Everett Ramos is a resident surgeon at Mercy West Hospital in Seattle, Washington. She's on the uphill climb to becoming one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the world, studying alongside her best friends and hoping one day to make a difference...
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EVERETT'S LAUGHTER sings through the three-bedroom house she had grown up in in Bemidji, Minnesota, tearing through snowman-covered wrapping paper at the bemusement of her nieces and nephews, who yell and clap as she shows off the new folders her eldest brother bought her for her work.
She's always loved Christmas time. Her December is filled with Christmas music that annoys her flatmates more than anything, she'll wear red until she runs out, her socks are almost always winter themed and the smile on her face never wavers. Callie had been surprised by Everett's constant Christmas joy but had shrugged it off to the fact that she had never enjoyed constant mass goings throughout the month and, apparently, her protege had.
But, it's Christmas Eve and for the first time since she started at Mercy West Hospital, Everett Ramos is back in snow-covered Bemidji, curled up in a Santa-themed blanket, coquito in her hands so that the rum can warm up her chest, and watching her family open up their presents after the hours long meal that has them all stuffed.
They've got a few hours to go until midnight mass at their local Catholic church, so, for a moment she can relax. It's been a while since she's been able to sit back and not be full of worry, not have anxiety pressing down on her lungs, making her think about every move she makes. The constant flow of you can't be wrong, you can't mess up, they can't die on you swirl around her head as more people get sent home with a pat on the head and a sorry smile, nothing else but condolences for all the work they've but into staying where they are. She's not entirely sure why Dr Webber gave her the three days off that Callie fought tooth and nail for her to get, but he had caught her in the hallway the day before and told her not to come in for the next three days.
She had jumped on a flight to Bemidji Regional Airport before Reed or April could convince her to stay.
"What are you thinking about?" whispers her older brother so as not to wake his three-year-old daughter on his lap. Casey is the one she's always been closest to. Only a year apart and thicker than thieves throughout their childhood, Casey has always been the brother she turns to when she's in need. She remembers the way he pummelled her high school boyfriend until the snow turned red and Tanner and Dallas were forced to pull them apart before someone called the police. She remembers the way he cried when he went off to college, pulling her into one last hug before he was gone from her life for months on end, not daring to visit until Christmas just in case her puppy-dog eyes forced him to stay. She remembers her twenty-first birthday and the way he had to carry her back to his apartment before she went home with the wrong sort of person.
