He had passed the four month mark the first time the rest of the team managed to drag him out to the bar. He wasn't ready for it, and he knew it. But they insisted and he knew some time outside of his apartment could do him good. After all, he could sit in a booth with his leg up the entire time.

He ended up standing next to the pool table chatting with Sonny for a little while, before he figured that he needed to find a place to sit down. He took a slight hop backwards and bumped into someone. He winced before he turned around to apologize for his lack of spatial awareness.

He was not prepared for who he saw when he turned around.

Apparently, she was equally as shocked when she saw him.

He quickly tried to school his features, erasing the signs that the small bump had made his pain worse.

"I'm-so-sorry!" she blurted out, her eyes darting to his leg, "Did I hurt you?"

His leg hurt, but he couldn't help but chuckle, "Don't worry about it. And it was me who stepped backwards. Sorry I bumped you."

She looked him up and down once more, relaxing a bit, "So Metal, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing…" he smirked, "My teammates figured it was high time they got me out of the apartment. And I live just a few miles out…"

Her mouth fell open for a second, "You live here?"

"A few miles away, but yeah." Metal nodded, "So, what are you doing in these parts?"

"I'm out with my girls." She shrugged, "Really, you live here? In this city? That's… Weird."

"Oh, that must be fun." He grinned back, "And why is that weird, everybody's got to call somewhere their home…"

She nodded, "I live like ten minutes east of here. That's why that's weird."

"Yeah, that's weird." He grinned.

"How have you been?"

"Slowly getting better than last time you saw me…" he smiled, "But, I was going to go find a spot to sit down… Wanna join me for a bit?"

"Sure thing…" she smiled.

"So, Emily…" he smiled as they finally had arranged themselves in one of the booths and he had his bad leg up, "How have you been?"

"Oh, you know… Busy." She shrugged, "Had a couple of really busy months after you shipped back home. You probably saw some of it on the news…"

He nodded a bit, "Yeah. Almost daily bombings there for a while…"

She nodded.

"Did you just get back home?"

"Yeah, a short week ago…" she nodded, "And you? Is this your first time out?"

He nodded, "Yeah. First time out, not drinking though."

"Pain meds?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

She shrugged a little, "That sucks…"

"Yeah, the pain sucks…" he admitted, "But, it'll pass."

Emily nodded, "So, are you about ready to have that contraption off soon?"

He shook his head, "I don't know… I don't think so… I'm going for x-rays on Tuesday, gonna figure out if everything is healing on schedule or not. Most of it looked alright when I left the rehabilitation facility, except two of the breaks."

Emily nodded, "Let me guess. The two open ones?"

He nodded, "Yeah, the one at my ankle didn't really show any signs of healing last time, they talked about getting a bone graft and place in there once the rest of the leg gets better."

She nodded.

"And the other one was just wrong placement. So, they broke it back up and adjusted it not too long ago…"

She winced in sympathy. "That doesn't sound good…"

"No…" he shrugged, "But it's a lot better than what it was. I can actually move around a bit."

She nodded.

"But, if the pictures look good, I'm going to get the top part of this brace removed and I'll be able to start moving my knee again." He grinned.

She smiled, "Fingers crossed."

He nodded.

They had sat there for quite a while before one of her friends came over.

"Emmy, I've been looking all over for you." The blonde whined as she sat down next to her, "Oh, who's this gentleman?"

"This is… Scott." Emily smiled.

Full Metal nodded and held out his right hand for the blonde to shake, "Scott Carter."

"Jessica…" the blonde smiled back, "Jessica Ruiz."

"Nice to meet you." He nodded, "You work friends or?"

"No, old school friends." Emily smiled and glanced over at Jessica, "Jess is a kindergarten teacher."

"And, you?" Jessica tilted her head in Metal's direction, "Who is Scott Carter?"

"Oh, I'm a soldier." He shrugged a little, "Or, ex-soldier… I think I can add an 'ex' in front of that title by now."

Emily shrugged, "Time will tell…"

Jessica leaned sideways to see Metal's legs better and noticed where the seam of his cargo pants were split down the side to make room for the brace around his leg. She shuddered visibly before she placed a hand on Emily's shoulder, "Sorry, I can't look at that. You know how I am with ANYTHING your work consists of… You two, have a good time. I'll find Abby or someone to hang out with."

Then she left.

"-Sorry…" Emily shrugged, "She really doesn't mean to be rude about it. She just… She can't even look at a papercut without being sick."

"Noted…" Full Metal bit down on his lower lip to keep from chuckling, "Is that some sort of friendship-wise 'opposites attract'?"

Emily nodded, "Guess so… And we've been friends since forever."

"So, Emmy?" he let the shortened version of her name roll off his tongue as if he was testing it to see if he would like to call her by that version.

"Yeah, the world's full of nicknames, ain't it? Full Metal."

Metal chuckled a bit, "Sure is…"

"Hey, totally forgot about you a while…" Sonny grimaced as he came over to the booth Metal sat in, "Anyth- …Oh hey there little lady…"

Emily blushed a bit and nodded back at him, "Hello."

"I'm third wheeling if I sit down, ain't I?"

Metal chuckled a bit and offered up a shrug, Emily did the same.

Sonny scratched his scalp, then he focused back on Metal, "Anything I can get you at the bar? Beer, whiskey? Soda? Snacks?"

"Soda, or something non-alcoholic…" Metal shrugged.

"Pain meds, right…" Sonny nodded, "Be right back…"

Sonny left for the bar, and Emily looked over at Metal, "Is he always that…That…?"

"No…" Metal chuckled, "Only when he sees women he thinks of as gorgeous."

"Oh, okay…" Emily chuckled, "Now I know there's at least one guy in here who thinks I'm kinda cute."

"Oh, I can guarantee you that there's way more than one guy." Metal smirked, "And it's gorgeous, not just 'kinda cute'."

"Well, if you could point me in the direction of one of them, that would be awesome."

"Oh, I'm not really sure about his name… But… Couple of inches taller that that guy… A little older as well, probably. A little salt and pepper going on in his hair…" Metal shrugged.

She tilted her head questioningly.

"Stop me if I'm overstepping some sort of boundary… Please…" he dropped his head, "I don't want to get you in trouble."

She bit down on her lower lip, as if she was thinking, "We both agree that I'm definitely no longer your nurse, right?"

He nodded.

"And that the time which has passed since I stopped being your nurse, is a lot longer then how long I was your nurse for…"

"Yeah."

"And neither of us came to this specific bar, knowing that the other one would be here."

He nodded again.

"Well, since you're not my current patient in any way, it should be okay…"

"So I can shoot my shot?"

She nodded.

He smiled, "So, yeah… You're gorgeous."

She smiled, "Thank you…"

"Oh, that's a WEAK SHOT!" a particular Texan's voice drawled as he came back with a bottle of coke, "Come on Full Metal, gotta do better than that!"

Emily chuckled and blushed.

Metal just shrugged, "Well, I would have asked you for a dance…"

"Well, I hope there's a rain-check for that…" Emily winked.

"Oh. Yeah." Metal nodded eagerly, "But not before I'm able to walk around on that leg of mine."

Emily nodded, "I'll hold you to that."

"Please do." He winked.

"Okay, you're doing well enough here on your own. Obviously." Sonny cleared his voice, "I'm gonna go back to the other guys…"

Emily chuckled.

They sat there talking for hours. Getting to know each other in a new way.

She could barely believe how easy he was to talk with, and how quickly time slipped away. All of the sudden it was past midnight.

"So, Em…" Metal smiled at her, "You hungry?"

"Kinda, yeah…"

"Ever been to the kebab place down the street?"

"No?"

"Oh, you've been missing out…" he grinned at her.

"Yeah?"

He nodded, "Some of the best kebab you'll ever try. Promise."

"Are we walking there?"

He nodded, "I was thinking we would."

She nodded, glancing towards his leg.

"I've hobbled further." He reassured, "And the pill I took almost an hour ago is… Working."

She nodded, "Just don't do something that'll cause you more pain tomorrow, alright?"

"Don't worry about it…" he shrugged.

"Okay… If you say so…"

He nodded, "Let's go…"