TWENTY EIGHT | first date

                                    

                                          
warning: slight mention of eating disorders (no specific details)
                          
"Why are you doing this, Eva?" Dr. Pitt questions while Tony coughs violently from his bed.
                          
My heart aches as I watch him. "To hell if I know." But my eyes snap back to the doctors. "All I know is that I am staying here with Tony. And you can't tell him I'm doing this because he will never let me live it down."
                          
"Well, I've already informed Dr. Mallard you're not infected."
                          
"And I'm sure you've told him about my anorexia nervosa." He furrows his brows in surprise. "It's not the first time I've been diagnosed, doc."
                          
"I highly suggest you admit yourself to the hospital for treatment."
                          
But I shake my head. "Ducky will understand. Even Kate may understand. But it's Gibbs I'm worried about."
                          
"No, the problem is that Tony can infect you."
                          
"So all of these UV lights and air scrubbers, are they just confidence boosters? Make your patients feel like they're gonna make it out of this alive?"
                          
"I cannot permit you to stay. This strain has been genetically altered to resist antibiotics." He informs me. "You realize what that means?"
                          
"The I.V. in Tony's arm is doing nothing for him."
                          
Even in the blue lights, Tony's face was growing paler and paler by the minute.
                          
"What's the point of doing it if it's useless?"
                          
"Well, it can't hurt." He looks back at Tony. "And it gives him. . ."
                          
"Hope."
                          
Tony speaks up. "Eva, why don't you tell Dr. Brad about the wet T-shirt contest you won." His voice hoarse from all the coughing.
                          
"Only after you tell Emma about the transsexual you made out with." I smile perkily, a new surge of energy coursing through me.
                          
"That never happened." He mutters to the nurse. "That. . .never happened. . ." Blood comes out from the back of his throat when he coughs.
                          
"Would you tell Kate I said thanks for the cold?"
                          
Since she tested negative, Dr. Pitt made her leave a while ago.
                          
"You can tell her yourself."
                          
The only way they let me stay is if I wear a mask, so that's exactly what I do. I sit by Tony's bedside, comforting him when he coughs.
                          
"If you must know. . ." Tony inhales deeply, "I wasn't going to read the letter."
                          
I brush my hair back frantically. "What do you mean?"
                          
"The letter with the. . .powder, I was never going to read the letter because I, frankly, didn't care what it had to say."
                          
"And why is that?"
                          
"There's this girl I've been falling for. . .oh, almost two years." I swallow back my tears. "Dark brown hair, amber brown eyes. . .swears like a sailor." His chuckle turns into another cough. "But she's been starving herself for a long time because she thinks she isn't pretty enough."
                          
He reaches a shaky hand to my cheek, caressing it softly.
                          
"What she doesn't know is that she is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on."
                          
Dr. Pitt and Emma return to take a few x-rays of Tony's lungs. They place the plate behind him before asking him to lay back down.
                          
"Alright, everybody behind the shield." The doctor switches off the overhead UV lights. "Tony, I'm going to need you to take a deep breath and hold it."