Derek awoke in an immediate jolt of life. The blood in his veins seemed sluggish and his skin felt warm under the white blanket suspended over his image. A pounding headache throbbed soon after and a slight hint of nausea followed suit. The need to sit up in fear of throwing up was caught with his balance being briefly stripped.

Derek's throat felt tight and his stomach felt heavy. Deciding that he had less than a minute to stagger to the bathroom, he swung the blanket off and all but rolled off of the mattress onto the floor, only partly catching his own weight and using it to propel himself to the doorway of the bathroom. Quickly, he flipped the toilet seat up and proceeded to vomit.

It had been two or three minutes of off and on throwing up, gagging, and light headed shifts before he finally felt like he had a grasp on his body. Quickly, he backed away from his toilet and laid on the hard tile floor staring up at the ceiling.

With a few minutes to catch his breath and swear on his grave that alcohol would never enter his system again; he reflected on what had lead to him gasping for air.

(One day earlier)

Derek tossed his now empty coffee cup that he had gotten from a coffee stand on his walk to work into the closest garbage can before proceeding up the stairs. Normally it was an elevator ride up to the surgical floor but the sun was out in stride and 29-year-old Derek Stiles was feeling like stretching his legs some more.

It had taken less than five minutes to reach the see-through glass door that lead into the surgical ward and when he did he checked his surroundings.

Leslie Sears, one of his close friends and colleagues, was pushing a patient on a wheel chair. It was an elderly man and his leg was in a cast. The nurses sitting behind the desks were either typing at a computer or flipping through binders; all of which didn't interest him.

"Hey, Derek, come here." He heard a voice call from down the hall. One of the nurses looked up and the two traded smiles as Derek slid past the desk down the hallway. The voice was coming from the lounge and so, followed the voice inside. Once there, he met up with Tyler who was hand motioning towards a bulletin board.

"Yeah? What's up?" Derek responded, stopping next to him.

"Halloween Night at Jay's." Tyler muttered in one sentence. "They're doing some drink specials, having some local artists come in, and everyone has to bring someone."

Derek nodded slowly. Drinking wasn't his favorite thing to do, and public drinking just meant that everyone had to see how much or little fun he was having.

"I see. Are you going?" Derek asked.

"Duh! I'll talk to Dr. Porter to see if he and Dr. Clarks will cover our shifts tonight." Tyler chirped. "It'll be fun!"

"Tyler... it's Halloween today. We're going to be swamped!" Derek grimaced, turning away from the poster to Tyler who now looked more bummed out than ever. "Besides, you know how little I drink."

"Commonnnn!" Tyler slugged his shoulder. "We can do this! We'll go out for a couple drinks, Leslie can give us a ride back to my place, and we'll be great!" Still, Derek didn't seem so persuaded. Tyler could see that he was thinking about it and put his hand to his chin, thinking intently on a new method.

Derek laughed. "I wouldn't do that to her. I'm sure she has enough going on." With that, Derek began walking away making it half way towards the exit door before Tyler turned around.

"What about Angie? Would you go if I convinced her to go?"

There was a split second of silence as Derek stood frozen in his tracks before spinning on his heels and whipping around to his friend.

"What? I HIGHLY doubt Angie is going to want to do anything in a bar." Derek grunted, once again being thrown a curveball as the door behind him opened.

"What am I doing in a bar...?" Angie's voice wrung out in Derek's ears like a gunshot and he suddenly felt red in the face though his back was still turned to her.

"Angie! Just the girl I wanted to see." Tyler joked as he hopped over to her. Derek turned to track him. "Jay is having a super cool event at his bar tonight since, you know, its Halloween and all. I was thinking about taking Derek but..."

His voice trailed off and it left open a planet size hole in the moment; Derek struggling to fix what his friend said and Tyler shooting a look over to him with complete amusement in his blood.

"... I decided I would take Leslie since her mom just left last night."

Angie smiled. "That woman! I've never seen anybody so invasive. When I first met her, she wanted to meet my father just to get to know my family better." Derek's eyebrows went up which somehow snatched a gaze from Angie who peered over at him. "Is it true? Are you planning on going?"

Derek felt a huge spotlight on him and saw Tyler turn around, his eyebrows fly up, and his arms cross in an expecting manner.

"Um... well, I--" Derek tripped over his words for a moment; his brain begging for some form of improvised lie or excuse that might steal him from the room he was in. "I'm not sure yet..."

Tyler rolled his eyes and scoffed quietly. "What about you, Angie?"

She turned her head towards him and pondered for a second.

"Well... I guess it would be nice to see Leslie hit on random people again." Angie joked. "I don't see why not. You should come too, Dr. Stiles!"

Derek felt stuck; refuse to come and save himself from embarrassment, or come along and possibly screw things up for himself and... whatever he felt he had going with his assistant.

Tyler forced a smile. "Dude, come on, you have absolutely NOTHING better to do."

"Don't you guys have work to do?" A deeper voice came from the corner, pulling the eyes from everyone involved.

"Oh, Dr. Niguel. I'm sorry to disturb you." Angie apologized before walking towards him. She had a binder in her hand and when she stopped next to him she knelt down next to him on the couch and opened the binder. They talked amongst themselves for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, Derek walked over to Tyler with a dismissive gaze.

"Thank you, for that." He grunted as he slid out of the open door, slightly shoving it as he walked by to close it.

"Be at my place by 10! We'll carpool!"

(Present)

Derek could recall the events leading up to the bar. The surgery he performed, the follow ups, pre-ops, and post-ops that he ran with Angie; the two gossiping in between about what the night was going to be about.

The hangover was starting to kick in and even though the nausea was subsided for the moment he didn't feel hungry and only immensely thirsty. Before chugging a gallon of water, he kicked on his shower by twisting the handle to the left - setting it on a HIGH setting. He threw off his pants which were already halfway undone anyway, and looked in the mirror.

The bed head was expected. His hair was sticking up and there were slight bags under his eyes. Derek estimated he only got a few hours of sleep and woke up once he started coming down. On his neck he spotted a reddish purple bruise towards the left side of his collar bone and there were a set of small cuts on corresponding sides of his shoulders.

"Probably from hitting my nightstand falling out of bed..." He mumbled to himself.

By the time he was done examining his body, he slid open the curtain and all but hopped into the shower; instantly feeling some relief as the hot water poured over his bare body. Once again, he closed his eyes with his weight braced on the left wall of the shower.

(One day earlier)

It had been a slow drive to Jay's. Traffic was atrocious as people went from bar to bar or from work to home. It was supposed to have been a ten minute drive but it extended an extra ten.

Once they arrived, Leslie pulled the keys out of her ignition and looked around at her four guests.

"This is going to be awesome!" Leslie chirped.

"Yeah, thanks for coming along, Vic." Tyler joked, seeing his eyes skip over his colleague and instead pan over to the window.

"Look, I'm just here for the booze and to maybe find a woman who knows a fraction of what I do." Victor groaned, seeing both sets of female eyes in the car glare deep into his soul. "...No offense."

Derek unbuckled his seat belt and flipped open the door, letting himself and Victor, who was stuck in the middle seat out. Once everyone was out, they made their way into the bar.

There was a carpet lined from the door to the bar which was packed with people sitting in each of the stools. There were some small tables open and music was playing loudly. It was a band in the middle of covering, "Hey Jude," by The Beetles.

The lights were hanging low and the bulbs were replaced with orange lights with black lights hanging between each. Derek looked down and noticed his white undershirt was glowing at the collar though his black suit jacket covered most of it.

Leslie pranced around for a second; her Halloween outfit being a ballerina. Her skirt was low cut and fluffed out and she wore flats; the closest thing she owned to actual ballerina shoes. Tyler was dressed as a surfer, his sandals and shirtless - open button down short sleeve shirt setting a good atmosphere for himself. Of course, Angie and Derek nor Victor dressed up for the occasion only coming along strictly for the social interactions.

Victor patted Derek on the shoulder and split off for the bar while Derek stuck with Angie who was struggling to keep up with Leslie and Tyler. There were dozens of people either dancing together, talking amongst themselves, or even an occasional couple exchanging kisses in secluded corners of the lobby.

It looked like most people were dressed up for the holiday; the bar tenders which each dressed differently.

"What can I get you fine ladies and gentlemen?" The bartender asked; his outfit resembling Frankenstein.

"Let's line up four shots of tequila for now." Tyler bluffed. The bartender took him seriously and slapped four shot glasses onto the bar. He turned around and grabbed a 40 ounce bottle of tequila and poured each one perfectly to the brim.

Derek and Angie exchanged a look of surprise; he was really jumping into this without much of a run up. Still, not wanting to be downers, Angie picked up her glass after Leslie did and Derek followed suit.

"You look scared, Ang!" Leslie joked, yelling over the loud music. "Come on you guys!"

"Hey, let's see if you can keep up with me!" Tyler yelled, peering into Derek's eyes as he brought his glass up to his lips.

Angie laughed and looked over at Derek. "Come on, Derek! You got this!"

"On three!" Leslie exclaimed. "One! Two!" All four of them brought their drinks up and when Leslie announced three, they swung their glasses up and finished their first shot. Angie and Leslie made the most disgusted face, placing their glasses down on the bar before laughing hysterically together.

"Damn!" Tyler barked as he slammed his glass down. "I haven't had tequila in months!"

"Yeah, me neither! We both remember what happened the last we had tequila!"

Angie laughed out loud recalling the events where Derek attempted to play Operation but failed when Tyler tripped and broke the fake operation body.

Derek looked over at Angie, catching a sharp gaze of her laughing. He felt himself hang in suspense, going over her lips, her flowing blonde hair tucked neatly behind her head running down the outside of her peacoat. That's when he snapped out of it, and saw that Tyler was still looking at him.

"Do something!" Tyler mouthed to his best friend.

Derek raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"I'm going to go use the restroom. I'll be right back!" Derek announced. Angie smiled and waved at him as he walked away. There was something fluttering in his heart in the same way a middle schoolers does when he touches the girl he likes. It was juvenile, but he wanted all of it.

(Present Day)

He opened his eyes and immediately noticed the room was steamy hot and the water was still just as warm. With no perception of time, he assumed that he had just dozed off for a second. Once he applied shampoo to his hair and body wash to his body, he flushed it out and proceeded to sit down as standing was sucking more energy out of his body than he thought.

"I need to get some water..." He thought to himself. Spending as little time in the shower as possible, Derek turned the water off and flung open the shower curtain before drying off with the towel. When it was time to dry his back, he felt a sensitive spot that he was unaware of. "Jesus, how hard did I fall out of bed?"

Derek stepped towards the mirror and turned his back slightly. That wasn't from falling out of bed.

There were red lines running up and down from his shoulder blades to his middle back on both sides of his spine. With no words to explain his confusion and shock, he went to look at his phone to see what time it was.

"Shit." He mumbled to himself. The phone was in the bedroom likely laying on his end table. So, he flung open the closet accessible from both the bedroom and bathroom, and stole a quick outfit to get dressed in and once fully dressed, he opened the door to his bedroom and froze. Instantly, memories rushed his senses.

(One day earlier)

The night had continued for about two hours now. Derek had ingested four shots of tequila which was level with Angie. This was, of course, less than Leslie and Tyler who were last seen consuming their sixth.

"Dereeeeek." Tyler stammered, his body planted to the seat he was in and his left hand extended across the table in a fist. "Pound it, man, I'm so glad you came."

Derek raised an eyebrow but succumbed to a fit of giggles as he bashed his fist into his. "No problem at all, man..." He looked over at Angie. "I'm glad you came with me."

Leslie smirked. "You two are soooooo much fun to have around..." She joined Derek in dissolving to laughter before taking a deep breath. "It almost feels like we're on a double date... doesn't it?" Her eyes flew over to Tyler who's eyes went wide.

"Les... you're totally right!" Tyler laughed out loud, likely louder than he intended. "Don't you guys feel that way too!?"

Angie exchanged an awkward look with Derek who then looked back to them.

"Maybe that comes after the fifth or sixth shot..." She joked which Derek laughed in compliance.

"No, that's just them!" Angie looked over at him.

"You're completely right."

"Hey, let's get another round for us!" Tyler announced, fluttering his finger in a circle rotation in the air. Derek cheered and Angie looked at Leslie before the two joined each other in laughter.

"Angieeee! Let's take a picture together!" Leslie exclaimed as she all but hopped over the table with her cell phone screen out. Derek moved around the table to give them both room since Leslie completely threw herself between them.

Once they were besides each other, Derek felt a smile climb over his lips.

"She's having fun, man." Derek said. "I'm really glad you talked us into coming."

Tyler put his arm around his friend and smiled. "Dude, you just need to make a move before one of these confident men at this bar do it." Tyler muttered, his words slightly thrown together. "I promise you, it won't go badly like you think it will!"

"That's definitely the liquid courage in you right now. Trust me." Derek joked as the four notorious shot glasses landed on the table.

Before they picked them up, a voice came over the microphone.

"I hope you guys are having a great time! That was Beast of Berlin just now, give them a BIG round of applause!" People followed suit by shouting and clapping as the band members got off the stage and shook hands with various people. "It's now midnight so we'll be spending the rest of the night listening to a local friend of mine; he makes EDM music, he's played at a couple of clubs in town, and he's here today to show you some songs from his upcoming EP: give it up for Coasting Vee!"

Some more people started celebrating as the lights changed slowly. Small flickering lights and laser lights began illuminating the room and women started cheering loudly.

"I freaking LOVE techno!" Leslie exclaimed as she jumped up from her seat. In a quick motion she slammed her drink which had become practically tasteless at this point, and grabbed Tyler's arm pulling him as she darted away. "Come on!" She screamed.

Derek and Angie exchanged a look as Tyler was forced against his will to join Leslie on what was becoming a dance floor. The EDM music kicked in and a heavy bass kick was dominating the room with flashy synthesizers and a plethora of other instruments filling the gaps. The people were loving it and most people who left the bar to listen were now dancing.

Derek lagged behind with Angie who had just finished her drink. He followed suit and started nodding his head slowly.

"You like this kind of music?" Angie whined. Derek peered at her and realized that this wasn't her speed.

"I don't mind it. A good and stable rhythm generally keeps me engaged. I can see by your face that you don't like it." Derek joked as he looked past her. Angie noticed and Derek head gestured for her to look. As she spun around they witnessed Victor who was previously hitting on a girl shoot them a dirty smile as they both got up and left a few dollar bills on the counter before leaving the room.

"Wow!" Angie exclaimed. "That was record timing for him."

Derek laughed and returned his eyes to Angie. "We can leave if you want. I don't you to get an even worse headache because of this."

Angie looked up at Leslie who was obviously blackout drunk at this point.

"You think she'll miss me?" Angie asked.

"I highly doubt it. I'm sure she's going to wake up at home only remembering a small sliver of tonight." Derek reassured her before standing up and snatching his jacket from the back of his seat. "Come on. I'll call us a cab."

While outside waiting for their ride, Angie was leaning against the wall as she was having a hard time standing on her own. Derek was finding a considerable amount of amusement in the sight.

"Did you have a little too much?" He inquired, smirking.

"I think so... I can barely stand!" Angie said as she attempted to stand once again on her own but drifted right into Derek who caught her by placing his hands around her waist.

His cheeks lit up and he looked up at her.

"Woah! You need help?" He asked politely. Her left arm wrapped around his lower back and her right hand stayed at her side. In return, Derek planted his right arm around her right side and held her close to him.

Derek couldn't fight the fluttering in his chest as he looked down and could smell her sweet scented hair just underneath his nose with her tight body wound into him. The idea of her clinging onto him was euphoric and was brought to an abrupt death when a yellow cab pulled into the express parking. So, he cursed himself as she separated from him and they piled into the cab.

"Where am I taking you two?" The cab driver asked. It was a younger male who looked well groomed and dressed nicely. Derek guessed him to be eighteen years old.

Angie stammered immediately throwing out a few numbers which were likely her address. However, she was hardly understandable because she was so quiet.

"What was that?" The driver asked.

"Take her to the Venus Apartment Complex. Unit A5." Derek responded, his voice sounding slurred as well and his joints feeling disconnected with how loose they were.

The driver nodded and pressed down on the gas.

It had to have been at least fifteen minutes before they arrived at Derek's apartment. He used his card to pay and offered a small tip as well before leaving the cab completely. Angie was holding his hand now as they moved towards the front door. Derek slid his key into the lock after failing with two other keys. Upon opening it, Angie stepped in and turned around. Once Derek had closed the door, he turned to face his assistant.

"You can stay the night here if you'd like, or I can call you another cab if you don't want to--"

His speech was cut short as Angie threw her body at him, her weight slamming into him with her left and right arm flinging over his shoulders and intertwining behind his neck. Her lips met his and sparked instant heat across his face and hers. There was a second and a half of contact before Angie went to catch another kiss. However, Derek pulled backwards.

"H-Hey... what are you...?"

She stepped towards him again, looking wounded and unsure in herself. It was a pitiful look but the alcohol boiling in his judgement told him to fill the gap. Still, he held onto the little dignity he had left and stared into her eyes.

"I... I think it's the tequila but... under those lights tonight you just looked so handsome and... I didn't want to go another night without feeling your lips..."

Derek was stunned; not just from hearing her say these words but from the fact that he had been feeling those exact same senses; wanting to grab her everytime she turned around, or every time she gave him a smile.

There was a slipping second that he felt the traction in his shoes fail, his knees unlock, and his legs propel himself forward as he grabbed underneath the thighs of the woman in front of him, flinging her upwards and catching her with her legs wrapping around his back end.

He held his lips so close to hers but his eyes fixed on her emerald green orbs. He turned her and placed her against the front door and used his right hand to help support her light weight while his left traced her face and hair.

"Angie... I've been wanting you for so long. But, are you sure this is what you want?"

Without another word, she slipped her lips around his bringing along dozens of quick paced kisses, grabbing, and striping of clothing as they fumbled their way to the bedroom where Derek kicked his shoes off and flung the door shut behind him; sinking himself into his loving assistant without a single ounce or thought of hesitation.

Now five hours later, Derek stood staring at the naked body of Angie Thompson laying partially wrapped up in his white bedspread with their clothes decorating the bedroom floor.

"Oh, shit..." Derek thought to himself.

Yes, I'm alive. I haven't written anything Trauma Center in a few months but I'm back in the saddle.

Please leave a review if you enjoyed!