Because, right now, I really want them to be happy.
By some miracle, Neil and Audrey find that they both have the entire weekend free from work. After the physically and emotionally draining couple of weeks they'd had, all Audrey wanted to do was curl up on the sofa in Neil's arms and waste away the day on some brainless TV drama. Unfortunately, Neil seemed to have other plans and wanted to have a proper lunch, which he didn't have the ingredients for, owing to his busy schedule at the hospital recently.
Audrey had buried herself under the covers, trying to block out the light of the midday sun while pretending to still be sleeping. Neil knew she'd been awake for at least the past hour but also wanted to give her the chance to laze around once in a while. He'd planned the previous night to make lunch for her so she wouldn't have to get up till much later but he'd forgotten that everything in his fridge was either well past its expiry date or completely useless as an ingredient.
He quietly opened the door and crept towards his bed before throwing himself on top of her and trapping Audrey where she was with his arms. His surprise attack earned him a muffled, slightly frightened scream from her, followed by a bout of giggling as she realized what had just happened.
"Time to wake up, sleepyhead," Neil whispered in her ear as she tried to fight him off and return to hiding under the covers, "I don't have any food in the house so we're going to have to go out for lunch."
Audrey groaned, looking pleadingly into his eyes, "Do we have to? Can't we just subsist on cheese and crackers?"
"Come on," Neil persuaded, dropping a light kiss on her head before pulling the covers off and dragging her out of bed, "We can eat whatever you want, and I'll even sit through a completely predictable superhero movie with you at the cinema."
"I don't think there's anything good showing," Audrey mumbled in protest but reluctantly let allowed Neil to push her towards the bathroom.
After being allowed to choose her favorite Italian restaurant for lunch, Audrey was a little more enthusiastic about their day. She pulled out her phone when they got back into the car after lunch, trying to decide on a movie session that they could watch.
"There really isn't anything that interesting showing right now," Audrey said as Neil waited for her to decide what they would do next, "Are you sure we can't just go home and watch some TV, maybe order pizza?"
"Come on, Aud," Neil sighed, "Don't you want to spend some time with me?"
"Spending time at home with you is spending time with you," Audrey fought back. Not able to come up with anything to say, Neil just looked at her, defeated and slightly disappointed. "Why does it matter so much if we're not doing anything?" Audrey sighed, confused at Neil's sudden insistence that they do something with their day.
Neil silently considered her question, his brow furrowed, before quietly admitting, "I was thinking about your birthday this morning, while you were still sleeping. We didn't really get to celebrate it this year, what with you dumping me and everything." His sadness resonated with Audrey, who had also missed sharing a beer with him to celebrate getting a year older. They had done something for her birthday almost every year since they were residents, sometimes it was just a quick lunch with a cupcake in the hospital cafeteria but they'd always managed something.
"I'm the one who dumped you," Audrey laughed, trying to return the smile to his face, "I'm not going to hold it against you that you didn't remember my birthday, but I see what you've been trying to do now."
"If you're thinking that I was trying to make up for it today, you're right!" Neil said, suddenly brightening up with a grin.
"But it's been months," Audrey complained, "And you really don't have to do anything."
Neil pouted, "Can't you give a guy the chance to feel a little less guilty."
Audrey laughed at how cute he looked and leaned towards him to kiss the frown from his face before answering, "I told you already you don't have to feel guilty, but fine, if it matters so much to you." Neil returned to grinning at her, reminding her of an energetic puppy that had just been promised a treat. She turned her attention back to her phone.
"What about this one? It's got Harrison Ford in it, which makes it as good as a superhero movie," Audrey said, showing Neil her phone, "It also looks sappy enough that you might enjoy it." Neil nodded okay with a smile in response.
"We still have a few hours to kill before the movie starts though," Audrey said, "If you want to make up for my birthday that badly, why don't we do some grocery shopping and you can make me dinner?"
Half an hour later, Audrey found herself walking down the fresh vegetable aisle, hand in hand with Neil, wondering how she'd gotten herself into such a domestic situation with him.
"How do you feel about kale?" Neil asked her, pointing out the bunches of green sitting on the refrigerated shelves in front of them.
Audrey shrugged. She'd heard about its rise in popularity but hadn't ever gone out of her way to try it and wasn't particularly interested in joining the health food craze. "I said you were making dinner," Audrey replied with a smile, trying to hide the fact that she'd never actually tried the plant, "That means I shouldn't have to think." Neil chuckled, seeing right through her but wisely keeping his mouth shut.
When Neil lead her past the ice cream aisle, Audrey protested, "Don't you want some ice cream?"
"I hardly ever eat ice cream at home. I'd never finish a tub of ice cream," Neil replied.
"I eat ice cream all the time," Audrey stated simply, pulling him towards the ice cream.
"I wasn't aware we were living together already," Neil teased as he followed her to look at the frozen desserts, a satisfied smirk on his face at the thought of what Audrey had just implied.
"Stop smiling," Audrey said without even turning to look at him, barely able to contain her own grin, "You know that's not what I meant." She quickly chose a tub of ice cream and added it to Neil's basket to avoid continuing their conversation.
"Do you want popcorn?" Neil asked, putting their movie tickets in his pocket before instinctively reaching for Audrey's hand as they walked away from the ticket booth. They had somehow survived the long checkout queues at the supermarket, gotten their groceries home and back to the cinema in time for their movie session.
"Maybe something small," Audrey replied, "I'm not that hungry after the big lunch we had, and I want to be able to make whatever delicious thing you're planning on making tonight."
"You always have such high expectations of me," Neil laughed, pulling her closer as she considered the different popcorn sizes that were on offer. As he leaned in to kiss her cheek, he caught a familiar figure in the corner of his eye and turned to see Claire and Morgan waiting in line for tickets. He watched them for a moment but quickly turned back to Audrey when he thought Morgan may have noticed them.
Audrey had reassured him that she didn't have any issues with his friendship with Claire, but he had an unshakable feeling that she was keeping something from him. He had a somewhat irrational fear that pointing out that Claire was also here would somehow upset Audrey and they'd had such a good day, he didn't want to ruin it.
By the time Audrey had chosen and paid for their popcorn, Neil discovered Claire and Morgan had left the ticket line and tried to hide behind some plants. He could see the slightly irritated and exasperated look on Morgan's face but could also see her giving in to whatever Claire was suggesting. She reminded him so much of himself.
He remembered being in a very similar situation, trying to catch a movie with Audrey when they were residents and still just friends, and Audrey insisting that none of their colleagues knew they were hanging out. To ward off the gossip, or so she had said. It turned out there wasn't any better way to ward off gossip than marrying or dating completely different people, which is what they had done, wasting so much time before actually getting to this point.
"What are you thinking about?" Audrey asked, noticing that she'd lost his attention halfway through her explanation of why Harrison Ford's character in Star Wars was so amazing.
"Nothing," Neil replied with a smile, "Just thinking about how you used to make us pretend we'd just met by coincidence at the cinema, or pulling me behind some trees when you thought you saw someone we knew."
Audrey laughed at the memory.
"Makes me glad we don't have to do that now," Neil added, making a big show out of putting his arm around her and leading her into the cinema for their session.