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Caity

To say that I was stressed was overrated, but the entire day I felt rushed and hurried. Tonight after my shift ended I had to drive home, change clothes, take Hailey and Lillian and drive to LAX to pick up Austin and Alan. Tomorrow we would celebrate Hailey's fifth birthday and I hadn't even had time to clean the house and get decorations. That said, the ER was pretty busy today and my thoughts were everywhere, making Latonya get a little agitated with me when I forgot yet another detail about a patient.

'Caity, I don't know where you are with your thoughts, but I strongly advice you to pay more attention, okay hun?' Her big brown eyes surrounded with thick, dark lashes stared at me while she gave me a motherly look. I nodded and sighed.

'Yeah. Sorry, I'm just-'

'- distracted. I know. But your shift ends in a few hours and until then I need you to be mentally here.' I nodded again.

'Sorry...' Latonya looked at me for another moment, before she motioned her head towards the busy ER.

'Get back in there and do your thing. I know you can. Go.' I got up and sighed deeply, trying to calm down my overflowing thoughts before attending a new patient with heavy stomach pains.

After a while, when I was taking care of filling out some reports behind the nursing station, I heard someone ask for me and looked up. I saw Latonya point at me and a young man in a wheelchair pushed by a woman came up to me.

'Caity?,' he asked. It took me a moment to realize that it was Ewan.

'Oh hey!,' I said in surprise. 'Ewan, right? What are you doing here?' I got up and away from behind the desk, shaking his hand. 'You're looking good.' He smiled a little and nodded.

'I feel okay. I eh... I am leaving the hospital today.'

'Oh, wonderful! Good for you!,' I said, genuinely happy for him to leave home.

'I came by to thank you.' He took a small bouquet of flowers from his lap and handed them to me. I looked from the flowers to him, and then the woman. She smiled.

'If it wasn't for you acting so quickly, my son could've died. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.' She held out her hand and I shook it, still a bit surprised about this kind gesture.

'Well, I just did my job,' I said, a little shy now.

'I know, but... The doctors told me that the condition that I have isn't that common and biggest part of medical personel doesn't recognize the signs, so... I'm glad you did, although I don't know why.' He bit his lip and stared at his hands, and my thoughts lingered to Austin again. My fingers fumbled on the necklace he had given me for Christmas; I often touched the heart and key when I thought about him or when I missed him badly.

'Yeah, well... Eh, you know, my boyfriend has the same condition. So did his mom, and she died. So, I am familiar with Marfan. Luckily for you...' Ewan let out a soft laugh.

'Yeah, luckily for me. Well, thank you, again. Thank you so much.' I smiled back at him and his mother.

'I am glad to see you're okay. Take care, Ewan. And remember that you're not alone, okay? Whatever life may throw at you, you're not alone and you will overcome it.' He nodded, tears in his eyes. He waved a little and his mother turned him around, wheeling him off while she muttered another 'Thank you'. I stared after them, feeling happy that Ewan was doing good, but also sad for seeing another young person being affected by that stupid Marfan.

I turned around and placed the flowers on the desk, taking my seat behind my computer again to fill out forms.

'Whose flowers are these?,' I heard Marnix ask.

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