Long Time Running - By Hannah Foster Page 0,15

believe this is for the best. So are you going to help take care of your son or not?"

Realizing there would be no more information, and that in the end Sarah would fiercely protect her sister no matter the cost, he blew out his cheeks in defeat. "Of course I will," he replied softly.

He had no idea how he was going to balance it - he had just started a fellowship in Neurosurgery at Manhattan General and had been tapped as one of the high fliers in the program. It had never been the path he wanted but his desire to work in developing countries left when Nathalie did.

He had thrown himself into his work and was intent on being the very best there was. But this was his son - this was the child he had made with the woman who had stolen his heart from the moment he met her.

"You can't tell anyone that Jack is your son with Nathalie."

"What?" His blue eyes widened in shock. "What do you mean?"

"Eric, she is going to change her mind. She will come back for him and I need to make sure she can do that with as little public humiliation as possible." Sarah stated emphatically.

"What do I tell people?"

She shrugged. "Tell them you're helping out a friend; that you're his uncle, cousin...I don't care. You are just never to tell people you are his father."

"Sarah this is ridiculous." he interrupted.

"Look Eric, this is only going to be for a couple of weeks - two months tops. I want you to know your son while Nat is away but she will come back and you have to be prepared that she will leave with him. And you have to let her." She placed Jack in his arms.

Looking down at Jack he touched his hand and felt the baby curl his hand around his finger and hold tightly. In that instant his heart expanded and he knew he would protect, love and take care of his son at all costs.

Shaking his head free of the memory, he sighed regretfully. He had lived in hope for a long time that Nathalie would come back but as days gave way to weeks and weeks gave way to months he had figured out she wasn't coming back. It had made him furious - seething that she would give up their son without so much as a backwards glance. And in the mean time he had developed a deep, unbreakable bond with his son.

"Did you get any sleep at all?"

Hearing Andrew's voice, he looked up from the chart and gave a small shake of his head. "Not so much."

Kicking the door closed behind him, he flopped into the chair opposite his friend and pushed a steaming cup of coffee towards him. "Didn't think so."

Gratefully accepting the coffee, he pushed back the small plastic tab on the lid and took a quick sip, wincing at the heat. He closed over the file and pushed it away. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

"You know you can't be her surgeon," Andrew stated.

Eric's eyes flew open. "Drew-" he began.

His friend shook his head. "Eric, dude - it is the classic definition of conflict. You cannot - cannot - be her surgeon."

"I know" he sighed heavily. "Will....could you...."

He grinned wryly. "Yeah, I can take the case if you take my cranky old lady."

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. "Sure." Taking another sip of his coffee, he looked pensively at the closed chart. "What do you think happened to her?" he asked quietly as he examined her films illuminated across from him; the breaks in her bones echoing the scars on his heart.

"Do you care?" Andrew asked carefully.

"More than I want to" he admitted.

#

Sleep had been impossible after Eric's abrupt departure from the room. Her mind was flooded with memories including many that she would have preferred to keep buried. There were a few truths she had realized after he left. She had hurt him profoundly and forgiveness was unlikely if not impossible. Telling him about Jack would only compound the hurt. And she realized that there were some loves that would never die no matter the distance or space between. She also admitted, in the dark confines of her room, what she knew to be the truth years before. She should have never left him. She should have told him the truth that long ago day. But the past was gone and she wore the