Long Time Running - By Hannah Foster Page 0,3

he bit out. "The world doesn't need to know. That's between Jack and I."

"I own my baggage, Eric. So should you," Andrew retorted with little emotion. "He's going to find out one day. And it could be ugly." Silence surrounded the two friends as they watched Jack zoom down the slide with only the freedom the young possess." You worry about him breaking his head open - what about breaking his heart?"

"Never" he whispered. "I won't let that happen."

He may never have wanted children but he had fallen in love with Jack from the first moment he held him and he wasn't going to let anything - or anyone - hurt him.

#

Mbamba, Tanzania

As the ceiling fans hummed above doing their best to dissipate the stagnant air, she stood in the supply closet trying to remember exactly what it was she had come in looking for. She tiredly rubbed the back of her neck, briefly closed her eyes and exhaled. There was an ever present dull pounding in her head she was convinced was brought on by the humidity. Even after all these years in Africa there were some things that still took getting used to.

She gently fingered the gold locket that hung round her neck. A constant companion, she was sure its grooves were worn into her skin.

"Doctor Grant, you have been here for 36 hours, it is time for you to go home."

She jumped at the sound of the soft, lilting voice behind her. Turning, she smiled wearily at the nurse.

"Mylea," she replied quietly, "I still have patients to see. I just came here to get something."

"Oh?"

"I'm drawing a blank" she admitted sheepishly.

"It is because you are too tired," the older nurse remarked. "You should be at home with your dashing journalist."

"Keith knows the hours I work," she protested softly as if that fact provided absolution.

"He may know them but I doubt he likes them. Go home," she encouraged, "spend some time with him. None of the children need your attention tonight."

While technically Mylea was right, all of Nathalie's patients were stable at Saint Mary's hospital, there was always someone who needed something and there were never enough hands to do it all. Added to that there was Nathalie's constant fear that she would be needed and her failure to meet those needs would result in more loss.

With all the time she had spent there, Nathalie was as much a fixture at the hospital and in the town as some of the elders. They had been slow to accept her when she first arrived on the heels of her fellowship. It was easy to dismiss her as just another Westerner wanting to assuage some kind of deep-seated guilt. But she had embraced their culture and worked tirelessly in the hospital. The longer she spent with them, the deeper their respect for her grew.

Mbamba was her home now. When people asked where she was from her answer was Tanzania. Chicago - and all the memories there - were her past. This was her present and her future. And somewhere deep inside she believed if she just worked hard enough or long enough it might actually be true.

"I just have one more patient to see" she said, squinting as she tried in vain to remember what it was she needed from the supply room.

Mylea clucked her disapproval. "We may not be a big hospital Doctor Grant but we do have other pediatric-" The words died on her lips as Nathalie gripped her head and swayed.

"Nathalie!" she cried, reaching for the young doctor and taking hold of her. She guided her to a chair in the room and gently sat her down.

"I'm fine" Nathalie gritted, her face still scrunched up in pain.

"They are becoming more frequent," Mylea observed. "You need to be looked at."

Nathalie knew very little escaped Mylea's watchful eye in the hospital; not the sadness that framed her hazel eyes, not the way she would grip the locket around her neck any time she felt stressed nor the increasing number of painful headaches she was suffering from. She had told her once that in all the years she had worked with Westerners she had seen many doctors pass through but the only ones who stayed did so because they were afraid of what was waiting for them at home. She knew what Nathalie was afraid of though it remained unspoken between them. She had been there that night seven years ago and every night after and she had seen first