Chapter Text
Audrey takes a sip… it tastes bitter…
Dalisay Villanueva is quicker than Neil, and much smoother,
“Oh, hey girl. Good to see you out and about.”
Matt Coyle glares at the young nurse… who smiles.. Before knocking Audrey’s drink out of her hand before she can take another drink. She makes a quick, and extremely fake, apology before Matt speaks,
“Don’t worry, Audrey. I’ll get you another one.”
“No, it’s fine.” Audrey shrugs, not bothered, “I can get it myself.”
“No, I insist…”
“We can get one ourselves, come on girl.” Dalisay pulled Audrey away before she shrugs her off,
“What’s wrong with you?”
“He spiked your drink, dummy.”
“No… god Dalisay I know you and Neil don’t like him but… I need this right now.”
“Audrey…”
“Dalisay, please. I just need something, okay?”
Dalisay sighed before letting her go, making her way back to Neil.
“Dalisay you can’t ju—“
“I don’t think she’s in a place where anything we say is going to be helpful. After everything that happened to her, I’m not sure she’s okay.”
“We can’t…”
“I don’t think we have a choice. It’s not like we can drag her away from him…”
Neil felt his heart break as he watched Audrey, slowly losing her inhibitions to the alcohol…
But something comes to the surface when he sees the way Matt kisses her before they left together…
A lot can happen behind closed doors.
“Dr Lim? Are you here with us?”
Audrey Lim snapped back to reality as Dr Abott spoke to her, “What? Oh, yeah…”
“Audrey, are you okay?”
“Yeah… I just think that I.. had a rough night.”
“Are you sure that’s all? You look awful.” Joseph commented, “And you didn’t come home, I was worried.”
“I… I had a drink.” She replied quietly as she looked away from both of them. She shook her head as she tried to make her eyes go back into focus.
“Audrey…”
“Joseph, get me the trashcan…”
He hands it to her as she empties her stomach… the bitter taste coming back. Joseph gently rubs her back as Abott steps out to get her something to help.
“What happened?” Joseph asked as he looked at her.
“Matt Coyle… there was something in my drink.”
Joseph tensed as Audrey proceeded to tell him the fuzzy details of her night.
Joseph Sorel stood around 4’ 11”. He was a relatively thin man with little to no hostility in his body. He had soft, brown hair that fluffed out in unmanageable ways and had a bit of a boyish face. No facial hair and a soft and beautiful pair of pale blue eyes and gentle freckles spread across his face.
But the speed at which he punched Matt Coyle, sending him back into the lockers, scared both Lee and Melendez.
“You little…”
“No, listen to me. If you ever fuck with Audrey or any of my friends again, I will break your nose!”
“And how do you expect to do that?!” Matt taunted… before Joseph, moving behind him at quite a quick speed, slammed his face into the metal lockers. He tossed him aside and walked out.
Neil looked over at Matt, who stood there with blood falling down his face.
“That… asshole is going to pay…”
Lee looked at him, “Clean the blood off your face.”
“William Abott, your management of the re—“
“Listen, Sorel was doing what I would have done anyways. Except for if I got to him first, we’d be having a very different conversation.” Abott replied as he cracked his knuckles.
In comparison to his young resident, the attending trauma surgeon stood at 6’ 5”. He wasn’t built at all, but did, to everyone’s recollection of him punching Dr Redford, know how to leverage his weight and could throw a punch. By Deena Petringa’s account, the Abotts lived true to their “the first pride was a riot” patches on the battle jackets each wore as a symbol of pride. His shoulder-length,
shaggy hair was greying out a bit as he aged, though smile lines and wrinkles on his cheeks and at the creases of his eyes showed the kind of life one could only imagine. But there was one very specific fact about him…
William Abott took no bullshit. William Abott had also been detained a few times, but he was fortunate to have married one hell of a lawyer.
The hospital president sighed,
“We’re not going to punish Matt Coyle… but your department is on thin ice.”
“Sir I am so so—“
Joseph was pulled into the man’s arms, squirming a little.
“Never apologize for standing up to men like that… to anyone like that.”
Audrey was invited for dinner… surrounded by the warmth of Sarah’s sweater she had loaned after Audrey had complained a little of the cold. She was seated next to Jospeh as the Abott’s talked to one another, their eyes not leaving the other… she watched them.
The way he rested his hand on her waist as he passed… the way she kissed his shoulder as she stood behind him…
The way they truly loved one another.
The way he smiled into her lips. It was strange to see… she had once thought that Kashal loved her, but he’d never been like this. The pure love in her attending surgeon’s eyes for his wife made her heart just…
“How long did you two know each other before you got together?”
“A week or two?” Sarah said as she poured herself some limeade as Joseph nods,
“You met at college, right?”
Dr Abott laughed a little, “Well, I saw her… and I wanted to talk to her.”
“You info dumped about my bands for an hour and I invited you to listen to the tapes I had.”
“I did.” She replied with a laugh.
He smiled, leaning over and squeezed her hand gently…
Audrey smiled at them…
Maybe…