All his life he’d been surrounded by expectations.

River never had, but he suspected that that was more because his parents had “hopes” for her.

She had always been less biddable? Acquiescent?

The actuality defied being labeled with one word.

She hadn’t defied them, hadn’t stood against them.

She had simply flowed around them.

Like a river, she had flowed around obstacles, through cracks.

Avoiding confrontation.

Refusing to be tamed, to be hemmed in.

Refusing to compromise.

Their parents for all the mistakes they had made had named them appropriately.

River, the untamable, the immutable.

And Simon, the listener.

He’d learned to defy, though.

Defy anyone when it was necessary.

But only when he had too.

He still didn’t like conflict.

But there had been the expectations.

They had made him what he was.

A doctor.

It had been expected of him.

Top three percent of his class.

It had been expected of him.

They had expected him to become one of the Medical Elect.

And he probably would have.

But there had been an expectation that predated all of the others.

One that he had never resented.

One he’d always been happy to meet, to exceed.

To be a good ge ge.

And that was the one he knew he had accomplished.

The one he was proudest of meeting and exceeding.

The one that meant more to him than all of the others.

But now, the expectation had changed.

She hadn’t changed it.

He had.

She’d needed rescuing.

Protecting.

Healing.

All things he could provide, thanks to the other expectations.

She didn’t expect that from him.

But he did.