon as she he looked towards the door and witnessed Shaun sniffling and shivering as he left his wet backpack and coat on the rack, then, with squishy noises from his soaked shoes and leaving wet marks on the floor, he quickly walked to his bedroom without saying a word, and once in there, he slammed the door shut.
Lea, with parted lips, watched everything, as some kind of sixth sense told her something bad had happened and she guessed Shaun either had had a major meltdown or was about to have one; and a chill ran down her spine as worry filled her mind.
Jake on the other hand, watched the scene completely puzzled and raised a brow when Shaun closed his door.
"That was a dramatic entrance…" He said pulling Lea out of her mental worry bubble.
"You're gonna have to leave" She said moving putting her controller down on the sofa.
"What? Why?" He asked with a sarcastic chuckle. "I'm not gonna leave you here alone with him being like that"
"Shaun's been going through some very stressing stuff at work and… I just need you leave, Jake" She reached to take the other controller from him.
"But I was going to spend the night here, we agreed… this is absurd, Lea. You're not his mom, he can take care of himself. We all go through stressing stuff at work but we don't go around throwing tantrums!"
"Jake!" She sighed getting anxious and irritated. "Please, I'll explain another day but right now I need you to leave"
He stared at her for a brief moment then huffed and shook his head "Sometime it's like I'm not even your boyfriend, you know? You should ask yourself who you're really in a relationship with"
She rolled her eyes and sighed again "Now you're saying dumb stuff out of anger and it's not gonna end well. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Whatever…" He said, walked to the door, grabbed his jacked and left the apartment slamming the door, which made her and Shaun in his bedroom, jolt.
She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, then took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. Turned off the console and the tv, then dimmed down all the lights, and quietly paced around for a while, giving Shaun some space, wondering what had happened and trying to remain calm herself.
Se knew things at work weren't great for him at the time. The new chief of surgery had removed him from his surgical residency and placed him in the pathology department, because he thought Shaun should not be allowed to interact with patients due to his autism. Since then, Shaun had been anxious, irritable and even depressed. He'd hardly eat and would argue with her or anyone who dared to try to convince him that being in pathology wasn't so bad. He tried to keep himself busy with other things, but also to find ways to make the new chief see and understand that he belonged in surgery and only there.
This time though, was different for sure. It was unlike Shaun to head to or from work walking, specially if it was raining, it was unlike him to come home and not say a word, and it was unlike him to just go and lock himself in his room. Something shocking must have happened to him, the question was what?
She stood outside of his door and debated whether she should knock or not; she didn't want to startle him so she opted for later option.
"Shaun…?" She said with a soft voice. "Are you… I…" She sighed trying not to ask dumb questions or overwhelm him with countless advices. "…Just…I'm here, okay?" She finally said after a minute and stared at his door, hoping he was fine in there, in the darkness and quietness of his room, then she moved to sit on the sofa and hugged one of the cushions for comfort.
Minutes later, Shaun opened the door to his room, stood by it, and with a soft tone, said "I got fired"
Lea looked at him, pressed her lips together and swallowed hard. Shaun's attempts to prove the new chief wrong had failed horribly.
She stared at him for a moment not really knowing what to say, and she just studied his complexion. He looked pale, his usually soft looking and nicely done hair was now damp, messy and curlier than usual, his shirt, usually ironed to perfection and tucked neatly into his pants was now wrinkled, also damp and out of his trousers, he had gotten rid of his shoes but was still wearing his damp socks, and the look on his face was just saddening.
"Oh Shaun…" She sighed and fought her urge to get up and hug him. He moved to sit on the other side of the sofa, and that's when Lea noticed he was holding his toy scalpel, but the blade was gone; she could only imagine how he must have felt, on top of losing his job, his possibly most dear possession had broken, the moment he needed it the most.
During part of the night, they talked about what went on at the hospital and, although Shaun was calmer, he was still mad and refused to accept that he was no longer a surgery resident at St. Bonaventure's hospital, but Lea tried to be supportive, even though her words seemed to go in through one of his ears and out right away through the other. She just, in a way, understood his frustration, because she knew what it felt like when what you love, your dream, gets taken away for whatever reason; except she of course knew he always felt his ups very high and his lows really low.
Eventually Shaun Changed into some dry and clean clothes and they ended up back in the sofa watching some very cliché comedy-romance movie on TV. He seemed to be lost in thought during most of the movie, and to be fair, Lea was the same, just thinking about how she could help him and about what she was going to tell Jake the next day, until Shaun broke the silence with a very random comment, probably product of the sex scene that was playing before their eyes.
"You do make some weird sex sounds when you're with Jake… Before we moved in together, when you told me, I thought you were exaggerating but now I know you weren't" He said with a small nod.
Lea's cheeks turned bright red, her eyes widened, her lips parted, and she didn't even know what to answer. At least something had finally distracted him but —What?!— She thought.
The next few days were tough, she tried to focus on her work and her love live, but also tried to be a good friend by being there for Shaun, although it was difficult because he would barely leave his room and every time someone tried to talk to him about something to distract his mind, he would always get back to talking about how he's a surgeon and he had to get his job back at St. Bonaventure.
Fortunately, even though Dr. Glassman was no longer the president of the hospital, he still had contacts and managed to get Shaun a couple of interviews at other hospitals in San Jose, which Shaun reluctantly agreed to. Glassman and Lea hoped he would be accepted into one of those hospitals so he could continue his surgical residency and maybe that way his attitude would change, but little did they know, Shaun wouldn't make it to any of the interviews.
The evening of the day he was supposed to go to the first interview, Glassman texted Lea to let her know about Shaun but, when she got said messages, she was at Jake's having sex with him and ignored her phone all night.
In the morning, she woke up in Jake's bed but he wasn't there, he had gone out early to the market, as per usual, this time not for work but to get what he needed to make Lea a nice breakfast, something he used to do as often as he could.
After reading the note Jake had left next to her on the bed, she got up and looked for her phone then checked it. There was a missing call from Glassy and a couple messages, from him as well.
"Shaun was in a fight and got badly injured. He's in the ICU now, under observation. I'm with him. I thought you'd like to know why he didn't make it back home tonight."
"We're in room 406. In case you wanna come see him."
She felt as if her heart had sunk to the bottom of her gut when she read the texts, but the last one in particular made her angry.
—In case I wanna see him. Seriously?!— She thought as she hurriedly got dressed, wrote a note to Jake, then headed to the hospital, driving as fast as she could without breaking the law.
As soon as she arrived to the hospital, she was about to ask how to get to room 406 but Claire was passing by and saw her.
"Lea?" Claire asked approaching her.
She looked in the doctor's direction "Oh thank goodness. You're… Claire, right?"
Claire nodded and smiled "I assume you came to see Shaun"
"Yes, can you tell me how to get to his room and please explain to me what happened? Is he okay?" Lea asked with genuine worry in her voice and face.
"Sure, follow me" Both walked to the elevator and in there, Claire explained what had happened as easy to understand as she could for Lea. "So, apparently, Shaun was at a bar room yesterday in the morning and got in some kind of fight with a drunk guy there named Zack. He came in with him in the ambulance because Zack had a head injury. Shaun lied to us saying he had found Zack like that. We still don't know exactly what happened. Shaun didn't tell anyone he was injured and nobody really noticed until he fainted in the patient's room. He was bleeding internally due to a rib fracture. The laceration wasn't big so it shouldn't need more than the tube we placed in his chest to drain the blood. He's intubated for now but we should be able to take him off the ventilator soon and he should be fine."
Lea looked at her speechless and in shock, then she shook her head, and they walked out of the elevator.
"Why didn't he tell anyone? I - I had no idea. He was supposed to be at a job interview this morning" Lea said, moving her palm to her forehead, shaking her head again and sighing as she closed her eyes for a second.
"Yeah, Dr. Glassman told us… Maybe later, when he wakes up, he'll tell you what happened… He's gonna be okay" Clair said in a soft tone, reaching to stroke Lea's arm, then she took a card out of her pocket and handed it to her. "Here's my number, call me if you need anything or if anything changes, okay?"
Lea grabbed the card and nodded "Thank you"
Claire smiled and pointed at Shaun's room "That's his room. Dr. Glassman is in there with him. I gotta go, we still haven't figured out what's wrong with Zack"
"All right, thank you again and, good luck"
The doctor smiled again and got back in the elevator while Lea headed into Shaun's room.
"You came… Very kind of you." Said the old man.
She rolled her eyes at his snarky comment "Of course I came. And it's not the time for your sarcasm or condescendence…" She replied and looked at Shaun who was laying on the bed, unconscious, hooked to a ventilator, a monitor, an IV, a bag of blood, and the drainage system attached to the side of the bed. She eyed him from head to toe with a slight frown of worry on her face.
"I just - I don't get it… why didn't he go to the interview? Why was he at a bar?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
"I don't know, you were basically the one who taught him to drown his sorrows in alcohol…"
Lea glared at the old doctor who was sitting on a chair next to Shaun's bed "You're gonna blame this on me? Seriously?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Why did you come?"
"What do you mean? He's my friend!"
"Don't shout, we're at a hospital…"
"Then stop saying dumb shit!" She said throwing her hand up in the air.
He arched a brow and they stared at each other for a minute, then both sighed.
"I know I could've - should've come as soon as you texted or called me but I didn't check my phone until this morning. I was… it doesn't matter. I'm here now…"
He didn't reply and they were left with only the sound of the ventilator and Shaun's steady heartbeat on the monitor.
"I'm sorry…" Glassman said after a while as she paced along one side of the room with her arms crossed.
"We're both stressed…" She replied. "…Why can't you just get him his job back? I mean clearly this was because of that. You were the president for like a hundred years, don't you have influence or something?"
"I'm gonna fight for him but I'm only one vote… We all get smacked around. We gotta learn to take the hits, lick our wounds, and move on"
She sighed shaking her head slightly as she stared at Shaun. It was hard to see him like that. And for the second time in a months, she found herself almost losing her friend again. She felt bad for her friend and was worried, but also mad at him for his irrational actions.
—Is this how it's always going to be? Him sometimes doing crazy stuff that endanger his life just to save someone else's life or get what he wants? Are all doctors like this? How bad can his fixations get?— She thought.
"He likes you, you know?" Glassman said, interrupting her thoughts.
"Yeah, I like him, too" She replied with a slight nod.
"That's not what I meant and you know it… he likes you more…"
Lea's eyes moved from Shaun to the older man in the room.
"I get that it's complicated… but when he gets rejected, I'm glad it's coming from someone who cares about him." He added.
"We're just friends…" She said, Glassman rolled his eyes, and she felt her phone vibrate so she pulled it out of her pocket and checked the notification; it was a text from Jake.
"What was Shaun's emergency this time, another meltdown? -eye rolling and laughing emoji-"
Her body tensed up and she replied to his message.
"This might be funny or absurd to you but it's not to me. Shaun's in the ICU, hooked to a ventilator and with a tube coming out of his chest. I'm sorry if you don't have a friend who would be there for you in situations like this, or I'm sorry if you're not that friend, but I am. So maybe instead of being childish and complaining about who your girlfriend spends time with, you should mature a bit and check within yourself what kind of person you are."
She pushed her phone back in the-pocket of her jeans and sighed annoyedly, just wasn't in the mood and didn't have time for Jake's insecurities at that moment.
"Why are men so selfish?" She asked into the air, but Glassman looked at her and raised a brow.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing…" She replied shaking her head and looking at Shaun again.
Shaun woke up and was extubated later that day, but even after going through what he went through, his main concern, right after he woke up, was the patient, the guy who beat him up at the bar. It was astonishing for Lea how big his dedication and love for his profession was, regardless of who the patient was. She knew it was something doctors couldn't avoid because they make an oath, but she thought Shaun's commitment was simply on another level.
Fortunately, Claire managed to channel her Shaun side and figured out what was wrong with Zack before it was too late. And only when Shaun was informed of that, he calmed down, because when he woke up, he wanted to run out of his room to go tell them Zack needed immediate treatment or he was going to die.
Lea went back home in the evening, because Glassman told her there was no point for her to stay; Shaun was progressing well, and she had to work the next day, so she left, but promised she'd be back the next day, since Shaun was to be kept under observation for at least one more day.
The next day, back at the hospital, Shaun's chest tube was to come off; Glassman and Lea were there with him. The older doctor advised Lea to leave the room while Claire removed Shaun's tube because it could be harsh for her to watch, but Lea refused. She had reluctantly walked out the day before when they extubated her friend and thought it had been coward of her, so this time she wanted to be there for Shaun.
"Okay, don't tell me I didn't warn you…" Said Glassman, sitting on a chair while Lea was standing on the right side of Shaun's bed while Claire was on the opposite side getting everything ready for the tube removal.
"Will it hurt?" She asked watching the young doctor.
"It's different for each person" Claire replied with a small shrug, lifting Shaun's gown on his left side.
"Oh God…" Lea muttered at the sight of the tube and the gross bloody dressing that covered it. She couldn't help to gag some, to which Glassman chuckled, and Shaun stayed as still as possible.
"You still wanna stay?" He asked amusedly.
"Yes" She replied stubbornly and side eyed him while Claire removed the dressing, then cleaned some around the tube.
Lea looked again at what Shaun's colleague was doing and instinctively reached to hold Shaun's hand, although she was unsure if it was for his comfort or hers, but Shaun didn't complain. Claire contained a grin while removing the sutures that held the tube in place then asked Shaun if he was ready and he nodded. He took some deep breaths and Lea looked away, suddenly feeling how her anger toward him from yesterday returned. Claire pulled out the tube and Shaun winced, letting out a small groan, and Lea squeezed his hand a bit.
"You're an idiot…" Lea blurted out and Shaun looked up at her puzzled. Glassman arched a brow in surprise, and she added "I mean, what the hell were you thinking? Going to a bar at 10 in the morning, arguing with a drunk, and then not telling anyone he beat you ass?" She huffed and shook her head while both Glassman and Shaun stared at her kind of in shock.
Claire rose her brows and cocked her head to the side slightly. "Well, someone had to say it…"
In the mean time, Jake had made it to the hospital and had been watching everything from the nurse's station. Lea caught sight of him and was surprised to see him there. She let go of Shaun's hand and walked out of the room.
"Jake? What are you doing here?" She asked, walking to where he was standing.
"I… I came to talk to you and also brought this" He said and pointed to the get-well basket with assorted things that he had rested on the counter of the station.
"That's very nice of you, you didn't have to though"
"I know, I just… Listen, I know I have my insecurities, but they're not our of just being an asshole… I really like you and… I was cheated on before and it made me insecure, so I… I'm sorry… I do have friends like you and I am also that kind of friend, but sometimes my insecurities take over and I do or say stupid things."
"We all have insecurities, Jake. I was cheated on, too. In fact, I was more than cheated on, but I've learned that I shouldn't take it out my on others. And Shaun and I are just friends."
Jake didn't know but, while Ben told everyone she had cheated on him, the truth was that HE was the one who cheated on her, basically the whole time they were together.
He nodded "I'm sorry. I'll work on it… Is Shaun okay now?"
"He is, he should be able to go home later today or tomorrow"
They chatted for little while then Jake went into Shaun's room to give him the basket he had gotten for him and wished him a speedy recovery. Eventually, Jake and Lea left the hospital together.
Glassman, Lea, Jake, and Shaun's colleagues from the surgical floor hadn't been the only visitors he got while being a patient at St. Bonaventure; Dr. Glassman's girlfriend Debbie had visited him, too, as well as his momentary boss from Pathology, Dr. Carly Lever, the one who had analyzed a blood sample Shaun had told her that it belonged to some patient when in fact it was his, because he started presenting symptoms of internal bleeding, so he assessed himself but didn't want anyone to know, and he couldn't analyze his blood sample himself because he was no longer a doctor at that hospital. Carly saw something was wrong though, and expedited the test, gave him the results and even wrote a prescription for the unknown patient, but even then Shaun ignored his well being and Carly wished she had done more to help.
A few days after Shaun went back home and rested, he got news about the status of a talk Glassman was to have with the hospital's board about reinstating him as a surgical resident of St. Bonaventure Hospital.
Dr. Andrews, who once was against hiring Shaun because of his autism, fought for him and fired Dr. Han, who had pushed Shaun to the edge. Shaun got his job back as a surgical resident and couldn't have been more excited about it, so much that, in a rush, and after analyzing some things, he decided to go ask Dr. Carly Lever out on a date, just like his colleague and friend Claire had taught him after having a conversation with him about love, among other things, before he got severely ill.
That night, after spending time with Jake, Lea got back home and found Shaun standing by the dining table, nicely dressed; suit, tie, and all, he was also holding a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates in each hand.
She stared at him in shock for a moment, still standing by the door, thinking —What the… what? What's going on? Oh no, did Glassy talk him into this? What do I do? What do I say?—
"Uhm… Hi, Shaun…" She said after a minute.
"I got my job back" He replied with a smile.
"That's great!" She smiled back and he nodded.
"I have a question for you"
"Yes… I mean, no… I don't mean yes, but I also don't mean no" —What the hell am I doing?— "Just, what is the question?" —Like you don't know, Lea.— She rolled her eyes at herself in her mind. —Here we go…—
He moved closer to stand right in front of her, then asked "Do I look nice?"
—Oh?… What?— She thought.
"Uh… Yes, Shaun, you actually look very nice" She smiled again and nodded, before subtly taking a deep breath. —Okay, here we go again…—
"Okay" He simply said and walked past her to walk out of the door.
—What the… plot twist?— She thought, staring at the nothing and unconsciously holding her breath for a moment as her brain processed what had just happened, then she let out the air in her lungs and blinked a few times, swallowing a knot in her throat and feeling her stomach churn, almost as if she could go and throw up the dinner she had just eaten with Jake.
She walked to her bedroom and laid on the bed, wondering why she was feeling like that. Why did it shock her so much? Was it jealousy? But why? She was the one who told Shaun she just wanted to be friends with him and he agreed; their friendship was great at the moment, and after years, she was finally in a nice relationship that had just passed the usual 3 month expiration date, so, what exactly shocked her?
On one hand, she was happy for him, because he deserved to experience love like anyone else, but on the other hand, she just didn't see it coming, and she hated that, because she didn't want to be that person who thinks people on the spectrum aren't capable of dating but, maybe she had actually fallen into that crap?
—Instead of wondering whether you're being ableist or not, you should help him— Her inner self told her, then she thought —Who did he even go ask out, though?—
In the days that followed, she learned that whom Shaun had asked out on a date was his former boss, head of Pathology, Dr. Carly Lever, whom he once described as a very nice, very intelligent and aggressive gal who likes to solve medical mysteries and treats him well. And he wasn't lying, after Lea found out who he had asked out, she couldn't help herself using her skills to do some research on Carly. She was indeed a very intelligent girl in her very early 30's, from a nice family, her sister was also autistic, so she could know her way around Shaun, but that was somewhat unsure because, like Dr. Stephen Shore said: "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism" So her sister and Shaun could be very different persons. She graduated college with honors and, as the head of Pathology, her career seemed to be in full swing. All seemed good with her.
—Isn't this a bit too much?— Her inner self asked, but Lea felt like she was just being protective of Shaun since she wanted him to be happy and didn't want anyone to hurt him, or at least that's what she'd told herself as an excuse to quickly stalk Carly.
"…Extra points for asking your boss out on a date" She teased and he looked at her confused, so she added "I mean, I don't think I could do that. I don't think I have the confidence to do that, and also my actual boss is kinda too old for me, I don't know. Don't mind me, forget what I said." She chuckled. "So, when are you two going out?"
"I don't know…" He replied.
"What do you mean? You didn't agree on a day and time?"
"I didn't know I had to ask that"
"What?… Okay… Well, you're gonna have to call her and ask, or maybe you can just ask her tomorrow at work"
"I've never been on a date. I don't know what I am supposed to do. You only taught me how to end a date but not how to start it nor what to do during it"
"Right…" She said and blushed, remembering that night, as they sat next to each other eating dinner at home.
"Where should I take her?" He asked, taking out of the trance she had entered.
"Right, uhm… There's a bunch of places where you could go with someone on a first date. Jake took me to a picnic at the park, but it depends on each person and what they like… You could ask her where she would like to go or just go for the classic dinner-at-a-restaurant kind of date" She shrugged one of her shoulders while he thought about what she told him, then he got up and went to get his notepad and pen to keep asking Lea questions and take notes of her answers.