Warning:
This story does not contain any sex.
None of the characters are based on real people nor are they meant to
resemble any living or dead people.
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Life Anew
Chapter 11,
Part 1
Keep It
Professional
Andrew wakes
up, and his mind reflects on yesterday's day and everything that happened with
Chase. He loved it. He has work today
and has to be professional. How can he
be professional and in love with Cody simultaneously? Maybe, if he pulled back just a little from
him at work, that would do the trick. It
might work. It will have to work, so why
does that feel wrong to him? Surely,
Cody will understand. Andrew somehow has
to stay as professional as possible, but he can only do it by avoiding his
boss. Andrew gets ready and leaves for
work.
***
Andrew gets
into work and attends the morning meeting before heading out to get his day
going. Usually, Andrew and Cody would
have a moment, a kiss, and a hug, but today there was nothing. Andrew hated it. Cody hated it and wondered why. Jennifer, Lisa, and Susan all noticed that
Andrew had left the break room as soon as the meeting was over. They also saw
that Andrew was being a bit cold towards the doctor. He did do a pretty good job at answering all
the questions that were posed to him by Cody.
This behavior change has caught Cody a bit off guard. Yesterday between Chase and him, he thought
they would be strong than this, but clearly, something is wrong. Andrew should know where he stands with
Cody. It would appear there is a hiccup
in his thoughts. He decides not to
ignore this action by Andrew.
***
Jennifer has
no problem butting her nose in if need be.
For now, she thinks it's best to observe some more. She can already see the male nurse pulling
back. This mess is interfering with
morale in the office. All the staff
knows that Andrew and Cody are seeing each other, so the two guys can be
themselves without the worry of complaints from them. They'll be okay if they don't parade their
relationship in front of the patients.
She decides to either pull Cody to the side or speak with Andrew, either
way, this needs to be cleared up. Cody
walks by her, and she looks at him:
"Fix this!"
The nurse
says to the doctor. He responds with:
"I don't
know how."
He says as
he heads to his next patient. He turns
to her and says.
"One last
thing, I'm fixing this; don't step in."
Cody tells
his nurse. Cody knows he is loved by
Andrew, and he loves Andrew.
***
Cody and
Andrew get a chance to be alone for a few seconds. Cody takes advantage of the fact and gives
him a kiss. The kiss actually shakes
Andrew a bit.
"Thanks,
Andrew!"
Cody says to
Andrew as the nurse leaves the room. The
doctor is surprised that he didn't get a kiss goodbye or a "You're welcome" for
the kiss. The kiss got something
stirring inside of Andrew. He knows that
wasn't exactly professional, but he also likes Cody. With Cody in his life, his ex can't win. Andrew
needs to talk to someone to get these feelings out. Lucky for him, he is going on lunch in an
hour, and so does Lisa. He finds Lisa easier to talk to, but right now, he has
a 3-year-old to see who seems to have chicken pox.
***
Just before
his lunch, Andrew seeks out Lisa, who is on her way out for lunch.
"Lisa, hold
up for a second."
He calls out
to the other nurse. She stops to see
what her co-worker wants.
"Can I join
you for lunch? I...I...need some advice."
She smiles
and agrees. Cody watches from one of the
exam room doors as Lisa and Andrew leave the clinic together. He thought Andrew was having lunch with him
today, but he guesses he was wrong. In a
few minutes, Andrew and Lisa arrive at the restaurant to eat. They sit down and
wait for the waitress to arrive at their table with their menus. Lisa is curious why Andrew is so quiet if he
needs advice. She feels whatever is up
has to do with their boss, but she isn't prying it out of him.
"Lisa, how
do I date Cody and maintain professionalism at the clinic?"
Lisa is
surprised by Andrew's question. She
isn't sure her answer will be received well by her friend. He doesn't have to like what she says.
"If you love
him, you can't always hide it. We all
know that the two of you like each other.
It's hard not to notice the twinkles in your eyes when you see Cody or
when Cody's eyes shine when he sees you.
When Chase is around and wants to see you only to find out that you
aren't here, one can't hide that disappointment. You can hide it from the patients, but I
think the thing to do is to tone it down at the office. Don't be obvious when it's go time, but the
minute you're alone
with him, keep it clean but let him know you love him."
Lisa could
tell he was listening, but she could tell he was still worried. Andrew keeps quiet as he thinks over what his
friend said to him.
"Do you
think I shouldn't be as professional at the clinic?"
She isn't
exactly telling him to not be professional at the clinic, so she hopefully
makes it a bit clearer to him.
"You can
love him, but keep the PDAs to a minimum and show him attention when there
aren't patients around."
He frowns at
her advice. When the food comes, the two
friends begin to eat. Andrew thinks over
everything that Lisa has said.
"You know,
I've thought over what you said, and I'm still not sure how to go forward with
Cody, but I like the part about keeping our PDA for times when we're away from the
office."
Lisa is a
little lost. She thought her advice was
pretty good, and he's messing this up.
If Andrew can't get this right, what will happen to Cody and Chase? All Lisa can do is hope that Cody can see
through this mask that Andrew is putting up to look professional.
***
Lunch is over,
and Andrew and Lisa had been back for ten minutes. Andrew was doing everything he could to avoid
being in a position where he would see Cody.
This way, there would be no reason to worry about being
unprofessional. Cody wants to speak with
his nurse. He is a little
unhappy. The doctor walks up to the
front desk where Jennifer is sitting.
"Jennifer,
why is Andrew being so distant. I
thought we were passed all this nonsense."
She doesn't
know what to say to Cody.
"Cody, just
talk to Andrew."
Cody knows
that Jenn is right, but he's tired of trying with him.
"Jennifer,
maybe I need to call it quits with him."
This time,
she isn't happy with Cody. It's too late;
Cody is already in love with the guy.
More importantly, Chase already likes Andrew too.
"You can't
walk away now; you'll crush that little boy of yours."
Cody knows
she is right. He knows what he has to
do.
***
Cody decides
he going to force Andrew into talking with him.
He hates this back and forth with Andrew. As much as he hates to do it,
Cody has to know what's going on with that man.
"Andrew, I
want to talk to you after work today. We really need to talk."
Cody texts
the man in his life and hopes that on his next break, that Andrew will check
his phone. It would be foolhardy for the
doctor to stop seeing the nurse, but something has to give. Andrew is ignoring him, and it hurts a
little.
***
Cody is in
his office doing paperwork when Andrew comes into his office. The doctor looks up from his desk and,
without smiling, says:
"Please
close the door and have a seat."
Andrew's
heart sinks a little. He has seen that
expression on his man's face, which usually means he's not happy. The nurse's stomach is in knots. He's afraid that he's going to be fired. His boss finishes the paperwork he's been
working on for the last 10 minutes.
Looking up into Andrew's eyes, he still doesn't smile.
"I want to
know what the heck is going on today?"
Andrew is a
little unsure of what to say to him.
"I'm not
sure what you mean by that?"
Now the
doctor is a little mad, but he contains his anger. He looks down at the ground, takes a deep
breath, and looks up into his man's eyes.
"You came
into today without saying hello to me, never smiled at me, didn't have lunch
with me, and weren't here to talk to Chase.
I thought we were goo? Is there a
problem that I don't know about?"
Andrew
frowns at the thought of hurting Cody and Chase. All of this came about because Andrew was mindful
of where he is and how he should act.
"I was just
trying to be professional. I guess I
blew it, huh?"
Andrew was
honest about his actions today. Cody
shakes his head. If he was trying to be
professional, maybe he succeeded at doing that and did awesome in his abilities
as a nurse. Where he failed is how he
treated the guy he likes.
"I like that
you were trying to be professional, but I also like being smiled at or those
winks that you give me when no one is looking.
I love having lunch with you. I
like spending time with you in the mornings.
Can I do anything to make you more comfortable so you're not so
concerned about being so uptight at work? Look, I want you to be professional,
but I want my nurse back. It's like you
changed or something did the minute we got close. I could transfer you over to Doctor Hartman's
office and see you at lunch. Maybe, we
could come in together and go home together."
Andrew's
heart just about broke when Cody mentioned that transfer. He doesn't want to be sent away. Cody and him work well together.
"I guess I
could relax and tone down my uptightness.
I feel like I didn't smile a whole lot today. I did not realize I was making you feel bad."
Andrew could
use a hug, but Cody doesn't look like he's ready to hug him.
"Look, I
just want Andrew to be Andrew. By the
way, I had patients who were unhappy that your usual "sass and sparkle" was
gone. Any questions?"
Cody is
trying to get him to understand what he wants from him. Ultimately, it's up to Andrew to figure out
what he wants.
"Cody, in
the end, you're going to do what's best for you and the clinic. Maybe, I am not right for you."
Doctor
Gaines isn't letting this slide. He
looks Andrew in the eyes and studies his face for a second.
"STOP IT!
Dammit, you know I lo...like you, I'm not Ethan or whatever his name is. I won't have you putting yourself down. I want you to come in tomorrow ready to work
with a smile on this handsome face of yours.
I want you here for our patients, not locked behind your professionalism."
After
speaking, Cody stands up and heads for the door. He opens it and stops. Andrew stands up too, ready to curl up next
to his pillow and let out some tears.
Cody almost said that he loves him, but he didn't, which hurts more than
anything that Ethan has done.
"Hey, before
you go, can I have a kiss?"
Maybe, Cody
can feel the pain in his man's heart.
Andrew smiles and gives his guy a kiss.
They walk together to the break room and their stuff. No one says a word as they walk to their cars.
***
Cody is
willing to spend eternity with him trying to prove that this thing they have is
real. There was a moment when they were
together in his office that scared him; when Andrew said, "Maybe, I'm not right
for you." it broke him. He can see Andrew in his future even if Andrew can't
see Chase and him in his future. How
many kisses, hugs, dates, and sexy looks does he have to give him? How many things must he do for him? How many times? He wants Andrew to see him and Chase in his
future.
***
Their drives
home were filled with playlists playing, but neither
guy was listening to the music. Cody is
wondering what to do with Andrew. Andrew
is wondering how to fix himself, not for Cody but for work, and maybe figure
out what is wrong with him. His boss
hinted at a transfer, and that scares him.
He found his place and doesn't want to lose it, not now. They know that they like each other, and it
won't be long until they're saying "I love you" back and forth. Their feelings for each other outside work
and the clinic must be sorted out.
***
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