A Recipe For Disaster
Chapter One
"Sara, you have a patient in exam room six," a nurse called. Sara Tancredi groaned softly, running a hand through her hair. She was exhausted. Ten more minutes, and then she would be able to go home and sleep. She was near the end of a double shift, her second this week. Licking her dry lips, she picked up the patient's file, glancing over the situation.
"Bee sting?" she asked, glancing up at the nurse. "You've got to be kidding me," she said. The nurse shrugged and Sara ran a tired hand over her face before she moved to exam room six. Opening the door, she glanced down at the file, looking for anything about the bee sting that would bring the person into the Emergency Room.
"Hello, my name is Dr. Tancredi, what can I do for you?" she asked, sitting on the stool and glancing up at the patient for the first time. She recognized him right away and a small smile graced her face.
"Hey, Doc," the man said, smiling as well. Sara set the patient file on the desk behind her and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Lincoln Burrows," she nodded in his direction. Lincoln had been one of her long-term patients a few months ago. He had been in a car accident, some jerk was drinking and driving and ran a red light, crashing right into Lincoln's car going full-speed. It was a miracle that Lincoln made it. Due to his extensive stay, Sara saw a lot of him. She remembered how he didn't want them to contact anyone in his family, he didn't want to unnecessarily worry them. "What can I do for you, Linc?" she asked. Lincoln smiled.
"Well, if you're offering …" he trailed off and Sara smiled, shaking her head. She was used to his innuendos and such.
"Lincoln, the bee sting," she pointed.
"Oh! Right," he smiled. "I just wasn't sure if it was a good idea to take the stinger out myself, or if I should let you. Or … whoever the doctor is," he said. Sara rolled her eyes and smiled, standing up and grabbing some gloves and pulling them on.
"You know, Linc, if you wanted to come by and see me you didn't have to wait to get yourself stung by a bee," she teased, moving over and glancing at his shoulder where the bee sting was. She grabbed a pair of tweezers and pulled the stinger out, holding it up to show him.
"Well, I've been busy. And by the bags under your eyes, I'm guessing that you have too," he said, raising a brow. "Plus, I couldn't resist the prospect of having a beautiful woman kiss my booboo and make it all better," he smirked. Sara laughed and shook her head.
"You're too much, Linc," she said, putting the stinger into a plastic bag and then into the Biohazard bin. She pulled off her gloves. "When you get home, just put some baking soda and water on that sting wound," she instructed. Lincoln nodded and mock saluted her.
"Yes, ma'am," he smiled. Sara laughed and shook her head, getting up to leave. She opened the door and glanced back at him, a small smile on her face.
"It was good to see you again, Linc," she said. She moved to leave but was stopped when Lincoln called her name.
"Sara, wait," he called, pulling his jacket on and hopping off the exam table. Sara turned around to face him. "What would you say if I, hypothetically, asked you out to dinner?" he asked. Sara raised a brow and smiled.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Well, I just wondered if I should go ahead and ask you, or if I shouldn't because you'd turn me down," he smiled at her and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for her answer. Sara didn't say anything for a minute and then she let out a small laugh.
"You came in to ask me out on a date?" she asked. Lincoln shrugged.
"I thought it might be a tad bit classier than calling the hospital and leaving a message for you. Although, I did consider that," he smiled. Sara laughed again, shaking her head.
"Like I said before, Lincoln, you are too much," she smiled and began leaving the room.
"So, is that a yes?" he asked from the doorway, his hands in his pockets.
"That's a maybe," she called over her shoulder. She turned to face him and held up his file. "I'll call you," she said, giving him a smile and turned around again, moving to the nurse's station. Lincoln smiled and nodded to himself in satisfaction, moving over to the door.
Sara asked the nurse there for a post-it note and she copied down Lincoln's phone number, slipping the paper into the pocket of her scrubs. She gave the nurse a small smile before she turned in Lincoln's file. She clocked out and then went to the locker room to put her lab coat away and grabbed her jacket and purse. Closing her locker and locking it, she headed out and waved to the people who said goodbye to her as she walked out to her car.
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Once at home, Sara went right into her bathroom, removing her clothes and turning on the tap on her bathtub. She got the water to a comfortable temperature, not too hot, but warmer than her showers usually were. Changing her mind at the last minute, she dug her drain stopper out from underneath the sink and plugged the drain. She found and unopened bottle of bubble bath under her sink as well and opened it, pouring the soapy liquid under the running water. Suds immediately began covering the surface of the water and Sara smiled to herself. A bubble bath was just what she needed to relax.
A good two hours later, Sara emerged from her bathroom wrapped up in her big and fluffy bath robe. Moving into the kitchen, her stomach grumbled and she groaned at the thought of having to cook anything. Opting to order in, she grabbed some menus off her kitchen counter and moved into her living room to browse through them on her couch. She quickly decided on Chinese food and placed her order.
Waiting for her food to arrive, Sara tried to think of something to cure her momentary boredom. That's when she remembered Lincoln's phone number in her scrubs. Hopping off the couch, she headed into the bathroom to dig the number out of the pocket before throwing the scrubs into her dirty laundry. Staring at the number for a few moments, Sara shook her head and picked up her phone, dialing. She drummed her fingers on the armrest of her sofa while she waited for someone to answer.
"Hello?" she heard his voice and smiled.
"Lincoln?" she asked.
"Yeah, who's this?" he asked. Sara cleared her throat.
"It's Sara," she said. "Tancredi," she clarified after a moment. Lincoln smiled on his end.
"Well, hello Sara," he paused, "Tancredi," he teased. Sara laughed.
"I told you that I would call," she said.
"Uh-huh. Abusing your position as a doctor to use my file and get my phone number," he teased. Sara rolled her eyes.
"Oh, knock it off. You're the one who came in to the ER to ask me out," she reminded him. Lincoln laughed.
"True," he said. "Did you think about that, by the way?" he asked.
"Yes, actually, I did," she said.
"And…?" Lincoln prompted. Sara smiled.
"And I guess I can do dinner one night," she accepted. Lincoln smiled and pumped his hand in the air once.
"Good decision," he said. Sara shook her head, but was smiling.
"Someone's very into themselves," she smirked.
"Yeah, well …" he trailed off and smiled. "So when are you available?" he asked. Sara heard her buzzer and she got up to let the food guy in.
"Um … well I work the night shift tomorrow, but then I'm off on Saturday. How does that sound?" she asked. She opened her door and took the food from the man, paying him and thanking him.
"Saturday. Okay, Saturday night. Is this going to be a real date? Like, letting me pick you up and everything?" he asked. Sara smiled.
"I guess you could pick me up," she said, moving into her kitchen to grab a can of soda from her fridge.
"You're going to trust me with knowing where you live?" Lincoln asked, smirking. Sara laughed.
"Oh. Good point. Maybe we should meet somewhere," she smiled.
"Hey, that hurts my ego," he teased. Sara laughed again. She couldn't remember laughing this much in awhile.
"Oh, well it's so big that you can afford for a little of it to be hurt," she smiled.
"How would you know how big it is?" Lincoln smirked. Sara blushed and put her hand over her face.
"Lincoln," she said in a warning-ish tone.
"I'm sorry. You set yourself up for that. But anyway, you're probably right. I do have a big ego," he said. Sara shook her head, her hand still on her blushing cheek.
"Yeah. I'm kidding though. You can pick me up," she said. She gave him her address and he told her that he knew where it was.
"So I'll pick you up around 7 o'clock," he said. Sara nodded.
"Okay. What should I wear?" she asked.
"Um, nothing works for me," Lincoln said. Sara rolled her eyes and laughed again.
"Lincoln," she said. "I meant, are you taking me to a nice restaurant, or to McDonald's?" she asked.
"Ouch. Jeans will be fine though. Preferably tight ones," he said.
"Explain to me again why I agreed to go out with you?" Sara asked as she blushed again.
"Because you find me irresistible," he answered matter-of-factly.
"Oh, that must be it," she smiled, rolling her eyes yet again.
"See? I told you. I'm an irresistible guy," Lincoln informed her.
"Uh-huh. Well, as riveting as this conversation has been, I've got to get going so that I can eat and then get to bed. I'm exhausted," she said.
"Well if you're still tired on Saturday, we can always do dinner at your place," he smirked.
"Goodbye, Lincoln," she smiled.
"Bye Sara. See you on Saturday," he smiled. Sara hung up the phone and shook her head. She opened her food and began eating it, smiling to herself as she did so. She had a date Saturday night. A real date. She swallowed her food and took a deep breath. Christ, a date.
End Chapter One
10-17-06