PROBLEM(ATIC)
Torn Between the Two
Chapter One
"Tied down"

"When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible."

When Gates finally gets a night off from his life, the last person he expects to be at his door is Samantha Taggart. But the pleasant surprise gets better when Tony finally realizes that Sam isn't just some innocent flirting partner and kisses her. Although at first it seems to be going well, will the whole faze last?

…

Tony Gates watched as Sam left his apartment a couple minutes later. He could still smell her hair and taste her on his lips long after she'd gone. She tasted of vanilla and coconut, the same aroma that filled his senses as he touched her hair.

He slowly made his way over to his couch and fell onto the green cushions with the thud, his mind still running the scene through his head; the scene of the two of them kissing. He'd wanted to do that for weeks now. To feel her lips against his and run his fingers through her hair. To look into her gorgeous chocolate-coloured eyes as they spoke, without having to worry about who saw them together.

He wanted to be with her. He wasn't one to really like commitment, but he wanted to be with her. It was an odd feeling, one that couldn't be described just yet, but he felt his mind running over thoughts of her quite often these past few weeks.

Wait! His mind shouted, What about everyone at work? How is this going to affect your work?

Gates sighed, how would this affect his work? Could he keep Sam and his relationship professional? It's not like County was a very professional place, there were tons of workplace romances going on, but could he do it? Could he really work with someone who he was dating?

Could he really love a woman who was more independent then any female he'd ever met? Who would give him a run for his money long before she'd let him touch her? Could he really date the Bitch of County who told everyone just how it was?

Sam wasn't his normal choice in a woman. He'd usually choose dumb blondes or innocent women. Not someone who had a child and a life. Who had a career and could stand her ground. That was not him. He should be finding her annoying; he should find her self-reliant and liberated attitude driving him up the wall. And he did, her locked horns with her quite often, but he also found her charming, alluring, and fascinating. He would over look these, some would call flaws, and see all the good she had.

She wasn't just some shrew. She was a lot more then that. She was, in his mind, amazing. How could one woman give birth to a child at fifteen, take care of it, and find time to get a job? How could she stand up to every man in the emergency room without fear in her eyes? How could one tiny woman be such a spitfire?

…

Sam paced around her apartment, her hands rested delicately on her hips. She had kissed Gates. Tony Gates, the one guy in the work place that drove her up the wall to a point of new return. She'd kissed him.

She kissed Tony. Tony, the guy with the cocky attitude who came out into the Emergency Room like he knew everything. The guy who used to crush on Neela and every other woman who walked past him. The tall, dark haired man in the ER whose jokes she shouldn't be finding funny. The one egotistic, condescending, philandering man she swore she'd never think about in that way.

But now she was.

This was the first time in a long time Sam ever got freedom. She wasn't tied down to a man. First it was Steve, and then right out of her relationship with Steve began Luka. After that, there was Ben. Then her son was the centre of her universe. With her son gone away for school, she was finally able to worry solely about herself.

And now she thought about being tied down by Gates?

It's not like she didn't see it coming. She knew there was something going on between them for a while now. But she never knew she'd act on it. She never knew she'd do something like that. She thought she was past the days of pretending to just 'run into' someone. Past the days where she would innocently flirt with someone and stare just too long into their eyes.

Oh, she could stare into Gates's eyes for a long time. This evening they were more of a green colour although in the ER they tended to be more hazel. She noticed this like this about him. Like how his hair always seemed to fall into his face when he was trying to concentrate, almost like it had a mind of it's own. How he showed off all the time, and although at first she found it annoying, she was beginning to find this trait endearing.

But could she really sit down and try to make a relationship with this man? He too had a kid, how would that work? Her last major relationship was in the ER, would she be able to stand another one? Would she be able to see him everyday and not get annoyed or bored? Would she be able to commit?

"I can't," she decided, still pacing, her eyes staring at the ground, "I can't date another guy in the ER!"

Sam continued to pace around her apartment; "I can't fall in love with Tony Gates."

…

Gates sat up in the couch, Could he really date that kind of woman? Could he really settle down? Yes, he was seeing Julia on and off, but she wasn't serious, could he be in a serious relationship?

"I can't," Tony decided, getting up from his spot on the green couch, " I can't fall in love with Sam Taggart!"

TEASER

The ER was bustling with patients today as Tony walked into the ER. 'I should have called in sick' he thought as he headed towards the break room, dodging patients along with way, as he heard Skye say there was a motor vehicle collision victim coming in.

"Gates!" came a voice from behind him and Tony turned around slowly, seeing a tiny brunette run towards him.

"Gates," Sam said as she finally reached him, "Can we talk?" she asked, her voice low as she looked around, hoping no one seen her.

"Sure," Gates said, knowing exactly what she would want to talk about.

"About last night…" the nurse started, "I…didn't…" she continued to search for words before Gates cut her off, his voice short and sharp.

"Don't worry about it," he mumbled, "It was a mistake."

Sam stood there for a moment before nodding, her hands going directly to her hips as Gates walked away before she could say anything. She didn't have to say anything though, he could feel her eyes bore into the back of his head like fire.