Sorry for the lack of updates! The holidays were crazy and I wasn't able to get to my computer. Anyway, hope those of you reading are enjoying!
After Raven disappears through the double doors Wick sits and wait for almost a half hour. Then he realises that not only should he not be expecting her to come back. But she probably wouldn't want him there when she returns.
The quiet and dark of the ER is a bit eerie at this hour. He'd never spent an excessive amount of time down here to begin with. They'd only ever required his help in this department once or twice, but during the day he knew this place to of complete difference. It was bright, to the point of harshness, and there were beeping machines and crying children and complaining husbands. This place shifted between two drastically different atmospheres based on the time of day.
His footsteps echoed as he walked away, nodding to the person who sat behind the front desk reading a book. He should get back to the lab anyway. Monty will be noting his absence and drifting off to sleep to take advantage of it by now.
"So who's the girl?" Monty asks as soon as Wick so much as cracks the door to the lab.
"Wh-what are you even talking about?" he asks as he flops into a hard chair at the computer whose light was about the only source of illumination in the room. Monty toyed with his phone, but aside from that there was utter darkness.
Monty shoots him a look which Wick can only just discern. "Jasper called me and said you were hanging out in admitting looking for some girl named Raven."
"How the hell do you know Jasper in admitting?" he asks.
"You're not the only one who flirts on the overnights," Monty says with a wink. "Nah, actually we've been friends since forever pretty much. But don't change the topic."
"She's just," he starts, ready to write her off as nothing. But then he realises she is nothing. He hardly knows a thing about her. "She's a pretty girl that I thought flirting with might help pass the time a little faster." Honesty, he decides, is the best policy. "Don't act like you don't do the same with Miller when I'm not here."
Monty opens his mouth to argue but then snaps it shut a second later. "Shut up," he mutters and then turns back to the game on his cell phone.
When all else fails, Wick decides, just deflect.
The nights eventually do start to wear on him. The sun is so rarely seen that Kyle worries he'll be diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency before his 24th birthday. He becomes a regular at the 24 hour Walmart, along with the one 24 hour grocery store, and also the many Wawa gas stations featured throughout Newark. He switches his toothpaste brand because Walmart doesn't carry the one he used to use and his diet shifts from normal food to anything that can be prepared in a microwave. It's like college all over again. Only now he doesn't have homework and he actually somehow manages to sleeps less.
But he works his ass off anyway. He snatches up any extra hours he can find. Not to pay the bills, though that's a nice bonus. It's more so about trying to get all the experience he can possibly obtain from working a shitty overnight shift in a hospital. He had big plans. And Newark County Hospital was not the end goal. It was barely even the starting line.
Some might think that due to him being there morning and night he was bound to happen upon Raven again. After all, the universe had thrown them together so many times before now it seems only logical that when they are both working in the same damn building he would see her all the more. Instead it's been almost a two weeks.
Wick swore to himself that he wouldn't seek her out. He decided that coincidences needed to remain coincidences. It's not like she really seemed to care for his company anyway. So it was one thing if the universe threw them together and she had to deal with him that way. It was a different matter if he was essentially stalking her.
Which he wasn't. Okay, he looked her up on Facebook ONCE but that was it. (She didn't pop up anyway.)
It's actually on his day off that he sees her again. It's a Saturday and he's forgotten how awful the human population is in general on a Saturday as everyone collectively travels into the abyss of shops and post offices and banks. He's in a bad mood on principle as he pulls into a parking spot at the very back of the grocery store. He'd chosen the store based entirely on proximity, his usual 24 hour spot being a solid fifteen minutes away. It doesn't take long for him to realise his mistake as he discovers he doesn't know the location of a single item in this damn store. And who decided that cereal and relish belonged in the same aisle? What sort of logic was at work here?
He's hungry and irritated which just equals him being huffy and grumpy with anyone who looks at him for too long. If he was ever rich he was going to hire someone to get his groceries for him. He places all of his items on the belt without bothering to look up at the checkout girl. "Did you find everything okay?" she asks in a bored voice once it's his turn. Her voice causes him to pause and he drops the four packages of ramen noodles back in the cart as he turns to look at the girl.
His suspicions are confirmed when none other than Raven Reyes stands in front of him. He says a quiet thank you to the universe for her appearance. "She lives," he says, which is stupid because not only was she never in danger but now she knows he's noticed her absence. "Uh, haven't seen you around at the hospital." That didn't help.
"I've been working the three to eleven shift," she says, breaking their gaze to start scanning his items. "I'll be back on overnights soon though."
It's not information she's forced to share but he's glad to have it. "I trust that means I'll see you around then," he says, not missing the way her gaze scrunches in pain as she shifts her weight.
"Not if I can help it," she counters but with an almost smile so he knows she's joking…hopefully. "Although with this diet I wouldn't be surprised if you're dead by next week."
"Hey," he argues, plucking the bag of hot pockets she was offering out to him from her hand. "I'll have you know these are whole grain."
She smiles and scans the rest of his groceries through. He bags to help her out. "Do you want to give me your phone number?"
"What?" he asks in surprise. She sure did offer some seriously mixed signals.
"For the club card," she answers with raised eyebrows. "I think the Lucky Charms you bought were on sale for a dollar off."
It's embarrassing the disappointment he feels. "Oh, yeah, whole reason I bought them." Wick knows she doesn't believe him. Surely a man eating easy mac shouldn't feel shame in buying a box of Lucky Charms.
"Mhm," she murmurs as he rambles off his phone number. "I'm assuming the same can be said for your four cans of Chef Boyardee?"
"I'll see you around?" he asks in response. He knows she has no more control over that outcome than he does.
Raven nods anyway, holding out his last bag towards him. "See you around."
Of course he spends every night after the grocery store experience essentially searching for her. He'd gotten his coincidence and now Kyle decided that the universe was telling him to just find her himself and make some damn small talk.
If he was being honest with himself, he didn't even really know what he was after. Sure, she was pretty, but he was hardly looking to hook up with her. It might be the way she used to run past him every day, or maybe those cries that still rebounded through his skeleton late at night, or how she looked at him, never quite smiling but sometimes on the verge. Regardless of the reason, he wanted to know her more and just…do the right thing. For whatever reason, Kyle Wick decided that the right thing was to befriend Raven Reyes.
The universe must catch wind of his intentions and then immediately decide to fuck him. He doesn't see her again for another three shifts before something finally happens.
It's two in the morning and he's got his head rested in his hand and is more asleep than awake in the empty lab. Monty had already taken off for his own late night socialisation, when his phone goes off. "Wick, engineering," he answers, trying to sound more awake than he feels.
"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number," the voice on the other end replies. It's vaguely familiar but he's too tired to place it right now. "I was looking for a professional carrier of items."
A smile cracks his face wide open. "Hey, Raven." Of all the ways he thought the universe might arrange for them to talk again, he hadn't imagined the phone. "Keeping busy?"
"Me? Never," she answers and it's probably a joke but he doesn't know her well enough to be certain. "Feel like helping me with something?"
He's slightly flabbergasted. "You actually need me to carry something for you?"
"Something like that," she replies. "If you aren't too busy that is."
Wick almost laughs in response. "I'll be by in a few," he answers before hanging up. Running his hands through his hair Wick shoves the phone back in his pocket and stretches his muscles out, suddenly very much so awake. He takes care to lock the lab door behind him, hoping Monty took a key with him. If not, too bad.
He takes his time walking over to admitting, not wanting to seem too eager but that doesn't stop him from smiling at her as soon as he opens the doors to the front desk. "At your service, Ms. Reyes."
"I sure am glad my carrying needs weren't life or death," she says as she pushes herself up from the desk. "I'd be a goner by the time you got here."
Wick scoffs at her. "I do have actual duties I need to complete, you know." That's a lie. He hasn't done a thing since before Tuesday had turned into Wednesday. Well, he took a phone call and pretended to be IT for someone. He told them to turn it off and turn it back on. It worked.
"As if," she answers, making her way over to him. He makes a point not to look at her leg, but his curiosity is a strong desire to fight back. Really he just wants to know how the brace works. It's so long, going from her knee to her ankle, and seems almost to lock her knee into place. Did she injure it playing? Would it ever get better? Could she move it at all? So many questions. Regardless of the answers, he bet he could make her a better brace. Something that would at least let her move her poor knee. "Ready to take a trip?"
"Depends," he answers. "Where are you taking me?"
"My sex dungeon of course," she replies, throwing him completely off. She laughs at him for it. "Kidding, I want your help with something."
He mumbles something along the lines of, "not sure I consented to this," under his breath and she whacks his arm for it. "You shouldn't abuse your hero."
"Oh please," she says with a laugh. "You're more like my guinea pig."
"In shining armour," he retorts, following her back into the main portion of the hospital. "Staying on the same floor or going up?"
"Sixth floor, actually," Raven says and Wick passes in front of her to hold the door open to the staircase. These damn stairs about killed him but it was the closest to leg day that he ever got. "Oh, um, I'm more of an elevator person."
It only takes a fraction of a second to recognise his error. "Shit, I'm sorry, Raven. I didn't-"
She waves her hand to cut him off. "It's fine," she says, cutting in front of him to make her way to the elevators. "Besides, it's nice to know someone can forget."
There doesn't seem to be anything to say to that so he just steps away from the doorway to the stairs and holds out his hand for her to lead the way. "So tell me," he says, pushing the up button for the elevator and stepping back to stand next to her and wait. "How does an early graduate end up here? Shouldn't you be in Harvard or something?"
She answers with a bitter laugh as she walks into the elevator, pressing the button for the sixth floor with a little too much force. "Or something would be correct." He opens his mouth to inquire further but she cuts him off before he has the chance. "How about you? All the engineering opportunities and you choose to work in this hell hole?"
"It's not that bad!" he argues. "It's not my first choice but a job's a job, right?" She meets his eyes and shrugs. "The company I get to keep isn't a bad bonus either," he says, not hiding the flirting in his voice as he leans toward her just a fraction of an inch. She rolls her eyes and doesn't meet his gaze again until he backs away.
"You're shameless," she eventually says as the elevator doors slide open.
Wick follows her, a smile planted on his face. "So, what exactly are you hiding up here anyway?" The sixth floor wasn't a frequently visited one. A couple decades ago it had served as an inpatient mental health unit. In the recent millennium it had been moved out of the hospital and become its own institution somewhere in the city. Now there was an empty floor where it was rumoured that nurses and doctors went for midday hanky panky or the occasional drug deal. At least, that's what he had heard. "Medieval torture room? Hidden Justin Bieber fan room? Wait, wait no I've got it. Your-"
"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?" she interrupts. Wick is a little insulted. More so because she cut him off before the punchline than anything else. "Now shut up, no one is supposed to know we're up here."
For once he actually listens, following her silently down the hallways. The old scanners on the doors have long since been disabled, cobwebs collecting over them. She leads him to an office which had a regular lock on it. "Please tell me we aren't breaking and entering," he requests as Raven looks over her shoulder.
"Not breaking," she answers as she pulls out a key from her pocket and slides it into the lock. "Just entering."
He's all ready to lecture her on legalities and how his job security is not this good but then she's swinging the door open and switching the light on and…"What the hell is that?"
Her face flushes red as one of her hands reaches up to rub the back of her neck. "Something I've been working on."
"Something you've been…" he trails off, shaking his head. "Is that a fucking rocket?" Jesus Christ, he thinks as he steps towards it. It's a fucking rocket. "Why are you building a rocket in an abandoned office of a hospital? Actually, scratch that, why are you building a rocket?"
Raven shrugs, coming up beside him. "To prove I could, I guess." He looks over at her in question. "Besides, it's not like it's an actual rocket. It's essentially a miniature model version."
"Does it work?" he asks, eyes caught up in the exposed wires and what he thinks looks suspiciously like an engine.
"Not yet," she answers with a sigh. "Hence why you're here." She turns to him then, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm struggling with the pressure regulators and the accelerator. I thought maybe a new set of eyes might-"
"Is the great mechanic asking for a lowly engineer's assistance?" he cuts her off in teasing, still a little in shock and a lot enamoured in the fact that she's built a freaking rocket. That was hot.
In response she just huffs a sigh and turns back to stare at her project. "Can you help me or not?"
At first he's ready to respond with of course! Why wouldn't he help her? This is the sort of experience people like them dream about. The idea that he could tell people, hell he could tell future employers, that he helped build a small version of a rocket…those aren't too shabby of bragging rights. "What's it for?" he finds himself asking before he agrees.
"I told you," she says. "To prove I can do it." It's the only response she offers and Wick isn't entirely sure if he agrees that there's nothing else to it. She must read the question in his eyes because she adds on, "No one is ever going to take me seriously unless I can prove that I can do something amazing."
So she's in it for the bragging rights too then. "Okay then, why not?" he answers even though his brain easily supplies him with all the reasons why exactly not, the first being that this girl might actually be ten different shades of insane. But he's feeling reckless and the universe might as well be physically shoving him towards her. Who was he to push back?
"Cool." She offers her hand for him to shake, as if this was a real business deal. "I have a supplier so let me know if you need anything."
"Do I get a key?" he asks with a bit too much enthusiasm in his voice. There was something about doing something incredibly stupid that sparked his excitement.
"No," she responds flatly. "Who knows what sort of damage you could cause when unsupervised."
"I'm hurt, Reyes," he says, a smile forming on his regardless face of his words. She shoots him a look, probably aware that she has never told him her last name. She doesn't question him though. "So when do I start work, boss?"
"How does now work for you?"
The situation was albeit, a bit crazy, but her wide eyes and hesitant half smile make him more than happy to comply. Perhaps he was even crazier than her.