MISUNDERSTANDING

      Dr Ingrid had texted Faith to come in for a checkup since she had visited the psychiatrist. Faith had gone with Ethan because he had insisted. Dr Ingrid was somewhat surprised when she saw Ethan. Faith had never talked about anyone nor visited with anyone before, but the doctor had not probed any further. She did her checkup. 

    Faith's ulcer had not gotten much better, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. Dr Ingrid added another month of therapy for her and Faith wanted to protest but Dr Ingrid pointed toward the bed. 

        "Or I can keep you here for another two months." 

    Faith eyed the bed, eyed the doctor and scowled. "This is blackmail." 

       "If this blackmail would save your life, then I will gladly do it."  She turned to Ethan.  "I'm guessing you are close to her." 

        "Yes," Ethan answered briskly. 

        "Good. I would want you to keep a close eye on her. She might not be following instructions as I told her, she is a very stubborn woman." 

      Ethan smiled lopsidedly and looked down, Faith glared at him. 

         "Do you believe that I am stubborn?" she asked. 

        Ethan looked at her feigning surprise.  "Have I gone nuts, then?" 

       "Right," Faith said and nodded, turning her gaze away from Ethan. The doctor kept watching them. 

       Ethan leaned closer and whispered in Faith's ear.    "I know that you are stubborn, but your secret is safe with me." 

      "Hey!" Faith jerked away and spanked his shoulder. 

     Ethan held his shoulder and yelped.  "That hurts, you hit me a lot." 

      The doctor cleared her throat reminding them that she was there. They both turned to face the doctor. Faith turned to Ethan and stuck out her tongue, Ethan's eyes widened. Faith faced the doctor ignoring Ethan. The doctor was smiling at her. Her brows drew together into a quizzical frown. 

      "What?" she asked, sitting back a little. 

       "What's what?" the doctor asked. 

      "You were just smiling at me, you have never smiled like that before." 

        "Because you have never given me a reason to smile like this before." 

        "What do you mean?" 

         "You are happy today." 

       "Of course, I am always happy." 

        "It's none of my business, but." The doctor turned to Ethan.  "I hope you keep her this happy always." 

        "I will try my best." 

     Faith sensed that the doctor had misunderstood them, she wanted to say something but the doctor continued. 

        "You can meet your therapist today, I will call her and extend your time with her, at this rate your ulcer would get better soon." 

       Faith nodded and smiled at the doctor as the doctor picked up her phone to call Dr Adriana. Faith turned to Ethan and shot him a look that said he would be dead when they leave the office. Ethan jerked his shoulders and looked at her quizzically asking what he did with his eyes. 

      The doctor made the call and extended Faith's time by an extra month. She discharged them and asked Faith to keep being healthy. 

        "Thank you, doctor," Faith said and left, pushing Ethan out of the office. 

      Dr Ingrid watched them until they were out of the office. She shook her head and smiled. 

       In a few minutes, they were in Dr Adriana Sanchez's office. She was not there when they got there, but her assistant showed them in to wait for her. Faith sat kicking her foot as usual. Dr Adriana rushed in after a few minutes and began to apologise. She saw Ethan and went over to her seat. 

      She stretched out her hand towards Ethan.  "Hi, I'm Dr Adriana Sanchez, but call me Adriana please." 

       "Ethan Floyd," Ethan took the doctor's hand and smiled. 

     Dr Adriana's face crumpled into a quizzical frown.  "Ethan Floyd...Floyd sounds familiar. Did you come from San Francisco?" 

      Ethan knew that the doctor must have heard about him or knew his family. He glanced at Faith and back to the doctor.  "Yes, but it's not who you think at all," he said waving his hand at the doctor, hoping the doctor doesn't probe further. 

      Dr Adriana squinted her eyes and looked like she wanted to ask him more questions, but she decided against it and looked at Faith instead. Ethan breathed with relief. 

       "Is it okay for Mr Ethan Floyd to be here? Who is he to you?" 

      "Ethan, please," Ethan put in before Faith could say anything. 

       "He is...is... It's okay for him to be here with me if that's not a problem with you." 

      The doctor jerked her shoulders up and down.   "It's all about you, whatever makes you comfortable." She looked at Ethan. Ethan looked uncomfortable. 

       This was the reason he doesn't leave the house often, no matter that his family was not a controversial one and he doesn't always appear in the news often, but some people knew him even. He had made a mistake by giving out his real name. 

       Dr Adriana sat back, folded one arm across her chest and supported her other elbow with it and tapped her forefinger on her lips, looking at Faith. When Faith noticed that the doctor was not asking her any questions, she sat up. 

       "Seems you don't have anything to ask me again." Which is a relief.  "I will ask you then." 

      "We are here to talk about you." 

      "I am so tired of talking about myself, I am so tired of thinking about myself, let's talk about you for a change, please." 

       Dr Adriana glanced at Ethan and Faith followed her gaze. At first, she thought that the doctor was hitting on Ethan and something swept through her, a sort of anger, but on second thought, she remembered that their meeting was supposed to be confidential and the doctor might not be free to talk about herself in the presence of a person that wasn't her patient. 

        Oh, my, what was I thinking? she thought. 

   She grabbed Ethan's hand and smiled at the doctor.  "Alright, we are here to talk about me." 

      The doctor glanced at their hands and made a mental note about it.   "Faith, you can be a handful, do you know that? Ethan, do you agree?" 

     Faith turned to Ethan shooting him a deadly look. Ethan looked at Faith and stuck out his tongue. 

        "Doctor, I thought, I was the only one that knew about this." 

        "I smell a conspiracy here," Faith protested.  "Why would you all say I am stubborn and asked Ethan for confirmation?" 

        "Because anyone that has spent time with you would know how exasperating you are," Ethan replied. 

      Faith's eyes widened in disbelief, she looked at the doctor. "Dr Adriana, can you hear what he is saying about me?" 

       Adriana smiled.  Seems Faith was more comfortable with him than she had imagined. She decided to play around a little, to be able to get Faith to totally relax, but before she started she wrote it down on her pad.  'Patient happy, lively and smiling, holding hands with a male who probably gives her joy' 

       Faith looked at her as she wrote.  "Dr Adriana, you are making notes even when we have not started?" 

       Dr Adriana smiled.  "Can you keep smiling like this?" 

       "Huh?" Faith's eyes widened. 

    Ethan leaned closer to Faith's ear.  "I can't believe that you don't smile at other people, why?" 

      Faith jerked away.  "Who said I don't smile to people?" She grinned widely.   "See? See?" 

       "It's a good thing you are so free in the presence of...Ethan, I hope you two remain like this." 

       "Dr Adriana, I think you have misunderstood us..." 

        "We would try our best," Ethan chirped in. 

         "You are not going anywhere with me again," Faith snarled. 

         "I was just about saying to bring him each time you come here," the doctor said.

        "What?" Faith looked at the doctor with wide eyes.  "No, Ethan...Ethan has his own plans." 

        "I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming with you, he would make exceptions for you won't you, Ethan?" Dr Adriana asked staring at Ethan. 

       "Sure. I don't mind coming with her." 

    Faith was busy rethinking what the doctor just said about Ethan making exceptions for her. She doesn't know why these doctors think she and Ethan were a thing. They even think she was happy because of him. She chuckled inwardly, but on second thought, they might be right. She feels happier and free when she was with Ethan. Apart from Nora and Charlie, she had never been so free with anyone. 

     Ethan squeezed her hand and she looked at him, he smiled at her and she forgot what she was thinking about and smiled back at him. Dr Adriana watched them for a while as they stared at each other, forgetting that she was there. 

      When they don't seem to be recovering anytime soon, she cleared her throat, they looked at her. She flashed them a nice smile.  "There is too much chemistry between you two..."

       "I think you are misunderstanding us, doctor..." Faith started to say. 

        "Whether you believe it or not. Now, can we get down to the  business of today?" She asked with a smile, shutting Faith up.

       Faith just stared at the doctor.