Whatever we have
Three days prior
Christine watched Stephen with a suppressed laugh. This man was seen as brilliant, fantastic, outstanding- yet whenever one of their conferences started, he became a complete idiot. He once told her that there was no use of him attending them if he did whatever he wanted anyway. And yes, it was true. Stephen Vincent Strange definitely didn’t need other people telling him what he could and could not do in this hospital because he was the messiah for the other doctors and certainly all of their patients. That didn’t make watching this man chase after the second hand of his watch for 25 minutes while around thirty other doctors took notes around him any less funny though. She cleared her throat, so the doctor next to Stephen would look up. The man was writing down a lot of notes and she knew that he wasn’t only writing them for himself but also for Stephen. As the older man made eye contact with her, she gave a quick gesture with her head towards Strange. Josh shook his head and shrugged. He mouthed “I’ll kill him later” at her. Josh Slippery was a blessing. And certainly saved Stephen’s butt quite a lot. He was training Stephen when he became a doctor after university and really, nothing had changed. After Josh had found out that Stephen had no one, his father instincts kicked in and that’s exactly what they were. Father and son. She didn’t know anything about Stephen’s family. He’d never talked about it. Whenever the subject came up, he quickly changed it. But Josh knew. She was aware of that. And it gave her a good feeling. Finally after a painfully long time of listening to less qualified people giving them instructions, they were dismissed. Christine got up and waited for the other two men next to the door. The rest of the doctors said goodbye to her and went back to their stations.
“Would it kill you to at least appear like you cared?” Josh asked the younger doctor with a raised brow.
“Yes. Yes, I think so.” Stephen got up as well, putting his watch back under his sleeve.
“That would be a new cause of death. Interesting. I might do a study on that.”
They walked over to Christine who was waiting with a wide grin.
“It was a pleasure watching you leave your body. Where were you?” He gave her a kiss onto the cheek.
“Italy. You, me, a bottle of wine-“
“A ring.” She added playfully.
“Okay. I’ll leave you two alone.” Josh laughed and left.
“No, not a ring. Definitely not a ring. But a lot of talking and-“
“Oh.”, she cut him off, “Another speaking engagement? So romantic.”
Stephen sighed. Women. Probably not his area. Most definitely not. To 90% not.
“I am romantic! I can do that if I want to.”
He turned his eyes. But in a loving way. Christine was- not your usual woman. She didn’t see him as the womanizer, the genius, the immortal, the KING, THE-
“Idiot.” She crossed her arms.
“Speaking of idiots, would you like to go on a date with me?”
“Depends on the date.”
“Oh, come on. The last party was fun.”
“No, it wasn’t. I wasn’t fun. And you know that.”
“Okay, no. It wasn’t. But why would it be? Remember, it’s a party, you’re not meant to enjoy it.”
“Alright. But you usually ignore most parties. What’s it about?”
“I’ll receive an award. For my outstanding medical achievements.”
She smiled all of the sudden.
“That’s wonderful, Stephen!” He was pulled into a hug. “Congratulations!”
He patted her back.
“Yeah, thanks. I still am arguing with myself whether to go or not.”
She pulled away and looked at him with her hands on his shoulders.
“Why?”
“Because the ‘celebration’ if you will, is held at Tony Stark’s mansion.”
“Tony Stark?! THE Tony Stark? Stark industries Tony Stark? Ironman?!”
He turned his eyes dramatically. How did every woman react that way to the mere mentioning of this douche’s name?
“Yes, Christine. Optimus Prime sent me an invitation.”
“Jesus. Could you be a bit more excited? I mean- he saved countless people!”
Stephen frowned.
“No. He brought countless people here and I saved them. He was the transport. The ambulance. The helicopter quite literally.”
Christine had to smirk.
“So you are jealous?”
“Excuse you?! I am not jealous of a half working car engine, thank you.”
“Stephen. Everyone knows how good you are. Stop questioning yourself.”
“I’m not questioning myself, I’m sick of Tony Stark getting all the credit. It’s the same when a patient wakes up after I operated on them for 8 hours straight and then they thank God. God didn’t do anything! And I’m sure that Tony Stark is convinced that he is GOD.”
“Could you be a little less like him then? I’ll come. I’ll join you. And I’ll tell everyone how wonderful you are.”
“That’s- good. But honestly, he hosts these events now. These events where people who actually achieve things in life get honored for it. In his own fucking mansion. How full of yourself do you have to be for that, imagine the Oscars taking place in Leonardo DiCaprio’s backyard. But that guy at least was on the Titanic.”
“He wasn’t actually on the Titanic, Stephen.”
“You get the point though.” He put an arm around her waist. “Thank you for coming. And being there.”
Her eyes looked at Strange in adoration.
“Why are you still doubting that I really, really like you? You always question it. You always thank me for doing basic things you do in - whatever it is we have? We’ll talk about it later. After work. So- Italy, right? Red wine? We could go to Angelo’s later if you want.”
“Sounds good. I’ll pick you up.”
“Okay. See you then.”
She gave him a tight hug and kissed his cheek with a smile before she walked away.