Work Text:
Amelia stared at the entrance of Joe's bar, chewing at the inside of her cheek.
Waiting a moment to let a rowdy group of men leave the bar, she walked in, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting.
Her feet hurt. Her legs ached. Her head felt fuzzy and despite being a neurosurgeon, she was not planning on doing anything about it.
This was the worst and last place she should be right now.
A multiple MVC had come into the ER that day. One victim had to be declared brain dead. Another suffered severe head trauma, needed a craniotomy to remove a massive intracerebral hematoma, coded on the table, and was now being closely monitored in the ICU.
A long time patient of Amelia's had began to deteriorate due to malignant tumors new scans had discovered creeping up their cervical spine.
A simple afternoon aneurysm clipping had turned into a long thoracotomy because of.... Actually Amelia didn't know. Something went wrong, Teddy Altman was called, and the right side of Amelia's brain went to sleep (Scientifically accurate? No. Mentally accurate? 100%).
It's tough being a groundbreaking neurosurgeon.
And now, even tougher being a recovering addict.
One slip, and.....
Amelia sat up at a stool at the bar counter.
"Could I just get a Coke please?" She asked the barman, who nodded curtly and slid a lukewarm can her way. A glass full of ice soon followed.
Teddy Altman sat next to her at the bar, and asked a different barman for fries and a Sprite.
"On call." She muttered to Amelia.
"The chief is always on call."
"Hm. I should've thought about that before asking for the job."
Atticus Lincoln appeared behind the two women, beer in hand.
"Hey! Me and Jo have a table over there," he said, pointing at the corner, where in fact, Jo was sitting at a high table.
"Join us?"
Amelia picked up her glass, Teddy collected her food, and they made their way to the table, weaving through clusters of residents, interns and nurses alike.
Amelia was thankful for the extra company because now she could stay quiet with her own thoughts and wasn't needed for conversation.
Teddy, Link and Jo chatted casually about their children, Amelia piping in occasionally to provide an update on Scout.
Across the bar, a small stage had been set up in a corner. On the stage there was a small group of people poring over amps and instruments, plugging various things in and out.
This was the reason why Amelia had entered this dark, kind of sticky bar in the first place. Joe's had started inviting local indie bands to perform to "support our healthcare workers."
Teddy had invited her to the gig (if it could be called that) after their surgery from hell, describing the night as "probably fine, but the vibe could be good".
Amelia stared at her Coke and thought about Kai. It had been over two weeks since they had moved to London and yet everything still reminded her of them.
Kai had ordered a Coke when they went to the show in Minnesota.
Kai had described the band as fine and the vibe as good.
Two tables away from where she currently sat, she and Kai had shared french fries.
The guitarist in the corner started testing their guitar. It was making an unattractive "plinky plinky" sound, until some genius plugged the guitar in and a smattered cheer went around the bar. The guitarist's dark silhouette was tall and noticably lanky, another detail that painfully reminded Amelia of Kai.
The drummer gave a shout and the band started playing. The music was alright, as far as Amelia was concerned and she sipped her drink, returning to her coworkers conversation.
After a while, Teddy stood up to get another drink, and Amelia followed her with plans to top up her own Coke.
While waiting at the bar, Amelia took the opportunity to take a closer look at the band's guitarist, now being closer to the stage. Something about their body language seemed familiar.
They were turned around, consulting the bassist on something, which the bassist was nodding enthusiastically at. Amelia's eyes dragged up their body, focused on the back of their head until they turned around and Amelia was was face to face with Dr. Kai Bartley.
The two locked eyes. Kai smiled and gave a coy wave, before playing the first few notes of a song Amelia knew all too well and they stepped up to the microphone.
"You've been causing me trouble and keeping me up"
Amelia's grin could be seen from space. Teddy touched Amelia's shoulder, smiling. "Im going back to the table."
Amelia could barely hear Teddy, and nodded, waving vaguely.
The band finished playing and Kai lifted their guitar over their head, leaving it on the stage. Their band mates continued to play while Kai slowly walked down the steps of the stage and made their way to where Amelia was standing, unable to move with pure shock and utter delight.
"Hey," Kai said softly, looking down on the delighted Amelia.
"Wha- How.... Why are you here?" Amelia managed to choke out, looking up at Kai, eyes soft and sparkling.
"Supporting Seattle's white collar workers of course," they responded, adding "and also to buy you a drink?"
Amelia laughed lightly.
"By buying me a drink, you do mean-"
"Ginger ale?" Kai smiled.
Amelia smiled back, eyes shining with tears, and nodded.
The pair sat at the bar and Kai ordered the ginger ale for Amelia and a Coke for themselves.
An intense feeling of deja vu swept over Amelia and she chuckled inwardly, feeling like she was floating on clouds.
Who needs drugs or alcohol now?
"So... What's London like?" Amelia asked, almost shyly.
"Cold. Wet. I'd love to show you around at some point," Kai replied, head bent down so that they were almost looking up at Amelia, pretty much matching Amelia's shy demeanor.
"That doesn't sound any different from Seattle or Minnesota....... And the lab?"
"My new home, you mean. A lot of very secret, very cool research is happening." Kai answered slowly, looking down at their drink.
There was a quiet pause, as if the two were sizing each other up and deciding their next move.
"Would... Would you like to maybe get out of here? Go somewhere... Less crowded?" Amelia finally asked quietly.
Kai looked up from their glass, their slow, easy smile lighting up their face, and they nodded.
They both stood up, paid for their drinks, Kai gave their band mates a thumbs up, signaling their departure (to which the band mates replied with various hand gestures- some appropriate, some not), and left Joe's, Amelia leaning into Kai, Kai's arm wrapped around Amelia.