A Lifetime of Whiskey

Chapter 7

By Wednesday afternoon, both surgeons were able to be transferred out of the ICU and onto one of the main floors. It felt weird to be the patients, but in a way, it was also nice to be receiving gifts and well wishes. Shaun and Lea had stopped by one afternoon and so had Park. Morgan had visited her superiors as well as Andrews and Isabel. Of course, the Melendez family had been coming nearly every day, though Gabi wasn't always with them. On Thursday morning, Melendez and Lim were sitting up in the chairs in their room, side by side, and they were close enough together that Melendez could hold Lim's hand. Glassman came into the room and asked, "And how are you two lovebirds doing?"

"I feel like Audrey ran over my abdomen with her Ducati," answered Melendez.

"After you ran over me with it," she smiled at him.

"But we both feel great," said Melendez.

"Speak for yourself; I feel drugged and exhausted," said Lim.

Glassman chuckled and said, "Well, heavy pain meds will do that to you. I'll check on you both later."

"Thank you, sir," said Lim.

It wasn't long before Mateo and Maria arrived with another couple whom were older than them, and the woman immediately began to walk towards Melendez, "Neil."

"Hola Abuelita," he smiled and gently hugged her. They briefly conversed in Spanish before Melendez asked, "Abuelita, you remember Audrey Lim, right?"

"Si," answered Rosalinda.

"Hi," answered Lim softly. She hadn't seen either of Melendez's grandparents since a family gathering while they had been secretly dating.

"Como te sientes?" asked Roberto.

"Bueno," answered Melendez.

"And you too?" asked Rosalinda to Lim.

"Yeah," answered Lim.

"It's been so long since we've seen you both," said Roberto, switching to English so Lim was included in the conversation.

"You haven't seen me since Navidad and you haven't seen Audrey since our Día de los Muertos party," said Melendez. That was the last event Lim had attended with Melendez before she ended their relationship.

"Well, it's nice to be able to see you both again, even if it's under these circumstances," said Roberto, "And your tíos and tías send their apologies, but they couldn't fly in due to all of the damage from the earthquake. We were fortunate to be able to make it into San Jose."

"There's always Face Time, and they can come visit at a later time. I'll be out of commission for a while," said Melendez.

All of Neil's relatives stayed and talked for a while, but Lim was wondering the entire time when they were going to bring up the break-up. Thankfully, they never did, to which Lim was thoroughly surprised. Eventually, all four of them stood and Maria said, "Well, we also promised your sister we would come by with Abuelita and Abuelito today, so we better get going."

"Okay Mom," said Melendez.

"Adios amorcito," said Rosalinda.

"Adios," said Melendez.

The four of them left and the rest of Lim and Melendez's day involved physical therapy, blood tests, napping, and channel surfing. Once night fell, Nurse Villanueva adjusted their IVs and gave them their meds before quietly leaving the room. Audrey waited several minutes before she began speaking, but she knew Melendez wasn't asleep because he wasn't snoring, "Hey Neil?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled groggily.

"I know a hospital room isn't the best place to have intimate discussions, but once we're both cleared to return to work..." Lim began.

"Yeah," Melendez urged her to continue.

"We never really addressed the favoritism complaint. We just fought like usual, and then, the earthquake happened, and...well we both know what we've been going through."

Melendez took a deep breath and groaned in pain, "Well, I know it's almost impossible for you to do, but you really need to focus on your recovery and not think like a Chief right now."

"Says the man who's been telling the nurses what's best for his course of treatment," said Lim sarcastically, "But seriously, what are we going to do?"

Melendez sighed, "I don't know," he admitted honestly, "Dr. Browne has been on my team since she started her residency and we have a great working relationship. Guess I was a little too friendly of a guy and I accidently caused her to fall in love with me," he said in amusement.

"Neil..." "Sorry," he apologized, "But, you do have a point. It might be better to transfer Claire to Andrews's team. I mean, all of the residents will be working under him while I recover. I don't see why it can't stay that way once I return to work."

"She won't be happy about that," warned Lim.

"I know," said Melendez, "But it's what's best for the team, because you were right: I do favor her a little bit more than the other residents. And if she's just going to be constantly flirting with me and attempting to get me to fall in love with her, it won't be in the patients' best interests."

"Wait a minute, what? You just admitted I was right about something?" asked Lim in mock surprise.

"Don't get too cocky," Melendez said. He rolled over and stayed silent before he asked, "Seriously, you're not jealous at all?"

"No," Lim answered.

"Not even a little?"

"Not even a little."

"It's okay to admit you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous, Neil. I was against the 'relationship' on a professional level, not because you were my ex."

"Were? So, we're back together now?"

"Yes, you asshat. I thought we decided that when I offered you half of my liver."

"Well, you never actually said we were exclusive again. You just said we could have a second chance if I let you donate."

"What the hell did you think I was implying?"

"Don't know. All I remember is I almost died a few days beforehand."

"Well, I was implying that we're a couple again."

"Okay," Melendez was silent for a few moments, "Are you sure you weren't jealous?"

"Neil, I promise you I wasn't jealous."

"Because I can assure you I only have eyes for one woman here at St. Bonaventure..."

"Go to sleep, Neil."

"Fine," Melendez closed his eyes and said, "I love you."

"Your parents are saints, because they will have their hands full with you and me."