1990s AU

[physicianheal]

It's a tough learning curve. He's a brand new resident at a tough hospital in a city that, sometimes, feels like it could swallow him whole. He misses the sea, misses being able to go home and get his Baba's cooking when it suits him. There's so many tourists. There's so much noise.

For the last few months, its felt like New Orleans could close over his head.

Still, it's not all bad. He's got a little apartment on the top floor of a building on the edge of the French Quarter, and the food's good -- better than good -- and, eventually, he thinks he's going to be the kind of doctor that he desperately wants to be. And then there's the music and the liquor, and all of the reasons why the place is thronged on a Friday night. After his shift, Robby goes home to shower and change, and then he heads out, to a little bar that he likes that has live jazz and a decent kitchen. He'll hang out for a few hours, get dinner, listen to some music and, with any luck, he'll run into a handful of people he knows and find someone to go home with.

And it's hours later, and his belly's full, and he's slightly drunk when he sees a familar sillhouette at the end of the bar. He stares, for a moment, to make sure he hasn't got it wrong, but he'd know that profile anywhere. He's spent years thinking about it, how than man had looked when he leaned in to kiss him. How he'd wished for more.

"Holy shit," he says, walking up behind the guy's stool. "Jack Abbot. In the flesh."

Comments

[jackabbot]

Jack had come down to New Orleans for Vazquez's bachelor party. It wasn't too far from where they were all stationed at Ft Polk and there were plenty of places to find cheap booze and cheap girls, apparently. Jack, unfortunately, had pulled a muscle in his back trying to lift a patient the other day and had been prescribed the kind of drugs that weren't great to mix with alcohol. That had meant he had become the designated driver and everyone else had felt free to drink a whole lot more than they might have (which was already a lot). Eventually, he got them all back to their hotel and into their beds with water nearby. He was going to go to sleep himself, but he was sharing a room with Woodward, and Woodward snored like a bear at the best of times. Adding a few Hurricanes to that meant it was impossible to sleep, even for a soldier who could sleep on the rumbling, cold deck of a flying airplane.

Jack eventually gave up and put on something he could leave the hotel room in, then went looking for somewhere to spend a little time till he was more tired. There was a hole in the wall jazz bar not far from the hotel that Jack had thought looked interesting but everyone else had said was too unlikely to have hot girls in it.

He slipped onto a bar stool at the end of the bar and was drinking his club soda with lime when someone came up behind him and greeted him. It wasn't too uncommon to see people from other posts now and then, so he figured that was what was happening. Instead he turned around to see Michael Robinavitch.

"What the fuck?" he said in total disbelief.

[physicianheal]

"Of all the gin joints in all the world," says Robby, a grin spreading across his bearded face. It's been a couple of years -- three maybe -- since that night in Sarajevo, and Jack hasn't really changed. There's maybe a touch of stubble but, other than that...

"It's good to see you, man."
In that moment, all he can think about is how the last time he'd seen Jack, he'd kissed him like they were never going to be in the same room again. Based on the look on his face, he's not sure if Jack remembers it that fondly.

[jackabbot]

Robby looked uncertain of his welcome, which hadn't been his intent. He'd spent so long thinking of Robby as almost someone from a dream, one of the few bright spots in a six month deployment that had stripped him of literally every illusion he'd ever had about being a medic. He'd hoped Robby had gotten home safely, finished med school, all that stuff. Jack, meanwhile, had re-enlisted.

Jack immediately got up from the bar stool and wrapped Robby in a huge bear hug. Robby was still taller, but Jack had only picked up more muscle in the last few years. The hug made his lat twinge but he didn't care.

"Shit, man, what the fuck are you doing here?"

[physicianheal]

One minute he's standing there, staring at Jack like he imagined him, and then next moment Jack's dragging him in against his chest, squeezing him hard enough to knock some of the wind out of him. Which answers one question, he guesses. He laughs, wrapping his arm around Jack's shoulders and tousling his fingers through the short hair on the back of his head.

"My residency, as it happens," he says. "I started at Big Charity in the Summer. Just about settled in. What about you?"

[jackabbot]

"Oh, so I gotta call you Dr. Robby now, I guess," he said. He was glad Robby had finished med school and was working on being the doctor Jack knew he needed and wanted to be. And Big Charity was a hell of a place to do a residency, too. Robby hadn't picked an easy one.

"I'm at Polk," Jack said, and then remembered to translate, since Robby said he had just moved recently and probably didn't know Louisiana geography yet. "Uh, Ft Polk, with the 115th Field Hospital. It's about four and a half hours away."

[physicianheal]

"I mean, it's definitely got a ring to it," he says, aware that he's probably still standing too close to Jack but, fuck it, Jack hasn't pulled away either. He nods. "Right. But that doesn't explain what you're doing here." Robby makes a vague gesture to the bar around them. "Is it...what's the Army equivilent of shore leave?"

[jackabbot]

There was only so long two men could stand this close without someone having some questions, so Jack gave Robby's shoulder a slap and then stepped back. The seat next to him had just opened up, so he sat down on his stool and motioned to the other in case Robby wanted to sit down.

"Weekend pass," he supplied the answer as he sipped his soda with lime. "One of my buddies wanted to come down here for his bachelor party. Better booze and boobs, he said."

That didn't quite explain why Jack was in the bar with clearly no buddies, but he'd explain if Robby sat down. For all he knew, Robby was with some friends or a date.

[physicianheal]

Robby slides into the offered seat. He's pretty much finished the beer in his hand, and he gestures to the bartender for another as he settles.

"I mean, if there's anywhere you can find tits and cocktails side by side, it's probably Bourbon Street," he says, with a smile. He shoots Jack a slightly questioning look. "They ditch you, or..."

[jackabbot]

"I've seen plenty," Jack agreed, because there was no shortage of drunk women who seemed completely unconcerned if and how the whole world saw what they had. He had no complaints.

"I pulled a muscle two days ago lifting a patient. Doc gave me some pills that don't mix with booze, so I became the DD for the weekend. Everyone else got completely smashed and I already poured em into bed, but my roommate snores like a Warthog with engine problems, especially when he's drunk."

Jack liked Woodward, all things considered, but he really needed to see someone about that snoring.

[physicianheal]

"Ah," says Robby, nodding his thanks when a beer gets set down in front of him. "Well, I can definitely see the problem there. I had a similar problem the last time I saw you, actually. Roomate snored like a buzz-saw. Of course, he'd vacated by the time you..." He pauses, taking a sip of his beer. "Stopped by."

[jackabbot]

"Which was good for everyone," Jack agreed blandly. New Orleans seemed to be a little more wild and accepting of things, but Jack wasn't going to mention anything that would get either of their asses kicked if someone overheard. Also, for all he knew, that had been Robby sowing his wild oats and now the man was totally straight.

"I saw this place earlier and wanted to check it out, but Vazquez said he didn't think there'd be any hot girls at a jazz bar."

Jack had seen quite a few smoking hot women here, so clearly Vazquez was wrong.

[physicianheal]

"Oh, definitely," says Robby, just as blandly. He's hooked up with both men and women during the time he's already spent in New Orleans but, for all he knows, once was enough for Jack. Robby glances over his shoulder. He could pick out at least four women who he'd definitely class as hot, just from where he's sitting, barely craning his neck.

"Vasquez's loss, I guess," he says.

[jackabbot]

"I'll be sure to mention that to him tomorrow when he wakes up with the most godawful headache he's ever had in his life," Jack noted. "I did put asprin and water by his bed for that, though. Everyone's bed, actually. Guess I can't stop being a medic even when I'm on a pass."

He didn't think that was a bad thing.

"So what kind of doctor did you decide to be? Derm? Plastics? Oh, I got it. Ortho."

[physicianheal]

None of that surprises him -- Jack is one of the most capable medics he worked with during a handful of stints with DWB when he had time during med school. He honestly thinks that Jack would make a great doctor, but it might be condescending to actually tell him that.

"Emergency Medicine," he says. "And I suspect you know that, but you can't resist being an asshole." He's grinning when he says it.

[jackabbot]

"I've been told it's part of my charm," Jack replied easily. He knew he was a snarky little shit, but he did try to be the charming kind rather than the annoying kind. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it got him in trouble with his C.O.

"I wouldn't have predicted anything else," he said, completely sincerely. "I hadn't really expected all of that shit to be that ... fun, which might be a fucked up thing to say when you're digging shrapnel out of someone's guts, but it was. S'why I re-upped."

[physicianheal]

He'd worked that much out from the fact that Jack was here on a weekend pass. Still, it makes sense to him --- in his memory, Jack wore his uniform well.

"It's the adreneline," he says, brushing his hair back with one hand. "Obviously, the kind of work I'm doing here is very different from in a warzone, but...Still a rush." He tilts his head. "Still quite a lot of bullets, too."

[jackabbot]

Jack followed the casual movement of Robby's hand as he brushed his longer hair back, but he didn't let the look linger. This was just two people who'd been friends for a couple of months a few years ago running into each other at a bar.

"It's the adrenaline," he agreed. For him, it was also the puzzle. Trying to figure out what was wrong with very little information made his brain work, and he liked that. He might be viewed by practically everyone as a stupid grunt with a high school diploma, but he wasn't actually stupid.

"Do they try to tell you how to handle those and do you manage not to laugh at them when they do?"

[physicianheal]

"The Chief Attending did at first -- Big Charity is a teaching hospital, so it makes sense." Robby shakes his head, taking a sip. "When I told him I was in Sarajevo and Darfur with DWB, he moves on to trying to teach me other things." He tilts his head. "What about you? You re-enlisted -- Where'd you end up?"

[jackabbot]

"They extended my deployment in Sarajevo by two months, so I spent six there instead of four. Had to break in a whole new set of goody-two-shoes volunteers," Jack bitched lightly, but there was some truth to it too. Robby had figured out how things worked pretty fast, but not everyone did.

"I haven't deployed since then, so it's just been the usual of trying to keep soldiers from blowing their dicks off with heavy artillery."

He knocked on the wood about not having been deployed and trying to keep soldiers from blowing their dicks off.

[physicianheal]

Even though it was Jack's job, Robby doesn't like the idea of him out there, so hearing he hasn't been deployed since Sarajevo is actually a relief. Robby laughs, shaking his head.

"I think that technically means that I've been in more warzones than you have, brother."

[jackabbot]

"I'm alright with that, but I'd also be surprised if that didn't change ... soon," Jack said with a shrug and another sip of his drink. He wasn't going to say any damn thing in the middle of an open bar because OPSEC was something he'd had pounded into him, but he knew there were noises about orders that might be cut for his team. The rumor mill was always going, but this particular rumor might actually have some truth to it.

"For now, though, I get to be in the glorious heat and humidity of Louisiana. Are you used to the climate yet?"

[physicianheal]

"Mostly?" says Robby, glad when the topic moves on because he doesn't want to think of Jack somewhere like Darfur or Afghanistan. "I'm fucking glad it's not summer anymore. I think I lost ten lbs just sweating into my scrubs. My apartment is pretty cool, though -- if you open all the windows and the balcony doors, you can get a good through breeze going. Saves running the air-con all the time."

[jackabbot]

"I wish they'd fucking put some AC in the barracks, but it's always on the 'deferred maintenance' list," he grumbled. Army priorities were an impossible thing to understand at the best of. times.

"If I hadn't been sharing a room with Woodward, I probably would have laid on the bed in my hotel room completely naked for an hour in the AC just because I could."

[physicianheal]

Robby's face goes carefully blank for a second and then he sips his beer. Jack isn't drinking and it's entirely possible that what happened the last time they saw each other was thanks to the copious amounts of liquor that they'd both drink that night.

"I mean," he says. "I'm not adverse to running my AC."

[jackabbot]

Jack wasn't going to call that any kind of expression of interest, but it wasn't disinterest either. That was intriguing.

"You have a couch?" Jack asked, because again, they were in an open bar and he didn't know who might be listening. "Because if you do and you don't mind me crashing on it, I'll sure as fuck get better sleep than listening to Woodward."

And if he didn't end up on the couch, only he and Robby needed to know that.