Prompt - Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk
Cameron does not exist. Elizabeth and Lucky are divorced. Sam is long gone like the antibiotic-treated-venereal-disease that she is.
Act One
I'm in love with the world
Through the eyes of a girl
Who's still around the morning after
"We're hungry."
"So feed us already."
Elizabeth Webber shook her head, amused, as her sapphire eyes darted back and forth between her good friends Robin Scorpio and Patrick Drake who now stood outside the door to her apartment like lost puppies. "I thought you two losers were on a date."
"We were," Robin answered, clasping her hands in front of her waist as Patrick tried to slip into the apartment only to be physically barred by the petite brunette. "But Emeril Lagassi here burned the entrée, so…"
"We're hungry," Patrick repeated, frowning at his little friend as he patted his stomach. "So feed us already."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and stepped aside, waving them in. "Fine – get in here. I was just about to start dinner, so at least your timing is good – if not your manners."
"See?" Robin hissed, poking her boyfriend in the arm. "I told you we'd upset her. Now she's never going to invite us over again. Not that I blame her – if I was her and I did to me what we did to her, I wouldn't let us in, either."
"Elizabeth?" The young doctor placed his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders and spun her around so that she was facing the nurse. "Low blood sugar is making Robin foam at the mouth – let's see what we can do about that, huh?"
She shook her head, covering her eyes with her hands for a moment before grinning at her friends. "I don't know why I put up with you two, but okay. What do you feel like having?"
"Whatever you're making is fine," Robin smiled, following her over to the kitchen counter. She perched herself onto a stool as Patrick grabbed the remote and flipped to a game. "We don't want to put you out or anything."
"Well, I was going to make myself a diet Coke float for dinner," the brunette replied, smirking as she eyed her freezer. "So let's see if we can't do something better than that."
"Didn't you sign up for those extra sports channels yet, Elizabeth?" Patrick asked, flopping down on the couch that had long since molded to his lean body.
"Patrick, get over here," Robin directed, pointing to the stool next to her. "You always do this – every time we come here, you drop your butt on the couch and you don't move a muscle until Elizabeth finally has to get out the roach spray. But tonight, you're actually helping for a change – so get over here."
"Isn't her Stalinesque charm downright magnetic?" the doctor drawled, reluctantly flipping off the television and joining his girlfriend at the breakfast nook. "Need a hand, Elizabeth?"
"I'm fine, Patrick," she answered, her head buried in the freezer as she rooted around for some food.
"See?" he asked, turning toward the brunette at his side. "She's fine. I'm going to go watch the Mets kick some serious-"
"No, you're not," Robin informed him, grabbing his arm and tugging him back. "You're going to sit there and you're not going to move a muscle until we say so."
"Do I at least get a toy?" he pouted, crossing his arms on the counter and pouting at the porcelain cat salt-and-pepper shakers. "I should get a toy."
"I'll get you a toy," she promised, rubbing his back in long strokes. "A shiny black race car."
"With red decals?"
"With red decals."
"…How long do I have to sit here?"
"Until Elizabeth slips rat poison in your dinner."
"Okay…Hey!"
"How do we feel about sandwiches, a salad and some beer?" Elizabeth broke in, giving up her hunt through the refrigerator. "Because that's what we're getting."
"Perfect," Patrick agreed, rolling his eyes when Robin elbowed him in the gut, effectively pushing him off the stool. "Let me help you there."
The doctor smiled happily as her boyfriend joined Elizabeth in the kitchen and helped arrange the cold cuts and prepare the salad. The nurse set it all on the counter and Patrick snagged a few beers, and they were all set. Surprisingly enough, this was how most of Patrick and Robin's dates ended up, but everyone was used to the setup by now.
"Man, I'm so beat after this week at the hospital," Robin sighed, cracking open her beer and taking a pull straight from the bottle. "I thought it would never end."
"It was a great week for me," Patrick informed them, taking a big bite of his sandwich as Elizabeth started on her salad. "I went into the Moran case and came out swinging. Another one for the books, ladies and gentlemen."
The girls smiled at that, well used to Patrick's frequent habit of patting himself on the back for a successful surgery.
"I'm with Robin on this one," Elizabeth got out, popping a cucumber slice into her mouth. "This week dragged on and on – and all the craziness with the Manny Ruiz case didn't help at all."
"Wasn't that insane?" Robin agreed, shaking her head. "The entire hospital was crawling with police officers and mobsters and bodyguards and…yeah, they never mentioned this in medical school, that's for sure."
"I'm just glad he's dead," the nurse muttered, playing with her salad. "The havoc that man's wreaked on this town…I mean, I know that we all signed on and promised to protect human lives, but even Hippocrates would have pulled Manny's plug."
Patrick let out a bark of laughter at that. "It's true. We all did what we could, but…"
"But neither one of us is crying in the locker room because we failed," his girlfriend winked. "There's one less madman in Port Charles, and that's a victory in my book any day."
"Another thing to be thankful for – the DA didn't drag our friend Jason Morgan in for the whole deal," Patrick announced, watching as Robin shook her head and smirked. "He should be getting a medal for pushing that man off the roof – if that's what really happened, and it is."
Elizabeth nodded absently. "It had to be – there's no way anyone with at least a few functioning brain cells would believe that story about the hero cop who shot Manny and got rid of him for good…especially since we found absolutely no bullet wounds on his person, only tons of internal damage."
"That's what the DA's office is so uptight about," Robin agreed. "They had the files on Manny closed and we've been told in no uncertain terms to keep our mouths shut and play along with the rouse, even though everyone and their donkey knows that Jason is responsible for this."
"He went up on the roof to pursue Manny," Elizabeth murmured, shivering slightly as the memories of the madman came back to her. She, too, had been with Manny on the rooftop at General Hospital once, but it hadn't been of her choosing. Even then, Jason had come riding to her rescue. "There was no way he was going to walk away without killing him – after everything Manny's done to hurt the people that Jason cares about…"
The two doctors exchanged knowing looks as Elizabeth chased off the bad memories. Patrick was the first to speak, and the nurse wanted to hit him as he leaned over the counter toward her and nudged her arm confidingly. "And you're definitely on that list, right – the list of people that Jason cares about?"
Robin's dark eyes were twinkling as the brunette scowled and swatted her superior's arm. "Drop it, Patrick."
"Hey, I'm just saying," he exclaimed, defensively holding up his hands. "Jason was ready to tear Manny's head off with his bare hands after he took you hostage – hell, you should have seen what he did to room 213 at General Hospital when the janitor wouldn't tell him what Manny was up to."
"He was very focused on getting you back, Elizabeth," Robin finally spoke up seriously, effectively countering Patrick's cavalier approach to just about everything life had to offer. "And you know, Manny didn't go after anyone as much as he did you. I think Jason knew exactly who he was protecting when he chased him onto that roof."
"Look, I get what you're saying, but you've got it all wrong," the brunette replied, brushing crumbs off her hands and rising to put her empty plate in the sink. She continued to talk, her back turned to them, as she scraped a few small shreds of lettuce off her plate into the garbage disposal. "Jason and I…we have this history together."
"Yeah, you don't have to tell me," Patrick smirked, grinning at Robin as she giggled.
"No," Elizabeth huffed, scowling at the two of them. "What I mean is, we have this history where I get into trouble and he saves me, no questions asked. It's always been that way. And, yeah, Jason would target Manny for how he targeted me, but that's how it's always been. Jason's just looking out for me, like he always does."
"Hey, Robin, I was just looking at Elizabeth's collection of travel books the other day, and you know what I learned?"
"Gee, Patrick," the doctor answered brightly, smirking at her displeased friend. "What did you learn?"
"That denial's not just a river in Egypt. Who knew?"
"Drop dead, you two."
The twosome burst into laughter as Elizabeth simmered in the kitchen, angrily slamming cabinet doors as she pulled out the ice cream bowls.
"Aw, Elizabeth, come on," Patrick cajoled, grinning at the brunette's stiff back. "We didn't mean nothing."
"We're just teasing," Robin agreed, propping her chin up on her hand as she watched her close friend. "We tease because we love."
"Oh, we love so very much," the doctor emphasized, folding his hands over his heart as Elizabeth slammed a container of strawberry ice cream down in front of him.
"I hope you both choke."
Robin giggled, pulling the top off the carton and grabbing the scoop that Elizabeth had provided. "Fine, Elizabeth, we'll keep it down."
"But it is kind of funny, you have to admit," Patrick smirked as his girlfriend began to serve them. "I mean, we only have to bring up Jason's name these days and you're jumping all over yourself telling us that you two are just friends. Kinda makes a guy wonder."
"Kinda makes a guy stupid, then."
"No need to be pissy, Elizabeth," he scolded, gratefully accepting the ice cream from Robin and cramming a spoonful into his mouth. "Hey, Robin, wouldn't they be cute together?"
The young woman glanced up from the ice cream at Elizabeth and smiled softly, tilting her head to the side. "You know, I think they would be. They'd be good for each other."
"I can picture it now," Patrick continued, oblivious to the nurse's ever darkening mood. "Jason would drop by GH to do lunch with Elizabeth and while he ate his salami, she'd patch up a nasty flesh found. They'd be so cute."
The small smirk that made Robin's lips curl faded the instant their hostess slammed her spoon down on the counter, staring at the two of them with narrowed and lethal sapphire orbs.
"Listen up, guys, because I'm only saying this once and then I don't want to hear another word about it," she growled, gripping the counter where she stood. "I don't want to hear any more jokes about me and Jason – nothing. Nothing about the former-cop's-wife, Florence-Nightingale dating the mafia boss – absolutely nothing. Because I did that once, you know."
Patrick exchanged worried glances with his girlfriend, knowing that he had gone too far this time. Normally, Elizabeth ignored his barbs but he could tell that something about what he'd just said had hit home with her in the worst possible way.
"I tried that once – I tried the danger, the life on the edge, that whole thing," she continued, running a hand through her hair in agitation. "My husband was a cop. I knew every time that he walked out the door that I might not see him down. I took some comfort in the whole good guys vs. bad guys, which shows how naïve I used to be. But in the end, that didn't matter because my husband decided to steal drugs from mobsters and get tangled up with Manny Ruiz – the same Manny Ruiz that you watched die in your OR, Patrick. The same Manny Ruiz that kidnapped me and held me hostage until Jason shot him down."
The brunette shook her head, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth one after the other, faster and faster with each breath. "I learned my lesson with Lucky. I learned it well, and I'm not going there again. The danger, the heartache, the uncertainty…who needs it? Police officers, mobsters, it's all the same – I was fooling myself by thinking that it wasn't. My life is calm and peaceful right now, and I like it this way."
Patrick and Robin remained silent as Elizabeth shook her head once more, each word slow and deliberate as she moved away from the counter. "I like it this way."
At General Hospital…
"NASCAR and corn dogs."
"James Bond marathon and Italian."
Patrick shook his head, not finding her terms agreeable at all but knowing that negotiation was crucial. "Okay, Italian and the Godfather trilogy. It goes together perfectly."
Robin grimaced, straightening the charts that she held in her hand before setting them down for Epiphany to file later. "Um, no – you've made me watch the scene of Mary dying five million times and I can't take it anymore. How about…NASCAR and Indian food?"
He looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "What, you want to burn my apartment down afterwards?"
"Fine. I'll trade you the Indian food for the corn dogs if you trade your NASCAR and your ridiculous Godfather for the last season of Sex & The City."
"What?! No way!"
"Why not?! Kim Cattrall's character is naked more often than she's sober! Last time I checked, you liked naked women!"
"I do like naked women. I just don't like-"
"Will you two put a cork in it?" Both doctors snapped around to see a very displeased Epiphany Johnson scowling at them from her side of the nurse's station. "Every week, it's the same thing – what are Dr. Drake and Dr. Scorpio, the centers of the universe, going to do on Friday night?"
The doctors exchanged guilty glances, knowing that they were in for it now. Elizabeth stood smirking at them from behind Epiphany's shoulder and as usual, offered absolutely no help.
"First, you try for the NASCAR knowing that it puts her to sleep," the matronly nurse continued, jabbing a finger accusingly at the tall doctor. "Then, she picks James Bond knowing that to you, Sean Connery, not Roger Moore, is the real James Bond. Then you bicker about Indian food and Sex & the City. Why? We all know what's actually going to happen."
The nurse turned around, glaring at the other young nurses that were hovering near the station trying to get to their charts. "Girls? What are these two clowns going to end up doing on their Friday night date?"
"Baseball game and food at Elizabeth's."
"Hey!" the nurse in question cried, frowning at her smirking colleagues. "Shut up! We're not that predictable."
"Yes, you are," Epiphany replied, glaring at the three friends. "And I'm tired of your bickering in my hospital. You want to pull out your little day planners and coordinate, do it outside the premises, got it? Some of us are trying to work here."
"Yessum," the threesome muttered, avoiding her gaze.
"And don't say yessum!" Epiphany snapped, grabbing her charts and heading off down the hallway.
"No'm," they murmured in unison, quickly turning back to their work when she glared at them over her shoulder.
Patrick grinned at the girls and was about to pick up his clipboard and head off early to a consult when he noticed an amused visitor lurking nearby. "Oh – Jason. How's the arm?"
The enforcer nodded, absently touching the spot where he had been shot. "Not bad."
"Hm," the doctor nodded absently to himself as he rechecked his appointments for the day. "All thanks to our newest OR nurse, of course."
Elizabeth glared at him, shaking her head. "Stop it, Patrick, you're going to jinx me. The exam isn't until next Monday and I have no idea how prepared I am."
"You'll do fine," he assured her, ducking back to the station to quickly pull up something on the computer before he forgot. "Morgan, your next appointment's tomorrow – if everything checks out okay, you're home free. Try to show up."
Jason quirked a brow at him but let it go, already familiar with Patrick's dry wit. "Elizabeth, are you off yet?"
She nodded, stacking the last of her charts and slipping them under the counter. "Yeah, about five minutes ago, actually. Why?"
"I thought you'd want to get something to eat," he shrugged, switching the small packet that held Morgan's prescription from his left hand to his right. "How about Kelly's?"
Elizabeth needed only a few seconds to think about it, and Patrick watched as she nodded eagerly and hopped out of the nurse's station. "Sounds great. Did you bring your motorcycle?"
He smirked and stepped back as she came out. "Yeah – and no, you can't drive. Change – let's go."
"If I change real fast, then can I drive?"
"No."
"What if I change really fast?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Okay."
"Really?"
"No."
Robin smirked at her boyfriend as Elizabeth backed up toward the staff locker room, still chattering away with Jason who would remain lingering nearby until she emerged again. Next to her, Patrick exited out of his application and reset the monitor, wiggling his brows at her as he left for his consult.
"I don't know what we've been so worked up about," he feigned as she grinned back. "Clearly, there's nothing there."
His girlfriend laughed and shook her head, remembering their unfinished conversation. "Hey, so we never decided what we were gonna do Friday night."
"I don't know," Patrick shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "Baseball and dinner at Elizabeth's?"
"Sounds good," Robin agreed, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before they headed their separate ways.
« Last Edit: Mar 1, 2008, 5:27pm by Solo Ensemble »