The Doctor

It was my 13th birthday and it was awesome! The view - fantastic! The holo screens - futuristic! The soldiers - so cool!

I was never that excited about anything. My first time visiting the work of my mom, Overwatch Base Gibraltar, I was beaming. High technology, heroes to your left and right, everyone busy with protecting the world against the Omnics. Everyone was so nice when they saw me and my mom. She was the best! Everyone did as she said and it was awesome! I admired my mom more than anyone else. She was my biggest hero. And Reinhardt, he was also the best! He had to leave soon, some revolt in France, but he looked so amazing in his armor. A true knight. I wanted to be like him. And mom. Both.

I also remember the weird Cowboy hanging around with uncle Gabe. Mom told me to call him like that, Uncle Gabe. I liked it! He didn't at first but deep inside he was happy, I knew it. And we had a secret. It was no secret for long but I was the first one to know about his hobby. He sewed me a really cool Halloween costume as a present and to keep quiet. And I loved it. The Cowboy seemed like a delinquent though. I couldn't understand why uncle Gabe was hanging out with him. Not until he challenged me on the shooting range. Not a real one, just with laser tag pistols but a shooting range either way. Mom never allowed me to practice shooting. She did teach me all kinds of martial arts to protect myself and told me to protect the innocent but never ever was I allowed to shoot. Even though she was the most famous sharp shooter in the world! So this cowboy dude told me how to hold a gun and it was tons of fun! Later on I showed him my aikido skills and threw him on the ground we were laughing sooo much. After all he was a pretty cool guy. I hurt myself during some of the more difficult stuns though and that was when I met the Doctor.

"Come in!" she said before I could even knock. Did she have cat ears?

"You must be Fareeha, right? Happy birthday!" She stood up from her desk, walked towards me and gave me a smile so bright and welcoming I didn't even feel the pain of my scraped knee anymore. She looked like an Angel!

"Thank you..." I barely managed to answer, quickly facing the ground. I felt so embarrassed for hurting myself. I didn't want her to think bad about me for some reason.

"My name is Angela. Nice meeting you! Let's see if we can patch you up, hm?" She gestured to a chair, asking me to sit down.

Angela, what a fitting name. "Yes..." I still couldn't look up, instead looking at my knee like I could heal it with my stare only. She didn't ask what happened and she never got to know but I felt so stupid for it anyway.

"Soo... You do understand english, yes?" she asked me while cleaning my knee. Her touch was the most gentle ever. I couldn't feel any pain, instead my head got hot for some reason and my ears were virtually burning. Did I get a fever?

"Yes, mom talks to me in English as well. She says it is important..." Saying something without stumbling over the words was never that hard to manage.

"Well your mom is right. It is wonderful to be able to talk to people from all over the world, don't you think? I had to study really hard to learn English. My parents were never able to teach me..." Her voice sounded a bit sad but she smiled anyway when I caught a glimpse of her face. She noticed and I couldn't look away any faster. The heat now rising to my cheeks.

There was a silence after that and I calmed down a bit, focusing on my knee. Angela got up to get a box out of the cabinet.

"Well, it is your birthday, so you got to choose. We don't have any fancy ones but you are too old for that now anyway, right?" She presented some band-aids of different color but plain design. I was drawn to the blue one but didn't want to look childish and chose a plain white one.

"I will take this." I wanted to take it out but she was faster.

"Let me do this, you are my patient now!" Looking at her in that moment was a big mistake. When she winked at me and carefully placed the band-aid on my knee I could feel my lips form a line. I wanted to run away and I didn't know why but I felt weird around her.

"...Don't you like going to the doctors? You seem quiet distressed?" She said apologetic and with a look on her face that crushed my heart.

"NO!" The word left my lips before I even knew I was going to say it. That's not it!

"That's.. not it. I-I just.. " Struggling for an explanation I couldn't even give myself she put a hand on my shoulder as to comfort me, making the turmoil in my chest even worse. I looked in her eyes, straight into her crystal blue eyes.

"It's just, you are so incredibly pretty..." Wait what?!

"Oh!" Her shoulders softened, apparently they had been a bit tense before, and a chuckle so clear and light left her throat that I couldn't resist but grin at her. I made her laugh! I was proud of me somehow.

"That's nice of you to say, Fareeha." Again that really kind smile that had greeted me when I had entered the Infirmary. Hearing her saying my name made my heart skip a few beats, I think.

"And you are pretty brave. You didn't even flinch when I cleaned your injury. I was afraid you didn't like me to be honest." She continued while returning the box to its place.

"Now, let's go back to the others and celebrate your birthday, alright? I heard there is a big surprise waiting for you. I have a break soon and if you want I'll come around!" Winking at me again while she led me out. My face burned up again and I just managed to nod slightly.

When I left and turned around a little later she waved at me. I saluted and continued to walk towards the entrance hall where I would rejoin my mother and her colleagues. I was looking forward to seeing Angela again.