ER, Neela/Ray, #9
Title: What Goes Around Comes Around 1/?
Author: Emony
Fandom: ER
Pairing: Neela/Ray
Prompt: Orientation - An adjustment or adaptation to a new environment, situation, custom, or set of ideas.
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: The names of characters contained herein are the property of the copyright holder of "ER." No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and said characters are used here without permission.
Spoilers: "The Honeymoon is Over"
Word Count: 1,427.
Beta: shadow_diva. Thanks hon, and for getting me to write it... and add to it.
Summary: Ray's first day back at County doesn't go quite the way he expects.
***
Ray woke up. The light from his ground floor window filtered in through the curtains he'd pulled closed haphazardly the night before. His alarm was blaring; he reached to it and smacked the off button hard. He lay back, letting his head hit the pillow, getting the will to get up and start his day. This was the day. He was going back to work.
He rubbed a hand over his face. Two years. Two years since he'd set foot in that hospital. Two years since he'd seen - no, he wasn't thinking about that, about her. He'd been right when he'd told her she wouldn't visit. Two years and all he'd had from County was the gossip from Katey through visits and phone calls and emails and letters.
The pain of that loss, of that complete cut off from his life was awful. But it was nothing, nothing compared to waking up in the morning and curling his toes; only to find his toes aren't there anymore - again.
Ray sighed and lifted himself up by his stronger arms, ready to start the day.
***
Greg sighed; today was going to be difficult. Today was going to be a nightmare. Today was going to be one of those days where he wished he'd not taken Moretti's position six months ago when the other doctor left to oversee another department.
Gates was going to make a nuisance of himself. That was a given. Especially with Sarah around, doing a teen program at the hospital. Someone to play up in front of for Gates.
Morris and Hope were in their on again phase, so sickly sweet pet names thrown across the ER were the name of the game. Frankly he preferred the off again frosty silences.
ICU was lending them the new transfer, Dr Chase, for the day. Which would mean the nurses would be on a go-slow.
Abby was off, only in to bring Neela by.
Neela. Today was her big day. Only another month and she would be back to work. They'd be putting her back in the ER, letting her get used to practicing medicine again before letting her loose in surgery. Hopefully Gates wouldn't play the part of stalker again, no matter how thankful he was for it on that one day.
The worst part though, the worst part had just walked through the front doors, a big smile on his face.
"Hey, Pratt."
Greg just looked at him.
"Pratt?"
"Barnett. Here, take these charts and get to work." He told him, thrusting a hand full of charts in his direction.
"What? No, hey Ray, good to see you, how's it going, man?"
"No. Get to work."
***
This was not what he had expected. Sure, he'd thought that there might have been some hurt due to him not wanting anyone to know. He didn't need the pity. But this was definitely not the reaction he had expected. Even the new guy, Chase, had been cool towards him. He hadn't brought up Neela, but then it was obvious that no one else had either. And the moment Katey had been called down from ICU had been mind blowing. It had been like an ice storm.
Now he was sitting in the locker room, scratching at the bottom of his leg. Pratt had just walked in, glaring the moment he noticed Ray.
"Pratt?"
"Barnett."
"You got any idea what all this is about?"
"All this?"
"The freeze out."
Pratt gave a little laugh, a curious smirk across his face. He was just about to answer when the door opened and Abby popped her head around it.
"Hey, Greg" She started, ignoring Ray's presence, "can you take the little man for a bit, we need to head upstairs."
"Sure."
The door opened further, and a little boy, Joe, raced in, "Uncle Greg!"
"Hey buddy!" Pratt laughed as he swung the kid up onto his hip, "How's my little man today?"
"Great!"
Ray tuned out the kid as he babbled about his Aunty Nee and the pictures they'd spent the morning drawing. He caught a glimpse of the corridor as the door swung shut, Abby wheeling a dark haired woman away in a wheelchair.
"Barnett?" Once he'd caught Ray's attention Pratt continued, "We'll continue this later. It's not something for the little man to hear."
***
As his shift came to a close Ray slumped into the locker room again and sat down on a bench. He waited as everyone filtered in and out; receiving glares from most people and a "don't make things worse, Barnett" from Gates. He still had no clue what was going on.
"Barnett, you're coming with me." Pratt announced as he hung up his lab coat in his locker.
"What?"
"You want to know what's going on? You come with me."
"Sure, where to?"
"The park."
"Right."
Both men were silent on the drive. Once the car was parked Pratt only asked if he was ok to walk a bit.
They came to a stop a little distance from a statue.
"Did you hear any news the day you left town?"
"You know what day I left?"
"Not my point man, not my point. Did you?"
Things began to connect in his mind.
"There was some sort of rally, shots were fired, and someone got trampled. Katey said the woman was a real pain in the ass, she spent almost a year having to deal with her."
Pratt laughed that little laugh again and a shiver rolled down his spine.
"Right, you know your girl, she's a real piece of work, and you know me, I'm not one to say that about a lady."
"Hey. Katey has done nothing but stand by me, and she was the only one who did."
"Whatever. You wanted to know right? You know, for all I hate the guy Gates and his stalker tendencies are the only reason Neela's even alive."
"What?"
"You heard me. That real pain in the ass? Neela."
"No, Katey would have told me."
"Would she? Ray, she saw Neela daily for the first four months, the four months she was in a coma. Through each and every surgery. Every working day of the year Neela was a patient in this hospital. I was just outside the door the day she told Neela you knew - and had for months."
"She, she what?"
"I only figured it out today, that you didn’t know. I knew Katey could be- man, I didn’t think she would have taken it that far. I bet you wondered why, no I bet you didn't, you know Neela told me what you said that day, that you said she wouldn't visit. You were right, it killed her that she couldn’t visit, that you didn’t want her there even if she been able to, but you're actually more manoeuvrable than she is these days. It would have had to be you doing the visiting and she thought you hated her, blamed her. She definitely blames herself. Calls all this her karma."
"Karma?"
"Your legs."
"My legs?"
"She thinks it's her fault, because of everything, because of what Katey said to her that day, and each and every time after. She thinks she deserves the coma, the breathing problems, the fifteen separate surgeries on her legs." He looked pointedly at him. "The wheelchair."
"Wheelchair? That was her, wasn't it, with Abby?"
"Yes. They live together these days, Neela looks after Joe when Abby's at work and they keep each other going."
He nodded, "Because Luka's looking after his Dad in Croatia, right?"
"Right. You know that but not Neela?"
"I-"
***
Pratt drove him back to the hospital and he sat in the lounge waiting for Katey to drive him home. Katey. She must have known he would find out. She-
He stopped his train of thought as he heard the door open behind him; he tensed, ready for the fight. He heard the tapping of what used to be the only warning that Weaver was about to pounce.
He turned his head slowly; she stood there, frozen. He looked her over; the crutch...the scar over the left side of her face -
"Neela."
She gave him a small smile, somewhere between worry and despair, and moved to her locker.
"I just needed to pick up some forms I left."
"Right, Neela, I, I didn't-"
The door opened again. It was Katey. Neela grimaced and looked away from them both, hurrying away as quickly as she could on her unsteady legs.
End part one.
Author: Emony
Fandom: ER
Pairing: Neela/Ray
Prompt: Orientation - An adjustment or adaptation to a new environment, situation, custom, or set of ideas.
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: The names of characters contained herein are the property of the copyright holder of "ER." No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and said characters are used here without permission.
Spoilers: "The Honeymoon is Over"
Word Count: 1,427.
Beta: shadow_diva. Thanks hon, and for getting me to write it... and add to it.
Summary: Ray's first day back at County doesn't go quite the way he expects.
***
Ray woke up. The light from his ground floor window filtered in through the curtains he'd pulled closed haphazardly the night before. His alarm was blaring; he reached to it and smacked the off button hard. He lay back, letting his head hit the pillow, getting the will to get up and start his day. This was the day. He was going back to work.
He rubbed a hand over his face. Two years. Two years since he'd set foot in that hospital. Two years since he'd seen - no, he wasn't thinking about that, about her. He'd been right when he'd told her she wouldn't visit. Two years and all he'd had from County was the gossip from Katey through visits and phone calls and emails and letters.
The pain of that loss, of that complete cut off from his life was awful. But it was nothing, nothing compared to waking up in the morning and curling his toes; only to find his toes aren't there anymore - again.
Ray sighed and lifted himself up by his stronger arms, ready to start the day.
***
Greg sighed; today was going to be difficult. Today was going to be a nightmare. Today was going to be one of those days where he wished he'd not taken Moretti's position six months ago when the other doctor left to oversee another department.
Gates was going to make a nuisance of himself. That was a given. Especially with Sarah around, doing a teen program at the hospital. Someone to play up in front of for Gates.
Morris and Hope were in their on again phase, so sickly sweet pet names thrown across the ER were the name of the game. Frankly he preferred the off again frosty silences.
ICU was lending them the new transfer, Dr Chase, for the day. Which would mean the nurses would be on a go-slow.
Abby was off, only in to bring Neela by.
Neela. Today was her big day. Only another month and she would be back to work. They'd be putting her back in the ER, letting her get used to practicing medicine again before letting her loose in surgery. Hopefully Gates wouldn't play the part of stalker again, no matter how thankful he was for it on that one day.
The worst part though, the worst part had just walked through the front doors, a big smile on his face.
"Hey, Pratt."
Greg just looked at him.
"Pratt?"
"Barnett. Here, take these charts and get to work." He told him, thrusting a hand full of charts in his direction.
"What? No, hey Ray, good to see you, how's it going, man?"
"No. Get to work."
***
This was not what he had expected. Sure, he'd thought that there might have been some hurt due to him not wanting anyone to know. He didn't need the pity. But this was definitely not the reaction he had expected. Even the new guy, Chase, had been cool towards him. He hadn't brought up Neela, but then it was obvious that no one else had either. And the moment Katey had been called down from ICU had been mind blowing. It had been like an ice storm.
Now he was sitting in the locker room, scratching at the bottom of his leg. Pratt had just walked in, glaring the moment he noticed Ray.
"Pratt?"
"Barnett."
"You got any idea what all this is about?"
"All this?"
"The freeze out."
Pratt gave a little laugh, a curious smirk across his face. He was just about to answer when the door opened and Abby popped her head around it.
"Hey, Greg" She started, ignoring Ray's presence, "can you take the little man for a bit, we need to head upstairs."
"Sure."
The door opened further, and a little boy, Joe, raced in, "Uncle Greg!"
"Hey buddy!" Pratt laughed as he swung the kid up onto his hip, "How's my little man today?"
"Great!"
Ray tuned out the kid as he babbled about his Aunty Nee and the pictures they'd spent the morning drawing. He caught a glimpse of the corridor as the door swung shut, Abby wheeling a dark haired woman away in a wheelchair.
"Barnett?" Once he'd caught Ray's attention Pratt continued, "We'll continue this later. It's not something for the little man to hear."
***
As his shift came to a close Ray slumped into the locker room again and sat down on a bench. He waited as everyone filtered in and out; receiving glares from most people and a "don't make things worse, Barnett" from Gates. He still had no clue what was going on.
"Barnett, you're coming with me." Pratt announced as he hung up his lab coat in his locker.
"What?"
"You want to know what's going on? You come with me."
"Sure, where to?"
"The park."
"Right."
Both men were silent on the drive. Once the car was parked Pratt only asked if he was ok to walk a bit.
They came to a stop a little distance from a statue.
"Did you hear any news the day you left town?"
"You know what day I left?"
"Not my point man, not my point. Did you?"
Things began to connect in his mind.
"There was some sort of rally, shots were fired, and someone got trampled. Katey said the woman was a real pain in the ass, she spent almost a year having to deal with her."
Pratt laughed that little laugh again and a shiver rolled down his spine.
"Right, you know your girl, she's a real piece of work, and you know me, I'm not one to say that about a lady."
"Hey. Katey has done nothing but stand by me, and she was the only one who did."
"Whatever. You wanted to know right? You know, for all I hate the guy Gates and his stalker tendencies are the only reason Neela's even alive."
"What?"
"You heard me. That real pain in the ass? Neela."
"No, Katey would have told me."
"Would she? Ray, she saw Neela daily for the first four months, the four months she was in a coma. Through each and every surgery. Every working day of the year Neela was a patient in this hospital. I was just outside the door the day she told Neela you knew - and had for months."
"She, she what?"
"I only figured it out today, that you didn’t know. I knew Katey could be- man, I didn’t think she would have taken it that far. I bet you wondered why, no I bet you didn't, you know Neela told me what you said that day, that you said she wouldn't visit. You were right, it killed her that she couldn’t visit, that you didn’t want her there even if she been able to, but you're actually more manoeuvrable than she is these days. It would have had to be you doing the visiting and she thought you hated her, blamed her. She definitely blames herself. Calls all this her karma."
"Karma?"
"Your legs."
"My legs?"
"She thinks it's her fault, because of everything, because of what Katey said to her that day, and each and every time after. She thinks she deserves the coma, the breathing problems, the fifteen separate surgeries on her legs." He looked pointedly at him. "The wheelchair."
"Wheelchair? That was her, wasn't it, with Abby?"
"Yes. They live together these days, Neela looks after Joe when Abby's at work and they keep each other going."
He nodded, "Because Luka's looking after his Dad in Croatia, right?"
"Right. You know that but not Neela?"
"I-"
***
Pratt drove him back to the hospital and he sat in the lounge waiting for Katey to drive him home. Katey. She must have known he would find out. She-
He stopped his train of thought as he heard the door open behind him; he tensed, ready for the fight. He heard the tapping of what used to be the only warning that Weaver was about to pounce.
He turned his head slowly; she stood there, frozen. He looked her over; the crutch...the scar over the left side of her face -
"Neela."
She gave him a small smile, somewhere between worry and despair, and moved to her locker.
"I just needed to pick up some forms I left."
"Right, Neela, I, I didn't-"
The door opened again. It was Katey. Neela grimaced and looked away from them both, hurrying away as quickly as she could on her unsteady legs.
End part one.