Walking in to Dubenko's office Abby was floored by the sheer size of the workspace. Her apartment wasn't much larger than this place. Who's ass did he kiss to get these digs? Dubenko must have dirt on someone around here to rate having this office. "Hi!" She quickly announced her presence when it became apparent that Dubenko was oblivious to her standing behind him. She noticed that he'd changed clothes.
"There you are. Come in." He still hadn't looked at her. He was focused on something on the stereoscope. Always working, didn't he ever take a break? Relax? And hello, genius, I'm already in your office. Abby couldn't help but be annoyed at the way he so rudely greeted her, if one could call what she received a greeting.
"I pulled the file." She offered, once more trying to start a conversation, to get the ball rolling. He didn't turn around at this either, merely murmured the word "good" at her in a distracted manner. Abby was starting to feel like she was an unwanted disruption. He did say seven, didn't he? Did he forget? Should I just hit him over the head with the file? As appealing as that last option seemed, the intern couldn't convince herself that it would be appreciated or solve the awkwardness of the situation.
Suddenly the attending jumped up from his seat and pulled the slide off the microscope's stage as he spoke to her, his voice a bit unsteady. "Um, do…do you like burgers?" He fidgeted with the slide then tossed it on the roll top desk on the other side of the office as if realizing that he was holding the object. Dubenko pulled a rich colored trench coat off the coat tree as he continued. "I thought we could do this over food."
Abby watched as he put on the coat, thinking that he actually looked quite dapper in the attire. Did he just ask me to dinner? Or order me? "Now? I'm not really hungry." She sounded surprised and confused at the turn of events. Dubenko came towards her with another coat and told her to put it on. Before she could protest he was actually helping her with the coat. Don't let the boys bully you, Lockhart. Great, now I'm quoting him and ignoring his advice all at the same time. Am I three years old? Do I really need help getting dressed? Before she knew what she was doing, Abby was dutifully following Dubenko across the street to Ike Ryan's Bar & Grill.
Maybe I was too pushy, I hope she isn't intimidated by my position at the hospital. I think I backed her into a corner, I never realized that Abby was so passive and when I remarked that women tended to be submissive, I really wasn't talking about her specifically just in generalities. Nice, now I'm resorting to strong-arming my subordinates into dates. Dubenko was only half listening to the intern babble about the case and body stuffing in Chicago as he looked for an empty table. Pointing her towards the back of the bar he gave her another one of his half smiles.
At least she actually seems interested in publishing this paper. I usually have to twist arms and badger people to get them to put forth the extra effort. Shifting mental gears once more, Dubenko focused on the reason for being in the bar in the first place—dinner. He had already decided what he wanted to eat while he was waiting for Lockhart, it didn't even occur to him that she'd not want the same as he turned to the bartender, "Two mineral waters please. A couple of burgers--Medium okay?" He looked at Abby as if realizing that she may have differing preferences.
"Sure." She looked like a deer caught in the headlights to Sasha Dubenko as she answered the surgical wiz.
Nervousness caused him to repeat the order back to the bartender. "Yeah, two medium burgers and um, we'll share a basket of fries." Manners that had been ingrained in him as a child took over and he helped Abby off with her coat and pulled out her chair. Again Dubenko noticed the somewhat confused look on her face. Does no one ever treat her with common courtesies?
Taking off his coat, Dubenko stuttered and eventually forced out a question that he had been wanting to ask Abby for some time. "Um, are…are you from here…originally?" Observant by nature and keenly aware of every minute detail about the intern due to his interest in her, he had often noticed the way she pronounced certain words, used particular turns of phrase and it had piqued his curiosity.
"Pardon me?" By her tone, Dubenko wondered if maybe the question was too personal. He then realized that Abby may not have understood him due to the fact that he was stammering like an adolescent schoolboy when he had made his query.
"I, I don't know, I thought I detected a hint of Minnesotan in your accent." He sat down as he tried to rephrase the question without the stutter. We don't need this yet. Dubenko took the case file that Lockhart had placed on the table and moved it out of the way, he had already predetermined the way the evening should go and was determined to see it through. Improvisation was not something he excelled at in social settings. His need to plan things in advance often made him appear awkward and clueless to those unfamiliar with his particular quirk.
"I grew up mostly in St. Paul, but I've lived all over the place. Anyway…" She pushed up her sleeves and pulled the file back in front of her and continued. "In terms of the paper..." As she spoke, Dubenko gave her his full attention, as if he was carefully committing every syllable to memory. He was actually just trying to picture what a young Lockhart would have looked like growing up.
"Introduction, case summary, discussion. That's all there is to it." He rushed through the answer to her question and none too subtly steered the conversation away from work again. "Do you, do you like foreign films?" He really was eager to find out if they had anything in common other that the same workplace. I doubt she'd enjoy any of my other hobbies though, collecting obscure editions of medical texts probably holds little interest for her. She never did want to discuss her secret Santa gift with me. It didn't even occur to him that it wasn't the book, but the giver of the gift that had precluded any conversation.
Abby smiled at him kindly and for a moment Dubenko took this as a good sign. Then the brunette frowned and looked at the table. Clearing her throat she simply said, "I thought we were going to work on the paper?"
"Oh, we are. I ah, just…just thought that maybe we could get better acquainted with each other while we were waiting for our food. I realized that I don't really know much about you, Dr. Lockhart." He tossed his head back to flip his hair off of his forehead as he spoke. "And uh, that you probably don't know much about me, either."
I really should have asked her if this was okay when we were back in my office. Maybe she doesn't like to get too personal with her coworkers…don't I myself have a personal policy about not dating in the workplace? He looked down at his hands, his fingers interlaced so that he wouldn't fiddle with things on the table. Well, did have such a policy; I'm trying to change that if Abby's amenable to it.
"So ah, what made you want to stay at County for your residency? Was it your first choice for a match?" Maybe she won't seem so out of sorts if I steer clear of really personal information.