Evan lifts her onto the examination table, spreading her legs wider. She can feel him about to lose control. Part of her wants him to—for a moment, she lets herself imagine him taking her on the table. She imagines sliding her hands under his shirt, feeling the hard muscles tense as he thrusts into her, hearing the sound of his moans mixing with hers.

"Wait, Evan, we can't," she gasps.

Evan ignores her and moves to kiss her lips. He forces her mouth open and brushes his tongue against hers. His hand tangled in her hair, and she lost the strength to fight. He pulls away, and she groans in protest, but he drops to his knees and kisses his way up her thighs to the front of her underwear.

"No, there are people inside," Robert's voice shouts. "The room is occupied—you can't go in."

Avery freezes and tries to push Evan away, but he won't budge. She pulls her legs up to her chest and rolls off the other side of the examination table. Evan stares at her from across the table. His eyes are filled with fire, but he doesn't try to grab her.

"I still wear the gun around my neck," she says. "Don't make me use it again."

She tugs her dress down and throws the door open. A miserable sounding moan comes from the other side of the door, and then a loud thud. She peeks around the door and sees a man in a blue hospital gown lying on the floor.

"I'm so sorry," she gasps. "I didn't see you at all."

She leans down to help him up, but Robert beats her to it. He pulls the frail man to his feet and helps to steady him. The man's face is pale and bluish, and his eyes look dull—he's clearly very ill. He clutches his heart, and his face twists with pain.

His expression reminds Avery of Andrew's heart attacks. She looks over the man's shoulder and sees that he's coming from the heart color sonography room. He holds his hand over his chest and wheezes for breath.

"Quick, call a doctor," Avery shouts. "I think he's crashing."

Two doctors rush over with a wheelchair and help the man sit down. They rush him away to an examination room, and Avery chases after. The doctors shut the door in her face, but she waits outside feeling guilty. If I hadn't let Evan kiss me, I never would have hit that poor man, she thinks. Every time I get near Evan, someone gets hurt.

She hears footsteps and turns to see Evan come to join her. His face is cold and unreadable, and she turns her back on him. He puts a hand on her shoulder, but she pulls away from his touch.

"Leave me alone," she says.

Evan takes his hand away, but she can feel him standing behind her. They wait together in tense silence as the doctors examine the sickly man inside. After a while, Robert runs over.

"Sir, they're finished with Miss Arlington," he says. "They've put her in a temporary cast."

"And?" Evan asks.

"Well, Miss Arlington is asking for you," Robert says.

"Just go check on your girlfriend, Evan," Avery says. "There's no reason for you to stay here. Besides, this exam is going to take a while."

"You sound like you have the experience," Evan says with a flirty smirk. "Where did you learn so much about broken hearts?"

Avery turns to look at him, trying to keep her voice flat, "Don't pretend you don't know. We both know that Andrew has heart problems. I'm practically a specialist at this point."

Evan frowns, and he turns and walks stiffly down the hall. Avery heaves a sigh of relief and leans against the wall, waiting for the doctors to finish their examination. After another twenty minutes, a young nurse wheels the man out of the room.

"How are you feeling?" Avery asks. "Are you okay?"

As soon as she's asked the question, she feels stupid. He's obviously not okay. His face is almost bloodless, and his lips and the tips of his fingers are blue. She's seen Andrew have attacked before, but he's never looked as bad as this man. She guesses the patient must be in his thirties, but he seems prematurely aged and haggard.

"It's the heart," the man says quietly.

Avery nods and hands him one of her D.O. business cards, "If the accident with the door caused any medical problems, please call me. I'm happy to cover any additional medical expenses. I'm so sorry."

The patient nods, and the nurse wheels him back toward his room. Avery walks toward the examination room and knocks on the door.

"Come in," a voice calls.

Avery pushes the door open. The doctor is drying his hands on a paper towel, and his face is serious and sad.

"How's the patient?" Avery asks.

"I didn't realize he had such a beautiful lady in his life," the doctor says.

Avery blushes and says, "Oh, I don't know him. I just knocked him over in the hall—accidentally, of course."

"Oh, well, I'm really not supposed to discuss this kind of thing with you," the doctor says. "I have to maintain doctor-patient confidentiality."

"That's too bad," Avery says, turning to leave.

"Wait," the doctor calls. He looks her up and down, smiles appreciatively, and says, "I guess I could make an exception."

"I'd appreciate that," she says.

"Well, he had a heart transplant, but his body is rejecting the new heart," the doctor says. "When we ran the tests, the heart seemed compatible, but his immune system is attacking it. We have him on all kinds of medications, but I don't think it's going to work out."

"Do you know why his body is rejecting the heart?" she asks.

"It's hard to say," the doctor says with a sigh. "Sometimes, these things just happen. In this case, it has to do with the donor. You, see most people's hearts are on the left side of their chest, but some people have them on the right. It's a fairly rare medical condition where people's organs are on the opposite sides of their bodies.

"Anyway, our patient here had a normal heart on the left side of his chest. It turns out the donor's heart came from a person who had it on their right side. We usually try to avoid situations like that because the risk of rejection increases. Unfortunately, we couldn't avoid it here—this heart was the only possible match we had in our system."

"Wait, is this a universal thing?" Avery asks. "I mean with the hearts. Do all doctors try to avoid switching left side hearts for right side hearts."

"They do," the doctor says.

"What if someone made a transplant like that, and the body didn't reject the new heart?" she asks.

"I'd call that a medical miracle," the doctor says with a big smile.

He puffs his chest out and steps a bit closer to her. Her cologne is overwhelming, and she takes a step back. He seems to get the message, and his face falls slightly.

"How can you tell for sure if a body is rejecting the heart?" she asks.

"There are many ways," he says, his tone becoming colder and less interested. "For example, if the person suffers from heart attacks every week, that's a clear sign of rejection."

"What if it's less than once a week?" she asks, thinking about Andrew.

"Well, I'd say that's pretty good," the doctor says.

"Thanks, you've been really helpful," she says. "If I have any more questions about the heart, do you think I could call you?"

The doctor nods and reaches into his pocket. He hands her a business card, and she folds it in half and drops it into her purse.

"Feel free to call me about anything else, too," the doctor says with a wink.

Avery leaves the room and shuts the door behind her. She's grateful to see that Evan still hasn't returned from visiting Rebecca. She sends a text to Rebecca, wishing her a quick recovery, and calls a taxi to take her to the shopping mall nearby.

When she gets home, the living room coffee table is already covered in shopping bags. Each bag has the name of a different luxury brand. She can see La Mer and La Prairie beauty products, Hermes and Chanel bags, and Bulgari and Harry Winston jewelry bags.

"What's all this?" Avery asks a passing maid. "Who went shopping?"

"Mr. Clifford asked us to prepare them," the maid answers. "I don't know why, though."

"I see," Avery says. "Can you send some people out to my car? I have some shopping bags in the trunk that I'd like you to take up to Jessica's attic."

The maid hesitates and says, "Mr. Clifford said none of us were allowed in the attic without his permission."

"Honey," Andrew calls as he walks into the room. "What's this I hear about the attic?"

"Mrs. Clifford wants us to bring some things up to the attic," the maid explains. "I was just telling her that we can't disobey your orders."

"What do you want to give Jessica?" Andrew asks.

"Just some things I bought at the mall," Avery answers.

Andrew laughs and says, "Oh, honey, you're paying her meanness back with kindness. She doesn't deserve that."

Avery smiles sweetly and says, "It just bothers me that she hates me. I want us to get along, and I hope these gifts will help."

"I'm sure they will," Andrew says.

"Can you ask the maid to put all this stuff away?" she asks, pointing at the table. "I want to draw in here, but I can't with all this junk on the table."

"Nope, we're gonna need these soon," Andrew says, pulling her to his side.

"We?" Avery asks.

"Mhmm," he whispers. "I'm going to take you to meet your future mother-in-law."