Linner with Iron Lady and Paprika Potts || Jude + Conor 

judeevangelinefox:

As good as it was to see Conor smile, Jude knew that something was going on. She hadn’t heard his voice but it was just something about him that seemed melancholy  Well, he wouldn’t be that way for long. Not if she had anything to do with it. Playing along with their eternal “Robert debate”, Jude gasped and stepped aside before shaking her head slightly. “That slut. Between you and I, he’s going to spread himself thin one day. Lying to me and going behind my back with you is the ultimate betrayal.” Once Conor was inside, Jude shut the door and actively reached out to punch him in the shoulder. “Shut up. I know how to cook. Just ask anyone.” She stuck her tongue out before walking past her friend and leading him into the kitchen. “Come on. You can get a better look for yourself if you don’t believe me. Got all the ingredients ready. This pizza will be the ultimate pizza.” 

Jude knew she couldn’t pressure Conor into talking about what was bothering him. Taking things easy was her motto. Besides, it was probably none of her business. No sense in ruining their friendship because she couldn’t keep her nose out of business that wasn’t her own. Arriving into the kitchen, Jude opened the fridge and pointed over at the counter. Hopefully Conor had followed her and not lingered around the rest of her apartment. “Feel free to do inventory but just know…the dough is all mine. I like to play with it before cooking. Makes the pizza taste better.”

The best thing about Jude, honestly, was that she didn’t force him to talk. She didn’t dig into him and make him come out and say anything. She was just there to keep him company and that was the best thing he could ask for right now. He laughed and shook his head at the Robert comment but just followed the brunette through her flat. It was more or less the same as Conor’s in layout form but it was so very Jude-like. He caught himself smiling a little, finally, as he walked into the kitchen. “You’re right, nothing on fire yet.”

His eyes roamed over the ingredients that were laid out for the pizza. He fingered the edge of the sauce jar and then turned on his heel lightly to face Jude. “You a pro at flipping it in the air? Or do you just kneed it and call that ‘playing’?” He sent a cheeky smirk her way and kept one hand on the jar while his hip was cocked up against the counter. “But since it is your place, I’ll let you do the dough so long as I can do the sauce and cheese.”

We’re Not Broken, Just Bent || Conor and Kat 

kat-moore:

Conor didn’t wrap his fingers around hers as Kat hoped, but he didn’t smack her hand away either.  She wound up tracing the pads of her fingers along his palm, thankful for even the slightest contact.  ”Conor, love isn’t going to screw this up.  Things fall apart when people let go of love.”   

Kat could tell that Conor’s parent’s separating had shaken him.  Apparently all the way to the core of his belief in love.  Did it only take that one act to erase the Conor who believed in happy endings?  The Conor that believed that good people got what they deserved and that things would work out for people even with screwed up pasts like the two of them?  “I love you, Conor.  I love you so much I could fill rooms with it.  We are not your parents.  We are not a fuck up,” she said firmly.  She resented any such notion.

Kat’s head dropped along with her hand as Conor backed away from her.  ”I’m not giving up on my dreams, and I’m not doing it for you.”  There was no way Kat could adequately explain what it had been like to have two bombs explode less than a city block away from her.  The pure terror and carnage she had witnessed on the city street she had walked a hundred times during her eight years in Boston.  How limbs and blood littered the sidewalk and everyone looked to her for help.  Now when she entered the emergency room, she was terrified.  ”After Boston I— I don’t know if being a surgeon is what I’m cut out for.”  She ran her hand through her messy hair and sighed.  

“I don’t want to lose you, but that’s not the reason I’m not at the hospital right now.  I need to make sure this is really my dream.”  She kept her gaze in her lap.  She didn’t like telling him this, but if Conor was going to understand who she was and the choices she made, he needed to know the dark, ugly things about her that she didn’t want to share.  ”It was my parent’s dream since I was born.  They wanted a famous surgeon for a daughter.”  Conor knew this much.  ”But the way they beat it into me - sometimes literally - I…” her voice became a whisper.  ”I’ve worked so hard to make them proud, and I thought it was what I wanted too, but I don’t know where their desires end and mine begin.  Is it really my dream or did they just brainwash me into thinking so?”

Kat took a breath and looked back up at Conor.  ”That’s why I’m no longer in the program.  I need to make sure it’s what I want and something I can still do, despite what I… saw.”  Kat was tired, she was so tired of fighting with the person she loved most.  ”Conor, I’m not giving up on my dreams, and certainly not because of you.  Since I met you, I’ve been better.  You’ve made me a better person and a better doctor.  You’ve given me an anchor to hold on to when I wanted to fall apart.  Thoughts of you keep me sane during a hectic day.  I used to barely have a reason to leave the hospital, but now I’m happy when I get to come home.”  Kat smiled at him, small but hopeful.  ”I’m figuring out the rest, but you’re the one part of my life I’m sure of.”

Conor ran a tired hand over his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired. Tired of fighting with Kat, tired of not being able to sleep, tired of not adequately eating. He just needed a break. He needed something happy to happen. “Kat,” He figured the only way to fix this was to let his guard down. He closed the gap between the two and placed his large, calloused hands against Kat’s soft cheek. The pad of his thumb ran against her cheekbone lightly. “This Boston thing…” He didn’t know how to word it. “I think you should talk to somewhere. Not just me but a professional. Tom’s dad has PTSD and it’s not something that will just go away.”

He wanted Kat to get better and he didn’t know how he could help but he knew someone could help her. He let out a breath and closed his eyes tightly. “I didn’t know that Kat before me, so I don’t know if you’re better or not. But,” He opened his eyes again and let a small smile slip. “You do smile more often.” He didn’t want to take all of the credit. He couldn’t. That was too much for him. A moment of silence passed between the two and Conor pulled his hand away from Kat’s face. “I’m sorry I yelled.”

Linner with Iron Lady and Paprika Potts || Jude + Conor 

jude-fox:

I’m fine…I guess.

The minute Jude saw that attached to the conversation she’d been having with Conor, she knew he wasn’t “fine”. There was something wrong but she knew that if he wanted her to know, he’d tell her. So she settled for inviting him over for lunch. If she couldn’t help him by talking through it, she’d help by distracting her British friend from his issues. It always worked for her anyway. Shuffling around her kitchen in an outfit that may have been a bit too work appropriate and not exactly baking appropriate, Jude tossed ingredients from her fridge. Dough she bought only six hours before, a large square of Mozzarella, pack of bacon, packaged sliced circles of pepperoni, a green pepper she’d chop up in a bit, and a small square of Parmesan cheese. 

By the time she’d headed to her bedroom to change, she heard the small knock on her front door. Jude was actually surprised he’d not only come but he came on time. “Just a second!,” she yelled down the hall before quickly stripping the clothes she’d worn home. She found a pair of jean shorts and a nice cotton t-shirt to pull over he head. Her feet remained bare as she padded down the hall, unlocked the door, and pulled it open. “I see you’re actually on time. Robert didn’t hold you up? You two enjoy your little love fest for now. I’m still gonna get him to be mine.”

Conor needed to get out of his flat. Actually, what Conor really needed to do was get out of Bradford or maybe even out of the city but those didn’t seem like the best ideas at the moment. So when Jude invited him over for lunch…or dinner in his mind…he had to take the offer. And he wasn’t just going for the pizza. He was going because he needed something to get his mind off of everything that had happened in the past few days and his best friend wasn’t here so he knew Jude could provide a distraction for a little while at least. He had always like Jude’s company. She was just the right mixture of cheeky and determined. And she made him laugh. And she wasn’t pretentious like most people in this building.

He threw his hands deep inside his pockets of his jeans that hung loosely around his hips. Recently, he’d been to anxious or stuck at the office to get himself three full meals a day, and he could tell by the way his jeans were fitting recently. So maybe he did need this meal. The ends of his grey cotton t-shirt were frayed and he pulled on it as he walked a bit further. He smiled when the tiny brunette opened the door. “I left especially early so I could have a little more time with him.” A cheeky grin passed across his features for the first time in a few days but that didn’t mean it reached his eyes. “Isn’t smelling like smoke in here, so that’s a good sign.”

We’re Not Broken, Just Bent || Conor and Kat 

kat-moore:

“I barely saw Daniel conscious while I was at the hospital,” Kat told him or, she hoped, reminded him.  ”I was doing other work, on other people’s service.  I wasn’t even one of his doctors.  I was just trying to log in extra hours of work while it was most advantageous.  That way I would only be floors away if he did head south instead of back here at Bradford.”  She sighed.  ”I wanted to try to get enough time in so I could take a few days off to be with you.  Real actual days.  I was swapping shifts with whoever I could so I could stay and maybe make that happen later.”  Kat now had 14 days off.  Or more.  The way Conor was looking at her, however, she was sure she wouldn’t be spending them how she hoped.

“You know I don’t do things halfway.  I just don’t.”  Kat kept her tone as cool as possible when it came to Katelyn.  ”If Katelyn had been attacked and stabbed in an alley and you were in a profession that could help her, I wouldn’t be upset if you were.  Even if it meant you were putting yourself out, because I trust you.”  That didn’t mean she’d like it one bit.  She’d be jealous and irritable, but she’d find some way to keep her mouth shut.  Kat shook her head, confused.  ”You’re not jealous of Daniel, are you?  I’ve said over and over, including in the letter I left you on my way to the hospital, that he means nothing to me compared to you.”  Kat shook her head again slightly, but this time more to herself.  That couldn’t be it.

Kat was startled when Conor raised his voice, but that didn’t stop her from looking him dead in the eye as he finally told her about the accident that had killed his family.  Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.  Kat wouldn’t give him ammunition to say she was too fragile for this.  She had always prayed that Conor was knocked out in the accident and woke up in the hospital later to find he was an orphan.  As horrible as that would be, it was better than reality.

Finally Conor was telling her the truth, and Kat didn’t regret it.  She did want to know.  She didn’t care if he yelled all night as long as he let it go and let her in.  It just hurt that she couldn’t touch him.  Kat knew that when he had exhausted himself, pouring out the worst of his pain, that she wouldn’t be able to go near him.  She wouldn’t be able to hold Conor, and any whispers of how she loved him and was so sorry would fall on deaf ears.

“Thank you for telling me,” Kat muddled her way through the words.  ”I know— I know that wasn’t easy, but I’m glad you told me.”  

Kat sat in silence for a moment.  She looked down at her hands, still wishing she had his hand wrapped in hers.  When she finally opened her mouth,”Love doesn’t fix things, Conor.  Love doesn’t conquer all, but it can conquer a hell of a lot if you let it.  The rest you have to work out yourself, but as long as there’s love, I don’t think there’s anything two people can’t work out.”  She blinked as she let his words from the last 24 hours cycle through her head again.  Was that what he was saying?  That he didn’t think they could work?  Kat didn’t know, but she knew after everything he had just said that she wasn’t going down without a fight.

“I don’t know or care why things ended with other people,” Kat said.  A steady resoluteness returning to her voice.  ”Maybe they just gave up.  But they are not us.”

Kat looked up at Conor, finally getting to meet his eye without one of them turning away.  What if it wasn’t her dream anymore?  What if it was something she was still doing to please her parents or simply because she was good at it?  But she didn’t want to think about that now.  It was her problem, and not what she was even concerned about at the moment.  ”I will,” she told him honestly.

“I realized along the way that dreams aren’t much good if you don’t have someone to share them with,” she said, timidly reaching her hand out toward Conor’s, doubtful he would take it, but trying anyway.

“Don’t thank me for telling you.” He said a little too harshly than he meant to. He didn’t want to tell Kat any of that. He didn’t want to have to say it out loud and that was perfectly fine. He wasn’t the type to talk about it and that was fine. He told her because he thought maybe, just maybe Kat would understand.

He didn’t move away when she reached out to touch him but he didn’t reciprocate the touch, either. Kat’s fingers were cool against his hot skin. He hadn’t realized how angry he had gotten and how much that probably affected his appearance. He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair and sighed. “I’ve seen love fuck up things more than it helps, alright? And I’ve been trying so hard to believe that this,” He motioned to the smaller space between the two. “Wouldn’t be one of those fuck ups.” He clenched his jaw, again. “Kat.” He sighed out, calmer this time. “I love you, okay?” That was the first time he had said it out loud in a week. And maybe that’s why this was so difficult for him. “But, God, I don’t want you to put me ahead of your dreams.”

He knew he wasn’t making any sense so he back away from her and leaned against the wall. He needed to steady himself. He twisted his hands together. “You have a dream, Kat. A dream to be the best surgeon out there. And you’re well on your way.” He looked up towards her. “I don’t want you giving up on your dream because you don’t have anyone to share it with because,” He pointed to himself. “You do. But to be the best, you need limits.” This was going in a cycle and he knew it. He was talking himself in circles.

“You need to be able to say, ‘Okay, I need to rest and I need to go and eat Chinese food with my boyfriend or maybe a beer with my best friend’.” He wasn’t going to mention Daniel because, for tonight, she had heard enough about him. “You need a balance because if you don’t, you’ll crack and I’ll be left cleaning you up because you pushed everyone else out of the way.” He sighed and looked at the dogs sitting stiffly near him. “And you need to do that for you. Not for me.”

We’re Not Broken, Just Bent || Conor and Kat 

kat-moore:

Kat’s blood ran cold.  She was angry, she hadn’t been thinking.  To Kat Conor had real parents, just not the one he was born with, but she couldn’t imagine how deep her comment cut.  ”You know I—” she stuttered but then just looked down at her feet.  There weren’t words to fix what she had said.  Any more and she was just pouring more salt in the wound.  ”But that was years ago!  I don’t love Daniel.  I love you!”  She said desperately.  If nothing else, how could he not know that?  How could he ever think she wanted Daniel more than she wanted him.  Was she that terrible at showing her feelings?  Didn’t he see how it practically vibrated off her when she was around him?

“Okay, fucked up shit happened to me in relationships and I am not perfect, but I am trying.  I am trying every day to get better, and if you won’t give me the chance…”  She closed her eyes and said quietly.  ”Things happened to you too.  You just don’t realize how they changed you.  They made you distrustful.  You’re not just afraid of telling me things because I’m ‘fragile’ but because you don’t trust you can let another person see you and that they won’t leave you.  That you won’t lose them.  You’re protecting yourself because it’s easier.”

She sat down, suddenly tired from the roller coaster of emotions.  ”I can handle it.  If you believe I can handle it, then what aren’t you telling me?”

Conor dismissed her lack of apology once he saw her face fall, he knew she didn’t mean to say it. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. He kept his arms tightly crossed across his chest. “I know.” He all but sighed out. “But if Katelyn were hurt and I were spending all of my time doing what I could and stretching myself to my limits for her, what would you say? I told you I would be fine with him being at the hospital and you checking on him, I should have known you don’t do things that non-nonchalantly.” 

His eyes narrowed at her accusations. He uncrossed his arms and all but stormed towards Kat. “Do go fucking analyzing me.” He did raise his voice this time. He wouldn’t let Kat do that to him, he wouldn’t let someone tell him how the events in his life changed him because he knew and he did accept them. “You want me to trust you? Fine.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I was in the car when my parents died. I walked away with a broken arm and a few stitches while their necks snapped in half and my sister was halfway through the bloody windshield.” He took a deep breath, not letting the images get the best of him. “And then I get fucking shipped over to this bloody country by these people I don’t know. And you know what? I end up loving them and that sucks because you’re never supposed to love people more than your own dead parents.” He took a step back and let out a shaky breath.

“And then Kate takes away the one good thing in my life and I’m left trying to forgive my friend for fucking her behind my back.” He doesn’t mean to yell the words. He just needs to. “And then, God…Mary and Tom tell us that love doesn’t fix things and that they’re separating and fuck, Kat…” A shaky breath escapes his chapped lips. “Love doesn’t fix things, look at us.” He wasn’t sad, not really. He was angry, still, at Kat for telling him what he was when he wasn’t.

He wrapped his hand around the back of his neck and tugged at the tutffs of curled hair around the base of his neck. “I don’t know what I’m telling you, Kat.” He started pacing again. “But what I need…what you need…is to get help for whatever this is that’s making you quit your job.” He looked at her with soft blue eyes. “This is your dream.”

We’re Not Broken, Just Bent || Conor and Kat 

kat-moore:

Kat bit her lip in sadness and frustration.  ”I know it doesn’t.  Unfortunately, ‘I love you’ doesn’t fix much of anything, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.”  Kat knew love could make up for a lot, but love didn’t conquer all.  Plenty of things kicked the shit out of love.

“Yes!”  Kat cried.  ”Your problems are important!  How can you think…”  Kat shook her hands in frustration, not even sure what to say.  She sat on the edge of the couch and tried to take his hand.  ”Conor, your problems are equally or possibly more important than mine.  You can’t shut me out.  We’re supposed to be partners.  You can take care of me, but only if I’m allowed to take care of you back.”

She had wanted to say that for so long that Kat felt a tiny weight lifted off her shoulders.  ”You may think you’re protecting me, but you’re not.  All it does is make me feel guilty for having problems and dumping them on you and then all I can think about is how you’d be better off without me complicating your life and always bringing you down.”

Conor stood up from his position and ran his hands through his hair. He walked to the edge of the carpet, a few feet away from Kat and turned swiftly on his heels. “No,” He said firmly. And then ran his hand down his face and across his chin, feeling a bit of stubble growing there. “I can’t tell you all my problems.” He tugged at his shirt as he felt his voice rise a bit, but staying calm.

“You know why? Because if I do, you’ll know and that’s great and for a while, you’ll care. But then something more important than me…than us,” He let out a breath a paused. “Will come along and that will be more important.” He started pacing back and forth in the middle of his living room. While he collected his thoughts, his eye flickered towards the dogs. Paco standing protectively near Kat while the other two watched Conor closely.

“I know that you love me and you know I love you. God, Kat,” He clenched his jaw. “I would do bloody anything for you. But God, you’re so fragile that I’m afraid I’ll break you if I tell you anything.”

We’re Not Broken, Just Bent || Conor and Kat 

kat-moore:

It was impossible to ignore how distant Conor was, not just physically, but in a few curt words the room turned cold.  He was shut off, shut down, at least from her.  Kat almost wished she could do the same; she wished she could act like it was no big deal.  She wanted to be the strong and stoic Kat she could with others, but instead her words out of her mouth faster than she could even edit them.

“They made me work in the pit today,” she told him.  (Kat had successfully avoided it  since coming back from Boston.)  ”A guy riding a donorcycle was brought in and a different EMT brought in his leg.  And I had to give him his chest tube and he just wouldn’t stop screaming.  And he was so young and fit and he was so scared and just kept saying “My leg, they can fix it, right?” but I couldn’t tell him.  We put him under to send him up to surgery to see if they could reattach the leg, but I knew he’d probably wake up without it.  And it was just too much and I… they wanted to commit me.”  She was silent for a moment.  Then more slowly, “So I talked to the Chief of Surgery.  I’m not sure I can do it.  Maybe you and everyone else are right.  If I can’t know and accept that I have limits and all I do is stretch myself too thin, then maybe I don’t belong there.”

Kat cursed her eidetic memory and how it wouldn’t let her forget a single line that she had read or written last night.  She knew Conor supported her or, well, she was pretty sure he did.  Kat turned as Conor passed her.  ”That’s not why I’m here.”  There were things Conor would never understand about that day in Boston and what it did to Kat.  She had come home, she had come back to Bradford for him.

“That’s not what this is about.  I ‘left Daniel’s side’,” she quoted him slightly sarcastically, “so I could talk to you.”  Kat regretted her tone almost immediately.  Softly she added, “I love you, Conor.  Please.  I can’t stand for things to be like this between us.  Please talk to me.”

Conor pinched the bridge of his nose when the words left Kat’s mouth. He felt Milo’s presence by his side and let his hand slide across the fur of his dog. A small sigh escaped his lips as soon as she finished her story as to why she had decided to leave this program. “Kat,” His tone had a bit more edge to it than he would have liked but he couldn’t get rid of it. “That hospital has been your dream forever.” He didn’t finish the rest of his sentence because he knew Kat could fill in the blanks.

He stopped himself from rolling his eyes at her sarcastic tone. He was being childish and he knew that. But he was only 23, he was allowed to be childish. “Saying ‘I love you’ does not fix everything, Kat.” He sat down on the edge of his sofa. He knew he wouldn’t be sitting down for long, though.

He wiped his sweat hands on the fabric of his jeans against his thigh and balled his hands into fists to keep himself calm. “What do you want me to talk about, Kat? My problems?” He clenched his jaw. “They’re not important, alright?” That was a lie, and he knew it. He knew that his problems were just as important as Kat’s and maybe that’s why Conor was getting so frustrated. Because he and Kat were so different when it came to how the confronted their problems.

Long Day’s Night || Conor & Kat 

kat-moore:

“Very hard day, or days really,” she replied.  Kat tilted her head, welcoming Conor’s kisses against her neck.  Slowly, the tension in her body abated as he moved back to kiss along her jaw.  Kat giggled at he hit a ticklish spot.  Moving to look him in the eye again she said, “I still can’t believe you’re here. It’s like kismet that you appeared on such a hellish day.”  She bent in to kiss him again and then pulled back again suddenly, holding his face again.  ”You haven’t developed telepathy or clairvoyance and didn’t tell me, right?  Wait, I don’t care.”

Kat kissed Conor deeply, pressing her body back against his.  She smiled, not breaking the kiss.  She knew what she’d like to do to relax, but was less sure about Conor.  Still, this day has made her just brash enough to try.  Kat reached up and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his dress shirt.

“What can I say, I’m got a 6th sense on when you need me.” A pause. “So basically telepathy. So no more secret dirty thoughts about me.” He winked and let out a cheeky grin. He smiled into the kiss as their lips meshed together like they always did, somehow always making Conor need Kat just a little bit more. Once he felt Kat’s fingers worked on his shirt, he let a laugh out, twisting his fingers to open the front of her white coat. He let her unbutton the rest of his navy shirt while his lips pressed kisses on her neck, but making sure not to leave marks.

His fingers fidgeted with the edge of her shirt before slipping under and tracing lightly up the skin of her stomach. The purpose of this visit was to relieve some of Kat’s stress and Conor knew just the way. He hoisted her up as her legs wrapped around his torso and her back presses against the door. He pulled the white coat off of her and moved his hands to work on her belt. “Fuck.” He muttered in his light accent as she pressed a kiss to his bare chest. 

Long Day’s Night || Conor & Kat 

kat-moore:

 

Kat spun around, almost startled to hear anything but an order.  A smile instantly spread across her face when she saw Conor standing there.  He leaned casually against the counter, but that didn’t stop Kat from a muted level of her usual flurry of concern.  ”Is everything all right?  Are you all right?  Did something happen?”  It was impossible for her to relax until she had covered all her bases.

Conor set her mind at ease and she was able to breathe her first sigh of relief of the day.  ”So you mean you came just to see me?” she asked playfully.  No sooner than Kat had begun the conversation than a nurse came scuttling up to her.  ”Mr. Harrison in 301B is having lengthening of his Q/T waves.”  Kat followed the woman without a word but mouthed over her shoulder to Conor as she walked away, “I’ll be right back.”

Of course, she wasn’t right back.  She was forced to take Mr. Harrison off the sotalol his cardiologist had been trying to correct his arrhythmia.  This not only involved calling the cardiologist to confirm, but talking to the attending on the unit, and calling down to the pharmacy.  Kat was sure that by the time she got back, Conor would be gone, but he wasn’t. She found him sitting in a chair within sight of the nurse’s station.

Kat ran over and grabbed his hand.  ”Hurry,” whispered to Conor as she pulled him down the hall and into the on-call room.  She closed the door behind them and leaned against it for a moment, almost afraid someone might have followed them.  After a moment, Kat breathed a sigh of relief.  ”I had to get out of there before anyone else caught me and pulled me away.”  She took his face in her hands and gave him a light kiss.  He had no idea how glad she was to see him.

Conor let out a laugh at Kat’s frantic question but then reached both his calloused hands up to cup her cheeks and smiled. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” He shifted his eyes towards the bag of food. “Just bringing you a treat.” He felt her physically relax and a playful demeanor take over her eyes and tease him a bit, but nothing without him teasing her right back. “Nah, I hear the nurses here are quite lovely, so I wanted to see them.” He laughed but was interrupted by someone calling Kat’s name.

He nodded and stood there with his elbows against the nurses station and watched Kat walk towards her work. He struck up a conversation with one of the older nurses, finding out that she had read a few of his articles in the New York Times. He blushed and brushed it aside. After 15 minutes, the nurse came back and pursed her lip. “She might be quite some time.” He nodded and just smiled back, “All right, I’ll go and sit down, if that’s fine.” She smiled back at him as he grabbed the back of now cold food and sat down in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs.

When he heard footsteps walking towards him, his eyes were downcast toward his phone - flipping between texting his brothers and playing a game of Ruzzle. She gripped his hands and pulled him towards the room, not letting him grab what he had brought. The room was tiny but it fit the two of the comfortable with Kat’s back against the door and his body pressed up against hers. When she pulled away from the kiss, his hand wrapped around the nape of her neck and pulled her in for a deeper kiss. He tasted the hospital coffee on her lips and smiled as he pulled away. “Hard day?” He pressed a kiss to her check and then her jaw and her neck, wanting to take away all the pressure.

Long Day’s Night || Conor & Kat 

kat-moore:

Kat pinched the bridge of her nose. She was pretty sure she had been on for more than 40 hours, but she was losing track. Five hours ago she had been taken off service. The hospital was under a new federally mandated order that surgeons who had operations at night had to sleep during the day. The surgeons balked at this new order. After all, doctors were expected to be super human.  Who would let a regular human who makes mistakes and errors in judgement cut them open?  Surgeons were rough around the edges and they didn’t like being told what to do.

Kat had been on call the night before and had spent almost every moment in ICAR.  Every time she left to get a few moments of precious sleep, her pager went off. She was running codes, responding to heart attacks, and changing the medicinal dosages of v-tach patients all night.  Kat had gotten used to losing patients, but that didn’t make it any easier.  She wanted to not care, but she was still learning, if such a thing was possible.

Kat was closing in on the evening of her second night.  It wasn’t as though this was her first difficult night on call. She’d decided it was pointless to count after 10.  Although she wasn’t allowed to operate after so many hours on duty, she still didn’t see an end in sight.  She stood at the nurses station filling out all the charts from her patients last night, neither happy nor upset to be there.  Kat had successfully turned off her  emotions for the moment and concentrated on the task at hand.

Conor had finished everything that was handed to him by 4 P.M. This was knew. For the past couple of weeks he had been staying at the office until 9 but now he was playing solitaire on his computer and actually drinking the coffee. He checked his watch once more, watching it as it turned 5. Shrugging on his coat, he waved goodbye at his co-workers and quickly left the New York Times building, heading the opposite way of Bradford. He knew Kat had worked over night last night and still hadn’t been out of the hospital today.

He briskly walked down the sidewalk towards the hospital in hopes to brighten her day and bring her something actually enjoyable to eat. With two greasy cheeseburgers in the brown sack, he squeezed through the people on the street and caught sight of the white hospital. He didn’t hate that Kat worked late, he hated that the hospital made her work so many hours and still wanted her to work perfectly. He knew Kat and he knew she’d be pushing herself to perform to her best.

He walked through the doors and was greeted with the normal hospital smell and the countless scrubs. His eyes scanned the first floor until he walked a little further and found the nurses station where a familiar dark-haired woman was standing. As he walked up behind her, he placed the brown bag on the counter and leaned on the counter. “Dr. Moore, pleasure seeing you here.”