Promises in the Dark

In part as an escape from a divorce, the twelve year marriage which ended up not being anything she envisioned, Dr. Alexandra Kendall moves to West Hartford, Connecticut to accept a position working at a medical clinic under its head physician, Dr. Walter McInerny. She has decided to throw herself into work in not being emotionally ready to deal with the personal side of her life. While Dr. McInerny is away, Alexandra, in an emergency, sees who would be considered one of his patients, seventeen year old Elizabeth Koenig - Buffy to her friends - who broke her leg in a soccer incident. Believing the break inconsistent with the nature of the incident, Alexandra decides to dig deeper and discovers that the break was a manifestation of tumor in her leg, the biopsy confirming it malignant which leads to an immediate amputation of said leg above the knee. After Buffy overcomes the initial grief of losing her leg, she, through her parents, Bud and Fran Koenig, requests that Alexandra remain her primary physician for this situation, her prognosis immediately following the amputation uncertain. Dr. McInerny agrees with the change seeing what Buffy needs is more a comforting presence than a doctor. Buffy's parents, while not fully seeing Alexandra as a qualified physician, also went along with Buffy's request in seeing in Alexandra that young woman who will respect their want solely to provide Buffy with "happy thoughts" and not medical diagnoses. Alexandra gets caught in the middle as Buffy herself wants Alexandra to let her know of anything to do with her diagnosis and prognosis as soon as she herself knows. As Alexandra and Buffy negotiate and renegotiate their relationship, they each deal with their own personal lives, Buffy especially with regard to the relationship with her boyfriend, Gerry Hulin, and Alexandra if she will allow herself to open up again to the possibility of romance, this time in the form of radiologist, Dr. Jim Sandman. As Alexandra's personal situation evolves, the question becomes how her emotions will dictate how she relates to that changing situation with Buffy, regardless of Dr. McInerny or Buffy's parents.