The Love We Choose

Chapter 36

Following Dr. Mackenzie's opening speech, the acknowledgement and award portion of the night began. Donors were highlighted for their continued patronage to the hospital. Administrators were acknowledged for their continued hard work in securing funding and grants. Research teams were congratulated on their breakthroughs which were being published in medical journals and discussed at conferences around the country and world, including Tiffany and Nurse Blake. Their table was so engrossed in picking their brains about their research project dealing with blood gas information in NICU patients that they almost missed it when Huan's name was called for "Fellow of the Year."

Did they really just say my name? To say that Huan was stunned was an understatement. After the conversation with Dr. Levater earlier in the day, he had resigned himself to the fact that there was no way he was beating Dr. Zolle.

Lynne poking him in the rib and pushing him to get up brought him back to reality. All around the room people were politely clapping for him. His table was a little more enthused than most. Huan got up and accepted his award on autopilot with a smile on his face. If you asked him what Dr. Levater said as he gave a small speech about Huan to the crowd listing his accolades and distinctions, he wouldn't be able to tell you. The only proof to Huan that he indeed had been given the award was his name engraved on the medium sized glass statue in his hands.

Returning to his table, Huan was met with warm congratulations from his tablemates. Noah and Finn came over and enthusiastically shook his hand, appreciative that if they had to lose to someone it was a worthwhile opponent and not Dr. Shah or Dr. Zolle.

Once he actually sat down, Lynne wrapped him up in a big hug before giving him a peck on the cheek, "that's my SuperHuan! Hold up the award, yeah, like that," she instructed him before taking a quick snapshot of him with her phone camera. "I'm sending it to Mama Ying right now so she can use it for bragging rights. Expect a phone call."

"Good thing I put my phone on silent."

"She'll be soooo pissed."

Not too long later, the presentation portion of the night was over and the dance floor was opened. Taking the opportunity, Noah got up and asked Lynne if she would accompany him for a dance and she obliged. The other couples at the table followed suit and wound their way around the dance floor.

About fifteen minutes later, Noah walked back to the table, solo.

"Back so soon? Where's Lynne?" Huan asked him, eyes searching for Lynne.

"She dumped me for that old guy from before," Noah replied grumpily as he sat down next to Huan with a fresh glass of Jack & Coke in his hand.

Sharing a look with Finn over Noah's head, the two broke out in a fit of laughter at their friend's expense.

"Welp, your charm and winning personality can only get you so far, buddy. She could probably smell the bullshit rolling off of you. Your cologne can only do so much." Finn stated as he clapped him on his back.

"Her loss. She doesn't know what she's missing out on."

XXX

Huan stood next to the bar and shared another toast for the new year with the other fellows in attendance. After a couple of dances with Lynne, he had shared dances with several women, a few of which had slipped him their personal numbers, been congratulated by several colleagues including Dr. Zolle, introduced to numerous big-wigs in the medical field in attendance who were eager to get him on their service (his pocket was crammed with business cards with instructions to have him call them once the holidays were over), and had more than a couple of drinks. The adrenaline and confidence from his win were flowing and he felt as though he could keep going for several more hours. However, he knew that he needed to check-in with Lynne to make sure she was alright.

Looking down at his watch, Huan noticed that it was rapidly approaching midnight. Excusing himself from the group, which was met with playful ribbing, he went in search of her. Approaching their table, the only two sitting down at the moment were Tiffany and Nurse Blake's wife, Mary.

"Hello ladies, have either of you seen Lynne?"

"Well, she was here a little while ago. I think all that dancing had her feet hurting. But excused herself and I thought she went to find you. She may have needed some fresh air. She did look a little pale," Mary told him.

"Thank you."

"Oh, Alistair dropped this envelope off for her," Tiffany said as she handed him a plain white envelope with Lynne's name on it. "He came by the table not too long after she got up. He wanted to say goodbye to everyone and give her that. He was a hoot."

Huan accepted it and tucked it inside his tuxedo pocket. "Thanks," he told them with a nod as he went in search of his MIA friend. He was more than a little concerned that she hadn't returned yet. Setting his course, he headed in the direction of the bathrooms. Politely weaving himself through the thinning crowd, panic started to creep into him as he overheard snippets of a conversation.

"Can you believe her? Getting so inebriated she threw up in the plant in front of all those people."

"Some women just aren't appropriate for nights like this."

"I mean, why would he even bring her. I've never seen them together before."

Picking up his pace, albeit a little wobbly on his own feet, he breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Lynne sitting down having a conversation with Dr. Ulias on the couch in the lobby. Working his way over toward them he looked her over and noticed she was a little flushed looking. "Are you alright?"

Confused at his overly concerned tone, she responded, sending an apologetic look to Dr. Ulias before returning her gaze to him. "I'm good. How are you?"

"It's just. I-I-I heard," he stopped stuttering to sign to her, 'you didn't vomit did you? I overheard people talking.'

'No, I was nauseous, but didn't throw up. I went outside for some air and ran into Dr. Ulias when I came back.'

'Baby is ok?'

"We're fine. Just chatting with Dr. Ulias about this and that." Getting up she stared at his face, taking in the red-tint to his ears and the dilation of his pupils. She didn't even want to think about the unease of his gait. Grabbing his wrist and checking his watch, she noted the time. Turning back to Dr. Ulias she thanked the doctor for the wonderful conversation, "but we need to be heading home. As you know, I need to rest. It's been a long night."

"As expected," Dr. Ulias replied. "Look at the time! A good doctor would ensure that her patient got enough rest; I'm glad my patient is smart enough to know that on her own," she said with a wink and a quick hug to both of them. "I'll be seeing you guys next month. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I have to go find my gorgeous wife and get her home too." Dr. Ulias said as she walked off.

Wrapping her arm around Huan's waist, Lynne angled them in the direction of their table to go pickup her handbag and Huan's award. "It's time for us to go, boy."

After a whirlwind of goodbyes and a momentary fuss of locating coat-check and valet tickets, Lynne and Huan were sailing through the empty streets of New York City. Well, empty is a relative term when it comes to NYC.

When they finally got back to Huan's apartment, after both of them had showered and changed, they got down to their Christmas traditions. Snuggled up on the couch, each with a cup of hot tea they popped in the beginning of their Disney movie marathon, The Lion King. Before Simba could even think about being king, they had both drifted off to sleep.

XXX

A/N: Happy Wednesday Lovelies! Hope you enjoyed 2 back-to-back chapters. Don't forget to like, comment, and share.