In and Out of the ER : Dubenko leaves and runs into Neela

Dubenko leaves and runs into Neela
Dubenko is joined by Neela

Dubenko walked a short distance back toward the hospital before stopping to lean against the side of the brick building, closing his eyes and letting out a long breath. "Strike three doc...give it up already."

Neela walks down the sidewalk toward Ikes, her brow furrowing when she sees the curly haired doctor outside. She contemplates turning around but she can smell the alcohol and feels badly for him, "Dr. Dubenko?"

As he stood outside in the cool air, Dubenko startled slightly as he heard the accented voice of one of the ER's residents. "Ah, Dr. Rasgotra...I'm not in the mood to have my lip split this evening..."

Neela furrowed her brow, "You're sloshed, aren't you?"

He gave her a lopsided smile and a brief head nod. "One could say that, yes. A bit"

Neela sighed and decided to do some good will, "You need a ride home?"

He looked at her serious for a moment, "Thank you but no, I don't want to impose on your evening, doctor."

Neela shook her head and moved to wrap an arm around him, pulling him up to stand straight, "Come on, I'll take you home." She shook her head at herself, wondering what on earth would even compel her to do this.

He stiffened as Neela wrapped an arm around him "Taking pity on me, Rasgotra?"

Neela shakes her head, "You're not imposing. I'm due for some charity work anyhow."

Dubenko chewed his bottom lip as he gazed at Neela, not sure how to take her comment, but being fairly sure she was insulting him. "I see. I suppose I can be your good deed for the week, then. Keep me from loitering on the streets of our fair city, at any rate."

Neela nodded and motioned to her car across the street, "Come on, let's get you in there."

He shrugged and walked with her to the car, feeling more than a little sorry for himself and rather defeated. "Thank you, Dr. Rasgotra."

Neela rolled her eyes, "Remember this next time you're thinking of derogatory things to call me." She opened the passenger side door for him.

He wasn't too drunk to feel appropriately chastised and he ducked his head in embarrassment as he got into the car and fastened his seat belt. "I..."

Neela shut the door and rounded the car, getting in and starting it, "Are you sober enough to get yourself home?"

He nodded and gave her brief, but accurate, directions to his house. He turned to look at her, reaching up to brush his curly hair out of his face, "Dr. Rasgotra, Neela, I am aware of the fact that I owe you an apology"

"Several in fact." He looked out the window and sighed, "You didn't catch me at my best, or even at my usual level of ineptness the other night, I was beyond abhorrent in my behavior. I'm sorry."

Neela nodded accepting is apology, "Apology accepted, Dr. Dubenko."

He nodded again and looked around the interior of her car as he tried to think of something to say, coming up with nothing banal enough for casual conversation.

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lukakovac
2005-11-25 09:20 (link)

Neela turned the radio on as the awkward air filled the car, "Apartment or house."

"Ah house..."He looked at her radio and then turned the volume down slightly. "I never cared for apartment living, reminds me too much of the misery that was dorm life in college."

Neela nodded, "Makes sense."

He smirked. "Glad we can agree on something."

Neela pulled in front of his house and nods toward it, "This it?"

"It is," He looked at the two story house that has been his home for years and then back at her, unfastening his seat belt. "Thank you, again...and I am sorry about the other night. Very sorry."

Neela nodded and put the car in park, "Do you need any help?"

He quirked his eyebrows at ehr question, "Help? No...I think I can make it to the door unassisted. I'll ah, take that as a hint to kindly get out of your car. Good night, Dr. Rasgotra."

She shook her head, "That's not what I meant Dr. Dubenko, I meant do you need any help getting from my car to the door and from the door to your bed?

"Are you offering to tuck me in, Neela?" The thought amused him and he laughed softly.

She looks up at him, eyes wide and dark as she nods. She takes her seat belt off as the car stops.

Neela shook her head, "No, I'm merely offering to help you get home quietly."

"I was just...nevermind, Rasgotra."He placed his hand on the car door, opening it. "Contrary to what you may believe, I'm not *that* drunk." He paused, a thought occurring to him, "Would you like to come in?"

Neela's slightly flustered by his proposition and raises an eyebrow, "Won't it wake your family?"

He shook his head "Housekeeper, is I'm sure, not at all interested in my comings and goings and Kitty sleeps like the dead."

Neela raises an eyebrow, "You have a cat?"

"Kitty is my daughter's name...nickname." He clarified.

Neela's eyes widen in surprise, "You've got a daughter?"

Her reaction causes him to reply dryly, "Yes, I have a daughter. Is it that incomprehensible, Dr. Rasgotra, that someone might find me appealing enough to wish to procreate with me?"

Neela sighs and shakes her head, "That's not what I meant. I just didn't know. I didn't mean for you to take offense."

His shoulders slumped slightly and he shook his head, "It's all right, I'm sorry. It's just been another fantastically abysmal evening. I should learn to quit while I'm ahead."

He nodded at th house again, "Offer does still stand..."

She frowns, "I'm sorry your evening has been abhorrent." Neela nods and takes her seatbelt off, "As long as I get some coffee."

He gave her a friendly smile, "Coffee I can definitely manage."

Neela gets out of the car and shuts her door, locking it and rounding the car to the sidewalk.

Without giving it much thought, Dubenko placed his hand on the small of her back as he lead her up the short sidewalk to the front door.

Neela arches her back away from his hand, getting more nervous as they get closer to the house. She can't figure out why.

He dropped his hand from her back at her reaction and muttered an apology as he dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. He pushed it open and reached inside to turn on the foyer light, motioning for her to enter, "Lady's first"

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lukakovac
2005-11-25 09:24 (link)

She wrapped her arms around herself and shrugged, feeling cold all of a sudden.

Dubenko looked at the young doctor curiously as she hesitated, "Are you all right?"

Neela nodded, "Just a tad bit cold, that's all."

"Then may I suggest you actually come inside, I'll put that coffee on and we'll get you warmed up a bit"

Even as the words escaped his lips, another voice asked a question of it's own from the staircase "Where have you been? And who is she? What are you doing and why are you in trouble at work? And why didn't you call to tell me you were going to be home late? You're supposed to call...you promised" The petulant child fired her barrage of questions, her hands on her hips.

Neela nods and steps forward into the house, brow furrowing at the chastising young voice accompanied by the young girl she can only assume is Kitty.

Dubenko sighed, rubbed his brow with a resigned gestured and looked at his daughter, "Kitty, this is Dr. Rasgotra, and I do believe you should be in bed."

Neela smiled a meek smile at the young girl, feeling very out of place, "It's all right I can go."

The girl shook her curly head and frowned "I'm not going to bed until you answer my questions."

Dubenko looked at Neela and shook his head, "No, please stay...I owe you that coffee at least."

He glared at the thin girl on the stairs and merely pointed toward the second floor. WIth an indignant squeek she turned and stomped back up the stairs.

Neela nods, backing towards a wall, wishing she'd blend in with it.

He gave Neela an apologetic look, "I'm sorry...she's usually not so...rude."

Neela nodded, "It's okay. How old is she?"

"Twelve, going on forty." He shook his head and took off his jacket, hanging it in the hall closet. "She ah, rules the roost around here, so to speak. My fault, I'm sure, for being overly indulgent." He gestures down the hall toward the kitchen "So...coffee?"

Neela nodded, "She sounds much like I was at her age, except I've been told I was mousey and lacked a temper unless utterly provoked." She took a step toward the kitchen.

Lucien smiled at her comment "I can fully attest to that temper of yours." His hand went to his cheek absently as he recalled the way the woman's eyes had flashed with anger as she struck him.

She shrugged, "Well, it was greatly deserved."

He nodded and entered the kitchen, turning on the light and going to the pantry to remove a bag of coffee beans. "I didn't say that it wasn't. I can only imagine what you must think of me"

She shrugged, "That you're a degrading chauvinist pig. Depending on your coffee I might be willing to erase one or two of those words off the list." She smirked slightly.

He cast his eyes downward at her assessment of him, thinking that nothing was further from the truth. Holding up the beans he moved to the counter and the coffee grinder. "Is Vanilla Almond alright? At least it'll be fresh ground..

She nods, "Vanilla Almond is fine, thank you."

He goes about grinding the coffee and adding it and fresh water to the coffee maker, intent on his task until he remembers the stack of notes and paperwork he left sitting on the counter regarding his upcoming surgery. Hoping that she had yet to notice the information, he quickly moved and swept it into a drawer without explanation. "Sorry, I tend to leave paper trails wherever I go..."

She hadn't noticed the paperwork, her attention brought to it only when he brings it up. "It's fine, don't worry about it." She smiles at him warmly before moving to sit at the table, looking around the room.

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lukakovac
2005-11-25 09:26 (link)

He leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the coffee to finish brewing."So, other than taking your slightly inebriated colleagues home from the local bar, what did you have planned for the evening?

Neela folds her hands in her lap neatly, "Cleaning the flat. Ray uses our couch as his personal hamper."

He wrinkled his nose, "Ray...Dr. Barnett? I ah, hadn't realized that you two were...an item" He shook his head, unable to picture the two together.

Neela laughs heartily, "No, no, no, no. We're not dating. We're just flatmates. That's all, it's a relationship built on convenience. He works days and I tend to work the nights so he can go to his "gigs" and I never have to see him."

"Ah." He was tempted to ask if she was seeing someone, but didn't want to risk offending her. Taking two mugs from the shelf over the sink, he looked over his shoulder at her, "How do you take your coffee?"

She sat up straighter at his question, "Black, please."

He arched an eyebrow at that and poured the hot liquid into the mugs, adding sugar to his. He carried them over to the table and offered the one without the sugar to her.

Taking the seat across the table from her, Dubenko sipped his coffee carefully. "

Neela smiled in thanks as he brought her the coffee, taking a small sip as to not burn her tongue, "Where's your wife?"

Dubenko sat his coffee mug down on the table, wrapping both hands around it as he studied it's contents. "She ah...she's been dead for nearly a decade." He cleared his throat and mentioned the first thing that came to mind, to change the subject " So ah have you considered what, if any, elective have you decided to pursue?"

Neela shakes her head, "No, I haven't actually. I've still got to finish my ride alongs and then I'll let myself begin to ponder that."

He nodded. "Never cared for that experience myself. Discovered I get somewhat motion sick from riding in the back of the rigs."

Neela shakes her head, "I've been warned it can be some what like a trip to hell?"

"In my not so unbiased opinion, that's describing the experience mildly. Though I do believe that the EMTs intentionally give us docs a rough ride.."

She chuckles softly, "Well, I'd like to see them last a day in the ER."

"Indeed." He commented dryly as he picked up his cup once more. "Ekaterina Svetlana Dubenko, if you do not turn around and march yourself back up those stairs this instant, you are going to regret it" He says without so much as looking in the direction of the hall as he heard the tell tale signs of little feet on the stairs. He smirked at Neela, "Want a kid?"

Neela looked back, brow furrowed, feeling all of a sudden like she's being spied on. She smirks uncomfortably, "I never understood how parents could know instantly when I was hiding in the hallway."

He quirked his brows and inclined his head as he considered her words. "Ah, you develop acute hearing when they are infants and it never really goes away, I suppose. That, and she has yet to learn to skip the third stair from the top...it creeks."

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