Chapter Text
It is Alex’s first day.He has the knife.He can feel their eyes on him. He didn’t think he’d be doing this on the first day.But he’s prepared. Hell! he’s been preparing for this for a very long time.
He carefully cuts open the skin,a neat row of blood erupting. He cauterises,it’s the the familiar smell of burning skin.He’s cutting deeper, dividing the muscles of the chest.
He’s in his zone now,everything else fades and the ventilator gently hums in the background.
8 hours later, he’s stepping out of theatre.Ms Bankston looks at him, nods and says :”You can start the 8 am list tomorrow.”
Alex instantly grins and fist bumps the air, receives an arched eyebrow and the Ms B look before she turns back with her entourage of surgical registrars and more junior surgeons.
Alex can’t help doing a little dance. As far as first days being a trainee surgeon under Ms Zahra Bankston,world renowned children’s surgeon at King’s college hospital London goes,it couldn’t have gone better.
He’s spinning around and bumps into someone’s chest. He looks up and sees a taller man.
“Sorry sorry!”Alex says hands up,backing away .
The man just stares at Alex.
He has tousled blond hair flopping onto his forehead,startled blue eyes,a mouth in a perfect O,a shirt fitted neatly onto broad shoulders.
Alex eyes linger on his face.A door slams somewhere and Alex snaps back.
“Hi ! Sorry! Didn’t see you there”Alex manages to say.
The man runs his hands through his hair,a slight flush in his cheeks, turns away,takes a deep breath and says in a clipped British accent ; “It’s ok, I’m looking for Elle Barker,she just had the laparotomy.”
“Oh sorry families are not allowed in here. Why don’t you wait outside and I will find out where she is?”
“I’m not family,I’m her Paediatrician.Henry. Henry Fox. I was told she’s in Theatre 9.”
“Oh I was in theatre 9 and pretty sure it was Charlie,not Elle we were cutting open.” Alex smiles.
The man looks at him disdainfully. Alex experiences instant regret at his choice of words, which is not an unusual occurrence for him.
“I gather you are new here.”
His tone doesn’t sound too friendly.
“Yes ,I’m Alex by the way”, Alex smiles opting to ignore the look and tone, extending his hand. He’s curious …
“Henry”, he says with a tight, polite smile, a quick light brush against Alex’s fingers,like he doesn’t really want to shake hands.
“I’ve just moved here to do my residency or training like you guys call it,with Zahra.”Alex says with a hint of pride.
“Ah” says Henry.”You mean Ms Bankston.”
“Yes yes ! I know you call the surgeons Mr and Ms here, not doctor. Let an American get used to y’all,it’s my first day here .”Alex smiles, genuinely friendly .
“Ah” says Henry still looking at Alex ,as if he can’t find any other words.After a pause “Ah ..right, I better look for Elle.”
“I’m sure I’ll see you around”,Alex says cheerily
“Yes maybe”and Henry walks past him .
“Someone’s salty” Alex mutters under his breath.He’s disconcerted.He’s got a thick skin but this guy!
He hasn’t got the time to look at this more closely because as he heads over to the computer to finish his notes, some of the nurses come over to him curious and friendly. They seem delighted to chat to the new American surgeon, tell him they love his accent until the charge nurse Sarah walks in, looks at them sternly through her glasses perched on her nose.
Alex waves a cheery” See you tomorrow”and almost skips out.
He calls June and she doesn’t pick up;it’s 10 am in LA ,surely too early to be ignoring her brother , texts her “Just your brother letting you know he’s survived his first day in London. And aced it!”
He calls Nora ,whose doing her Phd in Applied Statistics at Oxford and she texts him “Alejandro can’t talk, let’s hang together Saturday “
He texts Rafael Luna, his mentor and Neurosurgeon at John Hopkins ,a meme of a squirrel punching the air.
He quickly has some chips,(which are just fat French fries !) the one food item he can actually eat in the hospital cafeteria and is back to the wards checking up on his patients.
When he finally gets to his room at nearly midnight he sees a missed calls and 2 texts from June, a text and kiss emoji from Nora and “ You go kid!” from Luna.
He’s exhausted but wide awake, trying to fall asleep when he suddenly sees Henry’s face staring at him outside theatre today and his tired brain supplies “ beautiful but rude”.
There’s something else he can’t quite place his finger on .
He’s almost fallen asleep when he remembers !
“Rio,The world congress of Paediatric surgery meeting!”
He remembers being impressed with Henry’s presentation.
A neat research project,facts and figures,presented clearly and succinctly.
Maybe he had also noticed how Henry had looked on stage in his suit,his cut glass accent, his deep voice, soft and persuasive, his self deprecating jokes.He had had the audience eating out of his hands.
As he approached the Oxford group’s table at the black tie dinner later that evening,he’d noticed Henry looked pensive,his distinct blue eyes staring into the distance, wine glass in hand, the rest of his group loud and laughing around him.
Alex who had never been shy, had confidently strode over to introduce himself, “Hi Alex, surgical resident at John Hopkins.”
He was met with smiles and cheery drunken hellos from all except Henry who had stared at him long enough for Alex to repeat “Hi ! How’s it going ?!” before he muttered a barely heard “Hello, How are you?” and turned his back to him. As Alex continued chatting with the others he’d heard him whisper to someone
“Could you get rid of him please?”
Alex had been stung, stunned into silence by this rudeness. It was unusual for him to not to have a smart retort,ready at the tip of his tongue. Before his brain could come up with something equally obnoxious, he’d been called by Rafael Luna to be introduced to the Barcelona surgeons. He’d not seen Henry for the rest of the evening.
“Beautiful arrogant rude asshole” his brain supplies before sleep overtakes him.