PROBLEM(ATIC)
Torn Between the Two
Chapter Three
"Lacking that Something"


"I'm talking about fate here - when feelings are so powerful it's as if some force beyond your control is guiding you to someone who can make you happy beyond your wildest dreams."


Gates continued on throughout his shift, trying so hard to get earlier out of his mind. He tried to think about Julia, about what they would do later, what she had in store. He really admired her for her mind. She was very open to almost everything that the world could offer her. But she wasn't special. She lacked that something. She lacked that extra flair that made him want to smile.

So when Tony's shift finally ended over ten hours later, he spent his entire date with the Chaplain thinking about his 'something'. About that tiny brunette that ran around County with a little trot and a hop in her walk. The one girl that could get up in his face and not be scared to hurt his feelings or tell him how it was.

He thought about how he had ended it earlier. How she was giving him attitude and he knew he'd hurt her. But how? She must have thought the same as him, right? She couldn't possibly want to date him when she had a couple other guys in line for her? Right?

"Tony," a little voice startled him from his thoughts. That little voice sat across from him at a dinner table and Gates found himself in a fancy restaurant when he awoke from his dreams.

"Sorry, what?" he responded, looking at the little woman across from him. He hated not paying attention to a woman he brought out to dinner. If you ignored her now, she would ignore you later.

Julia sighed, "Were you paying attention?" she asked, obviously a little bitter.

"Sorry, long day at work, must have zoned out…" Gates explained, rubbing his temples with his index fingers, " Could you say that again?"

Julia nodded, "I was just asking how that Bank robbery guy went earlier," she asked with a smile.

"Oh," Gates smiled, "He went okay. Surgery had a few minor problems, but it got solved as far as I'm aware."

"Did they catch the guy who robbed him?" Julia asked, taking a sip of wine from the glass in front of her.

Gates nodded, "Yup,"

"Well," Julia smiled at the man across from her, "I was thinking… we could leave and… maybe fix some of those kinks you got from work…" her voice was low.

Gates grunted for a moment and smiled, "Sounds good to me, how fast can we get the bill?"

Normally, Sam would have loved to sit around for an evening dinner with a room full of men-in-uniform. Normally, she would have been swooning over them and flirting with them, all the while hanging off of Officer Litchman's arm. But this evening wasn't any evening. This evening was a long, and tiresome, evening of Sam worrying about one of her colleagues.

If anything, Sam should be referring to him as her 'boss', as that's what doctors seem to think, that they are the boss. But Sam didn't think doctors were automatically bosses and she didn't accept that this guy had an effect on her; that this one doctor had some type of control over her.

Sam wasn't the kind of woman to allow a guy to take control. If anything, she wore the pants in every relationship she'd ever been in, whether she liked it or not. But what Sam hated more then a guy having control over her was when a guy had control over her and knew it. Gates definitely knew that he had an effect on her. She supposed he'd found that out when she bitched him out after patient number twenty-seven because he was doing something that could possibly result in the worst, or best (although she'd never admit it if it did).

Sam sighed, leaning against the back of her chair as the men in front of her laughed about something. She noticed it was football related and she tried to ignore the comments about certain teams that were obviously false. The cops didn't seem to like it when a 'little lady' corrected them on who was going to win the Super Bowl this year.

She groaned and looked at Officer Litchman who appeared deep into the conversation and Sam noted that she would be here for at least another two hours before she'd be able to escape with him in toe. It had been a long night and she hated being alone. Even if Officer Litchman was the last man she wanted to spend the night with, he was the only one she knew that wouldn't think twice about going home with her. She really didn't want to be alone.

Ever since Alex went away for school, Sam felt alone in her apartment. She could hear every creek of the floors, the buzz of the refrigerator, the ticking of the clock… the neighbours yelling. The apartment felt cold and lonely; Sam hated it.

Sam sighed again and looked at the clock above the bar. 11:02. The young nurse yawned and smiled when Litchman looked down at her. She wanted to seem interested, really she did, but she could barely keep her eyes open. Or her thoughts off of Gates.

Had he really called her a mistake? Was she really something that he could just walk away from? What was wrong with her?

Sam wanted to call up Chuny and ask her if she really was a mistake. But she knew that a Nurse could never keep a secret and that odds are everyone would know about Gates and herself within moments of talking to Chuny.

But she wanted to talk badly. To try and figure out why she was a mistake and yet the man who called her it was always on her mind. To figure out what was wrong with her.

Sam looked over at Officer Litchman and yawned, her body starting to ache from being on her feet for so long.

It would be a long night.

Gates lay in bed, his arm draped around a sleeping Julia, playing with her hair. The evening had went quite well, he had dinner with Julia, the two walked home talking about life, and then spent the rest of the evening getting 'close'. But if it was so good, why in the world was he laying in bed after sex thinking about another woman?

Gates sighed. Was it bad to have spent the entire time having sex with Julia, wishing he were with Sam? Yes, that is definitely bad, his mind told him and he groaned, he was acting like an asshole. He never thought he would result to this. That he would be with one woman whilst having a crush on another.