Blue Moon (Now, I'm no longer alone)

"And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold"

Suddenly all the lights became flashes and all the spots were dark. Loud gasps and the hottest heat accompanied with pain.

“Paramedics needed… EMT’s needed!”

“FUCK! JESUS CHRIST! RIO!” Jennifer Kale, Rio’s team member, was yelling in horror, not knowing how to help out her friend, who was screaming louder and agonizing in pain. “Rio do not close your eyes, stay with us, the paramedics are here!” Jen says.
Rio could not form a single sentence due to the incredible pain she was feeling.
The EMT’S stabilize Rio and check for her consciousness and breathing, soon taking her to the medical center. Her coach, Paul, known for his basketball court name, Vision, accompanies the EMT’s and Rio.

After a few exams and surgery, Rio is stable, painkillers in her veins and a bunch of people in her hospital room.

“When she tore her ACL she also lost balance and hit her head on the bench, that’s why she fainted soon after” Dr. Torres was on her case. She was usually the one who took care of the team’s injuries.

“So what’s the verdict here? Is she good now?” Vision is right by side with the Dr. Torre’s side and asks her the question with a low register.

“You don’t need to whisper, I’m here, I should know what is going to happen” Rio finally says.

“Rio, don’t move too much,” Jen says. She’s right by her side.

“Dr. Torres, am I going to be able to play again?”

“Yes, Ms Vidal, but you do need time to recover”

“What are you trying to say?” Rio swallows her saliva, worrying.

“You won’t be able to finish this season’s games-”

“WHAT? BUT-” Rio interrupts her

“No buts! Listen to her! Continue, please” Lilia, the team’s sponsor, enters the room.

“Good evening Lilia!” Dr. Torres greets her and then directs her attention to Rio again “You need to follow the post-surgery cares in order to come back for next year’s season.”

“My team needs me!” She nervously says with a shaking voice and crazy eyes. “I can’t be away for that long. Isn’t there, like a… an injection for the pain you can give me?”

“You will follow medical orders, Vidal! We cannot risk losing you for good. The team will be fine.” Vision approaches her.

“They better be. Rio is our top3 best player and we need her to recover from this as soon as possible.” Lilia says while looking at her calendar “So Doctor Torres, what’s the procedure here?”

“Vidal needs to stay still and rest for a week, she can do this here at the hospital or at home if she’s able to have home care. After that, Active physiotherapy input may be required for the last six months or so. “ Rio gasps, worried. “We’ll keep an eye on it, maybe it could be less” trying to calm Rio down.

“Well, can I have a nurse at home with me, then? I don’t like hospitals.” She directs the question to Vision and Vision looks at Lilia for answers.

“We can arrange that. But I need you to take this seriously, Rio. I mean it. My money is on this team and on you. Please.” She approaches Rio while saying it and puts a hand on her arms. “You have to promise me nothing will get in the way of you recovering.” Rio nods.

“Alright, we have Nurse Maximoff on call, maybe she can take your case” Dr Torres says

“Well, well, well… Vision’s hot girlfriend will be my nurse for a week…” She loves to provoke her coach

“If you hit on my wife I swear to god I’ll not let you back on the team!”

“You don’t make that call!” Lilia gives him a warning look. “Do not hit on his girlfriend, Vidal. Better yet, do not hit on your nurse!”

“Well, save the warnings for when she sees the physical therapist they hired” Wanda enters the room and Rio smirks and says “Do tell!”

“Stop that!” Lilia warns her, pointing a finger close to her face.

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And just like that, a week goes by. Rio managed to stay still and let Wanda help her.

On the first day of physical therapy, Rio goes unwilling and gets to the clinic with an incredibly big pout. She waits.

“Rio Vidal?” The doctor calls and Rio looks at her and all of a sudden, no words, no movement. She approaches with a big smile on her face. “I’m Dr. Harkness, pleasure to meet you” Reaching out her hand to shake Rio’s.

“Pleasure is all mine, Dr. Harkness” She’s blushing. She cannot believe she’s blushing in front of her doctor.

“Well, William here will help you get to your bed. If you want a wheelchair instead of the cane, let me know!” She says and then walks into the room while William helps Rio.

“Does she have a name?” Rio asks William in a whisper

“Oh, they told me you might ask this and I’m not allowed to say it. You’re gonna have to ask her yourself.” William says while laughing a little.

“What do you mean they-” Of course Lilia would not let her have this.

They reach the bed and when Rio looks comfortable, Agatha comes closer.

“How are you feeling today?” She asks Rio

“My knee is hurting a little. I think it’s going to rain”

Agatha frowns and asks with a curious face “what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, you know what they say… When someone’s knee hurts, it’s a signal that it’s going to rain” Agatha can’t help but laugh and Rio can’t help but smile and then bites her lower lip.

“Again, what does that have to do with anything?” Rio just shrugged. “Alright, I’m going to start with some Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for that pain and then some exercises. Sounds good?”

“Yeah!” Rio agrees without a question. She just wants to give Agatha what she wants. She’s just cooperating, it doesn’t mean she has a crush. Of course not.

Everything goes smoothly, Agatha helps Rio with the exercises, and everytime she puts her hands on Rio’s waist, Rio’s face burns. This is not a crush. Of course not.

By the end of the session, William helps Rio to the chair so she can talk to Agatha.

“So, today went really well. If you keep cooperating I don’t think you’re gonna need six months of me” Agatha says playfully and smiles.

“Well, in that case I won’t be cooperating anymore…” It’s okay, Rio thinks. That was subtle.

Agatha was caught by surprise and when she was about to answer, William enter the room

“Excuse me, Dr. Harkness, there’s someone on the phone and they say it’s urgent”
Her face just falls. “Excuse me, Ms Vidal, I need to get this!”

Rio watches Agatha through the glass window. She picks up the phone and her face looks worried and hurt. Agatha rests her head on her hands. Not long after the call she tells William something and immediately runs. William comes back into the room.

“Dr. Harkness had an emergency she had to attend to, so she told me to help you out and I will send you the plan via email, if that’s okay.” He says

“Of course. Does she need something? Maybe I can help” Rio is genuinely worried.

“No need. She just needed to go now, but I’m sure everything will be settled soon. Now let me help you out”.

Rio gets to the car and the driver, Jack, drives her home. Once she gets home, she can’t shake the feeling of worry. She goes to sleep that night wanting to text Agatha.

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It’s 8PM, Agatha is sitting on her couch and Wanda joins her with two cups of tea in hand.

“Thank you for getting him to the hospital today, and staying until now. I was hoping nothing would go wrong today, specially today”

“No problem. The babysitter was white as a ghost when I got here!” Wanda jokes trying to light the mood. “But I’m here, whenever you need me. I thank God I was on my day off as well”

“I know… I don’t think I can thank you enough, Wanda!” Agatha looks down at her cup

“There 's no need. I’m your friend, I’m his godmother for chrissakes. I’m here for you both!” She grabs Agatha’s free hand and that makes her look up. “So, how was your first day?”

Agatha takes a big breath. “It was going really well, but, actually I think Vidal might-” She interrupts herself “nevermind”. shaking her head.

“No-no! Tell me, what did she do? Did she make you feel uncomfortable?”

“No! God no! She was very good during the session”

“Good! Because, as I told you, she’s a flirt, but I was afraid she would go too far with you”

“why?” Agatah frowns.

“Well, I have a strong feeling you’re her type”

“I’m Rio Vidal’s type? the basketball player who is seen with multiple models?”

“They throw themselves at her and she just has some fun. She never really dated the public ones. But, she dated an older woman once, I mean, she was 10 years older than her and she was cold” Wanda explains.

“Wait a minute, are you calling me old AND cold?” she asks playfully

“Yes and no!” She laughs. “You’re only 5 years older than she is, and you’re pretty closed off. She’s almost retiring, she’ll maybe play for two more years and then maybe settle down…”

“Are you suggesting I should be the one to settle her down?” Agatha is in disbelief

“I’m just saying you should try to date someone. You’ve been so nervous, it would be nice to blow off some steam.”

Agatha looks at her in shock. “Anyways… I do think she tried to flirt with me today. Once” Says holding up one finger.

“how?” Both of them take a sip of the tea.

“Well, I told her if she keeps cooperating, she might not need to be stuck with me for six months and she said she will not be cooperating anymore…”

“Oh my god, that was the most subtle I’ve heard she was being…”

“Really?” This picks Agatha’s curiosity

“Well, yeah, she’s usually more unhinged.”

“Mommy?” Nick appears at the bottom of the stairs, sleepy. Agatha gets up to hold him.

“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?” She strokes his hair and kisses his forehead.

“I’m hungry” he complains “can I have mc donalds?”

“You can have some soup, if you want! You can’t eat any junk food after what happened today”

“Yeah, Nicky, listen to your mom!” Wanda moves closer, giving him a kiss on the cheek “Look, I have to go, but if you need anything, if he vomits again or faints, let me know, okay?” Agatha just nods. “Also, the diagnosis will be ready tomorrow in the afternoon, do you want me to call you or send it to you?”

“Can you send it, please?” Wanda nods. “And, hey, thanks for the distraction earlier”

“Anytime!”

After Agatha puts Nicky to bed, she showers and thinks of Rio. She thinks about the flirting situation. She hasn’t been in a real relationship since Nicky was one year old and her then girlfriend couldn’t handle a small child. She decided to focus on him then. She had had a couple of hot dates but nothing exciting enough to start dating again. But she couldn’t start right now, not while Nicky is sick. But that didn’t stop her from having dreams about the basketball player.

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Second appointment

Rio buys coffee for both of them.

“Morning! I brought coffee for us since you schedule the appointment for basically dawn.” She says it with a smile on her face, handing Agatha de coffee. “I didn’t know how you take you coffee so I just took a wild guess”

“Well, first of all, don’t be so dramatic, it’s 8AM and second…” She tries the black coffee “You got it right, thank you Ms Vidal.” She starts to walk to the bed where she would examine Rio’s knee.

“8AM is a hate crime against people like me who go to sleep at midnight and please, call me Rio, you already touched my thigh…” She tries to be subtle but her voice comes out really low and raspy.

“I touched your knee! God, you’re being dramatic today!” Without noticing, Agatha plays Rio’s silly game.

“Semantics!” Shrugging

“So, any pain today?” Agatha asks while examining her knee

“Not really. But I think I’ve been so scared of touching the ground, I haven’t been putting any weight on it”

“Well, don’t put any weight on it just yet, next week we will do some strength exercises”

Rio just nods in agreement and they go on with the exercises Agatha prepared for the first week. After they have done everything, Agatha takes Rio to the room so they can discuss some at home exercises.

“So, in this flyer you’ll see some exercises you can do at home to ease the possible pain and to heal faster. Prone Hip Extension, Prone Knee Flexion… the basics I taught you.”

“Alright, thanks!” As Agatha moves to stand up, Rio can’t help herself and asks “Hey, is everything alright? You seemed pretty worried the other day, I couldn’t stop thinking about it” Good Rio, now she knows you thought about her nonstop.

Agatha gives her a light smile “It’s all good,” lies… “thanks for worrying and… thinking about me?” She smirks playfully trying to get Rio not to ask anymore questions and stands up “William, can you come in here?” she yells

“Can you blame me?” Rio just can’t help herself. William enters the room and starts to help Rio.

Once Rio is in the car, before closing the door she asks William “Hey, teen”

“It’s William, Ms Vidal” He corrects her

“Whatever.” Dismissing with her hands “What do you know about Dr. Harkness?”

“I’m not allowed to talk about this, you know that!”

“Come on, kid, help me out here. I’ll even get you courtside tickets to any game you want…” William actually seems to be considering.

“Alright, I’ll give you three facts, the rest of it you have to discover yourself. I don’t wanna get fired”

“Hit me!” Her smile is so big now you can see from miles away.

“Okay, so, she’s not in a relationship, as I’m sure that’s what’s eating you inside. I’m not sure she’s a lesbian, but I get a vibe and her name is Agatha. That’s it, I’m not saying anything anymore.” He walks away before Rio can ask another question.

“THANKS TEEN!!!” She yells.

“Where to?” Jack asks

“My house. Jack, how soon do you think it’s too soon to ask a woman out?”

“Well, I’m not the one here, I asked my wife out on the first day we met” they laugh together

“How did you do it?”

“I just told her I thought she was really beautiful and smart in our class and that I would love to take her out for dinner” Rio just thinks about it and never answers. “for what it’s worth, I think this lady would be crazy not to say yes to you, Ms Vidal” She just gives him a sweet smile.

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It’s now 11AM and Agatha is in her office when Wanda calls her.

“What is it?” sounding really anxious

“Wait, nothing too bad, Agatha! I can’t send you the results via email now, they have to be put in the system first. But I wanted to see if you would want to know now”

“Yes!” she abruptly says

“Alright, Nicholas has iron deficiency anemia and he’s going to need blood transfusion”

“Oh my god, Wanda. I can’t-” She takes a deep breath “I give all have, all my blood right now” She starts to cry

“Hey, Aggs, you know he’s O’negative, we need more of it to successfully do it. Can you meet me for lunch at the cafeteria? That way they’ll think you’re just waiting for the results. I can’t do this through the phone”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way”.

Nicky is staying at the hospital day care, so she swings by to give him a hug and check on him before meeting Wanda.

Once they are at the cafeteria, Wanda jumps right into it.

“Look, isn’t there anyone you know that has the same blood type? It’s rare, we’ll have to collect.”

Agatha bites her upper lip “No, I don’t. We have to ask everyone we know, do some sort of campaign. I don’t know Wanda, I can’t let it hurt him.”

“We will figure it out! We have some time, okay? He seems to be doing fine today. Talk to his doctor first and let’s see the options.” Agatha agrees with a nod and right when she looks to the other side, she sees Rio. “Is that Rio? What is she doing in the hospital now?”

“Oh, she has a follow up with Torres and that means my lunch is over! Let me know how it goes, yeah?” Wanda says while standing up and giving a little kiss on Agatha’s head. Right after, Rio locks eyes with Agatha, it lingers for a few seconds and Rio decides to wave at her. She waves back with a thin smile.

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Right after Rio’s appointment, Wanda accompanies her to the exit and they spot Agatha in Dr. Robbins office.

“Hey, what’s that about?” Rio asks Wanda and points to the office

“Nothing that concerns you, Rio. Personal business” Wanda cuts he off but with her nicest voice.

“Rude. I’m just worried” Wanda doesn’t answer. “So… you’re friends?”

“Oh my god, stop with the personal questions”

“Wanda, you’re not just a nurse to me, you’re in my friends circle, come on.”

“Now we’re friends? I thought I was your Coach’s hot girlfriend.” They laugh

“Well, you can be my favorite and continue to be his hot girlfriend” She smirks playfully

“Agatha and I have known each other for twenty years now, so yes, you can say we’re friends” trying to mock Rio’s curiosity

“Have you dated?” Shyly asks looking away

“Oh my god!”

“Seriously”

“Wouldn’t you like to know…”

“I would.”

“No, we never dated. We were always friends” Rio looks at her trying to telepathically ask her if Agatha dates women. It takes Wanda a moment “She’s a lesbian, if that’s what you want to know” Rio can’t hide her smile and wide eyes. “But, please, do not go there. At least not now.”

“Why?” She frowns

“Just… She’s your doctor… she’s going through stuff and you’re a womanizer, Rio. I don’t want to see her being hurt just because you have the hots for her.”

“Ouch?? I just wanted to ask her out”

“Well, don’t” Wanda tries to end the conversation but thinks about it for a moment. “At least, be sure she wants to date before asking her, okay? Don’t just ask out of the blue, she’s a scary cat and… I’m not telling you anything else, shh.” Rio gestures, zipping her mouth and smiles.

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While at the Dr. Robbins office, Agatha tries to understand the options.

“Well, we can start the treatment with an Iron-rich diet” The dr. suggests

“Done!”

“Good, we also have the Iron supplements, but I think you can try the diet for a few days first”

“Okay, and what about the blood transfusion?”

“We need to collect as much as we can so he will have enough”

Agatha nods and continues to listen about the treatment.

The next two days went by okay for both of them. Rio attended her appointments with Agatha, following her guide and bringing her coffee and sweets and making her laugh.

On Rio’s fifth appointment, she arrives with croissants, hot chocolate and a rose.

“Hey, these are for you” Rio shyly hands Agatha everything she got her.

“What for?” She asks in a nice but surprised way. She was taken by surprise

“Well, the croissant is for eating and the hot chocolate is for drinking…” she makes Agatha laugh with this silly joke.

“I meant, the rose…”

“Just a thank you for this wonderful first week of physical therapy, I thought it would suck, but it sucked way less with you” Rio says while walking towards Agatha.

Agatha blushed and was out of words. “I don’t really know what to say… I shouldn’t accept this, Rio.”

Rio walks closer with the help of her cane. “Oh please, don’t break my heart, take it.” Rio just realized the minor double meaning here and squinted her eyes.

“the rose or your heart?” Agatha tries to joke but it comes out in a flirtatious way

“Both?” they are now a little too close, their breathing becomes a little heavy.

Agatha clears her throat and moves “Well, thank you, I appreciate it.” Rio moves even closer, slowly because of her cane.

“Do you appreciate it enough to let me take you out to dinner?”

“Rio… I don’t know if it would be appropriate. I’m your doctor.”

“by day! by night you can be my date” Agatha looks at Rio’s eyes and fishes for a reason not to say yes. For a moment she forgets she’s a womanizer and that her son is sick.

“Dr. Harkness-” William knocks on the door “Dr. Robbins is calling our line and asking for you” In that moment Agatha moves quickly. Rio follows her.

“You got donors? Oh my god, that’s amazing!” Agatha talks on the phone and Rio looks at William fishing for answers and he mouths an I don’t know. “Oh, one? Okay, did he agree? He 's O'Negative? Alright, I’ll wait”. She hangs up.

“What do you need O’neg for?”

“Sorry, Vidal, This doesn’t concern you.” She walks back into the office, Rio and William following her.

“Well, it does if you need O’neg and I’m O’neg… Are you okay?”

“Yeah. No. I just… I need some time alone here, please?” She covers her face with her hands and Rio thinks about pushing a bit more, but doesn’t.

“Your car is outside Ms Vidal” William says. Rio then decides it’s best to leave.

Once she’s in the car she calls Vision.

“Hey, Vision. I need your girlfriend’s number”

“I told you to stop that! I’m hanging up!”

“Wait!!! It’s not like that, it’s about my physical therapist, she’s her friend”

“Rio, please don’t fuck this up!”

“I’m not, I promise.”

She immediately calls Wanda once Vision texts her number.

“Hello? Who’s this?” Wanda says

“It’s me, Rio”

“Hi! Did something happen? Do you need assistance?” Worried on the phone

“No! It’s about Agatha”

“Rio, not this again-”

“She needs blood for something, O’neg”

“How do you know about this?”

“She was talking to Dr. Robbins on the phone. But I realized, she’s a pediatric doctor, why is Agatha talking to her?”

“Rio, I told you I wasn’t going to answer personal questions”

“I just wanted to tell you that I am O’neg, and I know they are having a hard time finding someone, so I am here, willing to do it”

“Wait, what do you mean? you would donate blood to her son?”

“AGATHA HAS A SON?” On the other side of the line, Wanda slaps her own forehead.

“Rio, please, don’t tell her I said anything, she keeps her private life away from professional”

“I won’t. Please, how can I help?”

“You really like her, huh?”

“I think so.”

“Meet me at the hospital in an hour”

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Rio arrives at the hospital and Wanda is waiting for her with a wheelchair.

“I’m not getting on that!”

“Yes you are, that way we get to the office faster”

Three minutes later they are in Dr. Robbins office.

“Oh, Wanda, did I have any appointment and forgot?” She says while looking at Rio.

“No. This is Rio Vidal, the basketball player”

“I know! My wife was your doctor!” She says while sitting down.

“Wait, Dr. Torres is your wife, for real? I knew she was gay!”

“Rio…” Wanda gives Rio a warning look “I’m sorry for her Dr. Robbins”

“it’s okay, I’ve heard all about it” She says while gesturing towards Rio and that only makes her smile. “So, what can I do you for?” She directs the questions to RIo but Wanda answers.

“Rio is O’neg, and she wants to help Nicholas Harkness.”

“Really? I never had such a hard time getting this blood type. Are you really willing to donate?”

“Yes, but I fear It’s going to have to be anonymous. Agatha wouldn’t let me do it.”

“You know how closed off she is, Dr. She doesn’t even know Rio knows the situation, but Nicky needs this.”

“Let’s arrange that. But first, we need to examine you.”

✨
Exams come out clear. Rio has the green light. Robbins calls Agatha saying they will have blood in a few.

When Agatha arrives, she goes immediately to the room where Nicky awaits for her.

“Nicky, I will be here by your side okay? This will be so good for you baby!” She holds back her tears.

Once the whole procedure is done, Agatha talks to Robbins.

“Do we have the name of the person who donated? I wanted to thank them”

“We don’t. It was a regular blood donor. Don’t worry. The important thing is that Nicky is out of risk now. Remember to continue with his diet okay? Reschedule a visit for next week!”

“Thank you so much Dr. Robbins, I-”

“don’t mention it” Robbins leaves the room and Agatha stays with Nicky.

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The following day, on a saturday, Agatha has the day off, she wakes up at 9AM, checks on Nicky, who is still sleeping due to how tired he is. She hears her doorbell ring.
It was Wanda, she was holding a bouquet of Lilies.

“What’s with the flowers, Maximoff?” She said while making space for Wanda to enter.

“Don’t kill me, but she made me bring it to you.” Wanda then hands the bouquet.

“She?” raising her eyebrows.

“Rio Vidal. She told me to tell you to read the card” Wanda sounded annoyed

“I can’t believe her” under whispers

“She likes you. I think.”

Agatha doesn’t answer. She picks up the card and reads to herself.

Agatha, oh sorry, Dr. Harkness…

I hope you are feeling well. I will see you on monday. But if you want to see me before that, here’s my number.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

“What does it say?” Agatha just hands the card to Wanda and she reads. “Alright, smooth. What are you going to do?”

“Wanda, this is inappropriate. I’m her doctor.”

“Do you want to text her?”

“I can’t”

“But, do you want to?”

“Yes…”

“Well, do it then.”

“Wanda, I’m not old enough to be with one more person who can’t handle me being a mom.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try”

“She’s a star, she has her… flings, she’s not up for this”

“Then why is she asking you out?”

“To get in my pants?” dramatically point to her pants

“If it is, is that so bad? To have some hot sex with a hot woman on your day off?”

“She’s my patient!”

“What if it isn’t that? what if she genuinely wants to date you?”

“Did she tell you to tell me that too?” Agatha says it in a mocking way

“Perhaps… I’m going to make you some coffee while you decide” As Wanda goes to the kitchen, Agatha saves Rio’s number. But she doesn’t text. When Wanda comes back with the coffees she’s still staring at her phone.

“She has way too many model dates on google”

“Oh lord, this still?” Wanda takes a sit by her side.

“I’m just thinking, Wanda.”

“Well, stop then. Just go with what you want, and you want to text. There’s no harm in that.”

Agatha thinks to herself, what’s the harm… She picks up the phone and without thinking too much, texts.

Me
I prefer azaleas. (This is Agatha by the way)

Rio Vidal
Noted. So this means you’ll go out with me?
Me
No
Rio Vidal
Oh

Me
You’ll have to come to mine. I don’t want to get papped.

Rio Vidal
Indoors date already? Oh my, Harkness.
Me
Don’t push it, Vidal. Bring wine.

Rio Vidal
Your wish is my command M’lady.
Me
🙄.