Ross didn’t want to go back to his own place that night. He knew it was the smart thing to do, but he just couldn’t face the large, empty apartment. Sharon would probably already be asleep, and he’d have to get up and leave before she woke up in the morning, but he just wanted to be able to hold her. As he climbed the stairs to her—their—apartment, he imagined how that Sharon would look spread out on the bed. He didn’t know if it was a holdover from the weeks she spent wearing a cast, but Sharon tended to sleep on her back with her injured leg straightened out and to the side, which meant that Ross couldn’t really spoon her. But at least he could sleep tucked into her side, with his arm over her waist. He already looked forward to the idea of burying his nose in her hair to smell her shampoo, and to seeing the engagement ring glint on her finger.

But when he got to the apartment door, he saw that there was light seeping out underneath it. Had Sharon left the light on for him? Had she perhaps fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for him to come back? He’d said that he probably wouldn’t see her before the hearing, but maybe Sharon had waited up for him anyway, just in case. Or perhaps she hadn’t understood that he meant he was going to go back to his apartment. Honestly, considering that he was standing here in front of Sharon’s apartment after all, maybe Sharon knew him better than he knew himself.

He opened the door, prepared to carry a sleepy Sharon off to bed—and goodness knew how much sleeping on the couch would make her leg ache in the morning—only to be greeted by the sight of six slightly guilty-looking people all crowded on the couch.

Ross stood there in the doorway, feeling slightly stupid, and took in the scene. Debbie was apparently holding court in the middle of the couch, papers spread out around her. Some of the papers looked like contracts or other legal documents, a few looked like they were articles out of a magazine or newspaper, and still others were handwritten notes. Sitting on Debbie’s left was Jonas, tapping wildly on his phone in accordance with orders that Debbie was issuing to him. Melanie was standing behind Debbie, pointing at various papers and dictating to Tom, who was sitting alone on the chair and typing on a computer. Sharon was sitting on Debbie’s right, trying to organize the papers into a stack, and Leticia was sitting on the arm of the couch, talking to somebody on the phone.

“Okay, my friend said that she can put the For Sale up on the website but that the timestamp will still show that it’s from tonight and so it’ll look last-minute,” Leticia said.

“Doesn’t matter. This isn’t a real court case, so nobody’s going to look that closely at the timestamp,” Debbie replied. “As long as his apartment is listed as being for sale, that’s all that matters.”

“‘She also displays the classic obsessive behavior of an abuser, seeking to exert control over her current and former victims in order to feel…’” Melanie went on.

“Hold on, I can only type so fast, I’m an artist, woman, not a secretary,” Tom grouched.

“Where the hell is the stapler, we need to get these into some kind of order,” Sharon said, exasperated, wrestling with a pile of paper. “Honestly, we’re going to have to type all of these up. Deb, is this how you organize your cases? No wonder you never sleep.”

That was when everyone saw him, and all turned to look. Leticia started smirking, Tom was still typing and didn’t even realize what was happening, Melanie stopped mid-sentence, and both Jonas and Debbie’s mouths fell open.

Sharon turned, saw him, and jumped to her feet. “Oh my God, I thought—you said—you’re supposed to be at your apartment.”

“That’s up for sale, by the way,” Leticia piped up. “You don’t mind that you now co-own this apartment with Sharon, do you?”

“I… what?” Ross said faintly. “What is this?”

“I’m sorry,” Sharon blurted, hurrying over. “They’re very determined.”

“This is true, we are,” Jonas said, apparently not feeling sorry in the slightest.

“Finished,” Tom said, finally looking up. “Hey, Ross.”

“Hey Tom.” Ross said, trying not to laugh. He looked back at Sharon. “Seriously, what’s going on? Not that I mind the, uh, co-owning bit, we were going to officially complete this move anyway, but why…?”

“It’s because of your hearing tomorrow,” Sharon said, sighing. “Debbie’s a lawyer and she’s decided to represent you.”

“I don’t know if that’s necessary,” Ross pointed out. “It’s just me and the board…”

“But if you walk in with an attorney to advise you, they’ll know that you’re serious. They want to sweep you under the rug so that they don’t have to worry about a backlash, instead of actually doing this properly.” Debbie went back to looking at her notes. “If you come in with me and let me speak for you, or at least with you, they’ll see that you’re prepared to fight, and they’ll be more willing to listen what you have to say.”

Ross felt a little overwhelmed, and Sharon gave a little laugh. “I know, I know, you have the same look on your face that I must have earlier.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and Ross put an arm around her waist instinctively, ready to hold her up. She’d been sitting for a while, so her leg might not be bothering her, but he wanted to hold her just in case it gave out.

“Awww,” Leticia said, finally hanging up the phone. “Somebody take a photo of this.”

Ross tightened his arm around Sharon’s waist as she glared at Leticia. “It really would be better if you had Debbie there with you,” Sharon said quietly, just for him. “She’ll be able to present this better than we can. This is what she’s used to.”

“You really don’t have to do this,” Ross said, looking at all of them. “Honestly, all of you, this isn’t your issue.”

“It’s Sharon’s issue,” Jonas said, “And that means that it’s our issue. And Sharon loves you.”

“Oh, yeah, welcome to the family, by the way,” Tom said casually. Ross wanted to laugh at how nonchalant Tom seemed about all of this. “We usually hold a big party but we figure saving your ass is a suitable replacement.”

“You’re all assholes,” Sharon mumbled, turning to bury her face in Ross’s chest. “They’re all assholes and I don’t know why I put up with any of them.”

“I don’t know, I think they’re pretty okay,” Ross replied. Then he scooped her up, making Sharon squeak in surprise and cling to him, which made all the others in the room laugh and make kissy noises.

Ross ignored them, walking over to the couch and sinking onto it with Sharon on his lap. “I hate you, too,” Sharon added rather unconvincingly.

“I know,” Ross said cheerfully. “So,” he said, looking at the others, “What have we got?”

None of them except Sharon and Jonas got any sleep. Sharon tried valiantly to stay awake, but she eventually dropped off in Ross’s lap as Debbie explained her plans for the hearing. Ross carried her into bed while Jonas said his goodbyes to everyone in the living room. He was the only one of them used to a decent sleep schedule and with office hours that he couldn’t change.

Sharon clung to him in her sleep as he tried to lay her down on the bed. Their bed, he thought. The one that Sharon had bought in a king size because she could, and because sometimes Leticia would crash there and sleep over. The one with light blue sheets and tons of ridiculously comfortable pillows.

Ross tucked her in, making sure that her leg was stuck out the right way and that she was on her back so she wouldn’t roll over it in her sleep. She looked beautiful like this. She looked beautiful all the time, actually, but this was something different. Sharon almost always had worry lines around her forehead, or her mouth, or in the corners of her eyes, but now they were all smoothed by sleep. He wished that she could look like this all the time.

She didn’t deserve to be dragged into this. He shouldn’t have kept seeing her. There was no way that Amanda or anyone else would have known about their one-night stand if that was all that it had been. But he’d pushed to see her again, and while he didn’t regret it for his own sake, he regretted that now Sharon’s name was liable to be dragged through the mud with his.

He could already imagine the kinds of things that people would say about her—that she was a whore, or a slut, or at the very least that she was an uncaring person who’d gotten her boyfriend kicked out of his job.

Ross gently ran his fingers over the lines of her face. How could someone that he had known for only six months come to mean the world to him? He recalled their first meeting. Back then, he had certainly desired her, but he’d felt nothing beyond that. He had picked apart her sexual tastes pretty damn quickly (a point of pride for him), but he hadn’t known who Sharon was at her core, nor had he cared. How could he possibly have guessed then that she would become so important to him? When he looked back on that night, it felt like he was looking at two completely different people. She had been a stranger, and he had been someone who wouldn’t even let his one-night stand stay the night. Now he couldn’t even imagine life without Sharon.

He kissed her softly on the cheek and then left her to sleep, closing the bedroom door so she wouldn’t disturbed. Jonas came up to him, coat on and car keys in hand.

“I know you’ll kick their asses tomorrow,” he told Ross, holding out his hand for Ross to shake. “Or, Deb’ll kick their asses for you. One or the other.”

Ross laughed, and Jonas gave him a quick hug. “Take care of yourself,” Ross told him. “Drive safely.”

“Or, you know, don’t,” Leticia said. “You might get a hot surgeon to operate on you.”

“Sharon and I are horrible examples and you should under no circumstances follow our lead,” Ross said, trying to sound stern but obviously failing given the smiles everyone was flashing at him.

Jonas gave everyone a last wave, and then he was out the door. Debbie gestured to the papers on the coffee table, which Tom was now dutifully typing up on to the computer so that they were organized for tomorrow. “Shall we?” She asked, and although she was currently wearing a Star Wars shirt and ratty jeans, in that moment, she sounded so much like a lawyer that she might as well have been in a courtroom.

Ross sat with Debbie all night, going over what to say and what questions he would probably be asked. Leticia and Melanie acted as the board, firing questions at him and trying to twist his words, while Ross struggled to keep his cool and make sure that nothing he said could be twisted into something else. Tom, valiantly subbing in for Debbie’s irreplaceable paralegal, finished typing and printed out a ‘case file’ with all of the facts and paperwork.

The file contained the ‘for sale’ listing for Ross’s apartment, which he thankfully owned outright so he didn’t have to meddle with his landlord about it at two o’clock in the morning. It included the paperwork showing that Ross was co-signed on the lease for Sharon’s apartment. There was testimony from Leticia, Sharon’s timeline of events, and testimony from Amanda’s coworkers about Amanda’s willingness to twist facts and go to unscrupulous lengths for a good story. Melanie, as a registered therapist, had given a professional assessment of Amanda’s character and abusive behavior, and had gotten her journalist friend to prepare to a counter-story to Amanda’s for publication. Debbie also had a copy of Sharon’s hospital records, emailed to them by someone in the records department, showing that Sharon had only met with Ross once for a follow-up checkup after the operation.

“Any other character witnesses that we can produce?” Debbie asked.

“There’s my staff,” Ross said, “And my other coworkers, but they’ll have already been interviewed by the board for this.”

“Then we’ll just have to hope that they gave you favorable reviews,” Debbie said.

He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep by morning, but he felt a lot more prepared than he would have if he’d just gone home and passed out for the night. His original plan had been to skip over preparing a defense and go straight to looking for job openings at other hospitals in the Pittsburgh area. But this, this was much better.

At some point, Leticia shoved him into the shower—literally—and Tom and Melanie went home. The shower did wonders for his exhaustion, which he had felt creeping up on him as he might feel a migraine. Leticia helped him pick out a suit and promised to watch over Sharon while he and Debbie headed down to the hospital’s administration building.

Ross had been to this building only once before, so he was unfamiliar with it, but he could have sworn that it hadn’t looked so imposing the first time around.

“Just out of curiosity,” he asked, as he and Debbie entered the building, “What were you guys planning to do since you didn’t think I’d be going back to Sharon’s last night? Were you just going to show up at my hearing like in a dramatic legal film?”

“Of course not,” Debbie said, snorting. “We were going to show up at your apartment and bang down the door.”

Ross snorted. The image of all of them knocking on his door until he woke up and then invading his house was an amusing one, but he suspected it would have just been Debbie with the case file, ready to go. Melanie had, at some point, disappeared during the night and returned with a suit from Debbie’s apartment. Under any other circumstances, Ross suspected, at least one other person in the room would have pointed out that Melanie had a key to Debbie’s apartment, or at least knew where a spare was hidden. It seemed like the sort of observation that would have prompted a lot of talking and teasing. But given that most everyone had been too distracted by hearing preparations to have noticed Melanie’s absence until she returned with Debbie’s suit, it went without comment.

Now Debbie was dressed for court, complete with a severe bun, just the right amount of makeup, and shoes that made a suitably intimidating clip-clop sound on the tiled floor as they walked towards the elevators.

“This isn’t going to be like court,” Ross warned her. “It’s not going to be a big fancy room with a judge and all of that.”

“If that’s what you think all courtrooms are like,” Debbie said mildly, “Then you’re going to be very disappointed when you get called in for jury duty.”

They took the elevator up, and Ross tried very hard not to look like he was sweating. He could feel it, in his armpits and at the small of his back, but he at least hoped that he didn’t look it. It was a good thing that he had basically moved in with Sharon already, because most of his clothes were with her, and he could pick whichever suit he liked. It would have been just his luck if someone had noticed that he had shown up to his hearing in the same clothes he wore yesterday.

“Just breathe,” Debbie advised him. “And follow my lead, all right?”

Ross nodded. Breathe, and let Debbie take the lead. He could do all of that, in theory. It was just that the breathing part seemed a little difficult for him at the moment.

They got off the elevator and entered a large meeting room. The doctors-slash-administrators that served as the medical review board were already present, which Ross had expected. There was Dr. Perry, a gentle looking woman with a soft and rhythmic voice. Ross had met her a few times at parties but had never had the chance to work with her. She seemed to take the lead on most of these things, or so Ross had been told. Besides her there was Dr. Levine, a shriveled-looking man who had been one of the leading neurologists in his day, and was also said to be very tough about the cases he reviewed; Dr. Yusif, who had dark, piercing eyes and had always given Ross the impression that he could stare into your very soul; Dr. Martinelli, a man close to Ross in age, who was head of the maternity ward and also—or so the nurses had told Ross—a terrible flirt, so Ross didn’t see why on earth the man should have a problem with him; and finally Dr. Glass, a stern woman whom Ross had run into a few times, and who had always given him the impression that she had just eaten a lemon, and that she hated him for no apparent reason whatsoever.

But then, he could have just been projecting.

“Dr. Hardwick,” Dr. Levine said, turning to face him as he entered. “Thank you for coming to see us today on such short notice. And who is this?”

Ross shook each doctor’s hand in turn. “This is Debbie Montgomery, my attorney.”

“Your attorney?” Dr. Yusif looked at the others as if to check that they, too, had heard what he just had. He then looked back at Ross. “I wasn’t aware that you felt that this was necessary.”

“Given the severity of the slander and libel my client has been targeted with, we felt that it was best that I attend,” Debbie said, in a sharp, no-nonsense voice that Ross had never heard from her before. He almost gaped at her in shock, and then realized that would probably not help matters much, and instead quickly sat down.

“Libel?” Dr. Yusif said again.

Ross looked over at Debbie, who remained standing while all of the doctors sat.

“Yes, libel,” Debbie said, her tone just shy of reproaching. “A jealous and abusive ex-girlfriend of my client has published a false, defamatory story in order to disgrace my client, and I find it appalling that you have taken these charges seriously.”

“We are required to review all such charges against our employees,” Dr. Glass said, her voice as sharp as her name. “We are in a business that requires a deft hand, Ms. Montgomery, and at no time can we risk one of our own overstepping their bounds.”

“Of course, doctor,” Debbie said smoothly, her voice giving no indication that she was actually backing down or apologizing. “Nobody is suggesting that you should not carry out your duty. But it’s interesting, is it not, that my client was only given a twenty-four-hour notice of this hearing? Surely that goes against protocol.”

“Given the high-profile nature of this case and the amount of media coverage it has received, we felt it best to act quickly.”

“The amount of media coverage?” Debbie sounded delighted at that, and quickly pulled out her phone. She tapped at it for a moment, and then turned it to show the screen to the other doctors. “I just ran an internet search for this story, and it seems that despite the high-profile nature of this case, the media has skipped this one.”

The doctors didn’t look at each other but Ross could sense that they wanted to. They shuffled in their seats, already a little uncomfortable. Good.

“And what’s this about an ex-girlfriend?” Dr. Martinelli asked.

“Amanda Sorrens, who wrote this piece,” Debbie said. “She’s an ex-girlfriend of my client’s. If you would be so kind as to read this report, given by a licensed therapist with knowledge of Ms. Sorrens.”

Debbie produced Melanie’s report. Clever phrasing, that, Ross thought. Debbie hadn’t outright said that Melanie had met Amanda, so Debbie wasn’t lying, but she’d given the impression with her tone and choice of words that Melanie had, in fact, met Amanda and knew her.

“I can’t betray patient-doctor confidentiality, of course, as I’m sure that you all understand,” Debbie went on, “But I hope that the information given in the report there is enough to sketch for you an idea of the kind of person that Amanda Sorrens is.”

The doctors all looked over the report, whispering to each other in tones too low for Ross to catch.

“I also have the copy of the report—if one can even call it that—made by Amanda Sorrens for the paper. I’ve highlighted the factual inaccuracies, if you’d care to take a look.” Debbie held up said paper, as if it was a dog treat and she was trying to get them all to sit and be good boys.

“We will take a look, thank you,” said Dr. Perry, “But perhaps we can go over the list of reasons why we’re having this meeting.”

“You’re having this meeting because my client has been accused of having an affair with a patient, which is against the Hosptial’s code of conduct.” Debbie said, flicking some imaginary lint off of her jacket sleeve.

“The charges against Dr. Hardwick are quite serious,” Dr. Perry said, her gentle voice quite at odds with her words. “Unless you can provide proof that Dr. Hardwick and Miss Talcott’s affair did not start while he was still her doctor—”

Ross felt anger start to bubble up in his chest. He and Sharon weren’t having an affair, dammit. He wasn’t some married guy who was banging the yoga instructor or the live-in nanny. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call my relationship with my fiancée an ‘affair,’” he cut in, unable to stop himself. “It’s a much more serious relationship than that, I can assure you.”

All of the doctors looked surprised. Dr. Perry looked over at Dr. Levine, as if silently asking him if he’d known about this, and how he had failed to alert her of it. Dr. Levine shrugged, his eyebrows raising.

“Oh, were you not aware of that?” Debbie asked. “My client and Miss Talcott got engaged last week.”

Actually, it was two days ago, but Ross wasn’t going to correct Debbie on that one. And there was no way for any of the doctors to find out that Debbie was lying at that moment. Nobody except for the gallery owner, Tom, and Leticia had known about the engagement beforehand, and the doctors certainly hadn’t interviewed any of those three.

“So if it’s not too much trouble,” Ross said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice, “I’d like it if my relationship with Miss Talcott was treated as serious and long-lasting, rather than a sordid fling to hide in the closet.”

The doctors all looked at Ross, and Ross looked right back at them. It was like a kind of staring contest, or like they thought they could read his mind if they just stared at him for long enough. He just hoped that he looked calm but solemn, rather than like he might throw up, which was how he felt inside.

“This doesn’t change the fact that we must handle the charges brought against Dr. Hardwick,” Dr. Perry said finally, turning to look at Debbie. “Given that this story is in print, people may read it and assume—”

“I understand,” Debbie said, smoothly cutting over Dr. Perry, “but you must admit that this is little more than gossip-mongering.”

“We cannot ignore the fact that Dr. Hardwick operated on someone with whom he had a personal relationship,” Dr. Perry noted.

“I regret that I did not recognize Miss Talcott at the time,” Ross admitted. “It was an unfortunate lack of observation on my part. But I immediately handed her over to Dr. Chavez and made no overtures while she was under my care in the hospital.”

Just when she came in for a checkup, his brain reminded him, but he wasn’t about to mention that.

“If you’ll look at the timeline here, supplied by Miss Talcott and verified both by her assistant and by her friend, both of whom served as caregivers while Miss Talcott had limited movement,” Debbie said, producing more carefully-typed pages for the doctors to look at, “you’ll see that Dr. Hardwick had hardly any role in Miss Talcott’s recovery. The majority of her care was done by attending nurses and by Dr. Chavez once she started her physical therapy. I have a statement from Dr. Chavez as well, testifying to my client’s good character and stating that he did not pay repeat visits to Miss Talcott while she was undergoing therapy.”

Again, Debbie used careful wording to avoid admitting that Ross had visited Sharon once while she was with Chavez. ‘Repeat visits’ was technically true in that he never repeated his visit to her there, but when phrased that way it sounded like Ross had never visited her at all.

The faces of the doctors showed nothing. Ross had no idea what they were thinking, or if they were thinking anything at all. Perhaps they had already made up their minds about him and this was just a formality. Perhaps he was already as good as fired, and this was just their way of following procedure so that he wouldn’t sue them when the axe fell.

“I have more paperwork for you to look at, if you’re in doubt of the seriousness of my client’s relationship with Miss Talcott,” Debbie said, producing the last of the papers. “These statements should show the co-signing of an apartment together, as well as my client listing his own apartment as for sale. Here are some financial statements…”

“We are aware that Dr. Hardwick paid for Miss Talcott’s surgery,” Dr. Glass cut in.

“That he did, and it was a very generous thing to do,” Debbie said. For the first time, he saw Debbie’s calm demeanor fracture just a tad. Her eyes narrowed, as if she was sniffing out blood.

“Perhaps,” Dr. Martinelli said casually, as if they were discussing where to eat lunch, “Or perhaps it was a form of payment—to buy her silence about their affair, or to convince her to sleep with him.”

Ross almost burst out of his chair to punch the guy. “Maybe that’s what you would do, or have done,” he snapped, “But that’s not what I do. I take care of the people that I love, and that’s what I was doing.”

“Ross,” Debbie said, her voice sharp in warning.

“Did you just accuse me of potentially having affairs with my patients?” Dr. Martinelli said, his voice going rough and dangerous.

“Seeing as you just accused me of literally bribing a woman to have sex with me, yes, I think I did,” Ross replied, letting his voice pitch low. He would take this out to the street if he had to. Sharon would never, in a million years, let anyone bribe her into doing anything that she didn’t want to do—her honor could never be bought. Hell, she’d read him the riot act for paying for her surgery and trying to buy her dinner when he was genuinely just trying to apologize. He pitied the man who tried to silence her on an issue of morality. The poor guy would find his head bitten off at the very least.

“Accusations of prostitution and bribery against my client will not be tolerated,” Debbie said calmly, and something about her manner made Dr. Martinelli back off. She was still standing, and was in fact now moving to stand behind Ross. She was the only one one on her feet while everyone else sat, forcing them to look up at her. It was a subtly protective gesture towards Ross, but a threatening one for everyone else. Ross remembered what someone had said the night he’d met Sharon’s friends—they’d called Debbie ‘our little shark.’ There was something very cold-blooded and soulless about Debbie now, something predatory and dark, and it made Ross very, very glad that she was on his side.

“We’ve spoken with the hospital staff,” Dr. Perry said, her voice taking on a tone that Ross remembered his mother, as well as his grade-school teachers, using from time to time. It was the ‘settle down or I’ll make you settle down’ voice. She pulled some papers out of a file and perused them quickly, as if to jog her memory. “They all went on record to say that your behavior was exemplary. No signs of any improper conduct towards a fellow employee or a patient, and none of them remember you behaving inappropriately towards Miss Talcott.”

His staff was loyal, thank God. Ross made a mental note to give them all absolutely fantastic Christmas presents this year.

“In fact,” Dr. Perry continued, “I had to remind them as to who Miss Talcott was, which I suppose shows that you must have behaved. If you hadn’t, then I imagine they would have remembered the patient you misbehaved with.”

“I don’t think we need to delve into speculation,” Dr. Glass said, “Do you?”

“Seeing as Ms. Sorrens’ article, upon which you have built your case, relies almost entirely upon speculation,” Debbie said sweetly, “I don’t see why you’re objecting to it now. Seems a bit late for that, doesn’t it?”

Debbie gave the doctors all a smile that could only be described as cold-blooded. Oh yes, Ross thought. She was a shark.

“Of course,” Debbie added, “If the papers in front of you aren’t enough to convince you of the upstanding moral character of my client, the seriousness of his relationship with Miss Talcott, and the unsavory nature of the woman who wrote this article on him, perhaps I can get one of Ms. Sorrens’s colleagues on the phone. They have said that they would be delighted to tell you all about the stunts she’s pulled over the years.”

One of Debbie’s hands dropped down to Ross’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. That was the cue that she had worked out with Ross beforehand. He spoke, keeping his voice as calm as possible. It wasn’t easy, considering how much he still wanted to give voice to the rage he could feel burning like fire in his lungs.

“Dr. Perry—everyone—please understand, I waited until Sharon was no longer my patient to date her. And I am dating her. In fact, we’re engaged. This isn’t an affair or a seduction. This is a serious long-term relationship. I fully admit that there is the unfortunate coincidence of my operating on her right after we had met, but I behaved as ethically as I could from that moment on, and so did she. There’s no scandal here. And if you throw me under the bus, all you’ll do is give reporters like this one permission to turn other people’s lives into a nine-day sensation. If we give them an inch, they’ll take a mile, and how many lives will be ruined because of that?”

Debbie squeezed his shoulder again, this time as a silent well done, and Ross let out the breath he’d been holding.

The members of the board all looked at each other. None of them said anything, although both Dr. Levine and Dr. Yusif nodded as if in agreement with an unspoken comment. Then, almost as one, they all turned back to look at Ross.

Ross held his breath.

“You’ve given us quite a lot to think about,” Dr. Perry said at last. “We will review the files that Ms. Montgomery has been so kind as to provide us with, and we will consider what you have said. If you’ll step outside, we will have an answer for you shortly.”

“Thank you,” Ross said, standing.

Debbie nodded at each doctor in turn, and gave them another one of those sweet, terrifying grins. “I’m sure that you’ll all make the right decision,” she said. “After all, it would be terrible for you to fire an innocent man, or for that information to be leaked to the press. If you’re looking for all of this… how shall we put it… kerfuffle, to die down, then perhaps quickly firing a man without giving him due course isn’t the way to do it, hmm?”

The five doctors stared at her with equal parts fear and anger in their eyes. Debbie then dropped her file on the table. “Silly me, almost forgot the last file. You’ll want to review this, as well.”

She then put an arm lightly around Ross’s shoulders, like he’d seen security guards do to celebrities, and steered him out of the room.

“What was in that file?” He whispered to her the moment that they were out the door and into the hallway.

“A news article written by another person who works for Amanda’s paper,” Debbie replied, leading him to a bench. “There are two pieces, actually. It seems that her fellow journalists have been waiting a long time for a chance to cut Amanda down to size. She’s loathed by the entirety of the Pittsburgh press. The first piece tells your side of the story and denounces the board for firing you, and the other one is an exposé on Amanda, complete with interviews by the people that she’s screwed over.”

Ross gaped at Debbie. “You literally just threatened them, you know that, right?”

“Did I?” Debbie replied, examining her perfectly manicured nails. “Or did I merely suggest what the consequences of their actions would be if they pursued a particular course? Consequences are neither good nor bad, they are simply a result of one’s actions. Like the law of gravity.”

She sounded so completely different from the enthusiastic, geeky person that Ross knew that he lost all power of speech for a moment. When he got his voice back, he said, “You know, you and Melanie are a lot more alike than I thought you were.”

“That’s what everybody says,” Debbie mused.

“Do you think that they’ll clear me?” Ross asked.

“If they don’t,” Debbie said, her voice and face going dark with anger, “They’re going to find themselves in the middle of a storm that they’re not prepared to weather.”

“It’s really sweet of you,” Ross admitted, “Doing all of this. You really didn’t have to.”

“I know that I didn’t,” Debbie replied. “And neither did Mel or Tom or Letty or Jonas. But we wanted to, because Sharon’s our friend and so are you. That’s just how this whole love thing works.”

“I still don’t know if I made the right decision,” Ross admitted, “Dragging her into this.”

“You didn’t drag her into anything,” Debbie said. “She walked into it of her own free will. Sharon’s a big girl, and she’s got a good head on her shoulders. Nobody can make her do anything that she doesn’t want to do or doesn’t believe is right. You of all people should know that.”

“I do know that,” Ross protested. “I just… I spent so long in love with someone who manipulated me into doing whatever they wanted, even if it made me unhappy. I don’t want to do that to her.”

“Sharon loves you enough to tell you if she doesn’t want to do something, or if she’s feeling unhappy,” Debbie pointed out. “When we really love someone, we love them enough to be honest with them and deal with any problems that arise, because we know that their love is worth fighting for.”

Ross hadn’t thought about it that way. “That was… pretty wise of you.”

Debbie smirked at him. “I do have my moments.”

Ross’s phone went off, and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was a text from Sharon. He read it, then looked over at Debbie. “Sharon’s here. She’s in the lobby.”

“Don’t tell her where you are. Say that you’ll come and see her once this is all finished,” Debbie replied. “I know that you want to see her now, but you can’t afford to be distracted, and I don’t know if the board will look favorably on her visiting you here.”

“Fair enough,” Ross said, although he didn’t like it. He texted Debbie’s advice to Sharon.

No worries, Sharon’s reply read. I’ll be down here whenever you get finished.

As Ross finished reading the text and put his phone into his pocket, Dr. Yusif emerged from the meeting room. He looked Ross straight in the eye for a moment, as if he were reading something hidden in there, and Ross wondered again if the guy was psychic or something.

“We’re ready for you,” Dr. Yusif said after the moment had passed.

Ross and Debbie both stood up. Debbie adjusted her suit slightly. “Shall we?” She said, gesturing at the door to the room.

They filed back in. It looked like the other doctors hadn’t so much as shifted in their chairs or touched the papers in front of them.

Ross sat down, and this time Debbie did as well. Her expression was somehow blank and quietly confident at the same time, as if confidence was merely her baseline. She looked so unconcerned that she could have been waiting to hear a weather report for the day instead of the results of a hearing she’d spent all night preparing for. Ross wished he could look like that. He tried for earnest and focused instead, but was a little worried that he simply came off as desperate.

“We’ve reviewed the papers and discussed the matter among ourselves,” Dr. Perry announced. “Your case was quite compelling, Dr. Hardwick, and I must admit it was in no small part helped by your sterling career at this hospital so far.”

Ross felt a little like punching the air in victory, knowing that all of his hard work over the years had been noticed and was now paying off.

“There was much debate,” Dr. Perry admitted, and Ross saw Dr. Glass and Dr. Levine exchange hostile looks, giving him the suspicion that they were on different sides of the argument, “But in the end we came to a consensus. We find, Dr. Hardwick, that you conducted yourself in an ethical manner as regards to Ms. Talcott,” Dr. Perry announced. “You are dismissed.”

Ross did his best not to run out of the room. They’d done it! He was okay! He got to keep Sharon and continue his life’s work.

Debbie stood, smiling at each of them. It was a much softer and more genuine smile than the one she’d given them before. “Thank you so much for your time, all of you. We hope that you have a pleasant day.”

She guided Ross out of the room once more, all the way to the elevators, and did not release him until they were inside.

Then she whooped, taking off her jacket as if she felt constricted by it. “We did it!”

“No, you did it,” Ross replied. “You and all of the others. I was going to walk in there completely unprepared and would probably have gotten slaughtered.”

“You wouldn’t have. Your speech at the end there was perfect,” Debbie replied.

“I owe you all for this one,” Ross said seriously.

“No, you don’t,” Debbie said. “You really don’t. Unless you want to buy us all a round of drinks tonight, in which case, don’t let me stop you.”

They exited the elevator and Ross’s eyes immediately found Sharon, who was sitting on one of the benches in the lobby. She looked worried, chewing on her bottom lip and fiddling with her hair. She caught sight of them and stood, her eyes wide with worry. “Well?”

Ross managed to keep his face serious for one moment, and it looked like Sharon might burst into tears again—but then he grinned.

“You asshole,” Sharon said, laughing. “You had me worried!”

Ross scooped her up in his arms and whirled her around, which got Sharon laughing even harder. “People will stare!”

“Let them stare,” Ross declared. “We can be as obvious as we want now.”

He did put Sharon down, though, which was when he saw the teasing look in her eyes “What is it?”

“My mom called while I was waiting for you. And I realized that… we’re engaged… and you still haven’t met my parents.”

Ross groaned. “This’ll be a shock for them.”

“They’ll love you, don’t worry. After all, I do.” Sharon kissed his cheek.

Ross smiled down at her. “Good, since I love you.”

“If you two are finished being in love and sickeningly cute,” Debbie said. “Can we get lunch or something? I’m starving and neither Ross nor I have slept in twenty-four hours.”

Ross laughed, releasing Sharon only to take her hand in his. He didn’t know if he’d ever let go. “All right, come on, lunch is on me.”

“You’re damn right it is,” Debbie muttered, but Ross caught her smiling fondly at them when he wrapped an arm around Sharon’s shoulders and she let him kiss the top of her head.

He couldn’t wait to see what the next six months held, and the six months after that, and the six months after that.