I follow his lead. The tears are still coming, and they make me angrier than the elevator ever could.
“Ugh, I’m crying. This is great.”
“So what? Keep breathing.”
The air begins to feel like air again, rather than lead. When my heart finally decides to stay in my chest, I swallow hard and blink up at him.
Naturally, the first thing out of my mouth is pure nonsense. “You’re not in scrubs.”
His mouth twitches. “No.”
“And you’re not in your slutty gray sweatpants, which is unfortunate for me.”
A quiet breath of amusement leaves him. “I had a meeting.”
I blink, still foggy. “Yeah? What kind of meeting?”
His gaze flicks over my face, like he’s checking I’m really back. “Lunch with my mother.”
I frown. “You call lunch with your mother a meeting?”
He shakes his head, looking slightly dazed. “I have no idea why I said that.”
A laugh bubbles up in my throat. “Do I make you nervous, Doc?”
He watches me for a long beat, his expression unreadable. “You’re terrifying,” he says softly, finally letting go of my chin.
“I get that a lot.”
He reaches out, his fingers brushing a stray hair from my cheek with a gentleness that makes my stomach flip.
“Do you think it’ll take long?” I ask.
Before he can answer, the elevator hums. The lights flicker to life, and suddenly the box jolts, resuming its climb.
“Thank God,” I whisper.
I try to stand when the doors slide open, but my back immediately screams in protest.
“Ah.”
Beckett’s hands are on me before I can even pretend to be fine.
“I sneezed earlier,” I mutter, leaning into him despite myself.
“That’ll do it,” he says, helping me straighten. “Especially if you didn’t let it heal the last time. Which I’m guessing you didn’t.”
I swallow hard because… yeah. That sounds like me. Never letting anything fully heal. Just powering through until my body physically brings me down.
I shuffle out, trying to regain some semblance of dignity. “Uh… thanks. For the… breathing.”
He steps out behind me.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m helping.”
“No. Absolutely not. Go home and let me wither away in peace.”
