Work Text:
Heather sat at the nurse's counter typing the newest updates into the patient file on her tablet. Beside her Princess and Perlah were talking about something in Tagalog.
She knew she should be focussing, but her eyes wandered to the other side of the station where Robby was typing something on the computer, appearing deep in thought. It really wasn't her fault that it happened so often, when he was just sitting there, looking so good, with his glasses on and the sleeves of his hoodie up his arms, exposing the tattoos on his wrists. It really wasn't.
Heather let out an annoyed breath, rubbing her hands across her face.
“What’s gotten you in a mood?” Dana asked as she leaned against the counter.
“Oh nothing, just a little exhausted. Another tea and I'm good as new.” As opposed to many of the other staff members of the pitt, she preferred to switch from coffee to tea in the afternoon. She had found that coffee after noon paired with their strenuous shifts made her a little wound up and hard for her to relax after the shift ended. That's why she opted for chamomile tea for the second half of her shift.
The charge nurse gave her a look that pretty much said I don't believe you, but I'm gonna let it slide.
“Anyway, enough about me, how is your shift going? I feel like I've barely seen you, since we came in this morning,” Heather inquired, trying to shift the focus of the conversation off of herself.
Thankfully Dana let her do so without a fuss.
“Oh you know, the usual. But I haven't thought about quitting yet today, so that's a good thing,” she said with a little laugh.
“Amen to that”
Their attention was drawn to McKay and Santos who were coming over, arguing about something.
“Never?” McKay asked with disbelief.
“No, never,” Santos answered, laughing with the same disbelief.
“That just can't be right.”
“I didn't believe it either when she told me.”
Heather and Dana exchanged a curious glance as the other two women came to a stop in front of them.
“What are you two going on about?” Dana joined their conversation as she turned toward them.
“We have this 22 year old patient who's got a sex injury,” Cassie told them.
“And what's so special about that? Usually it's a sign of good sex,” Dana says with a mischievous smile on her face.
“Oh yeah.” Heather smirked into her lukewarm tea.
A memory of a pulled hamstring after a quite vigorous night at Robby's from a few years ago forced itself to the forefront of her mind.
“That's what I thought, but she said it was just mid,” Santos interjects with a certain misplaced enthusiasm about it. “And get this, she said she's never had good sex.”
“Never?” Heather asks, mirroring the same disbelief that the other women shared earlier.
“She said never.”
Apparently they had also piqued the interest of the Filipino nurses to their side, when Princess asked: “Really not good sex? Nevermind great, not even good?”
Santos seemed to be prepared for every question. “I asked her the exact same question and she said not even good. She said most of the time she doesn't even get an orgasm”
“Yeah, but at 22 she's still got a lot of experiences in front of her so she'll get there eventually,” Dana envisioned.
“I'm just disappointed for her,” Perlah said. “Sex injuries should come with mandatory great, or even good, sex otherwise what's all the hustle for”
Everyone around the counter hummed in agreement.
“I remember one of the worst nights I had with a guy, he was all about himself, did nothing for me and didn't even last a minute. And he was so self absorbed he didn't even notice when he knocked my head against the wall,” McKay told them with a grimace on her face as she recounted the memory. She rubbed part of her head where she must've hurt it.
“Uhh that's rough,” Santos said. “My very few times with a guy were also a disaster, but that was probably more due to the fact that I'm not into them at all. Then I made the switch to the ladies and from there on out it was only good and great.”
“I had the greatest sex of my life at a music festival with an Italian guy a few years back. Tall, dark and handsome, we were at it all night, enough times that I lost count,” Princess mused. “And so far no one's come close.”
“I am now very happy with my husband, but let me tell ya, before that were also a couple of very mediocre performances,” Dana laughed.
“Collins, you've been awfully quiet over there,” Perlah teased.
Heather hadn't even noticed that she hadn't weighed in yet, when she felt Robby's eyes on her just for a brief second. She looked over Cassie's shoulder and even though his gaze was back on the computer in front of him, she could still tell his ears were perched in their direction.
“Oh the worst I've ever had was this one guy in college when I was 21. Some wannabe finance bro, handsome guy. He just had this rhythm that was just not it, very off putting,” she remembered.
“Yeah, and your best?” Princess wanted to know, brows raised with interest.
“My what?” Heather tried to play innocent, her hand finding her necklace to fidget with. A nervous tick, she hoped no one noticed.
“The best sex you've ever had?”
Heather opened her mouth and then closed it again.
She couldn't tell the others that it was Robby. Their boss, who was sitting only a few feet away, acting like he wasn't following their conversation.
She couldn't tell them that every time she thought about it for too long she could feel his warm breath on her neck, his hands on her body, his beard scratch between her thighs. That she could still feel her body burn, her toes curl and her muscles ache with delicious satisfaction.
“I don't know,” she lied instead. But the others didn't buy it. Her non answer might have just gained their interest even more.
“Oh come on, you've gotta have someone in mind,” Santos pressed, a mischievous expression in her eyes.
Heather could feel Robby's attention on her again, but this time she didn't dare to look in his direction, worried her eyes might betray her thoughts.
Maybe offense was the best defense. And maybe she just wanted Robby to regret listening in.
“You really mean the best sex I've ever had. So many orgasms that make you lose count, sheet gripping - toe curling sex?” she said suggestively, taking another sip from her tea and sneaking another look at Robby.
His eyes were glued to the screen, but the tip of his ears were starting to turn red.
“The kind of sex that makes you forget your own name, makes you see stars and is so good you can't walk right for the next few days?” she continues. There was now a flush creeping up Robby's neck, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed hard.
“Oh exactly,” Santos replied.
“Girl, you know exactly what we're talking about,” Princess says. “Sounds like you've had some exceptionally great sex. Like someone has taken time to worship you.”
“God yes,” Heather let out involuntarily and feeling her cheeks redden immediately. It had been a while since she'd had someone come even close and just talking about it had her in some state already.
“That's probably what you said all night long,” Santos teased, McKay slapped her shoulder in a lighthearted, but slightly horrified warning.
Robby, who had chosen the worst possible moment to take a sip from his coffee, was now choking into it, hiding it as a cough.
“OK, but now we gotta know who you're talking about,” Perlah probed.
“Oh no, no way. Besides, I'm not gonna tell you all in the middle of the ER, while all of us have patients to see,” she tries to avoid the other women.
Princess raises her eyebrows. “Does that mean if we get you drunk in a bar, you'll tell us?”
“That is definitely not what I was saying,” Heather protested. But truthfully, that's exactly how she had told Dana one night, during the early days, after a few too many tequila shots in their favorite bar. The nurse had started covering her ears after a few sentences and telling her Good for you girl, but that is way too much information about Robby I never wanted to know.
Which was probably also why the nurse had a mixture of amusement and aversion painted on her face.
By the grace of God a couple of paramedics came through the doors to the ambulance bay, demanding their attention.
“This conversation isn't over,” Cassie promised with a smirk, as she tugged Santos and Perlah towards their new patient.
Princess was still lurking at the counter with a certain prying energy. “You could still tell me.”
“Don't you have patients to see?” Heather deflected. Princess let out a disappointed huff and reluctantly went towards the patient rooms.
“Got a little carried away there, kid?” Dana laughed. The nurse was right and Heather felt her cheeks heat even more.
“I also have patients to see.” Heather pushed herself up, desperately wanting this moment to end.
While that was technically true, they weren't that pressing. Feigning urgency, she took quick steps, only to open the doors to the break room. She busied herself filling up the kettle and setting it to boil. A short moment to breathe and a new tea in her hand and she would be right back to her composed work persona.
The door opened cautiously and Heather didn't need to turn around to know that Robby had entered the room. The prickling at her neck, that was making its way down her spine was enough. Sometimes she cursed at her senses for still being so responsive to him. She did her best to ignore him, but he was slowly getting closer and she could feel his gaze on her.
“You gonna pretend you didn't notice me coming in?” Robby teased and she could practically hear the smirk in his voice. When she turned around she could also see it along with glint in his eyes, that told her she was not getting out of this. There was still a small part of the flush at his neck, below his earlobe. Heather couldn't stop her eyes from dropping to that spot, before she could catch herself and raise them back to his face. She leaned back into the countertop of the kitchen unit with fake casualty.
“I'm just making tea,” she told him innocently. Robby let out an amused huff and took another step closer so that they were now within reaching distance of each other.
“That was quite the insight you gave there at the nurse's station.”
“You were listening to that?” Heather had decided to stay the course of faux oblivion.
Robby inched another step closer. “Oh I think you were well aware that I was listening.” She was starting to feel the heat radiating off him. He had always been a human furnace. And she had loved to just curl up around him, letting him warm her entire body. “And I think that was also why you just kept going. Teasing.”
Good thing her complexion was way better at hiding the blush that was now in turn creeping up her neck than his. He still noticed. His eyes now mirroring hers from just a few seconds ago, flicking down and back up.
“Who says I was even talking about you?” That only got him to raise his eyebrows and give her a knowing look. Right, she had told him herself sometime in the middle of their endeavor. After they had gotten comfortable with each other (though that hadn't taken long) and before it blew up in their faces. Of course he remembered.
Smug bastard.
She knew she was pushing the bounds of this little game they were playing with her next question. “How do you know there hasn't been someone else since then?”
That got the grin off Robby's face as it turned serious. The distance between them had closed suddenly, their bodys only a breath apart. Something primal and possessive crossed his eyes.
“Has there?”
There hadn't. Of course there hadn't. No one had come even close. This was only a dig to get a reaction out of him. To stop that stupid, intoxicating smirk of his.
“It's been a while. No longer a good reference point, you know,” Heather didn't answer his question directly, but she could see the understanding form on his face. His eyes were still glued to hers.
The kettle was starting to whistle beside her, but it turned into distant white noise as Robby leaned in close. His head tilted to the side so that now his mouth was next to her ear. First his warm breath caressed the shell of it, then his lips ghosted across it as he whispered, sending a shiver down Heather's body.
“Maybe I should remind you.” It came out rough, not at all smooth. Her breath hitched, making her body brushed against his.
Slowly he leaned back, Heather was already missing the contact. The glint in Robby's eyes was back, he had probably cataloged every reaction and just how easily he had gotten them out of her. But there was also something else there and in the way his breathing had intensified as well, Heather got the least bit of satisfaction out of the fact that their little encounter had affected him as well.
Robby's arm was still up, reaching for something in the cabinet behind Heather. Out of the corner of her eye, she followed his movement. She had just enough self control not to full on ogle his bicep as it flexed on its way down.
His eyes met hers, crinkling at the corners and the smug expression turned into a small warm smile.
“Your tea,” is all he said, placing the packet of chamomile tea in the small space between them. Only then did Heather register that the low whistle of the kettle had turned into an angry sound. Hastily she grabbed the packet out of Robby's hand and turned around to lift up the boiling water.
By the time she had put the tea leaves and the water together she heard the soft click of the door informing her that Robby had left the break room.
Heather sunk into one of the chairs around the table, letting the warm beverage in her hands ground her as she took a shuddering breath.
Maybe she needed another moment to catch herself.