By Didi
Disclaimer: Though the show has been cancelled, (damn those executives) I still cannot claim them as mine. And anyone that even thinks so would be laughed out of the courts. Don't sue; I'm not making any money out of this.
Timeline: Let's just assume this is after the last aired episode. But assume that Nick Kokoris and Rae Brennan are not together. I could not stand the two on the show so I refuse to write anything where they are together. Don't worry; I won't ignore their history already established as the back-story from the show.
Rating: PG-13.
Author's Note: Okay, this chapter is totally for the Nick Kokoris lovers out there. Lots of our favorite Greek doctor. It's too bad that I cannot seem to find a good storyline to write about him. Hum…. Must think harder.
Summary: What would you do in the name of love? Apparently, a whole lot.
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Chapter Eight~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The beeping went off first. Then the phone rang painfully loud. Then the melodic ringing from the second pager on the dining room table went off. All this took place in under a minute and had all the effects of a fire station alarm going off.
Groaning, Jules clapped her hands over her ears and buried her head into the comfortable space she had fallen into in sleep. "Make it stop!"
Matt lifted one hand to steady Jules's head in the crook of his neck and reached for the phone with his other. There was nothing to be done about the pagers except to wait them out, which occurred two seconds later. Eyes still screwed tightly shut to keep out the harsh light of day, he growled, "What in blazes could you possibly want?"
There was a pause from the other end. "Hello?"
"Yes?" Matt asked irritably. The reluctance to wake had been partly due to the headache he was already beginning to feel and partly because he was having such a nice dream. "Who is this?"
"Who is this?" came the less then compromising demand.
"This is Matt Slingerland. Care to identify yourself now?"
"This is David Fraser," came the sharp reply. "Where is Julia?"
"Asleep," Matt answered, stroking a hand over the soft hair. "If you'd like to call at a decent hour…"
"It's nine o'clock."
For a moment, the words didn't quite penetrate. "It's what?"
"It's nine in the morning," David repeated, puzzled by the absolutely stunned intonation he sense. "What in are you...."
Turning to look at the VHS player clock, "Oh bloody rotten hell," and got up abruptly, hauling the woman that had been sleeping partly on top of him up with him. "Jules, get up, it's nine!"
Blinking in confusion and not quite completely conscious, "What?" she glanced about her for a moment, not quite orientated yet before turning to stare at Dr. Slingerland, who was watching her, making sure she understood. "Matt, what are you…"
"It's nine o'clock in the morning," he repeated carefully and waited a beat as the meaning of the words sank in and her eyes went saucer wide. "Yes, we're late," he pointed out just as both pagers on the dining room table went off again simultaneously.
"Oh shit!" she exploded with before scrambling up to get to the beeping sounds. "The hospital must be going nuts."
Matt shook his head, sighed and brought the phone receiver back to his ear. "She's going to have to call you back at a more convenient time," then hung up without waiting for a reply. "We're in for it now, luv."
"Don't remind me," Jules grumbled as she looked for coffee. "Don't forget this," holding the two black pagers in her hand.
Getting up, he grabbing the pager tossed at him while dialing the hospital. "Are you certain this is mine?" he asked, glancing at the small box in his hand.
"Of course," she replied, dropping her own into her purse as she made her way to the kitchen. "I think I'd recognize my own pager, I've only carried it for several years now."
"How can you tell? They all look exactly the same to me," he muttered under his breath as he waited for the other line to pick up. "It's Slingerland… yes, yes, I know I'm late, Norman, don't harp about it. I'll be there as soon as I can…. No, I cannot give you an ETA. Push the schedule back or get someone to cover my patients until I get there… Norman, I'll get there when I get there. Nothing more to it than that…. Yes, I know. Right, right… I'll get to it. Patch me through to pediatrics… No you may not ask why. Just do it." Then handed the phone to Jules as he took over her duty of scooping out coffee for the machine.
Ducking her head to find food in the near empty cabinets, she cradled the phone between her neck and shoulder. "Anita, it's Keating. Yes, I know I'm not there. I'm running a bit late this morning… No, this isn't about a man," rolling her eyes as Slingerland stifled a laugh. "My alarm clock…" she glanced at the futon. *Is in the bedroom,* but she couldn't very well tell Anita, the hospital gossip, that. "Didn't go off. Just push the schedule back… No, I honestly cannot tell you when I'll be able to get in. I still have to get awake first. Look, I'll be in whenever I get in. Deal with it," the shut off the phone. "I'm so going to pay for that later today."
Making sympathetic noises, Matt handed her coffee. "Don't worry about it until it comes up."
"Put it in a thermal and let's jet," she advised as she handed him saltine crackers and looked under the futon for shoes. "God, I must look like a mess."
Wisely, Matt reframed from mentioning that she looked like she just got out of bed… with a man—namely, him. "Don't worry about your appearance. You're patients aren't seeing you for your fashion sense."
She made a noise under her breath that sounded distinctively like a curse. "You look like you slept in your clothes."
Raising a brow at her, "I did sleep in my clothes." He found several thermal mugs in the cabinet over the sink. "Is there a reason you have enough traveling mugs for a family of eighteen?"
"I like thermal cups," she explained nonchalantly. "Don't forget your tie," she reminded him as she went into the bedroom.
Grabbing the necktie from the chair back, he wondered if Jules realized that by noon, everyone would be speculating as to the extent of their relationship. They could hardly arrive at the hospital together, disheveled and exhausted, without some talk arising. Though, if they were really lucky, they may be able to get in without anyone actually seeing them together. After all, Norman and Anita didn't know they had been in the same room. Though if the two were to mention it to the right people, two and two will be put together to make for a lot of…
"MATT!"
"What?"
"Are you going to wear your shoes?"
He looked at his feet, devoid of socks as well, and wiggled his toes. "Yes, I do believe that would be a wise idea."
The shoes sailed out of the room, with the socks stuffed in them, and landed on the couch with a soft thump. It was quickly followed by the gold buckled belt that had been a gift from his mother during a visit to Brighton. "Don't forget your belt!"
"Jules?"
"Yeah?"
"How did I end up in bed and you on the couch?"
"I maneuvered it that way," came the reply after a moment of hesitation. "And how exactly did you end up on the futon with me?"
"I got up to check on you last evening," he replied, capping the two mugs of extra strong coffee that was likely to burn all feeling from their tongues. "Must have fallen asleep again without realizing it."
"On the futon?" her head popped around the corner of the doorframe. The disbelief on her face was obvious.
Instead of answering her, he frowned, "What are you doing in there? We have to leave, now."
"I'm getting changed. No way in hell I'm going to work in the same clothes that I wore yesterday. It'll give people ideas."
"What kind of ideas?" he asked with a quick grin.
"Don't start with me," she scowled. "Especially since this is entirely your fault."
"My fault?"
"Well, hello?" She rolled her eyes and ducked out of sight again. "In case you haven't notice, you are the one that showed up at my door drunk and unhappy."
He grumbled at the door. "And whose fault was it that I was unhappy?"
"What?" Jules asked through the wall. "Did you say something?"
"Will you hurry?" he called through the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Don't nag," she replied, hopping on one foot as she slipped her other feet into sensible shoes in an interesting shade of red. "You are not allow to tell anyone that you spent the night."
"And why not?" he asked as he opened the door then had to go back for his keys. "We didn't do anything wrong." Then a thought hit him. "We didn't, right?"
"You don't remember?" laughter twinkling her eyes as she took the mug from him and sipped the burning hot coffee. "How's the head?"
"Have you ever known any well-adjusted doctor that can hold their liquor, British or not?" he asked irritably. "And my head is not the problem; it's the stomach that's likely to cause some delays today."
"I told you not to drink so much," she reminded him as she followed him to the car.
"Did you?"
"Yes." She looked as him as she got into the car. "You really don't remember anything about last evening, do you?" The thought both amused her and… No, it just amused her.
The discomforting feeling that he may have done something that was completely and humiliatingly inappropriate made him squirmed. "Bits and pieces of it."
"Which bits and what pieces?" she asked teasingly.
"Too little of both," he replied honestly with a sigh. "What did I do last evening that I'm more than likely to regret?"
"Beside barging into my apartment?"
"Besides that."
For am moment, she thought of telling him for those moments when his vulnerability was almost persuasive enough to tempt her to give in. She considered telling him of those words spoken that made her heart break for him. "Nothing that's worth mentioning."
Matt glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, "Really? Why don't I believe you when you say that?"
"Why won't you?" she smiled sweetly. "Don't you trust me?"
That question pricked something in his mind. "Jules, if I did something that I shouldn't have…"
"Let it go," she waved it way. "Nothing happened that you need to be worry about. Besides which, you were so freakin' smashed that no one would give you credit for anything you did do."
"Meaning that I did do something," he latched onto the idea quickly. Chocolates, women do well with chocolates. Roses, they do well with all kinds of flowers in apology.
"Nothing totally offensive if that's what you're worry about." She assured him with a smile. "Though I must say that you're quite interesting when you're drunk."
"You're teasing me just to torture me, aren't you?"
"But of course," she laughed.
"Will you please tell me exactly what crimes I may have committed last evening in a rather disgusting display of ungentlemanly behavior?"
"Keep your eye on the road," Keating commanded as she sipped more coffee and tried not to be envious of the ease in which Slingerland drove. She couldn't go to the store without fear of running into something in the tiny little coup she bought some years ago that's pretty much been collecting dust in the covered garage of her building. "Did you drive in England?"
"Had to," Matt answered with a frown. "And don't change the subject. What did…"
"You were upset," she sighed and picked up her purse to dig for a lipstick. "And for your information, you didn't do anything bad."
He slanted her another look and decided that it was unlikely that he was going to get any answers from her… at least not this morning. And he still has a headache from last evening's unwise decision on beverages to do more than make a note to himself about questioning the pediatrician again when he has more time to do so. "What do you have this morning?"
"Besides the usual bevy of patients? I've got two consultations. Plus I have to talk to the tech room about bring one of the eggs up to be defrosted."
Matt nearly hit the breaks in the middle of an intersection.
"Whoa!" reaching out to catch herself on the dashboard. "What was that?"
Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on the road for a moment before attempting to address the subject. "Jules, I think maybe we should talk about that for a moment."
"Talk about what?"
"About the eggs and the stem cell project."
"I thought that's what you wanted."
"Well… yes, it was. It is… I just think that you shoulder consider this a little more before… we don't even know if the blood types are going to…" his thoughts trailed off for a moment before he turned to look at her, study her smug face. "You've already looked into it haven't you? Determine the probably before you even approached me with it, didn't you?"
"I'm a very good doctor," she replied happily. "Besides, you really going to say no when it means saving a life?"
He was tempted to say yes just to be contrary. "Bugger."
Jules laughed. "I know."
~~~~
"Isn't eighteen getting to the point where you relinquish your care of him?" Nick asked as he walked alongside Dr. Keating as they left the patient's room with a head full of information and too many details that will need to be seen to.
"I know," Jules sighed and scribbled something frantically on her chart. "I'm a little reluctant to let go because I've known Zeke since he was ten. But you're right; I've got more than enough patients on my workload. Time to pass him onto an internist."
An amused Nick patted her gently on the shoulder as the reached the receptionist desk. "Letting go is always hard to do."
She glared at him before cracking a smile. "Recommendation?"
"Dr. Fields is probably available. He'll take him if you ask."
"Fields is going on vacation on Friday. Zeke needs the operation by next week."
Nick nodded. "Slingerland is always available to pick up the slack."
Groaning because she knew that he would undoubtedly do just that, "He'll kill himself with the workload that he insists on taking on."
"The man is dedicated," Nick pointed out with a smile. "Can't fault him for that. Besides which, I can name a few others much the same way." He looked pointed at her.
Blowing out a breath, "Anita, page Dr. Slingerland. Tell him I need him for fifteen minutes right now if he's available."
The redheaded receptionist took offense at having her romance novel interrupted then picked up the phone and hit speed dial #14. All the doctor's pagers were on speed dial now, too much work to look up the numbers every time.
"The scarring is going to be terrible," Jules commented as she noted the new blood works coming in. "I'll talk to his parents about taking him to see Jackie."
"He's a boy," Nick pointed out, shuffling through several clips. "The scar will go very well for his manly reputation."
Jules laughed. "Oh god."
Nick laughed, remembering several conversations with his own parents about getting a tattoo at Zeke's age. How he had survived that period of his life without some calamity was beyond him. "Boys are very …"
Jules's pager went off, wringing from her a frown as she glanced down at clipped to her belt. Pulling it off, she glanced at the number then looked up with an amused gleam in her eyes. "Anita, I asked you page Dr. Slingerland, not page me."
Anita's eyes went wide behind her glasses. "I did page Dr. Slingerland."
Holding out her pagers, she turned it to the receptionist. "Does this number look familiar to you?"
Scratching her head, Anita shrugged. "Must have hit the wrong button," then picked up the phone and tried again.
Shaking her head, Jules turned back to make another note as Nick handed her the clip for their next consultation, kid with what looks to be an appendix about to burst. She was about to ask about operation schedules when her pager went off again. Picking it up from the counter, she frowned and turned it to Anita once more. "Anita?"
Thoroughly confused now, "I don't know what happened? All these things are preprogrammed!" She made a noise of frustration before grabbing the list of doctor's numbers from the desk and began to manually dial.
Nick grinned as he watched Jules shrug her shoulder and go back to her notes. "So I hear that you came in late today. What happened?"
"You know, if the United States Intelligence Agency was as effective as our gossip vines around here, we'd be in the safest country in the world." She made a face. "Alarm clock didn't ring."
Nodding with perfect understanding, "Most of us are still recovering from the other night. I'm sure people understand."
"Not if you have three irritated parents waiting for you to see to their cranky sick kids."
"They'll simply have to understand that doctors, even very dedicated ones, are not gods. We are human just like everyone else and bound to succumb to human frailties too." He studied her for a moment. "You look positively exhausted."
"Last night was rather… interesting," for lack of a better word.
"Really?" brows raised in inquiry.
Jules laughed and shook her head. "Why is everyone always so interested in what I'm doing?"
"Because it makes the mundane things we do around here go faster," he replied.
"Cause opening up the human body has become routine to you now," she commented with a grin, handing back the clip. "Blood chart says that Lila's fever has come down. We should be able to go into surgery this evening at the earliest and tomorrow morning at latest. I don't want to wait any longer on this. We're hitting the…" her pager going off interrupted. Glancing at it, "Anita!"
"I'm dialing Dr. Slingerland's pager," she replied defensively. "Look, look, look," pointing to the phone number on the chart then on the little ID screen on her phone. "I'm telling you, I'm dialing it right."
Jules frowned, glanced at the phone then at the pager. "Oh crap," she groaned and collapsed against the counter, resting her forehead on the surface. "Shit, shit, shit," banging her head lightly against the counter.
Nick reached out and slid his hand between Dr. Keating's face and the hard surface she was currently trying to damage. "Come now, none of that. What happened?"
With a groan, she let her forehead rest in Dr. Kokoris's hand for a moment. "Anita, please page me."
Anita blinked owlishly at her while exchanging confused glances with Dr. Kokoris. "What?"
She didn't bother lifting her sore head. "Page me."
An extensively plucked and penciled in brow raised a fraction before she reached for the phone and hit the speed dial for Dr. Keating's pager. Replacing the cradle, she watched the pager currently sitting on the desk, next. Dr. Keating's head. "Um… Doctor. You might want to get up or something. Doesn't look all too professional, if you know what I mean."
Jules lifted her head only to rest her elbow on the countertop and buried her hand into her face. The pager still hadn't gone off.
Nick caught on to the problem. "You switched pagers with someone… with Dr. Slingerland." The smile couldn't be hidden.
Even through her fingers, she could feel Dr. Kokoris smirk and Anita's gossip antennas kick into high gear. Her bright shining miracle earlier at having arrived at the hospital and gotten into her office without running into anyone dimmed. *Stupid Slingerland and his stupid pager. And his stupid parents and their stupid papers.* At the moment, she wanted to go home, crawl into bed and pulled the covers over her head.
The phone rang then and Anita picked up eagerly with Kokoris watching with anticipation. "Pediatrics," the receptionist was practically drooling. "Well, hello Dr. Slingerland. What can I do for you? Me? Page you? No, actually I…" the phone was snatched out of her hand. She pouted.
Glaring at Anita, Jules held up one warning finger at Kokoris, just daring him to say a word. "Matt? It's Jules. You have fifteen minutes to spare right now? I need you up here for a quick transfer of patient and consultation. Good. And bring your pager. Don't ask." She hung up the phone and banged her head on the counter one last time for good measure. Sensing Kokoris was about to say something, "Not a word. Not a single word."
Smart man that he was, Nick wisely kept his mouth shut. But it didn't mean he wasn't having fun speculating like the rest of the grapevine.
~~~~
Matt gapped as Jules grabbed his pager from his hip. "What are you…"
Nick patted him on the back and said nothing. But the smug grin on his face was a little too suspicious for Slingerland's mind.
Little noises of irritation were made as Jules scrambled around her desk and searched the drawers. "It's in here somewhere. I know it is."
"Um… Jules…" Matt frowned as Jules pulled out the first drawer of her desk completely and sat it on the table to rummage through. "May inquire as to what you are doing?"
"Making sure nothing like this ever happens again," she muttered darkly as she continued to ruffle through the rainbow color sticky notes, a variety of pencils, little action figures, several Care Bear figurines, rubber bands, eraser tops, crayons, sharpeners, dozens of button pins, cartoon character band aids, pacifier clips, and several dozen lollipops.
Clearing his throat softly, Nick leaned over the table to look into the messy drawer. "Exactly what are you looking for?"
"Kiddie earrings," Jules replied as she finally brushed her fingers against the jeweled stickers at the very edge of the back corner of her drawer, beneath dozens of colorful glass beads one of her patients have made for her. "Ah ha!" then applied two little red hearts down the center of the black pager.
"What are you doing?" Slingerland asked making a grab for the pager but missed.
"Putting stickers on it so it's distinguishable."
Shaking his head, "Why put it on mine? Put it on yours."
"This is mine!" she replied grumpily.
Nick took extreme pleasure in handing Slingerland the pager that was laying halfway cross the desk. "Anita had trouble paging you earlier."
Matt looked at the plain black pager in his hand, then at the one in Jules's, then at the one in his hand again. Looking up at Kokoris turned out to be a mistake as the man was wearing the most devious grin in the world. And for some reason, Matt felt guilty. He frowned at Jules. "I asked you if you were sure."
"How was I to know that you and I carry identical pagers?" Jules grumbled as she pushed the drawer back into the desk.
"Didn't you at least glance at the two this morning?"
"No, actually I didn't. I grabbed the one that looked like mine and tossed you the other one. We were kind of in a hurry, if you recall."
"How can I forget?" Slingerland threw up his arms. "I got chewed out by our esteemed Dr. Jordan for being an hour late for a consultation. My ears are still bleeding from the scathing remarks she arrowed at me."
"Why?" Nick asked suddenly from the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying this little play. "What were the two of you doing last evening that would have you arriving so tardy to work this morning?"
Both doctors turned shades of pink. Jules cleared her throat and wondered how they ended up on this conversation since she and Matt had agreed that they won't be talking about it. "Nothing."
"Really?" the insinuation heavy in his tone.
"Nothing like that!" Slingerland snapped knowing very well where the Greek surgeon's mind had wondered off to. "By the way, why were you calling her last night?"
Nick raised a brow. "You were there that late?"
Jules reached over and whacked Slingerland's arm. "I told you, stem cells."
"Right," Matt said, rubbing the sore spot. Somewhere in the back of his head, this particular section of the conversation was rather familiar. Of course, he was surprised that he even remembered the Kokoris had called Jules last evening.
"And how did the two of you get your pagers mixed up?" Nick asked indicating the two pagers that were now sitting on the desk. Lying on their face, the two were identical. "I usually don't take mine off unless I'm undressing," he couldn't help but add.
*Someone, anyone, please come in here and shoot me. Or better yet, shoot the two of them.* Dr. Keating was currently experiencing the overwhelming urge to bang her head on the table again. There was something very soothing about that particular action that she couldn't even begin to explain. "There was a brief conversation about the hazards of cell phones that led to the a conversation about pagers and doctors not waiting to be found but having to be because they are what they are and…" she shook her head. "Why am I explaining this to you?"
A grin appeared. "Because I asked nicely."
"No, you didn't," Matt complained as he crossed his arms over his chest. The flirtatious nature that Kokoris was taking on was not to his liking one bit, even if Jules was oblivious to it. "And can we please get to the point as to why I was summoned here? I still have patients to see and a schedule to keep."
Jules grabbed the chart from her out-basket. "Zeke Bregman, eighteen, senior in high school. Has two dislocated desk on his spine, need an infusion. Parents in denial over scoliosis." She pointed to Kokoris. "He's doing the surgery next week because the boy cannot walk anymore."
Slingerland glanced briefly over the chart. "And I'm getting him because he's gotten too old for you?"
Nodding, "That plus I'm little overwhelmed at the moment. I've still got several patients in NICU."
"How are they doing?"
"I'm releasing two probably by tomorrow, Monday at latest. I've got three that can't be taken from incubation."
"Okay, I've got um… Zeke then." He made a quick note to himself. "Kokoris, you want to come meet the patient with me and start the transfer?"
Nick shook his head, amusement still dancing in his dark exotic eyes. "I've got another consultation with Dr. Keating right now."
Matt nodded his hhead slowly. "Anything I can do?"
"No," Nick said cheerfully. "Jules and I have got it."
"Hum…" Matt replied.
"Dr. Keating?" Anita's head popped through the door. Her eyes went to Dr. Slingerland for a second and grinned before turning back to the issue at hand. "Janice from OB says that you're late for an appointment to see Dr. Lanning."
Glancing at her watch, Jules muttered a curse and grabbed the pager on the desk. Making her way around the desk, "Kokoris, I've got to get this right now. Let's meet later for the consultation and check with OR to see what's available tonight."
"Jules!" Matt called, which stopped her at the door.
"What?" irritation on her face.
The internist held up the pager that had been left behind on the desk. Two red hearts were shown to the hurried pediatrician. "My pager if you please?"
Making a face that was unbecoming but strangely endearing, she stalked back across the room and traded pagers with him. "I've got to find a way so that this never happens again."
"Well, you could do what other normal people do," Nick suggested, interrupting the sweet little moment there with great relish.
"And what would that be?" Slingerland inquired dryly.
Nick pushed back his lab coat and pulled his pager out. "You could change the color of your pager case so it's unlike anyone else's around here," showing them his electric blue pager.
"Hey, cool!" Jules said as she took the pager from her. "Do they have these in purple? Where did you get this?"
"Any color you want. Chinatown," he replied swiftly. "In fact," sneaking a quick peek at the interested Slingerland. "Why don't you come to lunch with me today? I know a little shop that has great sweet and sour pork. We can pick up a pager case for you and discuss Lila's appendix."
Jules opened her mouth to answer but Slingerland got there first.
"She can't."
Not expecting anything less, Nick merely raised a brow. "Why not?"
Matt could feel the eyes on him, both Jules's and Anita's. "Because Jules and I have to discuss a case?"
"Which one?" Kokoris asked, delighting in this little game and knowing that the story will get around before noon if Anita has anything to say about it.
"Um… Charles," being the only one that he was currently involved in with Dr. Keating.
"Oh, well," Nick sighed. "I should be there as well. After all, I am the surgeon on the case."
Dr. Keating rolled her eyes at the both of them. "Hello? I'm still here you know." Shaking her head and glancing at her watch, she was now ten minutes late for her appointment with Harriet. "Thanks for the invitation, Nick, but I do have to work through lunch. Matt, we'll discuss the stem cells at another time. And I can go pick up a pager case on my own, thank you very much. See you boys," the sailed out the door, pushing Anita out at the same time.
Nick waited a heartbeat. "I take it the discussion isn't about the stem cells."
He glared at the surgeon.
"It's about the embryos, isn't it?"
"What do you know about it?" he asked suspiciously.
"I know you're the sire," Kokoris admitted. "Look, I know that Dr. Keating has given her permission. But if you are uncomfortable with the idea, we won't use it. I don't wish to go against the 'parents.' Makes for unhealthy ethics."
"I have to admit that I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea. Not that I would have anything to say to it," he sighed and leaned against the desk, toying with his pager. "I had orally agreed to relinquish all rights to the embryos upon conception."
"Was that what you were discussing last night?" Nick asked as he gathered notes.
Matt had the grace to look ashamed. "I'm not exactly sure what we talked about last night."
Surprised, "What do you mean?"
"I… Jules told me yesterday morning. I was still thinking about it when I met with my parents for dinner last evening. There was an argument and I lost my temper, justified mind you, but I ended up taking out some of that anger on Jules."
"What did you do?" not particularly alarmed since Dr. Keating hadn't been the least bit wary of him. He couldn't help but curious.
Matt gave a pathetic laugh. "Showed up at her door with a bottle."
"A bottle of what?"
"Really bad American whiskey."
The imagines that came to mind had Kokoris laughing. "You showed up drunk?"
"I did not," Matt corrected sternly. Then rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. "I got drunk in her apartment." He groaned and slapped himself in the forehead. "A bottle under an hour on an empty stomach. What was I thinking?"
"How is your head?" he chuckled.
"Not going to be as bad as your posterior if you don't stop nagging me," Slingerland warned darkly.
*Oh your two are going to provide an endless supply of amusement for us all,* Nick chuckled as he gathered his stuff. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Zeke."
~~~~
To be continued…