Safe and Sane

He'd hired a cook. He didn't have one in his employ anymore, but he had connections and he made phone calls. He had someone come in and make use of the kitchen Simon loved so well. He dressed the dining room table with linens and candles and a very nice bottle of wine. He put on quiet music and had everything set just so.

Then he waited and willed himself not to pace. He hadn't told Simon he was going to special effort. He'd probably think it was just another night until he came inside, smelled the food and saw the candlelight.

Jesus, he hated split shifts. The break was never quite long enough to get home and back, and made for long, long days. Nick sighed, stripped out of his scrubs and back into something he was allowed to actually go on the wards in, then avoided as many colleagues as possible on his way to the staff room.

The other problem with split shifts was that no one really seemed to understand that he was actually not working between the two.

He pushed the door to the staff room open, peering round the door before slipping in, and shutting the door firmly behind him, sighing in relief at the sight of only Riley, and the smell of fresh coffee. "Thank Christ, I thought Ruth was going to chase me round the whole damn hospital. Are you my anaesthetist this afternoon again?"

At last. The final element of Beth's venture was ready to open, the gallery ready to her satisfaction and Jason's, and displaying (after a certain amount of discussion) a selection of pieces created by each of the artists who would later be holding their own show in the gallery.

The cafe was brightly lit against the dull weather outside, and the store was still open downstairs, but the focus for today was on the gallery, the seating area at one end, and the works on display (and sale) there.

Dinner wasn't an elaborate affair by any means, but since his cooking always seemed to surprise Riley, Simon did it whenever he had enough time to. Today was one of those days. His leg was much better and he was back at work, but the evening was a free one, and he actually had a day off the next day to match.

Which, of course, meant that he slipped into Riley's house before Riley got home. It was, firstly, a much bigger and nicer kitchen than his own, and secondly, a surprise.

He had the table set and everything warming, ready to be served by the time Riley came home.

It started out as a call, just like any other. The building was already burning when they got there, and there were people inside. As half the team got out the hose, Simon kitted up with the rest and went in to clear the house. Still nothing different than usual.

They worked their way through the rooms, checking each one carefully until they found the wayward boy. Bright blue eyes stared up at him, from under a mop of brown hair, wide and terrified, and Simon picked him up, turned to hand him to someone - the floor under his right foot collapsed. He cursed, made sure the boy was clear, and turned his attention to trying to get free.

"Simon, c'mon," Joe said, grabbing his hand and pulling hard. Several more tries and some scrambling and his leg finally came free. The fire was burning hotter around them now, and his foot ached, but he gritted his teeth and followed Joe towards the stairs.

"We're gonna have to jump," Joe shouted over the roar of the fire, and Simon nodded. Fuck, this was not going to be comfortable at all. He tried to put as much of the weight on his other foot as possible as he landed, and needed Joe's help to get back on his feet. Easier to walk though, now that they didn't have to be so wary of the floor going out from under them - but more aware than ever of the house falling down around them.

A few minor incidences and some close calls later, he and Joe stumbled back out onto the lawn, caught easily by his friends and being half dragged away from the flames. An ambulance was already there, the young boy settled close by, oxygen mask on his face and, once free of his mask, Simon gave the kid a small smile.

"You need to get checked over at the hospital," one of the paramedics said, directing him towards the ambulance. Simon glanced back at the house, nodded and limped over to the ambulance, letting one of the guys help him up into it and fit an oxygen mask on easily. God, it was nice to be able to breathe.

It didn't occur to him until he was at the hospital, waiting for a doctor to check him over, that coming to the hospital meant that protocol dictated they call his emergency contact. Which he'd recently changed to be Riley.

Simon spotted him in the club and grinned, taking those few steps necessary to bring him behind Riley. Slid his hands over his eyes. "Guess who," he whispered against Riley's ear.

Simon had called ahead. Despite the fact that he really liked Gale, and they'd enjoyed talking after the initial...he didn't even know what to call that - but after that, they'd had a good time and got along great, he was still feeling completely off-balance.

It had just taken him by surprise.

He knocked on the door and waited for Riley to answer it.

Riley brought Simon a cup of coffee and sat down. Not on the couch beside him, but in the armchair beside it. Being too close usually led to his thoughts getting derailed. "First things first, how was your day?"

Wednesday again, and a happier Wednesday than the previous one. The weather seemed to have warmed up especially for the inauguration, and the evening was mild enough that the cafe had tables set outside for more than just the smokers. A general air of celebration lingered from the previous day, and the cafe owner had decided to celebrate by offering free upgrades to larger sizes of coffee, or free muffins with the smallest ones.

Sugar and caffeine highs all around.

With anyone else, Riley might not have bothered. Because he'd invited Simon, he'd had his housekeepers do a spot round of cleaning today.

And then he poured himself a drink and waited for Simon to show. When he did, he took his time getting to the door and leaned against it once it was open. "You did bring me a present, didn't you?"

Simon hadn't really known what to do. Because, well, he'd messed up the talking rather a lot and he really wanted to...get the point across, he supposed. Homecooked meal. God, he hadn't cooked in ages and, well, he was a little worried it wasn't going to be edible, but it hadn't turned out too bad.

So, food was done, table was set and...he glanced at his watch as he heard the knock on his door; Riley was on time.

He opened it with a smile. "Hey."

Simon had spent the week doing a lot of thinking and a lot of consideration. And Riley's quiet "I miss you" had come up more than a few times. They needed to talk - needed to do it when Riley wasn't down as well.

He spotted him in the club, grabbed himself a beer and Riley a rum and coke before he headed towards the sofa. "Hey."

The club was always a good place to be when he just needed to get out of the world for a while. He'd finally got off his shift and it had been far too busy for his liking. He needed to have a little fun and just relax.

He strolled up to the bar and glanced at the person already standing there. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Is it or is it not morally irresponsible of me to find our new resident tempting to the point of distraction?" he asked as he sat on the couch with a cup of coffee.

It was a party. It was a costume party. There was food, there were traditional Halloween games- bobbing for apples, a place to carve jack o' lanterns and way, way too much candy and junk food. A place to dance. There were also a few open play rooms, set up for groups or exhibitionism, but that wasn't the focus of the night.


There were awards for the best costume, for the scariest, the funniest, the most creative, the sexiest.

It was one of those days that made people wonder if fall really was arriving. October, yes, but it was balmy, warm, and bright, with a fresh breeze.

The cafe was making the most of the late warmth, with tables available outside, and a selection of chilled confectionery available at the counter along with the usual muffins and cookies. The cheesecakes were proving particularly popular. And creamy.

The weather was pretty temperate, considering that it was headed toward October. Warm days with some cloud cover. That meant the cafe wasn't pulling out the stops to break a heatwave, and it didn't need to worry about the heating bill to keep people warm.

Still, the evenings were sliding toward cool, so they'd broken out all the fancy hot chocolate additions, for the brave, bold, gourmand or just plain curious.

There were small wooden bowls of popcorn on every table and the smell, as well as the sound of more being popped, filled the air.

Riley was not quite literally tying himself in knots. "Itch," he said by way of explanation. "Itch where I can't reach it, between my shoulderblades. Please?"

He was actually still in his scrubs, too.

The lights had been turned down low in this room as well and the door propped open. For the purposes of the evening, a rollaway wardrobe had been parked in the corner, doors likewise braced open. It had pieces of donated clothing, both "ordinary" and outlandish, for costuming purposes: lab coats, pleated, plaid skirts, dark blue uniform pieces...

A table held a few props (sunglasses, stethoscopes, etc.) and a bowl of suggestions written on small sheets of paper, not to mention extra pieces of paper and pens for making new ones.

Riley had been busy. Personally, professionally, it didn't matter. He'd just been less present for a bit and now he was back. On a couch, as was his wont, with a magazine open in front of him and a tall, narrow glass of something dark and bubbling on the table in front of him. When the door opened, he looked up over the glasses he almost never wore, and looked down again. "Evening."