Doctor Potter; Patient Evans

She'd spotted him the minute he walked out the double doors. She sank lower in her seat but didn't stop staring. A part of her wanted to see his reaction when he saw her again but an even bigger part of Lily was embarrassed for being in the emergency room for the second time in two months.

It was either a Christmas miracle or a Christmas curse, she hadn't decided which one yet.

Cheery Christmas music was playing loudly over the wireless. The music made the atmosphere in the lobby perkier, despite the fact that there was a crying baby next to Lily and a old man with chicken pox only inches away. Lily sat on her chosen seat rigidly. Thanks to a velvet dress she'd worn to dinner, she was cold and goosebumps were visible even through her nylons. her entire outfit didn't do much in the way of warmth but Lily hadn't planned on leaving her sisters house at any point that night.

At least not until she'd sliced her arm open, instead of the holiday ham.

The ham in question had been cooked inadequately thanks to an mysterious oven malfunction. The ham was still frozen when Lily tried to cut into it. The knife slipped and, consequentially, the sharp blade slid across Lily's arm and wounded her.

It wasn't Lily's fault Christmas dinner was ruined, despite what her sister Petunia believed. She had started the oven, she remembered doing so. A part of Lily wondered if her brother-in-law's awful sister had turned the oven off to spite Lily. Lily hated her brother-in-law and his entire family hated her for no real good reason. The only reason Lily saw them was because they were spending Christmas at Petunia's new house. Petunia was Lily's only family. Lily regretted her plans to be nice to Petunia's new family now that she was sitting alone in the emergency room on Christmas.

When she'd cut her arm open her sister hadn't even been worried. Much to Petunia's distaste, Lily had grabbed the closest thing, a santa claus dish towel, and wrapped it around the wound. Embarrassed, Lily had tried to stem the flow of blood but it was no good, Lily had already bled all over the Dursley's dinner. Petunia was too busy sobbing about how Lily ruined everything to care that her sister might be bleeding out.

An hour later and Lily was alone in the ER, staring at a very handsome doctor that she had seen way too many times before.

The first time Lily had met the Doctor was at at Frank Longbottom's Hallows Eve party in October. She'd been gossiping with her mates when she'd spotted him dancing across the room with his friends. At that time he'd been wearing nothing but a tight pair of scrub pants and an open doctor's jacket revealing a nicely toned chest. She'd assessed him sneakily over the rim of her cup, enjoying the eye candy as much as any other straight girl in the room.

"Who's that?" Lily remembered asking her mate Marlene after a bit more ogling.

"Frank's mate from school." Marlene said, "think his name is James?"

"He makes a hot doctor." Lily replied with a smirk, "Think the stethoscope around his neck is real?"

"Dunno." Marlene grinned back, "But I wouldn't mind him giving me a physical."

Lily had hummed her agreement before making her way over to the table where a crystal bowl of red punch sat next to some sweets and decorative plastic pumpkins. Lily was so wrapped up in what candy she was going to eat that she didn't notice Mr. Hot Doctor slide right up beside her.

"Hello."

"Doctor." she recalled putting on her best flirtatious voice, willing to do a bit of shameless flirting.

"What are you?" he had asked, nodding to her little black slip with words all over it.

"A Freudian slip."

"Clever," his eyes wrinkled when he smiled, "What's your opinion on Freud's superego?"

She remembered being so shocked that the hot Doctor knew what the Hell she was dressed as that her hand slipped from leaning forward and her palm slammed into the punch bowl, shattering it. Punch poured out through cracks in the crystal and covered the table and floor.

"Shit." As usual she tried to fix her mess, only for the glass shards to go and cut her thumb open, "Shit, shit, fuck ow—that punch burns!"

Lily recalled the way Hot Doctor had ignored the pooling of red punch at their feet so he could examine her finger.

"What are you doing?" she'd protested.

He let go of her finger and she'd thought it was over but then he turned and shouted across the living area, "Frank! Mate! Where's your first aid kit?"

"Kitchen!" Frank yelled back from where he was entertaining guests at the beer pong table.

Without another word, Hot Doctor had grabbed Lily's wrist and led her through the crowd and into a dimly lit kitchen. It was empty save for a couple making out by the kitchen sink. Hot Doctor politely leaned down next to them quietly and opened a drawer. Out of the drawer came a little red box with a white cross. Hot Doctor crossed to room to where she stood awkwardly next to the fridge. Her green eyes watched as he heard one of his hands out to her.

"What?"

He raised a suggestive eyebrow, "I'm going to fix you up."

Lily can recall the laughter that followed his confession, "You take your uniform very seriously."

"I didn't go through medical school for nothing."

The entire time he was cleaning and fixing her thumb, he was very close. She remembered that when she lifted her eyes just right she could stare at him through her eyelashes. She remembered being startled to find that what she thought were brown eyes—were actually a rich hazel.

"I'm James." he introduced himself when he was done, she supposed he did it to be polite.

Lily should've asked him out then and there. She couldn't have waited, because her second of hesitation allowed their conversation to be interrupted.

"Oh God, Lily!" voice had carried into the kitchen as James was finishing up, "What on bloody earth did you do this time?!"

Lily recalled yanking her hand back from James as her friend Marlene came busting into the kitchen. While James never seemed offset by Lily's quick movement, he certainly didn't get the right impression by it.

She didn't see him again that night but it wouldn't be her last interaction with James. About a month later Lily was drinking whiskey from the bottle as she bounced on a trampoline in her friend Alice's backyard. A couple swings of whiskey in and she was goofing off so much that she lost her balance and fell off the side of the trampoline, hitting her head. Alice, ever the worrier, immediately took Lily to the Emergency Room where she was escorted to the back almost immediately by a nurse named Susan.

Lily couldn't lie when Susan asked her how much the pain on her head was. It only took Susan about two seconds to decide Lily needed to see the Doctor. Lily admired the cut on her forehead, around which was a purpling bruise. She was sitting there, completely lost in her reflection in the mirror next to the medicine cabinet when a head poked around the curtain separating her room from others.

"Miss Evans?"

Lily's head had shot up instantly at the sound of his voice. She was so surprised to find it was James, the fake doctor from Frank's party, popping his head through the curtain with interest.

The only words she managed to garble out were, "You're a real Doctor?"

He'd laughed at her as he entered the room fully, this time wearing a real Doctor's uniform and looking entirely too fit for his own good. His hair had been exceptional that day, she remembered wanting to run her fingers through it.

When James shook her hand firmly she murmured, "My bad…"

Somehow not offended, James had simply moved on with the conversation, "What are you in for?"

Lily barely had to move before James' eyes traced up from her lips to her temple where the large bruise was beginning to hurt more.

"Yikes."

"That's what I said."

She'd watched with wary eyes as James leaned over to put his face directly in front of hers. She can remember the feelings it had coursed through her body. He had been inches from her, his clever eyes tracing the marks on her skin. She didn't know why but her ears felt like they had rushing water moving through them and she became very still as his fingers traced the bruise on her forehead while he examined her injury.

"Twist your ankle shopping again?"

Lily liked it when he teased her, he always had sparkle in his eyes.

"If you must know, I was jumping on a trampoline."

Lily can distinctly remember the disbelief on James' face, "You were drinking and jumping on a trampoline?"

"Drinking?"

"I smell the whiskey on you, Evans."

"Should've brushed my teeth."

"Or at least brought some whiskey to share."

He had a cleverness about him that she so admired but the best thing about Doctor Potter happened to be his hands. She found herself frozen against her chair as his fingers slid down her temple and then onto her cheeks. His eyes weren't attached to hers when he worked, he was assessing the rest of her head, likely checking for damages…as his fingers traced every inch of her skin for more bruises she remembered how she felt her face redden.

"Follow my light."

She had to take a deep breath and let her eyes follow the movements he made without giving away how attracted she was to him. Looking back at it, she'd been awful at hiding her feelings. The minute James reached for his stethoscope she was done for. When he placed the end of the stethoscope in the middle of her chest she could feel her heart pounding and she knew James would hear it with his bloody stethoscope.

She remembered his eyebrows lifting a bit as he listened, alarmed.
"Do you have high blood pressure?"

"No." she didn't miss a beat, too embarrassed at the way he was making her body turn back into a hormone struck teenager.

"Hm." he lowered the stethoscope before glancing back at her forehead, "Well, you seem clear Miss Evans, just minor bruises."

"No concussion?"

"No." he grinned goofily, "You're concussion free."

Her sigh of relief was real, "Great, Alice was convinced that I am bleeding internally and I only have twenty hours to live."

"You've got a lot longer than a day," he had told her sincerely, "But based on your past history, I'd say you ought to avoid anything that allows you to be thrown into the air like a rag doll or has sharp, pointy edges…" his grin got wider, "Maybe alcohol too."

His laugh was one that infected everyone around him. After being released that day with a bit of Ibuprofen, Lily found herself laughing all the way out to the parking lot.

Lily was so busy, thinking back to the last two times she'd met Doctor Potter that she missed when, all too quickly, Doctor Potter disappeared behind the double doors. By the time Lily noticed his absence in the lobby it was too late and she was disappointed that he hadn't spotted her.

Moments later a nurse came out from behind the double doors, "Lily Evans?"

Lily stood up and made her way across the laminate floor to the nurse who gave her a pitying look.

"Oh dear," the old woman placed a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, we'll get Doctor Dumbledore—"

Lily was upset at first that she was getting a different doctor but before the nurse could finished talking, fate stepped in.

Doctor Potter came out from behind a curtain to Lily's left. He stopped in his tracks as their eyes met dramatically, like out of a romance novel Lily's sister would read. The whole world seemed to disappear. It was just them.

James looked tired, there were circles under his eyes and his glasses were as lopsided as the festive antlers in his messy hair. Even still, he stared at Lily with calculating eyes, starting from her eloquent braid and ending at the hem of her velvet dress. Lily chewed on her lip as she realized he was checking her out.

"You look beautiful." he breathed, finally, and she felt as if she could die happy just from the compliment.

"Thanks." she blushed, but only because he was staring at her with such adoration.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily nodded down at the arm clenched to her chest.

"What did you do this time?" his sheer disbelief and partial amusement was hard to hide.

"I got into a fight with the holiday ham."

"Who won?" he jested, "You? Or the ham?"

"Shove it." she mumbled, looking down at her arm.

"This is what, the third time this month?" he asked, "Your insurance must love you."

"It's not the third-"

"You must have this place on speed dial."

Lily huffed at James' games and decided to play along to get the last word, "I would've called you directly but I figured you don't do house calls."

He beamed, "Not unless dinner is included."

Lily pretended to consider before opting with, "I've got bloodied ham at home."

James chuckled deeply before glancing at his nurse, "Mind putting her in room twelve?"

"She's on Dumbledore's chart."

"We're old friends." James told the nurse with a charming grin, "Dumbledore won't mind—besides he could use a break."

The nurse seemed to take James' word for it and led Lily to a small curtained room not he left side of the medical unit. She took Lily's blood pressure and temperature.

"How do you know Dr. Potter?" the nurse chattered gaily.

"Oh, erm," Lily flushed, "we're both mates with the same bloke."

"Dr. Potter is one of our best." the nurse bragged, "Young too, he walks circles around Dr. Dumbledore—but then again Dumbledore's pushing seventy."

Lily nodded along to the Christmas song being played from somewhere in the building. The pain in her arm was getting worse; the longer she held her arm in one position the more stinging she felt through her fingers. Before Lily could tell the nurse the pain was getting more uncomfortable, James swooped through the curtains wearing a signature smile that warmed Lily all the way down to her toes.

"Alright Evans," he crossed his arms, "I'm going to have to start wrapping you in bubble wrap before you leave my Emergency Room."

"I really didn't mean too do this," she promised.

"You'd better be careful or I'm going to start thinking you're only hurting yourself to see me." he pulled gloves on as she stumbled over words to try and dispute him.

"I'm not, I mean, I just really get unlucky sometimes…"

"Calm down." he leaned down in front of her while Susan watched them, "I was joking, don't get worked up and pass out."

"I wouldn't pass out."

James didn't seemed convinced. He bent down to her level and she winced when he brushed his fingers across the Christmas towel, caked in her own blood. he seems to be examining the fat santas printed onto the cloth, instead of the wound itself.

"I never pegged you for a fat cartoon santa lover." he said.

"It's my sisters."

"Ah," he started pulling at the fabric, making her hiss, "I don't suppose she'll want it back?"

"She probably doesn't even want me back," Lily lamented, "I wasn't joking when I said I bled all over Christmas ham."

James mumbled something that sounded like unbelievable but it was hard for Lily to make it out because she was too busy cursing from the instant pain when James unwrapped the towel from her bloody arm. James winced as he peeled it slowly near the wound, trying not to rip some of hr skin off too.

"Kari," he said to the nurse in a more professional voice, "Go grab the sewing kit and some lidocaine please."

Kari pushed through the curtains and Lily heard her shoes clicking against the laminate floor as she left to preform her given task. Petunia's Christmas towel fell to the white laminate floor as James twisted her arm to stare at the bloody and mangled looking long streak along her skin. James' gloved fingers traced along the cut and he pushed the skin around it a bit. Lily gritted her teeth as he did his examination, not enjoying it one bit.

"Sorry." he apologized as he began cleaning it with some white cotton from the nearby countertop, "I know this can't be very fun."

"It's not how I planned on spending Christmas." she agreed through gritted teeth, "That's for sure."

James nodded as he wiped away old blood, "Surprisingly, holidays are our busiest days."

"Yeah," Lily said, "I noticed the waiting room was packed."

"I've pulled a double." James said and she heard the exhaustion in his admittance, "I get off at midnight and I can't wait."

No sooner had James gotten most of the dried blood off her skin, Kari reappeared with a box filled with all sorts of medical supplies. James reached his hand out to Kari and she placed a large needle and syringe into his hands. Lily retracted her arm closer to her body with acute horror written all over her face. James eyed her quizzically.

"That." she whimpered dramatically, "Is a very big needle."

James rolled his eyes, "You won't feel a thing."

"I'll pass out." Lily warned him, her eyes darting to the curtains and Kari "I can't—I don't like—"
"Hey."

James' calm voice made her eyes stop rotating around the room. Her gaze fell onto his ace and she saw nothing but golden embers in his eyes as he reached out to grab her hand attached to the injured arm. She winced when he pulled it words him.

"Look at me." he said softly, "Come on, look me in my eyes." Lily swallowed but she allowed herself to stare at James in the eyes. He sent her a very kind and crooked smile, "You're doing great."

She flushed and then called out when something pierced her skin near her wound. Another second later and suddenly James was passing an empty syringe back to Kari.

"You—how'd you," she struggled to speak and James looked pleased with himself.

"Distractions work best when dealing with irrational fears."

"It's not irrational." Lily stated.

"Needles can't kill you." James snorted, "anyways, this one had numbing agent so you should start feeling numb in this arm in a few."

James was right, soon Lily could no longer feel anything surrounding the wound. James poked and prodded it and she didn't even wince. It was a weird sensation. She could see James cleaning the wound well with alcohol and cotton. She was watching his fingers delicately push the skin together and yet she felt nothing.

She was so enthralled by the magic of the numbing agent that she hadn't noticed the new needle in Kari's hand. It was twice the size of the other needle and had blue three strung through the end.

"What's that?" Lily asked warily.

"I'm going to have to stitch it up." James explained absentmindedly, taking the needle and three from Kari, "It's pretty deep."

"Fuck." Lily bemoaned, closing her eyes as James got closer to her arm with the giant skin sewing mechanism, "Fuck, this is awful, fuck."

James chuckled as he bent over her arm, "You've certainly got a mouth on you—stop fidgeting—I'll be done in a minute."

She could feel pressure on her arm but she couldn't tell what was happening with her eyes clamped shut. Hesitantly, Lily peeked through her eyelashes. James' mop of messy black hair was falling into his eyes as he walked on her diligently. He must've traded his antlers for the sewing tools because he no longer wore them, instead they hung haphazardly off the counter closest to them.

Kari had disappeared, leaving them alone in the curtained room together. Christmas music faintly drifted into their space from a TV in the next room over and Lily could hear a few people talking in the room. Someone was wishing someone else a Merry Christmas and it got her to thinking about James, as alone at the Hospital as Lily.

"Did you do anything for Christmas besides work?" she asked, keeping her eyes shut dutifully.

"Nah," James said, "Just work, most of the other doctors have families so I like to give them the chance to have off."

Lily liked him for his kindness.

"You must be getting really tired of fixing me up." she murmured.

"You're a nice break from Amelia Stouten in room fourteen." James promised her, "I don't think I could grow tired of hearing about your mishaps, to be honest."

She opened one eye completely and the other eye soon flew open to give her full vision. She was surprised to see that James was almost done. Blue stitches had sewn the skin that was once split apart back together again. There was a bit of blood still as she watched James meticulously sew up the last little bit of her wound, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth as he tied off the last stitch.

"Amazing." Lily marveled when he finally let go and she could twist and turn her arm under the light, "I didn't feel a thing."

"That'll be the numbing agent." James said, tossing the rest of his supplies in the box Kari had brought.

"How long does the agent last?"

"About an hour and a half." James replied before looking at her apologetically, "It's going to hurt like a bitch for a week or so."

"Great."

Something about her pessimistic tone made James laugh out loud. When he stopped laughing, he eyed her favorably over his glasses.

"Are you going to go back to that ruined holiday ham?" he asked conversationally as he cleaned her arm up a bit more with some gauze.

His nose was resting inches away from hers and she found it hard to answer but eventually she managed a clear and coherent sentence, "God no, despite what you might think, I do favor self perseverance."

"Yeah." he snorted, "Ok, coming from the girl who drinks and trampolines."

"Better than drinking and driving."

"Do you always have to have the last word?" he asked, albeit affectionately.

She grinned, "Yes."

He stood up and away from her and suddenly the room seemed darker and colder without him shoulder in front of her gaze. James reached into his pocket and pulled out a pad and pen.

"I'm releasing you." he said without looking up from his paper, "But promise me you'll steer clear of cooking knives."

She managed a grin as she stood up and brushed down her dress, "No promises."

When she looked up she found that he was staring at her again with a golden look about his tender face. She was frozen under his gaze, unsure of what was running across his mind while he looked at her so brightly. James cleared his throat, shook his head, and then nodded his head at her.

"I'll have Kari get you discharge papers."

Lily didn't know why she was disappointed when Kari handed her the discharge papers instead of James. She carried her feet sluggishly to the double doors and pushed them open. The waiting rooms as emptier now, filled only with a couple snoozing older couples. Before the doors could close completely behind her, Lily heard someone come through them.

"Wait, Lily!"

She turned on her heel to see James rushing towards her, a fierce look in his eye.

"Save for a visit from my mates, this Christmas was shite until you showed up." he said, voice fluctuating animatedly, "You showed up looking so—I mean you're radiant tonight and I needed to tell you that."

Lily blinked back her excitement and she couldn't hide the red creeping up her neck. James took another step, this time into her.

"Also, tell me if I'm overstepping, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let you walk out of the Hospital one more time without telling you how I feel."

Lily felt like she was glowing, she was so happy, "How do you feel?"

"I feel like you and I could have a decent belated Christmas dinner together, if you're willing to wait for me."

Lily considered him, "That depends," she loved the sudden look of fear cross his face but it disappeared when she spoke again, "Are we going to try and cook a holiday ham?"

"No ham." he chuckled, "And no punch bowls, or shopping, or even trampolines."

"Well than how will pass out time?" Lily pretended to be at a loss, "If you aren't playing Doctor?"

James answered in motion. He wound one of his arms around her waist, leaned down and pressed his lips ardently to her own. It was everything she'd been dreaming of. His mouth was soft against hers as her fists curled into his white jacket. She pulled her lips back only so that she could lean in again and meet him for an indulgent tug of tongue and lip. Seconds, minutes, possibly even hours later he broke away and leaned his forehead against hers.

"You know," he said, "I've been wanting to do that since I saw you in that little black dress at Frank's."

Lily beamed, feeling light as a feather in his arms, "What stopped you the first two times?"

"I didn't think it was professional to ask you out while diagnosing you with a concussion?"

"So snogging your patient after sewing her bloody arm up is better?"

"A lapse in judgment." James admitted, pretending to look around even though no one had really noticed their attachments, "But you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm about to have another lapse in judgment."

James caught her lower lip up with his mouth, initiating a heavy kiss that had her head spinning. Her hands left his chest and her fingers wrapped themselves in strands of his black hair at the nape of his neck as she met him with equal fervor. When he finally pulled back, he was sluggish and his fingers were still gripping the sides of her face.

"Alright?" he asked.

"Imalright." her sentence came out in one big word that made James chuckle deeply and slide his thumb across her cheek adoringly.

"There's a diner across the street." he whispered, "Meet me there in forty five minutes."

"I'll order you a coffee."

"Just be careful around the knives."

"Har. har." but she was smiling widely when he pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek.

She couldn't stop smiling, even long after she'd parted from James.

She couldn't believe how wide her smile was when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in glass at the diner.

She was already in love and it wasn't because of delicately sewn stitches or heated Christmas kisses…it was because of the charismatic smile paired with playful hazel eyes that were attached to the handsome Doctor who walked into the diner, as promised, at quarter past twelve announcing 'Merry Christmas' to everyone excitedly.

She was in love with the dorky snowflake sweater James had pulled on over his scrubs. She was in love with the way he mixed cinnamon into his Hot chocolate as he talked about his friends. She was in love with the way he laughed over his pancakes after she knocked over the syrup and had to beg the waitress for napkins. She was in love with the way he walked her to her car and then offered to drive her home since her arm was starting to hurt again. She was in love with the way he opened the door to her flat and the way he kissed her deeply under flickering Christmas lights.

When Lily had sliced her arm open instead of the holiday ham and ended up in the hospital for the second time in two months, she figured she'd end up coming home alone and miserable. Instead, she was positively content with the way James was leaning into the sofa cushions underneath her, his hands tangled in her hair.

Christmas miracles really did happen after all.

I wrote this one almost two years ago for Jily Trope Fest and for some reason tumblr deleted it and I didn't have a backup so this is a complete rewrite of the same story. I hope you enjoyed it or appreciated it for the trope.

xxx

Petals