Confessions (Abby and Neela's POV)

This is the scene in between when Gallant gets called back to the hospital and when Neela gets drunk. This chapter is Abby and Neela's POV. The next chapter will be Michael, Pratt and Valerie's POV.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or the characters associated with ER.

Neela and Abby's POV

Abby and Neela are sitting at the bar having a drink. They couldn't believe that Pratt was putting the moves on Gallant's sister. Especially, right in front of him. 'Gallant's going to go through the roof if he figures it out,' Abby thought. Every so often, Abby would look over at the table where the pair were seated to see what was going on. Each time she did, she saw Gallant in his own little world staring at Neela. No wonder he had no idea what was going on, his mind was somewhere else.

It became a routine. He'd be staring at Neela. Abby would look over at the table to see what was going on and he would turn away and pretend that he wasn't staring. Abby laughed to herself. Gallant really does like her and from the looks of things, Neela likes him too. She's just better at hiding it. Abby thought back to all of the times that he put his foot in his mouth when talking to Neela. Oh yeah, he definitely likes her.

After four or five times of the little routine, Abby turned to Neela and asked, "Why does Gallant keep staring at you?"

Neela's ears perked up. Michael is staring at her? She turned around to look and saw that he was very involved in a conversation with Pratt and Valerie. "He's not staring at me."

Abby of course saw the whole thing. He was staring at her, but as soon as she turned to look at him he turned around and pretended to be involved in a conversation with Pratt and Valerie. "Well, he was until you turned around and looked at him." God, doesn't this girl know anything? You never turn around and look at a guy who you think is staring at you. You do something subtle like take out your compact and look into the mirror to see if he is staring at you.

"He was not staring at me, Abby"

"Believe me, he was. He always does. He stares at you all the time. When you're at the hospital, at Doc Magoo's, at Ike's, when the two of you hang out. He always stare at you and from what I can see, you stare at him too."

"I do not." Neela was lying. How could she not stare at him? He was absolutely gorgeous.

"Yes you do," Abby said, "Come on, you nearly burned a hole in his back when he left to go take care of that patient and you spent the next fifteen minutes turning around and looking at the door to see if he was back. Come you like him. Admit it."

"I do not like him," she lied again. She really did like him, more than she cared to admit. She didn't like admitting it. She thought that it made her weak.

"Really? Then, why are you always so concerned about whether or not Gallant has a girlfriend? Why do you always fix your hair and check your makeup before you see him?"

"I want to look presentable."

"You want to look presentable to a first year resident? A first year resident who has less influence on the goings on of the ER than all of the med students combined?"

"Yes. I mean no. I mean I don't care how I look when he sees me."

"Then why did you spend a half and hour fixing your hair and makeup this evening?"

"Because we were meeting his sister and I wanted to look nice."

"If you don't care what Gallant thinks of you, then why do you care what his sister thinks of you?"

"I don't, I just like to look nice when I'm meeting new people. You know make a good first impression."

"But what does it matter what Valerie thinks of you. You are never going to see her again after tonight. Unless you plan on seeing her someplace else."

"Like where?"

"I don't know. Gallant's apartment, the hospital, a wedding maybe."

"What wedding? She's not getting married. I don't even think that she has a boyfriend."

"Not her wedding. Yours."

"Huh?"

"You. Gallant. Wedding bells. Dum-dum-da-dum. You know."

"What are you talking about? Michael and I aren't getting married. He hasn't even asked me out on a date yet."

"Ah, so you admit that there is a yet. Which means that there is a possibility that he may ask you out. And by saying yet, you mean that if her were to ask you out, you might say yes. Which means you like him."

Neela didn't answer Abby. Instead, she looked over at the table where Gallant, Pratt, and Valerie were sitting and saw the waitress flirting with him. She felt like she'd been punched. She turned back to Abby almost in tears. "See, I told you."

Abby looked at Neela who was on the verge of tears. 'Wow,' she thought. 'She must like him a lot.' She honestly didn't think that Neela liked him that much. "You really like him, don't you?"

Neela tried to collect herself. She didn't like crying. "Yes. Yes I do. As you can see, though, he doesn't like me."

Out of the corner of her eye, Abby could see that Gallant was staring at Neela. Again. "I'm not to sure about that. He's staring at you again." Neela was about to turn around to look. "Don't turn around. Use this." Abby took her compact out of her purse an handed it to Neela. "Pretend like you're checking your makeup."

Neela looked at Abby with a skeptical look, but knew not to argue. She took the compact from Abby and did as she was told. When she looked in the mirror, she saw that Michael was looking at her. "He's looking at me."

Abby took the compact from Neela's hand. "No, he's staring at you and has been all night. So what's the deal between you two?"

Neela couldn't take the smile off of her face. He was staring at her. That's a good sign. "What deal? There's no deal."

"So you're telling me that there is nothing going on?"

"Correct. There is nothing going on."

"But you want there to be something going on, don't you? Because you like him. Right?"

Neela rolled her eyes. She lowered her voice, "Of course I want there to be something going on, but in order for that to happen, he has to like me back."

"Well, why do you think that he's been staring at you the entire night. Because you have a KICK ME sign on your back? No, because he likes you."

Neela didn't believe it. There was no way that Michael liked her. "Are you sure that there isn't a KICK ME sign on my back?"

Abby looked. "No KICK ME sign. But there is a SCREW ME sign if that's any help."

Neela laughed, "Thanks a lot. You're a big help."

"I do try," Abby said sarcastically. "Come on, Neela, ask him out. What could it hurt? He likes you. You like him. You'll get married and have loads of beautiful babies with genius IQs and perfect manners. Come on. Do it."

Neela laughed. "I don't know Abby. He's a resident and I'm a med student. We might get in trouble."

"Do you know how many residents have dated their med students? It's a normal thing. As long as you keep it quiet for a while you'll be ok. Think about it."

Neela looked over at Michael who laughing with Pratt. She smiled. "I'll think about it. I'm not promising anything, but I will."

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