Chapter Text
Neil slow-walked down the stairs to the café to get a late-night coffee. His patient had gotten out of surgery an hour ago, but things were still touch and go. Although his residents could handle monitoring him, Neil felt better sticking around for a while in case any complications arose in the next few hours. He had a bunch of paperwork to finish anyway.
From above, he saw that Claire had beaten him there. She’s standing at the counter with her refillable mug chatting with the new barista.
That part brought a scowl to his face. He picked up the pace.
As he got closer, he heard her laugh, a small but genuine chuckle at something the guy was saying as he leaned into his conversation with Claire. He was probably in his mid 20’s, good looking, bright eyed, and very obviously taken by the woman in front of him. Not that Neil could blame him for that. He noticed a couple of textbooks sitting by the cash register, and his frown deepened.
He tried to calm himself and look casual as he walked up behind Claire to order his coffee. She turned to him and smiled warmly, an expression he couldn’t help but return.
“Dr. Melendez, Daryl got a 518 on his MCAT! I think he should apply to Stanford. What do you think?
His first thought was that this kid needed to turn it down a notch with Claire, but he couldn’t say that without pissing her off. He chose diplomacy instead.
“That’s great. You should definitely apply to Stanford. You’d be competitive anywhere with that score. If you have the grades to keep up, that is,” he challenged. Claire elbowed him, an indication to be nice.
If Daryl noticed his sourness, he didn’t let on. “I don’t know. It’s so expensive even with loans and taking a few extra shifts at my jobs. I might stick with the state schools.”
Neil’s eyes narrowed at that, and he glanced at Claire. She was so sneaky and knew full well his soft spot for helping students navigate the financial aid landscape for med school.
He sighed as he accepted that she’d so easily turned his suspiciousness of Daryl into an offer of assistance. “You should apply to the places you want to attend. You’d be surprised at what kinds of opportunities the financial aid office will work with you on. Don’t limit yourself.” Claire elbowed him again. “If you want, I’d be happy to talk about options. I know the head of admissions there.”
Daryl’s eyes lit up. “Seriously?” He glanced back at Claire. “I wasn’t trying to get special treatment or anything. Just coffee. But I’d appreciate the help.”
Neil nodded. Now that he had assessed the situation a little more, he could see the genuine excitement and eagerness Daryl had to simply talk to people in the profession he aspired to be in. Maybe he’d overreacted a little. Claire would remind him of it later.
“And he’ll have a small coffee, half decaf and milk at the top,” Claire added.
“You got it, Dr. Melendez.” Daryl scurried to grab the cups and check the pots for the freshest batch.
“And I’m the soft touch,” Claire said, grinning.
“I think you tricked me, Dr. Browne.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything but come down for coffee and small talk.”
Neil’s grin returned. “And we both know coffee and small talk never leads to anything intimate, don’t we?” He took a step closer to her, intentionally putting himself into her personal space. Claire didn’t back down; it’s not like she ever minded him there.
“On the house, Dr. Melendez,” Daryl said, sliding the cup on the counter and unaware of the tension he’d interrupted. “To thank you for your help.”
Neil put a few dollars on the counter. “No need. It’s my pleasure. And I’d hate for you to get in trouble for giving me special treatment.” Daryl blushed but took the money. That did amuse Neil, and he smiled so the kid would know he’s only joking.
Claire said her goodbyes and Neil placed his hand gently on her back to guide her past the stairs. “Walk me to my office?” he asked. She nodded and smiled, leading the way.
It still felt odd to be strolling so casually with Claire through the hospital like this, letting himself offer those small touches and standing close to her. He doubted anyone even noticed at this point having gotten used to them being together. And not just as colleagues but together-together.
Going through the trenches of a pandemic really put things in perspective. And if an attending and a resident were able to get through it by finally admitting the feelings between them, who was anyone to fault that? In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t change how they did their jobs. If Glassman and Lim and HR and Claire’s fellow residents weren’t going to make a stink, neither would anyone else.
In fact, people were a little too invested in their relationship, a consequence of wanting to hold on to something happy and full of love at a time of so much stress for everyone at the hospital. The hints about giving them a St. Bonaventure baby were getting out of hand.
“What are you doing here so late?” Neil asked. She hadn’t mentioned it to him, though that wasn’t unusual.
“On call. Lim needed someone to fill in last minute, so I’ll stick around for a bit before heading out. Shaun had some relationship crisis and I lost the coin toss with Park. You?”
“Patient in recovery.”
“Don’t you have residents for that?” she joked. Neil chuckled next to her. “Your newbies love that kind of stuff.” They arrived at the elevator and Claire hit the up button.
“You should probably stop calling them newbies, Chief.”
“Exactly. I was their chief resident, so they’ll always be the newbies to me.”
“Who knew you’d get so drunk with power.” He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I’m into it.” Claire shoved him in the arm but laughed. “Anyway, it was touch and go during the surgery, so I figure I should stick around for a while.” The doors slid open and they stepped into the empty elevator. “I have a ton of paperwork so it works out.”
Claire shook her head. “I warned you that it would pile up. But no, you wanted to play,” she teased, keeping her eyes forward but smirking at the memory of the previous few nights.
She’d arrived at his house after her shift to see him in the middle of catching up on his administrative tasks – staff evaluations, scheduling resident seminars, and follow-up from a research meeting he’d been putting off for a week. And each time he’d dropped whatever he was doing to have dinner with her and then spend the rest of the evening in escalating acts of seduction.
Without prying eyes around, Neil boldly stepped behind her to pull her into his embrace, kissing her neck several times. Before the doors could reopen, he let her go and stepped to her other side. “No regrets,” he said, exiting out into the hallway. Claire followed, laughing at his playfulness.
They talked about his surgery on the way to his office where he headed to his desk. Claire settled into one of the chairs in front of him. As he tackled his paperwork, she poked around on her tablet, sifting through messages and completing some of her own backlog. They sat comfortably together until she got paged for an ER consult.
She rose from the chair and stretched as Neil tried not to leer at how pleasing he found the movement. He liked remembering the way she’d stretch like that every morning before crawling out of bed.
“Let me know when you’re headed home. If it’s slowed down, I’ll go with you,” she said. Claire circled his desk and leaned down for a kiss that he happily granted her. When she tried to pull away, he reached back up to draw her in again, caressing her hand at his shoulder.
When his thumb grazed the ring he’d recently put there, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
“You’re such a sap,” she teased, understanding exactly where his mind had gone. “See you later?”
“Count on it.”
She leaned down for one more peck on his lips. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” She smiled sweetly at him and he again marveled that he got to spend the rest of his life with this amazing woman. But as she grabbed her tablet and headed for the door, he couldn’t help one last quip. “Don’t go back to the cafe without me. I don’t know if I trust that kid.” Claire rolled her eyes and his gaze followed her until she disappeared down the hall.
“Who’d have thought?” he said to himself, turning back to his work as he took one last sip of his coffee.