Chapter Text
The hospital felt empty without Joel. The gregarious smile, that Kiwi accent, the macho brawling between him and Charlie — all gone in an instant. Life at Hope Z carried on, just like the sands of time, the system moving like clockwork and churning the staff through day in and night out, but there was a gear missing and the mechanism just wasn't right without it.
Joel's dad had arranged his funeral, and there had been a big turnout at the reception. It had been a classic, somber, perfunctory affair, though, entirely unlike Joel's life, and Maggie and many of the staff who had known him best had gone back to Zach's place afterward and had their own, much more Joel-like reception late into the evening.
Maggie delivered as many babies as she could and concentrated on the good in life, about the magic in safely bringing a new child into the world, and helping the ones that didn't make it out as smoothly as everyone would've liked.
The surgical board had her name all over it that day, and when Maggie knocked off work she wanted to be in bed. Immediately. She opened her locker and stared at her regular clothes like she didn't know what to do with them. Her scrubs felt like they were sealed onto her skin. She needed a shower, stat.
“You look tired,” a voice said, and Maggie jumped. Sydney was sitting on the bed, just putting her glasses back on.
“God, I didn't even see you there. You on nights?”
Sydney nodded. “Long day?”
“And then some.” Maggie stripped down and started to get changed. Sydney averted her eyes. Maggie noticed this, and normally she would have teased or opened the second door to shield her body, but today she had trouble shaking herself out of her stupor. “And now I get to go home to a baby either pooping and crying or sleeping...” she groaned. “Babies are much cuter when they go to someone else's home.”
“Full house, huh?”
Maggie sighed. “Alex and Charlie have been thinking about getting a house, so I'm just killing time until they find something.” She furrowed her brow. “I really need to talk to Dawn about my contract.”
There was a short pause while Sydney watched Maggie pull her sweater and coat on. The temperature was dire outside, and she wasn't looking forward to walking to the station. Then, Sydney said, “I'm going to Edmonton on Tuesday,” she said.
“O-kay.” Maggie's response came out more like a question. “Oh. The symposium, right?” It was a two-day continuing education conference subsidised by the Society. Not many people tended to want to go to Edmonton.
“I have a spare room.”
There was a surprised silence, then Maggie laughed. “What?”
“It's crowded at your place,” Sydney said. “If you want a bit of space for a couple of days, I have that.”
“Huh.” Maggie rocked back on her heels and considered it. “Well, thank you, Dr. Katz. I'll think about it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Maggie echoed with some finality. She adjusted the collar of her coat and stepped forward. Sydney stood to meet her. They smiled at each other, and Maggie thought back to kissing Sydney in a room not unlike this one, not so long ago, and wondered where they were now. “See you tomorrow.”
“Good night,” Sydney said. “See you tomorrow.”
-
They didn't cross paths for much of the rest of the week. It was busy, but the good sort of busy, the uncomplicated kind of busy that spurred the day on and restored confidence, where everything Sydney touched turned to gold. Things moved like clockwork in the obstetrics department, with minimal complications. She was on nights till Saturday but that was relatively uneventful, too, and she spent most of it catching up on paperwork and checking her email.
Come Monday, though, her reprieve was over. By lunch time she had dealt with an emergency C-section, a post-partum complication with placental delivery, and referred a patient to Dr. Dey. It was hectic, and Sydney was looking forward to those two days off. Sure, there wasn't much in Edmonton, but maybe a break would be good.
She had a check-in with one of her patients next, a woman in her second trimester with breast cancer. Sydney scanned the results of the gene testing — BRCA2 positive — and thought of Maggie. She paged Maggie and headed for the elevator. Maggie had been puting off thinking about her fellowship, preferring to work for a year, but it was definitely time she started putting her application together. One couldn't leave these things too late.
“You paged?”
Sydney looked up. That was fast. Maggie was standing in front of her with a smile on her face, one that immediately made Sydney go on guard. It was that cheeky smile, the one with the slight quirk in the mouth that told her Maggie wanted a quid pro quo.
“Dr. Lin,” she said, somewhat cautiously, deciding that they should probably get it out of the way before the consult. “How was your weekend?”
“I wanted to talk to you about that,” Maggie informed her cheerfully. “I've been thinking about your proposal.”
Ah. Sydney had been thinking about it, too. She'd been surprised by herself, making the offer, but she found herself hoping that Maggie would accept. To what end, she wasn't quite sure. She didn't even know what it was exactly that she wanted from Maggie, by offering use of her home. If she wanted anything from Maggie at all. “And?”
“And I'd love to take you up on it, if it's still on the table.”
“Of course,” Sydney said. “Just let me know when you want to come over. My flight's not till nine thirty.”
Maggie hummed. “All right, great. Thanks.” She glanced around as if to check for eavesdroppers. “Alex and Charlie were trying to do the dirty last night, and it was—” she broke off and grimaced.
Despite her better judgement, Sydney asked, “Trying?”
“Yeah, they were trying to be quiet, because baby, and then he started crying, and then I stupidly, stupidly had to go to the bathroom, and then Charlie went to get milk from the freezer, which is fine, but he was still naked, so...”
“Oh.”
Maggie heaved a sigh. “Yeah.”
“I have a patient in oncology,” Sydney said, changing the subject. “I thought you might be interested.”
“Yeah,” Maggie said, immediately perking up. The elevator car arrived and they step in together. “If she's happy for me to sit in, sure.”
-
The patient, Paula, was a cheerful thirty-two year old who was supremely unperturbed at having another doctor around. Maggie read the chart after Sydney was done with it and filled herself in after the introductions. The tumour was in the left breast, just shy of two centimetres. Maggie examined the mammogram and the ultrasound as Sydney updated Paula on her test results.
“I still want a lumpectomy,” Paula said. “I want to breast feed if I can.”
“Of course,” Sydney said. “Have Dr. Kinney and Dr. Slater spoken to you about your options?”
Paula shook her head. “They were waiting for the results, too.”
“All right.” Sydney held her hand out for the chart and Maggie handed it over. Sydney consulted it one last time and shut it with a smile. “Well, I'll make sure they come and talk to you soon.”
“Would you mind being here when they do?” Paula asked. “I know you're busy, but...”
There's no hesitation when Sydney answered, “I'll be here,” and Paula's relief was palpable.
“You're not so bad with patients after all,” Maggie remarked when she and Sydney left Paula's room.
“Do you have something to say about my bedside manner?”
Maggie laughed. “No, I just mean you were...” she paused and searched for the right word. Sydney was already glaring at her sideways, which Maggie found amusingly endearing. “Let's say, more personable than usual, with Paula.”
Sydney frowned. “I'm personable with all of my patients.” Off Maggie's look, she rolled her eyes. “I was a resident when she had her first child,” she said. “She almost lost her baby. She kinda... tracked me down when she found out she was pregnant again.”
“Ah, so you're her friend.”
Sydney wouldn't have said that exactly. “She's comfortable with me as her OB, and that generally makes things a lot easier when it's time for the baby to come.”
“Where were you before?”
“Toronto East.”
Maggie halted in the middle of the hallway. Sydney walked a few more paces before she realised Maggie wasn't by her side any more. “You know, I don't know much about you at all, do I?” Maggie said, considering Sydney with a slight tilt of her head. “Even Hershell seemed to know more about me than I do about you.”
Something froze inside Sydney. “What do you mean?” She mentally snapped her fingers at herself, trying to conjure up something to deflect Maggie's all-too-pleased expression. She was about to say something, when Maggie's phone went off.
“Ah, Zach needs me.” Maggie pocketed her phone and headed for the ED. “We'll talk later! This isn't over!”
“Isn't over?” Sydney said to Maggie's retreating back. “What is this, a duel?”
-
Alex looked apologetic and Charlie said, “I hope you don't feel like we're kicking you out,” when Maggie packed a few things to take to Sydney's on Tuesday evening. It was raining quite heavily, and she wondered if she should take another umbrella instead of the cheap knockabout version which would undoubtedly turn inside out at the first gust of wind.
“No way,” Maggie said, giving Luke a final pinch in the cheeks as a goodbye. “It'll be good. Anyway, she's only gone for two days. We'll be all up in each other's space again before we know it.”
Sydney's apartment was incredibly spacious and clearly underused. It was a beautifully furnished space, with contemporary living and dining suites contrasted by a few traditional Jewish decorations on the walls. There was a painting of the Toronto skyline at night hanging in the hallway, highlighted and framed by a well-placed bulb that brought out the dark blues and spotlights of the canvas. It was homely, welcoming, and almost contrary to the Sydney that Maggie knew from work.
“This is amazing,” Maggie said, dumping her bag on the double bed. “What did you have to moonlight as to afford this?”
Sydney gave Maggie an arch look, choosing to ignore the question. “Is that all you brought?”
“If I'd known this was what your place is like, I would've brought a lot more, trust me.”
Sydney just laughed. She was infinitely more comfortable in her own home, Maggie observed, carrying herself without that almost defensive air. Even her shoulders were more relaxed. Sydney was bundled up in a turtleneck and heavy coat, and her suitcase was by the door.
“There're spare towels in the cupboard underneath the sink in the bathroom,” she told Maggie, “And help yourself to whatever's in the fridge. I think most of it is still okay to eat.”
“There's a recipe for disaster,” Maggie remarked, and then laughed at her pun. “Get it, recipe for disaster?”
Sydney just stared at Maggie like she had two heads. “Here's the key. Don't break anything.”
“I'll be the most perfect houseguest you've ever had.”