Ava blinked a few times, her mouth opening and closing with surprise.
“Doctor Jackson?” she pressed as Ava struggled to find a way to answer the intrusive question.
“I guess I don’t know how to answer that,” Ava said finally. “We’re colleagues, we’ve grown close over this case, but what are you getting at?”
“There are rumors,” Doctor Mars said with a frown.
“Rumors?”
“Listen,” she said, shaking her head in exasperation. “Your personal business is just that,yourpersonal business. I have no desire or inclination to be involved in it whatsoever, but we have been getting a lot of attention over this virus, and the last thing we need is speculation that our top two doctors are not focusing on the case because they are too busy focusing on each other.”
Ava felt her face grow hot. It was insulting that Dr. Mars would question her professionalism even where Elizabeth was concerned. “I have to say, Doctor Mars, I feel offended. I have never given you reason to question my professionalism.”
Doctor Mars lifted her brows slightly, and Ava pressed her lips together. That wasn’t entirely true, though before it was not her fault. Her last relationship had ended badly and her ex had made a fool of herself more than once at the hospital trying to force Ava to speak to her. Ava averted her eyes at the memory.
“I’ll admit, I have never seen a case where your personal life has interfered with your work, but it certainly has caused issues with the hospital as a whole,” she said, her voice calm and cool.
“That was—” Ava started, but was stopped with a sharp gesture from her supervisor.
“We have policies in place for doctors who choose to pursue personal relationships, and I need you and Elizabeth to follow those policies and procedures,” Doctor Mars continued.
Ava nodded, but her cheeks felt as thoughthey were on fire. She really regretted procrastinating on that conversation with Elizabeth, now they would be forced to decide, put it on paper even.
“Doctor Mars, I would never put my professional reputation, or this hospital’s, in jeopardy over something frivolous,” Ava said, strength finally returning to her voice.
“Good,” Doctor Mars said. “Then sometime today I will need you and Doctor Grant to come in here and sign the declaration paperwork that you intend to pursue a romantic relationship and the agreement that it will not interfere with your professional work. If you are not willing to do that, then I will need this speculation squashed, one way or another.”
Ava blinked.
“Have you discussed any of this with Doctor Grant?” she asked, her eyebrows lifting.
“I… um…” Ava spluttered.
“Never mind, I don’t want the details,” Doctor Mars shook her head. “Just make sure you are compliant before the end of the day.” She narrowed her eyes at Ava before adding, “Please.”
“Of course, Doctor Mars,” Ava said, her professional mask finally slipping into place.
“Go,” her supervisor said with a wave of her hand. Ava stood up from her seat and straightened her shoulders. She refused to let Dr. Mars see just how nervous she was about bringing this up with Elizabeth. She didn’t doubt how Elizabeth felt about her, but she had no idea how Elizabeth would react to the future. Ava could feel her heart sinking as she considered Elizabeth’s job in New York, and for the briefest moment, Ava considered whether she would be willing to move there with her, but she shook off that line of thought. She loved Phoenix Ridge, and she didn’t even know how Elizabeth would react to Ava suddenly becoming a daily part of Elizabeth’s life.
Frustrated, Ava ducked into a restroom and leaned against a sink looking into a mirror. She was overthinking this, and she needed to focus on the case right now. She needed to see if Lindsey had any updates, she needed to check in on the patients, she needed to focus.
First, Ava checked in on the patients, thankfully there was no change there. Next, she headed to the lab, but despite Lindsey trying what seemed like hundreds of different medications, nothing seemed to be working any better than the rabies treatment. Ava immediately started assisting Lindsey with categorizing each medication and how well it either did or didn’t work. They found that the medications that interrupted the virus’s reproductive cycle had slightly more success than the others, but it was difficult to gauge when the virus would go into dormancy.
“We need a way to trick the virus into thinking it’s safe,” Lindsey said with a huff. The poor woman looked as though she hadn’t slept in days. “Then we can put in one of these and let it go, but as long as the virus stays dormant while the medication is in the patient's system, there’s no way for it to work.”
“I agree with you,” Ava said. “But this is outside my expertise, have you mentioned this to Elizabeth?” Ava cringed. She should have known better than to refer to her so colloquially within the hospital, but Lindsey didn’t seem to notice.
“She’s looking,” Lindsey said with a slight lift of her eyebrow. It almost looked like she was surprised Ava didn’t already know what Elizabeth was doing. “She’s in the conference room with the med students.”
Ava’s skin prickled with the memory of Elizabeth leaning close and praising one of the young interns. Ava immediately chastised herself. This is exactly what Dr. Mars was warning her about. She couldn’t lose focus on something as petty as jealousy over a younger woman. Still, she found herself hurrying out of the lab to find her.
Elizabeth was sitting at the head of the conference table with the interns and a couple of resident doctors. She breathed a sigh of relief, though she mentally kicked herself for it.
“Doctor Jackson,” Elizabeth greeted her as she walked into the room.
“Doctor Grant,” Ava answered, though the formality felt forced. She noticed a couple of the younger doctors look up with skepticism, though it could have just been in Ava’s imagination. “Have you found anything?” Ava asked to the room.
Elizabeth slowly shook her head. “We’ve been pouring over everything trying to find a way totrick the virus, but we’ve only been able to find one instance of this particular virus, or at least one similar to it, and it’s just never been something that has been necessary for treatment. We’ve started going through side effects of different medications to see if any have exacerbated viral symptoms, but nothing that has proven fruitful, yet.”
