Apology

By zeilfanaat

Category: Drama, Friendship

Ratings: G or K, depending on which rating you use.

Warning: Contains episode spoiler!

Disclaimer: "Doc" is not mine. It's produced by Gary R. Johnson and Dave Alan Johnson. No infringement intended. Any characters that are not from the series are mine.

Spoilers: And Baby Makes Four

Summary: Considering some of the things said during the lunch Nancy and Clint (almost) shared, I thought the episode wasn't truly finished, until a certain conversation took place.

A/N: Even though I could have written this as an even shorter story, without so many spoilers, I figured that it would be easier to understand with these spoilers, especially for people (like me) who haven't gotten the chance of watching the whole series. If you're interested in finding out what exactly was from the actual episode, and what wasn't, just contact me. Hope you enjoy.

On another note, this story isn't beta-read, although I have read it several times looking for mistakes. So, if there are any mistakes left, please let me know, and I'll fix it as soon as possible. Thanks.

Lunch hour had arrived, and Doctor Cassidy quickly walked through the halls of the clinic, searching for someone. Then he spotted Nurse Nancy Nichol coming out of one of the other hallways. He called out to her.

"Hey Nance, have you seen Donny? He seems to have slipped away from me again," Clint Cassidy asked, catching up with the nurse.

"Yeah, he went to lunch with Derek and Tippy." She quickly looked up from the folders she was carrying, before returning her attention to the file on top.

"Do you know where? I'll see if I can catch up with them," Clint asked.

"Ehm, actually, I was hoping you and I could have lunch. There's something I want to talk to you about." She looked questioningly at the handsome doctor walking next to her. Clint shrugged. "Sure." Nancy smiled.

Fifteen minutes later they had arrived at a restaurant.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Clint asked, as they took off their gloves and put them on the table between them.

"Oh, this thing going on with the clinic. I was just eh thinking maybe we should clear the air a little bit."

Clint nodded. "Ok, I get the feeling you're for it."

Nancy loosened her blue scarf a little bit, and gave Clint a small smile as she returned, "And I get the feeling you're not. And… I was just kind of wondering… if you're opposed to it… out of principle, or more because Richard is the one who is promoting it."

Clint shook his head. "To be honest with you, I don't know enough about it to feel strongly for or against it. My problem is, I don't think anyone else does either."

"So, maybe this is a bit of a personal thing with you and Richard. What do you have against him?"

Clint shook his head once again. "I didn't say that, but now that you brought up the subject, I will say this: We've got a saying back home that, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. My gut tells me that Richard is only telling people the part of the story he thinks they wanna hear."

Her eyebrows rose, and she looked down first, before she looked back up at Clint. "Well, this is a work in progress. And Richard is the first person to admit that he doesn't have all the answers."

"Yeah, but I think he knows more than he's letting on. That's what bothers me. Yesterday, after the big meeting, he came to let me know that he didn't appreciate me raising all those questions."

Nancy frowned again, and looked at the man before her incredulously. "He said that?"

"Well, not exactly in those words, but it was clear that was what he meant."

"Well, if he didn't say it, how is it clear?"

"Because Richard is pretty good at talking between the lines. And I'm pretty good at reading between them. The message was: Get on board, or get out of the way."

Nancy made a sound with her tongue. "Well, that seems odd, because he just finished telling me how good of a doctor he thought you were, and that he wished he could find more like you. So, I'm just wondering if you're letting your personal feelings blind you against who he really is. Because I think you're wrong about Richard."

"For your sake, I hope I am," Clint said, "but maybe I'm not the one that's being blinded."

Immediately Nancy looked up, and looked Clint straight in the eye. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, a bit aggressively.

"I just don't want to see anybody get hurt, that's all," Clint tried to pacify the situation, although he could see Nancy was getting angry.

"I'm a big girl, Clint, and I can take care of myself."

"But this guy is smooth. That's the one thing I do know," he said, his finger accentuating his words. "Maybe smoother than you've encountered before," he suggested.

"Ha," Nancy said, totally surprised and feeling insulted. "So the country boy is telling me how to deal with smooth city-slickers. What's wrong with this picture?"

Clint closed his mouth. He knew he'd hurt her, saying she might be the one being blinded for a smooth guy, but he hadn't expected her – her of all people – to suggest that, since he was from the country, he must be less perceptive of noticing slick people.

"You know what," Nancy said, trying to regain some of her self control. "I just lost my appetite. I'm gonna head back." And with those words, she picked up her bag and her gloves, leaving Clint sitting at the table.

'How dare he say I'm too blind to see if Richard is fooling me! He's got no right to say such things!' she thought furiously when she walked back to the clinic.

But a few days later, when Richard was trying to kick Donny out of the clinic, and as a consequence, fired Clint because he had come to Donny's aid, Nancy's thoughts went back to that lunch. Now she had seen Richard's true colours, and it just kept getting worse.

When the call came in that afternoon that the Jackson family was about to deliver the baby, Nancy had made up her mind. She kept hearing Richard's words, when she had confronted him earlier about him acting out of character. You're the one who helped make all this possible. I don't forget that kind of thing. Both Clint and Donna had been fired, and Tippy had been reduced to part-time. You're the one who helped make all this possible.

She felt so guilty, so responsible. She had to do something. And first things first, she had to find Richard Black.

It was half past five when she walked into the waiting area at the hospital, where the rest of the gang was gathered. She arrived just in time to hear Derek speaking to Clint. Derek, Crane, Donna, Tippy and Donny were all standing before Clint, and Nancy slowly walked up to them.

"Clint, we're not going to let Westbury go without a fight. We want you to join us. You were right, and we were wrong," Derek said.

"And I was stupid," Nancy finished, as she stepped closer. "I owe you guys an apology." She looked at Clint as she said those last words. 'Especially to you,' she thought, hoping he could read her apology in her eyes.

"I don't think we should discuss anything in front of her," Oliver Crane distracted her. "She could be a spy."

Nancy raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Yeah, I could be, but I'm not. What I am, is unemployed too."

"Welcome to the club," Donna said humourlessly.

"You too?" Tippy said, completely blown away. "I thought you'd sure be ok."

Nancy shook her head. "I wasn't fired. I confronted him, and," she looked back at Clint, "he was everything you said he was. So I quit." She shrugged, turning back to the rest of the group.

"That's very admirable," Tippy said, as she walked up to Nancy, and took her hands in hers. "Nancy, no one holds any animosity towards you." Suddenly Tippy looked up, "Ehm, do we?"

Donna smiled and waved it away, and Derek denied it, saying, "No, absolutely not." Even Crane grudgingly shook his head.

"No," Tippy said, relieved, and she hugged Nancy. But even though Nancy returned the hug, she was still a bit anxious. She hadn't seen Clint's response.

"So, what do you say Clint?" Derek asked. "Are you with us?"

Oliver added his two cents. "Westbury is ours. We're gonna get it back."

Seeing all the expectant eyes on him, Clint made a decision. "Well, first thing we need to do is say a little prayer, 'cause we can't do this on our own. If you all are ready… let's rock and roll."

"Ok." Derek and Oliver shook hands with Clint, and Nancy and Tippy gave each other another hug. Donna smiled.

"Rock and roll."

After this, they sat down together, and Clint prayed aloud, asking for guidance. Then slowly everyone decided to head home. Clint, Donny and Nancy were the last to leave, and Nancy hesitated.

"Clint, could we have a word?"

"Sure, wanna catch a ride home? I'll first have to drop Donny back off at Hidden Pines though."

Nancy nodded. "Ok, thanks."

"Come on Donny, let's go home." Donny nodded. "Oh-oh-ok."

Together they walked to Clint's car, and drove to Hidden Pines. Clint walked Donny inside to make sure he was signed in, while Nancy waited in his truck.

When they were back on the road, silence reigned for a while.

"So, you eh, wanted to talk?" Clint finally broke the silence, and Nancy took a deep breath.

"Yeah. I ehm. Well, last… Ehm…" Another deep breath. "What I really want to say is, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, during lunch, yesterday. I just… You were right, Richard Black really is a smooth city-slicker, and I was just too blind to see it."

Clint twisted his mouth. "Well, he had us all fooled. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"Thing is, I do. I mean, Dr. Crane is always putting you down because you come from the country, and I thought I was better than that. But apparently I'm not, 'cause yesterday, I acted as if there was no way you'd be able to see through scum like Richard Black if I didn't see it. So, just because I didn't see it, I didn't believe you could. I was putting you down too. And I'm really sorry for that."

Clint looked at her for a moment in silence, before he had to look back at the road. He sighed. "You're right, it did hurt. From Oliver… it's different, because you expect him to act like that. From you… I got to admit, that stung. I wasn't sure what to do, but I guess you just reacted when you felt insulted that you might not have seen Richard Black's true character."

Nancy swallowed. She knew it, she had hurt him. "I'm really sorry."

Then he nodded. "Apologies accepted; you're forgiven."

The nurse visibly relaxed. She'd been so afraid he'd hold it against her. Then again, she should have known he wouldn't. This was Clint Cassidy after all. But even Clint Cassidy had feelings that could be trampled upon, which was exactly what she had done. She was very relieved that she could still call this man her friend.

"So, any other smooth city-slickers I need to know about?" Nancy asked with a hesitant smile as they stepped out of Clint's car. For a moment he looked at her, pretending to be seriously thinking about it.

"Well, now that you mention it, there's this woman, and she can talk me into almost everything; very witty, very quick…"

Nancy turned her head around to face him and gave him a look. He laughed, and slung an arm around her shoulders, briefly tightening his hold. "I'm glad we're ok."

Nancy gave him a brilliant smile. "Me too."

They may have lost the clinic – hopefully temporarily – but at least everything between Clint and her was back to how it should be. And that was worth more than anything Richard Black could have offered her.

The End

A/N: alright folks, that's it. I'm working on a longer story, but I only post if I have a story finished, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for that one. Hope you enjoyed it.