Chapter Text
Day 0.
It was 5 in the morning as Neil woke up to a thumping headache. He could barely remember the events of the night after Andrews announced that he was keeping both positions of president and chief of surgery. He did remember being extremely disappointed because he had been anticipating that he would get the job, as the perceived frontrunner.
As he tried to trace his memory of what happened the other night, he felt an elbow rub up against his arm and realized Audrey was on the other side of the bed.
Only then did he recall how they went over to Crowley's for drinks, had a little too much after mutually admitting they were disappointed of Andrews' decision to retain the title, mocking Andrews' for a good hour before someone suggested they go back to Neil's apartment and drink even more.
Neil had known Audrey for 15 years by then. Throughout those years, they had been good friends. Despite the fact that sometimes, most times, they would butt heads in the hospital, there was still this mutual respect between the two of them that they could always work out their differences at the end of the day.
He liked her company, to be honest. She was fun, free spirited, never a penchant of following the rules, loved getting adrenaline rush from trauma surgeries, and she was adventurous, boy was she adventurous. He remembered going to one of her invites of mountain climbing and he ended the day yelling expletives at her as it turned out to be a very risky climb. She on the other hand enjoyed seeing him struggle on that climb and kept teasing him, but still made sure he reached the peak safely. That was the image of Audrey in his head - his fun, competitive friend.
It amazed him that they had never gotten together - despite the many teases and rumors they heard about each other over the years.
It was his first time to see her this early in the morning - with her disheveled hair, bare face, uncontrolled facial expression as she slept - and he thought she looked so different. Beautiful, dare he say it. How could someone look so beautiful that early in the morning? He thought to himself. She looked so peaceful sleeping in her place, which made him wonder how she would react when she later realizes they spent the night together.
He didn't even know what he would say to her. He panicked for a while, thinking of ways to approach the situation. He didn't want things to be awkward between them. Audrey was one of his longtime friends - he didn't want to screw what they had. But before he could think of what to say, Audrey began to wake up, her eyes immediately widening to the sight of Neil on the bed.
"This is Andrews' fault." she said.
Neil laughed at her quick wit. She always knew what to say in any situation. "Agreed." Neil replied. "The bourbon may also bear some responsibility."
"Agreed." said Audrey.
"You said 'fault'" Neil pointed out. "You don't regret that we -"
"No. Not at all." said Audrey, smiling at him. "It was actually pretty great." she added.
"But should never happen again."
"It would make things more complicated at the hospital." said Neil.
"Let's chalk it up to - Andrews' screwed us up so we screwed each other impulse." Audrey suggested.
"If that's what you want." said Neil.
"What do you mean if that's what I want?" Asked Audrey.
"I mean sure, we'll call it that." Neil clarified, before noticing Audrey start to get up.
"You're leaving already?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm taking charge of the ER today." said Audrey.
"Do you really like covering the ER right before Christmas?" asked Neil.
"Why do you ask?" said Audrey.
"Nothing. It's just that you're the only one who volunteers to do it on Christmas eve."
"Well, it's not like I have anywhere to go." said Audrey. "Could you....turn around please." she asked before putting on a shirt she found on the floor. "This isn't my shirt." she indicated.
"That's okay, you can have that." said Neil. "Hey, before you leave...would you like some breakfast?" asked Neil.
---
Audrey never says no to food. So when she heard Neil offer breakfast, she wasted no time in telling him to get off the bed and start working on her meal.
Neil laughed at her excitement, remembering that she always ranted about never getting a proper home cooked meal because all she knew to cook were fried eggs.
"Please do the fancy breakfasts. This may be the only meal I have today -" Audrey begged.
"You have lunch and dinner breaks...that you never take." said Neil.
"I can't exactly leave patients in the middle of lunch breaks. Come on." Audrey reasoned.
"Good point." said Neil.
As Neil started making breakfast, he couldn't help but notice Audrey walk around his apartment in nothing but his shirt that she picked up from the floor a while ago -
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Looking for my clothes..." said Audrey. "I can't find them. Where else could we have done...it last night?" she wondered out loud.
"Not in my bedroom?" asked Neil.
"Well they're not there. I looked around." said Audrey. "Where else could it be?"
It wasn't until Neil used his oven that he realized there were clothes under the kitchen counter - "I think I found them." he yelled to Audrey in the other room.
"It's now a little weird to be having breakfast in the same spot were we -" Audrey pointed out.
"We can eat on the couch." said Neil. "If you prefer."
"It's okay. Here's okay." said Audrey.
The entire time they ate breakfast, there was no other sound but silence to both of them trying to recall what truly happened last night. It was only when Audrey finished her meal when she realized, it was her suggestion to go out for drinks. It was her suggestion to go back to Neil's apartment, and even if she didn't recall, she guessed that it was probably her who made the first move that night. She wasn't a fan of being subtle after all.
A mound of realizations came rushing though her head, as she nestled a headache from drinking pure whiskey without any ice, as Neil suggested.
She had been dancing around the thought of being with Neil for years but she never entertained it. He was always so affectionate with her, but she didn't know how to interpret it. The thought of them together eventually died in her head when she heard that Neil had proposed to Jessica. But that was a year ago, and he's back to being single now.
She would be lying if she said she wasn't happy about the break-up because then she could entertain that little thought in her brain that somehow they could be together. But brave as she already was, she never found the courage to act on how she felt about him until last night, when the amount of alcohol in her brain stripped her of all her inhibitions, finally doing what she had been wanting to do...for all these years.
But she didn't know how Neil felt. She wanted to keep his friendship. He was the only one left in that hospital from the same residency program when she initially became part of St. Bonaventure. He knew her well enough to tell when she was sad or happy - a feat very few people had when it came to Audrey. She wasn't going to mess things up with him.
"Act cool." She thought to herself -
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." said Audrey.
"You've been awfully quiet for a minute." Neil commented.
"...just waiting for the headache to leave my brain." Audrey reasoned, trying to avoid his gaze, somehow thinking he could tell if she was lying.
"I should go now, then.
Thanks for breakfast." she said, grabbing her clothes.
She didn't want to go, to be honest. She was tired from whatever transpired last night, the alcohol still hadn't worn off from her head but more importantly, she wanted to spend the day with him.
But she already said it should never happen again. Stupid automatic response. She thought to herself. Even half awake, her immediate thought process was to think of what HR would think. Truth is, she didn't care. But she thought Neil did. So she said what she thought he needed to hear.
"Mind if I use your shower?" she asked.
"No, go ahead." Neil replied.
He didn't want her to leave, if he was being truthful. He wanted to talk about what happened last night.
But more importantly, he wanted to kiss her again ever since he saw him that morning laying next to him in his bed.
After a couple of hours of shaking his head, he finally remembered how she invited him for drinks, how she suggested they go back to his place and how he kissed her first when she least expected it.
He never really realized how much she liked Audrey, until that time when his recollection of the night slowly came back to his head. He had always had this crush on her every since he met her. In his resident days, he thought he had never seen anyone who was as tough as Audrey Lim, and she still lived up to that reputation in his head to this day.
But he never made a move on her since she always seemed to have seen him just as a friend. And the thought of being with her eventually died down when she decided to marry another man. In fact, it gave him license to see someone else, which eventually led to him meeting Jessica.
He then wondered is she remembered that it was him who initiated the kiss last night. And if she did, he wondered, if she felt something - anything when their lips touched.
He wanted to ask her. But something inside him didn't want to make things more awkward than it already seemed. And she seemed to be determined to leave that place as soon as she could.
He juggled through his thoughts as he saw her walk back to the kitchen already dressed up - him eventually walking her to his door even if it was just a couple of inches away.
They eventually reached the door. It was his last chance to say something.
but nothing came out of his mouth.
Then, suddenly, Audrey turned around and looked at him.
He could sense some hesitation in her eyes as she took a deep breath before saying -
"Do you mind if I stay instead?"
Neil smiled and let out a deep sigh of relief before he walked closer to her direction leaving an inch of space between them.
"What are you doing?" asked Audrey, seeing Neil stop himself from taking another step.
"I really want to kiss you again. But I don't know if it's okay with you." said Neil.
Audrey found his nervous demeanor so endearing that she couldn't help but giggle.
"It's okay." she replied, smiling back at him.
---