Disclaimer: These characters belong to the creators of Nurse Jackie. I'm just borrowing them. This story is set in the current timeline of Season 5. O'hare is gone. This story is for a friend who so wants Jackie to be lesbian and eventually end up with O'hare. It'll come in stages.
Chapter 1: Awakening
The wind howled. The lights flickered. The storm blowing in from the Atlantic threatened to be a hurricane of legendary status just days before had largely fizzled down. But it still packed a punch. Rain fell steadily for hours. Streets flooded. Traffic jammed. People stumbled into the hospital, one after another, with the most bizarre ailments: A falling street light embedded glass in someone's ass. Flooding caused an electrical short circuit in a Starbucks, and three people were electrocuted. Crowds pushing to get clear of the weather trampled each other.
Jackie stood in the bathroom, splashing water on her face. She ran cold water through her close cropped hair, and noted the lines around her eyes, mouth. She breathed out. She was getting old. She touched the skin around her eyes gently with her finger, and blew air out again. She was a forty-four year old divorced addict with two children, a job that sucked the life out of her, and absolutely no joy in any corner of her life. No wonder she looked old.
She pulled fresh scrubs from the cupboard, stripped off her soiled scrubs, feeling fresh with the new ones on. She ran her hands through her short hair, (why had she grown it out? She so preferred it like this.) stepped from the bathroom, and picked up a file. Broken arm. Patient asking for a cast in facility after an ortho consult. A clean break. No surgery necessary. She could do that. Put a cast on someone. If she were occupied with a cast, she'd get a break. After twelve hours of crisis care, she would take that.
She nodded at Zoey, who sat hunched down behind the computer terminal, looking as exhausted as she felt. She navigated the temp nurses and staff doctors, and stealthily snuck in the supply cabinet, grabbing the casting supplies. Cooper waved to her as she walked past, trying to steer her too him. She shook her head, showing him the supplies, and pulled back the curtain. She smiled her intent, showing the patient the supplies, and felt her heart lurch when the patient smiled back. She wondered at the reaction, and took a solid view of the patient.
She was tall, maybe 5'11", standing by the side of her bed. Short dark hair. Dark eyes. A goofy smile. She wore a t-shirt and jeans. Her jacket hung behind the bed, soaked, but drying in spots. She didn't want to look away. She sat the supplies down on the cart and patted the bed. "Come sit down. Let me cast your arm for you." She stepped back to allow her access to the bed, and pulled another cart over. "Your name?"
"I'm Rachel." Jackie nodded, and smiled, gently unhinging the temporary sling from her shoulder. This close, Jackie could see the faint lines around her eyes. She was boyishly cute, and looked younger than her - but not by much.
"This might hurt a little. I'm going to lift your arm up here on this cart. Just relax and let me do it, okay?" She held her right arm by the elbow and the wrist. Rachel watched her intently, as she stood close to her. She felt almost nervous at the attention, and smiled at her, as she gently placed her arm on the cart. "Doin' okay?" Rachel nodded. "Good. How'd you do this?"
Rachel smiled. "I fell down."
"That's it? That's the whole story?" Rachel nodded. "Do you always talk this much?" With that, she earned a laugh. She placed the brace on her arm, fastening it with wrap to hold it in place. "Or did we drug you and you can't speak?" She smiled, looking up from where she stood directly into Rachel's eyes.
She was shocked to see her staring so intently at her, a faint blush on her cheeks. "You're fabulously beautiful. I think I'm feeling shy." Rachel's reply shocked her and she paused, one hand holding her elbow, the other the wrap. She blushed. She couldn't quite believe she blushed, but she did. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just you asked..." Rachel's voice trailed off and she looked away from her eyes, down at the table. "I usually talk all the time. I like to talk. But every now and again I just get stupid shy. I'm not hitting on you. I was just telling you why I was mono-syllabic."
Jackie laughed, and tried to fight off her own blush. She reached up and tipped Rachel's head up with her hand on her chin and smiled. "I'm not uncomfortable. I was shocked. That's the nicest thing to happen to me today. You didn't vomit on me. You didn't shit on me. You didn't bleed on me. I didn't have to do CPR. You didn't have to be intubated or rushed for CT. You just told me I'm beautiful, and that's the one thing I have no idea how to respond to. The rest of the stuff I can handle."
Rachel laughed, relaxing. "Well, I'm personally very glad none of my bodily fluids made their way out of my body in front of you." Rachel paused, her face thoughtful. "Or in front of anyone else for that matter." Jackie laughed again, her body relaxing as she continued wrapping her arm. Jackie could feel her eyes on her, and looked up to meet her eyes again. "You look so tired."
"Are you saying I look like shit now?"
Rachel gasp. "No! I said you're beautiful. But you can be beautiful and tired."
Jackie smiled, touching her arm gently to wrap the cast. "I'm beyond tired. And hungry. I've not eaten in twelve hours. Not slept in over twenty-four."
"When do you leave?"
"After this," Jackie smiled, holding her arm with more tenderness than she could remember experiencing. Rachel studied her face - strong, competent. Watched her hands, the veins protruding and was amazed that someone so strong could show such tenderness. Her eyes were wary, though. Not just from fatigue. From something, or things, much deeper. She wanted to ask about it, but knew she shouldn't.
"Can I buy you some food across the street at the dinner? To thank you for my cast?" It was out before she could stop it. "Again - not hitting on you. I just like looking at you."
Jackie laughed, again, and blushed, again, and looked up to meet her eyes. She'd been hit on by a lot of men. She knew how it felt. Rachel really wasn't hitting on her. (She wasn't sure, right then, that she'd mind if she were.) She had no idea why she agreed to go. It was certainly out of character. But she wanted to. She nodded, wetting the wrap to begin the cast. "I'd like that. Yes. If you tell me what happened to your arm."
She heard Rachel's sigh. "Really?" Jackie nodded.
"Not until then."
"Fine. Fine." Rachel shifted on the bed. "You may not want to hang out with me when I'm done."
Jackie smiled and said, "I doubt that."
"I was at Comi-Con. I was coming out of the convention center, it was pouring rain, and some dude in a Chewbaca costume slipped and fell behind me. He took out my legs."
Jackie stopped working, and put her hand on her stomach as she laughed. "Chewbaca did this to you?" Rachel nodded. "Why were you at Comi-Con?"
Rachel shrugged. "I like comics."
"Oh my God. That's all I've got. Oh my God."
"Can you see why I didn't want to tell you?"
"Yes. Don't tell anyone else," Jackie laughed, returning to work.