Note: Italics are what happened in the prior encounter.
Ric stood outside Serena's front door and considered his options - he did not want to leave it as it was between them but he was wasting so much of his time doing exactly this. He heard a voice behind him and turned to see an elderly lady smiling softly, "She was in tonight, got back about an hour and a half ago."
Seeing the confusion on his face she continued, "I'm Jean, I live across the street and happened to notice her car pulling in." He could remember her mentioning that she was on good terms with one of the women on her street and presumed this was she. If he were being honest he had not even considered the people living nearby as he waited - come to think of it, he probably looked like he was harassing her which he never meant. He was not making much noise, even when knocking but probably the sight was questionable.
"Serena, would you just let me in?" Knocking one last time on the door, he tried to get her attention to no avail.
"Come inside for a coffee." It was not the first time this week Jean had glanced out her window and seen the handsome man being ignored. The first time she had seen him, however, had been completely different. That was early on a Wednesday morning two weeks prior, Serena had been standing in a silky house-coat against the door frame grinning as she watched him leave, looking like the cat who had got the cream. There was no doubting that he had spent the night but she had not seen them going on a date so wondered if it was a simple one-night stand. However - even with her limited experience regarding having sex with someone and then moving on - they looked like they were happy because of the other person, not what they had done. The fact he returned convinced her of that.
This time though when Ric looked back at the door he knew it was a lost cause. Unsure why he was following a complete stranger he kept looking over his shoulder in case Serena was there as she had been.
Her house looked like it had not been decorated in about fifty years but it definitely felt more like a home than his own house. "I assume you're a surgeon too? I cannot see Serena meeting a partner any other way."
"She joined my ward three and a bit years ago."
"Are you the one who complained about her the first day she started?" The reply was a roll of the eyes from Ric followed with a brief nod of the head. That fact explained what she wanted to know about their history: the mysterious 'Ric Griffin' was mentioned in several of the stories she had been told after asking Serena about her day. Jean had guessed there was a bit of flirtation between the two but circumstances meant they were either attached to somebody else or one was on leave following any possible chance. She had asked Serena once but the woman had simply laughed and said they would sooner kill the other than fall in love.
"We've developed a lot since." The tea in front of him was not enticing him now but he did not want to seem ungrateful so took a sip of it.
"Why has she not spoke to you?"
"I did not treat her as well as she deserves to be. She was upset and I took advantage."
"I'm sure you are making a mountain from a molehill."
He wished he could believe that but he got the sense it ran deep. "All I want is a chance to explain in person. I refuse to bring it up at work because another person would find out and neither of us need that."
"Look, I truly do not wish to know the details but I have known her since she moved here and she would tell you if you had hurt her that badly." She did not want Serena to be in a bad situation but she could see this man hated whatever he thought had occurred.
"We have always been argumentative so I never quite know if this is the current reason for disagreements." Their argument style had changed over time, since becoming friends the blame they put on each other had lessened significantly. After sleeping together though, it almost felt like everything they said had a personal edge to it, as if they had went back a couple of years.
"Let her have some space, it might heal itself quicker than you think if you take a night off the desperate pining routine."
Ric groaned as he thought about his actions, "I am being pathetic, even more so when I consider Serena is not the first woman I've loved."
"You do love her?"
He knew he did but was not going to say it again, it would hit him harder that way. "I need to go, thank you for the drink."
When he left the house it was as if he exited a time shift. It was a lot later than he expected and he could see that Serena had her living room light on but the curtains closed. She probably would not even know that he was still there as the closest parking space he could find was around on the next street.
The following night Serena parked in her favoured spot outside her house, surprised to find it empty as usually at this time the young couple next door would have taken it. She had barely closed the boot of her car after grabbing her pile of manila folders, before being ambushed by Jean, "Your young man was back outside last night."
Sighing, she momentarily wished she and Ric had not taken their relationship to her house, "Young man? You do realise I am 50 and he is 60?" There was no point in acting innocent, Jean was the most observant person she had ever met.
"Both of which are young compared to me. Now, do you want a cup of coffee and maybe a little food since I bet you've not had a meal?"
Serena knew that the older female just wanted in on any gossip before anyone else but her problems with Ric were becoming almost unbearable and she wanted to let it out, "Oh, why not?"
"What did he do then?" Serena didn't realise the other woman had spoken to Ric or that she was sitting exactly where he had 24 hours prior.
"Nothing. We still work fine together, we bicker like we always have. It only changes once we clock out or get a little too personal. He never mentions that he has been here, not even to get angry that I ignore him."
She wrapped her hands around the warm cup and stared into the liquid, "'Let me fall for him, that's what he did."
She had realised she liked him more than for friendship months before but it had taken until he had found her in their shared AAU office - close to tears after realising it would have been her parents' anniversary - for it to further. For some reason he had not raided their secret stash of alcohol in the filing cabinet or taking her to Albie's but instead sat holding her hand until she had regained some composure then drove them back to her house. Ric made them mugs of tea - her coffee machine being an alien device to him - and they spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening learning more about their colleague than they had in the past three years. Whenever she was telling a story involving either her mother or father her breath caught but he would reach out and squeeze her arm or rub comforting circles to her back depending on position.
They did not touch any booze that evening, not even when she built up the courage to do as she had wanted to for several weeks and pressed her mouth to his. She didn't need comfort, she only wanted to be with the man who made her feel more alive and content than anyone else did. He tried to say it was a bad idea because of her earlier emotions but she had persuaded him that going upstairs was the right thing to do.
"I don't think he has any control over your emotions." She watched as Serena did not reply straight away to the comment, and picked at a bit of lettuce from the sandwich that had been forced into her hand.
"He will soon realise I'm not as brilliant as he claims and by then I'll be in a worst state than when Edward left. It's not just that I liked sleeping with him, our friendship is very important to me." She felt a little awkward talking about her personal life to anyone never mind someone who was old enough to be her mother and when it was on the topic of sex.
Ric had the joy of the early shift the following morning so she had set her alarm while laying against his naked body after two glorious orgasms each. Their limbs were wrapped around the other when they awoke, neither wanting to leave the embrace. Finally moving, she let him use the shower first - not entertaining for a second the notion of 5am shower sex at their age - as she put a quick breakfast of toast and orange juice together for them. They had sat on top of her duvet, her in her house-coat and him with just a towel on his lower half, and they ate and chatted like any couple would. There had been the temptation to go back under the covers afterwards but didn't like the thought of questions being asked when he arrived with her.
"I don't think he'd be out there so often if he didn't believe you are worth it."
"He can be a bit of a stubborn prat." Serena mumbled with a smirk, she could describe Ric until she bored herself to tears which should have terrified her but didn't. She enjoyed knowing somebody so well whom she knew thought about her also.
"I suppose it takes one to know another. Do you seriously sit on the other side of your front door until he goes away?"
"My kitchen is at the back of the house. I can have a glass of wine."
"Do you not think he should get an explanation?" Jean knew she had no right to be interfering, and she didn't really know Ric, but this was making both involved parties miserable.
"Of course I do. However, every time I see him I find myself not wanting to walk away and let him get on with his life. So I avoid those events. If I lost Ric as a friend there is nothing more for me here except the job and these days I want something more." She had not admitted as much to herself before, an actual relationship with Ric was so far from her mind until the words slipped out.
It had changed when she turned up to the hospital later that day. When she was driving the thrill of seeing Ric again was wonderful but upon entering the ward he was standing at the side of a patient's bed, laughing at whatever the blonde was saying. He did not know she was there and Serena couldn't help but notice how the woman was speaking so quietly that she was making him move nearer to her face. Within such a short amount of time these two were getting on like a blissfully and it looked so natural - it had taken Serena months for him to look at her without mistrust never mind joking together. Maybe she was depriving him of the nice women he would bond with instantly.
Ric invited her for dinner when he saw her later. She turned him down. It was not because she was hurt or annoyed that he would act that way with a patient; she was jealous of how other women could make him happier.
"You say you want more but won't let a man who is clearly devoted to you get close? Serena, honey, what if this is what destiny was trying to lead you to all these years?"
"You mean, all these years that Ric has been married to women who were not a complete bitch to him for the majority of their interactions." She was angry at herself, why had she taken so much pleasure in winding him up since they met?!
"Maybe he was just trying to find the right one."
Later that night Serena sat looking at her phone for a long time, praying that it would ring and save her from having to do this. She noticed Ric had made no effort to engage her in any interaction even though they were working practically the same shift. After how he had been the past few days she realised she missed it, she missed Ric caring about her. It was then that she considered her plan had worked exactly - he had moved on.
What a stupid plan that had been, she thought to herself. She had found everything she had wanted and knew what she was losing out on. He had been the last person she saw herself ending up with and now that she could picture it so vividly it was when there was a chance it would never happen.
"Hello?" She could tell from his tone that he had read the caller ID before answering.
"Ric, do you fancy coming over tonight for a coffee?" She tried as hard as she could to sound calm and not rattled but inside she was pleading.
"I'd like that a lot."
When she opened the door a half hour later she saw that in his hand, Ric was holding a bottle of her favourite red wine, "I was keeping this in case you were to ever be in my house but under current circumstances I think I need to apologise with it." It was a wine that she only bought for special occasions because it cost more than she was willing to play on a regular basis. She had only mentioned preferring it once to Ric - when she had stupidly bought a bottle at the MBA dinner and drank most of it herself. How he had recalled that was beyond her comprehension.
"You don't have to apologise for anything." She took the offered bottle though, planning to treat them both to a glass or two soon.
Serena smiled and stepped to the side, letting him enter. As he went to pass her, she stopped him with a hand to his chest. He looked across as Serena silently leaned in and touched his cheek before kissing him. It was a gentle chaste touch but all he required to know she meant it. Had it been immediate upon sight or deepened for longer, Ric would have assumed they were going to be the type of friends who slept together when they felt like it. But he heard her nerves even in the phone call, it was too unlike her to the extent of it obviously not being a casual set-up.
As she glanced up to his eyes again she started to speak, "You deserve more than me. Someone who you don't have to learn to like. What about that one who was mentally undressing you the morning after we slept wIth each other?" As she said it, she found herself stunned that she was still trying to push him away but he had shown up. Now that he was here there was some notion of hope even if she was being silly.
He took a pause to recall that day, "Is that what this week has been about, some silly patient who had got an infection after a midlife-crisis-tattoo while on a drinking holiday? Serena, you could line up every woman who doesn't argue with me about trivial nonsense and who shares all the opinions I have, but I would still choose you. I don't love you because of how we began, I love you because of the journey we've had." He ran a hand down her arm, still not entirely sure how she felt, "I thought you believed I had preyed on your vulnerability; the only reason I kept coming to your house was to apologise and promise that I understood if you wanted to take the issue further."
Using the side of her palm - with the wine in it - to wipe away a solitary tear that had escaped her eye, she moved the other hand from his chest to jaw. "You are an idiot. I told you that you make me feel ecstatic and that is the whole truth. Yes, you helped me by listening and took my mind off the anniversary but when I kissed you it was because I love you. I have been too scared of the possibilities of us ending that I never once considered how good it could be before the conclusion."
They allowed their lips to linger together for longer this time while his hands slid around her waist. As it continued, she reached around his body and placed the bottle on a small shelf she had on the wall, and kicked the door shut to her side. She pushed it a bit harder than planned as the bang made them jump slightly, laughing as their heads touched. Both were also silently considering what they could do to thank the woman across the street who had no doubt watched the scene until the door closed. They continued to kiss and later talk while catching their breath, in her hallway for a long while - aware they would probably end up in bed within the next hour or so but content enough to spend time simply being together again.