Disclaimer: I do not own The Night Shift, nor any of its characters or plots. I just own my storyline and my OC Erin.
Drew was still amazed at how easily he had convinced her. Well, to tell the truth, she needed no convincing at all since she found it very interesting the minute her boss told her about it. He did warn her about the long hours, the foreseeable difficulties and the complete lack of economic reward, but she was so thrilled to be given the chance that she only took into consideration that finally she might have a go at changing the world (a little part of it, at least) after all. And she had to admit to herself that she was also flattered that her usually moody and quiet boss had thought about her for the job. Erin was certain that he knew a lot of people in the military that were highly qualified for it, and she was very proud that he had offered it to her despite being new to the army and only knowing how she worked for a short period of time. "I must be doing something right", she happily thought.
The evening they started working on this huge project Erin surprised him by providing a comprehensive list containing a draft of the first actions to be carried out and an estimate time frame. Obviously she had worked on it on her spare time and sure it had been time-consuming by the high level of detail displayed, particularly in view of the fact that this was all new to her. As she handled it to him, she even gave him a brief presentation on the list itself and some other proposed changes. She was accurate yet succinct, and while she was doing it she was looking at him right in the eye; clearly she didn´t need to look at any notes to speak in public. As she finished, she looked at him waiting for a response, and Drew did not know what to say or how to thank her.
"Well,.. this is very good… I really have no words. It is a solid ground to star from. Great job, thank you very much", he said after a long silence.
"You´re welcome, major. I was hoping we could go over some of the items on the list and maybe you could help me with them, especially with the surgery related ones. I am afraid I am not familiar with some of the medical procedures yet. Or perhaps you were thinking about a completely different approach to the project and this is just…."
"Your approach is more than fine by me, Kane", he interrupted her."I would not know where to start and now we have a solid base to work from. No problem with the medical procedures. Please do not worry about that. I can go through all of them and you can rewrite it afterwards, I am afraid I am not very good at writing reports. This way you will also get to be familiar with all the medical terms."
And with that they started working together on a daily basis every evening. They were both surprised to see that any prior idea they had about each other was completely wrong. Definitely first impressions are shown to be very hard to change, but in this case they were changing very quickly. Erin was shocked to find out that Drew was a fair, compassionate, very shy and caring man (communication was not his first language but all of that was shown as soon as let his hard façade down), and, on the other hand, Drew found Erin to be one of the most enthusiastic people he had ever known; she always saw the positive side on everything and she had a high adaptation capacity. And those were qualities that he appreciated very much at this point of his life.
These long hours working late left little room for conversation, but somehow they were curious about each other and soon enough they started to share small pieces of information about themselves. That is how Erin learnt that Drew was married and they were going through a pretty rough patch in their relationship when he was suddenly deployed. He confessed her that he was not dealing well with the situation, as he really feared there would be no marriage to save once the tour will be over. Erin told him about her marriage, how she was married to her best friend for over twenty years, the emptiness she felt when her sons left home to go to college to the other side of the country and the way she was trying to build a new life for herself starting fresh at forty-two. She even encouraged him to try and save his marriage if he really was in love with his husband, and he was shocked to learn that the main reason she had to separate from Owen when the twins went to college was that she realized then that she had never been in love with him. She said he was lucky to have felt true love and that maybe he should pursue it.
As the days went by and almost without noticing it, they became close friends. It is amazing how certain circumstances and a common goal can bring people together, they both thought. Soon "Major", "Sir" and "Kane" gave way to "Drew" and "Erin" when not working. With Drew trying to be more in touch with Rick over the phone and Skype, Erin even had the chance to virtually meet him on the screen, and Drew spoke to Connor and Patrick, Erin´s twins, on the phone. They started to go to the MWR and the gym together, they shared their meals when their tight schedules allowed it and shortly the rumour mill at the base was focused on them. Drew laughed it off saying that maybe he had been in the closet way too long and nobody had noticed when Rick and him became public, and Erin did not take it very well as she was worried about possible impact given that she was completely new in the military. Even some of her new friends asked her about it, and she could not believe that she was given the impression that she was sleeping with her boss.
Drew tried to reassure her, telling her that an army base just in the middle of a war zone was a perfect microsystem for gossip no matter what she did, and that she should not care about it. But she found it very difficult to handle that situation and little by little she started to draw away from him much to her regret. He understood her reasons to do so, but also started to miss her company very much. All of a sudden just working together did not seem to be enough, and they tried to make the best out of the time they shared.
At that particular stage, Drew was informed by his superior that he had been chosen to attend an international Conference on medical and surgical practice maximizing the use of limited resources that was going to be held in Islamabad during four days the following week. He was told that it seemed to be the perfect fit for the project he was carrying out, and that all arrangements (military flights, hotel reservations and accreditations) had already been made, for both him and Erin Kane who was designated to attend the conference with him.
The prospect of attending such an interesting conference was really motivating, and he was not missing the fact that it would involve spending five days out of the base away from the war, and at a luxury hotel in Islamabad no less. But he did not know how to break the news to Erin, and how she was going to take it.
