Disclaimer-Characters belong to Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz. No copyright infringement intended. Any similarity to events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Author's Notes-A little AU-iness written for my dear friend Basched, who is having a crappy, crappy week. Stand your ground, my friend, and give 'em hell. ;) With love! And, uh... unbeta'ed. All mistakes are so definitely mine.
Lucky Bunny's Foot-Ellie's long day just got longer...
It had been an excruciatingly long shift. All she wanted to do was go home, curl up with her husband, and veg out to something on TV for a couple hours, preferably falling asleep on his arm. That wasn't too much to ask for, was it?
Except, before she had an opportunity to hang up her stethoscope for the night, a whole herd of familiar people came traipsing through her ER. The mix of green and white was unmistakable. The Buy More crew had arrived.
Her first thought was a terrible one, that it was an impromptu Jeffster! concert. She winced, unable to stop the shiver at the thought of Jeff's electronic voice changer and Lester's warbling.
Her second thought was far more serious, far more troublesome. What if Chuck was hurt?
Or...
She raced to meet the thundering stampede of Buy More employees.
She was met first by the tall, lanky, afro-wearing nerd, Skip. "I... Hey... Skip..."
He frantically pointed at a slowly growing foot. The ankle looked to be the size of a grapefruit at first, but it seemed to grow before her very eyes, reaching watermelon proportions in an instant.
"Oh, my," Ellie said, her eyes traveling up to meet the owner of said injury. It was none other than the drollest of saleswomen sitting in one of the rolling twirly chairs from the Nerd Herd desk. "Bunny?"
"Apparently," she began, very deadpan, "somebody neglected to put out the wet-floor sign."
"That... that was my bad, sis," Chuck said, finally making his way through the sea of electronics salesmen. "Can you help out?"
She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her husband... But, she was a doctor, still at Westside, and she couldn't neglect anyone seeking her care. "Come on back, Bunny."
Skip jumped at the chance to wheel Bunny back to one of the exam rooms.
However, Ellie didn't let him get too far. "I'm sorry, Skip. Patients only, or family."
Skip and Bunny exchanged a long and somewhat meaningful look.
"It's okay," Bunny said finally. "Wait with the others. I'll be fine. I'm in good hands."
Skip nodded, shooting a cautious glance at Ellie over the tops of his glasses.
"Are... are you and Skip?" Ellie began cautiously.
"Don't expect me to kiss and tell," Bunny huffed flatly.
Ellie's eyebrows drifted up her forehead.
It took some time, getting x-rays, making sure that nothing had broken. In the end, it was as Ellie'd expected, just a bad sprain. After wrapping her ankle, discussing the proper use of ice packs, and getting Bunny some trial time in the crutches, she released her patient to the waiting gaggle of geeks.
When wave after wave of green and white left, only one man remained.
And he wore black.
Her tired face brightened immediately. "John!"
"Doc," he returned with a slight smile.
"I didn't realize you were here..."
"Someone had to watch the children."
She laughed heartily, accepting the warm embrace he offered. "So glad you're here."
"Ready to go home?"
"I was ready two hours ago," she said. "This overtime is a killer..."
"Funny, that's what I thought I was," he said.
"Oh, har-de-har-har," she said, running her fingers through her long, dark hair. Everything hurt. Her eyebrows hurt. Her toenails hurt. She was even pretty certain her belly button hurt. How was that even possible?
Before she could even recover from his supposed joke, or move more than one foot in front of the other, she found herself flying.
He didn't leap tall buildings in a single bound, and he wasn't faster than a speeding bullet, but he was her hero, that was for sure. She smiled, easing her arms around his neck, adjusting to the fact that she was in his arms, being carried out.
"You didn't have plans tonight, did you?" he asked as they walked through the automatic doors leading to the parking lot.
"I was thinking you, me, the couch... and an hour or two of the History Channel."
"Sounds like a perfect evening."
"I think so, too."
"I might just tweak one or two details..."
She rolled her eyes. "Will you ever let me plan anything? I know that you're the master tactician, an expert in game theory, but I promise I'm a pretty mean organizer..."
"I was just thinking I might add something delivered for dinner... maybe a foot rub for you."
She nodded. "I take back everything I said, Colonel Casey. Feel free to improve my plan."
"I didn't think you'd disapprove, Doctor Casey. After a long day... you deserve it."
End.