Chapter Text
JUNI
The café salad was dying a slow death under the heat lamp. The lettuce wilted at the edges, browning where it touched the plastic container, and the tomatoes had that soft look that meant they'd turn to mush the second a fork touched them. Juni stood there with it in her hand anyway, because the other options were a sandwich that was definitely tuna despite the label claiming chicken, or soup that had formed a skin thick enough to support a spoon.
She set the salad back down and considered just skipping lunch entirely.
"I think that one's planning an escape." The voice came from behind her.
Juni turned before she'd fully processed the words, an--
Oh.
Tall. Not absurdly so, but enough that she had to look up. Dark hair, longer on top, the kind of deliberately messy that either took effort or was just how he woke up. Warm eyes that crinkled at the corners, watching her like he'd been waiting to see if she'd turn around.
He gestured at the container she'd just put down. "Pretty sure I saw it move."
She shifted her weight. "Yeah? You think we should call someone? Quarantine the whole display?"
"Might be safer." He grabbed a different container, held it to the light, examining it. "This one looks like it's already given up. No fight left."
"Tragic."
"Really is." He set it down. "Moment of silence?"
She laughed and he watched her like he'd won something. He was wearing jeans and a henley, dark gray, sleeves pushed up past his forearms. No white coat, no scrub pants, no ID badge clipped to his belt. Her eyes went there automatically, checking, and came up empty.
New attending, maybe. Or visiting from another hospital.
"You work here?" she asked.
"Not exactly." He picked up a bottle of orange juice, checked the expiration date. "You?"
"Nurse. Med-surg, mostly." She grabbed a bottle of water just to have something to do with her hands. "You're not exactly answering the question."
"I'm not, am I?" He tilted his head slightly. "You always this direct?"
"Only when people are being evasive."
"Fair." He moved closer, enough that she could see the stubble along his jaw, the way his shirt fit across his shoulders. "I'm here temporarily. Visiting, you could say."
Visiting attending, then. Or maybe a resident rotating through.
"Temporary," she repeated. "So you're not staying."
"Depends how things go." His eyes held hers. "Could be here awhile... Could be gone tomorrow."
Before she could figure out what that meant, he was leaning against the counter beside her, bottle of juice in hand, looking at her like she was the most interesting thing in the entire café.
"You eat this sad food every day?" he asked.
"Not if I can help it." She glanced at the wilted salad and the suspect sandwich. "Usually I pack something. I was running late today."
"So now you're stuck with cafeteria roulette."
"Looks like it."
"Want some company while you lose?"
Juni picked up an apple from the fruit basket. "You're pretty confident I'm losing."
"Have you seen the options?"
"I've seen worse."
"Yeah? Where?"
"County hospital. Was there for a couple years." She turned the apple over in her hand. "This place is the Ritz by comparison."
"That's depressing."
"Little bit."
His eyes were hazel, she realized. Lighter than she'd thought, green when the light hit just right. She kept looking longer than she meant to, he had this way of holding eye contact that felt direct without being aggressive.
"I'm Juni."
"Denny." He held out his hand and she took it. Warm palm, firm grip. "Nice to meet you, Juni."
She pulled her hand back slowly. "So what brings you to Seattle Grace? Besides the incredible cuisine."
His expression shifted. Still warm, but different now. "I need a new heart."
She blinked. "What?"
"Heart transplant." He said it easily. "About to be admitted. Top of the list, apparently."
Oh.
Oh fuck.
Her stomach dropped. Not a doctor. Not an attending. Not even a med student doing rounds. He was here. Sick.
Her face must have done something because he looked almost apologetic. "Sorry. Probably should've led with that."
"No, I just..." She stopped, regrouped. "I thought you were a doctor."
"Do I look like a doctor?"
"You're wandering around like you own the place. So yeah."
"That's fair." He smiled slightly. "They're getting my room ready. Figured I'd explore while I still have legs that work."
She should say something appropriate. Literally anything that wasn't still standing here with her pulse doing things she was refusing to acknowledge.
Instead: "And you chose the café? That's where you're spending your freedom?"
"I chose the cute nurse in the café." He said it simply. "Freedom's relative."
Her neck went warm and she pressed her lips together to keep from smiling too wide. "That's a line."
"Is it working?"
"I'm still standing here."
"Then yeah, It's working."
She should walk away. Grab her water and apple, say something polite, and leave.
She met his eyes instead. "Cardiothoracic. That's where you'll be."
Why did you say that.
"Yeah?" He shifted his weight, leaning slightly closer. "So I might see you around."
"Maybe." She picked up her water. "I rotate through there sometimes."
"How often is sometimes?"
"Often enough."
"I'll look forward to it." The way he said it made it very clear he wasn't talking about nurse-patient interactions.
She shook her head, still smiling. "You flirt with all your nurses, or am I special?"
"Haven't met the others yet."
"So I'm first. Got it."
"First and favorite." He said it without hesitation. "Gotta lock that down early."
She laughed and shook her head. "You're trouble."
"Probably."
"Definitely."
"You gonna stop by anyway?"
She should say no.
"Yeah," she said. "I'll stop by."
"Juni." His voice dropped, went quieter. "Thanks for not running when I told you about the heart thing."
She softened. "Thanks for being honest about it."
"Seemed important."
"It was."
He stepped back, orange juice in hand. "I should probably get back before they send a search party." He started walking backward toward the exit. "See you on cardio?"
"Maybe."
"Definitely." He said, still grinning. "I'll be the one with the new heart." He kept walking backward until he disappeared into the hallway.
Great. Perfect. Excellent decision-making, Juni.
DENNY
He didn't see the tall blonde until impact.
One second he was walking backward out of the café (which, yeah, showing off a little, sue him) and the next he was colliding with what felt like a human wall wearing scrubs.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry--" She grabbed his arm to steady herself, eyes wide. "I wasn't...are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He laughed, hands coming up. "That was my fault. Wasn't watching where I was going."
"No, I should've--" She stopped, looked at him more carefully. Tall, blonde, pretty in that earnest all-American way. Her ID badge said Dr. Stevens in block letters. "You're sure you're okay?"
"Positive, promise."
She smiled. "Okay. Good. Sorry again."
She moved past him toward the elevators, already pulling out her pager, and he watched her go for maybe half a second before his brain circled back to the café.
Dark hair that had been falling out of its bun, loose pieces curling at her neck. Brown eyes that had gone wide when he'd told her about the transplant, then warmed when she'd decided to stay anyway.
I'll stop by.
She'd said it like she meant it. Or maybe like she wanted to mean it and was already regretting the impulse. Either way, she'd smiled at him like he wasn't just another patient on a floor full of them, and that mattered.
He had a feeling Juni was going to stop by.
And he was absolutely going to make sure she didn't regret it.
JUNI
Juni stopped at the nurses' station and set down her water harder than necessary.
Her phone buzzed.
Tyler: you eat yet?
Juni: just had the café salad experience
Tyler: RIP your intestines
Juni: might have also just flirted with a patient
Tyler: ...name badges exist for a reason
Juni: I THOUGHT HE WAS A DOCTOR
Tyler: sure you did. which floor?
Juni: cardio. transplant
Tyler: oh honey you're screwed
Juni locked her phone and shoved it in her pocket. She had six minutes before her break ended. Enough time to get her head straight and absolutely not think about hazel eyes or the way he'd said her name.
She picked up her water, took a long drink.
Fuck.
She was definitely going to stop by anyway.