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Two weeks ago Neil Melendez’s entire world was flipped upside down. Again. The universe was not satisfied with the monkey wrench that is Shaun Murphy, so they decided to throw him another curveball.
Jessica had made it clear that while she still loved him, they were never meant for each other. He had thought about snapping at her, asking, ‘So what, you meet your soulmate so now I’m not good enough?’. But he knew she hadn't. He knew that saying that would just ruin whatever hope they had at becoming friends.
The ring, once having adorned Jessica’s thin fingers, now sits on his dresser, waiting for it’s next hand.
He thinks about giving it back to his mother, telling her that he can’t bear to look at it any longer. He never does. Instead he tortures himself. He wakes up to look at the ring, look at everything he’s lost. And it’s all his fault.
It’s his fault he couldn’t go to bed or wake up without thinking about his young resident, his fault that he couldn’t keep his feelings in check. His fault that Jessica saw through his facade and read him like a book. He wasn’t 100% sure when she figured it out, but at some time between him meeting Shaun Murphy and Jessica calling off their engagement she knew that Neil Melendez was is love. And not just the biological love that comes with having met your soulmate, but real love.
Neil Melendez hadn’t been thrust into love by some outside force. He had fallen in love on his own. All on complete accident too.
And he can’t blame her for not wanting to sit there and take the emotional torture he was putting her through. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss her.
>>>>><<<<<
Work is the same. He still gets cases. Life goes on. Shaun comes back from his roadtrip with his neighbor and almost leaves. That hurts a little. He thinks for a second that everyone is leaving him. But then Shaun stays and Jessica is there for him in a way she never could be if they were still a couple. Things are good.
And then he makes a mistake.
They’re starting a pretty routine bronchoscopy. It’s technically not even a surgery, just a camera down a throat. Nothing invasive. He’s done thousands of these. “Through the pharynx and over to Grandmother’s house we go.” He chuckles at his own joke.
Jared is standing by the monitor, Shaun at his side, and the two are listening quietly as he guides them through the process.
“I know you’re not happy that I sued the hospital.” Jared says, lowering his head as he speaks. Melendez frowns. It’s not exactly the best time to be bringing such a subject up. “But I’m not going to apologize for that.” Neil scoffs, tells him that it makes this whole situation simpler. “I did it because I want to be here. I believe I can learn a lot from you. Even from your doghouse.”
Flattery. His residents had a knack for using such a tactic on him. Did he really come off that vain?
Jared asks for Melendez to give him the chance. The attending looks back to the monitor. Ignoring him. “There’s the carina. Gonna pass into the mainstem bronchus of the left lung.” He pushes the probe a little deeper.
“Is breaking up with your fiance traumatic?” Typical Shaun Murphy question. Out of the blue, and completely inappropriate for work. Neil can’t bring him to look at Murphy. It was traumatic. In more ways that one. “When I saw a woman get shot, everyone told me it was traumatic and that I should go home. Should you be going home?”
“I think the best place for me to be right now, is here.” He says, doing his best not to look at Shaun or at Jared’s raised brow. It was proven that being around your soulmate bettered your mood in hard times and he liked the thought of feeling happy again. But now that Shaun’s opened his mouth he’s wondering if all that scientific research left out a variable. He clears his throat and turns to look at Shaun. “Give me a mucosal brush for a cellular sample.”
Jared gets right to work. Shaun however, can’t seem to let the topic go. “How long does it take to get over a breakup?” He’s fishing. And Neil knows it. He knows exactly what Shaun is getting at.
He does his best to ignore him. “I’m seeing a lot of inflammation, but no smoke damage.”
Shaun nods. “That makes sense.”
He frowns, listening as his two residents share a quick back and forth. “Let’s get a mucosal biopsy, I move down here we-,” he stops. Oh no. “The scope breached her bronchial wall. She’s hemorrhaging.” His voice breaks. Shit, this is his fault. He wasn’t paying close enough attention.
Behind him he hears Shaun mumble, “This is bad.” And he wants to turn around and smack him. Of course this is bad. He doesn’t need his resident and his soulmate rubbing that in.
“Prep the OR!” He orders, readying the gurney to move. “We gotta move!”
>>>>><<<<<
Shaun must’ve reported him because Jessica stalks him down at the elevators. She’s walking with that determined Jessica walk that used to make him quake in his boots. Now he just keeps his arms crossed and resists the urge to roll his eyes. They may be on speaking terms, but there was still bad blood between them. She opens her mouth and lets the words slowly flood out. “Were you upset during the procedure?”
He can’t help and finally lets his eyes do a barrel roll. “Did Murphy tell you I was ‘traumatized’? You think that I might’ve almost killed a person because you dumped me?” He doesn’t think ‘dump’ is the right word, but it’s the one that sounds the most vile. The one that makes Jessica’s face scrunch up.
She catches on. “The fact that you are describing it as me ‘dumping’ you suggests that you are upset.”
Neil bites his bottom lip. She always was the best at reading him. “Look, I’m fine.. You’re fine. Nobody’s upset.”
“Great.” She sounds pissed. He has that kind of affect on her. “But you do understand that I have to ask you these questions, that I need a statement from you.” Her voice is softer, more professional. Like she’s coaxing an angry patient into not suing the hospital. He can’t take it and leans back, pressing the elevator button again. Were they broken? Why was he having to wait so long? Thanks universe.
“Yes,” he hisses, not looking at her. “Here’s my statement: I wasn’t distracted. I didn’t screw up.” He smirks. “You get all that?” She doesn’t say anything as he gets into the elevator. She just stares. He thinks that’s worse.
>>>>>><<<<<
With Park and Morgan on the team he feels a little suffocated. He’s now got five eager, bright, driven individuals looking up to him for guidance, instead of just three. It’s a little overwhelming. But having Shaun nearby helps. Both new residents seem enamoured with Murphy in different ways, drawing some attention away from Melendez. Morgan looks at him like she’s got to strike him down. Park looks at him like he should put Shaun in a bullet proof vest and give him three bodyguards.
He catches the end of a conversation between three of his residents, Shaun mentioning that he lost a bet. Neil hands Park a clipboard. “Rounds will have to wait. We had a consult come up.” He walks in front of his resident, looking slightly over his shoulder as he speaks “Hunter Denoble, 38, came into the E.R. this morning complaining of severe neck pain. X-rays show anterolisthesis.”
Park reads the papers on the clipboard. “A herniated disc, 38 is a little young for that, isn’t it?”
Shaun says what he’s about to say. “Unless there’s a history of spinal trauma.” Neil smiles, Shaun is quick.
“There is,” his face falls and he goes serious again. “Hunter fractured seven vertebrae in his neck and back in a motorcycle accident 10 years ago.” The case feels like it was just a few days ago. Not that long back. He shudders at the thought. “He's one of my first patients suffered complete paralysis from the chest down.”
“Is he important to you?” Shaun asks, leaning forward to get closer to Neil.
Melendez sighs. “He kind of is.” He takes the clipboard from Park and hands it to Shaun. “Do me a favor Shaun and read his file. I want someone to be as up to date on Hunter’s medical history as I am.” Shaun nods, excited to have been the person that Neil trusted with something so important to him. He vows to not make any mistakes.
>>>>><<<<<
All the risks of the surgery were worth it to see Hunter’s face when they told him that with physical therapy he would be able to walk again. He smiled to himself, watching as the Denobles hugged and cried in each other’s arms.
Park decides to ruin his moment. He saddles up next to Neil, looking in the same direction as Melendez. “I have to talk to you about Murphy.”
“If you have a problem with Dr. Murphy take it up with Dr. Murphy.” He says, not sparing a glance.
“I don’t have a problem with him, but he has a problem that you need to deal with.”
Neil snapped his head to the side. “And why am I responsible for Dr. Murphy’s problems?”
Park releases a breath out of his nose, aggravated. “I may be new, but I’m not oblivious. Anyone with eyes can see that you and Murphy are,” he waves his hand around. “Soulmates.” Neil sets his jaw, was it really that obvious? “You trust him more than anyone else and you’re always quick to defend him. It’s really obvious.” Stole the words outta my head, Neil thinks.
“Okay, so what’s wrong with Murphy?”
Park pulls his phone out, scrolling as he speaks. “Murphy recently got a new roommate, his name is Kenny, he’s got a rap sheet. Shaun thinks that they’re friends, but it’s pretty clear that Kenny is using him.” He raises his brows as he finds what he’s looking for. “It’s mostly misdemeanors, but there's a couple felony theft cases that were bargained down.”
“And what do you expect me to do? Go over there and threaten him? I don’t know if you noticed Dr. Park, but I’m not exactly the most imposing man.”
The resident looks him up and down, then shrugs. “You may not be tall, but your shoulders are broad. You look like you work out. I bet if we spared that you’d put up a fight.”
Neil scoffs.
“You need to talk to Shaun.” Park says seriously. “He’s not going to listen to anyone but you about this.”
Neil picks at his nails. “I’ll think about it.”
Park grabs his arm, his grip tight. “Don’t think about it, do it.”
>>>>><<<<<
The young man’s tie was crooked. Not surprisingly so. Neil reached up and readjusted it, patting Shaun on the chest. “I don’t like ties.” Shaun loosened it, skewing the fabric once again.
Neil sighed. “The restaurant’s dress code is black-tie.”
Shaun pouted. He didn’t even want to go to this restaurant! He was content with having dinner at Neil’s apartment or at the hospital’s cafe. But when he had suggested either one of those Melendez had looked so appalled that Shaun had to take a few steps back. No, Shaun, I’m taking you somewhere nice.
The hostess sat them down at a two person table in the middle of the restaurant, next to a brown half-wall with golden trim. Shaun admired the color scheme, reaching up to drag his fingers over the golden paint. “Thank you,” Neil said as he took two menus from the hostess. He handed one to Shaun. “If you have any questions about what’s on the menu, just ask.” He smiled.
Shaun nodded his acknowledgement and opened the menu. He scanned it a few times. “I would like the spaghetti.”
“There’s veal and halibut on the menu and you want ‘the spaghetti’?”
“Yes.”
Neil pursed his lips, thinking. “Okay. I can get behind that.” And when the waiter came to their table, Neil ordered two plates of spaghetti.
“Is this a date?” Shaun wasn’t sure if it was or not. Neil had never mentioned to him how to react after he broke up with Jessica. He wasn’t sure if he had a green light.
Melendez shrugged. “I guess it is. Not that we really need to go on dates. We know quite a bit about each other. And we are each other’s soulmates.” Shaun nodded.
“Does this mean I can see your words now?”
Neil smirked. “Of course it does.”
“Good.” Shaun looked excited. Neil felt excited. He coughed.
“I need to talk to you about something important, Shaun.”
Their plates are set out in front of them. They both lean back to allow the waiter to set them down.
“Dr. Park told me that you have a new neighbor. And that he’s a bit of a problem for you.”
Shaun tilts his head, confused. “No...Kenny and I are friends.”
“Friends don’t use friends.” Shaun doesn’t look at him as he winds some noodles around his fork. “I’m not going to step over any boundaries, but if it gets to the point where you can’t handle him anymore, I’m here to help you Shaun.”
“Thank you…” he looks at Melendez. “Neil.”
>>>>><<<<<
They kiss the same day that Shaun figures out that Glassman doesn’t have terminal cancer. Shaun comes up to him, stomping out of Glassman’s office, his eyes red, and grabs Neil by the cheeks. The kiss is less of a kiss and more of two faces being pressed together. When Shaun lets go of him, Neil just blinks. “I would like to date you. People die all the time and if we wait too much longer we could miss our chance.”
“O-Okay.”
“Okay.”
>>>>><<<<<
Neil hissed and jerked his hand back. Okay, so poptarts right out of the toaster are a little hot. Buyer beware. He tried again, picking each one up by the corner and dropping it onto a paper plate. “Shaun!” He licked the crumbs off his fingers. “If you don’t come eat now, we’re gonna be late!”
Shaun comes stumbling out of the bedroom, hands fumbling with his tie. When he gets to Neil he lets go of the un-tied fabric and reaches for one of the poptarts. Neil ties it for him, smiling as he goes through the motions. “One day you’re going to learn how to do this on your own.”
“But that’s why you’re here.”
Neil hums. “Sure it is,” he grabs the other poptart and took a bite. “Now, come on, we don’t want to be late. Glassman will have my head.”
“Don’t you mean ‘our heads’?”
“No, I mean mine. You’ll just avoid eye contact and he’ll let you off the hook. I can’t do that. I don’t have big blue eyes and a puffy cheeks. I’ll be struck down in a second. Written up. Banished to my desk. The works.” Shaun frowned. “It’s the truth. Now, go on, get out to the car before I drag you out there.”
Shaun runs out the door, Neil heads back to their room, opening his top drawer. Next to the ring Jessica had returned to him is a sleeker, simpler, silver band. He snatches it up and heads out after Shaun.
On the drive over Neil rests his hand on Shaun’s thigh, stroking his thumb up and down. It’s calming for both of them.
They had moved in together less than a month ago and so far it was the best decision Neil had made in their six month relationship. It was euphoric to wake up next to Shaun. He had never felt that way with Jessica. “We’re working a thirty-six hour shift today, so afterwards we can go grab some dinner.”
“I would like ice cream too.”
“Okay, we can get ice cream too.” Neil pokes at the ring in his pocket.
Shaun smiles. “Good.”