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Soft bells jingled as she opened the door to the fancy little café two blocks down from the hospital. It was a rare day where she was not running late so she had decided to treat herself to a fancy latte before work.
As she got to the front of the line the familiar barista greeted her, then frowned a little when she said her order. Weird.
“Just the one latte? Nothing for your boyfriend today?”
“Boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend…”
“Oh, man. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you guys broke up. Latte’s on the house, sweetie.”
Samira was perplexed to say the least.
She was still frowning at the entire encounter when her coffee appeared on the bar.
As she grabs it and heads out she’s met face to face with Dr. Abbot, who’s clearly coming in for a pick-me-up after a brutal night shift.
“Hi, Dr. Abbot. Rough night?”
“A bit, Mohan. Left you all the good cases.”
They do that awkward little dance at the entrance as they both try to pass by each other before he finally gently grabs her shoulders, lifts her up as though she doesn’t weigh a thing, and moves her out of the way by turning both their bodies to swap their previous placement. She tries to ignore the fluttering in her stomach his touch and the brazen display of his strength had elicited in her.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Mohan. Have a good one.” He says with a cheeky wink that makes her shake her head.
Samira turns around and sips her latte. They sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon on it, just like she orders when it’s been a tough shift, and it makes her think back to the weird interaction with the barista. She decides not to think too much about it and pivots to the direction of PTMC.
Before she can take even a step the door to the café opens and Dr. Abbot comes back out, coffeeless. He’s frowning.
“They kicked me out.” He says.
“What? Why? What did you say?”
“Why do you assume I said something?” to which he receives only a raised eyebrow. “Ok, fair. But I really don’t know. I didn't even get a chance to say hello and the barista was telling me to leave.”
“That is odd. They’re usually so nice here. They actually gave me a sprinkle of cinnamon without me having to ask for it today. Did have a weird conversation with them but she was very kind to me. Did they say anything about why?”
They both start walking in the direction of the Hospital.
“Maybe they saw I moved you out of the way when I walked in? I think she said something along the lines of ‘not how you treat a woman’ but she also said she was taking sides?”
Samira just shrugged but something was niggling at the back of her mind. She couldn’t figure out what though.
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It happened again a few days later. Not in the café, but with one of the ambulance drivers.
Samira had been talking to the EMS team after a trauma. They’d all just been chilling and in mildly celebratory moods since the woman they’d brought had been successfully taken up to surgery with a very good prognosis when Katie, the cute new EMS driver, asked Samira out for coffee. Before she could even respond Mark butted in.
“Oh, Katie. Girl, you don’t wanna do that. Dr. Mohan here is taken.”
Samira bristled.
“Taken? I’m not…” Samira began when the automatic doors behind her slid open.
“Speaking of… Dr. Abbot, my man!”
Speaking of? What? Samira was so confused. Mark and Dr. Abbot were talking about the lady they had brought in earlier and Katie was apologizing for earlier, saying she hadn’t known.
But the trouble was, there was nothing to know. Right?
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A few days afterward Samira was on night shift, something that had been happening more often lately as she found that the rhythm of nights was very much in tune with her own. It helped that the entire team got along swimmingly and the leadership had a more relaxed style that did not rush her but also helped her focus and continue learning.
She and Dr. Abbot had stopped in for some coffee before starting – at a different coffee shop because he did not want to venture in yet and risk being thrown out again – and had arrived together for work. Samira had noticed Lena and Dana exchanging glances at the hub but had not thought anything of it.
She should have thought something of it.
“Samira, hun, do you know where Abbot is?” Lena asked around midnight.
Samira looked up from the computer where she was finishing up a chart.
“Umm…I'm not sure? Haven’t seen him in a while, actually.”
“Oh, could you go look for him, please? We have a trauma coming in ten minutes.”
“But, I’m charting…”
“Yeah, but you know he always prefers when you find him. If I send in Shen he’s going to be pissed.”
“I guess.”
“Thank you! You’re a doll!”
Samira did not want to admit it to Lena, but she had a pretty good idea of where Dr. Abbot was.
Admitting it meant she would have to admit that she paid too much attention to where this particular attending was and where he went when he was feeling overwhelmed, and admitting she knew when he was overwhelmed meant opening a whole other can of worms that she was not ready to deal with at the moment.
So she made quick work of heading to the second floor supply closet, where there was a chair that Abbot sometimes used to sit and take a breather. He was exactly where she had thought he'd be, eyes closed and head leaned back against the wall.
“Hey. Lena’s looking for you.” She whispered after opening the door, leaning on the door jamb.
“Hi there. Thanks," he said with a soft smile. Fuck, if he wasn’t so handsome when he smiled. Definitely another thing Samira did not want to unpack right then. “Let’s go, then.”
They headed back down, softly chatting about the shift so far. He made some teasing remark about her dexterity in high acuity situations that made her blush and laugh a little. He smiled even wider, prideful at eliciting such a response from her.
“Will you look at that, Romeo. Thank god for your girl, she always knows where to find you.” Lena exclaimed, making them both stop in their tracks.
“Lena, she’s not my… what are you even talking about? Talk to me, what’s coming?” Abbot deflected, and Samira was grateful for it. It also made her think about the other two weird interactions she’d had the past week. She was very sure what they were all about but, surely, it couldn’t be?
“Uh huh, sure, loverboy. We got a trauma incoming in 5. MVC, Car vs. lamppost. EMS says he’s looking stable but there are possible fractures.”
Jack cleared his throat and thanked Lena for the update, but the blush that went all the way up to his ears was still there by the time the rig arrived.
Interesting.
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Jack had been noticing the oddities as well.
He was at the corner falafel stand before shift and as Karim handed him his order he said “Tell Dr. Mohan I said hello!” which was odd but he figured maybe they’d been coming to this stand for pre-shift meals together a little too often.
He had also noticed the looks the nursing staff had been sending his way whenever he and Samira were working together, but it wasn’t like he could help it if they were an actual dream team in Traumas. And if they happened to leave at the same time after shift, well that was just a coincidence. Right?
He did not want to think too much about it because the moment he did he was going to have to come to terms with several things, namely his feelings, and he was good to keep avoiding that for the foreseeable future. His therapist would not be too happy about that, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
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The following day Jack walked in for his shift with two coffees in hand. As he looked around trying to find a familiar mop of curly black hair Dana, on her way out, just nodded at him and said “She’s behind you, dummy.” Confused as to how Dana could possibly know who he was looking for, he turned around and, indeed, Samira was walking in after him. Maybe Dana did know after all. Or maybe it was just a lucky guess. Probably that.
As Samira approached him he realized she also had two coffees in her hands.
“Oh! Seems like we’re sharing the brain cell today, Dr. Abbot.”
He cleared his throat.
“Yeah. Yep. Looks like it. We can always share with Ellis and Toomerian.”
“Sounds like a plan. Hey, by the way, that study you sent me yesterday was so good. I mean the info they found and their entire methodology was amazing but I have to be honest, what really blew my mind was the way they structured..”
“Structured the paper! Yes, who knew that something as bland as average healing times after sutures could be interesting if you put it in just the right order and use some clever graphs?”
“Exactly!”
“I knew you’d enjoy that!” He smiled softly at her, which made her look down at the coffees, trying to hide a blush. “Hey, wanna go to the diner after shift again? I’m kind of craving a pastry but I am still afraid to go back into the café. Besides, Margie already knows our orders, anyways.”
“Yeah, ok let’s do that.”
The shift continued and somehow they always ended up together, whether that was working on a patient together or chitchatting over charts. At around midnight they had an old lady come in with a sprained wrist. Samira was handling it perfectly well but she recognized the signs of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown and figured Jack’s charm might do the trick to help ease her mind so she sent the new R1 to go get him.
“Excuse me Dr. Abbot? Um.. The other um.. Dr. ah shit i forgot her name but she’s your girlfriend right? Anyway she needs your help with the sprained wrist in North 5.”
“My girlf..? I don’t have a… Do you mean Dr. Mohan?”
“Yes! That’s the one! Real pretty and real smart! I just started this week and I am so bad with names but yes. She said you have the magic touch for old ladies or something like that.”
Jack shook his head. Girlfriend? He didn’t know what was more concerning, that a new resident thought they were in a relationship or that he had known instantly who the boy had been referring to. Another thing he would not be unpacking anytime soon if he had any say.
He didn’t.
He pushed back the curtain in North 5 to find Samira and a Mrs. Davalos according to her chart. She’d gotten up in the middle of the night to pee and had tripped over her own shoes that she had been too tired to put in their proper place earlier. Her entire weight had landed on her wrist and though it looked like a sprain due to her age there were concerns and imaging had already been ordered. Also because of her age and because she lived alone it seemed Mrs. Davalos was experiencing some late onset anxiety about what could have happened. This is were Jack came in.
“What do we have here, Dr. Mohan? Other than this lovely patient of course,” He turned to the patient and winked. It worked immediately to diffuse some of her anxiety, as she blushed and giggled at him.
“Mrs. Davalos got into a bit of a scuffle with her own footwear and it resulted in a sprained wrist, Dr. Abbot. I’ve checked her over and it tracks to be grade 2 sprain but I’ve ordered an x-ray as she mentioned some calcium deficiencies so I want to verify there are no fractures,a s she has been diligently taking her supplements.”
“Well, if she’s been diligent I’m sure everything will come out as it should. Good on you, Mrs. Davalos.”
“Oh, please. Call me Deb.”
As they worked on Deb’s sprained wrist they kept up the banter. What had been meant as a way to get the woman talking became more of a tennis match as she turned her head back and forth between the two doctors tending to her.
As they waited for the results of the x-ray, she finally spoke up and asked the question that had been plaguing her for the past thirty minutes.
“So, how long have you guys been married? Must be nice to work with your spouse.”
Samira and Jack froze. Then they turned to look at each other before quickly looking away.
“Oh, no Mrs. Davalos, We’re just coworkers.” Samira said swiftly.
“Well, if I had a coworker like that I would definitely enjoy going to work every day. Just saying.”
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After Mrs. Davalos had been discharged and the rest of the shift had passed they headed over to their favorite diner. Margie did indeed already know their orders, greeting them as they came in with a cheery, “Good morning, lovebirds!” which made them both blush again.
They were sitting in their usual booth, coffee had been served and they were waiting on their food when Samira finally spoke.
“I think I know why they kicked you out of the coffee shop.”
He raised his eyebrows at that. Not what he was expecting her to lead with but he’d gladly take a detour from the shift they’d just had.
“So that day, the barista saw me walk in by myself and she asked if someone had broken up with me. I was very confused as I have not been seeing anyone but then after several other things this week I have to think that maybe they thought you and I had been in a relationship. I mean we used to go there together fairly often.”
“Ah. Yes, that makes sense. You know, Karim from the falafel place also thought we were together.”
“We do seem to go eat together a lot. The ambulance drivers also made a comment the other day.”
“Yeah, so did Lena and Dana.”
“Huh. Well. If you think about it, eating together, hanging out, texting a lot, shared interests, and the way we work so seamlessly does seem like we could… you know. Be in a relationship.”
“Yeah. Never thought about it like that.”
“Wait. Have we been dating? Is what we’ve been doing considered dating? Because we haven’t done anything physical. So that’s not…” Samira began to panic.
“No. Definitely not. I think. Not that I would be opposed, but you’re clearly uncomfortable with the idea and I never want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Wait, you wouldn’t be opposed? To us dating?” She looked at him from across the table with her big brown eyes and he could never deny her anything when she looked at him like that.
“No, Samira. I would definitely not be opposed.”
“Oh. Oh.” Suddenly so many things made sense.
He looked a little nervous at the admission. It was cute.
“That’s good cause I would also not be opposed to it. In case you were wondering.”
They shared a smile.
“So say we are dating, then. What changes?” Samira asked before taking a sip from her coffee, swinging her right leg and knocking her foot against his.
“Not much, except maybe I get to kiss you.” He knocked his foot back against hers.
“Maybe?”
“Definitely.”
“Just kissing?”
“How about we ditch this place and go back to my house, Mohan. I’ll show you exactly how much fun kissing can be.”