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I'm not counting down 2 grace_fully April 27 2010, 22:39:51 UTC
"Paula wants you to do more intakes today?" he asks.

"Yeah," Misha says, not looking up from the file in front of him. "Jeff's booked solid, and if all of these go inpatient, we'll still have two beds open."

"Misha, there's no way I can give you two more assessments. Even if I book over your lunch hour - "

"Do it, seriously. It's fine. Just find 'em, get the crisis eval, and let me know."

Jared sighs. "Good thing you had the wheaties."

Misha finally looks up, and the line over his eyebrows smooths. His hair's already falling to disarray, accurately portraying the day to come. Still, he smiles, genuine and warm at Jared's concern.

"I'm good," Misha says. "Honest. Don't worry about it. Just - call the teams, okay? Don't get fired. I kinda need you."

Jared laughs at that, ducking out quickly before he thinks on it too much. Staring at the half-complete appointment board, he rubs his forehead and groans.

"Who's next! I'm on a roll."

Jared jumps at the two hands that land on his shoulders, squeezing tightly and pounding him on the back. The muscles all over Jared's body tighten in a way that's not entirely bad. He focuses all of his energy on not leaning back.

"Sharon Doheny, in the waiting room, her case worker is Samantha, she's gonna sit in. They just walked in."

"Awesome. Stop pre-formatting all my documents and doing all my demographic pages. It's a HIPAA violation."

"Shut up," Jared says, but Misha's already careened off the back of chair and out into the waiting room.

Jared opens up the shared folder and accesses Misha's noon appointment. Grabs the file from the stack of pending admissions and enters in as much as he can without actually assessing the client. Behind him, Misha leads his new client into his office, ushering them in and remaining in the outer office just long enough to slap Jared upside the head.

Jared grins as Misha's door swings shut.

"Insane day," Kristen squeals, running by Jared on her heels en route to the fax machine.

"Lunch?" Jared asks on her trip back to Jeff's office.

"Fifteen!" she shouts, disappearing around the corner.

Relieved, Jared kicks himself back from his computer and rubs the heels of his palms into his eyes. He's shoved two more intakes into Misha's schedule, which will put his days' end at about seven tonight, if they all go relatively smoothly. He's done as much prep for Misha as he can do, and tries not to dread his own busywork, piled up and ready for after lunch.

Jared catches Misha as he's getting one of the nursing staff to escort their new admission up to the unit.

"Lunch? Wendy's? Grilled chicken sandwich, fries, salad, chili, potato, what?"

Misha's posture drops with relief and he rolls his neck, taking the moment to decompress. He scrubs at his hair, too late in the day for decorum, and loosens his tie. When he looks at Jared, his eyes are clear and bright and full of humor, and Jared doesn't know how he does it.

"Yes," Misha says. "All of that. Is great. Here's my card. Pin's - well, you know the pin, get something for you, too. Wait, you're not on that cleanse, are you? That Jeff was talking about? Beef broth, or whatever? Jesus. Jesus."

"Not on the cleanse," Jared laughs. "And you're not buying me lunch. We've been over this."

"Least I can do, the way you keep my shit together. You make no sense, Jay, seriously. I come in and you're sleeping, and half an hour later half my job's done. What do you put in the coffee?"

"Amphetamines, mostly. And, you know. I start with just the cup of sugar, and go from there."

Misha laughs, and then heaves a sigh. "Well, you know where I'll be."

"He'll know where he'd like you to be," Kristen quips, coming around the corner and pulling her jacket on.

"What?" Misha asks, regarding her with interest.

Jared's gaze snaps to hers silently, trying to keep the flood of embarrassment and panic off his face.

"Come on, we should be halfway to Wendy's by now," she grins, socking Jared on the arm and continuing past him.

Jared opens his mouth to cover it up, rolls his eyes because there's no way; gives an embarrassed smile to Misha and then hurries to catch up to her. He makes sure they're out of sight before he shoulder-checks her into the wall.

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