Chapter 145

Aria’s POV

I expected some pushback at the hospital, given the revelation. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I imagined it would be something. Though the Healers had been generally accepting of me since my return to the pack, I could still remember the times in the past when they had disliked me.

Perhaps they would be like my dissenters at the press conference, and demand to see my credentials now that I was revealed to be a Luna housewife.

I hoped not, but I braced myself for the inevitable.

Yet, when I walked through the door, no one seemed to treat me any differently than they would Dr. A. The news from the press conference must have spread around, because they all let me through the security checkpoints without any hassle, but no one acted strangely or even looked at me twice.

At the hospital, it seemed, my identity as Aria could shift seamlessly into that of Dr. A, and no one seemed to mind, or even care at all.

I did feel somewhat unusual walking through the hallways of the hospital without my mask on. I felt vulnerable and exposed in a way that I usually didn’t as Dr. A.

I had felt similarly when I first moved to Moonglow and started conflating the two personas. On edge, I had almost expected someone to call me out for something. But they never did. Eventually I learned to stop being so paranoid.

Hopefully, I would soon learn to feel similarly here. For now, though, I remained uncomfortable – even though the only complication came when one of my research assistants looked at me strangely and said, “I’m sorry, I’m just not sure how to address you. Is it still Dr. A? Or do I call you Aria?”

This was a complication that I had not truly seen coming. In Moonglow, people continued to call me Dr. A, even though they also knew me as Aria. The two were interchangeable to them.

Here in Nightfall, it didn’t seem to be that easy. I had two very different reputations. One as Dr. A, exceptional healer. And the other as Aria, mousy homemaking ex-Luna.

It must have been difficult for anyone, even someone kind to me who liked both of these personas, to be able to mush the two together in their mind.

Also, I wasn’t sure what I was comfortable with either.

For so long, I had kept the two separate in my own mind. The interchangeability worked in Moonglow because it was a new place with new people. But here at home, I didn’t know how I wanted people to address me, or where I wanted the lines to remain, if anywhere.

Then, it hit me. It was so simple really, this breakthrough, and I realized I should have thought of it long before.

“Call me Dr. Aria,” I said.

The research assistant smiled. “Yes, ma’am, Dr. Aria.”

Being called that gave me more pleasure than I thought it would. I felt as if I was finally receiving the acknowledgement I had always wanted and longed for. I wasn’t the meek housewife, but I wasn’t the hard-edge healer either. The true me was a blend of these two personas.

Dr. Aria.

I liked it.

With that settled, we returned to work. My heart felt lighter, free of secrets as it now was, and so I was able to more properly and fully focus on the task of healing Cathy.

The disease she suffered from was severely under-researched, so there wasn’t much previous information to go on. A few times, we started heading down the wrong path and were forced to restart back from square one. While it was beneficial to rule out the possibilities that didn’t work, we needed to find one that was actually viable – and fast.

Cathy didn’t have the years it took to properly research diseases and medicines. She needed a miracle right away.

I wasn’t going to lose my friend to any kind of disease, incurable or not. I would find a way to save her if I had to live in this research lab until the answer actually presented itself.

For hours, I sat in the lab, letting my new light feelings drive me forward. Eventually, my lab partner started to get tired. I caught her rubbing her eyes with the back of her wrist.

“It’s been hours,” I said. “Go home and get some rest.”

“You haven’t even taken a break yet, Dr. Aria,” she replied. “You can’t ask me to go home.”

She was exhausted. It was clear in the slump of her shoulders and the bags under her eyes. While I appreciate greatly her dedication to the cause here, it was obvious she needed rest or she would start making mistakes.

Maybe I would too.

Conceding, I told her, “I will take a break if you go home.”

She concerned it, but when she yawned unexpectedly, she nodded and complied, stepping back from her research.

I saw her off and then headed upstairs to my office to make some coffee and take a break. Well, a physical break. Mentally, I fully intended to consider going over the possibilities.

Cathy’s illness wasn’t going to wait for me to figure this out.

Yet, when I walked into my office, I was surprised to find Lucian sitting there waiting patiently for me.

He stood as I arrived. “Aria.”

“Lucian? What are you doing here?”

He straightened slightly, like he was preparing himself to say something, like he was nervous about it. That wasn’t typical for him, so I braced myself, expecting something big.

Then he spoke. “I want to help you with your work.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“I want to be your assistant,” he clarified.

I continued to look at him strangely, confused. He was the Alpha King and he wanted to be my assistant? That would be a demotion for sure.

“I, uh… You don’t need to do that,” I said, unsure how even to respond to such a request.

“I know I don’t need to,” he said. “I want to. I can do anything you need me to do. I can answer phones. I can run tests. File paperwork. Whatever will help you, I’m willing to do.”

I still couldn’t quite believe my ears, even as he continued to make suggestions. Only one thing stayed on my mind, a question.

“Why?”

Lucian looked me right in the eye. Under his full focus, my breath caught in my throat. In his eyes, I could see the earnestness of his offer.

“There are so many reasons,” he said. “I want to see you and spend time with you, but I’m also proud of what you are doing here. I want to be a part of that, and help your friend. But above all, I want to help you. For too long in our past, I couldn’t see you for the person you are. But I see now. And I want to see more.”

His words left me speechless.

In our past, Lucian would have never offered to do anything like this. His own work would have been too important to allot any extra time to spend with me. Yet here he was now, willing to answer phones and be my assistant.

Willing to help me and to see me.

Could this be a whole new side of Lucian?