After Lee had cleaned himself up and gotten the stench of dried blood away completely, he and Carly sat down for their first meal together in what felt like weeks. It was amazing to him how just this one thing could make it seem as though she'd never been away at all.

It was an unwritten agreement in the Dawson household that there was to be no mention of any extreme cases that either of them had had to deal with at work, whether the patient had survived or not. Life in the medical profession could be difficult enough on its own without bringing the horrors of work home with them. Instead, Carly informed her husband of every detail of her trip back to his home city.

"Oh and Phil was asking for you" She wryly smiled, knowing what was coming.

"Phil can fuck off" Lee grunted.

After dinner he excused himself from the table and said he needed to lie down upstairs. Carly had promised to do the cleaning up and load the dishwasher since he'd had such a hectic day. She was still almost completely sapped of energy from her own tiring day, but no one's life had been in her hands.

After leaving him alone to sort out his thoughts, as she'd learned by now was the best resolution for when Lee was in a mood like this, Carly quietly knocked on the bedroom door and entered the room, hoping he was still awake. The lights were off but a bedside lamp gave the room a campfire like glow.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked after he'd sat up and looked towards her. He was still on their bed and had taken off the shirt that had only recently been put on but had then clearly given up undressing himself. The rest of his new, clean ensemble was still intact.

"Better thanks" He smiled.

"I brought you a beer" She chirped, showing off the dark bottle that was still giving off a visible chill from its time spent in the refrigerator.

"Much better, thanks" Lee's smile expanded. He always loved having a beer at some point after work. He secretly hoped that that didn't qualify him as an alcoholic.

Carly handed Lee the beer and sat down next to him at her own side of the bed. She shot him a look, as if to silently ask if he was telling the truth.

"I swear I'm ok" Lee assured her after taking a huge swig from the bottle and then eyeing it up as people always seemed to do when drinking bottled beers. "I just had to take a break from . . . doing stuff. You know?"

"Yeah I know what you mean" Carly nodded understandingly. Sometimes in life, things that didn't really make sense, actually did. "You were a real hero today" She told him, fully prepared for the fight Lee was about to put up. Despite his often inflated ego, Lee hated receiving compliments.

"I'm not sure I'd call it that" He huffed.

"Why not? You saved that guy's life! And Mark too!" Carly cried. Working in a hospital, Carly saw miracles every day but the feeling of disbelief never ever wore off.

"Can you still be a hero if you do it every day?" Lee asked. "Doesn't it just become, I don't know, routine?"

"Not in this universe" Carly spoke defiantly, letting the doctor know that he wasn't going to get his way this time. "You're a hero. Deal with it"

"Fine" Lee groaned, prolonging his one worded answer.

Carly nudged herself closer to him.

"And you know what that means?"

"I get a cape?" Lee joked, setting his beer down next to the lamp.

"Not quite" Carly giggled before moving again so that she was now sitting on top of him. "It means you get me as your personal servant for the night" She now had that devilish look in her eye that Lee just couldn't resist.

"Oh really?" He said, his face lighting up too now.

"That's right! So . . . what do you want to do with me?" She asked.

Lee's cheeky grin now matched Carly's. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

*

The following days passed quickly as Carly began getting the house back to the way she liked it and Lee was constantly jumping back and forth between all of his patients. In his head, Doctor Dawson was counting down the days until Carly was back by his side at work, as well as at home.

Before then though, he finally had an opportunity to approach Doctor Hunter for the first time since their rather open chat.

Lee knocked on his boss' office and entered when Jack called through his permission.

"Ah Doctor Dawson" Jack said. "I was wondering when I'd see you. How are your patients?"

"Doing well" Lee told him. "Hopefully Mr. Park and Mr. Gordon will be discharged this afternoon"

"Excellent"

"I also brought you these" Lee told him, dropping Chris' release forms onto the large desk that took up most of the room. "Doctor Harrington seemed to think you'd want to see them."

"She was correct" Jack said as he quickly scanned the files before laying them down again with a nod, seemingly satisfied with what he had seen. "Before you go any further, Doctor Dawson, I know you want to continue our discussion from that night in that seedy little bar but I've said all I needed to say so please don't bother"

Lee nodded, not because he accepted the terms of Jack's request but because he didn't know what else to do. He certainly hadn't been expecting Jack to be so straight talking because up until their night in the bar he'd been anything but.

"So is that all?" Jack's words were coming at a hundred miles an hour, not giving Lee any time to think of a suitable response.

"Sure" Was all he could muster up.

Lee trudged towards the exit with his tail between his legs for what felt like the first time ever. He'd rehearsed in his head over and over again exactly what he was going to say to Jack but it had all evaporated as soon as he'd arrived. Lee had one foot out the door when another thought, a completely new one, struck him. He spun on his heels but didn't re-enter the office in case Jack lost his shit again.

"Actually, Doctor Hunter there is one more thing I want to ask you" He said.

"Ok?" Jack replied, clearly unsure of what Lee was getting at. His ears literally perked up with interest.

"Do you want to come to our place for Christmas? You shouldn't be spending Christmas day in a hotel"

"I'd rather not" Jack sighed.

"Please. Look, we're already having my mom over and Carly's sister and her parents and I know that makes it sound even worse but I really don't want you to be alone. Come on, it's only a few hours" Lee knew his sales pitch needed work.

"Doctor Dawson, I really am grateful for the offer but I wouldn't like to impose on your family gathering. I've spent every other Christmas since Natalie, alone. I'm sure one more won't kill me"

"You wouldn't be imposing" Lee pressed. "In all honesty I know that sounds like hell but please. You don't even need to talk to anyone all that much. God knows I'll be trying to avoid any and all conversations anyway"

Jack sat, silently mulling it over in his head.

"Please. Call it a peace offering" Lee suggested, hoping to force Jack's hand. Judging by the Oncologist's face, it was working.

"Fine" Jack finally conceded. "But please don't let anyone else at the hospital know about this. I don't want them to think I'm going soft"

"My lips are sealed" Lee smugly smiled; pleased to have cracked at least a little part of the shell that was Jack Hunter.

Of course he still needed to clear the latest addition with Carly, but now she really didn't have a choice.