Dr. Chris Deleo // Dr. C

8.8. "Yes, but I'll always be stupid... Let's not all rush to disagree."
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Co-written with halfway2heaven

It was one of the worst emotional rollercoasters Chris had ever been on, and he wanted off. It seemed like every time he just got to a tolerable place in his head, something twisted and turned, pulling the rug out from under him all over again. It had felt like he had lost the ability to think straight; that everything flooding through his brain that he was trying to slot into all the right places had broken him and it wasn’t a feeling he was coping well with experiencing. He didn’t profess to have had an easy life, and although on the face of it, he appeared to be easygoing and just chilling his way through life, that was hardly the truth beyond the masks he so easily kept up. He got upset and hurt just like everyone else did. In fact, he really wished he had reached his quote of hurt because he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

Serena dropping Bella’s bombshell on him could never have been something he could have expected, let alone prepared for. Making the decision to not give Rick one of his kidneys had been the hardest thing in his life he had to consider. He had originally been so sure he would do it, but when push came to shove, he just panicked and he got terrified. Maybe a few weeks ago he would have just gone in like a white knight and done it without question. Just like day with the sinkhole. There had been no question then that he needed to go down that hole and save the guy, and when it came to light that Rick might need a kidney transplant, Chris had been just as confident about that. But for the first time in his life, he was chillingly terrified of what might happen if he gave up a kidney and there were complications. He could die, he could lose functions, he might never be fit enough to be a trauma surgeon again and he came to the realisation that trauma surgery was his life. He lived and breathed it and if he couldn’t do that, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

( The thing that sealed the deal, however, was Serena... )


Word Count | 2,143

7.4. "The same passions in man and woman nonetheless differ in tempo; hence man and woman do not cease misunderstanding one another."
Friedrich Nietzsche

Co-written with halfway2heaven

It was around nine at night when the buzzer at Chris’ apartment door sounded. He couldn’t deny that he was surprised to hear it. A large part of him didn’t think it would happen. He knew it wasn’t Serena, she had a key and definitely wouldn’t ring the buzzer anymore. They had stopped ringing each other’s buzzers awhile ago now. Chris had been standing in his kitchen, looking out at the view of the beach in the distance while he waited for the kettle to boil. It had been a long day and draining day, and he didn’t think it was about to end any time soon. Rick’s chemo had started out okay on the face of it. In fact, he seemed to be tolerating it okay through the whole administration of it. He was fine when the central line was inserted, and seemed to stay fine as the drug entered his system, even feeling okay enough to tease Chris about overhearing him having sex with Serena in the middle of the previous night when he went to the bathroom.

( It lulled Chris into a false sense of security, to say the least... )


Word Count | 3,722