I couldn't let *that* little moment go by without doing something with it. (coda to 3x17)

This was written and posted to AO3 on 5/10/20, before we knew more about Michael's new boyfriend.

Enjoy!

Dr. Derek Hale walked slowly as he exited the elevator. Each step was paired with a sip of the black, way too strong, coffee that he'd gotten from the lobby. The acrid taste was awful, but was doing a manageable job of keeping him awake right now. He hated when he wasn't prepared for a shift, felt he was not only doing a disservice to himself, but the patients as well not being a hundred percent. Though, he didn't feel right calling out or asking a colleague to work in his place, it was his own fault he was so tired. Well, the fault of a certain guy he'd met in an elevator who'd been heavily on his mind for the last three days, but that was beside the point.

As he approached the nurse's station, he shook all thoughts of "Elevator Guy" from his mind, knowing they'd stray to point of distraction if he continued this line of thinking. Putting his things down and brushing off all comments about how tired he looked, he poured through the charts and notes on the patients he was responsible for on the trauma ward. He steeled his focus and was able to get caught up on everything in about 30 minutes and prepared to start making his rounds. He grabbed his tablet, stethoscope, pocketed an otoscope, and walked towards the first room on his list to check in on the patient.

Athena wasn't sleeping but resting comfortably, well, as comfortably as she could. The warm body snuggled against her was doing wanders for her. She was spooned against Bobby, face in his neck inhaling the scent she'd been missing for the last three days. Bobby had his hands wrapped around her careful to avoid any of her injuries. Parts of her body still ached, but this having him next her again, it was making it so much better. It took a bit of convincing to do this, but not as much as she thought it would.

"I know both of you know better," Derek said in amusement as he opened the door to the room.

Athena groaned inwardly pulling herself out of the moment she was in. "Is it shift change time already?" Athena asked innocently, "I thought we had a little more time."

"It's okay, I guess I'll let it slide," Derek paused as he looked between Bobby and Athena, "this time." Dereks voice still held it's amused tone. This was was far from the first time that he found patients in bed with loved ones. He'd worked in trauma long enough to know how much physical contact could help in the healing process mental and emotionally, as well as physically. "I'm glad you have a support system with you."

"So am I." Athena placed her hand over Bobby's near by one, rubbing her thumb along the the back.

Derek smiled as used his foot to lift the bed so he can examine her better. "I'm Dr. Derek Hale, by the way."

"Athena Nash."

Following the introductions, he went through the motions of examining of her. He took note of her vitals making sure everything was within normal ranges. "Scale of 1 to 10, how bad's the pain today?"

"About a 4," she answered honestly. He looked at her, seeing if there were any sign of lying, she appeared to be telling the truth.

"The pain meds been treating you okay?"

"Other than making me a little sleepy, I feel fine."

He hummed in acknowledgment as he took note of her answer. He pulled out the otoscope, looking at her eyes, checking their reaction to light, "no headaches, blurred vision, nausea, trouble breathing?"

"There is a dull ache in my head, but the meds help with that. No blurred vision, nausea, nothing like that. My chest hurts a bit when I inhale, but it's nothing I can't handle" He turned off the scope and put it back in his pocket, taking note that everything was normal.

He took note of her facial wounds, which appeared to be healing normally, no signs of infection. Nothing that time wouldn't be able to take care of.

"You seem to be doing very well Athena. No adverse reactions to treatment. Healing nicely."

"Great. When can I go home?" She asked eagerly.

"Athena." Her partner said pointedly, which she responded to by shooting him a look.

Derek chuckled, "it's fine. It's a fair question," he sat at the end of Athena's bed, "honestly speaking, I see no reason why we can't have you out of here by the end of the day."

"Oh thank god," Athena breathed a sigh of relief while her partner still looked wary.

"You're healing is going to take time, but, at this point, it nothing that can't be done at home. I think we've bandaged you up as much as we can. I see no reason why we can't have you out of here by the end of the day," he rose to his feet, "so you guys can cuddle up together in your own bed. As long as it's just cuddling, no strenuous activities right now and you still need to get plenty of rest."

"Of course, I understand."

"Do you have any other questions for me?" She shook her head. "Well, I'm going to go update your chart and get the discharge process started. It was good meeting you, Athena."

He reached over and held out his hand towards her partner. "Bobby," he told him. Derek faltered a bit, having remembered hearing the name, but recovered quickly before it was, hopefully, noticed. Bobby didn't give him any indicate that he noticed when he let go of his hand.

"Alright, I'll be back to check on you later." He said to Athena before turning to leave. As he did, the door opened, putting him face to face with none other than "Elevator Guy" holding a bouquet of flowers and a bag of food.

When Michael woke up this morning his plans included: making sure his kids were okay, calling his mom, going to visit Athena, and bringing her and Bobby some lunch from Athena's favorite place. None of that included coming face to face with the guy that's been wondering in and out of his thoughts for the last few days. Though, he couldn't say he was mad at the strange turn of events.

Michael knew he was staring way past the point of what was considered appropriate, but he couldn't help himself. He knew the man looked good, but the low lighting of the elevator didn't do him nearly enough justice. In the fluorescent lighting of the hospital room he could clearly see his piercing dark brown eyes, smooth deep brown skin, and powerful jawline. The man was beautiful. As he watched "Hot Doctor's" features shift from surprise to almost smiling, he could see the recognition. It was comforting to know that he hadn't forgotten him.

It took a nurse clearing her throat from behind him for him to realize how caught up they had gotten in the moment. "Oh, sorry," Michael chuckled nervously and stepped out of the nurse's way for her to enter the room.

The doctor took the opportunity to make his leave as well. "I need to continue making my rounds," he said quickly before exiting the room just as quickly. Michael was so flustered he wasn't able to get another word in before he left.

Michael was mentally kicking himself as he stood out of the way, while the nurse tended to Athena's IVs. He still hadn't gotten his name. He just stood there staring like an idiot. It was just as well, he had every opportunity to do so when he was trapped with him three nights ago for well over an hour. He sighed, damn if he didn't know how to waste an opportunity. He didn't miss the look the look that the nurse shot him as she walked out of the room after finishing. The universe's way of telling him it agreed with him.

When the door clicked closed, he was left with Bobby and Athena's amused looks. He made his way over to them, placing the flowers and food on the bedside table. "So, how are you feeling today?" He asked Athena as he distracted himself with taking the food out of the bag. He was met with silent, eyebrow raises as he handed each container to both of them and pulled the rolling table in front of Athena, "I'm not getting away with that, am I?"

"Not a chance," Bobby said, taking the top of of his and Athena's containers.

"Micheal, what was that? Do you know him?"

"Yes- well, no- umm, kinda, I guess," he stumbled over his words, trying to find the right words to say, "I met him in an elevator," he settled on.

"You met him in an elevator?" Athena asked slowly.

"The night of your- what happened, after my MRI, I was leaving the hospital, and found myself stuck in elevator with him. We were trapped for about an hour or so before we were finally rescued. When we were I had every intention of asking for his name and, possibly, his phone number when I got the call from Bobby about what happened. All of that flew out the window. After the dust settled and I knew you were okay, I had time to think about it. I kinda just chalked it up as a missed opportunity. Didn't think I would see him again."

"Wait, so you were trapped with him, for over an hour, and you didn't get his name?" Bobby asked.

"Don't remind me. I guess we just got to talking and it didn't come up." Michael fondly remembered how the conversation between them just flowed, it'd been a while since he'd felt that spark with someone.

"So what ya gonna do about it?" Athena asked casually, as she ate one of her fries.

"What do you mean?" Michael asked, feigning ignorance.

"I'm gonna ignore that because you know exactly what I mean." Athena eyed him carefully, "it's not like you to waste an opportunity."

She was right, it wasn't, but this was different, felt different. It had been a while,since he'd felt this level of attraction to someone, since he'd purposefully put himself out there. If the connection was anything to go off of, he could chance saying that "Hot Doctor" was attracted to him too. Maybe, at some level. This was all still so new to him, he didn't want to be wrong or risk misreading what he believed could be signals. "You're right, I just don't wanna be wrong. I wanna be sure I'm not wrong here and he likes me too."

"He likes you," Athena and Bobby told him simultaneously.

"This entire hospital felt the chemistry between you two just now." Athena joked.

"Ha ha," Michael snarked, "can we drop this and focus on you?" Michael asked, more than ready to stop talking about this.

Athena eyed him, "fine, as long as you remember that you deserve to be happy." He laid a hand on her shoulder and placed a kiss on her forehead in response.

"Now, how are you feeling?" With that question he, Bobby, and Athena feel into a comfortable conversation that wasn't about him anymore.

Before he knew it, a couple of hours had gone by. May was texting him, asking him if it was okay if he and Harry went to the hospital. He let her know that her mom was being released from the hospital today and they should see her by tonight. Bobby had left to go home to shower, change, and bring some comfy clothes for Athena to go home in. He told him he'd stay with her until he came back.

Glancing over at Athena to find her still sleeping, Michael decided to use the opportunity to get some himself something to drink and some air. Rising from his seat, he left, closing the door softly behind him. He looked left and right in the hallway, seeing if he'd spot him waking the halls. No such luck. He walked towards the elevators and luckily didn't have to wait long before they opened. He walked in and headed straight for the back wall, placing one hand on the bridge of his nose squeezing his eyes shut tightly and the other on the rail behind him.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this." The smooth, deep voice startled him a bit. Michael opened his eyes to find himself face to face with "Hot Doctor" as the elevator doors closed.

Michael sighed and slowly met his eyes before saying, "we do."

He stepped closer to him and Michael put his other hand on the rail he was leaning against, trying desperately to hide his nervousness. He was probably failing, "you know, I've been kicking myself for a couple of days now." He said to him.

"Oh, why?" Michael licked his lips and gripped the rail a little tighter.

"Well, you see, I met this guy, had this connection with him, well, at least, I thought so."

"So, what happened?"

"Wouldn't you know it, I didn't get his name, and I didn't even give him mine."

Michael tried hard to hide his smile, "well, if the connection was there, you know, like you said it was, he just might be kicking himself for the same reasons. Maybe even wanting to apologize for running off without warning before you could get it." Michael put his hands up, "that's just me assuming that happened."

He chuckled lowly, "well wouldn't you know, that's exactly what happened. I don't blame him for it though, it happens. Seems like whatever it was seemed super important."

"It was, otherwise it wouldn't have happened. Hypothetically speaking of course. You don't seem like the type of guy someone would just leave hanging like that, you know, unless absolutely necessary."

"Do I now?" He asked cheekily.

"Yeah, you do." What was it about this guy that made all of this so easy for him?

"It's just as well, he probably has someone special at home."

"No, I don't think he does." His smile widened, brightening his entire face.

He held out his hand, "Derek Hale."

Taking his hand in his, "Michael Grant." There it was again, that spark. That small shockwave that reverberated throughout his body. Whatever this was, was strong, and Michael liked it.

"It nice to meet you, Michael Grant."

"You as well, Derek Hale." Dropping his hand and the facade, he asked, "So, what gave you the impression that I had someone special?"

"I don't know, guys like you always do. Plus, I saw the look on your face when you answered Bobby's call, before the bad news part, and-"

"Woah, woah, wait. You thought Bobby was," Michael couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

"Love how you find that so funny," Derek said as he looked away shyly.

"No, no, no, sorry about that," he recovered, wiping his eyes, "it's just funny because Bobby is my ex-wife's husband. The woman I was visiting, the mother of my kids, your patient, the guy that was in there with her."

He watched Derek eyes widen in recognition, "so that was... oh! I thought Bobby was- so he isn't your- woo, that's a relief. And he I was thinking that the guy I couldn't stop thinking about was in a relationship."

"The guy you couldn't stop thinking about?" Michael asked slowly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Fuck, I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Before Michael could say anything further., the elevator started to move. Both looked at the other, knowing neither of them had pressed any buttons, and started to laugh. They both decided to shelve the conversation and fell into a comfortable silence as the elevator reached it destination: the first floor lobby.

When the elevator came to a halt, and the door opened, Michael and Derek exited quickly, allowing the other people waiting to get on. As they walked through the lobby, Derek bumped his shoulder and nodded his head to the left, "come with me."

Michael, unquestioningly, followed him and was lead to a door that only read, "Private". He watched as Derek pulled his badge from his pocket and swiped it against the adjacent pad. He opened the door into a nice looking lounge area.

Michael whistled, "this is nice." He looked around, "am I even supposed to be in here?"

"I won't tell if you won't," he winked before getting himself something out of the fridge. He threw one to Michael as well.

"Why'd you bring me here?"

"I knew no one else would be in here around this time and it was the most private place I could think of to continue our conversation."

"So our conversation requires privacy, huh?"

"Well, didn't really want to the risk having an audience when I asked you out." Clear. Direct. Straight to the point.

"Wow, you waste no time." Michael could feel the pull in the muscles in his cheeks from smiling so much.

"I've wasted three days, I think that's more than enough time."

"So, you're saying that you would have asked me out that night, if we weren't interrupted."

"Absolutely." Michael couldn't help but appreciate the conviction in Derek's tone.

"Well, Derek, I'd love to go out with you." Michael fished his phone out of his back pocket, handing it to Derek. Derek, catching on, put his number in the phone and called himself so he'd have Michael's number as well.

"So what are plans looking like next Friday night?" He asked as he handed Micheal back his phone.

"Can't say that I have anything going on."

"How about dinner? Around 7? The really good Italian place on 5th?" Derek asked tentatively.

"It's a date."

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