After you told me (Ethan x MC)
Book: Open Heart 3, post series finale Pairing: Dr Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr Noelle Valentine) Word Count/Rating: 2.7k, PG Summary: Now that they finally uttered those 3 words, what does the proximate future hold for Ethan & Noelle? Category/warnings: Fluff / None
A/N: Hey friends! I missed you all. Inspiration wasn't a frequent visitor in the past few weeks, so it took me ages to finish this. Hope you're all ok! Lots of love from meeee đ
She definitely had the sex hair.
Strands of their conversation in the confines of Derry Roasters many months ago echoed in her head.
For her, it will forever be their first date.
A smile tugs at her full lips, dressed in mauve lipstick, the color extracting the depth of her magnetizing eyes. Itâs perfect for the occasion. Or at least it was before Ethan Ramsey ruined it.
Ruined all of her.
âWhat are you smiling at?â Genuine curiosity and carefree nonchalance color his voice, which are as surprising as they are captivating.
âDo you remember our first coffee at Derryâs? The people watching? How youâve asked me to read a person and I âdiagnosedâ the woman who walked in as having sex hair?â
âHow could I ever forget?â
âWell,â - she shakes her head and fixes her hair dramatically - âyouâre looking at one now.â
Playful sparks dance in Ethanâs ocean eyes, turning his expression into that of a child who got into mischief but had zero remorse.
They return to the party, hand in hand, fingers intertwined. People notice. Whispers start.
Ethan is as proud as a peacock, his chest outthrust, head up high. His grip on her hand tightens. But thatâs not whatâs got everyone so heated.
Itâs the smile.
Some of those in attendance see Dr Ramsey smile for the first time and the view is bizarre, out of character. Only a handful of guests have seen what they believed to be a ghost of a smile.
But now, they can see it in flesh, beaming, blinding, bright as daylight. Heâs smiling from ear to ear and they canât help but notice. When his eyes land on the breathtaking brunette standing by his side and the smile becomes even wider, although it seems humanly impossible to smile so much - they know.
She is behind the curve that straightens everything.
After making a grand entrance, albeit unintentionally, they head over to a group of people standing in a tight circle, clearly enjoying themselves.
âElle! There you are! We thought you ditched the party.â Siennaâs waving her hands excitedly, motioning her friend to come closer. Her sight wanders lower and lower until it finally stops on the knot made of two palms. She sends Noelle a knowing smile.
âAnd missed teasing Bryce that weâre the real doctors now, while heâs still a resident? Over my dead body.â
âSay all you want, it only shows how amazing I am. Surgery ainât an easy gig and only the best can survive.â
âFrankly, Lahela, you surgeons are mere executors of whatever our diagnosis requires which, by the way, we also tell you.â
Everyone chuckles shyly, apart from Jackie, who snorts loudly without any shame.
âIâm wondering what is Harperâs view on that.â
âYou can ask Dr Emery once youâve ticked the positions of Head of Surgery and Chief of Medicine off your list.â
âAnyway, as I was saying...â Noelle swiftly changes the subject as she feels the pressure between two of the most forceful personalities she knew rising.
âI just had to pop by the Diagnosticâs Office to catch Ethan, we had to⊠talk about something.â Her face turns red and sheâs not sure what else to say, despite pledging she wanted to shout all about it from the rooftops a couple of moments ago.
And she does, more than anything. But she also knows this is a fairly new realm for Ethan and is happy for them to take baby steps instead of throwing him straight to the vultures.
He knows and she knows.
Nothing else matters.
Thatâs why his next move is so surprising.
Ethan lets go of her hand, but they only lose connection for a few short seconds, during which he moves to stand behind her. His warm palms clasp her shoulders and he leans closer as if the slightest distance between them would hurt him.
âAnd that somethingâ - all eyes are on him now - âis the fact that Dr ValâŠ. Noelle and I are together.â
The world around them only stops for 10 awkward seconds, which are the longest in young doctorâs life, especially that her friendsâ facial expressions are unreadable.
Sienna snaps out of it first.
âFinally!â she squeaks and claps her hands vivaciously. âOh Elle, I am so happy for you, given that youâve been in love with Eth⊠with Dr Ramsey sinceâŠuhh I mean Iâm genuinely excited for both of you.â She blushes crimson, clearly embarrassed. Noelle is thanking the gods above for her friend not yet reaching the stage where her tongue loosens completely and stopping herself from saying exactly what she thinks is out of Siennaâs repertoire.
Everyone else goes quiet, not too sure what befits now and what doesnât. After all, itâs the Ethan Ramsey. The bogey of Edenbrook halls.
âWow, thatâsâŠâ Aurora takes it upon herself to break the spell of silence.
âLong time coming? Not surprising at all? Annoying it took you so long when everyone, and I mean literally everyone saw it?â Jackie is taking no prisoners, shooting like a sniper between sips of champagne.
âJackie! Would you stop?â Aurora sends her a murderous look trying to remedy the situation.
âItâs fine, Dr Emery⊠I mean, Aurora.â Once again, the group is baffled. Apart from Elle, theyâve never heard Dr Ramsey address a resident by their first name. âSince youâve moved to the adultsâ table, I think itâs time we are on the first-name basis.â
Bryce opens his mouth first to say something, but Ethan beats him to it.
âNot you though, Lahela.â Ethan motions at Bryce, whose arm was halfway raising a glass. âFind me next year after youâve become a real doctor and we can talk.â
They all have a wholehearted laugh at Bryceâs expense, with Bryce himself grinning and bearing it.
âAlright, Iâm parched, would anyone like a drink? I need a refill if Iâm to survive this night in one piece.â
âIâd love one, thank you, Dr Ram⊠I mean, Ethan.â Sienna tries to respect Ethanâs wishes but saying this feels almost as natural as having a third arm does.
âWhat would you like to drink, Dr Valentine?â
âWhatever you are poisoning yourself with today, Dr Ramsey.â
âTwo scotches it is then.â She giggles and he pulls her to his chest in one swift movement, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair. Itâs intoxicating, as always, and he wonders how on earth had he gone for so long without getting lost in her silky waves every single day.
âI love you.â
She doesnât say it back, but her bare arms do when goosebumps appear right under his fingertips.
Ethan kisses her forehead lovingly and walks towards the bar, followed by more than a dozen pairs of prying eyes.
Elle grins to her friends.
Itâs like a movie scene.
When Ethan is out of sight they start screaming, jumping, laughing and making overly excited noises.
Sheâs drunk and overwhelmed, but not with booze.
Itâs their night and sheâs so lucky to call them friends.
Her chosen family.
Funny how, she thinks to herself, in one moment people are strangers and the next youâd jump into flames for them.
But only a handful are worth burning for.
A thigh-high, sharp buzz shakes her out of this reverie.
Earlier today, she had to turn the silent mode on her phone due to the number of messages and calls from people wanting to congratulate her - friends, family, even former patients. It was as touching as it was, simply put, too much. She made a promise to call them back the following day, once the dust settles a bit.
Tonight is for freshly minted, board-certified doctors.
The buzz startles her, making her heart beat faster.
Vibration mode is reserved for a handful of people only, close ones, who wouldnât call or text today.
Unless it was an emergency.
In one swift movement, she takes the phone out of her bag.
The screen lights up with a message, composed of three words only.
I love you.
She searches him across the room and their eyes meet.
In the past, she used to wonder what crossed his mind the moment they laid eyes on each other.
She didnât have to wonder anymore.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dreams.
Mystical reality painted by our brains, creating places weâve never seen, emotions weâve never felt and lives weâve never lived.
They can fascinate us or scare us to death.
Noelleâs was somewhere in between.
In this dream, she got to lead the Diagnosticâs Team and Ethan replaced Naveen as Chief of Medicine.
But most importantly, after years of mutual pining, Ethan and her finally confessed their feelings and stopped pretending they arenât madly in love with each other.
It had to be a dream.
Because in what reality would her life be so perfect?
Too focused on the life happening only inside her head, she failed to notice something else was amiss.
This wasnât her bed. Or her apartment.
Tiny needles of panic stabbed her inside. Before they overtook her whole body, she tried turning her attention to the breath. It was a trick she learned during her therapy after the attack; not always effective but still worth a shot and infinitely better than doing nothing and spiraling into panic.
A string of shiver ran through her spine, but not because she was cold. Something wet and warm traced the path starting at the crook of her neck, all the way down to her shoulder.
âGood morning, beautiful.â Sweet hum, reverberating with tenderness, tucked her like a soft blanket.
Then, a big and strong palm traveled underneath her top, straight to her nipples which peaked almost instantly. In one swift move, a pair of arms turned her around and a second later her nose was touching the nose of the most stunning face sheâs ever seen.
Thatâs when he noticed the layer of glass in her eyes.
âHey, whatâs wrong? Iâm sorry, I should have asked if you are in the mood forâŠâ He seemed terrified, and his hand immediately retracted and found its way to the soft skin of her cheek, caressing it gently.
âNo, itâs fine, Ethan, itâs not that.â She felt stupid, sorry for herself, but his fondness made the tears flow freely.
âI just⊠woke up thinking this, my life, is all a dream because itâs just too good to be true. I keep worrying that you may change your mind soon, that this is not what you wanted, thatâŠâ
âThat...?â
âThat⊠you will run away.â
There were many things she was expecting to see in Ethan Ramseyâs eyes. Anger. Disappointment. Annoyance was a maybe.
But the immense sadness was not one of them.
They both fell silent for what felt like forever.
âThank you for telling me.â He took her trembling palm and covered it with his, the gesture almost symbolic, part of their non-verbal communication since day 1. âKnowing you as I know you, youâve probably been battling with this on your own for a couple of days now.â
âIt isnât exactly the most exciting thing to say to your new boyfriend when youâve just started the honeymoon phase.â
âLucky for us, weâre no typical boyfriend and girlfriend⊠and the relationship itself is far from ordinary too.
Iâm not surprised youâre thinking about this⊠frankly, Iâd worry if you didnât.â Ethan tried to smuggle a faint smile, hoping to ease the tension a bit. âI am also aware that our past⊠especially my contribution to it... is the reason why you feel this way.â
âYouâre not angry?â
âAngry? God, no. Iâm just profoundly sad to see the woman I love feel this way because of me.â
She didnât have any response to that because the words were true. Ethan clearly felt the same and changed the subject.
âDo you remember when we were visiting Lamarâs house? You asked me if I could see myself living like them.â She rose her brow, not sure if this was going somewhere or if itâs just an attempt to distract her. For now, she just went with it.
âAnd you told me youâd want to be the person who wants this, but youâre afraid youâll never be rid of certain restlessness.â
Ethan smiled gently, for there was something truly touching about her quoting the things he said, word for word.
âTruth be told⊠that still stands. But I need to be honest because it wouldnât be fair to hide it from you.â
She went quiet, clearly growing concerned.
âOne day, I may want to run away.â
She gulped.
âLeave everything behind.â
Her breath caught in her throat.
âStart again.â
She couldnât move.
âBut only with you.â
And there they were, again. The butterflies. The unexplainable, miraculous dance inside her stomach, the fluttering, the crazy high messing up with her nervous system.
âYou absolute asshole. I really donât know what I see in you.â
âNeither do I, but I will do everything I can to make sure that whatever it is, itâs always there.â He brought her hand to his lips and slowly kissed the knuckles. âI donât know what the future will bring, Noelle, but what I can promise is that I want nothing more than to prove to you every day that I have no intention of running away.â
He looked deep into her eyes, glimmers of doubt clearly present in emerald irises.
Ethan could tell her all about it. How he is in this too deep. Past the point of no return.
But would she believe his words?
He had to find a way to show her.
It only takes a single flame to reduce trust to ashes. But an inhuman effort to rebuild it.
âDo you know what I love most about you, Elle?â Ethanâs fingers were lazily tracing her curves.
âLet me guess⊠is it my intelligence? My sophisticated sass? My outgoing personality?â He couldnât help but laugh at how her face lit up when she was clearly not modest about herself.
âAll of the above, yes⊠but you missed. The thing I love most about you it that you make me forget about Dr Ramsey.â
Confusion passed through her eyes.
âLong time before I met you, Dr Ramsey became my main identity and as the time passed⊠my only identity. I knew I was good at being a doctor, it helped me forget about everything thatâs happened in my personal life, which was frankly a string of failures. But ever since I met you, I could be Ethan again. I could be just a guy with a girl, not someone with âDr Ramseyâ tattooed on their forehead.â She let out a tiny giggle, trying to bring the image to life.
âOh, Ethan⊠as much as Iâd like to kill him sometimes, just Ethan is my favorite version of you. Itâs because of him that I fell in love with you, not because you are so amazing at what you do. I mean, it was a contributing factor, too, but I think Ethan is infinitely more interesting than grumpy Dr Ramsey who yells at interns and think technological progress is devilâs creation.â
âIt is.â
âThere he is, Dr Grumpy in the flesh.â
âWatch out, you are speaking to the Chief of Medicine.â
âThank God I will not be working with you directly anymore⊠no space for me in the room now that you and your giant ego made an appearance.â
âIâm actually really sad about this. I love working with you.â
âMe too, Ethan. When you talk about medicine⊠you steal the show. Iâll miss spending time with you in the hospital.â
âThatâs why my first decree as a Chief of Medicine would bo to announce that lunch break is sacred. Itâs a time for me to catch up with beautiful Head of Diagnostics, and talking about heads - with a woman I completely lost my head for.â
âIâd like that very much.â
âEthan?â
âYes, love?â
âYou never have to ask me if Iâm in the mood for sex. Itâs always flattering to know you want me at least half as much as I want you.â
âHalf?â He let out a hearty laugh.
âMaths clearly wasnât your favourite subject at school, Dr Valentine. There are no words, numbers, or any other measures for how much I want you. In every possible meaning of these words.â
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Thank you for reading, everyone âșïž
Tagging separately.

















