fix you // liam payne

chapter fourteen // worked up

dr. frenette's pov

With a sigh, I take off my reading glasses and set the case that I've been struggling to get through for the past twenty minutes down on my desk. I pinch the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger, trying to rid my mind of my distracting thoughts, knowing if I can't get my work done, I'll be stuck here all night.

I just can't seem to shake the images that have been replaying in my mind since last night. I was doing my usual rounds, checking in with the doctors, interns and patients before taking a dinner break with a few of my colleagues. I broke off into the private hall, looking for Dr. Vandergelt, needing to relay some information about some papers she improperly filed, a mistake she usually doesn't make.

Unable to find her anywhere, knowing she was on her dinner break, I gave up. I headed to my last few patients to check on before heading out. Unsure whether they're sleeping or not, I give a soft knock on the door. I hear loud laughter coming from the other side, so I know I'm not disturbing any sleep.

I quietly open the door to the room, peering in to see how Liam's been holding up. I know his parents had to leave this afternoon after only being here for a few hours. That's always hard for kids to deal with.

But instead of seeing a sad and lonely kid, I peer in to see an incredibly happy and enthusiastic Liam being fed by none other than Dr. Vandergelt herself. I immediately feel as if I had walked in on something very intimate by the way quiet words are exchanged with sheepish smiles and small spurts of laughter. Liam looks up at Ellie as she feeds him what appears to be Chinese food like she was the sun.

They're so caught up in one another that they don't even notice me standing in the doorway. I want to walk away, but am unable to stop staring. Knots tied in my stomach as if I knew something bad were about to happen.

I stand there for a few more moments, watching bashful smile after soft chuckles, knowing I've seen all I need to see. I left the hospital without another word, my brain too preoccupied to even try to do anything else. I drove home with the same horrible feeling in my gut, something that happens when I know I'm going to be forced to do something I don't want to.

Ellie has never been the type of med student to give me problems, quite the contrary actually. She's the student I could always bank on making my day easier. Perhaps that's why this has been so stressful to deal with. If it were any other patient, I would have taken them off the case immediately and probably would have lectured them until I knew they wouldn't be dumb enough to make the same mistake twice.

But Ellie is different. She's such a quiet and reserved girl. Seeing her so open with someone else was satisfying to see, an issue I know she's been struggling with though she would never admit it out loud. And the way that Liam smiled at her... It wasn't at all in a disrespectful way that most men these days look at young girls like Ellie, it was purely gentleman like.

Though I would never, ever, ever admit it out loud to anyone, I find myself quite protective over Dr. Vandergelt. She walked in here much more intelligent than everyone else, yet is the most humble doctor I've ever seen. She's delicate, not in the way that is easily broken by others, she's delicate towards herself. That's why whenever she makes a mistake, I find myself covering her tracks and talking about it to her privately before she gets criticism back in performance reviews. I know she's so damn hard on herself.

Maybe it's because I'm a father myself and I only hope my little girl will one day grow up to be like her.

That's why I've been stuck in my office all day, trying to figure out what to do about this. I know I should stop this before their relationship steps out of the professional boundaries - if it hasn't already. But the other side of me wants Ellie to warm up to people. She's the only intern I want working beside me on such an important case.