At the End of the Day

"Hey, it's me. You feel like some company?"

"Sure, come on over. The door's open."

"Be there in 20 minutes," Abby said as she walked out into the ambulance bay. She tossed her cell phone in her bag, hitched the bag up a little higher on shoulder and headed for her car.

After a quick stop at Starbucks for 2 Pumpkin Spice lattes she pulled into the driveway of Dr. Dubenko's modest house. It was a nice house, comfortable and lived in but not "doctor" like at all.

Abby knocked once and let herself in so he didn't have to bother getting up to answer the door. "Lucien," she called as she dropped her coat on the bench by the front door.

"In here," he called from the family room off the kitchen.

"So, my day was weird," Abby started as she handed him one of the lattes and kicked off her shoes before sitting down next to him on the couch.

"Weirder than mine?" he asked as he took a tentative sip, making sure it wasn't too hot. "I think I spent the last 4 hours in the supply room," he muttered as he pointed to the camera set up in the corner of the room.

"I spent hours trying to save a chimp with a bacterial infection, only to be unsuccessful," Abby said as she propped her feet on the coffee.

"I'm sorry, a what?" Lucien asked with a goofy grin.

"You heard me," Abby groaned. "Dr. Clemente knew someone who owned the chimp and he, I don't know, owed somebody something. Either that it was some sort of strange initiation, hazing thing he put me through. I don't know."

"But it got to you, didn't it," Lucien guessed correctly as he reached to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Abby smiled at the gesture.

"He was kind of cute."

"Clemente or the chimp?"

"Shut up. Did you eat dinner?"

"Not really."

"You hungry? I could make something," Abby offered. The answer came in the form of a shrug of his shoulders. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't know. Just tired I think," came Lucien's unconvincing reply. Abby eyed him warily.

"Tired? Did your little "friend" visit?" Abby teased.

"Hey, you're the one who sent her to me," he teased right back.

"The first time," Abby reminded him with a smirk. "After that you were on your own...or not," she added. She pushed back his curls, pressing her hand against his forehead to check his temperature.

You're not warm. Any pain?" she asked, moving into doctor mode.

"Yes," he admitted. He'd learned over the previous few weeks that trying to lie to Abby was pretty futile as she usually called him on it. "I needed to be fully functioning today so I didn't take anything other than Advil," he said as he gestured towards the camera equipment in the corner. "Although I don't know that I was fully functioning," he asked with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

"Too much information," Abby teased as she stood up. "How was your appointment yesterday?" she asked as she headed for the kitchen.

"Isn't that asking for too much information," he teased right back as he pulled his feet up onto the couch and turned towards the kitchen. Abby just smirked at him. "It was pretty good. Can think about going back to work in a couple of weeks.

"Great, but don't push yourself." Abby replied.

"Yeah, I got that lecture, no lengthy surgeries, no 18 hour days. Office work and consults only for the first few weeks."

"That sounds like a good plan," Abby said distractedly as she opened the refrigerator to find something to eat.

"The plan sucks, Lockhart," Lucien complained.

"God, please don't call me that. I spent the day reminding Dr. Clemente that I do indeed have a first name. Grilled cheese or eggs?" Abby asked after perusing the sparse contents of the fridge.

"Eggs, scrambled," Lucien answered as he pushed himself slowly to his feet. "I'll be back in a minute," he muttered as he pointed down the hall towards the bathroom.

Abby grabbed the eggs, butter and cheese out of the fridge and hunted for a frying pan. She found herself strangely comfortable in Lucian's kitchen. Since his rather strange proposal, which she had immediately turned down, they had started to forge a tentative friendship. He didn't seem to have any close family members, or at least none she had seen during his stay in the hospital. She was quick to admit that she did feel sorry for him and that was what prompted her to visit him while he was still in the hospital. But the more time she spent with him, the more she got to know him and start to understand him a little.

And to be honest, she was a little lonely herself and was happy for the company. They managed to avoid, for the most part, the awkward conversation they'd had outside the emergency room. They still teased each other about it once in a while but there was no real lingering awkwardness. Enjoying each other's company at the end of the day was all they were really looking for, nothing more. They watched movies, shared hospital gossip and in general just hung out.

Abby transferred the eggs onto a pair of plates as she heard Lucien's footsteps in the hall. "You ok?" she asked as she realized he had been gone for a while and looked a little pale and uncomfortable.

"Yeah, never thought getting the catheter out would be quite so painful," he muttered as he took at seat at the table.

"Too much information," Abby teased as she set a plate of toast and eggs in front of him.

"Here, drink this," she said as she handed him a glass of water. Lucien rolled his eyes at her and picked up the glass, holding it out in a mock toast. "I'm sure you didn't drink enough today." Thinking back over the day, Lucien realized he hadn't really had enough to drink and wasn't going to bother lying to her.

They ate in relative silence, both rather exhausted from their respective days. It was the first day since the surgery that Lucien had made it through without a nap and it showed on his face as he sat there pushing his eggs around on his plate.

"OK, what's wrong?" Abby asked as she reached to still his hand as he tapped his fork against the edge of the plate.

"I don't know," he answered as he tossed the fork down on the table and reached for his water. He took a few sips, basically stalling for time.

"More than just being tired?" Abby guessed.

"I didn't think this would be so hard," he sighed as he put his elbows on the table and propped his chin up on his clasped hands.

"What? The diagnosis, the surgery, the recovery?"

"Recovery I guess. My chances at beating this are great and the surgery itself wasn't too bad or at least thanks to the good drugs it wasn't all that bad. Although I wish the laparoscopic approach had been an option."

"Incision still bothering you?"

"Yeah, if I move the wrong way, it pulls. I just thought I'd recover quicker," Lucien mused as he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes.

"You do realize you're right on schedule as far as recovery, right?" Abby said a she reached out to pull his hands away from his face and get him to look at her.

"I know. But I still can't make it through the day without a nap, I still have problems with things...with things I'm not going to discuss with you and I still need to take a pill to sleep through the night."

"All of which are perfectly normal," Abby assured him. "Lucien, it was major surgery, give yourself some time. Relax."

"I'm not very good at that," he announced as he pushed himself to his feet and cleared the table.

"No kidding," Abby teased as she helped him with the dishes. "I suppose it's to be expected, doctors make the worst patients."

"Just remember Doctor Lockhart, you're one of us now," Lucien teased.

"Yeah, keep rubbing it in," Abby said with a smirk as she turned the water on in the sink. She took the dishes Lucien was holding out and pointed him in the direction of the couch. He thought about complaining but that thought was pushed aside as he realized he was rather uncomfortable standing upright.

While Abby washed up the dishes and put some water on for tea, Lucien flipped through the television channels, not finding anything to hold his attention. He clicked off the television and picked up a medical journal off the coffee table. While Abby cleaned up the kitchen he quizzed her on the differential diagnoses of a list of rare conditions he was reading about in the journal. Conditions she would likely never run into at County.

"So when treating a newborn chimp, what's the....." Lucien's question was interrupted by a dish towel Abby had tossed at him. "Cute," he smirked as he straightened his glasses and tossed the towel back at her. She handed him a cup of tea. "Thanks."

They sat in silence for a while on opposite ends of the couch, feet on the coffee table, basically staring into space. It was Lucien's silence that worried Abby, even more than the fact he hadn't really eaten much and seemed rather uncomfortable. He was one of those people who enjoyed the sound of his own voice. He was always talking, explaining, rambling on about whatever struck him at the moment.

He squirmed uncomfortably on the couch and Abby held her hand out for his tea cup, before he spilled it all over himself. "Why don't you go get changed?" Abby suggested as she looked at the clock on the mantle. It was almost 10 and it was clear her companion was fading fast.

"Yeah," Lucien agreed. But it took him another few minutes to actually haul himself off the couch and head for the stairs. He took his time on the stairs. Abby watched as he went up, frowning at how much pain he seemed to be in.

"You want to take something for pain?" she called as he hit the landing and headed for his room.

"Yeah, in the kitchen, next to the coffee maker," he called back as he closed the door behind him so he could change. When he'd put on a pair of flannel pants and an old t-shirt he called back down to Abby. "Can you bring it up? I'm not tackling the stairs again today."

"Sure, I'll be up in a minute," Abby answered without thinking. She was halfway down the hall when she realized she'd never been in his room. She pushed aside any awkward feelings and headed upstairs. "Lucien?" she called when she realized she didn't even know which one was his bedroom.

"In here," came his voice from the room at the end of the hall. Abby pushed the door open all the way and stepped into the room. She took a look around, seeing exactly what she had imagined. It was a well lived in room, books on every surface, television in the corner, iPod on the nightstand, plaid quilt on the bed. Abby handed him the pill and the bottle of water she'd brought up with her before giving into her urge to pick up the clothes he'd just dropped to the floor. "You don't have to do that," he said with a slightly amused look on his face. Abby just shrugged her shoulders and opened the door she figured was the bathroom. She had guessed correctly and tossed the clothes in the hamper. She also tossed in a couple of towels she found on the floor and recapped the toothpaste. "I should have you over more often, I'd be able to fire the cleaning lady," Lucien teased as he sat on the ottoman by the window. He stretched his legs out in front of him and stared out over the backyard.

"Cute," Abby muttered as she came back in the bedroom. She turned off the overhead light, leaving the room lit by only the lamp on the nightstand. Abby looked around for a place to sit, preferring not to sit on the bed. She took a seat in the chair and joined him in looking out the window. "You going to use the video thing again tomorrow?" Abby asked, basically just to start some sort of conversation.

"If Clemente let's me out of the supply closet," Lucien muttered. "It actually worked pretty well. I could see what was going on. The joystick worked great."

"Yeah, I felt like you were following me down the hall a few times," Abby teased.

"I most certainly was," he admitted with a laugh.

"That's nice to hear," Abby said as she reached out to touch his shoulder.

"What?" he asked as he turned a little on the ottoman.

"You laughing," she said honestly.

"Thanks," Lucien said quietly as he turned to face Abby. He started to pull his feet up onto the ottoman but stopped short when the movement pulled on his incision. "Damn," he muttered as he doubled over, pressing his hand against the surgical site.

"Breathe through it," Abby said as she rubbed his back. "Better?" she asked a few minutes later as he sat up a little. He nodded as she reached out to brush the curls off his forehead. "The Percocet should kick in soon. You want to get in bed?"

"No, not yet. If I get into bed, you'll leave," he said with a smirk. "Sorry, that was a stupid thing to say," he muttered.

"It's ok. We'll just blame it on the meds," Abby teased. Lucien nodded in agreement with a weak smile. "How about we make a deal, you actually get into bed and relax and I'll stick around for a while," Abby offered.

"Really?"

"Why not?" Abby mused as she stood up and helped him to his feet. He stumbled to the bathroom to brush his teeth before all but collapsing on the bed. "OK, under the covers," she said as she patted his hip to get him to move a little. He turned on the television and curled up while Abby stood there debating what to do next, sit back down on the chair or take a seat on the other side of the bed. Feeling rather ridiculous at sitting on the opposite side of the room, she walked around the bed and took a seat next to him.

"Why are you here?" Lucien asked after a minute of painful silence. Abby looked at him strangely for a few seconds. "I mean, after my ill advised proposition, I would have expected you to run as fast as you could in the other direction."

"I thought about it. But before our awkward conversation, we were starting to forge this...this whatever it is we seem to have. Friendship, I guess is the word. And I think it's going pretty well. You proposition came out of fear and hopelessness."

"No need to sugar coat it or anything," Lucien snorted as he rolled over to face away from her. "But it's true," he said a minute later as he rolled back over.

"I know," Abby whispered as she reached out to brush back his curls. The contact meant more to him than she would ever realize. He moved over a little, putting his pillow in her lap.

"Please don't take this the wrong way," he whispered as he looked up at her with neediness and pain in his eyes.

"No problem, just promise me you'll try to sleep," whispered back as she took off his glasses and set them on the nightstand. She turned off the television and the light. In the pale light of the full moon, Abby brushed back his hair and rubbed his back a little, trying to get him to relax.

It took a while but eventually the pill kicked in and he closed his eyes long enough to fall asleep. Abby stayed a while longer, both because she wanted to make sure he was really asleep and because, the truth was, she was rather enjoying herself. As she watched the clock turn to midnight she carefully moved Lucien over a little, trying her best not to wake him. She pulled the covers up and over him, brushed his hair back once more and on a whim, pressed a kiss to his forehead before heading downstairs.

THE END

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