You know a lot about putting people back together. Brian Moser knows a lot about taking them apart.
or
Brain Moser x Surgeon!Reader
Chapter 2: Evaluation
wc: 1,053
A champagne bottle popped, its contents fizzling out as glasses clanked within the warmly lit hospital room. Spirits were high as Tony, one week out from his attack, began the tedious journey to recovery with remarkable strides. You stood beside his bed, surrounded by members of his care team and select officers working on his case.
"Here’s to my new hand." He grinned, lifting the glass with his prosthetic hand and making an effort to clank it against everyone else's. Despite the hardships, his spirits were noticeably high as he made playful passes towards the women in the room.
"Some say bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid." Rudy raised his glass. "I’ve worked with a lot of amputees and I’ve got to tell you I don’t think Tony knew he was afraid." He looked around the room, locking eyes with you. "Here’s to one crazy bastard."
"Kiss my atrophied ass." Tony chuckled, "Now for the main event…"
"Medical marijuana?" Deb retorted, earning a jab to the ribs from you before the two of you broke into a quick fit of laughter. As you came back up for air you caught Rudy watching you. You turned your head to hide the smile creeping onto your face.
"You wish… help me out Rudy?" He reached out, bracing himself against Rudy as he shifted his weight onto his new limb. He strained to rise from the bed, beaming with pride as he stood for the first time since the incident.
As the small crowd gathered around Tony, you found yourself gravitating towards Rudy, nudging his arm. "You did a good thing for him."
"Tony lost a piece of himself, I was just trying to help him find it." Rudy looked towards you, setting his glass down. "Isn’t it crazy how much of an impact we have on people’s livelihoods?"
You laughed, 'I only lost thousands of hours of my life studying for it."
"You should really be proud of the work you did."
You shrugged, more interested in the glass in your hand than the compliment. "Mostly me, I had a good team though."
"How humble of you." A smirk grew on his face, emphasizing his smile lines.
"That’s the first thing they teach you in medical school."
"I’m surprised you’ve been able to get much done with all these cops around," He gestured to the crowd around Tony, "And I thought three was a crowd."
"It isn’t that bad, they asked me a few questions initially but they’ve really focused on Tony."
"How so?"
You shrugged, "Just what I thought about the injuries."
"What did you say?"
"That whoever did this knew what they were doing."
"I think I remember you talking about this."
"I can’t imagine why they thought this was amateur work. Whoever did this was clearly skilled."
Rudy’s smile did not falter, but his eyes lingered on you just a half second longer than comfortable.
"Have you had dinner yet?"
"Nothing real, just whatever they had in the cafeteria earlier." You sighed, the question reminding you just how long this shift had dragged on for.
"I don’t think they can legally call that real food."
"Tell that to my food stipend."
"Let me make it up to you, a dinner for the quality job you left me to work with."
You raised an eyebrow.
"Dinner?"
"Consider it a date." The words repeated in your head, almost loud enough to drown out everything that came after.
The fluorescent lights illuminated the nearly empty parking lot, weeds growing between the cracks in the asphalt still warm from the Miami sun. The air was heavy with humidity and the smell of grilled meat, distant buzzing from the lights filling the lulls in conversation. You sat on the back of Rudy’s car while he leaned against it, sharing a stolen bottle of champagne.
"You seemed pretty close with that one cop back there, I didn’t take you to be a narc."
"Oh, Deb? Yeah, I went to high school with her," you paused to sip, "We kept in touch while I went to medical school. I hear it’s always good to have a cop on hand."
"Already planning on how you’ll get away with medical malpractice?"
You stifled a grin, "I would never ask Deb to help me do that, maybe her brother though."
"Are the two of you close?"
"Not really, Deb’s the one I really talked to. Dexter was always just so… Dexter."
"Sounds kinda creepy."
"More standoff-ish, last I heard, he does some kind of blood forensics job with her."
"I’m shocked you aren’t closer considering how much blood you deal with."
"You’d think, but he really doesn’t talk to anyone outside of his sister," You raised a brow, "I don’t even think he has a girlfriend or anything."
"Ugh, single men are just the worst."
"You just have a comment about everything don’t you."
"I’m quite charming, I know."
You rolled your eyes, taking another sip of champagne.
"Anyways, what led you to becoming captain hook?"
Rudy paused. For the first time it seemed like he had to consider his answer.
"Well, when I was little my mom got into a car accident and she lost both of her legs."
Your brows furrowed.
"Oh, that’s terrible."
"I remember when it happened." He stared blankly at his hands. "I just wanted to put her back together, you know? Like humpty-dumpty. Just… the pieces weren’t around."
You decided not to push further.
The two of you sat in silence for a moment, letting the sounds of distant conversations fill the space. You found yourself staring at him for a moment, studying his features. You looked away when you realized just how long you had been looking at him. When you glanced back, Rudy was already watching you. He was the first to break the tension, closing the distance between you. His lips warm, tasting like champagne and menthol. You quickly melted into the kiss, your hands finding their way into his dark hair for stability. He pulled back with a quiet laugh, letting the warmth of the kiss linger between you.
You smiled, grateful you had been the one to take on Tony’s case that night.
For the first time, going home was not as appealing as your next shift.
