– So, tell me, how does it feel to be back here? – Charlie almost gulps down the contents of his cup.

– Oh!" Emily flashes back at once. – Thank you," she says. – She says thank you from the bottom of her heart. – I don't know what I would have done without you, to be honest. I still can't believe Dr. Clark decided to bring me back. – She laughs. – I didn't even think she remembered me; and then suddenly we happened to meet on the boardwalk near my house, and she said so many things to me. It was important to me.

– What kind of things? – Clarke clarifies.

– She guided me… straight," Emily replies quietly. – Not to the bottom.

Charlie suddenly smiles – and it looks so sincere that her lips stretch into a smile, too. After a long questioning look from the nurse, Charlie does speak:

– 'Laurie told me that all my life,' he sighs, 'until I got on my feet and actually walked that very straight line.

– Really? – Emily catches her breath.

Charlie nods.

He feels her – there's a reason Charlie Clarke chose this path. Johnson knows that she is now an open book for a psychiatrist, as she has always been. And the whole atmosphere–the blind trust, the talk, the colored glass–the whole atmosphere is as if it were made for her.

It's as if he's been waiting and preparing for her.

Charlie looks relaxed, but his eyes are sharp, just like Lorraine's, missing only the scalpel in his hand and the biting lips.

– Dr. Clark said you grew up in an orphanage," Emily said cautiously.

She doesn't hope for anything – you can't come and say hello and learn the whole life story of people she will never be on the same step with; but some shards, scraps of phrases, bits and pieces of past or present can be collected.

To cherish.

But it's time she got used to it-the world is always against her, even if there are occasional exceptions, but that's more to confirm the rule.

– We all have our own story, Emily," the psychiatrist says softly. – If you want to hear mine, you'll probably have to tell me yours.

Emily looks at him in surprise:

– What could possibly be interesting about my life?

– You can start at the end, if the beginning isn't interesting," Charlie smiles. – For instance, tell me about your dream. You must have a dream. We all do," he adds.

– I would like to be a doctor," Emily answers after a while.

– But you're already a doctor," Clark says with surprise.

– Well…" Emily crumples her pillow, "yes. But not like this. I want to be different. Not that kind," she repeats.

– Like what?

– Like your sister or you," the nurse exhales. – Successful, rich, so you can have dinner with your family at night, and not think in the morning that you could be fired at any moment for the slightest mistake.

Charlie Clark's face turns into one big question mark.

– You have a strange way of thinking about doctors, Emily," he says after a moment. – It's strange that in all that list you didn't mention such qualities as professionalism, understanding, knowledge.

Johnson's cheeks blush.

– Why such a desire to become successful in the field of medicine? Why not business, not law?

And again, those palms triangle, the stare and Clark-which-brainwalker.

Emily shrugs her shoulders:

– I've wanted to since I was a kid.

– И?..

– And that's it.

Charlie raises his hands:

– Okay, my turn. – He sits back and makes himself comfortable. – You know, I went into medicine because I wanted to give people hope. That sounds romantic as hell. – He laughs. – I wanted to be for others what Laurie was for me – she was the one who turned a troubled teenager into a human being. But I still don't have enough! – He raises his finger.