Dr. Shaun Murphy walked towards her apartment complex, which wasn't far from the building where Lea and he lived. He felt he was ready for this moment; she had been out of her previous relationship for a sufficient amount of time, and he had rehearsed it with her several times as friends, though she had been oblivious to the true purpose of their little practice sessions. He had learned enough about himself to know that he would never have been able to ask her what he wanted without prior practice. When he arrived at her building, he pushed the button for her apartment and she answered a few moments later, "Who is it?"
"It's Dr. Shaun Murphy," Shaun clarified, "May I come up to see you? I have to ask you a question."
He heard her silently breathing before she responded, "Yeah, come on up Shaun."
Shaun took the stairs up to the third floor. He was too nervous to take the elevator and he wanted to go over his speech in his head one final time. He approached her apartment and knocked on the door. When she answered, she was a tad shocked as to what she saw, "Hi Claire."
"Shaun," she said in surprise. Of course she knew he was coming up, but he looked totally different than what she had expected. His hair was groomed, he was dressed in a finely pressed suit, and he had flowers and chocolates in his hands. Was he going to?
"These are flowers and chocolate," Shaun started, "Real ones."
At that moment, it suddenly hit Claire what Shaun's motivations had been for repeatedly pretending to ask her out on a date. He was preparing himself for the real thing, "I can see that."
"You also have nice hair," Shaun added.
Claire knew her hair was all unkempt and sweaty right now, as it had been a long few days, but she politely responded, "Thank you Shaun."
"Would you…" Shaun trailed off, trying to muster the courage and gather the right words, "Would you?"
"Shaun, remember what we practiced," Claire said gently.
Shaun's mind had gone completely blank at the moment, so he asked, "Would you…have dinner?"
Claire and Shaun had occasionally had dinner together in the cafeteria when they were working night shifts and they had breakfast together every morning. Claire was pretty sure she knew what he was asking, but she was going to clarify just to be certain, "Like on a date?"
Shaun looked relieved that she was helping him, so he nodded and said, "Yes."
Claire's heart skipped a beat when he confirmed her suspicion. She had always enjoyed her breakfasts with Shaun, but the hospital cafeteria wasn't exactly the location to have intimate conversations. She smiled and said, "Of course I will, Shaun."
Shaun's eyes widened and he gave small smile. He quickly turned and headed towards the stairs, doing a little jump as he left. Claire chuckled as she shut the door behind her.
About five minutes later, Claire heard another knock, so she hesitantly answered it, only to find Shaun again, "Shaun…"
"I forgot to give you your flowers and chocolate," Shaun explained handing them to her. The flowers were yellow, her favorite color, and the chocolates were coconut clusters, which were the kind she loved best. It warmed her heart to know that, despite his usual silence and frequent interruptions, he did listen to her. Then she remembered a few of their past, though recent enough, conversations. Shaun had been asking about types of flowers and chocolates to use to ask a woman out on a date and, naturally, she had responded with what she would have liked. Combined with their pretend date proposals, Claire realized that Shaun had been planning this day for a while, "Are you going to take them?"
"What?" asked Claire, bringing herself back to reality.
"Are you going to take your flowers and chocolates?" asked Shaun again.
She took them out of his hands and set the box on the table near the door, "Did you want to come inside?" she asked hesitantly.
Shaun took a deep breath, "No," he answered, "I promised Lea I would watch a movie with her tonight. I will tell you what we'll do on our date later."
Shaun turned around and left. Claire chuckled to herself as she closed the door behind her. She found a vase for the flowers and filled it before placing it on the dining room table. Claire glanced at the time and realized it was getting late. Well, not really. It was only 9:00, but it had been a long couple of days. She had naturally been worried about Shaun, not to mention trying to properly diagnose and treat their patient. She was still amazed that she had been able to think like Shaun, but in some ways, being around him made her a better doctor. She still had no idea why Han had been so adamant against Shaun in the OR. Sure, he had his communication issues, but he was brilliant. He had faced prejudice from Melendez, Andrews, and Han, not to mention some patients, and Claire had always felt like it was her duty to defend him.
She had heard the rumors circulating about how Andrews had fired Han against the hospital board's approval. She wondered what some of the outcomes were going to be: would Andrews survive the fallout? Who would become the new Chief of Surgery? She had the feeling it would be either Melendez or Lim, though that would complicate their relationship. She had always known they were sweet on each other, but their very public make-out session in the ER had surprised her to say the least. But most of all, she was wondering whether Shaun got his job back. He hadn't said, but she was pretty sure he had. Andrews wouldn't have fired the Chief of Surgery he had paid a lot of money to hire only to keep Shaun fired. Claire wasn't 100% sure why she cared so much. If Shaun had stayed fired from St. Bonaventure, he would've found a job at another hospital, or at least, she certainly hoped so. But if she was being honest with herself, she would miss seeing him every day.
As her mind was reeling over all of the 'what ifs' of the past few days, the number one scenario was what if Shaun had died? She wouldn't know what to do with herself at work. Sure, Morgan and Park were still there, but she wasn't as close to them as she was with Shaun. As her thoughts continued to float around in her mind, the fatigue finally got to her and she fell fast asleep, wondering what life was going to bring her next.
When Shaun arrived back at his apartment, Lea was still up waiting for him, "So?" she asked curiously.
"So what?" asked Shaun in oblivion.
"So what did she say?" asked Lea.
"Oh," said Shaun, "She said 'of course I will Shaun'," he responded and went towards his bedroom for the night, completely forgetting about the movie he was supposed to watch with Lea.
"Oh Shaunnie, I'm so proud of you!" Lea threw her arms around him, "Your first date. Wait, this is your first date right?"
"Yes," Shaun nodded and then the thought suddenly hit him, "Oh no."
"What Shaun?" asked Lea.
"I just asked Claire Browne out on a date and I've never been on a date before," Shaun began to pace the living area, "She's been on dates before because she dated Jared. I can't pretend date her like I pretended to ask her out I'm going to mess up and it will be all my fault."
"Shaun," Lea raised her voice a little to gain his attention. Shaun stopped his pacing and Lea took his hands in hers, "Shaunnie, I will help you plan your date. And I will help make sure Claire has the best night of her life. Understand?"
Shaun took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he said, "Okay."