This is for the three lovely people who left reviews on my last fic. Thank you for the kind words.
Chocolate Digestives
"They seem pretty friendly." Petrenko states matter of fact, not talking to anyone in particular.
"Who?" Jac asks pulling her eyes away from the PC she is using at the nurses station to search the ward for the objects of Petrenko's observation.
"Donna and Fletch." She replies.
"Oh." Is all Jac offers as a response as her eyes land on the pair in question and she watches as Fletch places a hand on Donna's shoulder and offers her a sympathetic smile. They seem to be completely unaware that they are being watched. Their conversation continues, she can't hear what is being said but she can see their lips moving. Donna is now smiling at him sweetly and shoves him lightly on the arm in a flirty gesture. A small wave of irritation washes over her at the sight but she dismisses it quickly and turns back to the screen to enter the rest of her schedule.
A few minutes later and Fletch is walking past the nurses station without even offering a glance or a good morning to either her or Petrenko. He scurries off down the hallway appearing to be in a rush to get somewhere. She turns to look at Petrenko who just shrugs but is at least acknowledging the uncharacteristic behaviour from their usually overly sociable Director of Nursing.
She shakes her head, sighs and makes a mental note to ask him later if everything is okay.
It's nearly mid-morning and she's sitting in her office drinking a cup of tea, the mornings paperwork all completed and filed into a neat pile in her out-tray. She has one elective surgery in an hour or so but once that's done she'll use the rest of the day to write a proposal for a new robotically assisted cardiothoracic surgery that she wants to train for and bring to Holby. She jots on a post it note a reminder to add Petrenko to the suggested list of trainees.
She hasn't seen Fletch since this morning, in fact now that she's thinking about it he has been unusually absent the last few days. She wonders what on earth he is up too. A slightly gnawing concern seeps its way through her but she is determined to ignore it. She's certain if something was wrong he'd have mentioned it.
There's a knock on her office door and then Petrenko is strolling into her office with what she assumes is the pre-op test results for her patient. Petrenko hands her the file and tells her the scans are available on her terminal for review. A quick glance and she's satisfied all is in order.
"Looks like we are good to go. Have Mr Halsey prepped for theatre and I'll see you there in an hour."
"Sure." Petrenko replies while offering her a small smile before she heads back out of the office.
An hour later she's changed into scrubs and heading towards the nurses station to complete a few final checks. As she's jotting down some notes in the margin she hears laughter coming from the direction of the lifts. She glances up and spots Donna and Fletch totally engaged in conversation for the second time that day. Fletch is holding a packet of crisps, bacon flavour no doubt, in his right hand so she can only assume they are just coming back from having lunch together. Before she has a second to consider the implications she hears Petrenko's voice from almost right behind her.
"Do you think there's something going on between them?"
"it's none of my business and none of yours for that matter." Jac replies firmly. She most definitely does not want to discuss Fletch's dating habits particularly because a small part of her thinks it could be true.
Fletch and Donna are now walking towards them, she assumes they are heading towards Fletch's office. On the way past her ears pick up on a few snippets of the conversation "Friday, Albies and 7pm." Donna tells him. She hadn't managed to catch all the words but what she'd heard was clear enough. She can feel Petrenko's eyes watching her, she's looking for some sort of reaction, but she doesn't give her one. She's had years of practice masking emotions and it's times like this that it pays off.
She spends the next couple of hours totally focused on the surgery she is undertaking but as soon as she's done she heads to her office and closes the door.
She walks over to her desk, sits down fully intending to write her proposal but gives up after five minutes of staring at a blank word document.
She's not stupid, she knows he likes her, well she had thought he did anyway, but she'd assumed she had more time before things got to that inevitable tipping point. She'd been figuratively holding it back for as long as possible not wanting to move either forwards or backwards but now he had a date with someone else and she was left standing on the ledge alone.
She had been so fully occupied by the practically full time job of burying her emotions that she hadn't even noticed when they'd been teetering on the edge about to fall in to oblivion. How she missed it entirely is a question she can't answer. His absence the last few days now makes more sense. Things had been a bit more strained recently but they'd somehow managed to resume their friendship and she had stupidly thought that he would be the one to open up the dialog about wanting something more, that or he'd just make a move on her eventually. She was hoping for the latter, talking about her feelings was not her forte. She figures he has given up on her, or finally figured out that she isn't worth all the hassle.
It's mid-afternoon when she ventures out of her office to grab a cup of tea. She's feeling a little bit sorry for herself, she hasn't written a single word for her proposal and Fletch is going on a date on Friday with someone else. She's definitely going to be heading for the chocolate digestive stash. She smiles slightly at the thought of the comforting chocolate biscuits.
She walks into the kitchen to find Petrenko already there sitting at the table drinking a coffee. She was hoping to avoid seeing anyone. They glance at each other both acknowledging the others presence. She flicks on the kettle and starts rummaging through the cupboards looking for the biscuits. When she doesn't find them she wonders if Fletch has eaten them all. She groans, she really wanted those biscuits.
"Looking for these." Petrenko asks her, holding out the packet of nearly empty chocolate digestives.
She doesn't bother replying simply snatches the biscuits from her hand and returns to the kettle to finish making her tea.
"Want my advice?" Petrenko offers.
"No."
"Okay, but did you really think he'd keep waiting? If you hadn't noticed there seems to be quite a few women around here who have their eye on him."
She can hear the chair scuff the floor and she knows Petrenko is getting up to leave. A few more seconds and she hears the kitchen door close. She sighs loudly. She decides to take her tea and the biscuits back to her office.
She's annoyed now. Annoyed at Fletch for dating someone else. Annoyed at Petrenko for being so annoyingly perceptive. Annoyed at herself for letting Fletch get under her skin and most importantly annoyed because there was just not enough chocolate digestives left in the packet. She's filled with an urgency to do something but she doesn't know what. She figures Friday must be a first date for Fletch and Donna and she's kind of grateful that at least she found out now. She's willing to admit to herself at least that she doesn't want him to go out with her. She doesn't want to think about him touching or kissing her.
She thinks carefully about what Petrenko had said.. She wonders If he really had been waiting for her to give him some sort of indication that she wanted something more from him. She figures she hasn't really given him much at all and now it was too late.
It's past home time and the lights are turned down in the ward indicating that most of the day staff had already left for the day. She needs to get changed and heads towards the locker room.
Fletch is sitting at the nurses station clearly engrossed in whatever work is filling the screen in front of him. He doesn't even glance up to acknowledge her presence. She's not sure if he has even realized she is standing there. Feeling emboldened by his lack of awareness she takes the opportunity to watch him for a moment.
"What?" He asks throwing a glance in her direction.
Her face flushes slightly embarrassed to have been caught so openly staring at him. She's glad his eyes are back on the screen, but his complete lack of attention towards her is unnerving. She feels a sense of regret, the same kind you get when you've been out for dinner in a nice restaurant but turned down dessert because you felt too full at the time to eat it, only to wish hours later that you had tried that triple chocolate cheesecake.
She decides to be brave and take a chance.
Quickly she glances around the ward to make sure they are truly alone and that there isn't a nurse loitering somewhere nearby, satisfied that there is no one else about she walks quickly around the counter bends slightly to grab his hand which is still on the keyboard in front of him.
"Come with me." She says quietly tugging him gently so he understands she wants him to follow her. She ignores the confusion that graces his features and tugs him a little harder. He almost seems unwilling to move and she wonders if she's made a mistake. A few beats pass and she's just considering letting go of his hand and getting the hell out of there when he moves out of the chair and raises his eyebrows at her questioningly.
She turns and starts heading for her office dragging him by the hand behind her. He doesn't ask her what she is doing and the silence is weakening her resolve. She is doubting her decision and wonders what excuse she can use for dragging him down the corridor by his hand. She can't think of anything. She opens her office door and pulls him inside.
She hesitates before turning to face him still trying to decide exactly what she's going to do next. She's still holding his hand and she feels his thumb gently stroke the back of hers. That's all the confirmation she needs and her eyes zero in on his lips as she takes a step towards him and kisses him, firm but still chaste. It's short and sweet and filled with nervousness. She's not sure how he's going to react. She pulls back a touch so she can look into his eyes. He looks shell shocked like he just cannot believe she kissed him. He isn't pulling away from her so she takes it as a good sign.
"Er..What was that for?" He asks his tone slightly higher than usual.
She really doesn't want to talk so instead she moves to kiss him again. Slower this time to give him ample warning of what's coming. Her lips touch his again and she feels him respond instantly this time. She pushes her body into him to get closer and he is wrapping his arms around her almost grippingly. She's sure she can taste chocolate digestives and then she's smiling into his lips and he pulls back.
"What brought this on?" He questions her obviously unable to contain his curiosity.
She supposes she does have to give him some sort of an answer.
"I guess it was time." She replies.
Now they are just standing there taking each other in. His hands are still touching her. Running up and down her back and over her hips, like he can't stop. Every so often he places a small kiss on her lips.
"Oh before I forget we are all going to Albies on Friday at 7pm if you want to come? We're going to celebrate finding the evidence to help Ric. We don't know if it'll work but it's something."
"Evidence?" She mumbles.
"Yeah. What do you think I've been so busy with the last few days. Me and Donna have literally searched the entire hospitals nursing records to find the information we needed. If I never see another file again it'll be too soon." He explains.
The realization hits her like a ton of bricks. She's been played. Petrenko had been planting seeds all day to give her a push. She's way sneakier than she'd previously thought. She thinks she might kill her tomorrow, at the very least she's scrubbing her name off the proposals suggested trainees list.
He must have seen the startled look on her face because now he is asking her if she's okay. She nods.
He is smiling at her, moves to kiss her again and this time she's wrapping her arms around him deepening the kiss. They are both aware of their surroundings and she's being cautious to not let things get to out of hand. She can feel the urgency ebbing from both of them and this really isn't the place for that to happen. She feels one of his hands move to her chest over her scrubs and a low moan escapes her lips, instinctively she presses further into him. He is pulling her even closer with the hand still pressed into her back even though there isn't a millimeter of space between them. She doesn't want to stop.
"We can't do this here." She tells him pulling her mouth from his but she doesn't move away.
"Where?" He asks her moving his lips back to hers for a softer kiss.
"Come home with me?" She asks.
He nods.
"Remind me to say thank you to Petrenko in the morning." She laughs.