7:30 AM - Ray

Ray got into the EL cart and headed towards the hospital. He had barely even talked to Neela in the past few weeks. All he could do was watch. Watch Neela talk to Ryan, watch Neela help her patients. But through all of this watching, he noticed that Neela still looked like she hadn't got sleep in a while. What had happened? Ray was sure that Neela and Ryan had something. They had that something that Ray wished he could have with Neela. Maybe he was trying to hard, maybe he should just try to forget her. He hoped the best for Neela, but he still was feeling sorry for himself as he went to spend another lonely day in Cook County General Hospital.

7:30 AM - Neela

Neela caught an elevator downstairs to the ER. She had been avoiding going down there; she didn't want to run into Ryan. Neela wondered all of the time why she wouldn't let herself fall for anyone. She just thought that maybe she was afraid of getting hurt and loosing someone again. She liked Tony, she like Ryan, but she felt something different for Ray and she didn't know if that was a good thing. Neela still wasn't getting any sleep, but she had learned how to utilize her make-up. She had never known that make-up could do what it did. Sometimes, she wondered if she should even try to cover the mess she hid underneath it. Ray had seen Neela talking to Ryan, and she knew that. But Neela didn't think that Ray thought she and Ryan were up to anything. She hadn't gone over to Ryan's at all since that night. The had gone out for drinks once, but that was it. Ryan wasn't who she wanted.

8:45 AM - Ryan and Ray

Ryan got into the ER late this morning. He ran to the lounge, took off his coat and threw it into his locker. He gathered all of his things and was getting ready to head out of the door when his number one fan, Ray, came into the door. Ray looked at Ryan and he realized how much he hated him. He never knew how much you could hate someone with out ever saying more than a few words to them at once. He was also confused because those words had always happened to be words like, 'chest film, abdominal series, CT, and blood gas.' Ray didn't know how he could hate him, but he thought he had a reason too.

Ryan knew that Ray hated him. Was it because of Neela? It had to be. What else could someone who had never talked to him hate him for? Ryan thought that he thought that Neela and him had something going on, little did Ray know that he had barely even talked to Neela lately. Ryan and Ray made eye contact for a few short seconds and then Ryan turned out of the lounge and had one foot out the door when he heard Ray say a few words.

"How is she doing," Ray asked.

"Who, the patient? Mrs. Elbridge is doing just fine-" Ryan said, but he knew who he was talking about.

"No, Neela."

"I'm not really sure; I haven't talked to her in a while."

"You know that's bull."

"I'm telling the truth Ray, she hasn't been talking to me lately."

"I've seen you talking, I know what's going on," Ray said in a tone that had Ryan worried.

"Nothing is 'going on'," Ryan said back to Ray in a sardonic manner. "Even if something was 'going on' why would that have anything to do with you?"

" I just care about her that's all."

"Right, you care about her and you just want to make sure everything is all right. That sounds like crap. I've been in county for a month now, and I haven't ever seen you talk to her. You just stand over your patients observing Neela as she walks past. You're like a stalker or something; it's kind of creepy," Ryan said to Ray realizing that what he said was probably meaner that he intended, but he couldn't stop himself. To him, Ray was just some guy who liked the same girl as him. He had no idea of their history; he didn't know Ray was the room mate Neela had told him about and he didn't know that Ray was the reason Neela wasn't sleeping.

"It doesn't matter what you think about me, just take care of Neela," Ray said acting like what Ryan said didn't hurt him. He was confused and wondered what Ryan actually knew. He guessed that to Ryan, he was just some guy who liked Neela. Ryan never got the chance to know who he really was. If Neela didn't tell him, he wasn't going to. It didn't matter, he had the girl.

"I will," Ryan firmly said. He was going to let Ray think he was seeing Neela. Why not? Maybe it would keep Ray away from her. But all of this talk did make him wonder if there was something more to Neela and Ray's story. There was one way he could find out, so he walked out of the lounge leaving Ray to himself.

Ryan walked around the ER and ran into a new volunteer.

"My head, my head, I think its going to fall off. Please help me!" The patient said to the volunteer. This patient had nothing wrong with him and was waiting on a psych bed.

"Sir, sir, I don't know what your problem is, but I'm sure its hard to pronounce," the volunteer said to the patient and then walked on by. Ryan wondered if he should help, but then he found who he was looking for.

"Hey Abby, is there something that I don't know about Neela and Ray that I should know about? Ray hasn't even talked to Neela while I have been here, but I thought that he was going to attack me in the lounge over Neela. We aren't even really going out."

"Ya," Abby answered.

"Ya what?"

"There's probably a lot that you don't know."