Five times Neil noticed her and she didnt
4
"...always ate the exact same lunch"
Neil headed to the cafeteria just now to grab some quick lunch after a busy morning rounds in his third year of residency. He noticed Audrey eating her own lunch by herself at the corner so he decided to join her.
They have irregular schedules of their breaks but every time Neil catches her eating he noticed that she's always eating the same subway sandwich she likes. Although sometimes when they're on night shift he seems her at the break room sipping some instant noodles while reading some research.
They nod at each other to acknowledge before he sat down across from her seat and promptly began eating his lunch. Sometimes they would engage in small chats but right now he's too hungry for that. And time is precious, you never know when your pager calls you back at work.
They ate in comfortable silence. They've known more of each other now to be friends although his competitive spirits are still alive as ever. Their constant bickerings are now sometimes laced with the intention to annoy the other. But of course they won't do that in the prescence of any of their seniors. They snap to serious mode and try to be a team once the situation calls in.
Neil at his lunch fast at the same time observing the other in front of him. He took notice of what she's eating and her occassional glances on her phone. He guessed she's probably conversing with her husband.
About thirty minutes later when both of their pagers buzzed off and they were called to the ED.
A young married couple who were victims of a car crash arrived. Neil immediately worked on the husband who only sustained minor injuries while Audrey and their attending focused on the wife who needs serious attention.
They found out that the wife was 6 months pregnant and suffering from a head injury, several fractures to her ribs and internal organ damage. With those serious injuries, they were surprised that she didn't went into labor yet.
Their attending consulted with the OBGYN and Dr. Lim and Melendez went to assist them in the OR.
They realized that mother's injuries were too beyond help but since the unborn child seemed fine they would try to keep her alive as long as possible to let the unborn child mature enough to be delivered.
Later in the evening, Neil and Audrey watched as the husband saw his wife for the first time after the accident hooked in life support machines. It was heartbreaking to watch knowing that she most probably wont make it.
Neil and Audrey left to give him some privacy and the two walked back to the break room in silence.
"Want to grab some coffee?" Neil said suddenly.
Audrey stared at him and before she could reply he said, "Let's run for a coffee, there's a cafe nearby. We could also use a breathe of air outside after what happened."
Audrey took his offer and together they went for a quick break. It was probably the first time they went out to eat together without their fellow residents. That was another nice change to their unsual friendship.
"It's unfortunate isn't it? Only one has a chance to live. We can't save them both," Audrey sighed as they walk back to the hospital a few moments later.
"Yeah, I feel bad while talking to the husband a while ago. He's devastated that he'll lose his wife, and that child would grow without the mother"
"Do you like kids?" she asked.
Neil looked at her and nodded.
Audrey smiled at her discovery. "Really???"
"Why? Is it hard to believe?"
"You're always serious! And I don't see you interact with kids," she teased.
Neil allowed the teasing to happen in order for them to steer away from the heavy topic from before. "You haven't seen me yet. I'll prove it to you someday, I'm great with kids," he challenged.
"Sure... I'll wait for it,"
"How about you? Any plans?"
Audrey gave an uneasy laugh. "I don't know yet. I don't think I could do both residency and raising a kid at the same time."
With her answer, Neil had a lot of questions to ask. 'What about your husband? He should do half of child care too,' he wanted to say but he remembered that her husband was living at the other side of the country at the moment. That was one of the few things she shared about her personal life. She's very private in some aspects of her personal life and he doesn't want to pry if she doesn't want to share.
"Maybe not now," she added.
She became quiet after that and they didn't talk until they reached their floor and resumed their duties.
The time arrived when the unborn child was matured enough to be safely delivered by C-section. Neil was devastated to see the husband holding back tears while carrying the baby. His wife will be taken off the life support in a few moments.
After that emotional ordeal Neil went out again to clear his mind. He felt so bad for the husband who was now left with a child to care, the memory of his late wife. It was tragic and it wasn't supposed to end like this if the couple didn't went out that day.
Neil felt his stomach grumble and realized that it already late for a dinner. He grabbed some subway sandwiches and went to find someone who can eat with him.
Audrey raised her eyebrows when he offered her the exact same stuff she always ate for lunch. Although since she heard about what happened to their ex patient today she didn't ask questions and ate with him in silence instead.
A few days later she did teased him about it. He just excused himself, "I'm always nice but you just don't notice it," he smirked.