Archive of Our Own ^beta

The ward was calm.

Around the room, the loudest sounds were the beeping of monitors and gentle whooshes of the ventilators, tasked with the heavy responsibility of keeping the hospital’s perhaps most vulnerable patients alive. Ethan sighed, leaning forward and watching as the baby before him labored to draw breath. On his ankle, the tag seemed almost mocking, its writing somehow clear as day despite the dim lighting. Ethan Hudson.

In some ways, the only tangible reminder of the long friendship he had shared with Dolores.

Briefly pressing an unsteady hand to his face, he sat up and glanced about. The nurses continued their patrol through the ward, though, much to his private gratitude, they knew of his reputation, if nothing else, enough to seemingly ignore his presence, other than to grant him his privacy with his new namesake.

It was an honor he was almost certain he didn’t deserve.

Drawing a shaky breath, he shifted towards the crib. The stuffed frog lay beside the infant, its small form still appearing to dwarf its owner, and he reached in, moving it closer until the tiny arms closed around it. As he watched, baby Ethan relaxed a fraction, the soft toy seeming to be a reassuring presence, one that was still inferior to his mother, but that Dolores would no doubt have been proud to know…

He shook his head, an abrupt movement, and bit down on the inside of his cheek. Not yet. Not when he still had patients relying on him.

Not when he still had Naveen counting on him.

Just at the thought alone, he stiffened, glancing at the nearest clock. It was the longest interval he had gone without stopping by the new ward and no doubt the man was waiting for him, though he also knew Naveen well enough to know that he would understand the delay.

For that matter, Naveen would probably even prefer that he focused all of his attention on his official patients, and others in the hospital he could more easily help.

He muffled a groan, running a tired hand through his hair. Between treating his usual patients and caring for his mentor, not to mention Dolores, he was beginning to suspect that he hadn’t gotten so little sleep since his own days in residency…

As if sensing his thoughts, a quiet snore caught his attention as it interrupted the soft breathing of the woman beside him, curled in the corner of the couch and dozing against the cushions. He sighed again, leaning back into his seat and watching absently as her chest rose and fell, glancing at the faint frown that tugged at her lips, even in sleep. Her first loss of a patient had hit her hard.

Then again, she wouldn’t be the same person whose application he had championed if it hadn’t.

It was, after all, the same compassion that led to her dragging him off in search for the same stuffed frog that the newborn clung to so determinedly, that had her spending the remainder of her night in the NICU, dozing as she kept vigil over her former patient’s premature baby. That he knew would make her one of the finest physicians in her cohort, if not in the entire hospital, once she finished her training.

And that had caught his attention time and time again, the care and empathy calling to everyone around her, radiating off of her in waves. Oh, she certainly had strength and determination, not to mention the sheer audacity to defend her cohort to his face, but it was the doctor who would not think twice about staying overnight, who would fall asleep in the NICU instead of the on-call room or her own home, that could coax even him into opening up, at least a little, that set her apart.

She shifted slightly, a strand of long hair that had escaped her bun falling into her face, and his hand twitched in his lap, fingers curling into a fist as he held it still against the odd compulsion to reach out for the dark lock. Instead, he only sat, staring at the offending limb with confusion.

Sleep deprivation, perhaps.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed in the strangely heavy silence, but eventually, his pager vibrated in his pocket, a reminder of Naveen’s test results still waiting for his perusal, and he stretched, wincing as sore muscles protested the movement. His companion still slept, no doubt a testament to her own exhaustion and for a moment, he contemplated letting her rest for longer. Except her shift was starting soon and she deserved a warning to freshen up.

“Dr. Wang?” The whisper, spoken as it was from several feet away, logically had no chance of rousing her, but even so, as he reached for her shoulder, he hesitated. “Isabelle? Isabelle, wake up.”

She awoke slowly, one hand brushing the offending strand of hair out of her face, much to his relief… or was it disappointment? Before he could make up his mind, her attention thankfully turned to the baby still in his incubator. “He made it through the night!”

“He did. He’s not completely out of the danger zone but—”

A soft whimper, accompanied by a considerably louder shushing noise, cut him off mid-sentence and his mouth snapped shut almost of its own accord. Beside him, Isabelle shot to her feet, bending down beside the crib to listen more closely. “He’s crying!”

“That he is. He’s getting stronger.”

Any trace of exhaustion gone from her face, she turned to him, eyes shining with the simple joy of life that had seemed so absent in the past hours and even days for the both of them, and he couldn’t help but smile back.