Title: I Don't
Author: Emony
Rating: FRC
Disclaimer: The names of characters contained herein are the property
of the copyright holder of "ER." No infringements of these copyrights
are intended, and said characters are used here without permission.
Spoilers: "I Do"
Summary: How does Ray end his day?
Beta: fc2001: thanks so much Fi!
Ray sat at the darkened bar, absentmindedly peeling the label off his bottle of beer. The music had long since been turned off. Other than himself and a sleeping Morris only the bar staff remained. The only sound was of Morris mumbling incoherently in his sleep. Ray sighed and pushed the bottle away across the bar. Standing up he turned towards the tables and approached his drooling colleague.
"Morris."
"Ngh."
Ray shook the redheads shoulder, "Come on man. Time to go."
"Whazzat! Oh, right."
Morris stood up, a little unsteady on his feet and swayed out of the bar. Ray followed close behind him.
"Purple."
"What?"
"Your shirt. Why are you wearing a shirt?"
"I don't think Neela would have appreciated it if I'd turned up to her wedding half naked."
"No, I mean, normally… t-shirt."
"Right." Ray rolled his eyes then scanned the street, hailing a passing taxi. He pushed Morris inside and told the driver Morris' address.
Ray sat facing backwards on the El, unconsciously mirroring Neela and Gallant a few hours earlier. This most definitely qualified as one of the worst days of his life. In the last few months he'd let himself get far too close to her, only to end up hurt.
She was his best friend. It had seemed that it was becoming something more than that, even with the ever-present shadow of Gallant in Iraq hanging over them. He'd teased her more, tried to make her jealous, tried to play the tough guy in the aftermath of Zoë's dad.
Even the day she dressed up for Gallant he hadn't felt this pain. He'd figured it wasn't that real, that they didn't really have those feelings. He was apparently wrong.
He comes on shift. He hears the rumours. Makes a passing comment to the guy he's never even been introduced to before in the hope that it's all some big hoax. He's wrong.
She'd been beautiful, more so than normal. He had worn the shirt for her; she'd said once that she bet he looked good in a dress shirt, if he even owned one. He hadn't. He'd spent his lunch break buying one.
The El train was slowing down and he headed to the doors, alighting two stops before he normally would.
He unlocked the apartment door, pushing it open, hoping to sneak in quietly. No such luck. Bret was sitting at the kitchen counter.
"Hey Roomie. Beer?" He asked, waving an opened bottle in Ray's direction.
"Nah man, I'm good."
"Good wedding?"
"The greatest."
Bret snorted disbelievingly. Ray rolled his eyes and headed off to the spare room.
As he lay in the darkness he wondered what was to come. Was he going to have to move in permanently with Bret? He sighed. He guessed he'd have to talk to Neela.
Come to think of it, he hadn't spoken to her all day.
End.