"Hey, Sophia, you headed out?"

Sophia turned around to find Dr. Mallory Ellis, one of the hospital's oncologists, hurrying up behind her.

"Hey, Mallory, yeah, I'm leaving now. What's up?"

Mallory frowned. "Listen, I don't want to keep you, but the McBrides are asking if you're here."

Sophia's mouth dropped to mirror Mallory's expression. "She's here?"

Mallory nodded. "She just came in for a routine appointment, but her labs didn't look good so I'm admitting her overnight. But her parents are freaking out a bit."

Sophia couldn't blame them. "What's wrong with the labs?"

"Her oxygen is lower than it should be, blood pressure higher than I would like it to be. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure out what's causing it by tomorrow, and she should be better after a few hours with an oxygen mask."

Sophia nodded. "I can go talk to them if you'd like. Just to keep them from freaking out too much."

"Thanks."

She headed up to the oncology department and tapped softly on Evie McBride's room. Sophia pushed open the door when prompted.

The relief on Mr. and Mrs. McBride's faces was obvious the moment Sophia stepped into the room. Evie was laying on a hospital bed, oxygen mask over her face, eyes closed. Sophia hoped she was able to get some sleep.

"I'm just checking in," Sophia told the McBrides. "See how you guys are doing."

Mrs. McBride gave her best attempt at a small smile. "We appreciate that," she said. "This just isn't the way we thought this day was going to go."

"How's she doing with it?" Sophia asked, nodding to the sleeping patient.

"Handling it better than we are, as usual," Mr. McBride said. "She'll be sorry she missed you."

"Well, I'm glad she's able to get some rest," Sophia said. "I talked to Dr. Ellis, and she hopes to get you out of here sometime tomorrow, so you shouldn't be here too long. And she's working on figuring out what caused this."

The parents both nodded. "She told us the same," Mr. McBride said. "We just hope it's true."

"Me too," Sophia said honestly. "But if anything changes, we'll do everything we can to make sure everyone is comfortable with how we move forward."

Mrs. McBride took a deep breath. "Thank you, Sophia. It means a lot that you took the time to come and see us."

As Sophia left the hospital, shooting a quick text to Dean to let him know she was running a little late, she thought a lot about Mrs. McBride's last words to her. In a lot of ways, Sophia felt completely useless when it came to Evie McBride. She wasn't an oncology nurse, and she didn't even know every single precise detail of the case. It wasn't her job to; only to know enough that when the girl came into the E.R., they could properly treat her.

What good was she to anyone like that?

Don't tell me you're going to go in there and cry to Dean about this.

Sophia closed her eyes as Graham's voice echoed through her head. He never wanted to hear about the shitty things she saw as she went through nursing school, claimed she was just depressing him. And with Dean, well, he saw enough shitty things in his own job. Sophia didn't exactly want to add to his plate.

Dean opened the door about two seconds after Sophia knocked. As usual, he never exactly made it a secret of how excited he was that she was there. "Hey," he said, leaning down to softly brush his lips across hers.

Every part of her wanted to melt into his arms and tell him about what was going on with Evie McBride. She knew the sense of peace and calm that would come with having his arms around her, his face buried in her hair as he whispered that everything would be okay. He would know exactly what to do.

But Sophia kept quiet, anxiety keeping her from saying the words.

She gave him a smile and closed the door behind her.

"How was your day?" she asked him. Dean had had the day off and he looked more refreshed than usual.

"Quiet," he said. "I wish you had been here."

Ugh, those puppy dog eyes, the sincerity in his voice. "I wish I had been too." She followed him to the kitchen where he had dinner all ready for them.

"Everything okay?" he asked. "How was the hospital?"

"Everything is rarely okay at the hospital," Sophia pointed out, and he threw her an eye roll. "But nothing huge happened."

Dean handed her a plate and eyed her carefully. "You sure? You seem a little off."

He read her like a book, and Sophia wasn't sure how much she liked that particular talent of his. "Just, a patient of mine was back," she said, trying to sound nonchalant. "It wasn't an ideal way to end the day."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Sophia hesitated. "Do you, do you want to hear about it?" she asked, cautiously.

Dean paused mid-chew and stared at her. "Of course," he said, his eyebrows pinching together. "If you want to talk about it."

"Right, um, well I think I told you about her before," Sophia said slowly, still expecting him to want to change the subject. "A girl with lung cancer, she comes in on occasion."

Dean nodded, a troubled frown on his face. "She's one of your favorites."

A soft smile crossed Sophia's face. "Yeah, she is," she said quietly. "It's nothing too serious right now, she's just being kept overnight for observation. But her oncologist came to find me and see if I would check in on the parents. They were rightfully stressed out."

"I can imagine."

Sophia shrugged. "It just sucks because it feels like I'm not actually doing all that much to help. I only talked to them for a few minutes today, and mostly just repeated what the doctor had already told them. But the mom was super thankful that I came in. It just feels weird for that type of praise when I'm not actually doing anything."

Dean had a thoughtful look on his face. "You mean, you're not doing anything medically, right?"

"What else is there?"

"Well, the kid likes you, yeah?"

Sophia nodded. "She was asleep, though."

Dean shrugged. "I guess if I was a parent who had to constantly take my kid to the hospital, it would be comforting to know that there was someone who the kid liked there and maybe could alleviate some of that stress."

"So I'm what, moral support?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing. But how many other people in that hospital are checking in on them, even though they don't have to? Sometimes showing up is enough."

Sophia fell silent, digesting what he was saying. "I guess it's just weird to think that I'm having that much of an impact. It doesn't feel like I'm doing anything."

Dean leaned forward, his head resting on his hand. "Sophia, I think you make an impact on every single person you meet, patient or not. I don't think it's possible for you not to."
She felt her face warm at his words.

"Is your patient going to be okay?"

"I mean, she'll hopefully go home tomorrow," Sophia said. "But I don't really know how her case is going in general. It's not ideal, that's for sure."

Dean nodded, a troubled frown on his face.

"Sorry for bringing down the mood like this."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Dean said, an edge to his words. "I asked, and I meant what I said. Of course, I want to hear about your day, the good and the bad. We're in professions that are sometimes shitty, Sophia. That's just part of the deal, here."

"Sorry," Sophia mumbled, cursing herself for apologizing again. "I don't want to make you mad."

"I'm not—" Dean cut himself off, and she could tell that he was physically working to keep himself from raising his voice. "I'm not mad," he said, his voice more even but still harder than usual. "I just, I just feel like sometimes you censor yourself around me." He swallowed hard. "And I don't get why."

Sophia stared at him, her mouth slightly open. She did censor herself around him. She didn't particularly want to, but in her experience, that was just part of being in a relationship. She didn't know how to do anything different.

"I guess I do," she finally said, and her stomach clenched as Dean's face fell. "But," she continued, "it's not because of you."

Dean's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I don't know if you believe that," she continued. "But it's the truth." She took a deep breath. "And if I'm going to be completely honest with you, it's not something I'm ready to talk about. At least not yet."

Sophia braced herself for what he might say. How he might push to get the information from her, or if he wouldn't want to deal with it at all, ever.

"Okay."

Sophia waited for him to continue, but that was it. "Okay?" she repeated. "That's it?"

"There's nothing else to say," he said. "If you're not ready, then okay. Take whatever time you need."

Sophia just gaped at him.

"Soph, look, I'm not going to say that I haven't noticed some things about you that I have questions about," Dean said. "Things that I'm dying to know about even though I'm scared of what you might say. But it's your decision when you tell me. But thank you for letting me know that I haven't done anything to make you feel like you can't talk to me about anything."

It took her a moment to process what he had just said. "So," she took a breath, "you don't have a problem with me bringing anything to you to talk about?" After this conversation, she knew what he would say, but she needed to hear it.

A brief flash of pain crossed Dean's face, but then he slowly and deliberately shook his head. "No. Talk to me about anything, Sophia. I don't need you to always be this happy, bright presence in my life. I care about all of you, good and bad and everything in between."

"Okay."

A small smile came up on Dean's face. "Okay," he repeated.

"Do we have dessert?" Sophia asked.

"Uh, of course, we have dessert."