Long Time Running - By Hannah Foster Page 0,16

scars of all her ill founded decisions.

At home, in Tanzania, when she was bothered or unable to sleep she would walk. There were so many wide open spaces in the village that she could walk for hours until the burden started to lift. The hospital here contained no such open spaces so she had been left to wander the halls. She had even tried to get to the roof but the door was locked and she had not quite been ready to bust the door down. Having exhausted all pathways available to her, Nathalie tightened the belt of her robe around her waist as she slowly walked back to her room.

She paused in the doorway as she saw Keith pacing by the window. Deep worry lines were etched into his face and she was reminded yet again that she needed to let him go.

"Hey," she called softly to him.

Smiling in relief, he crossed the room and gently kissed her. "Went for a walk?" he asked knowingly.

She nodded. "Have you been here long?"

"Not too long," he lied. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad" she lied as she climbed into bed.

Easing himself on to the edge of the bed he slipped his fingers through hers. "So, you have a sister. Any other family hidden away - husbands? Children?"

Her heart dropped and she swallowed thickly hoping she wasn't betraying herself. "A girl has to keep an air of mystery," she offered weakly.

Keith looked at her seriously and sighed silently. "I'd be okay with a little less mystery" he told her directly, hopefully.

Her hand trembled slightly as she reached out and stroked his face. "I'm not a very good girlfriend to you Keith."

Turning his head, he kissed her palm. "You are a good girlfriend. I just wish....I just wish you wanted to share more with me."

Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his. "It's not you," she whispered. "I just..can't" she trailed off.

"I know" he told her.

They sat in silence for several minutes, neither rushing to say the words they both needed to say. She stared at their joined hands and remembered all the hours she had spent holding someone else's hands and the electricity that simple act would send through her body.

"Do you want a coffee?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

She smiled and nodded. "That would be great."

Keith gave her another quick kiss and disappeared out her door. Leaning back against the pillows she draped her arm across her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly letting it go. The instinct to run was almost overwhelming and if it wasn't for the debilitating headaches she would be packing her bags and on the next plane back home.

"I'd like to talk to you about course of treatment."

She recognized the voice immediately and groaned inwardly. The only thing more difficult than dealing with Eric was dealing with his best friend. Pulling her arm from her eyes, she gave him a wary look.

"Why?"

"Because I'm your doctor now," he told her almost unkindly. "There is no way Eric can be your doctor so I guess you get me"

She smirked mirthlessly. "Eric may be a conflict of interest but so are you."

Arching an eyebrow, he tilted his head to the side. "Oh?"

"The first rule of being a doctor is 'do no harm'," she told him wryly, "and as I'm pretty sure you'd like to see me dead, I'm not sure you are placed to be my doctor."

His face softened briefly. They had been friends - the three of them - good friends.

"Nathalie I would never....I hate what you did to him...and to Sarah," he tacked on as she visibly paled. "You practically broke them when you left and I don't understand why you did it but you are in no danger on my table. I don't want you dead" he said seriously. "I want you healthy and then maybe you can start to deal with the shit-storm you created. Because, make no mistake, you have years of damage to atone for. Besides, you know I am too arrogant to ever lose a patient on my table."

She tried to laugh but as another pain seared through her head she was unable to formulate a response. She clenched her eyes shut and urgently rubbed her forehead.

"On a scale of 1-10, what's the pain?" he asked, moving closer to her bed.

"Six" she gritted out.

"How about you try that again and tell me the truth?"

"Nine" she whispered, "maybe 10."

Scribbling down orders on her chart, he nodded. "Okay. We're going to try