Title: Accompaniment
Author: Emony
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: The names of characters contained herein are the property
of the copyright holder of "ER." No infringements of these copyrights
are intended, and said characters are used here without permission.
Spoilers: Through "I Don't" 13.21
Summary: Just what was Ray thinking with that CD?
Word Count: 667
Beta: Ash, thanks hon!
Notes: inspired by galaxyduster's prompt.
It had started with the coffee; she was warming up to him again. At once quicker and slower than he had expected she would. She was beginning to treat him like a friend again. Again. Like, maybe, this time around things wouldn't go to hell so quickly. Or, maybe, there wouldn't be another man in the way... if only she would show Gates the door. And let it hit him in the ass on the way out.
But, that wasn't Neela. His Neela. The Neela he loved. She wouldn't do that. Even if, this time around, it became more between the two of them, she would have to let Gates down gently. God knew how long that would take her, and if he'd have the patience for it.
Anyway, it had started with the coffee and her acting like a friend again.
It had continued when he'd gotten back home and the tracks he'd laid down the week before had finally arrived, fully messed around with.
The tracks about life. The tracks that said everything he was. Even the one about her; about the love of his life.
He'd loaded them up onto his laptop and added them to his play list. That play list. The one full of songs that reminded him of her. The one long enough now to fill a full CD.
He'd laughed at himself, the idea of making a mix CD was so teenage, so emo.
It had gone even further when he'd stopped messing around with his laptop long enough to go and get himself a beer. He'd pulled a bottle out of the fridge and shut the door, his eyes ending up on the photo.
The photo taken of them back in happier times. Back when they were still Roomies. Still best friends. Still single.
He tried to stop his brain from going where it went, but it was no use.
He'd sat back at his laptop and opened up the Photoshop Bret had left; a remnant of the time when the band had made demo covers on there. He'd found the photo easily, it had been sent to him by Jerry in an email.
It was on the fourth bottle of beer that he finally figured out what to put on the cover of his mix CD.
He'd burnt the CD that night and saved the cover to be printed out the next time he could get at the printer at work without being nagged. And when Morris, Frank, and Timmy were too distracted to notice.
It had taken a week to print off the cover. A week to find the printer free when he had the guts to use it.
The minute it was done he had slipped the cover into the case and...
Then Gates had come up to the desk wanting to print out the notes he was actually doing that day and he'd had to sneak the CD quickly into his lab coat pocket.
At the end of that day's shift it was still in his pocket. It was still there at the start and end of the next five shifts. Then Morris asked what it was he had in his pocket whilst they were in the locker room at the end of the nastiest shift in a long time.
He'd made up some joke and quickly chucked into the back of his locker.
Then iit/i happened. And then it was a waiting game. The 'let's see how much patience Ray really has' game.
The day of the enforced ER social was the day he lost that patience.
The day he realised that the CD was still in the back of his locker.
The day he walked through an almost unrecognisable ER to find the locker, on it's side, surrounded by sheets and ladders. At least it looked like maybe they were doing something with the place.
Now he just had to get up the courage to give it to her.
End ficlet.