Walk With Me (Lydia)

[Sean Leviner]

Sean was exhausted and he felt like he hadn't slept in days. Maybe even weeks. He had visions and terrible dreams lately when he slept, and he spent more time actually waking up than he did sleeping.

Another girl had been brutally murdered and left behind Stu's, which had everyone who worked there shaken up, and he and Dan were lead to believe it was the same person responsible for both murders.

Past that, it had been three days since Danica Krizova went missing, and he was no closer to finding her than he was the night she was kidnapped.

He felt like he was failing and everything he was supposed to be doing. And somehow, all of this, lead him to St. Mungos. Of course he wasn't ill, but he just didn't know where else to go.

At the reception desk, he asked for Lydia, who the promptly paged. He hoped it wouldn;t be weird to her, but when he was working on Roland's case, she had been an immense help. He wanted to offer to take her to lunch and just... bounce ideas off of her. Or just enjoy the company of someone outside of all these crimes. Either way.

He was sitting somewhat awkwardly in a chair in the waiting room, doing just that- waiting.

[Lydia Kenyon]

As it happened, Lydia was just about finishing up an overnight shift when he arrived. Even better, it had actually been rather a light shift, free of incidents and catastrophes. She'd even been able to take a two-hour nap eary in the morning. So when she received the page, she was actually in fairly good spirits.

She finished patching up a woman who had been injured by her pet kneazle, then headed out to the lobby to see why she had been paged. Adrienne pointed out the young man sitting on one of the benches, and Lydia smiled, somewhat nervously.

"Hi, Sean," she greeted him. Her tone was friendly, but still business-like. "What brings you here today?"

[Sean Leviner]

When Sean spotted her, he stood up, and like he could have predicted, he suddenly had no idea why he came here. How stupid was it of him to just ask her to lunch so they could talk- and mostly about his problems? The professional tone put him off a little, and he scratched the back of his neck for a second before reminding himself that he needed to answer her.

"Hi Lydia. I, uhm... was wondering if you would be available for lunch when- or dinner, or whatever- when you're off? I just wanted to thank you for all of your help with the Ferrera case." Oh thank Salazar he came up with a legitimate sounding excuse.

[Lydia Kenyon]

His nervous demeanor was rather confusing to her. Was he worried about something? A case that he was working on? Or was he... asking her out? The idea of it gave her a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach, but not an unpleasant one.

She liked Sean. He was practical and professional, but he was also compassionate and caring. What was there not to like? And it had been a while since anyone had tried to ask her out; longer than she cared to admit. So yes, she was flattered.

Lydia broke into a soft smile. "I didn't really do very much in the Ferrera case," she said. "He wasn't even really dead. You don't need an excuse to ask me out, Sean."

[Sean Leviner]

Sean's eyes shot up and his cheeks flushed a deep red. Asking her out? He didn't... he wasn't...

Thank Merlin all the stammering was only in his head. He looked at her, her pretty eyes looking right back at him, and he realized with a start that he was asking her out. And he was really glad when she said yes, if a little caught off guard at how boldly she called him out on it.

He scratched the back of his neck- again- and let a smile play on his lips. "Right. Good. Er... Lydia..."

It did dawn on him that she hadn't actually said yes yet. Was she making him actually ask? The blush in his cheeks remained. "Would you like to go to lunch today? With me?"

[Lydia Kenyon]

For some reason, the way he blushed made Lydia’s cheeks feel warm, too. She was so used to shutting down the woman inside of her and just being the healer, all business and no play. Something told her, based on the short amount of time she had known Sean, that he was very much the same way.

“I’d like that,” she said simply. “In fact, you came at a very good time. I have a break coming up in about 20 minutes, if you don’t mind waiting. I may even be able to sneak out a little early… we’re pretty slow today.”

[Sean Leviner]

I'd like that.

Sean seemed to feel like he was a little more steady on his feet when she said that. Someone... maybe Dan, maybe his father? - had told him, "Never underestimate the power of 'I'd like that'." That was a good thing, and he couldn't help but smile a little.

"Slow these days is a good thing, isn't it? What do they say... something along the lines of no news is good news? I imagine the same sometimes is true here. I have no problem waiting a few minutes. I'll just... be here, okay?"

[Lydia Kenyon]

Lydia didn't smile often, and she got the sense that the same was true of Sean. So when he did smile, Lydia felt warm inside. This came as a surprise to her, because she usually was better at... well, not feeling anything. But as the situation around them seemed to get worse, the little bits of happiness that she had witnessed seemed to have a more profound effect on her. Seeing the little girl who was injure in the attack get to go home with her family, seeing Roland Ferrera turn up alive and reunite with Riley... Even Lydia couldn't help but be affected by these things. And now a simple smile from Sean was doing it, too.

Maybe she was finally starting to heal just a little bit.

"OK," she said. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Just let me check in with a couple of patients, and then I'll clock out."

She smiled back at him, then hurried off to finish up. There was an extra spring in her step as she went.

[Sean Leviner]

Sean smiled, a little bit of a lopsided smile, and nodded. "Okay," he replied, sort of surprised at how easy this had all been, and a little appalled at how awkward he was in this situation. If his brother were here, he would have been laughing at him by now. The thing was, Sean didn't even actually intend to ask her out, or whatever just happened.

"I'll be here."

He watched as she walked off, and then caught the gaze of the reception witch, who just smiled and shook her head. He smiled and sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting area.

[Lydia Kenyon]

It was somewhat unusual for Lydia to be smiling, yet there was a small grin on her face as she hurriedly finished making her rounds. Her coworkers, who weren't used to seeing her in a good mood, seemed a bit surprised by it. Galen even stopped to ask her about it, but, always mysterious, she simply told him that she was looking forward to her lunch break.

After checking in with the last of her patients, she quickly dashed to the locker room to change and polish up her makeup. She couldn't remember the last time she had even cared about her appearance, and yet here she was, putting on a little mascara and some extra-glossy lipstick. She didn't have time to do more than that, so she hoped she looked OK.

It took her about 15 minutes in all, and soon she was hurrying back down the hall to the reception area. Hopefully, Sean hadn't given up on her. But there he was, dutifully waiting. She broke into a full smile.

"Hi, Sean. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

[Sean Leviner]

When Sean saw her coming down the hall again, he stood up, hands in his pockets and a small smile set to his lips. He really should smile more often- it made him look infinitely younger. Or, rather, made him look his age.

"Not long at all," he told her. He would have waited longer, in all truthfulness. He was just lucky he caught her at a time when she could take a break- even if asking her to join him had been a bit off track and unexpected for him.

"Are you ready?" He then asked, following it up with, "Was there anywhere you had in mind?"

[Lydia Kenyon]

Lydia couldn't help but notice how nice he looked with a smile on his face. She hadn't really seen him smile before, and she rather got the feeling that he didn't do it often. She could relate to that, because she didn't smile very often, either. They both had high-stress jobs and had probably seen a lot of terrible things in their young lives.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Something light, I guess... someplace with sandwiches. I think there's a deli a few blocks from here... We order from there sometimes. I don't get out a lot."

Probably something else they had in common, she realized.

[Sean Leviner]

"It's all right, I don't get out much either. The Ministry cafeteria is about the vest I do. Cones from being a workohilic, I guess." It was more than that, in all honest, but she didn't care to hear about his own psychoanalysis, he was pretty sure. "Anyway, this deli would be a step up for me." He flashed another quick smoke, but It faded pretty quickly.

The silence that seemed to fall between them bothered him slightly, so as They walked, he said, "I know I've already said it but thank you again for your help with that little girl. I still think about her sometimes, you know?"

[Lydia Kenyon]

Lydia had her own reasons, of course, why she didn't get out much. She didn't really talk about her family, but most everyone at the hospital knew her situation. After all, Sarah, her last remaining family member, was still in a coma in the long-term care wing. Lydia visited her sometimes, but it always left her feeling depressed and alone.

None of that mattered right now. Lydia didn't want to think about the past or anything stressful. She liked Sean, and she had the feeling that, in some ways, he was just as lonely as she was.

"I was just doing my job," Lydia said, shrugging. "You were the real hero, going out of your way to get her to the hospital so fast. If I had seen her ten minutes later, I'm not sure she would have made it."

She smiled softly at him, suspecting that he was probably the type that didn't like to be thought of as a hero. Like her, he did his job to the best of his ability, because it was important. People depended on him. There was honor in that; doing good without seeking glory.

"I think about her sometimes, too. I try.... in this job, I have to try to harden my heart to some of the terrible things I've seen. I imagine it's the same for you. But some patients are hard to forget."

[Sean Leviner]

He made a face when she called him a hero, but otherwise made no reaction. He sort of expected her to say it, though he hoped she would refrain. Sean, like most who were considered heroes, was reluctant to qualify himself as that. "And had I been ten minutes earlier, I probably would have been able to save everyone in there. You know, there was a small group of students who risked their lives getting other students out of the Three Broomsticks before it was, well, blown up. Kids did that." He left it unspoken, but his thoughts were clear... those kids were the heroes. Not him. Lydia, who saved lives... she was a hero.

He shrugged as the chilly afternoon air hit them and They walked down the street. "I know what you mean. I've never been able to do it though... harden myself. My brother's better at being so objective, but I know it gets to him too."

He stopped talking abruptly, as if realizing he had been talking way too much. It was This or the air that caused a slight blush in his cheeks, and he glanced her way, just barely stopping himself from muttering an apology. She was just easy to relax around.... and he wondered if that was a dangerous thing.

[Lydia Kenyon]

"We can only do what we can do," Lydia said gently. "There's no sense in beating ourselves up because of something that was out of our control. Believe me, I know... I've been there."

After her family had been killed in the accident, Lydia had broken down. It had taken her ages to stop beating herself up over the fact that they had all been on the way to pick her up from the train station when it happened. It felt like her fault, like she should have somehow been able to stop it from happening. But how could she? Even if she had been there, she probably would have been killed like the rest of them. She had lived for a reason, and she believed that reason was so that she could save other people's lives.

Something lurched in her heart when he mentioned that he had trouble distancing himself from the horrors of the job. It could be very difficult to do these kinds of jobs when you cared too much. Kieran was an example of that... the guy was on the verge of a breakdown, and everyone knew it. At least Sean had a brother and a family he could lean on for support, and that was probably the only thing holding him up at this point.

"You care about people. That's a good thing," she assured him. "It seems to me that there's not enough of that going around these days."

[Sean Leviner]

Sean cast a glance at her when she said these words, and he wondered what she had seen. He imagined something all too common, like the death of a patient she felt like she should have been able to save. Or did it run deeper? There was a reason he felt so at easy around her... could it be more cosmic than just the fact that she was a nice, pretty girl? And when did he get so sentimental? He blamed it on stress.

"It's hard to care when you harden yourself against it. Then it becomes just a job... I don't know. It's probably harder, but I feel like I work better than I do if I try and be jaded. Anyway... happier things? I was thinking that I know very little about you, other than your very kind bedside manner." While he wanted to know more about her, he also wanted to get away from the topic at hand.

[Lydia Kenyon]

Lydia's smile faded slightly and she looked away. Talking about her was not exactly talking about happier things. Just about the only good thing going on in her life right now was the man standing next to her. But, like him, she wasn't looking for pity. She'd already been through hell and now she was in limbo, and she had no desire to go back and revisit her past.

"There isn't much to know about me," she said quietly. "I live alone with my cat, I go to work, do my job and go home. I know that probably sounds sad..."

And it was. She couldn't dispute that. And she knew if he asked, she would tell him why... but for someone who went on as few dates as Lydia did, she didn't exactly want to open up their first date with talk of her tragic past.

[Sean Leviner]

Sean shrugged, then followed this up with a shake of his head. "It's not sad.... and you're no worse off than me. I live with my brother, and besides this right now, I don't remember the last time I did something that wasn't related to work. And I happen to like cats."

It was official... They were both total workaholics. Both quiet... he wondered if she tried to fly under the radar, to be the employee that never created waves.

"You're wrong though. There's still quite a bit to know about you. How did you get started at St Mungos? Did you always want to be a mediwitch?"

He noticed a little cafe looking place just up ahead and nodded to it. "Is this the place?"

Talking about her was definitely easier than talking about anything about himself. He just wanted to escape himself for a little while. He didn't realize just yet that she was hiding some dark past. He wasn't always the most intuitive, which was ironic, really.

When they reached the shop, he pulled the door open for her, gesturing her inside first.

[Lydia Kenyon]

Merlin, was there any aspect of her life that wasn't difficult to explain? Yes, she'd always thought about being a healer, but it wasn't until after the accident and her breakdown that she had a definite focus. Her hope, foolish as it might be, was that she would be able to find a way to bring Sarah out of her coma. And even if not, at least she might be able to help others like her.

She didn't answer right away as they reached the deli. "Yes, this is it... thank you." He had opened the door for her, and she had to smile. She'd already guessed he would be the gentlemanly type, and she was pleased to see that she wasn't wrong.

Once inside, she slipped into the nearest booth, then finally answered his question.

"I was muggle-born," she began slowly. "I used to talk about being a doctor when I was a kid, and then I got my Hogwarts letter. I guess the idea was still kind of in the back of my mind... and when I got... sick... in my seventh year, I was a patient for a while at St. Mungo's. That was when I knew what I wanted to do."

It left out a lot of details, but she hoped he wouldn't pick up on it.