Set After Thin Ice (the s10 episode with the ice hockey game)
Old Spinster. Gabrielle Jaeger played the words over in her head. She was so not an old spinster. Just because she didn't have a boyfriend right at that moment. And she wasn't even that old! Twenty-five was not old, in fact, it was remarkably young for someone in a Nursing Unit Manager position for a major Sydney Hospital. Old Spinster. She wished she'd never tried to help the guy. She should have just gone home. That was what she got for trying to help people on her day off.
And yet... he had kind of had a point. She didn't have anything better to do than come in on her day off. Today had been one of the few days she'd actually had something to do on her Sunday off, and that was only because Heath had gotten a group of them together and she happened to be someone who had the day off. It certainly hadn't been because Heath, or anyone for that matter, especially liked her company, enough to single her out. In fact, she often found herself covering for Dan or Erica when they wanted the day off together because she had nothing better to do so she might as well make some extra money to put towards her mortgage and let the lovebirds have their time together.
She scowled. She had to admit, she was jealous of Dan and Erica. She missed having a boyfriend. If only Steve hadn't wrecked their relationship with his infidelity and drinking – But that was done and dusted now. As much as she loved Steve and always would, she knew there was too much that had gone on between them for their relationship to be tenable.
It could get lonely, being single, she had to admit. Even though she knew it was better to be single than to be in an unhappy relationship, she still had her moments when she wished she had someone to share her life with. Who wouldn't? Life with Steve had had more downs than ups, but there had still been those wonderful moments when he hugged her or kissed her –
Well, actually, Steve had never been a great kisser, largely because he was drunk most of the time. But she still missed the affection.
And now she had been called an old spinster, and by a man who had the cheek to think she would go out with him because she had nothing better to do, no-one else to go out with. She scowled deeper. In her heart of hearts, it was exactly what she was worried about. She had always made fun of the old NUMs at uni, the ones who covered other people's shifts because they had nothing else to do, no-one to go home to, and sometimes she worried that she would end up exactly like them.
Don't think about it, she told herself. Feeling sorry for herself would achieve absolutely nothing. And anyway, she was young, intelligent, fairly attractive. Someone right for her would come along eventually.
It was just that she had lived in Sydney for two years now and the only someone who had come along had been Steve, who was hardly right for her. Would it be another two years before someone else came along? Would anyone ever come along?
She let herself out of the ED to enjoy what remained of her Sunday. Maybe she'd stop off at the video store and hire a few DVDs, get some take-out – at least one good thing about being single was that she didn't have to consult anyone about movies or food. Although it would be nice to have someone to cuddle up to over a movie. And going to the cinemas was completely out. She had always thought there was something sad about people who went to movies on their own and she didn't want people thinking that about her.
She was so busy feeling sorry for herself that she didn't realise someone was calling her name. A male someone. "Bloody hell, are you deaf or something?" her colleague Jack Quade asked her. Jack had recently started at the ED after quitting his surgical post following some kind of emotional breakdown. She had been reluctant to have him back to begin with – he had a reputation as a womaniser, and had, in fact, seduced one of her temp nurses and then humiliated her into quitting shortly after. But Jack had turned out to be a very capable doctor with a lot of empathy, and she enjoyed being around him. She was sorry the game had been cut short if only for the fact he had been sitting next to her and she'd enjoyed chatting with him. And she had kind of liked the way he had pulled her down when she had wanted to start a fight with a heckler. And he wasn't exactly bad to look at. Not to mention tall. She had let herself wonder a few times what it would be like to go out with someone who was still taller than her in heels.
"Sorry," she said. "I was just... thinking."
"About something unpleasant, from the look on your face," Jack commented.
"Was it that obvious?"
"You wouldn't want the wind to change. What's up?"
"Nothing."
He cocked his head slightly in an adorable way. "It's not nothing. You want to go for a drink or something? I'm a good listener and I reckon we owe each other a treat for a ruined game."
At least he hadn't said she had nothing better to do. "It's just – that jerk bothered me when he called me an old spinster... and then he had the cheek to ask me out, said I had nothing better to do."
He made a face of confusion. "You're not old, you're younger than me."
"It's different for guys. They can remain bachelors until the day they die of old age. It just... bothered me. At uni my friends and I used to make fun of the old NUMs who covered shifts for younger nurses so they could go out and do stuff – just like I do for Dan and Ricki. It made me feel sad," she admitted. "I've only ever had one boyfriend and you know how well that turned out. What if there's no-one out there for me? What if there's never going to be anyone else who's interested in me?"
"I think you're worried about nothing," Jack scoffed. "I know for a fact there's a guy interested in you."
"Oh, Steve doesn't count. There's too much between us for it to ever work again."
"I wasn't talking about Steve," Jack said. "I was talking about me."
Gabrielle looked at him in surprise. "You? But – you've never said anything!"
"Because I was going to admit I was attracted to – what was it you called me? A womanising prick who had no right to be around decent women?" Jack asked, a twinkle in his eye. Gabrielle blushed slightly to remember what she had said to him after Rachel had told her she couldn't work in the ED that Jack frequented so much. But at least he didn't seem particularly offended. Actually, he seemed pretty good about owning up to his past mistakes. It was what she liked about him.
"I was angry, I didn't trust you," she admitted.
"I didn't blame you. But you trust me now, yeah?" he asked. She nodded. Since he'd been back, he hadn't done a single thing that had made her doubt his trustworthiness or integrity. She trusted him more than she trusted anyone else. She certainly trusted him more than she had ever trusted Steve. "And you like hanging out with me, yeah?" he pushed. She nodded again. "Then I don't see why I shouldn't do this." And with that, he lowered his head so he could kiss her.
She hadn't realised that she had thought about what it would be like to kiss him until he did it, but it was better than anything she could have imagined. She trembled as she felt his lips on hers and opened her mouth so he could slide his tongue into her mouth and search out her own. She trembled as he deepened the kiss and felt her knees buckle. Steve had never kissed her like this. No-one had ever kissed her like this.
Jack wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his body as he did so. She could feel the muscles in his chest, his slim body deceptively strong under the long-sleeved t-shirts he liked to wear. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair, savouring the clean, silky texture between her fingertips. She brought one hand around to his face and caressed his clean-shaven cheek and wondered what it would be like to run her cheek against his. He was so different to Steve, and that in itself was exhilarating.
He pulled away from her slightly and looked down at her. Her eyes were sparkling with pleasure and her mouth was wet from his kiss. She looked adorable. "I told you there was a guy who was interested in you," he said huskily before lowering his head to kiss her again.