A/N – Thank you all for sticking with me and for giving me such awesome feedback! I hope you continue to enjoy the story :)

It's all Emily in this chapter, not having the best night of her life…

Chapter 7. Confrontation

Emily's POV

He hadn't uttered a word on the drive home. At first, I wasn't even sure he had seen anything, aside from me sharing a bed with a patient in a dark room. Yeah, that's not suspicious at all but Naomi was, after all, a young woman and there was no reason for Jeremy to think anything was going on. Nothing is going on, Emily! I decided to check my phone once I realized we weren't going to be spending the ride home discussing Jeremy's trip or my week. Ten unanswered calls from him, four from Katie, two from Effy and one from James and several increasingly angry or worried messages from the lot of them. Well, James wasn't all that worried and just wanted to know if I was still up for a pizza tomorrow night, my treat, as usual. I answered all of them, telling them I had been caught up at work and to James that we of course were on for our regular Sunday Night-sibling pizza. I glanced at Jeremy but his face was unreadable and he seemed keen on focusing on his driving. I knew he was angry, even if he had been all smiles and polite towards Naomi. I just wasn't sure where his anger stemmed from – being out of reach for the entire day or for finding me in bed with Naomi. I sighed and turned my head to aimlessly stare out at the buildings and cars as they flashed by.

I had practically fallen out of her bed at the sound of his voice. There was a hint of fear mixed in with the concern but as soon as I saw his face, I saw only anger emanating. I busied myself by fixing my top and ran a hand through my hair as I walked to greet him, glancing guiltily in Naomi's direction. The door was wide open and letting enough light in to illuminate the room. Jeremy still had his hand on the doorknob and I could see him clutching it, his knuckles white. In a foolish attempt at acting normal and casual, I stood on my toes and gave him a peck on the cheek as I reached him.

"Hi babe", I said and forced what I thought emulated a legitimate smile. "What are you doing here?" Of course I was fully aware of why he was here and was cursing myself for not paying more attention to the time or to my phone. I saw him struggle with emotion before letting go of the doorknob.

"You had us worried." He sent Naomi an acknowledging smile but there was no warmth in it. "I figured you would be either at the lab or here somewhere."

I nodded and looked up at him and was truly sad that I had been so reckless. Of course they would worry, even though I was renowned for getting caught up with work and losing track of time, it was unlike me to not be in touch for, what, 12 hours, without as much as letting someone know what I was doing. In retrospect, it was a bit suspicious of me and everything could have been avoided if I had just had the foresight of letting Jeremy know I would be working for a bit today. I suppose that was the problem though, wasn't it? Working on yet another Saturday, after having spent the past Saturday arguing about my working too much during the weekend. Furthermore, I wasn't actually planning on spending the entire day at the hospital, it just sort of played out that way. That delicious cheeseburger had really been a gift from above and feeling Naomi's hand resting on my legs had sealed the deal.

"Sorry about that, I lost track of time…" I leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips but he barely registered it. He looked down at me and clenched his jaw. I knew we were headed for a fight and I appreciated him not starting it here. We needed to go though, and quickly. I got my coat off the rack and picked up my purse and was headed back to the door where Jeremy was waiting. I was scared to look at Naomi, scared what I would see reflected in her expressive eyes.

Realizing that I had promised Gina to stay until she returned, I paused at the door. "Just one sec, please babe." He closed his eyes and exhaled violently but in the end, he nodded. I walked back to Naomi, who was now sitting in the bed. I knew it must have pained her to move and I felt incredibly guilty, more so than for not being in touch with my fiancée all day, causing him to worry.

"I'm sorry", I whispered, "do you need anything before I go?" Naomi glanced past my head at Jeremy who was standing just outside the room, waiting impatiently. I turned my head and looked back at him, smiling reassuringly and holding up a finger and mouthing 'one sec'. I turned back to Naomi and found her piercing eyes eying me, riddled with confusion and despair. I reached out and placed my hand on top of hers, making sure I was hiding it by standing in Jeremy's line of sight. She looked down at our hands, frowned and closed her eyes as she shook her head once.

"Don't do that…", she whispered, pained. I immediately let go of her hand and took a step back, horrified. "Just go", she said and looked away. I swallowed hard to suppress sudden tears, turned around and walked out of the room, making sure to keep my eyes pinned to the floor, hiding my misery from Jeremy.

"You wanna tell me what's going on?", Jeremy finally asked with a sneer that was highly uncharacteristic of him. We had only just closed the door to the flat behind us.

"What do you mean?", I asked, putting my keys in the bowl in the hallway, my back to him. I figured downplaying the whole thing was the best course, mostly because I wasn't sure what he was referring to.

He huffed and crossed his arms. "Really, you are going to play dumb here? Well that's just fucking great, Emily, really." He was yelling. "I come home, fucking worry myself to death about where you are and you can't be bothered to get up out of a patients bed to check your messages? Really, Em? What the fuck is going on?"

Fuck, he had seen it. I was speechless. I had no answers for him because honestly, I didn't know them myself. I felt tears building and turned away.

Jeremy's resolved faltered when he noticed my tears, since I wasn't usually prone to them during our fights. I was a bleeding heart when it came to most things; patients, movies, good books and weddings but fighting with Jeremy had never brought tears to my eyes before. Frankly, I wasn't sure whether it was fighting with Jeremy or the fact that I was powerless to stop my world from turning upside-down. I was going to kiss her again. I wanted to kiss her again. What the hell is wrong with me? I suddenly looked up at Jeremy's now worried face and felt all color drain from my own.

"I – I don't know what I'm doing, Jeremy." I looked up at him, my horror showing as I saw it mirrored in his eyes. "She's… I… Fuck." I buried my head in my hands and walked away from him, not knowing what to tell him and unable to express my own thoughts out loud. I felt confused and completely lost in my own head which was a first for me. Ever the pragmatist and there was nothing even slightly logical about this whole thing. Or, rather there was, but it scared me shitless.

Jeremy followed me into the kitchen and gently took hold of my hands, stopping them from continuing to pull strands of hair out of my head, a nervous habit of mine. He had an empathetic look in his eyes as he pulled me in for an embrace. He gently stroked my back and waited for me to calm down. Once I did, he guided me to the couch and sat down across from me, pulled up a chair and took hold of my hands. This was part of what I loved about him; his ability to set aside his own hurt in order to rationally help others. I had seen him do this many times with his sister after their mother had died. Regardless of how much pain he was in, he was always able to set it aside when he was needed. And I really, really needed him right now.

"What's her name?", he simply asked, no hint of pain or anger in his voice. It was all a charade of course, an attempt to generate a logical response from me, as opposed to the emotional one he was receiving now. Nevertheless, it was working.

"Naomi.", I sniffled a little at saying her name and felt new tears building. I bit my lip to keep them from emerging. Jeremy simply nodded to himself, as if registering the information.

"Where is she from?"

"London, but originally from Bristol, like me.", I said, surprised at the statement. Realizing that my otherwise highly perceptive brain had missed that fact previously was testament to the clouded confusion I was in when in the vicinity of Naomi.

"How long have you known her?"

"24 hours." The pragmatist in me recognized that we had in fact known about each other for almost a week but I hadn't really known her for more than a day. Jeremy's questions had calmed me down and my brain was working again, sifting through the details with a mostly logical perspective.

Jeremy swallowed an outburst of emotion by gritting his teeth before asking the next question. "What is she like?"

I felt my face light up but was unable to stop it. "She's amazing." I smiled. "She's funny, she's intelligent. She has the most stunningly beautiful eyes and this brilliant smile…." Realizing this was not what Jeremy wanted to hear, I stopped myself from telling him about her soft skin and full lips. I looked at him and saw pain, but most of all, fear written on his face. "Jeremy, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that – ".

He let go of my hands and pulled away from me. I immediately started to cry, realizing that while he had set aside his own feelings to help me sort out mine, I had revealed my fascination and attraction to someone else, effectively causing him even more pain. He buried his head in his hands, rubbing his palms fiercely across his face. Like me, he was prone to rational thinking rather than emotion and he was able to calm himself somewhat down again.

"What does that mean, Emily?" He looked up at me, fear again evident in his eyes. "Did you sleep with her?"

I pulled backwards on the couch in absolute horror. "What? No! You think I would do that to you? Just jump into bed with some random girl I hardly know?" I was appalled.

"Em, that's exactly how I found you." He grimaced at the memory.

Realizing he was right, my hands flew up to hide my open mouth as my jaw dropped. I shook my head in disbelief at the realization that I had in fact deceived my fiancée. Naomi and I had only shared a single, innocent kiss but it had meant much more to me than I wanted to accept. Hiding caresses from others, including Jeremy just half an hour ago at the hospital, and jumping at the chance of lying in bed with her were of course telltale signs that Naomi meant a whole lot more to me than she was supposed to.

I needed Jeremy to know that nothing had really happened, even if it was already clear to him that I had feelings for her. "I kissed her, once, last night."

"And you were about to again when I walked in, weren't you?" I nodded and averted my eyes in shame. "She's gay then?", he asked.

I frowned and looked up at him. "No. No, she's not." Jeremy looked confused. "Her boyfriend was there today."

"Jesus Christ, Emily! You broke a medical ethics law, cheated on me and, what, forced yourself on a dying young woman while her boyfriend was out of the room?"

For the second time tonight, my jaw dropped to the floor at my own foolishness and recklessness. Put like that, I sounded like a horrible excuse for a human being and unworthy of both Jeremy and Naomi. All of a sudden it started to make sense that Naomi had given me that pained look when I took hold of her hand before I left. Pure agony left me winded as it dawned on me that perhaps Naomi didn't want me around at all, that she somehow felt forced to oblige me my crazy infatuation with her because I was part of the medical team treating her. Appalled at my own doing, I fell silent and felt nauseous and dizzy. Jesus, what have I done? Jeremy left me sitting on the couch in shock and utter abhorrence as he packed a bag and left for his sister's.

I'm not sure how long I sat on the couch, out of touch with the world. Somehow, somewhere my brain had registered that Jeremy had left and that he didn't know when he would be back. Or did he say if he would be back? Cheated. Jeremy said I had cheated. I knew it to be true, even if it was only an innocent, chaste kiss. The kiss I had intended to give her tonight was less innocent and she had been occupying my every thought since our first meeting. I had pushed it aside, chalked it all up to my bleeding heart but looking back on it now, I realized that my even bleeding heart couldn't have caused the world to spin and my knees to buckle at the mere sight of her.

The pained look she had given me as I left her tonight flashed before my eyes. I'm a horrible, horrible person. Jeremy was right, I had forced myself on her relentlessly; firstly by kissing her without any reason to other than the close proximity of her stunning face. Secondly, by stalking her the following day, even if my intentions were honorable from the get-go, and imposing on her private reunion with Cook. I was trying to think back, hoping to find evidence of her actually appreciating my company and my little infatuation, but I was currently coming up blank. Sure, she had let me sit in her bed but it's not like she had invited me to. No, I had been the one to ask and she could hardly refuse, me being part of the magical medical team. And yes, she had rested her hand on my legs but there had been no caress, no expression of interest on her part. My legs were simply in the way of her arm!

The only evidence of her acceptance or maybe even appreciation of my company had been when she had invited me to lie beside her. And I had responded by forcing myself on her again, or well, almost anyway. That hostile look she had thrown me when I had acted condescending towards Cook made sense in a whole new way now and I felt even worse. They had all been so nice to me; Gina, Cook and Naomi and I had repaid them by breaking my promise to Gina about leaving Naomi alone, come on to Cook's girlfriend and violated Naomi as well as broken a number of medical ethical rules. I had never felt so ashamed or destitute in my life. I needed alcohol fast and lots of it. I picked up my phone, ignoring the messages from Effy and Katie replying to my apology and called Katie.

Half an hour later, she showed up with Effy and, surprisingly, James in tow, the latter carrying heavy bags of godsend beer, wine and vodka.

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