That night Lee dreamt of his father. It was a dream that he seemed to have around once a month. It was always the same. The last day he saw him. It had been a cold day and Lee had been outside jumping in puddles. Although this was something normal for a child to do, Lee was fifteen years old. He had nothing better to do. He'd done all his homework and studied each of his subjects for a while.

He came back home and took off his rain soaked jacket. He couldn't reach the coat hanger so he left it on the floor assuming one of his parents would do it later. Lee hadn't quite had his growth spurt yet so he was still awfully small.

Suddenly he heard what sounded like a glass being broken over the kitchen floor. The kitchen was at the other side of the house but he heard it as clear as he would have if it had happened right in front of him.

He was nervous, but his natural curiosity got the better of him so he edged his way closer to the kitchen. Of course, it could have been simple. His mother or father could easily have just dropped a glass or plate. There didn't need to be some sort of supernatural explanation, but something in Lee's gut told him that all wasn't right.

The closer he got to the kitchen, he noticed that there were voices as well. They weren't shouting but they definitely weren't exchanging pleasantries. Some of the words they were using, Lee didn't even know what they meant.

When he arrived at the kitchen door he was stunned to see that it was his parents who were hurling these obscenities at each other. None of them could see him so he hid behind the doorframe listening to their argument.

It didn't make too much sense to him because he'd missed the start but he heard his name mentioned several times and it was usually followed by someone (who he later realised was his dad) saying "It isn't about the boy anymore". What the hell did that mean? He heard his mother asking what they should tell Lee. Then he heard the same sentence that had been stuck in his head ever since.

"Tell him what you want. I don't give a fuck about him and I don't give a fuck about you!"

Young lee collapsed at these words, drawing attention to his hiding place for the first time. He certainly knew what that meant. His mom rushed over to her son to see if he'd hurt himself during the fall. As she checked him over she assured him that his dad hadn't meant what he had said. But Lee knew she was lying because she kept looking over to her husband as if to encourage him to confirm what she was saying.

He never did.

His dad walked briskly past them and out into the rain and that was the defining memory that Lee had of his dad.

The divorce was finalized a few months later. His mom met with his dad several times during this period to discuss dividing their assets but Lee was never present. He also never asked what they had fought about. The older he got, the less he wanted to know.

He woke up in his bed, soaked in sweat, though he didn't know why. He expected this dream all the time and he was never surprised by the ending. He wasn't even scared anymore. Of course he had been when he was younger but he was a grown man now and he knew that he wasn't the only person in the world with this problem so he had no right to complain. He silently cursed his father and rolled over, slipping into another sleep. Thankfully this one was dreamless.

He got to work and checked his schedule like he always did.

It was dull, like it always was.

As much as he appreciated that it was a good thing that the vast majority of Pittsburgh was healthy, he couldn't help but wish for a mass disaster or something every now and then. He quickly realised how morbid that really sounded, and so decided to pretend he hadn't thought of it. He headed to his office and his first patient.

He spent the next few hours prescribing various types of antibiotics and other prescriptions before it was close to lunch time again. This was fast becoming his least favourite time of day. Wondering who was going to interrupt him today, he told Susan the receptionist that he was going to be taking an extended lunch today and that he wouldn't be around for the next couple of hours. "Better safe than sorry" He kept telling himself.

He called a cab and got dropped off in the centre of town, entering the first cafe he could find.

It was a fairly simple looking place with just four tables with a couple of wooden chairs at each. There were shelves of small snacks running along two opposite walls and the counter was at the other, directly in front of the entrance.

Lee spotted a newspaper stand next to the counter and decided to pick one up. He didn't normally read the paper but this would give him some justification for why he was back to the hospital a little later. Even if only slightly. He grabbed a chocolate bar, a chicken sandwich and a bottle of Diet Coke. He reached the counter and paid for his food in loose change before sitting at a nearby table. He realised that he was the only one sitting there as every other customer appeared to just be buying their food and taking it with them. This made him like the place even more.

He started reading the paper whilst eating his food but found himself finished his lunch before he was even half way through the newspaper. It was times like this that he cursed his habit of reading something in full from front to back, whether he was interested in it or not. He was the same with books. He had to finish whatever he was reading no matter how little he was enjoying it.

Determined not to ruin his own plan of avoiding the hospital, he headed back to the counter and ordered a coffee with milk and one sugar. Paying no mind to anyone else, he sat back down and waited for the cashier to make him his drink. He was secretly looking forward to trying coffee that didn't come from the aging machine in the hospital. For a place with so much amazing technology, the hospital staff often felt they were treated as second class citizens at work. This was probably the only thing that Lee and his colleagues agreed on.

"White coffee with two sugars?" Called the woman at the till.

Lee rose from the table slowly, finally interested in one of the articles in the paper. He continued to read as he stood up before reluctantly turning his focus to the woman.

"How much am I due you?" He asked her.

"It's alright sir, the lady over there got it for you" The woman replied to Lee's surprise. He'd done that to women in bars several times but he'd never had it done to him before.

His next thought was on the time. Surely he hadn't taken that long to get from the table to the counter? That would mean the woman who paid would have had to already been at the counter. Had he really been that focussed on the newspaper? Only then did he realise he hadn't looked to see who this Good Samaritan was.

"Ok, thanks" He said to the cashier before taking his coffee and turning to see where the girl was pointing.

When he saw who it was, he almost dropped the coffee onto the floor in a mixture of surprise, anger and most of all confusion.

"Hey there!" Carly smiled, cautiously but still with the same enthusiasm she'd shown the day before. Of course it would be her.

Carly was fully expecting Lee to bite her head off again but his response was surprisingly tame.

"I'm guessing that this isn't a coincidence then is it?" He asked her.

"Not exactly" She admitted. "I overheard you telling Susan at reception that you were heading into town today"

"So you followed me?" Lee asked.

"Not really!" She said, but Lee's expression told her that he wasn't buying it. "Ok, maybe a little" She confessed. "But it was for a good cause! I got you a coffee!" She pointed to the drink in Lee's hand that he'd almost forgotten about.

"If this is about yesterday then you shouldn't have bothered. We're not going to be friends"

"It's not about that. I swear"

"Then why are you here?"

"I heard you got a warning yesterday. Is that true?" She braced herself again for an angry tirade but once again it didn't come.

"You heard correct" Lee said impatiently, but still keeping a lid on his temper.

"Well this is to say sorry" She once again gestured at the coffee that Lee had finally started drinking. "I didn't mean to get you into trouble. I told Phil not to say anything about it but I guess he did"

Lee started to quietly chuckle.

"What? What's so funny?" Carly asked.

"Fucking Phil" Lee laughed, shaking his head.

"I don't get it?" Carly joined in laughing anyway.

"Never mind" Lee laughed. "Why follow me here though? Why not just get me a coffee at the hospital?" Before he realised what he was doing, Lee sat down at the table with Carly.

"Well . . ." She thought for a moment before saying "Don't tell anyone I said this, but the coffee from the hospital kind of sucks"

"I won't tell anyone. Everybody knows already" Lee told her.

"Wow, what a relief then!" Laughed Carly.

The next few moments were spent in silence. Carly felt agitated and a little disturbed at the quiet. Normally Lee would be enjoying it, but for some reason he found himself restarting the conversation.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked curiously, leaning back in his chair. He had his arms folded and his thumb against his chin as if he were studying a wild animal in a zoo.

"I told you, this is just an apology for yesterday" Carly panicked.

"I mean yesterday as well. What's the deal?"

"I don't know. I'm just like that all the time. It's just normal I guess" She shrugged.

"Trust me. That's not normal" Lee said, very matter-of-factly.

"Aw thanks!" Carly said sarcastically.

"I'm serious. No one is naturally that happy. It's weird"

"Some people would look at you and say that no one is naturally that unhappy" She pointed out.

"Some people are idiots" Lee sighed. Even though he knew fine well that she was right, he didn't want to back down from the debate. It wasn't in his nature.

Neither was conversing with someone though, and it only just then occurred to him what he was doing. Why was he doing it?

"You know, I can't believe we're actually having a civilized conversation like this" Carly said.

"I was just thinking the exact same thing" Laughed Lee.

"And it hasn't killed you has it?" She teased.

"Not yet. But being a medical professional, you know that some terminal conditions can remain hidden for months undetected" Lee pointed out.

"Ok, can you please say that again so I can record it?" She giggled. "No one is going to believe that you actually just made a joke!"

"You tell them and I'll deny everything" He muttered.

"At least I'll know the truth" She said more to herself than to Lee.

"Yeah well don't get used to it"

"I won't" She said, although the smile on her face suggested she didn't mean it.

They finished their coffees and left the cafe, not before Lee picked up his half read newspaper. He decided he could read the rest of it that evening to fill in a little bit of time. It certainly couldn't be any worse than watching (And criticising) everything he came across on TV during his channel flicking.

They shared the same taxi back to the hospital, which Carly insisted on paying for as an extension of her apology.

To Lee's annoyance, it didn't take long for Carly to spread the word that he had actually made a joke. Whenever he walked past someone he heard them whispering amongst themselves and giggling in his direction. He regretted ever showing off his sense of humour, especially to a gossip girl like Carly.

Eventually it became too much for him to take. He stopped beside a couple of female nurses and gave them his coldest stare.

"Is there something wrong, Dr Dawson?" One of them asked, trying to hide the fact she was still laughing.

"Just curious as to what you're whispering about" He said exaggeratedly.

They both looked at each other before all trace of laughter disappeared and the same nurse spoke nervously.

"We were just saying how we both heard that you were . . . . In a really good mood is all"

"Vicious lies, I can assure you" Lee said before turning on his heels and heading towards the waiting room.

On the way there, he heard the sound of running footsteps behind him. Somehow he knew it was Carly before she called out to him.

"Lee! Wait a second!"

"I'm busy Nurse Oliver" He called back, trying to subtly quicken his pace.

"It won't take long I just need to ask you something"

"I'm not sure I'll answer this. Wouldn't want word getting round the hospital now, would we?" He said.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to do the cafe thing again tomorrow lunchtime too?" She asked, ignoring his sarcastic remark.

Lee was taken aback by her words. He hadn't been expecting that. Did she just ask him out?

Before he put any more thought into it, Lee did what he did best.

"God no!" He laughed, before speeding away from her again.

He arrived in the waiting room and quickly double checked the name of his next appointment. To his amazement, he heard Carly catch up to him again.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because I said so!" He answered, clearly irritated. "John Chambers?" He called, looking around the room. A skinny looking man rose out of his chair and began walking towards Lee.

"You must have a better reason then that" Carly persisted.

Lee sighed as he turned to face her. "In case you've forgotten, I didn't invite you there. You crashed my party, remember?"

"But you had fun right?" She asked.

Lee was about to raise his voice and tell her to go away but he suddenly realised that his patient was standing right behind him.

"Come with me sir" He said as he led the man towards his office.

"Sorry for botherin' you docta" The man said in a strong cockney accent. "I had an accident and I didn't know who else to turn to"

"That's alright Mr Chambers" Lee said, his voice devoid of all emotion. "How can I help you?"

"I don't suppose you got a spare pair of pants, do you?" Mr Chambers asked.

"What?" Lee stopped walking. "Why?"

"Well I've shit meself, 'aven't I?" He said, looking around the corridor to make sure no one heard him.

"And that's why you're here today?" Lee asked, unable to comprehend that this was actually happening.

"Well . . . . Yeah!"

Lee began walking back to the waiting room, closely followed by Mr Chambers who began asking if everything was alright, over and over again.

"Can somebody get this idiot out of here please?" Lee cried, attracting the attention of some of the hospital security guards. They both quickly approached them, grabbing the patient by his arms and dragging him towards the door.

"But Docta! Please!" Cried Mr Chambers. "I need your 'elp!"

"You do need help" Lee said under his breath. Compared to that man, Carly's conversation was almost saintly.

Suddenly though, he wished that thought had never crossed his mind. She was still there, standing in the waiting room. She watched as Mr Chambers was dragged outside before making a beeline straight for Lee.

She repeated her last question to him. He couldn't help but compare her to a resilient shark that had its prey in its sights.

"Look" He sighed. "It was alright, ok. You happy?"

"Always" She said teasingly.

"Well don't be. It isn't worth it" Lee warned.

"What isn't?"

"Anything" He whispered, tapping her shoulder as he did so. This time when he headed for his office he was definitely glad to be alone.

Carly watched him go, trying to decide what she really thought of Lee Dawson.

How could one man be so hot and cold? Yesterday he was a contender for the worst person that she'd ever met but today he seemed to be a nice, genuine, funny guy.

At least for a little while anyway.