𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝 | 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ 𝟏𝟐 ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄

𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜

𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 her knee bouncing up and down and hands nervous fidgeting, Lexie Stark watched the woman in front of her with a frown planted onto her face. Her hair spilled over her shoulders in messy curls which had clearly not been taken care of when Lexie got ready this morning.

"So, Lexie, what made you decided to move to New York?" The woman in front of her asked. They sat opposite each other. With Lexie hunched forward, glancing down to the floor every now and then, or listening to the clock on the wall. The woman sat across from her, held a notepad and a pen in her hands. She was not nervous, unlike Lexie. This was her job, hence why she was being professional. Lexie sighed a little, tracing the scar that was still on her hand.

"Fresh start." She shrugged. "Plus my brother is in New York most of the time." She explained softly.

"And your brother is Tony Stark? Iron Man?" The woman questioned in a serious voice. She clearly wasn't interested in knowing that Lexie was related to a billionaire who was also one of Earth's superheroes. She was going somewhere different with this question. Lexie looked up with squinted eyes, trying to uncover what the woman was getting at.

"Yes. Why does that have to do with anything?" She asked, still in her calm voice.
"Did Tony influence the decision to move from Seattle to New York?" She answered Lexie's question with a question of her own. She did that a lot Lexie realised.

"Not essentially. I've always been close with Tony. I wanted to be closer to him." She told her truthfully, seeing no point in lying. The woman was only trying to help her.

"He's not the only one you wanted to be closer to though? Is he?" Lexie frowned.

"What? Who else would I move here for? My parents, biological and adoptive are both dead. My sister is also dead." Lexie shook her head.

"I'm not talking about your family. I'm well aware of your losses Dr. Stark." Lexie kept silent and went back to staring at her hands which were folded together in her lap. "Let's move on." Lexie nodded. "What do you remember about the night at the hospital?" The young surgeon took a shaky breath in, her knee bouncing up and down even more.
"Everything." She threw her head back, whispering. "I remember it all. All the details, major and minor." She licked her lips, taking another breath in. "I remember the sounds - the gunshots, the screaming, doors opening and slamming shut. I can hear the surgical instruments clattering to the floor one by one followed by the tray itself." She closed her eyes, flinching as the sounds she had familiarised herself with rang through her ears. "The stench of so blood stung my nose for weeks. It was like it imprinted itself there." The woman was patient with the girl who had began to admit she was struggling deeply. Lexie looked up, looked her in the eyes. "My sister, Kara, she- she was going to be a brilliant surgeon. But I - I failed her. I didn't fix her in time." Her eyes watered at the memory.
"Do you blame yourself? For Kara's death?" The therapist asked her, writing down notes in her notebook.

"Of course I do. I could have saved her. She didn't deserve-." Lexie wiped her tears away from her cheeks. Her therapist handed her the box of tissues from the coffee table beside her. "Thanks." Lexie muttered.
"Do you maybe feel guilty because you survived and she didn't? You mentioned you were Mrs Thompsons surgeon and you were the one to make the decision to take her off life support." Lexie nodded.