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1. Chuny
One thing you learn quickly in a hospital is that the nurses know and see everything. This is especially true in County General's ER, so when Peter Benton starts acting strange around Carter, the nurses are the first ones to notice.
It starts small when Chuny sees a nurse who came down from ICU, she's standing by the nurses station looking lost holding two cups of coffee. She looks younger, probably a fresh graduate.
"Hey, whose the coffee for?" Chuny prods, playfully smiling as she sees the girl blush.
"Oh, It's for," she quickly looks around, embarrassed, "Dr. Carter," she finally mutters, making Chuny's smile widen.
"And is this Dr. Carter expecting you?" The girl quickly shakes her head, blushing a little deeper.
"No, no, I just figured I'd try to get my foot in the door," she laughs, "I just hope he doesn't mind creamer and sugar in his coffee." Chuny is about to respond when she hears someone else speak up.
"Carter doesn't like creamer." They both startle, looking over and seeing Peter staring at an X-ray on the light-box on the wall. He quickly pulls it off, glancing at them as he goes to walk off. He pauses before adding, "he's already had a coffee this morning, anyway." They both look at each other and then stare at his back as he disappears down the hall.
Chuny quickly pats the girl on the arm, "I say you give it to him anyway, Carter's a nice guy. Don't pay attention to him." She looks mortified, but she nods her head anyway.
Chuny is sitting at admit later, and she looks up when she sees the nurse walk past the desk and up to Carter, who is walking out of Exam Two. She can't hear the conversation but she sees as Carter smiles bashfully at the girl, clearly a little flustered. Chuny smiles, Carter is totally into her at least a little bit. However, Peter pops up right behind Carter, grabbing his shoulder and practically dragging him away. Carter is still holding the coffee and Chuny trails behind them to see where they're going, she stops just down the hall from them, where they're stopped in front of Trauma Two. She catches Peter take the coffee cup away from him, looking around for a trash can. She's close enough to hear the conversation now.
"Carter, you've already had a coffee today. Your heart's going to pop." Peter is trying to act somewhat annoyed, but even Carter seems a little touched, if confused, he cared enough to mention it.
"Dr. Benton, I don't think one more cup of coffee will kill me." Carter's back is to her now, having turned to try and grab at the coffee. Peter's seamlessly raises it up above his head, and despite them being practically the same height, Carter just groans and drops his hands to his sides as Peter continues lecturing him about heart health. Chuny chuckles at the sight, about to turn away when she see's Carter's arm move, she can't see exactly what he does, but she does see as Peter's eyes widen before he glares at Carter, who's trying to stifle his laughter. Peter quickly chucks the coffee into a trashcan one of the janitors is moving.
"Oh, come on!" Carter is still chuckling, "that was funny!" Peter just shakes his head, but Chuny see's him smile just a little as he turns away. She grins as she turns to walk to admit, she is totally telling the other nurses about this.
2. Mark
Mark is having a pretty normal shift all things considered. He's had pretty easy patients, no major traumas have come through the ER, and he's only been splashed with a bodily fluid once. So, he's in a pretty good mood. Unfortunately, he cannot say the same for Carter. The poor guy has been lunged at by at least four patients so far and he's only been here for two hours. Not to mention the amount of times someone has vomited on his shoes, so he looks pretty worn down and miserable. Mark is on his way to talk to him, having sent him to sit at admit for a while. But he see's Peter making a beeline for him, so, naturally, Mark slows down to see what's going on, having heard the rumor the nurses have been spreading: that Peter has been acting…weird around Carter. Mark just wants to see if the rumor is true, really.
"Carter!" The sound of Peter yelling Carter's name is pretty normal around here now, and it's no different to any other time as Mark watches his head snap up as a response. Peter stops right in front of Carter, the only barrier between them being the admit desk.
"Are you—" Peter makes an aborted movement with his hand, uselessly waving it around instead, "Have you eaten?" Which…is a weird question for Peter of all people to be asking Carter, and also clearly not what he was planning on asking. Mark doesn't even know how he found out Carter's been having a tough shift, Mark doesn't remember seeing him at all today. Mark squints at them.
"Not really, I've been pretty busy trying to clean my shoes every 20 minutes." He chuckles, but Peter gives him a flat look before he digs into his pocket, pulling out a granola bar. He opens it before handing it to Carter, pushing it into his chest.
"We can't have you passing out on us, Carter."
"Uh, thank you, Dr. Benton," Carter smiles at him, and Mark watches as Peter walks just far enough away to look busy but still able to keep an eye on Carter. Mark decides that Carter seems to be pretty well taken care of and he walks off to take care of another patient.
Mark see's that Carter seems to be in a much better mood an hour or so later. He's picking up another chart and talking to Susan when Peter appears again. He stands right behind Carter, and Mark shares a very bewildered look with Susan. He's not sure what they're talking about, having been trying to get in touch with a patients very elusive clinic when they both walked up to admit, but he knows it doesn't warrant the near-glare Peter is giving Susan. The weirdest thing is that Carter doesn't seem the least bit startled. He's still talking excitedly, not seeming to even process Peter is there. He only trails off when he see's Susan's furrowed brow.
"Are you alright, Dr. Lewis?"
"Uh," she hesitates, caught off guard by the question, Mark smirks as she fumbles to answer, "Oh, I'm fine, don't worry, Carter." She laughs nervously, shooting a desperate look at Mark.
"Oh, Carter can you—" Mark is about to ask if he can help him get a hold of the clinic, but Peter cuts him off quickly, placing a hand on Carter's shoulder.
"No, he can't," Carter looks over at him confused and Peter raises his eyebrows at him, "he has sutures to do." Carter suddenly grins.
"Right! I'll be right back, Dr. Greene, sorry!" Before he scurries off to the suture room, Peter following much slower behind him, seeming exasperated.
Susan slowly turns to face Mark, "you saw that too, right?"
"Oh, yeah." Mark nods, before finally being taken off hold with the clinic.
3. Doug
The lounge is one of Doug's favorite places to be. It's not only a great place to nap and avoid demanding nurses, it's also a great place to fish out all the drama happening in the ER. Doug is trying to hide out for a few minutes, he pissed off Carol earlier and he really doesn't feeling like running into her just yet. But, as he pushes open the door he see's an absolutely marvelous sight. Carter is napping, and it looks like he has been for a while. He's drooling. Doug barely manages to stifle his chuckle before he moves to look around for anything to prank Carter with.
He already looks pretty uncomfortable, with an awful angle in his neck that will surely bite him later, but Doug can't help himself. He's still shuffling things around and digging through the cabinets when he remembers that Carter's shift ended thirty minutes ago, but just as he realizes he hears the door open suddenly. He quickly looks around the cabinet door, already shushing whoever is walking in, pointing at Carter on the couch. He's met with a very annoyed looking Peter, who throws him one of his famous angry glares. Doug quickly throws his hands up in a placating gesture, but he looks questioningly at Peter as he walks over to wake up Carter.
"Hey, Carter," Peter sounds softer than Doug has ever heard him, and he quickly sticks his head back in the cabinet, before leaning back just enough to keep an eye on what they're doing. Peter shakes Carter's shoulder softly, calling his name again. Carter suddenly lunges up, never one to wake up gracefully, forcing Peter to pull himself backwards. Carter wipes his mouth and blinks hard, before smiling blearily up at Peter.
"Hi, Dr. Benton," Carter mumbles, pushing himself up. Doug can't see Peter's face, but he can see his shoulders rise and fall with a sigh. Carter slowly opens his locker, grabbing his coat before turning back to face Peter. As he does this, he also catches sight of Doug next to the counter, making him quickly look back into the cabinet, trying really hard to look interested in the mugs. He sneaks one more glance towards them, seeing Carter, who is now blushing slightly, quickly walk out of the lounge. Peter, again, throws Doug another glare, one that Doug meets with a deeply confused look. He didn't even do anything!
Peter quickly throws open his own locker, rushing out of the lounge with his coat barely making it out of his locker before the door is slammed shut. Doug is left knowing what ever mug looks like in the damn cabinet and a lot of questions.
He walks out of the lounge, immediately spotting Carol and needing to know if she knows anything, argument be damned.
"Hey, Carol, did Carter and Peter leave together just now?" She looks annoyed at him, which he was expecting, but she seems to know where he's going with the question.
"Yep. Peter was practically running after him. No idea why Carter was still here," she shrugs, before lowering her voice into a slight whisper, "but a lot of the nurses think Peter is getting 'sweet on him', as Haleh likes to say." She leans away from Doug, trying to act like she doesn't really care, but Doug can see the gleam of mischief in her eyes. Carol loves a good rumor to talk about, especially about someone as private as Peter, no matter how much she denies it.
"Well, I just had to watch Peter get almost nauseatingly sweet with him in order to wake him up from a nap in the lounge, so I'd say he's definitely getting sweet on the guy." Carol looks delighted at this information, making Doug grin before walking off. He isn't surprised at all to hear the nurses talking about it less than fifteen minutes later, all crowded around the nurses station.
4. Susan
The entire ER knows that Peter has been extra nice to Carter these last few months, while they don't know why, there are plenty of theories floating around. Any chance the staff gets, they crowd around the admit desk, placing numerous bets on whether they're dating, just sleeping together, or if Peter is in love with Carter and Carter has no idea. Susan personally thinks they're dating, placing a solid twenty bucks on it. The ER routinely trade stories about the new weird thing Peter has said or done that day, always quickly shutting up when either one, or both (usually both) of them walks by.
Susan is trying to help Carter calm down a patient in curtain one a belligerent drunk man, who is disturbingly strong and also uncoordinated. A fantastic mixture. Susan is only here because Kerry sent her away from admit for gossiping, right into the desperate eyes of Carter. Susan scoots forwards as she tries to talk to the guy, who is yelling something unintelligible, but he's clearly getting angrier by the second. She's about to ask Carter if they should get some Ativan, just in case, when the patient suddenly lashes out, grabbing a nearby emesis basin and smashing Carter in the nose with it. Carter, who had gotten much closer to the patient than Susan had to try and calm him down, is pushed backwards with a stream of blood rushing from his nose. Susan immediately yells for security before dragging Carter into an exam room.
Carter hisses as Susan wipes his face down, the blood having reached well onto his neck. "Sorry, sorry," she winces in sympathy, "he got you good, Carter. It's probably broken." She gives him a pitying look.
"Damn it," Carter mutters, groaning. She prods against his cheekbones, watching him wince and furrow his brows, "definitely broken, sorry Carter. Doesn't look too terrible though,"
"Oh, well, as long as it isn't too terrible." He smiles tightly, making her chuckle. Just then, Peter comes barreling through the door. He rushes past her, grabbing Carter by the face and turning it this way and that.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Carter just rolls his eyes.
"I am fine, I promise. Just a small break, I'll live." Carter shrugs, pulling his best puppy eyes on Peter. Susan snorts at the sight. She is so winning that bet. Peter startles, like he just realized she was there. He quickly stands back up, straightening himself. For some reason he looks guilty, and Susan is worried that he's genuinely scared of the repercussions of someone finding out about their potential relationship. She shoots him a hopefully reassuring smile.
"He'll be okay, Peter, just bruised for a few days, probably." Peter visibly loosens, but only slightly. Carter grabs his arm, forcing Peter to look over at him. Carter smiles warmly, making a motion with his eyebrows that says see? Peter sighs, patting Carter's hair, and Susan quickly makes her exit, feeling like she's intruding suddenly.
5. Kerry
Kerry always tries to break up the huddles of people whispering and muttering among themselves, never having been one for rumors. That doesn't mean she doesn't know what the rumors are, she just won't entertain groups of people surrounding the admit desk instead of working. She sighs as she has to wave her crutch around another group of people, yelling at them to get back to work. Admit now empty, Jerry off running labs, she goes to grab a chart when she hears them, Carter and Peter, who seem to be attached at the hip these days. Despite herself, she turns to look.
Carter is smiling, clearly annoying Peter, who looks exasperated, stopping next to admit and putting his hands on his hips.
"Come on, Peter!" Which… pulls Kerry up short. She's never heard Carter call any of them by their first name, especially not Peter. "It could be fun," he leans forwards, poking a finger into Peter's chest playfully. Peter breaks slightly, Kerry seeing a smile tug at his mouth.
"No, Carter," Peter sighs, clearly this wasn't the first time he's said this. Kerry smiles slightly, endeared by the face Carter pulls, a clear ploy to try and get Peter to agree to whatever it is he wants. Peter, clearly not immune to this, does the adult thing and turns his back to Carter. This, inadvertently, makes him face Kerry, but his eyes are closed. Carter laughs, bright and unrestricted. Peter crosses him arms, and Kerry is almost in shock by the sight. She's never seen Peter joke like this, and suddenly the rumors feel true. She stands there, hand halfway to a chart, when Peter finally opens his eyes. The effect is immediate, his eyes widen and he goes stiff, arms falling to his sides.
"C'mon, Peter," Carter grabs Peter's shoulder, still laughing, before he realizes what Peter is staring at, making Carter looks a little nauseous. Kerry, feeling like she just got caught with her hand inside the cookie jar, quickly clears her throat. Peter looks ready to bolt, but Kerry quickly makes a zipping closed motion with her hand on her mouth, before silently turning towards her chart. She see's from the corner of her eye as Peter turns slowly to face Carter, who looks just as stricken as Peter. She walks off, taking slightly slower steps than usual, watching as Carter seems to pull Peter towards the lounge, clearly trying to calm him down.
Kerry is now actively keeping an eye out for the two of them. It's been a few days since the situation at admit, they never came forward and told her anything directly, but she can see the appreciation in Carter's eyes every time Kerry dispels a group of people whispering and when what happened at admit never makes it's way into the grapevine. Peter avoids her eyes for a few days but eventually seems to fully calm down. However, Kerry is cornered by Susan and Doug in the hallway by sutures, both clearly trying to fish for something.
"So, Kerry," Doug starts, already pissing her off, "we've noticed that you seem to be pretty close to Carter these days and, y'know, more adamant about us not gossiping," when she shoots him a look he quickly adds, "more than usual, I mean." Susan is nodding along the whole time, they both look similar to vultures to Kerry. She leans on her crutch, sighing.
"I have patients to see." She says flatly, trying to push past them.
"Oh, come on, Kerry!" Susan exclaims, blocking Kerry's path with a desperate look on her face.
"Well, what I think is," they both lean in slightly, "that you both need to get back to work. Clearly you both have too much free time." Susan groans and Doug rolls his eyes, but they both leave her alone. She catches Carter's eye from across the hall, and he smiles at her. That alone makes the whole thing worth it.
+1
The whole ER is on edge. Not because of a depressing case or a huge incoming trauma, because Peter and Carter aren't talking. Nobody knows what happened, but Peter was extra snippy and Carter showed up for his shift ten minutes late. They've both been avoiding each other like the plague, no matter how hard the staff attempts to get them to talk, they won't even look at each other. The theories start quickly.
Did they break-up or something?
No, no, Peter definitely started it. Why else would Carter be so angry? I swear, he actually glared at me earlier!
I think Peter finally told Carter how he felt and Carter didn't take it well.
No! It would totally be the other way around.
The ER is buzzing with the possibilities, but they're quiet about it for once. They all wait with baited breath when Peter and Carter pass each other in the halls or end up in the same trauma room, practically not breathing every time they have to watch them be forced to interact. It comes to a head when Carter yells at Mark of all people before he storms off to sit in the lounge. Mark, a little stunned, quickly shakes it off and tells everyone to go back to work, before he rushes off to find Peter. Eventually, he finds him brooding in the suture room, doing very slow and perfect sutures on a very nervous looking woman.
"Peter." Mark calls, making him whip his head around.
"What." Peter practically snaps at him. Mark sighs, before gesturing for Peter to come out to the hall. Peter, finishing off the sutures, grumbles but complies. Once they're in the hall, Peter crosses his arms, gesturing for Mark to start talking.
"Okay, so you and Carter are having problems," Peter looks ready to interject, but Mark holds up a hand, "Don't start. He just yelled at me right in front of admit because I was 'riding him too much'. I just asked if he was okay twice. You need to figure it out." Mark raises his eyebrows at Peter, who has a very pathetic look in his eye, like a kicked puppy, "he's in the lounge. Hop to it!" He claps once before walking away, leaving Peter looking vaguely dejected.
Peter stands there for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath and dragging himself into the lounge. Pointedly avoiding all the looks of interest as he passes admit and pushes lounge door open. He find Carter making a cup of coffee very aggressively. Carter looks up, immediately rolling his eyes at the sight of Peter before turning back to his cup. They stand there in silence for a minute or two, Peter agonizing and hoping that Carter will say something, but when he doesn't, Peter prepares himself to start.
"Carter, look," he gets a heated glare for his efforts, which he ignores, "I just—I don't know if I want everyone at work knowing," Carter is quick to size himself up, pushing his shoulders back and crossing his arms, something Peter would find enticing any other day but he now just finds threatening.
"Everybody practically already knows, Peter!" He wants to yell, but he smartly keeps his voice down, they both know this conversation isn't going to be fully private. The lounge isn't soundproof.
"I know! I know, but speculation isn't the same as knowing." Peter is gesturing with his hands, desperate for Carter to understand what he's saying.
"Oh, I know that! It just feels like," he groans, turning away from Peter, "I just feel like maybe you're…embarrassed." Peter can see the half-hearted shrug Carter gives, and he feels his heart drop. Their argument this morning was quick and loud, neither of them expressing themselves clearly, Peter had slammed the door shut and left before Carter could get another word out after he first mentioned the idea of announcing their relationship to the ER, Carter didn't get a chance to say any of this before. Peter is nauseous.
"What?" His voice is quiet, slightly horrified that Carter would think he was embarrassed of him.
"Every time you showed an ounce of affection for me in front of somebody without knowing, you froze up, looking like you were going to run away at any given chance." He pushes a hand through his hair. "I mean, I understood at first, the first few times almost made me throw up from nerves, but I mean, after awhile you had to know that nobody cared. If they did, they would definitely be more loud about it!" Carter throws his hands up, turning back to face Peter.
"Kerry practically got confirmation and she didn't tell anybody and I'm sure if you trusted anybody in this ER half as much as you said you did, you'd know none of them would tell anybody if we didn't want them to!" Carter takes quick steps towards Peter, pushing him back with a finger pointed at his chest. Peter knows he's right, they're all good people. But, it horrifies him for the wrong person to hear the wrong thing.
"It just scares me," Peter gulps, grabbing the hand pushing him back and lacing their fingers together. Carter stops pushing forward, focusing in on Peter, "I don't want you to get hurt or to lose your job because of me. I don't want to feel like I'm constantly being stared at or having everything we do scrutinized and broadcasted to the entire staff." He chuckles dryly, "sorta like this argument." Carter snorts, before becoming serious again.
"Peter, whatever happens, we'll figure it out. I don't care about any of that, I just really care about you, I want the entire world to know that I love you, but the ER staff knowing seemed like a good first step." He's laughing again, something Peter has missed all day, which makes him smile.
"Yeah, yeah, okay." Peter nods, "just don't be really dramatic about it, alright?" Carter nods, but Peter see's a mischievous look in his eye.
The whole ER is waiting, even Kerry is hovering around admit. Susan is whispering to Mark when they hear slight raised voices, making them all shut up, before it lulls into near incomprehensible murmuring. Susan gives Mark a concerned look, but eventually, they hear a loud Carter! That cuts off right as the door to the lounge bursts open, revealing a very excited looking Carter and a very, very embarrassed looking Peter. They're standing side by side with Carter's arm draped across Peter's shoulders. Susan smiles at the sight, ready to go back to work, but Carter clears his throat quickly. This catches the attention of the entire ER, everybody attempting to act natural while still waiting around to see what would happen. But, as they all turn to look, Carter quickly grabs Peter's face in his hands, pulling him into a quick, sweet, kiss. It last barely a few seconds, and when they pull apart Peter looks even more embarrassed, Carter is beaming.
"Somebody just won a lot of money, huh?" Carter snickers, Peter's looking at the floor, but he's smiling.
"Well, that depends," Malik starts, "have you guy's been dating this whole time or what?" Susan desperately hopes they've been dating, the betting pool is huge. Carter grins, turning to Peter, who looks up from the floor and lightly glares at Carter before turning to address the room.
"We've been dating for eight months." He finally mutters, smiling at Carter's excited clap. Susan throws her arms up, "pay up!" she exclaims, getting a handful of groans from around the room.
"Oh! Before I forget," Carter grabs the attention of the room again, "this does not leave this ER, okay?" His face is serious, and Peter stands tall next to him, glaring at the room. Everybody immediately bursts into variations of course! and obviously. They both seem to sigh a breath of relief. Susan is happily accepting her winnings when Kerry speaks up.
"Alright! There are still patients to see, everybody!" She forces the crowd to scatter, but Susan watches as she pats them both on the shoulder, before she walks off. Susan waits in admit with Doug and Mark. As Peter and Carter walk by, Susan can see the moment they both spot the shit-eating grin on Doug's face because they both visibly brace themselves for the next words that will fall from his mouth. Susan laughs, and Doug, predictably, starts questioning them.
"So, you two, did you ever do it in the hospital?" Carter's face goes pink, but Peter just gives him a flat look. "What? It's a fair question!" Doug is laughing, turning away to focus on finishing a chart. Susan slaps him on the shoulder, getting an indignant hey! And a snort from Mark.
"I'm happy for you guys, really." She says, getting a genuine smile out of them, though only a small one from Peter. "Plus, the money was very worth it." That gets a laugh out of Carter.
"Maybe just keep the arguments at home, next time." Mark says, he's smiling but they both look a little embarrassed, "anyway, go treat your patients, and don't get us all stuck in an HR meeting, please." He finishes, before turning to walk towards curtain two. Susan watches as Carter bumps Peter's shoulder, smiling goofily at him. Peter rolls his eyes with a smile, and this time, when he catches Susan looking, he just shrugs, before walking towards his own patient back in sutures, Carter wandering back into exam two. Susan goes to help her own patient, smiling the whole way.