𝑻 𝑯 𝑬 𝑵 𝑨 𝑵 𝑵 𝒀 (18+)

twenty-two

DOMINIC

Ken sat down next to me dropping his tray on the table loudly before sitting down himself. I watched him for a moment before rolling my eyes and moving over. I wasn't in grade school anymore, if I wanted someone to sit next to while I ate my lunch I would've sat with Jane or Michael but instead, I chose to sit by myself and I was punished for it. Normally I'd just eat in my office but I was tired of staring at the walls so the cafeteria just seemed like a better choice at the moment. Leave it to Ken Benson to blow that to absolute hell.

"Rough day?" He took a bite from his sandwich and nudged me, "Not until you got here. I thought you were swamped?" Ken was a pain in my ass but he was one hell of a doctor and I wouldn't argue with him there. It was his personal life choices that made him such a hard pill to swallow.

"I am, but I got to eat right? By the way, the chief ask to speak to you?"

"Chief?" I raised a brow, "what's the chief of the hospital want with you?"

Ken shrugged and dug into his salad, "performance reviews I think. Word on the street is we could be getting sued."

"Sued huh? I heard a few of the nurses talking about it but I thought it was just gossip. It was that ER doctor right? Got in trouble for negligent patient care?" I heard about it all the time but I never thought it would happen at my hospital.

"Yeah, something like that. The kid is young too and scared shitless. My guess is they'll settle quietly but still, things are gonna be changing around here. Expect a tight ship."

I groaned, taking a bite from my apple, "it's already hard to breathe Benson."

"You're telling me. Look I gotta get back to work but let me know if you get a call, enjoy your lunch pal." He patted me on the back before running through the cafeteria doors almost knocking down a nurse in the process. I shook my head, pulling my phone from my pocket to check my messages before going back to work. Sometimes Amara would send me updates on how the boys were doing throughout the day and while I didn't ask her to do it, I still appreciated her filling me in. It might've sounded stupid but it made me feel like I was still a part of their day even when I couldn't physically be there with them. A pick me up when I was having a rough day in the OR.

This time it wasn't a message from Amara but instead from Rebecca. My eyebrows raised half an inch when I saw her message and they damn near took flight when a call came in. I scratched at my face before answering, surprised to hear how excited she was to hear from me. Even more so surprised when she asked me for a second date. I thought Rebecca was great, I did, but I wasn't exactly in the right head space to start dating and I wasn't so sure I could give her the attention I knew she deserved. Dan and David would call me every name under the fucking sun but they had no idea what it was like to have such a demanding job with two young kids at home. If I was going to date someone I needed them to understand the complexity of my schedule, most importantly I needed to find someone I knew my kids would love and that was a dime a fucking dozen.

It just didn't seem worth my time and I didn't want to waste hers.

"Yeah, you too Rebecca. Alright, talk to you soon." I slid my phone across the table and rested my eyes for just a moment before it pinged again. I wanted to ignore it but that parental dread crept up the back of my neck, choking me so tight the only relief I'd have was to look at the damn phone. Blindly I grabbed for it and pulled it closer to me, a smile tugging at my sullen face.

Amara: Jamie was a little slow to start but now he's like a fish in water. Still can't hold his breath underwater though, Josh is a major show off though.