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The day shift officially starts at 7am, yet at 5:45am on a cold Tuesday in November, Samira found herself walking into the Pitt to clock in.
If asked, she could give a myriad of reasons for why she chose to show up an hour and fifteen minutes early to her shift - she had to catch up on her charting, she wanted to check in on a few patients who had stayed in the ED overnight, she wanted to show anyone who might write her a fellowship recommendation letter that she was willing to go the extra mile - but the real reason was much less conscientious. The real reason she had dragged herself out of bed at 4:45am to trudge to work in freezing cold weather was because she missed her boyfriend.
Samira had been dating Jack Abbot for a month, and it would not be an exaggeration to say it had been the best month of her life. Jack was everything she didn’t realize she wanted in a partner. He was caring, attentive, generous, and he believed in her more than anyone ever had. And the sex, well - that was simply a bonus. But what a bonus it was.
Sex with Jack was like nothing she’d ever experienced. At every available moment they were hungrily undressing each other, running their tongues over each other’s bodies, competitively seeing which one of them could drag more pleasure out of the other (he was currently winning the orgasm count but she was getting better and better at reducing him to a heap of shivering arousal whenever she put her mouth on him).
Samira had had sex before, of course, but nothing that came close to this. And even though Jack was almost twenty years her senior and significantly more experienced than she was, she had the feeling that this all-consuming passion and lust was new to him as well.
Speaking of Jack, she was just settling down at her station at the Hub when she saw him coming out of a patient’s room. Her heart did its usual flip flop at the sight of his silver curls, his lean, freckled arms, his broad shoulders. How had she been oblivious to this man for so long? He absolutely screamed sex appeal.
(She had finally, finally taken notice of him after a particularly gruelling shift that ended with her fighting back tears in the stairwell. Jack had found her, and without saying a word had sat next to her and put his arm around her. She had leaned her head onto his shoulder and while wiping her eyes had thought “Oh.” And that was it.
He had whispered into her skin a week later that he would have waited for her as long she’d needed, but she was still glad she’d finally gotten her head out of her ass).
As Jack walked towards the Hub, she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. The two of them were always tired - that was part of the job - but he looked more dragged out than usual. She wondered if it had anything to do with the absence of her in his bed. She knew she was feeling the absence of him in hers.
They had been on alternating shifts for the past six days and it was starting to drive Samira a bit insane. She wanted as much of Jack as she could get, even if it was just glimpses of him across the ED. Hence the 5:45am arrival.
Jack finally got close enough to the Hub that he clocked her sitting there (his vision was a lot more atrocious than he tried to let on) and Samira saw something shift in his expression. To an untrained eye, it might have looked like nothing more than a quirk of his lip and a slightly raised eyebrow, but Samira recognized it for what it was: delight.
“Dr. Mohan,” he said, that familiar gravelly voice causing her heart to do another flip flop. “You’re here early today.”
“I have some things to catch up on,” she said, holding steady eye contact with him. She hoped that she was conveying the true meaning behind her words, which was that she missed him, that she craved him when they were apart, that she couldn’t sleep without him now that she knew what it was like to fall asleep wrapped up in his strong arms.
“That’s perfect,” Jack said. “I have a complex respiratory case that I can only pass off to the very best. Come with me and I’ll fill you in.”
Getting up off her stool, Samira followed him as he walked briskly away from the Hub . She glanced around surreptitiously to see if anyone had taken note of their interaction, but all she saw were sleepy faces focused on their own work.
Jack steered her towards the farthest supply closet, the one past the scrubs dispenser. He opened the door wordlessly and she scurried inside, a thrill shooting up her spine.
As soon as the door shut behind them she felt herself being pushed up against it. Jack put his hands on either side of her waist, rucking up her scrubs, and enveloped her in a deep, searing kiss. Humming, she laced her fingers through his curls to tug him even closer. She never got tired of feeling his strong body up against hers.
He started pressing warm kisses down her neck. “Mmm. I’ve missed you so goddamn much Samira, you have no idea.”
“I might have some idea,” she said breathlessly as he moved his ministrations down to her collarbone.
“I’m always thinking about you,” he murmured, nipping at her skin. “It’s distracting. I fear for my patient satisfaction scores.” He returned to her lips, kissing her slow and deep. His hands ran up her ribs and pushed their way under her sports bra. Getting his hands on her breasts, he let out a loud huff.
“Fuck. Perfect. You’re so perfect.” He pulled her scrub top down to try and get his mouth on her breasts. The angle and the layers made it difficult but she appreciated his commitment.
“Stop winding me up before my shift,” she complained as he continued pawing at her, but they both knew she didn’t mean it.
As Jack buried his head deeper into her chest, groaning, Samira let out a contented sigh. Feeling Jack’s mouth on her, having him pressed up against her, was the most at peace she had felt in days. Secretly, she loved when he manhandled her like this, like he couldn’t get enough of her.
After another minute, seemingly satisfied with the attention he had given to her breasts, Jack brought his mouth back up to her jaw. “I’m never not thinking about you,” he mumbled in a low voice. “You drive me fucking crazy.”
She always loved hearing her own feelings reflected back at her. She grabbed his ass and pulled him closer, enjoying the feeling of his erection pressing against her stomach even if she wasn’t going to get to do anything about it. They made out feverishly for another few minutes before she finally pulled away.
“We should get back out there,” she said with a remorseful sigh.
“You’re probably right,” he agreed, though he showed no signs of letting her go.
“Seriously, Jack. People are going to catch on.”
“I’m gonna try and switch shifts with Robby on Thursday. I’ll offer to pull a double if he’ll pull one for me. I can’t go another four days like this.”
“Won’t he wonder why you want to switch?”
“I’ll make something up.”
“Maybe you can say there’s a cargo pants convention in town,” she teased.
“Hey now,” he scolded, pulling her lower lip down with his finger. “Don’t knock the utility pants - they can hold more stuff than stupid jeans could ever dream of.”
Samira wrapped her arms around his low back, loving the warmth that seeped into her perpetually cold hands. Her own personal furnace. He hummed happily as she ran her nails up and down his back, closing his eyes and resting his forehead against hers.
“I don’t sleep well without you there,” she said softly.
His mouth tugged down. “I know, sweetheart. Neither do I.”
They hadn’t told each other they loved each other yet. It had only been a month, Samira reasoned. There was no need to move too fast, though she knew without question that she did love him, and she was pretty sure he loved her too. But they had time to say it, when they hadn't just been desperately grabbing at each other in a dark supply closet.
“Okay. I’m being the responsible one,” she said, removing her hands from his body and fixing her scrub top. She moved to open the door.
“Hold on. I need a minute,” he said, adjusting himself in his pants without shame. “I don’t want to traumatize any patients by going back out there in this condition.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be great for your patient satisfaction scores either.”
“I had to go outside for some air earlier because I started thinking about that shower we took last week. You’ve been in my head all night, Samira. I swear to God I feel like some sex-crazed teenager.”
Samira loved knowing the effect she had on him. Loved knowing that in four days, he would be waking her up by peppering kisses all over her face, seemingly never tiring of the thrill of seeing her in his bed.
(She loved that two weeks into their relationship he had told her that he didn’t know how he had ever lived without her, that he couldn’t see a version of his future without her in it).
“Let’s go save some lives out there, cowboy,” Samira said, tweaking Jack’s chin. He grunted, opening the door and ushering her out. Fortunately, there was no one around to catch them coming out together, looking disheveled in a way that would be hard to explain.
“Maybe I can stay a few extra hours,” Jack mused as they walked back to the Hub. “You know I love watching you work.”
“You need sleep,” Samira retorted. “You look exhausted.”
Jack frowned. “What I need is to switch shifts with Robby so I don’t have to endure this for another four days.”
“So dramatic,” Samira chided. Looking around and seeing that nobody’s eyes were on them, she gave his hand a quick squeeze.
“Four more days. I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”
His eyes flashed. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Good,” she said. She picked up a chart and left to go check on Mr. Hernandez, a dyspeptic older gentleman who had been waiting to be moved upstairs for almost three days. She felt Jack’s eyes on her as she walked away. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him standing unmoving at the Hub, hands in the pockets of his dumb cargo pants, a soft, dopey smile on his face.
He looked like her future.