Denise glared at Frank incredulously.
"You think the school should pay for your broken humidifier?" she asked with a derisive laugh.
Cole and Turk were walking past them on their way to rounds.
"Well, the school's faulty electrical system shorted it out!" Frank whined. "And, you're the R.A., so it's your job to take care of that sort of thing!"
Turk shook his head as he and Cole paused. "Girl-Bro's gonna go Chuck Norris on his ass." he chuckled, turning to watch.
Denise glared at him with her patented murder eyes. "Listen to me, you reject from Deliverance..." she began.
Cole began laughing into his hand.
"After what you did to Lucy, you really think you have any pull with me?"
Cole stopped laughing abruptly and walked over, Turk following him nervously.
"What's that mean?" Cole demanded.
"Uh... Cole... hi..." Denise stammered, for once flustered.
"What'd you do to my lady?" Cole demanded of Frank, giving him a shove in the shoulder.
"Watch it, Aaronson, Daddy doesn't have enough pull to keep you here if you assault me."
Cole grit his teeth and glared, looking at Denise impatiently.
"It was during the student examinations," she blurted. "Lucy told me... so I put him on probation. I checked, unfortunately it was all I could do. They don't really let us bounce them on their heads like they should." she said with a glare. "I did let him know he wasn't to go near her again, though." she said heatedly, still angry at the treatment of her friend.
"Lucy told you what, dude?" Cole burst out, frustrated. "Come on, I wanna know what happened, and why the hell I didn't know!"
"You had that stupid mole!" Denise burst out. "Lucy was trying to be all upbeat and positive, and you were doing the 'I'm so macho, nothing phases me' crap- you were both full of it." she spat.
Cole pinched the bridge of his nose, on the edge of loosing patience by now. Turk could see, so he put a hand on his young protege's shoulder.
"Denise." Turk said firmly. "Jus' tell the boy?"
"Okay, fine," Denise said with a small huff, taking one of her braids into her hand, fiddling nervously with it, and then whispered in Cole's ear the exact details Lucy had revealed to her under secrecy of girlfriends.
Cole's face tinged an odd shade of purple, and Frank finally looked worried, beginning to run away. But, Cole chased him and tackled him, pummeling him.
Denise looked at Turk. "I wasn't here at... 9:05, were you, Dr. Turk?"
"No, no I was not," Turk said. "I was getting coffee in the starbucks across town..."
"Then let us go there..." Denise said, walking off with him.
Lucy, meanwhile, walked out into the hallway with Drew to see Cole on top of Frank, beating him up.
"Cole!" she called out worriedly, and gave Drew a shove. "Stop him before he kills him and gets arrested..."
"Oh, it's just the arrested part that bugs you?" Drew asked sarcastically.
Lucy gave him a glare, and he pulled Cole off by his armpits. Cole struggled violently, but Drew was a bit stronger, even though he was struggling to hold him in place.
"Stop squirming!" Drew ordered.
"No! He's a deadman!" Cole yelled.
Lucy put her hands on Cole's cheeks, and Drew could feel him relax, so he let go, and Cole's hands fell to Lucy's arms. Suddenly, Cole moved her hands down and looked at her, annoyed.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded. "Why wouldn't you tell me what that douchebag did to you?"
Lucy flushed. "How did you-"
"Nevermind that." Cole grit out. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Meanwhile, Drew helped Frank up quietly.
"Well, we went straight from that to the next class, and Drew said the thing about your skin... I didn't want to add stress to you!"
"Right..." Cole sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, as it was pointed out to me, we were both full of shit, because we were both scared."
Lucy nodded. "Well... we fixed that, though?"
Cole put a hand on the back of her neck. "Yeah, baby, but... no one gets to touch you like that, okay? No one. You shouldda said somethin'."
Lucy blinked, a feeling a warmth going through her. "I just... there was never a good time..."
Cole used the hand on the back of her neck to pull her closer, and kissed her forehead. "Doesn't matter. Nobody disrespects my woman like that." he said, stroking her hair gently. "Promise you won't keep stuff like that from me. Cause I love you, and-"
But, the rest of his speech was cut off by her mouth on his. "Oh, I love you, too..."
Cole smiled. "Yeah?"
"So much..." she breathed, and he pulled her into another kiss.
Frank looked angry. "What about the injured guy on the floor?" he growled.
Drew gave his arm a hard tug. "Come on, E.R. with ya... and trust me, I think if anyone asks... you'd better just say you don't remember, because I don't think you want the whole hospital to know why..."
Frank nodded, following Drew off as Cole wrapped his arms tighter around Lucy...