Regnant

“Please tell me your life is more exciting than mine is right now?” Marco offered a smile to the other man, and then very casually shrugged his shoulders. “I seem to be spending every waking moment at work right now. The joy of figuring out festive menus.”

“Most of the time I end up living vicariously through my twelve year old, so no can do.” Low chuckle left his lips when he could share the sentiment of spending more time at work than anywhere else. “Tell me about it. You cooking up anything good? Immy and I might have to stop by sometime.”

Zane’s words were practically music to his ears and Nathan nodded his head, offering a smile. “You know, you are probably right there,” he responded. “Definitely don’t get that from the kids…” He took another bite of the cookie in his hand, brows raising very slightly, and then heading towards the bar with the other man.

Cocky grin spread across his features. “I usually am.” The words were mostly in jest but he did have a bit of a knack for wisdom on occasion. “Let’s just hope they don’t get it from us.” Playful shudder was given to the image of his daughter hitting the bottle as hard as he did, knowing it could easily become a reality with a decade. Elbows propped on the bar, he turned back to his friend. “What’s your poison tonight?” 

“Hold on, lemme think of a punchline…” Kaden grinned back, straightening as the male took the seat across from her, ready to write. “Decent cookies.” She snorted, writing the exact words down. “Carrot cake is healthy? I guess fruit tarts if you make them without the extreme amount of sugary syrup they got on them…”

Eyes drifted down as he watched he write down exactly what he said, playful quip leaving his mouth with ease. “Hey now, don’t quote me on that.” Shoulders shrugged and he knew as a doctor he should maybe have a firmer stance but he had never been one to stop people enjoying simple pleasures. “By comparison, sure. But it’s more about everything in moderation. I’m not about to tell people not to eat cake, just don’t go crazy on it.”

“So what’s the latest at the hospital? Did Annie have her baby yet? Is Mr. Richards still in a coma?” She hadn’t heard about anything medical for too long now, and it made her go crazy. She could tell you all the dishes they served at Ricci and that fact made her slightly paranoid that she was never going to get to practice medicine again. Right now all the court stuff was still one big business of collecting facts, witnesses and whatnot. She just wanted to get it over with. “And what of you? Did you ask out Lucy from neonatal yet?”

Brow raised in amusement at her quick fire questions, listen carefully so he could confidently list off his answers to them. “How long have you got. A healthy baby girl. Unfortunately.” Expression had sobered somewhat at his last retort, knowing that in their line of work it wasn’t always a happy ending. But they still did their best regardless. Head shook slightly at her next question. “You know I’ve already got my number one girl and I’m in no hurry to add another into my life right now.” Hand held up to stop her, already anticipating a retort or protest from her to his reasoning. “But before you get on at me, I do date. I’d just rather not date in the workplace.”

“ i’m just saying, ” jamie began, hands up in mock surrender and a goofy smile plastered across his face. “ that people in horror movies must have watched horror movies, right? ” he took a big sip of his beer before turning back to the person he was talking to, voice almost painfully earnest. “ so why wouldn’t they run away immediately? who sticks around for ghosts and axe-wielding murderers? it makes no sense. ”

Sliding into the seat across from his friend, teasing words slipped from his lips as he playfully mimicked him. “And I’m just saying, you’ve got too much time on your hands if you can obsess about horror movies.” He knew it wasn’t entirely true, not when the man across from him pulled as long a shift as he did. “But I’m willing to roll with it.” Taking a sip of his drink he considered it. “Are we talking about this in solely the context of the films or taking into account that sometimes stupidity is needed for plot progression?”

Phobe was completely astray when it came to different homes in town. Unless they lived in her shitty apartment or near Alex the brunette always has a difficult time navigating who lived where. As they came up to the gorgeous home she let Danielle ring the bell only to excitedly screech “Trick or treat!” at him. The little girls hazel eyes lighting up the moment the word royalty left his lips. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m Elsa.” Dani informed making sure to do the pose as she said it. “She is indeed Elsa.” Phobe chimed in. “I’m surprised you aren’t out here joining in on the fun.” 

Seeing the young girl so excited made him remember the past years that he’d gone with Imani. and the various costumes she’d had, including a definite princess phase that had happened the first time she’d watched The Princess and The Frog. “And I am so honoured to meet you, Queen Elsa.” It was easy to humour her when he spent his days interacting with kids at the hospital, never tiring of their bright outlook on life. Grin was flashed at her mother, light chuckle coming from his lips when he knew what was in store later. “Oh believe me, I will be later. Mine’s just busy getting herself ready before she’s going to turn me into some sort of Halloween masterpiece.”

With the events for Halloween kicking off in force, Charlie’s schedule was packed tight. It was exactly how they liked it. Not having to be left alone with their thoughts was always a good thing. Plus, just being able to help other was exactly why they wanted to be in this profession. Sitting in the lounge with a cup of coffee next to them, Charlie looked up from their phone to see Zane getting ready to leave. “Sure she does. I bet you just want to get out of here so you can catch the Halloweentown marathon.” Charlie spoke, laughter laced within their words and accent. “Head home and leave an E.R. full of trauma, you’re out of your mind if you think I’m leaving tonight in the hands of a resident.” 

Good natured grin spread over his face, features changing into an expression that mimicked the face he used to pull when his dad caught him out. “You got me.” Humour was one of his main coping mechanisms when the shift got too heavy, some people liked it and some people did it. He had not intention of trivialising anything he saw but things could get so serious he needed to take the pressure off. “She wants to do Nightmare Before Christmas this year so I’m sure you’ll have something to laugh about tomorrow when those pictures go up. Just don’t you go wearing yourself out, okay? You better have a nice relaxing weekend planned at the very least.” 

Her eyebrows rose, a small, surprised laugh breathing its way past her lips. “This was less of a blind date and more of a tragic missed connection,” She couldn’t really blame him for feeling the way he did. Leyla had been on a few… interesting blind dates. She had interesting friends and sometimes those interesting friends had even more… bizarre companions that they would try to shove her way. Her favorite had been the doctor who insisted on telling her everything her dessert was doing to her body. Good times. She considered his offer for a moment before sliding into the seat next to him. “Why not?” She said, turning to the bartender for a moment. “Old Fashioned, thanks,” She ordered her usual, turning her gaze back to the man. “So you don’t do blind dates? What happened? The last one didn’t look like the picture?”

Easy laughter came from him at the comment, happy to play along by placing a hand on his chest for extra sincerity. “Hopefully it won’t hit either of us that hard.” He was sure he wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. “Nice choice.” After a nod of approval at her drink choice, he leaned back slightly as he weighed his answer. “Guess I just prefer to know what I’m getting myself into.” He shrugged slightly before continuing, doing his best to put his stance on dating into perspective without dwelling too much on the heavier side of things. “I’ve never struggled to find someone when I’m looking and isn’t it always better to form a more genuine connection? They always end up awkward and forced. I’d much rather take a shot with someone I’d met more organically.” He took a sip of his drink before levelling the question back at her. “What about you, do you swear by them or swear off them?”

“You know, I feel like I’m starting to channel my children…” Nathan commented casually as he reached for another cookie, eyeing it suspiciously before taking a bite. After finishing it off, he cast a glance to his left and where Zane was standing, a laugh escaping him. “Is that a thing? I don’t know.”

At the other man’s words his eyes were drawn to the cookies too, unable to resist snatching one for himself too. After taking a bite he couldn’t help but nod slightly. “Pretty sure it is but you know what will fix it? A trip to the bar.” Slow grin spread across his features as he spoke, already turning in the right direction for that hit of alcohol. “This round’s on me.”

With the celebrations of Halloween, came the drunkenness of people who were simply… careless. If he had the time off, he might have found a costume, gone on the pub crawl, and joined in the careless drunkenness. Instead, he was dressed in uniform, his turnout gear on the truck, in case it was needed. He couldn’t count on his hands how many times people came up to him and asked if he was a real firefighter, in spite of the fact that he was leaning against a SMFD ambulance, as if he had rented it as a part of his costume. Some had lingered and had a conversation, while most moved on, to carry on with their pub crawl, while he remained, a barricade in the road to divert traffic away from the heavy foot traffic, and a safety precaution, should anyone need first aid. As someone came stumbling forward, Wilder couldn’t decide if it was drunkenness or mere clumsiness, and jumped to action, bracing them before they made contact with the pavement. “Hey, there, you alright?” he questioned calmly as he gave them a quick once over. “That was quite the stumble.”

Luck seemed to have been on his side when it had come to the way his shifts had fallen over the Halloween period. With most of his nights off he’d allocated the vast majority of them to Imani before saving one for himself. Making his way to the bar where he had read the bar crawl would be starting, the doctor paused as he caught sight of a familiar face helping a stumbling woman on her way. Easy grin took hold of his features as he wandered over, light teasing making itself at home in his tone. “You’re making me look bad out here, Hodge.” If he were being honest a part of him thought he maybe should have given up his time to volunteer like this but he’d learnt a hard lesson already about a work/life balance and he was determined not to fall into bad habits again. “You on for the whole night?”

“Five years? Hopefully getting my daughter ready to apply for colleges or pursue whatever it is that she wants to do with her life. Maybe a promotion at work if I’m lucky. Can’t say I’ve thought much past either of those things.”