It's an unusually slow day at Angels. In fact, the ER hasn't been in code black in three days. Wearing her navy blue scrubs, and grey Angels vest Leanne slinks to the cafeteria, and locates a decent lunch. She finds Dr. Campbell in his signature green scrubs sans surgical cap sitting a table near the window. He stares blankly at his phone. She clears her throat. He meets her glance.
"Can I join you?" She motions.
He offers a nod in confirmation. She slides into the seat across the table from him. He watches her quietly for a moment. Her nails are recently manicured in a shade of blue that matches her scrubs.
"You seemed pretty deep in thought, what were you thinking about?" She initiates the conversation.
"I was just looking at a birth announcement from one of my former colleagues who lives in Boston now."
"New babies are exciting," she answers half-hearted.
He nods, as he catches her glance, "Do you ever think about babies?"
She swallows her drink of water, and furrows her brow, "What do you mean?"
"Our daughters are rapidly approaching adulthood. Sometimes I find myself thinking about that tiny little baby version."
She drums her thumb on the table for a moment, and contemplates her response. "To be honest I try not to allow my mind to wander to babies. It's an overwhelming thought for me."
His glance meets hers, "I guess I'm just being nostalgic." He tries to brush it off, and avoid friction.
Leanne leans back in her seat and synthesizes his tone of voice, and other non-verbal cues, "Are you, though? Or are you contemplating your life choices?"
He shrugs, "Maybe both."
"There is nothing stopping you from having another child."
"Except the same thing that stops you from thinking about babies," he responds with the tilt of his head.
"Fear shouldn't stop anyone from pursuing the things that they want in life."
"Let's just say for a minute that either of us believe that to be true."
"Categorically, at least it is."
"How would you suggest I even broach the subject? I work insane hours, and I'm barely home enough as it stands. It's not as if I have time to foster a healthy loving relationship with someone and have another child."
"Or you could just buy some eggs, and put them in an available womb. If you're serious."
"I have no desire to be a single parent again."
"You're looking for someone to co-parent with?"
He shakes his head, "Nah. I'm just being ridiculous. I'm not even sure why we're having this conversation."
"You brought it up," she answers as the point at him with her fork.
He glances at his colleague. The top portion of her hair is secured in a clip to keep it out of her face. Her scrubs are free of any mysterious bodily fluids.
"I really didn't mean to disrupt your lunch."
She smirks, "I sat down at your table."
"Which is a little odd. We typically find ourselves on the opposite sides of the fence."
"What do you assume that means?"
"That you think I'm a pompous ass."
"I think that you are well respected surgeon."
"But?"
"You're harsh, and unapologetic, but you're usually fair when it really counts," Leanne assesses.
He furrows his brow, "You just described yourself."
She shrugs, "Hmm… that must be why I've grown to tolerate you."
"You only tolerate yourself?"
"Most days even that can be a challenge," she winks.
The following morning at the breakfast table she watches as Ariel devours a piece of cinnamon toast.
"What is it about cinnamon toast that is so appealing to you?"
Ariel's brown eyes meet her glance, "Its comfort food. I remember when I hadn't been here for very long, and I got a case of gastroenteritis, and I couldn't keep anything down for ages. Eventually I kept down some liquid, and we laid around on the couch watching cheesy movies, and you made me cinnamon toast. It might have been the fluid electrolyte imbalance, but it was the best thing I had ever tasted."
"I didn't realize it meant so much to you."
"Probably because I am an ungrateful teenager, and I don't usually tell you when you're doing a good job."
"I love you too, Ariel."
"How was your day at work?"
"Mundane. It was kind of a slow day."
"What did you do for entertainment?"
"Researched gestational carriers," the statement slips out before she can stop it.
"What?!" She nearly chokes on her own saliva.
"As a joke. Will was feeling bummed out because a friend of his sent a birth announcement. He was just questioning his life choices."
"He already has Emily," she points out.
Leanne nods, "I think at some point he envisioned having more than one child. It's a moot point. Most human beings don't strive to be single parents. Once we researched the cost of a gestational carrier, and a donor egg he had an emergency appendectomy come in, and he had moved on."
"You could just give him one of yours," she says under her breath.
"Excuse me?!"
Ariel swallows, and locks eyes with her. "I said you could just give him one of yours. I assume you have some in storage, and that is why we periodically get mail from a cryo-bank of some sort."
"Oh," Leanne falls silent.
"I suppose that probably just generates a crap ton of moral and ethical issues since he's your colleague. Forget I mentioned it."