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bluesunsdusk · 1 year ago

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Aidan bowed his head in gratitude and followed Ry into their office. Taking a seat, he quickly said, "Thank you, and my apologies for the lack of forewarning." He frowned and cast his eyes down. "This is a... delicate situation."

Opening his cloak, he revealed a leather shoulder bag from which he took a roughed up leather-bound notebook. He placed the bag down and put the notebook on his knee.

Without the cloak, his polished sheet metal armor and fine royal purple uniform came into view. A symbol of the Elite Soldiers became more apparent on his arm guard now the cloak didn't drape over it whenever his hand dropped. He rested his fingers over the notebook on his knee and took a breath before speaking.

"The situation regards a man of thirty-two, standing at approximately one hundred and ninety centimeters... King Logan of Albion."

Aidan elected not to linger on his status too long and continued with his explanation with barely a pause, opening the notebook and keeping his gaze down on it.

"His doctors allowed me to take their notes," he stated. "Five years ago, our king had an incident. Before the incident, he weighed ninety-four point eight hundred and one kilograms. That changed after a trip by ship to a continent south of our kingdom, Aurora. He went missing at that location and was found in a catatonic state by locals. From that moment onward, he started losing weight. Doctors and care staff tried keep his at his usual, but eating and exercising proved difficult for him. He was lethargic, on edge. It has been years and they have only managed to make sure he remains at fifty-three point five kilograms."

He turned the booklet and held it out with a thumb between the top of the pages to keep them parted, so Ry could see the weight notations and additional symptoms he was about to share without all the expositional padding.

"I don't know what happened in Aurora, but he clearly saw something. The people there spoke of a darkness that attacked their homes at night. They spoke to Logan alone while they tended to him. I don't know what they told him, but they said he was lucky to have survived at all. Several of our men didn't..." Aidan's voice had lowered slightly. A mix of sadness and being still reluctant to speak too candidly. "He wasn't at their funerals. He couldn't go. He had endless nightmares, night terrors, insomnia, hyper alertness, nausea, lightness in the head, fear of the dark, fear of enclosed spaces, gastrointestinal pains, lack of appetite, aversion to dental examinations, aversion to cold substances, aversion to liquids, aversion to black ink, flares of anxiety, constant stress, paranoia, obsessive cleaning of the hands, fragile and listless hair, pale complexion, irritability, audiovisual hallucinations accompanied by extreme panic attacks. In the first year, he removed all obsidian from the home. He'd fly into a panic when suffering a coughing fit and requiring my assurance that his mucus was clear. Cold soup made him throw up. He was pale as a bridal dress. His hair started thinning. He required an escort at all times. When he's not wearing makeup to keep up appearances, I swear I can see the veins in his face. He has dark circles under his eyes all the time. This man does not sleep."

Finally, his professionalism wasn't enough to keep his expression from betraying the sadness and pain he felt at going over all of this. His brows lowered and knitted together and his eyes had more in common with a kicked puppy than an intimidating guard. There was was a confusion in his face alongside all of it.

"I know he had an encounter, I know it was traumatic, but he won't tell me or anyone else more about it. For a time, we thought he'd recovered. He ate, albeit with great difficulty, he bathed again, he left his room. He still barely spoke, but he was making progress. His advisor, Sir Walter Beck, did his best to run things during this time. Next thing we knew, Logan returned to his duties and began putting all his focus into military spending. He..."

Aidan bowed his head a moment and took a deep breath before lifting his head back up. "He became a tyrant..." His cut one of his hands through the air. "Which is completely contrary to his nature. He thinks there's a war coming to our people from an enemy that could wipe us all from the map if we aren't prepared, but it's been years and none have come. He confines himself to his chambers or the war room for hours at a time, talking to himself sometimes."

He gave Ry a firm nod.

"I believe him to still be sick. He claims he's recovered, but this is not the Logan I know. The Logan I know was disciplined, kind, dutiful, thoughtful. Anything he did has always been for the good of the kingdom, he was a fair and just man all his life up until now, so I don’t know if it's a delusion that's making him- I don't know, but no one's been able to help, our doctors are just regular folk and this goes far beyond what their medicine is capable of solving. Over the past years, it has only gotten worse."

After that long story, he took a deep breath and lifted a hand to rub the side of his neck.

"Suffice it to say, we're desperate. We of the Elite Soldiers are sworn to our king and the royal family, but even our loyalty has its limits. We're..." He cast his eyes to the side. "We're going behind his back on this, at great risk for our own safety. Many of us are both afraid for and of him at this point. He is irrational, erratic. We have no idea how he'll react to learning about this."

#disordered eating cw #long post #ic: aidan #xynchronicity

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lyonssteve302-blog · 4 years ago

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#Dentist Oswego IL #Dentist 60543 #Dental Office Aurora #Dentist Near Me

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oakridgesnorthden01-blog · 6 years ago

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Our Affordable Dentistry King City is committed to providing complete dental services. Our mission is to provide quality dentistry for your teeth problems. Oakridges North Dental offers dental services to your entire family. To know more about our dentistry, visit at http://www.oakridgesnorthdental.com/

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webbohenry8 · 3 years ago

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Peach State Health Plan-A Medicaid Failure

The state has crashed one of its current Medicaid managed care organizations with a $3.7 million penalty for denying patients timely access to critical medical services. The fine appears to have prompted a top-level shakeup at Peach State Health Plan. The massive penalty focused on Peach State's failure to grant "prior authorization" for medical assistance within two weeks, the national standard for the time a healthcare plan should decide to grant or deny coverage to a patient.According to sources close to the situation, Peach State was abandoning to meet that target approximately 20 percent of the time, possibly putting patients who needed coverage for medications, tests, or other critical medical services and equipment at risk.

Bowers had all outstanding issues for the prior authorization process for services had been resolved in a prepared statement.It is not the first time Centenehas sustained criticism over the way its subsidiaries do business. Year, 2005 the company agreed to pay $9.5 million to Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care Inc. to settle a two-year-old lawsuit over recompenses.

The conflict centered on Centene's Wisconsinsubsidiary. Centene-Medicaid also dropped one of the dental care providers. They were preparing to cancel contracts with dental care provider Kool Smiles, Patient Support Center. Peach Health Plan and WellCare within the week and a lawsuit filed against the state by parents of children insured by Medicaid and Peachcare, the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) have reported its investigation of allegations of inadequate care delivery from Kool Smiles, according to DCH Director of Communications Amanda Seals.

Seals announced. No child in our Medicaid or PeachCare for Kids programs has lost dental benefits or not covered from the program due to the contract disputes between Kool Smiles. On August 25, 2007, when they issued a decision that Kool Smiles cancel from WellCare and Peach State on August 31, 2007, was carried out demonstrations to oppose the care management organizations (CMOS). August 14 A save Our Smiles rally in Dalton attended together more than 100 parents and community leaders concerned that more than 70,000 children in the state may lose access to quality dental care if Kool Smiles signifies dropped.

The Save Our Smiles campaign has supported Georgia citizens to present messages to Gov. Sonny Perdue in support of intervening. The organization estimates more than 10,000 letters sent within two weeks.The reality that time was running out, parents of children insured by Peach care and Medicaid sued the State of Georgia Wednesday under claims that their children will be dismissed dental care after the contract with Kool Smiles is canceled. Seals responded to this suit by assuring parents that they would still be capable of finding quality dental care for their children.

According to Seals, five percent of current WellCare members and seven percent of current Peach State Health Plan members can have services from Kool Smiles, P.C., citing Georgia Families records. Grievances of parents and other dentists have led the DCH to investigate reported difficulties, such as over-utilization of services, lower use of preventive care, and unusual methods to control patients, according to Seals.Some parents who use Kool Smiles say parents must have looked for alternative dental care for their children, yet were frustrated in finding a provider who accepts Peach care or Medicaid. Provided was dropped, parents believe that through this lawsuit, a federal authority can subdue their health plans to continue their contracts with Kool Smiles so that their children will have a better smile in the future. Medicaid has never been fair to everyone, especially to people who are poor and needy. Seals are still quiet regarding the pending litigation.

"If included in the lawsuit, the State of Georgia will represent by the attorney general's office," reported Seals. "All inquiries should straight there," they stated. Meanwhile, the state stands behind its choice to convert to manage care, notwithstanding initial kinks in the policy.

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auroradentist11 · 3 years ago

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Aurora Dentist

Address:

5 W Galena Blvd,

Aurora, IL

60506

United States

Phone:

331 255 3259

Website:

https://dentistaurorail.com/

keywords

Dentist in Aurora

Description:

Dentist Aurora, IL - Aurora Best Smiles is committed to your individual attention from first contact with the dentist in Aurora IL. Our best dentist at Aurora IL is working hard to build the ultimate dental experience that is stress-free and relaxed. We do what it takes to help every patient in a comfortable office environment understand their symptoms and treatment options.

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dentistinauroraco · 4 years ago

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A Few Straightforward Strategies For Discovering A Fantastic Baller Dental And Orthodontics

Discovering a trustworthy dental practitioner may be an incredibly wearisome task. Teeth issues must be alleviated in its own beginning. Along with the contemporary way of life, our company are becoming much more prone to dental complications. While finding aurora, co dentist, among the important things one must think about is the range. If you are in Aurora, finding a dentist in Aurora must be more preferable than somewhere else.

Also while choosing a dental professional or even selecting a dental care in your location, decide whether it is actually a standard dentistry or even focused oral care. If you reside in Aurora, after determining if it is actually a general dental care in Aurora or even a concentrated one, explore the oral care.

The process of discovering a terrific orthodontist in Aurora very easy:

Talk to the physician which dental professional he/she recommends if you have a family members doctor or even a doctor to whom you routinely see. This could be a credible choice due to the fact that it is actually stemming from your family practitioner.

Inquire your close friends and colleagues for the dental expert they go. Request the form of treatment they went through. Talk to the cost involved, their feeling of the location, and facilities.

If you had lately changed your residence and intended to find a dental professional, The far better possibility must be to look out for medical facilities as well as health facilities in your area and inquire about the best oral care in your neighborhood.

Keep an eye out for the list of dental experts as well as dental care nearby your region as well as search for the customer reviews. There will be actually additional folks who will definitely give a beneficial assessment if they were actually managed correctly. Still, read the customer reviews very carefully, considering that there could be produced customer reviews. Look for and inspect the formal web site of each oral care as well as dental expert. Keep an eye out for the several solutions they provide.

After creating a checklist of dental experts and oral treatment, make an effort calling them. Look out for the way they find out as well as respond regarding visits, expenses, and also timings. Try to review the price of oral solutions each dental treatment provides and choose the very best.

What to seek in a dentist in Aurora

Dentists vary in phrases of the service they give and also various other traits. :

Location

Locating one that is actually near you would be actually ideal, so you do not need to journey much for visits or dental emergencies. Steering with toothaches or after having major oral surgery is no cakewalk. When your kids are accompanying you, a loved ones oral treatment in Aurora is particularly significant.

Office-hours

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It is a great tip to look for a dentist that may operate around your routine to ensure you certainly never need to worry about your visits. Many people operate irregular hrs right now, and also locating somebody satisfied to your program will place all your tooth is afraid to rest.

Cost

Acquiring oral work done is pricey, therefore talk to if the family oral care in Aurora allows your insurance coverage. The availability of various remittance choices is actually an additionally.

Resolving your concerns

Some dental experts in Aurora are actually specialists in lightening people' worries along with their pleasant way and also perseverance. Whether handling an adult or a kid, these fears may stand between obtaining the best feasible treatment your dentist has to give, as well as finding dentist aurora, CO who can easily satisfy these fears must perform the best of your checklist.

Credentials

There are actually a number of traits to try to find in addition to the school they went to, including other specialist qualifications that license all of them to accomplish the most recent operations.

Emergency treatment

A dental professional in Aurora that delivers after-hours unexpected emergency company is actually crucial given that oral troubles can certainly not be actually postponed till the next day. And also, awaiting frequent hrs might aggravate the trouble. Managing little ones in such a case may be tiring on parents, and a dental professional that is on call at all times is a gift to parents.

So place these suggestions to utilize as well as obtain that wonderful smile you and your family members always was entitled to. It's certainly not on a daily basis that your aspirations are understood this effortlessly. Keep smiling!

#dentist aurora CO #aurora co dentist #Baller Dental & Orthodontics #Southlands dentist

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heauxplesslydevoted · 5 years ago

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Bonding Moments

Summary: After a hard day at work, Naomi bonds with an unlikely ally.

Pairing: Mentions of F!MC x Ethan, but mostly F!MC x Aurora friendship

Word Count: 3k+

So...this story took a completely unexpected turn and I think I’m going to add a part 2. But as always, let me know what you think!

Naomi really thought after a disastrous intern year that she’d have a handle working on the diagnostics team with Ethan. But it was hard, much harder than she anticipated. The tension in the air, the lingering glances, the unspoken words, the blurred lines that they constantly tiptoed, it was all becoming too much to handle.

It all came to a head on a fateful Friday. Naomi was having a really shitty day. On top of being exhausted from working over 19 hours straight, she and Ethan had been running tests on a patient—a 13 year old gymnast named Anna—all day, only to find out that she had an inoperable tumor growing on her spine.

This wasn’t the first patient Naomi lost, but it hit her harder than most. She barely made it out of Anna’s room after delivering the bad news before she started crying.

“Rookie?” Ethan started, catching her by the elbow.

“Sorry.” Naomi wiped her eyes hurriedly. “Sorry, just give me a minute, I’ll pull myself together.”

“Come with me,” Ethan said, his grip still on her elbow. He gently lead her to the privacy of his office, where she fully broke into sobs once the door was closed

Naomi sank into a chair and let her tears flow freely. What was the point in trying to stop them? Ethan slid a box of tissues in her direction. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I usually don’t cry, but I can’t help but feel bad,” Naomi continued with a shuddering breath. “She’s just a kid. She has her entire life ahead of her. Or had. She’s supposed to be getting ready for high school, and meeting new friends. And she and her parents put all of their trust into us and we failed them. I failed them.”

“Don’t do that to yourself. You did everything you could, but unfortunately this one is out of your control.”

“I still feel horrible.”

Ethan rounded his desk and crouched down next to Naomi. “I get it, I really do. When Delores died, it felt like a hole in the earth opened up and swallowed me. And I felt hopeless. It always hurts when there’s nothing we can do, but you can’t bog yourself down with guilt.”

Naomi knew Ethan was right, it still hurt. A lot. “I feel like there should be something I can do.”

“Right now, all you can do is make her as comfortable as possible, should she choose to stay here. If not, you let her go and live her life.”

They fell into a heavy silence, Naomi trying to regain her composure and Ethan rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. Naomi found herself relaxing. Her cries subsided, tampering down into a quiet whimper and the occasional hiccup.

“You think you’ll be okay for the rest of your shift?” Ethan asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah. It’s almost over thankfully.” She just had to get through the next hour without incident and she was free for the next two days.

Ethan reached out and swiped at Naomi’s cheek, catching the tears that had fallen. He leaned forward and placed a kiss at the crown of her head, his lips lingering there. Naomi sighed and leaned into his touch, her eyes fluttering shut. His hands were warm and his cologne was so intoxicating, she felt herself getting dizzy in his presence. All she wanted to do was lean forward and kiss him. It was too much. Too much closeness, too much intimacy and she was getting overwhelmed.

She abruptly pushed her chair back and stood up. “We need to stop.”

“Okay.”

“Ethan, what are we doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look, I appreciate you comforting me, but we can’t do this. You put up a wall, you wanted boundaries, you wanted to keep this professional. This isn’t professional. So, you either want to be strictly co-workers, or not.”

He wished he it could that simple. He wished that his feelings for the stubborn and infuriatingly amazing resident were that black and white. “Rookie–”

“I’m in love with you,” Naomi confessed. “And I can’t keep doing this with you, these fleeting moments of intimacy. If I’m being honest with you, it’s torturing me.”

Ethan felt like he had been hit with a semi-truck upon hearing Naomi’s words. All of the air had been sucked out of the room.

“And I don’t know if you feel the same way or not, because of this push and pull we have going on. One day, I feel like we’re making progress and the idea of us maybe being together seems feasible, and then there are days where I feel like I’m interacting with a complete stranger. So for my own sanity, I need you to respect the boundaries you put in place. Please.”

“Of course.” Ethan cleared his throat awkwardly. “I’m sorry.”

Naomi ignored his apology. She knew he truly felt sorry, but it didn’t bring her any solace. “I’m going to finish the rest of my shift. See you around, Dr. Ramsey.” And with that, Naomi scurried out of his office, not even bothering to look back.

~~~~~

And now here she was a few hours later, curled up in a throw blanket, eating a pint of ice cream at the kitchen island, The Notebook playing softly in the background for the millionth time. The apartment was quiet, thankfully. All of her roommates went bowling downtown, but she wasn’t up for it. She just wanted to wallow for the evening.

She heard a set of keys jingle and a few seconds later, Aurora walked in, a large reusable grocery bag in her hand. “Oh! Hey, I didn’t think you’d be home.”

“Hi,” Naomi greeted. Aurora dropped her bag onto the kitchen counter, and pulled out a few avocados, limes, an onion, garlic, cilantro, tomatoes, a bag of chips, and a few jalapeños. “Making guacamole?”

“Yeah. I’ve been craving some for the longest.”

“Cool.” Naomi didn’t say anything else after that. She just silently watched as Aurora washed her hands and meticulously prepared all of her ingredients. The girl was methodical in everything she did.

“You can taste test if you want,” Aurora offered, as she was mashing everything together. “I’m biased because I think everything I cook tastes amazing, but it’d be nice to have an outside opinion.”

“Oh, you do not have to tell me twice.” Naomi grabbed a chip and dipped it into the guacamole. She devoured the chip in on bite.

“Well? Do you think I’m missing anything?”

“It’s perfect,” Naomi said, grabbing another chip.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Aurora smiled. “Thank you.”

“You should’ve told us you could cook a lot sooner,” Naomi continued. “Sienna’s getting burnt out as our resident chef.”

“Well, I can't reveal all of my magic at once. I like to keep an air of mystery around. Hell, you weren’t even supposed to find out, I thought I was going to be home alone tonight,”

“So did I. You didn’t want to go out with the rest of the roomies?”

Aurora scoffed. “Please, they wouldn’t want me there anyway.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I get it. I’m tolerated because I pay rent, not because you guys actually like me.”

“You don’t give us the chance to know or like you.”

“I wasn’t liked from day one.”

“You thought we weren’t going to like you or were just going to kiss your ass from day one, and because of that, you came into last year with a major chip on your shoulder.” Aurora opened her mouth to retort, but she quickly closed it once she realized she didn’t really have a defense. “You came in on the offense, claws out, snipping at us, don’t try to deny it.”

“Fine.”

“I get it.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. I don’t talk a lot about this, but my grandfather was one of the first African American judges to serve for the federal district court in Maryland. My dad is an attorney, my mother runs a nonprofit in DC, my uncle has his own dental practice, one of my aunts teaches international politics at Georgetown, and the other is getting a PhD in clinical psychology at Northwestern. There’s absolutely no room for slacking in my family. It’s success, or nothing.”

“Wow. Impressive lineage, Valentine.”

“Trust me, I know what it’s like to come from an extremely high achieving family. I get what it’s like striving to be your best and having to go the extra mile to prove yourself in a country that looks down on black women. And I’m sure it’s not easy being the niece of one of the best surgeons in the country, a tidbit I tried to bond with you over on our first day, but you rebuffed me.”

Aurora’s cheeks got hot and Naomi could see them turning a light shade of red. “My first year of medical school, people only wanted to talk to me because I was Harper Emery’s niece. Hell, even the professors were kissing my ass. It’s not easy knowing who’s your friend and who’s using you, but it is easy pushing people away. And on top of that, I had her breathing down my neck every 2 seconds. It’s hard trying to carve out my own path.

“We didn’t care about you being Dr. Emery’s niece, well, I didn’t at least. Jackie might’ve had a hang up, but she would’ve gotten over it. The point I’m trying to make is that you need to let your guard down, just a little bit. And if you don’t, I’ll tear it down myself.”

Aurora laughed. “Is that a threat, Valentine?”

“More like a promise. I have a knack for breaking through people’s rough exteriors.”

“Through annoying stubbornness?”

“Yes.”

“That’s going to take a bit to get used to.”

“But it’ll happen.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and ignored Naomi. “I got tequila too. Do you want any?”

“Oh my gosh, why didn’t you lead with that? I love tequila!”

Naomi ran to the other side of the kitchen, and rummaged through the cabinets until she found two shot glasses. Aurora produced a bottle of Patron from her bag and poured the shots. She also cut a few slices of lime and slid a salt shaker across the counter.

Naomi licked the back of hand and sprinkled a bit of salt onto the skin. She held up her shot glass and clinked it with Aurora’s. “Salut!” She licked the salt off of her hand and downed the shot in one swoop. Then she grabbed a lime wedge and sucked it.

“Dang.”

“I was the queen of body shots back in college.”

“And that doesn’t surprise me at all,” Aurora quipped.

Four rounds of shots later, the ladies were still in the kitchen. The alcohol had completely lowered their inhibitions, and they were currently laughing over a bag of tortilla chips.

“You know what we should do?” Naomi started. “We should do face masks!”

“Do you have any?”

“No, but I can make one.” Naomi’s eyes scoured the kitchen, until they landed on a few extra avocados Aurora bought earlier. “Perfect, avocado and honey masks?”

“Avocado and honey?”

“Don’t judge. It’s a tried and true recipe of mine. Guaranteed to make your skin glow.”

“Fine. Do your worst.” Naomi got to cutting the avocados, while Aurora watched. “So, we know the reason I didn’t go bowling with everyone, but why didn’t you go? You’re like, the leader of this little motley crew.”

“Wasn’t in the mood. I had a...trying day.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m all ears.”

“One of my patients is dying. She has an inoperable tumor, and she’s only a kid.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And I nearly had a meltdown in the hallway, but Eth–Dr. Ramsey pulled me into his office and I cried it out there. And then things snowballed.”

“How?”

Naomi took a deep breath. “I’m swearing you to secrecy. I invoking Super Serious Roomie Confidentiality. What is said and seen in this apartment, must stay in this apartment.”

“Fine, fine, I promise not to say anything.”

“Do you pinky swear?”

Aurora stuck out a pinky and interlocked it with Naomi’s. “Pinky swear.”

“So...I slept with Dr. Ramsey.”

Aurora didn’t say anything for a long time. She just stared ahead at Naomi, almost as if she was looking through her. “I’m sorry, what? Is the alcohol playing tricks on me? Did I hear that correctly? You and Dr. Ramsey?”

“Yes.”

“What? Like….wh...how? What?” Aurora shook her head. “Naomi, I’ve never been rendered speechless before. Wow. You’re sleeping with Ramsey?”

“Slept. I slept with Ramsey, past tense.”

“Oh my god, I knew you were his favorite intern in our cohort, but–”

“No, don’t do that. I didn’t sleep with him to get a leg up in the competition. He wasn’t even working at Edenbrook when it happened the first time.”

“The first time? You slept with him more than once?”

“Twice. We slept together twice.”

“This just gets better and better. Was is...good? Is he good? Did he go down on you? Did you do it in his office?”

“Aurora!” Naomi snapped. “Stop asking questions!”

Aurora held her hands up in mock surrender. “You opened the floodgates! You can’t drop a bomb like that and expect me to not have questions. So spill, at least tell me what happened?”

“The first time was a few days before my hearing. We had spent a lot of time together, bonding over working on Dr. Banerji, and I was there for him when his friend Delores passed away. It had been building and building and building, and we almost slept together in Miami, but he stopped it.”

“What?”

“He said it wouldn’t be ethical since he was my attending and I was competing to be on the diagnostics team. So we had to carry around the weight of what almost happened, on top of our Banerji secret. And then he quit. He left Edenbrook without any regard. I was very confused and heartbroken. But Jackie and Sienna told me to reach out, so I went over to his apartment, and we had a huge argument, and then we had sex.”

“And I thought it was the end of us hurtling past each other,” Naomi continued. “I thought it would be the start of some type of relationship, but Dr. Emery gave him his job back. So we had one more night for the hell of it. And then Dr. Banerji promoted Ethan to head of the diagnostics team, and he gave me a spot on it, to our shock. And dismay. Now Ethan is my direct supervisor, so we’ve been trying to act like nothing happened. But it’s hard to do that, because we keep having these moments.”

Naomi couldn’t help but think of all the time she and Ethan spent together. Bonding at the baseball game, watching over little Ethan in the NICU, him taking her to the opera and then making out with her, her making him her (world famous) hangover helper. All of it. All of those big and little moments are what made this hurt so much more. “I wish I could say it was just sex, that he was a guy and I was a girl and we just wanted to fuck each other. I mean, we did, but—”

“You’re in love with him,” Aurora concluded, staring at Naomi with rapt attention. “And now that I know everything, it’s written all over you.”

Naomi blinked hard, trying to will away the tears that were threatening to fall. “I am. I even told him that today. It’s the reason I didn’t want to go out with everyone else.”

“You know what I think?” Aurora asked rhetorically. “I think guys are stupid. You have to lead them to the water and shove it into their mouths.”

“What?” That managed to get a chuckle out of Naomi. “That’s not how the saying goes, at all.”

“The point I’m trying to make is you need to give Ramsey an ultimatum. March right into his office and say, ‘I love you, and I think you love me too. So fuck ethics, and let’s stop playing around and give this thing a real shot, or don’t ever speak to me in a non professional capacity ever again,’ plain and simple.” Aurora gasped. “Call him now!”

“Now?”

“Why not?”

“He could still be working. And I don’t want to have such a serious conversation over the phone.”

“Stop being such a baby, Valentine. Man up.”

“I’ll talk to him eventually. I want to do it with a clear head. And I don’t even know what I’m going to say to him.”

“Don’t rehearse a grand speech. And don’t wait for the right moment. Life is messy, there will never be a perfect time to do anything.”

Naomi knew Aurora was right, but she was scared. “Okay, no more talking about Ethan tonight. It’s face mask time.”

Aurora poured them both another shot. “Geez, Valentine, your life is like a soap opera.”

“Oh please, Grey’s Anatomy wishes they could supply this type of drama,” Naomi teased.

“You got that right.”

Naomi went back to mixing the ingredients for the face masks, while Aurora sat patiently. She had never done things like this when she was younger, so she didn’t know what to expect.

The front door opened and in walked all of their roommates, plus Bryce and Rafael. They were talking and laughing animatedly, but that all stopped when they saw Aurora and Naomi together in the kitchen.

“Hey guys!” Naomi greeted cheerfully. “How was bowling?”

“I kicked major ass,” Bryce boasted. “But that shouldn’t shock you.”

“Oh please.” Jackie rolled her eyes. “He was alright.”

“Jackie, you got like, 3 gutter balls in a row,” Bryce said. “As long as I was better than you, I consider it a victory.”

“So what are you guys doing?” Sienna asked Naomi and Aurora, pivoting the conversation in a new direction.

“Eating guacamole, getting drunk,” Naomi replied. “Making avocado face masks.”

Bryce gasped. “Face masks without me?” Everyone turned to look at Bryce. “What? You think my face is this perfect without a meticulous skincare routine?”

“So you two have been hanging out together?” Jackie prodded. “All night?”

Naomi nodded. “Yeah. Guys, Aurora is a roomie now. She’s one of us, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. She’s part of the gang. We got off on the wrong foot, we misjudged her, she misjudged us, but we’re putting it behind us.”

Aurora sighed. “Look, I’m...sorry. I didn’t give you guys the best first impression of me. I’ve been a lone wolf for so long, and I’m so used to being used and judged because of my last name, I shut people out. I don’t trust easily, which is something I’m willing to work on.”

Jackie visibly deflated at Aurora’s admission. “I guess I didn’t really think of it like that. I was so wrapped up in the competition, I just thought the worst of you, and assumed your aunt was pulling strings. Which was very unfair of me.”

Sienna nodded. “And we didn’t didn’t make matters much better. We stoked the flames every chance we got.”

“So can we all call a truce and get along?” Naomi suggested. “We’re roommates and coworkers, we might as well make the best of the situation.”

Aurora nodded. “I can do that.”

“So can I,” Jackie agreed.

“Us too,” Elijah added. “Welcome to the gang, Aurora. We do Sunday brunches, and go to extreme lengths to make each other happy.”

“Awww guys,” Bryce cooed, miming wiping a tear from his eye. “This is so beautiful.”

“Shut it, Lahela.”

Bryce ignored Jackie, and stretched out his arms. “This calls for a group hug.”

“No,” Aurora deadpanned.

“You’re a part of the gang now, Aurora,” Sienna said. “We hug it out.”

Everyone crept in on Aurora, pulling her into a very tight group hug. After a few seconds, she spoke up, “So how long do these group hugs last?”

“Just enjoy it, Emery.”

A few seconds later, everyone untangled their limbs and stepped back, giving each other personal space.

Naomi clapped her hands together. “Okay, everyone get comfortable. We’re doing face masks and tequila shots!”

While everyone was settling in and getting comfortable for the rest of the night, Naomi felt her cell phone buzz a few times. She dug into the pocket of her sweatpants and pulled it out. She had 3 new text messages, all from Ethan.

Ethan: Naomi, usually I would never text, but I figured if I called, you might not answer. I just want to say I’m sorry. I never want you to feel any type of hurt or pain, and I especially never want to be the cause of it. My feelings for you are extremely complex yet, very simple at the same time, and I know it feels like I’m jerking you around, but that’s just because I’ve never been in a situation like this. I thought if I pushed you away, the feelings would go away, but that’s not the case. What I feel for you is all-consuming and all encompassing, and it terrifies me.

Ethan: Sorry, if it seems like I’m rambling right now. I’m writing this in a rush because if I think about it for too long, I might lose my nerve and backtrack.

Ethan: What I’m trying to say is I think I love you, too.

Naomi’s eyes widened at the last message. “Well fuck.”

#choices: stories you play #open heart #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #aurora emery #jackie varma #sienna trinh #elijah greene #bryce lahela #rafael aveiro

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