"Morning, Asher." Kaylee greeted her friend as she entered the break room to grab some much needed coffee.

"Kaylee...uh, good morning," D209 replied, feeling a little embarrassed. He saw his phone records of three calls to her last night. Why doesn't Asher have to deal with this embarrassing situation he's caused? Ugh.

Kaylee looked around and lowered her voice, "Are you feeling okay lately?" She was quite concerned with the number of drunken calls she's been getting.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for the disturbance. It won't happen again."

"No. That's not what I mean. But if you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you. Okay?"

Oh God...this is so embarrassing. Kaylee thinks I have a problem. We can't try anymore. It's not working.

"Thank you. I appreciate the offer. I—I uhm...need to go now. I'll see you later," D209 replied and quickly hightailed it out of there.

Kaylee stood there looking at the door where Asher just disappeared through. He left so abruptly that she didn't even get a chance to respond. Was it something she said? Was it wrong of her to be concerned after receiving drunken calls three nights in a row?

Cocking her head to a side, she let out an audible sigh. To be honest, the calls were mostly cute. They were mostly just Asher singing random love songs into the phone. He never spoke or answered her when she called out. It was really a one-way call. But what's driving him to drink so much was what was worrying her. It was so uncharacteristic of him. Hopefully, it was nothing serious.

She checked the time and she had twenty minutes before she needed to join the rest of the team to make the morning rounds. She actually quite enjoyed this part of the day where all the doctors visited their patients and followed up on their progress. It's the most doctor-to-patient interaction they had with each other aside from treatment.

Rounding the corner, she saw Serena step inside a radiographic room. What was she doing there? There was nothing strange about it if it weren't for the fact that the radiographic room wasn't in operation for another hour, even the department's light was still out.

Not giving it too much thought, Kaylee kept walking down the hallway. Then as she passed by the dark radiographic room, a series of rapid flashes caught her attention through the glass windows. She didn't know what caused the flashes until she saw the back of a person moving in the corner behind a partition panel. Then all of a sudden the person spun around, it was Dr. Jackson, a radiologist, and then the side of Serena came into view. The two were tangled together in a passionate liplock, completely unaware that people could still see them.

Kaylee immediately ducked down and got out of there. She didn't want to be caught watching them. Her heart was racing and she couldn't calm down until she got inside the elevators. Gosh, it felt like she was the one sneaking around, making out at work.

But hold on, why was Serena making out with Dr. Jackson? Wasn't she and Asher getting closer? Was she really a player like the rumors? Was she playing Asher? Was that why Asher has been drinking so much? She really should have warned Asher when she had the chance.

The more Kaylee thought about it, the more upset she got. Asher deserved better than this. So she pressed the button to go back down. She needed to give Serena a piece of her mind.

And just as the elevator arrived, the door opened to none other than Serena. She stood there waiting for the occupant of the elevator to alight before getting in.

Serena looked at Kaylee peculiarly, "Good morning. Are you getting out?"

"No, I'm not anymore," Kaylee answered coldly.

"Okaaayyy," Serena stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for the 6th floor. The atmosphere felt a bit odd to her, and she noticed Kaylee didn't select a floor. Was she going to the 6th floor too? She hadn't interacted with Kaylee much but the latter was always polite in the past. What's with her today?

The elevator dinged upon reaching the 6th floor. Serena was more than ready to get out of the uncomfortable elevator.

"Dr. Hart, can I speak to you privately?"

The request surprised Serena but she agreed anyway. She led Kaylee to a restroom nearby and locked the door.

"We should be okay here. There aren't any empty rooms available right now. So how can I help you, Dr. Fisher?" Serena asked as she checked herself in the mirror, fixing any strands of hair that were out of place.

Kaylee really didn't know how to begin this conversation. All she knew was that she couldn't watch Asher get hurt. "Dr. Hart, I want you to know that Asher is a dear friend of mine and I really don't want him to get hurt."

With a raised brow, Serena turned to face Kaylee, "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is, Asher is a very sincere person. He doesn't play around with people's feelings. So, if you're not serious about him, please don't lead him on."

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Serena glared.

"I—I saw you with Dr. Jackson earlier, so if you're involved with him, then you should stay away from Asher." Kaylee tried to hold her ground and not cower back from Serena's glare.

With a hand on her hip, Serena looked straight into Kaylee's eyes, "Hold on there. First of all, none of this is your business. Second, you shouldn't be snooping around. And third, who do you think you are?" She crossed her arms, "Asher is a grown-ass man, he can take care of himself. What I do with Asher, Dr. Jackson, or anyone else for that matter has nothing to do with you."

Keeping her eyes on the other, Serena took a step closer to Kaylee, "What does any of this matter to you anyway? You should ask yourself that question. I've heard all about you, and quite frankly, I don't think I'm the one leading Asher on. Maybe you should check yourself first before coming at me like this."

Serena stepped around Kaylee and left the restroom, leaving the other rooted to the spot.

~~~~~~

Dodging everyone along the way, D209 quickly found a janitor's closet and slipped inside.

"That was so embarrassing. Why do you keep finding the damn phone when you're drunk?" He said as he banged his head against the door repeatedly.

Ugh! I don't know. You should've locked it away before we started drinking.

"I did!"

Well, I can't help it! What do I do now? Kaylee thinks I have a problem.

"I don't know but I'm tired of these hangovers."

Okay, it's settled then. No more alcohol. It seems that we swap like an on-and-off switch and there's no middle ground.

"Yeah, and when it happens you're completely drunk already. So it's useless."

Yeah, and you completely blackout instead of getting out of me.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait for D224 to come to get me. There are only ten days left before she gets the message."

Then what should I do about Kaylee?

"Let's hope she'll let it go once you stop drunk dialing her."

How will I ever face her again?

"Stop being so dramatic. It'll be fine. Let's get back to work. We have to make our rounds."

~~~~~~

"Hey, are you okay there?"

"Huh?" Kaylee snapped out of her trance hearing someone's voice. "Oh, Dr. Parker."

Kaylee quickly grabbed the equipment request forms she had just faxed from the fax machine. She didn't know how long she had been spacing out there.

"Are you okay? You've been kind of out of it today. Luckily, I didn't schedule you for surgery, but we still need to be present for our patients." Dr. Parker said. He's never seen Kaylee so spacey before.

"You're right. I'm sorry." Kaylee looked down, she felt terribly embarrassed for the way she's been acting on the job.

"I understand. We're only human and some days aren't that great. But as doctors, we can't afford to bring that to work."

Kaylee nodded. She really shouldn't be like this but Serena's words kept running in her head all day.

"Hey, let's take a little break. The café across the street opened back up. Let's grab a cup of coffee and refresh ourselves."

Kaylee looked up to Dr. Parker's gentle smile and smiled back.

~~~~~~

"Hey, what do you want? I'm having a large chocolate caramel macchiato."

"You know, for a grown man you have such a sweet tooth. You're going to get cavities," Serena teased before looking at the menu again. "I guess I'll have a large soy latte," she said to the cashier.

"Hey, if I'm spending $7 on a cup of coffee, then I'm going to enjoy it. Besides, chocolate and caramel are delicious." D209 replied as he handed the credit card over to the cashier and Asher was holding a protest inside.

$7.00? That's robbery! You can buy a meal with that. Why can't you order just a regular coffee? In fact, you should just get a cup from the break room.

"Thanks for buying. Honestly, anything from here beats the brown water from the break room." Serena smiled, looking at the big kid in front of her, happy for their little break outside of the hospital.

D209 nodded but he had no clue if that was true. It's his first time trying the coffee here but he was super excited for the taste of chocolate and caramel. He watched intently as the barista swirled the chocolate and caramel syrup all over the sides of the cup, such a beautiful sight.

"Hahaha... please don't drool. We have an image to keep." Serena couldn't help laughing at the way Asher was leaning into the counter.

The two were too busy laughing and joking around to notice a pair of eyes watching them from across the room.

Kaylee watched the two of them laughing openly and then Serena bumped her shoulder to the other playfully. Asher looked so happy and relaxed. Was he ever that happy around her? Sober, that is. Did she ever make him laugh like that? Taking a deep breath, a little sigh escaped her lips.

"... I'm confident you have a good chance of getting matched to a program here. Kaylee? Is something wrong?" Dr. Parker noticed Kaylee looking across the room and followed her line of sight. "Oh, it's Dr. Jansen and Dr. Hart. Would you like me to invite them to join us?"

"No!" The word came out a little louder than expected. "I mean, we're almost done anyway."

Dr. Parker looked at their empty cups and nodded. "You're right. We should head back then."

"Yes, let's head back. Thanks for the coffee." Kaylee smiled politely. She didn't feel like staying for another minute longer.

They got up to leave and just as she was walking, she tripped over a bag on the floor, a pair of hands steadied her and she instinctively grabbed onto them.

"Sorry," the owner said, pulling the bag closer under the table.

Tossing her hair back, Kaylee looked up and a pair of warm doe eyes stared back at her.

"Kaylee, are you okay?" D209 asked, letting her go.

"Asher, I uh... I'm fine. Thanks." Kaylee awkwardly straightened up.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Parker," D209 greeted respectfully.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Jansen. It's nice that the café reopened. Enjoy your break. Dr. Fisher and I need to return to work now."

"Will do, thanks."

Kaylee paused and looked at Asher for a moment, unspoken words hanging in the air. D209 felt Asher's longing and the tightness within his chest as he watched Dr. Parker hold the door open for Kaylee and they left together.

"You know, you could just tell her how you feel. Be a man and confess already. This isn't high school. I can't stand being around you fools," Serena said and headed for a table with her drink. She just came out from the restroom and witnessed the whole awkward exchange.

What use would that do? She's into Dr. Parker. I have no chance and it would only ruin our friendship and complicate things.

D209 sighed and followed the other to their table. He couldn't agree more with Serena. There were ten more days left. What could he do?