"I heard she cursed him out multiple times." I hear one intern whisper to the other behind me. "Really? I heard she stole the scalpel right out of his hand and performed a callosotomy."

I roll my eyes, sighing and tapping my foot against the linoleum floor of the hallway. I'm not used to beginning my day at the hospital this way, waiting for the doctor to arrive before getting my assignment. I'm used to a hot latte and a morning surgery.

I've been reassigned to Dr. Ladawn's Cardio Thoracic service. Unfortunately, Michael is also on this service, and won't stop staring at me. He is yet to be angry, and so I want nothing to do with his sad eyes.

I would get myself into another Neuro service, but Will is the best, and I couldn't deal with anything less. So, I decided to have a nice change of scenery.

"I heard she-" "Would you shut the hell up?! I can hear you! I have ears you know!" I yell at them, turning to the group of interns waiting behind me. They jump, pretending not to have been gossiping, and stand up straight, refusing to meet my eyes.

All is quiet, until Dr. Ladawn finally strolls down the hall, where we are all waiting at the nurse's station. "Hello, little interns," He greets us, pulling the charts down from the counter. "I see we've got a new recruit here, Dr. Nelson?" I jump, looking up at this tall man with kind brown eyes. He's mixed, I can tell. I'm just not used to hearing my actual name, instead of 'Junior.'

"Hi, Dr. Ladawn," I beam up at him, holding my hand out. He chuckles lightly, shaking it. "I'm glad you're with us, but... don't expect any special treatment," He laughs, patting my shoulder. That part's gonna suck, actually having to fight to get the surgeries. I'm not used to that.

"Of course." I smile again. "Alright, we've got a new patient waiting for us, so, if everyone would follow me..." He starts walking down the hall, and it puzzles me how the other interns wait a few seconds to acutally follow. I shrug, and speed to catch up with Dr. Ladawn's quick pace.

He looks over at me walking beside him, and chuckles to himself. I look over, and do a double take at Will staring out his office window at me. His expression is unreadable, but I don't bother trying to decipher it.

Dr. Ladawn leads us into a patient room, and we all gather around the bed. "Jackson, give the case." Ladawn hands the chart to Michael, who glances at me, before rattling off the patient's problem, and status.

"So, symptoms include poor circulation, cold feet, trouble breathing, and chest pains. Tell me, what's the diagnosis?" Nobody says anything, so my hand shoots straight into the air. "Um... Dr. Nelson?" "The chest pain could be a hemopneumothorax, and the rest of the symptoms are most likely caused by cardiac tamponade, a build up of unecessary fluids in the pericardial sac."

I hear the interns murmuring their disdain behind me. "Correct, Dr. Nelson, good job." He beams at me, and I smile. "No problem." Michael cocks his head. "I thought you were a neurosurgeon." He smiles at me softly. I can't bear to meet his eyes, so I mutter to the floor. "Yeah, well, why put myself in a box?"

"Dr. Nelson, you will scrub in with me on the surgery." I look up at him, picking at my scrubs with a few fingers. "May I be excused to the skills lab to practice and study?" He nods. "You may."

I speed out of the room, taking a leaky breath out, and almost run head on into Will. I back up, looking up at him. His eyebrows are furrowed as he stares down at me. "Having fun on Cardio?" I shrug, walking past him before Michael sees us together. I can't hurt him any more.

"Yeah, I got a surgery." "Already?" I hear the surprise in his voice as he follows me to the skills lab. "Why is that such a big deal?" "It's not... Great job." His voice is choppy. "Yeah." I duck into the skills lab, setting myself up to practice suturing a heart.

He hovers over me, just watching. "Is there something you need?" I ask. He sighs, rubbing his arm. "Are you... alright?" I look down, letting my mind drift. I have to admit, feeling again hasn't been the easiest thing in the world. The pain overcomes me sometimes, when I really get to thinking about the situation I'm currently in. "I'm... managing."

"Ok.. well... You can always talk to me, you know." I don't respond, cleaning off my sewing needle. "Don't let Dr. Ladawn scare you, I guess..." He says, and then finally leaves the room.

****

I don't know why people assume that open heart sugery is such a hard thing, but I have to say, Cardio is much easier that Neuro. Dr. Ladawn is obviously surprised by my proficiency in the operating room, thus proving that he really had no idea what my previous experience with Will was really like.

Speaking of him, Will is up in the gallery, frowning down on me from above. It seems he doesn't approve of this whole thing with me and Dr. Ladawn. He's a funny guy, and we get along well. Every time will sees this, he always frowns and walks in the opposite direction. It's pretty annoying, I don't have time to worry about his 'feelings' with this whole Michael thing going on.

".5 Prolene." I tell the scrub nurse, preparing to stitch the hole we made in the pericardium to drain the excess fluid. "And why did you switch threads?" Dr. Ladawn asks, watching my work. "Because the heart tissue is more friable than that of the brain, and needs thinner sutures." He nods his approval, clapping a hand down on my shoulder. "Good work, Dr. Nelson." I smile, as we finish up our work on this patient.

Dr. Ladawn and I part, with a pat on the back, a 'good job,' and a 'see after Christmas.' Christmas... Oh yeah. I guess I'll be staying in, and thinking about the presents I would've gotten. The Cardio service is much better than I thought it would be, which is a relief.

"So... I see you did very well with the procedure." Will says from behind me. I don't look up from the charting I'm doing, instead I nod once. "Yeah." "You had fun today, then?" I contemplate that, cocking my head. "Yeah... I guess I did." I chuckle, looking down.

"So... you're ready to come back to my service, then?" He says, and I narrow my eyes at him. "What? You kicked me off." "Which was a mistake. I would like it if you'd come back now. I mean, do you really wanna be at the bottom of the surgical food chain all over again? You're guaranteed surgery with me, and neuro is your bread and butter." I roll my eyes, turning my back to him again.

"No Will, I don't want to come back to your service again. I am happy on Cardio with Dr. Ladawn." His eyes narrow as well, and he chuckles softly. "Yeah, for the time being. But as soon as you don't get the surgery you want, you'll come running back to me. You'll see." "Yeah, right," I chuckle, walking around him to leave for the night. I seriously have no desire to go back to Neuro as of right now.

I pass Michael on the way to the door, and I see him writing in his notebook. Again. He looks up as I pass, and I look away quickly, doing my best to avoid eye contact with him. "Skip, wait." He runs after me, following me out into the night.

Snow, finally snow, drifts down on us, as I walk down the sidewalk. "Where are you going, sweetheart?" I sigh. "Back to school." I look out at the street as he walks beside me. "You're walking at night? Alone?" I shrug. "What does it matter?" He stops in his tracks, and grips my wrist.

"Baby, look at me. Just please, look at me." I want to say, 'Who are you, and what have you done with my Hot-headed Michael?' But instead, I force myself to meet his eyes. "I don't know what's going on with you. And I want to know." I shrug, turning away. "I'll get through this time myself." The air is cold, but it feels really refreshing as I gulp it into my lungs.

"Nobody should ever have to be alone." He says, and he sounds much older and wiser than he is.

"Come with me, I'll drive you back to school." "There's no need, really, I-" "Come on." He pulls me by the hand back toward the parking lot, and I sigh, giving into him. I guess it couldn't be so bad.

He opens the passenger door of his car for me, and I scowl to myself. For some reason, the first time I ever rode in this car with him comes to mind, how he threatened me about ruining his leather seats and didn't wear a seatbelt.

I slide into the car, shaking the memory from my head.

We cruise down the street, and I glue my eyes to the window. I wish he would turn on the radio or something, to make it less awkward in here with the lack of speech.

"So... have you eaten recently?"
I shrug, but I know the answer is definitely no. I still don't have an appetite. "Are you feeling alright, then?" "Fine." I answer flatly.

He sighs, and finally succumbs to silence.

"You missed the turn for school." I comment a few minutes later, and he doesn't respond. "I said, you missed-"

"I heard what you said." He snaps, and I scoff. "Well, turn around then! Take me back to school." He swallows hard, refusing to meet my eyes. "No." He says quietly. That makes my vision go red with anger. "Where the hell are you taking me then?"

He doesn't respond, but as he pulls down the next street I already know the answer. His house comes into view, and that only adds to my anger. "Michael! What the fuck!" He parks in be driveway, and gets out of the car without a word.

I sit there in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest. There is no way he can force me to go in there with him, and I am gonna sit here until he takes me back to school. "Skip, come in with me." He demands, his voice muffled. I shake my head, much like the way a five-year-old would, but I don't care.

"Skip," He warns, and I finally hear the anger rising in his tone. "Take me back to school."

He speeds around to my side of the car, and wrenches the door open. "Let's go!" He yells at me while I shake my head stubbornly. "Fine. You wanna play rough, then? I'll play rough."

I scream as he physically lifts me from the car, and throws me over his shoulder like a hunter and a dead deer. "Put me down, you bastard!" "Nice mouth." He comments, walking up the driveway to the front door.

As he walks into the house, I kick my feet wildly, banging my fists against his back. "Put me down!" "You're only making this harder," He says as he begins to climb the stairs.

"I hate you!" I yell, and he freezes for a split second at the top of the staircase. "Please don't say that." His voice sounds vulnerable and almost weak, but he quickly makes up for it by slamming his bedroom door behind us on the way in.

He finally sets me down, but doesn't let go of me, holding me almost painfully by the arms.

"This is it, Skip! No more running, no more avoiding me, or lying to me! You are going to tell me what's going on right now!" His eyes are wide with suddenly rage, and I know I can't withhold it anymore.

"I'm scared!" I blurt and he cocks his head. "Scared of what?"

"Of you! I'm scared that you'll turn around and start being cruel to me again! I'm scared of hurting you, because you already have so much going on in your life! I'm scared of us, because we can't ever seem to trust each other, and every time I turn around something else comes out of nowhere and knocks us down! Celeste! Moonsie! It never works! I'm scared of living this pile of rubble called my life! I'm scared because I don't have anyone to look to anymore!" The words pour out of me like verbal diarrhea, and I can't stop until everything I have to say has gone.

His eyes wide and sad, he looks at me, loosening his grip on my arms. "Baby... I'm here."

"What?" "You said you don't have anyone, but... That's not true. You have me." But... He's so unpredictable, one moment he's kissing me and then a few seconds later he's cursing me out.

"Michael," I whimper, and he pulls me into his chest. He runs a hand over my hair, and then looks directly into my eyes. "You're not alone, Skip. You'll never care about yourself half as much as I care about you."

I give him a small smile, biting my lip. His words make my heart warm for the first time in ages, for a while it seemed like I had ice water running through my veins.

"I never want you to be scared again." With that, he leans into me, and slowly attaches his mouth to mine.

The way he holds me close, his palm pressed against my cheek, and the slow deliberate way he kisses me, makes this the most intimate moment we've shared by far. His warm affection stirs something in my chest, something that makes me want more of him, for him to never let me go.

He pulls away gently, his eyes opening. When they do, I see the familiar haze of desire resting in them, as his fingers gently dig into my waist. "Skipper," He whispers, his voice thick with lust.

And for the first time, possibly ever, I want nothing more than for him to take me.

"Yes, Michael... Yes," I whisper back, nuzzling into his neck. His hands run down my waist and hips slowly, and it's a foreign but enjoyable sensation.

"I'll take it slow, I promise..." He says, slipping his hands beneath the hem of my shirt. "And I'll show you how much I care for you."

I don't feel the least bit nervous when he picks me up and places me on the bed, unbuttoning his shirt all the while.

"You're my everything, Skipper," He rasps, sliding between my legs as I wrap them around his body.

And I can't wait to become one with him.

What?!??! Me, The Queen of all smut is omitting a sex scene?!!? Am I on crack??!? No? *Laughs evilly* I for one think Skip is too young to engage in this behavior, but I still love this chapter *giggles*

I am very sad to say that Love Symbol is coming to a close... *Single tear runs down cheek*

Only a few more chapters left!! What major plot twist will I throw in now??? You'll see *winks*

Vote and comment ;)