Strangelove [1] Stephen Strange

02. Goodbye Stephen

At that point, Genevieve was in tears. Stephen looked at the woman crying beside him and knew that she cared. He then turned to look at Christine, who stood right behind Genevieve.

"Look at these fixators." Stephen told Christine.

"No one could have done better." Christine told him.

Before Stephen spoke, she looked again at Genevieve. He wanted to make her stop crying, but he couldn't. She looked broken and it was all because of him.

"I could have done better." Stephen directed his comment at Christine, but was still looking at Genevieve.

A little later, Christine had to drag Genevieve out of Stephen's room. She then led her back to her office to let Genevieve recollect herself.

Sitting in there for a good hour calmed her down. Genevieve then had the courage to collect Stephen's medical files and make her way back to his room.

As she walked do the halls, she avoided the stares from everyone. Apparently they all heard about her breakdown.

Once reaching Stephen's room, she took a deep breath and entered. He luckily was awake and gave her the best smile he could. She handed him the pad, which held the X-rays from his accident.

Luckily no words were exchanged between the two. An overwhelming relief was evident in the room. Genevieve was just happy Stephen was alive and safe. Although outside it was raining, the weather didn't change the mood.

Genevieve also had taken it upon herself to tend to Stephen's needs, such as shaving. She grabbed the supplies and sat on his bed. He was still looking through the files as she cared for him.

This continued for a while and neither one of them seemed to be bothered by it.

Later on, Genevieve assisted Christine and Dr. West when they removed the gaws from Stephen's hands. It was stressful and it seemed to cause Stephen a lot of pain. He breathed heavily as he watched his hand shake.

"Give your body time to heal." Dr. West advised.

Stephen looked at Christine and Dr. West, "You've ruined me."

Genevieve looked at Stephen with sorry eyes. She again felt useless and felt that she couldn't do anything for him.

As time went on Genevieve saw Stephen being taken into multiple surgeries. Breaking himself down because he wasn't where he wanted to be. She noticed this destructive behavior and didn't know how long it would be before he exploded.

She thought about times where she wanted to sit in on his physical therapy appointments, but Stephen told her no. He didn't want her to see him in such pain, but she was already seeing it.

At this point, Genevieve was now making house visits. She had the keys to his flat and made her way inside.

"Hey." Genevieve said and noticed papers on the floor, "He won't do it."

Stephen shook his head and stood up from the table, "He's a hack. There's a new procedure in Tokyo. They culture donor stem cells and then harvest them and 3D print a scaffold. If I could just get together a small loan-"

"Stephen." Genevieve tried to stop him by setting her stuff down.

"Just a small loan, 200,000-" he continued to ramble.

"Stephen." she tried again, "You've always spent money as fast as you can make it. But now you're spending money you don't even have. Maybe it's time to consider stopping."

Stephen dropped the tablet onto the table, "No. Now is exactly the time not to stop. Because, you see, I'm not getting any better!"

"But this isn't medicine anymore. This is mania." Genevieve tried to reason, "Just, some things can't be fixed."

"Life without my work-" Stephen tried to respond, but Genevieve cut him off.

"Is still life. This isn't the end. There are other things that can give your life meaning." she was going out on a limb with the limited amount of options she had left.

Stephen abruptly turned around and faced her, "What? Like you?"

Genevieve stood there and looked at him with a blank expression. After all the things that she'd done for him, and that was how he repaid her. With his hatred because he thought his life was over.

"Now this is the part where you apologize."

"This is the part where you leave." That was when he broke eye contact with her.

Genevieve tried to hold back her anger as she started to walk away, "Fine. I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore. I've put up with it too long and you don't seem to want my help."

"Too difficult for you, is it?" Stephen asked, causing her to turn around and stop in her tracks.

"Yes, it is." she gulped, "It breaks my heart to see you this way."

"No. Don't pity me." Stephen pointed at her and moved towards her.

"I'm not pitying you." Genevieve responded.

"Oh yeah. Then what are you doing here? Bring cheese and wine like we're old friends going for a picnic? We are not friends Genevieve. We were barely lovers. But, you just love a sob story don't you? Is that what I am to you now?! Poor Stephen Strange, charity case! He finally needs me. Another dreg of humanity for you to work on. Fix him up and send him back into the world, heart is just humming... You care so much! Don't you?!?" Stephen ranted, stunning Genevieve.

Genevieve shook her head, not believing what he had just said to her. She didn't have tears or anything for him. There was no emotion left in her.

"Goodbye Stephen." Was the last thing she said to him before leaving. She dropped the keys he had given her and slammed the door shut.

She knew she couldn't be at the hospital anymore. She needed somewhere safe and peaceful. And she knew exactly where to go.

As for Stephen, he didn't even watch her leave. He just looked out into the streets of NYC, where the rain came pouring down.