The Doctor

17

"Are you gonna get it?" Stella said, voice cutting through the silence, looking at Anna's back feeling worried at her unusual behaviour.

Anna mumbled something and walked down the hall, Stella followed her and stood quietly behind her while she contemplated opening the door for her parents. Anna took a deep breath, fixed a smile in place and opened it. Her parents stood in the doorway, smiling and looking pleased to see her.

"Hello," they both said cheerfully and kissed Anna on the cheek as she let them past.

"Oh, Anna!" Her mother, Phillipa said looking across at Anna. "I was so glad when you invited us over, your father has developed quite a bit of cabin fever."

Anna's father, Alex, nodded and shrugged, taking Anna into a hug.

"Nevertheless, we're here!" Phillipa said, she looked down into the kitchen area and could not avoid seeing Stella, who she smiled at warmly. "Oh, hello, I'm Phillipa, and you are?"

Stella smiled nervously.

"Stella, I'm..." she glanced at Anna who was hanging up coats but stopped to shake her head urgently at her. "Friend."

"Stella is a doctor also, Mum," Anna informed her, leading them all down into the kitchen to get seated. "She's the next on after my shift ends."

"We've never heard of you before, though," Phillipa said, seating down at a stool. She was a tall woman, majestic and graceful in appearance and movement. She wasn't wearing expensive clothes or jewellery, she had a very motherly and nurturing aura around her but she was beautiful, even more so on account of her age. 

Stella bit down on her lip to stop a smirk.

"Well, we only just became friends."

Anna looked at her from behind the bench and nearly laughed aloud, they had become more than friends.

"What've you been up to, Dad?"

"Not much really, going crazy in this weather."

"You'll be going crazy when you get back home, too. It's been over forty in Melbourne."

Alex smiled, Phillipa looked at Anna with a little bit of sadness and worry.

"Listen, Anna," she said softly. "We don't have to go back home, we can cancel our flights."

"What?" Anna looked up from the salad. "No! No, I'm fine. Things are better now, I'm much healthier."

"Yes, but what if you do what you did-"

"I won't," Anna cut across firmly, Stella's eyes were on her and she couldn't stand the feeling that she'd have to explain what this meant at a later date. "Anyway," Anna said breezily, "let's just enjoy our last dinner."

Phillipa nodded and smiled at Stella, taking her hand and squeezing it before telling a story.

Although Phillipa was a very good mother, she was also suffocating. She was constantly wanting what was best, and while someone in the complete opposite direction would be disastrous, when Anna was growing up she offended wondered if this was just a bad. Of course, Stella's parents were a whole nother level and Anna realised that her childhood was great, a good mixture of both. Phillipa was perfect in many regards, good mental health one, the same goes for Alex. Neither of them ever suffered from crippling anxiety or depressive, no sleepless nights or sleepy days, they went through life pretty much unscathed in the mental department. This led to lack of sympathy and empathy when Josh died and Anna fell down a dark hole of depression and substance abuse, they tried, they really did, they followed her to America after all.