Chapter 3
THREE
As it was, they didn't have that dinner. Kay got a call from the hospital. A mass casualty event happened on the interstate and the Emergency Room had patients rolling in.
Instead of putting two vehicles on the road, she'd gotten a ride from Gibson to the hospital on his way to the Fire station to help with whatever he could do.
So it was a week later, and she was still smiling at the neat patch of her wall that Gibson had done before all hell broke loose in Center City.
Her schedule and his hadn't lined up in any real way and while he insisted he could move around some of his scheduled contractor work, her schedule had been shifted around to include extra shifts where she tagged along with Callen Webb as he did his job as the head of the Trauma Department of the hospital.
She'd already see the dedication that Callen and Roan had put into their jobs, but seeing everything that Callen had to do made Roan's decision so much more understandable.
If he and Pilar wanted a family of their own, he would be locked up into a schedule that would leave most of the work of tending to the children heavily on Pilar's shoulders. So she understood his change of heart.
And she wasn't likely to have a personal life either as evidenced by the last few weeks.
PING
Her phone pinged as she sat down for a break.
Taking it out of the pocket of her lab coat she smiled.
brAUN: How are you?
She grinned as she looked at the message.
Gibson had been in her phone as Gibson at first, but after a week and a few days she'd changed it to Braun. It sounded... fierce. Sexy. And damn it, she hadn't had anything like him in her life.
Not ever.
Even then she had the memory of their afternoon together when he'd fixed that hole in her wall.
So as exhausted as she was, she was giddy enough to respond back with something stupid and smexy just for the fun of it.
Smexy. She'd heard some of the nurses using the word and thought it was funny.
KAY: Exhausted
KAY: You?
She wondered what he was doing. Was this one of his shift days? Or-
PING
brAUN: Just finished a job. Renovations on a room in someone's house. It's going to be a nursery. Put up some shelves, baby proofed all the outlets and painted it. When I saw the name on the paint can I thought of you. NACHO CHEESE.
Kay laughed and a nurse at the other table looked up from her cellphone. "Sorry."
The nurse shrugged, but Kay got up from her chair and walked out of the breakroom and went across the hall and out a side door into one of the courtyards that had been designed into the hospital grounds.
The cool Center City air stung her cheeks as she dialed his number.
The phone picked up almost immediately.
"Hey, Kay."
She laughed out loud before covering her mouth to smother the sound.
"What?"
She rolled her eyes and walked across the courtyard to sit down on a bench where she could stretch out her legs in front of her.
"I'm in the courtyard between the old wing and the new one. It's generally a quiet space, but it's just me out here. I guess I didn't have to cover my mouth."
She heard his laughter on the other end.
"Thanks for the picture you put in my head."
"Like that, huh?"
His laughter deepened. "Yeah. It's a nice picture."
She stretched out her legs and her low-heeled shoes slipped off of her heels, so they were only dangling from her toes. "It's been a long day. And I've only been here for a few hours. What about you? Don't tell me that you're sitting around the firehouse looking for something to do."
"Actually, I just finished that job-"
Ugh. She dropped her chin down to her chest. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I forgot."
"No need to apologize. I know you're tired. I'm just glad you called me."
She sighed and leaned against the wall at her side. "I like hearing your voice."
The instant she said it she grimaced.
That was a little forward.
And made her feel like she'd said too much.
"I like hearing yours, too."
She smiled at his words, but there was something odd about the way it sounded. Almost as if there was an echo or something changing the sound reaching her ears.
"But I like seeing your face, just as much."
That, she heard twice.
Kay turned toward the set of doors to her left and smiled when he walked into the courtyard.
"Gibson?"
He put his phone in his pants pocket and walked closer. "Yeah. Sorry. I was in the area and when you said you were on a break, I thought I'd just stop in and say hello."
She shook her head. "I just... I can't believe you're here."
She moved to stand up, but he gestured for her to stay seated.
He sat down beside her and smiled, pointing at the phone in her hand. "Sorry. I ended the call."
Smiling at him, she chuckled softly. "Yeah. I'm not the sharpest tack in the box right now."
He shrugged and she put the phone down at her side. "Everyone needs some down time. It's kind of why I like painting. I get in the groove and just paint back and forth. Up and down."
She started laughing but she didn't think she was making any sound. "You watch a lot of Karate Kid growing up?"
He paused for a moment and then laughed out loud. "I never thought about it, but yeah! I think I did."
Gibson stretched out his arm. "What was it, up and down to..."
"Paint the fence." She giggled and felt the tension in her body fall away. "Then side to side was-"
"The house, I think."
She smiled and sighed. "I haven't seen that movie in..."
"Forever," he finished. "Me, too."
"Maybe..." "We should watch it-"
They laughed and he stretched out his legs beside her.
"Hey, I know you're here for another few hours," she tried not to hate the sound of that, but she did, "but I've already got my painting clothes on."
She wasn't sure what he was saying at first, but her mind cleared up pretty quickly in her head.
"I don't know how you'd feel about letting me into your house while you're not there, but-"
She rolled onto her hip and pushed her lab coat out of the way to dig into the pocket on her scrubs.
"I trust you." She pulled her keys out and held them out to him.
"Besides, you know how bad the door locks are.
If you wanted to get in, you could probably just push up the sash windowpane and climb in. "
Kay could tell by the wincing look on his face that he didn't like hearing that.
It was one of the hundreds of things she had on her list to fix about her house.
And she'd get to them.
Eventually.
She held out her keys and he took it from her. "I'm pretty sure I put my clothes in the hamper before I left this morning, so just ignore... whatever you see that might just be my... underthings."
"Underthings?"
Kay looked at him and saw the humor in his eyes. She shrugged. "It just feels... weird to say panties in front of you." She'd whispered the P-word in front of him and it felt odd to even suggest it.
Gibson leaned in, jingling her keys in his hand. "You don't want me to think about your panties?"
She dropped her face into her hands. "I can't believe I said that."
She heard his laughter, but it didn't feel like it was at her expense. Instead, it felt almost intimate.
"I'll avert my eyes."
She looked up at him and saw the sweet humor in his eyes. "You don't have to do that," she demurred, "I just worry you're going to think I'm a slob."
"I think you worry too much about what I think about you."
She didn't know how to react to that.
She did worry about what he thought.
Probably too much, but he didn't seem to be as worried about it.
That, she'd have to ponder later.
Her phone alarm sounded off and she sighed. "Sorry to embarrass myself and run." She slipped her shoes back on and got up on her feet. "But it's time for me to head back to work."
He was standing at her side, having gotten on his feet at the same she did. "What time are you going to be home?"
She looked at him and wondered why it sounded so.
.. domestic, as if he was going to add the word, 'dear' onto the end of it.
Kind of like those old black and white shows she used to watch on TV land when she was younger.
"I'm set to clock out at five. If I can get out of the door on time, I should be home at six. Will you still be there?"
He nodded. "I picked up the paint and have it in my truck, but I'll still need to tape everything off and paint. As long as it doesn't rain this afternoon, it should all be dry tonight before you go to sleep."
Her phone pinged a reminder alarm.
"Sorry, I've got to go."
Gibson leaned in and for a moment she thought he might kiss her, but he stopped when the door she'd walked through swung open.
"Kay? You coming?"
She saw Xiomara Ortiz, another doctor in the trauma rotation looking out at her. She lifted her hand. "Yeah."
Xiomara smiled when she saw Gibson. "Hey, Lieutenant! Good to see you."
"Doctor Ortiz. Same."
Xiomara gave him a wave and Kay saw her turn back and give her a wink.
Kay looked back at Gibson. "Thanks. For stopping by and for agreeing to help. I would have gotten around to painting it... someday. It's just that I needed the time and the energy."
"I got it, Kay. Really. I'm happy to help. You don't have to go it alone."
Kay backed away from him with a smile playing across her lips. It wasn't until she was back inside that her smile fell away entirely.
He'd hit the nail on the head even though he probably didn't know it.
She knew that he hadn't said it to hurt, but it had.
Alone.
She'd done a lot alone.
Pretty much everything in fact.
Something that he didn't have to know.
Something she didn't want him to know.
It was better that way. The last thing she wanted him to feel for her was pity.
If she ever saw that on his face... in his eyes, she didn't think she could stand it.
So she'd keep her smile in place with him and her walls up around her history. Where they belonged.