Title: Je n'aime pas ta copine
Author: Beth Pryor
Rating: K+
Universe/Timing: Crossover between ER characters in Season 13 and Chicago Fire characters prior to the series,sometime in February of 2007. The universe was previously presented in my previous story posted in Chicago Fire fandom "Trying to Scream Underwater."
Summary: Ray Barnett takes a break from the Neela/Gates drama of Season 13 to spend some time with another set of folks he met on the job. Along the way, we take a look back to what some of our favorites from Chicago Fire were doing about five years before the start of the series.
Disclaimer: Chicago Fire doesn't belong to me. ER doesn't belong to me either.
A/N: This idea was put in my head (and some of it even requested) by Rachel Wilder. She was hoping for a Secret Santa gift, but as usual, I'm a little late. I hope the consensus is "better late than never." Title comes from the French version of the Avril Lavagine classic "Girlfriend," also from 2007.
Je n'aime pas ta copine
"There's no way I'm going out tonight. Surgery rounds started at 5 this morning, and it's about 5 below out there. I'm curling up in bed with Surgery Recall and sleeping away my weekend off. If we ever get out of here today, that is. Dubenko just added on a case."
Sam nodded determinedly as she pulled Hallie into an empty exam room. "Yes you are. I need a night out. Ray Barnett's old band is playing at a club downtown. Their set isn't until 9, but there's bound to be an opener. You can grab something to eat and leave when you want, but you're going out. It's Friday night."
Hallie narrowed her eyes. "Ray Barnett?"
"Oh, I know well enough to steer clear of him."
"So, I'm confused then."
"The ER residents do some of the first responder recerts, and they have ride-alongs. Ray knows Kelly from that and hangs with him and the guys from 51 sometimes."
Hallie shook her head. "No. Come on. The ink's barely dry on the divorce papers." Sam shot her a disparaging look. Their divorce had been final for almost four years. But Hallie wasn't letting this go. "You forget that I've seen this gorgeous mysterious ex-husband of yours. I don't think a divorce is enough to keep you from wanting to jump his bones. I would like to jump his bones. "
"Ha. Ha. So hilarious. Heather Darden left me a voicemail. She has a babysitter for Griffin, and she and Andy are coming out. We've barely seen each other since the baby was born, and he'll be two next month. I have to at least act like a regular person tonight."
Hallie crossed her arms, adopting a pouting stance. "But we're not regular people who get to go to bars and clubs on Friday night. We're medical students."
"Fourth year medical students," Sam protested. "This is allegedly the best year of the rest of our lives. We need to live a little!"
"You're not on a surgical sub-I," Hallie pointed out.
"It's your Golden Weekend, though." Sam glanced at the wall clock. "It's almost 4 pm. Why aren't you home yet?"
"Are you kidding me?" Hallie scoffed. Work hour restrictions don't extend to medical students. Or surgeons." Her pager beeped. She sighed heavily and pulled it from her waistband, rolling her eyes as she read the text. "Gotta go write for some Colace on Med-Surg."
"Life-saving stuff," Sam nodded solemnly.
"You'd think. This is the third time they've paged." Hallie rolled her eyes again. "I'll try."
"Try hard," Sam pleaded, knowing she'd need every bit of moral and physical support she could get if she placed herself in the same room as Kelly Severide.
Hallie ran to answer her page, and Sam stepped back into the main hallway just as EMTs rolled a patient receiving CPR into Trauma One. Ray's eye caught hers as he and Dr. Kovaĉ pulled on yellow gowns, gloves, and goggles.
"Hey, Severide! You want in on this? I'll let you do the central line," Ray called. She nodded, took a deep breath, and followed.
About 20 minutes, a chest tube, and a subclavian line later, the patient was on his way to surgery, still unstable but still alive once the tension pneumothorax causing his arrest had been relieved.
Ray rested his elbow on Sam's shoulder, both of them still draped in yellow plastic with blood smeared all over them and around the room. "Nice job. Two procedures in one successful code. You might be able to do this yet."
If she hadn't been smiling so broadly at her own pleasure with her performance in the code, she'd have scowled at him, but she just couldn't manage negative feelings right now, and his own wide grin told her he wasn't doubting her skills.
"You coming tonight?" he asked.
She nodded. "I think so."
"Kelly and some of the guys from 51 are coming," he offered, maybe as a warning, maybe just as a full disclosure.
"I know. I talked to Heather Darden. It's okay. I still have friends there."
"I thought he was your brother, honestly," Ray revealed. "I had no idea."
Of course Ray knew her last name. Nurse Samantha Taggert was "Sam" in the ER. Samantha Severide, medical student on rotation quickly became known by her last name to prevent too much confusion.
"I liked the way his name sounded with mine, so I kept it," she explained, eyes focused on a drop of fresh blood on her shoe. She finally looked up. "It's kind of silly, and I probably should change it back, but," she shrugged, leaving the thought unfinished.
"He didn't tell me much, just that you'd been married." He moved toward the door as pulled off his gown and gloves. "I don't know anything you don't want me, or anyone else, to know."
She always struggled with how to respond to this line of inquiry or non-inquiry, as it was. "It feels like ancient history sometimes, but then sometimes not at all." She shrugged. "We were friends a long time before we were married, and I hope we always will be."
Ray nodded but left it there. "See you tonight."
Four hours later, Sam knocked on Hallie's door for the third time. She could hear the hairdryer inside. That was a good sign. The noise stopped. She knocked again. Hallie opened just a moment later.
"Sorry. You've been knocking, haven't you?"
"Yep."
"Come in. I'm almost ready."
"Those are cute." She pointed to Hallie's high-heeled tall boots.
"Not too much?"
"Not at all. Only now you're a full foot taller than me."
Hallie shrugged as she grabbed her coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. "Nothing I can do about that, but let's just do this."
Thankfully, their train arrived quickly, so they stayed less than frozen as they made it into the club just as the opening band was concluding their set. Andy and Heather waved the girls toward their table where a fresh-faced Matt Casey sat quietly. Casey had come to 51 following his candidacy at another house about the time Kelly had been fast-tracked to Squad, but they'd become good friends. Andy Darden, the threesome's unofficial big brother, had already been on truck for about two years by then. Sam knew Andy and his wife Heather well, having still been married to Kelly during her undergraduate years and his first two as a firefighter. She'd met Matt Casey a couple of times but didn't know him as well as the others, although she'd pegged him as the quiet, reserved type. In fact, she was surprised to see him out with the group tonight.
Heather jumped up and hugged Sam, somehow pulling her phone out of her pocket at the same time. "You have to see the fit Griff threw as we were leaving tonight. It is hilarious. Almost made me want to stay, but not quite," she grinned, shoving the phone with the photo of her son in full tantrum mode at her friend.
Sam laughed. "Terrible two's have come already, I see."
Heather offered an exaggerated nod. "And I've heard three is even worse. I may have to look into boarding nursery school if that's the case," she finished as they approached the table. They made quick introductions as Sam scanned the room for Ray. She found him alone around the corner of the bar, not at all what she'd expected. Heather had pulled Hallie and Matt into conversation almost immediately. They seemed fine. She walked toward Ray.
His back was to her, so she spoke as she arrived at his side. "Hey."
He turned, smiling as he saw her. "Hey yourself." He glanced over her head to the table from whence she'd just come. "All coupled up over there, huh?"
"I brought Hallie. Matt Casey seems happy about that."
"Casey? Is that the one from Nebraska or something, with the jeans up to here?" he placed his hand just below his breastbone.
Sam couldn't suppress her guffaw of laughter. "You've noticed that too? Why have they never told him about low-rise?"
Ray grinned. "Spent some time looking at his crotch, then?"
Sam blushed but managed a comeback. "Guess that means you have too."
Ray's smile grew. "What are you drinking?"
"Vodka and tonic, I guess." He signaled the bartender. and her drink arrived soon after. He took a sip from his own beer bottle as she motioned to the band setting up on stage. "So these guys made an album and went on tour and everything?" Ray nodded. "Ever wish you'd stayed with them instead?"
He nodded again. "Although, Kerry Weaver did the right thing by me. Too bad she won't be around to see the conclusion of her labors." Sam looked perplexed, so he explained. "I asked her for some time off to tour with the band. She kind of put me in my place that day. And again. And again."
"She seemed really happy when she left." Dr. Weaver's last day before leaving for her new job in Florida had been just a few weeks previous.
"I hope she will be. She's a pretty great lady." Ray glanced around, ready to change the subject. "No sign of the ex yet?"
"Nope." Sam drained her drink as she glanced over at Hallie and Matt, still earnestly in conversation and Heather nearly on top of Andy, about to swallow his face. "I think I may need another of these if everyone is pairing up like rabbits, though." She turned back to Ray, "Speaking of which, why don't you have a following tonight?"
He shrugged. "It's been a weird year. And I'm no longer with the band."
She laughed again. "There is that."
"There is what?" A husky voice behind her cut into their conversation.
Samantha turned. "Hey Kelly." They hugged briefly before he turned to Ray.
"Sorry we're a little late. Dinner ran long." Before either of them could inquire who the other half of Kelly's "we" was, Severide ordered two drinks and a leggy brunette joined him at the bar.
"Sammy, Ray, this Renee Whaley. Renee this is Samantha Jaye and Ray Barnett."
"Severide," Samantha managed to make her dry mouth speak. "Samantha Severide. You know that."
"Right, but," Kelly started but decided to drop it when his eyes met her fiery ones. "Just so it's not confusing."
Renee jumped in here. "I've heard a lot about you, Samantha," she extended her hand.
Funny, Sam thought, because I've heard nothing about you.
"Should we join the others," Kelly asked, "Because I'm dying to find out what is going on between Casey and a girl." The two of them left the bar, heading toward the table.
"The place is starting to fill up a bit more. If you want a seat near them, we'd better grab one," Ray pointed out. Sam nodded and followed him. They arrived at the table just in time to hear Heather squeal as Renee's left hand came into full view. On its fourth finger sparkled a ginormous diamond. Had Ray not been standing behind her, his hand now on her back, Sam knew she would have hit the floor. He eased a chair behind her knees and somehow another drink appeared in her hand. She managed to register "strawberries and champagne at Navy Pier in the snow" before she crossed the line from tipsy to obliterated.
She woke the next morning in a strange bed in strange clothes, but before she had time to figure it all out, she needed to pee. She tested her balance and swayed past her things folded nicely on a folding chair as she stepped over shoes and clothes and cereal boxes and made her way slowly down a narrow hall. The bathroom was the first door on the left. It wasn't totally gross and there were girls' products in the shower and on the sink. When she finished, flushed, and washed her hands, splashing some water onto her face and squeezing out a squirt of toothpaste to dispel the disgusting taste in her mouth, she was met at the door by Ray Barnett who extended a steaming cup of coffee.
"Thought you might need this." She didn't take the mug, so he pulled it back toward him. "I made some eggs and stuff, too."
Her already spinning head attempted a backflip. What the hell. She opened her mouth, eyes widening in disbelief, but he shook his head.
"You were about to black out about two songs into the set. The others were having a good time, so I offered to take you home. Only I didn't know where you lived, so I brought you to my place. I slept on the couch. Nothing happened."
She tugged on the Pink Floyd t-shirt and LSU mesh basketball shorts. "These aren't my clothes."
"I did change your clothes. Nothing else happened."
She ran a hand through her tangled curls. "Did I make a total ass of myself?"
Ray shook his head. "You didn't start crying until we got in the car."
That sounded lovely. "What did I say?"
"Not much before you blacked out. Not much I understood, anyway."
"And that really happened? He was there with her and they were…"
Ray nodded again. "Yeah. It was real."
Sam finally reached out for the mug. "I may need something stronger than this," she decided as they continued down the hall to the living room.
"I had no idea things were that serious between them," Ray started as they plopped down at separate ends of the overstuffed couch.
"I didn't know anything about her at all," Sam revealed.
"Oh."
"We've been over for a long time. He's entitled to be happy and all that. I just didn't think it would happen for him first, that he'd decide to settle down now."
"Before you did, you mean?"
She shrugged. "Maybe, or maybe it was just hearing about the dinner and the ring in the champagne glass and all that."
Ray leaned toward her a little. "How'd the proposal go for you? No ring in a champagne glass?"
She mustered a sad smile. "No, we were a little less traditional. I was 17, and I gave him a blue plus sign on an EPT stick, my tears mingling with the dried urine. You know, true romance."
"Ah," he managed, wishing he hadn't asked.
"Yeah. It was a good old fashioned underage shotgun wedding."
"And Willow?" he asked softly.
So she had said some things in her drunken stupor.
"Our daughter. She was born at 24 weeks," Sam started but finished with a shake of her head.
"I'm sorry."
"Like I said, it was a long time ago."
"But the two of you have a lot of history, and he shouldn't have told you like that."
She took another sip of coffee and shrugged. "It's over now."
"And you were splendidly drunk."
"Did I speak French? Or dance?"
Ray laughed. "Oh, so you've done this little chanson et danse before?"
Color flooded her face. "I'm so sorry for anything I said or did."
He shook her head, indicating no apology was needed. He'd seen drunker. He'd been drunker. "Maybe we could hang out some other time when you're not drinking you ex-husband's announcement of his engagement into oblivion?"
On the surface, it was a nice offer, but she wasn't sure she could take him up on it. He had a reputation, and she didn't need complicated right now. "I don't know, Ray. Between the two of us, there's enough baggage to fill … a large baggage compartment," she finished lamely as her metaphor fell apart.
They both laughed for a second before he spoke again. "I understand that, but if you change your mind, let me know."
She stood. "I should go. Hallie will be worried if I don't call, and I have about a million things to do today. Thanks so much for letting me crash, though."
"No problem. You sure you don't want anything to eat?"
She shook her head. "The coffee hit the spot."
As soon as she made it into her apartment, she placed a return call to Hallie, who had called three times in the past hour.
"Oh my God. You're alive! And you left with Ray. Spill it," Hallie squealed in her ear.
"Sorry to disappoint, but it was more like he held my hair back while I puked so I didn't make a total fool of myself in front of Mr. and Mrs. Severide."
"Ugh." Hallie spat with disgust. "What a douchey move."
"Agreed, but he can be pretty douchey when he wants to be. But forget him. Tell me about Matt Casey, because I don't think I've ever heard that guy say more than two words before."
Hallie, who was not a giggly girl, giggled. "Andy made him come out last night to celebrate because he just passed the Lieutenant exam. Can you believe that?"
"Wow. That's great for him. What did you guys talk about?"
"Oh, I don't know, about a million things," Hallie gushed. "I'm seeing him again tonight."
"Shut up." Sam found herself genuinely happy for her friend. Although she didn't know Matt well, she knew that Heather Darden thought highly of him.
"I know, right! He's so cute and really really smart." Hallie hesitated.
"But what?"
"It's terrible. I shouldn't even say it."
"Oh, now you have to."
Hallie sighed. "He was rocking some pretty intense mom jeans last night."
Sam burst into laughter. "That can easily be fixed with a trip to the Gap. He's a great guy. You could do much worse!"
"I'm really sorry about Kelly."
Sam really didn't want to rehash the situation. "It's fine. I shouldn't have gotten so upset, so that's on me and not him."
"You want me to come over?"
"Nah. You've got date planning to do, and I need a shower and a nap."
"See you on Monday?"
"See you then."
She ended the call and headed toward the bathroom. As she waited for the shower's water to warm, she considered Ray's proposition. Maybe she shouldn't have shot him down outright. He'd definitely come through for her last night, and she'd seen him in action at work. He was damned good at what he did and a very effective teacher, too. What the hell, she thought. He picked up on the second ring.
"Ray? Hey, it's Sam. If your offer still stands, I'd like to take you up on it. Let's go out sometime." She paused, waiting for his response. She found herself smiling when he responded. She somehow held her voice steady as she answered, even though she was dancing around the bathroom, surprised at her excitement in his reply. "Absolutely. Tonight at 7 sounds great."
FIN