A/N: This is reeeaaaally short but I figured you guys deserved at least something after that cliffhanger last chapter!

This chapter is also pretty much transitional. Things are really just getting started here, believe it or not most of the story takes place after he leaves the hospital. So get excited for that! I know I am.

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Staring through the OR's observation window, Donna is jolted out of her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She turns to find Carla at her side, a sympathetic expression on her face.

"Do you want to say 'I told you so'?"

Donna bites her lip. "I thought you left."

"I was on my way out when I heard. Thought I'd come check on you."

"I'm fine." Donna says dismissively, turning back to stare through the glass.

"Donna." Carla starts, her judgmental tone starting to creep back. "You should get out of here. This is a routine procedure, Dr. Jenkins has done a million of these."

"You said it was just a cough before. If I hadn't stayed-"

"Then someone else would've caught the bleed as soon as his BP dropped." Carla tells her matter-of-factly. Donna frowns, so she feels the need to continue, "But, for what it's worth, having you there to catch it early helped."

"You don't believe that."

"I do. But I also believe that that doesn't mean you now have the justification to spend your already very limited free time sitting at a patient's bedside, because the difference it made wasn't enough to justify that, and you know it."

Donna sighs. "Jenkins will never trust me again, Carla. I've made a complete idiot out of myself, getting too attached to this damn-"

"Stop. It's happened to the best of us. You think Jenkins hasn't slept on the floor beside a patient he liked too much? You think I haven't stayed here for thirty-six hours, hovering over some kid who's had a minimally invasive procedure? It happens. People care. You try not to, but it happens."

"I was a hazard."

"We're all hazards sometimes. We're human."

"But..." Donna trails off feebly, unsure how to articulate what it is about her that makes her so much worse than her colleagues. Carla is, as ever, impossible to argue with.

"And that's what makes you a good doctor. You care. More than most, that's true, but it's what makes you better than most."

A smile tugs at Donna's lips. "You couldn't just let me wallow in it?"

Carla smiles. "No. Now, I'm going home, do I have to drag your sorry ass out of here?"

"I think I'll stay."

Carla nods, as if she'd expected this. "Why don't you go lie down in the on call room, yeah? Laverne's on tonight, I can have her page you when he wakes up."

Donna deliberates momentarily, glancing once more through the observation window to where Josh lies unconscious. "I guess... I guess that would be okay."

"Okay." Carla starts to guide her out of the room. "Okay. C'mon, it'll be okay."

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When Donna's pager goes off, she swipes her hair blearily out of her face and sits up in bed in the on call room. It takes her a few minutes to recall what had happened, and why tonight isn't simply a night on call like any other. She swallows and tumbles out of the room, speed walking to Josh's room. She stops at the nurse's station on her way and Laverne fills her on and his condition and how the surgery went, somewhat allaying her nerves.

She approaches his bed and sees his eyes struggling to stay open as he comes out of the anesthesia. She smiles softly at him.

"Hey, Josh. You're just coming off anesthesia. I don't know if you remember, but you passed out. It was due to internal bleeding, it appears you ruptured one of your sutures coughing yesterday. Dr. Jenkins repaired it in surgery, which went smoothly. You're going to be okay, there shouldn't be any more complications from here."

He blinks at her a few times, his eyes hazy. "Thought you said..." His voice is raspy from the tube he'd had down his throat for the surgery. "I wasn't going backwards."

She falters. "This was a routine procedure, it shouldn't set you back much. A couple days at most."

"Mm." He closes his eyes and leans back against his pillows. "You're a liar, Donnatella."

She can't help but smile slightly. "Do you want me to call anyone? Your mother, your friends?"

He manages to shake his head slightly. "Time 's'it?"

Donna pauses. She realizes she actually has no idea what time it is. She glances at her wristwatch, surprised at the numbers there. "It's about two am."

He shakes his head again. "They're sleep."

"But I'm sure they-"

"No." He says, more firmly. His eyes flutter open again briefly. "Shouldn't you be... Asleep?"

She isn't sure what possesses her to reach out and gently smooth his hair with her fingertips. She justifies this to herself with the fact that he probably won't remember this, anyway. "No, I'm here for the night. Don't worry."

"You should... Sleep."

"I might." She drags a chair closer to his bed, and sinks into it so that she's still in his eye line. "But not until you do, okay?"

He smiles softly, turning his head toward her. "You're an angel, Donnatella. A liar, but an angel."

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Donna is woken in the morning by a hand on her shoulder. She straightens up, her neck cracking painfully due to the the odd slumped position she'd slept in. She turns around stiffly to find that the hand on her shoulder once again is attached to Carla and her concerned eyes. She gestures out of the room and Donna follows, stretching as she goes.

Donna looks up at her guiltily as she shuts the door of Josh's room. "I know. I know, okay?"

"You slept in his room?"

"I didn't mean to, I just..."

"Donna."

Donna purses her lips. "I think that I need to step away from this case, Carla."

"You think?"

"The nurses can take over changing bandages, administering medications. He'll start physical therapy in a few days and be out of here, and until then I'll just do daily checks."

"It's not wrong, you know. It's just that while he's here..."

Donna shakes her head. "Daily checks. And then he'll be out of here, and I can focus again."

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Carla checks in on Josh at around ten, by which time his mother and friends have arrived. He gave permission to call and update them after he was fully awake and was sure that they would be too. At first they had been concerned, but after seeing for themselves that his condition didn't seem worsened, they had relaxed and are now just staying to keep him company.

She smiles softly as she maneuvers in between them to reach his monitors and check his vitals. She catches vague snatches of a conversation about a congressional committee and thinks briefly of admonishing them, but decides against it. Josh looks away from his guests, distracted, as she checks his IV.

"Hey, Carla."

"Hey Josh. How are you feeling? Any pain at the incision sight?"

"I'm fine." He says quickly. "Listen, is Donna - I mean, Dr. Moss - is she around, because-"

Carla blinks a few times, then covers with a smile. "She's not here right now, actually."

"Oh." He's briefly thrown off. "Okay, and she'll be back-"

"Tomorrow, probably. She's off today."

"Oh." He says again, now looking seriously put out. "Right."

"But I can answer any questions you might have for her. Or I can page Dr. Jenkins if you like, I assure you he's-"

"No." Josh gives her a thin smile. "It's fine. I was just wondering."

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Thanks for reading :) Things get really good from here, I promise! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thoughts/feelings/predictions/weird superstitions that you have?