ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
8x14

Charlotte Brown hates Valentine's day.

The brunette came out to her parents as pansexual on Valentine's day when she was in the seventh grade.

Bad decision.

She'd only done it because the girl she'd been going out with was her first real relationship, ever, and she wanted to make her girlfriend happy.

Said girl, Brooklyn, was openly out to their grade, and her parents, but Charlotte wasn't.

This didn't bother Brooklyn at all, but it did Charlotte.

So she brought her girlfriend home one day after school, like she had many times before. But this time was different. She was going to tell her parents.

Brooklyn was loved by Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

Although this changed their perspective of the intelligent, blonde teen.

Charlotte sat her parents down at dinner, along with her girlfriend,—whom she'd started dating merely five months before this occurred—and her almost four year old sister, and dropped the bomb.

Unfortunately, she didn't anticipate the bomb being lethal.

Her parents had never shown any signs of being homophobic, and she wasn't mentally prepared for the resentment that was going to come.

They had suspected this was to come for months on end, but they didn't want to believe their sweet little Charlotte was into the same sex.

So, they were going to let her down easy.

They'd first suggested Brooklyn 'should see herself home'. But when Charlotte shook her head, and tears flooding her eyes, her parents did what they wanted the hard way.

Her parents never physically hit her, and they never would. But she felt like she'd been punched in the gut when they told her they thought boarding school was a good option.

They gave her a lecture about why women shouldn't like women, and sent her off to pack her bags.

She honestly wished she'd put up a fight on the school, more than her baby sister did, who cried for weeks after she left, but she didn't.

The eldest Brown sister stopped dating Brooklyn all the way through the three and a half years her parents kept her in boarding school.

They tried, but it turns out letters were not for Brooklyn.

When she came back in the eleventh grade, Charlotte was hotter than when she'd left. And she'd had her fair share of he's, she's, and they's.

She started dating Brooklyn when she'd gotten back, as old feelings had risen.

She dated Brooklyn from four months into her eleventh year, all the way until graduation.

Which was where she realized she didn't like being in a relationship, and her and the blonde were not going to work out.

She liked the sex but not the relationship aspects of it all.

Brooklyn wanted to go into the Medical Field, preferably a surgeon, and at the time, Charlotte wanted to be a Psychologist.

Although that changed quickly when her parents got into a car accident.

This is what goes through her mind every Valentine's day.

The way that she wishes she could've been a better daughter to her parents. A better sister. A better everything.

But she loved who she loved, didn't she?

❄️

"We're gonna get a zillion valen-traumas," April playfully jabs her elbow into Charlotte's side. "I bet a few of them will be good surgeries for our boards."

"So true," Charlotte tried to push her headspace out of the dark circle that was her parents death and her childhood.

"Well, it's not St. Patty's day," Alex looked up from the nurses station counter. "Those are good traumas— car crashes, bar brawls."

"Yeah," Jackson agreed, leaning on the nurses station beside Alex.

"Yeah, Valentine's day is all swallowed engagement rings and guys who threw out their backs getting laid," Alex pursed his lips.

"You're just bitter 'cause you don't have a date," The redhead said slowly.

"First of all," Alex looked up at the chief resident. "Valentine's day isn't for having a date with some chick."

"Mm-hmm," Charlotte nodded slowly. "So is that why you haven't gotten laid in, what? Two weeks?"

Alex rolls his eyes, "No, it's for macking the chicks who don't have dates. Like you, Charlotte."

"I don't do Valentine's day," Charlotte clenches her jaw every so slightly, not even April catches it.

"Uh-huh," Alex hums with disbelief. "Besides, I have to study for my boards."

"Yeah, I probably will too," Charlotte adverted her gaze at April who was still glaring at Alex from his earlier statement.

"Your studying already?" Jackson looked between the other three.

"Of course," April pulls her head back, "You're not?"

Jackson clears his throat, "No, I am."

Owen appears beside Alex after a second of silence, and sighs, "Who put up all this?"

"I did," April beamed.. or at least she did until Owen glared at her. "Well, research shows that a cheerful environment reduces stress and helps patients to feel more.."

She stops herself as Owen crumples up one of April's paper cupids and throws it in the trash.

"O.. kay," Charlotte said nervously.

"Wow," Jackson chuckled.

❄️

"So you never told me why you 'don't do Valentine's day'," April watched Charlotte out of the corner of her eye as the brunette helped her carry flowers out of the Emergency Room.

"Uh," Charlotte sighed as she placed two bouquets of flowers in April's office.

"If you don't want to tell me, it's fine," April lifted one of her shoulders as the two walk towards the office door to grab more flowers.

"No, um," Charlotte holds the door open.

April waits patiently, and that makes Charlotte want to tell her even more.

But did she want anyone to know about her coming out story?

She'd told a version of it before to everyone. Just not the full version.

She told them she told her parents, and they didn't support her, but still loved her as their daughter.

Again, not the full story.

And she'd wanted to tell April on many occasions, but it just never felt right.

Although April knows about her parents passing.

"I came out to my parents on Valentine's day," The woman shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Charlotte. Forget I asked," April touched Charlottes shoulder and smiles nervously.

That was another one of Charlottes favorite things.

God, her smile.

"Don't be," Charlotte shook her head as they grabbed the last of the vases.

"Is there more?" April asked once they got away from the crowded E.R.

"Yeah," Charlottes stomach twisted. "Like I've said, they didn't accept who I am. And.. they sent me to boarding school for three years. Actually, it may have been three and a half."

April listens silently, because that's what Charlotte needed.

"Normally I call in sick on Valentine's day. But this year felt different," Charlotte smiled at the shorter woman as she clapped her hands together after placing the last of the flowers on the side table.

"It kind of looks like a flower shop in here," April stands with her hands on her hips.

"Kinda. But it's okay, because I love red roses," Charlotte gave a single nod and the two went on with their days.

❄️

The last thing Charlotte expected today when she got home, was to find a bouquet of red roses on her night stand.

She smiled to herself when she read the note that was stuck inside the roses.

Char,

Thank you for sharing that with me. I know you don't open up easily.

May these flowers, and this card, cloak the sad memory of Valentine's Day, with a happy one!

xo xo, April