I Said What About Who: Gwen and Wes What: Caught in the act and sibling chatter When: Tuesday Morning 01/01/13 Where: Tennyson house Warning: None
Wes really wasn’t trying to be a complete and utter tit, but he did want to try and sneak Vanessa out of the house before Gwen woke up. It had less to do with shame and more to do with not wanting to hear about it. Explaining the terms of your booty call friend to your sister early in the morning after a painfully long shift was not high on his to do list. Especially not before he’d had the chance to eat something and determine whether it was an English Breakfast tea or coffee sort of day. Considering he needed to be back at hospital in a few hours, he was voting on coffee before he’d even set foot in the kitchen.
Vanessa, all green eyes and bubbly smile and blond hair, was precariously hopping from one foot to the other as she attempted to put on her shoes, which were heels entirely too high for her while chattering at him about some show on the telly that he never watched because he never had time to watch anything. “And then there was a plane crash. It was devastating. They were out in the woods for all this time without anyone knowing because no one was answering their phone, which is a little irresponsible in a hospital, isn’t it? You’d think that answering the phone would be really important.”
Leaning over, Wes planted a kiss on her lips. “It’s terribly important to answer the phone in hospital, which is why you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the shows.”
“I know. It’s just really involving, you know. It’s like a second life for me.”
Wes wondered whether Vanessa had a first life briefly before deciding that he wasn’t being fair. “Yes, well, look. I’ve got to get ready for work. Can I call you?”
Nodding, Vanessa opened the door, adjusted her shoes and grabbed her purse from the coat rack. “I’m heading back into Boston and then flying out for a bit. I’ll call you, handsome.”
There was the beauty of dating a flight attendant. “Sounds lovely,” he said, kissed her once more, arm curling around her waist and then waved her off. After she popped into her car and started it, he closed the door, which was, naturally, when he finally noticed his sister. “Morning, Gwen. Just getting up or never gone to bed?”
Gwen had gone to bed early because she wanted to catch up on some reading before classes started the following week. Not to mention the yoga she'd been neglecting for a few days now. She'd come in as the very statuesque blonde woman was rambling on about some stupid television show. She didn't want to be overly rude and interrupt her brother, so she just stood there and watched him act like so many of the asshole men she'd come into contact with herself.
Little promises to call that he probably didn't mean. Hell, he almost seemed relieved that the woman was just as busy as he was and likely wouldn't call him back for months and by that time he'd be ready for another one night stand. A booty call. Typical. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to finish macking on the woman and once he noticed her standing there, she shook her head.
"You're a whore," she told him simply. "I swear you have more women than you have pairs of boxer shorts." There was a small bit of resentment there because she'd rung in the new year alone. It was depressing. She supposed she could have called someone, but why start off the new year with someone she knew she wouldn't really give a damn about come morning? "Just getting up," she responded to his question. "Hungry?" she asked him, turning and heading towards the kitchen.
Gwen could judge him if she wanted to, and there was very little doubt in his mind that she was doing just that. It wasn't as though he lied to the women he slept with about what was going on between them. Wes was always upfront about letting them know that he wasn't looking for a relationship and then not pursuing them if they said that they were.
"Poppet, whores get paid. No money changed hands. I'm simply social," he said with a grin. "Plus considering that I own two pairs of boxer shorts, it's not easy for my girlfriends to win. I do, however, have more briefs than girlfriends."
As he followed her the grin wavered a bit because he could tell that she was disappointed in him. "Famished, but it depends entirely on what you're fixing. I don't really want to eat crow."
She sighed. She knew well and good that he was at least upfront with the women. They knew he wasn't their boyfriend. That was more consideration than she was often given. Which was one more depressing note to add to the score of her life. Bleh. At least she was well on her way to becoming a lawyer and having enough money to support herself without the need for a man to take care of her.
Gwen made her way to the fridge and got out the ingredients for french toast. Looking over her shoulder at her brother, she finally gave him a tiny smile. She was never able to stay angry or cross at him for long, even when she wanted to. "Eggs and french toast?" she offered. "Maybe some bacon if you're really lucky."
Wes hadn't cared much for a number of the guys that Gwen had dated though whether that was due to what jerks they were or simply because he was her big brother and thusly wired to hate the idea of any man fucking his sister was debateable. It was likely a bit of both. She had told him about them, and he'd wanted to fly home in order to properly punch each and every one. Not that he could rightly afford measures, but he had been tempted all the same.
"Much tastier than crow, Gwennie," he said with a smile and then made his own way to the fridge. "I am capable of cooking myself so I think I'll just ensure that the bacon makes its way to the table." Even if it was American bacon and thus too fatty and wrong, but it was still pretty good. Then he pulled out the electric skillet so he wouldn't have to fight his sister for range space. "Coffee or tea?"
"Tea please," she said, watching him set up the electric skillet. "I'm sorry for being rude," she told him reluctantly. She had a hard time admitting she was wrong but it was easier to do so with Wes. He was her brother and he was always there for her. She might as well try not to fight with him at least a little. Putting in the effort certainly wouldn't hurt either one of them. "You're a grown man, you should be allowed to do whatever you want with whatever bird you want to do it with," she shrugged. "I just think you could do better is all." Better than some woman who didn't want him for more than a quick shag.
Plugging the electric skillet in, he let it start to heat up while he pulled out the loose tea, the teapot and the electric kettle. There was something thrilling about buying kitchen appliances, and Wes had spent a lot of time buying this or that over the years, though he still had no idea what some of the bloody things ever did. It was an easy breakfast so of day so he carefully measured that into the infuser before dropping it into the pot and filling the kettle with water.
When it came to the fussing, well, he was used to that, especially from Gwen. Leaning against the counter, he smiled at her. "Of course I could. I just don't have the time to do better right now." Or the inclination truth be told. "Don't fuss over me so. It's my job to fret over you and click my tongue and worry because you're not settled down yet." A wink accompanied that statement because they both knew it was silly. They would both likely be married to their jobs. It was just the way they were. "Speaking of, though, any boys I need to threaten to do right when it comes to you?"
Gwen scoffed at his comment about her being settled down. School and her internship left very little time for her to even have a male friend over let alone for her to find someone with which she could settle down. She got out some eggs and milk for the french toast and grabbed the cinnamon to go with it before responding to her brother.
"I fuss because I worry about you," she told him. "It's in my DNA." They were truly the same when it came to hoping that the other one was doing well and wasn't hurting for any reason whatsoever. Gwen wanted Wes to be happy regardless of what it was that made that happiness possible. Even if she fretted more than he liked. "No," she told him. "No one you need to threaten. I've been too busy." Even her break hadn't been a break. Just because school paused didn't mean that her internship did.
Wes supposed that it was possible they were too much alike when it came to some things, but it was only to expected considering the way they'd grown up. Being in the States without her for so long had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. It was hard to say what they'd do when all the schooling was done, and it was time to get on with actual jobs and the whole sordid business of living in the real world instead of like kids with too many activities they were always rushing off to.
He was the eldest so it was his job to fuss more. Plus she was the girl. It might smack of being a little sexist, but he couldn't help it. That was just the way he'd always been when it came to Gwennie. "It makes me a bloody awful brother if I admit to being a little glad to hear that, yes?" he asked with a smirk and then flicked some water onto the electric skillet, listening to it hiss. Using the indicator light was easier but not nearly as satisfying. "You can pop by hospital if you want. I'll point out the pricks to avoid. Everyone needs a bit of fun now and then, Gwen."
Wes' protectiveness was both sweet and annoying. How something could be equal parts of two completely different things was beyond Gwen, but he managed. It was nice to know that he cared so much about her that he'd protect her and fuss over her, but at the same time he could drive her out of her mind with his hope to keep her safe. Especially considering he got mad at guys for being players when he was totally one himself. Or at least that was how she felt about the matter.
"I have fun," she told him, sticking her tongue out at him as she dipped each piece of bread into the egg mixture and laid them one by one into the heated skillet on the stove. "Maybe I will, but then you'd have to work with some guy who diddled your sister," she pointed out. "Somehow I think that isn't exactly what you'd like to live with knowing," she teased, flashing him a smile.
Oh, he was totally allowed to have double standards where his sister was concerned. Plus he was pretty sure that Gwen didn't want someone who was just going to play the game, which was why he was so upset when she ended up with one. Wes frowned as he began laying the bacon out in the electric skillet, each one popping and sizzling a bit. "Oh, yes, it looks like you're having so much fun what with your book dates and the like. With actual books mind."
Oy. There was a mental image he didn't need. "I was going to make sure to introduce you to people I don't work with often. Like dermatology residents or peeds." Otherwise known in his surgical circle as lightweights. "I barely deal with those tossers."
Gwen couldn't really talk much because she had her own double standards when it came to her brother. He might have been the sort of guy she didn't really want to end up with, but she knew that no woman would ever be good enough for him. It was just the way that things worked. He was her brother, her best friend. No one would be perfect enough for him no matter what sort of negative things he was capable of doing to them it was always going to be the girl in the end that Gwen disliked, never Wes.
"I just want to keep my GPA up," she told him. "Relationships are too complicated and one night stands are never one night stands." Which was the truth, even if she didn't want to admit it. Her brain always told her one thing and her heart made things complicated. "If they're tossers why do you want to introduce me to them? Don't I deserve better?"
"You worry too much about your GPA," he scolded as he finished settling the bacon into the skillet, washed his hands, put the top on and then washed his hands again before checking on the tea kettle. "It'll be fine without you fretting so much and studying yourself ragged. There's something to be said for being able to add in a touch of the human experience. Makes you more well rounded." Although perhaps that didn't apply to lawyers. Wes had never been interested in the other family business. Medicine had always been his siren call. He pointedly avoided the one night stand comment because they had been down that conversational path before, and it never ended well.
He frowned at her. "Not tossers like that. I call them tossers because they're involved in the softer disciplines. They happen to be perfectly nice and capable people." Just a tad on the boring side as far as he was concerned. It made them less likely to be a threat to his sister's feelings.
Gwen knew that he was right. She was using her GPA as an excuse and it would have been fine whether she spent one day a week or seven studying. She'd never had a problem with keeping it up before and doubted she would if she slowed down a little. Truth be told she had been very tired lately and she felt a little like she might be burning herself out. Wes telling her that was what she was doing wasn't helping her keep up the denial.
"You think you're better than them," she told him knowingly, flipping the toast over and taking a moment to retrieve a couple of plates so they'd be close by. Breaking a few eggs into another skillet she glanced at her brother. "How do you want your eggs?" she questioned.
They needed the other to keep themselves balanced out. Wes knew when to tell Gwen to let go a little and shake things up, though he couldn't rightly say too much. He didn't have a lot of time, either, but when he was free, he didn't spend the whole time with his nose in a book. "You should come out with me and some people from the hospital sometime. They're nice. You'll like them. We can do drinking or dancing or bowling or whatever."
Wes removed the cover from the electric skillet and started flipping the pieces of bacon with a plastic spatula. "No, I don't." Maybe he sort of did. "I think surgery is better than whatever they're involved in." That was certainly true. "I'll keep being easy. However you're having yours is fine."
It wasn't as easy to shake the thought that he was being completely unfair to the other specialties. "Mind, we do need people in those fields. Not everyone is cut out to be a surgeon. It's not a failing. It's simply an exceptional discipline. That's all."
They did balance each other out. Opposite ends of a spectrum, she supposed, but they needed each other for reasons that only the could understand. Wes was the most important person in Gwen's life and had been for some time. With the passing of their mother, he moved up even more so because he was all she had left really. Her only close family member aside from their grandparents. "Maybe I should," she agreed, nodding a little. "Alright, set it up and we'll make a night of it," she told him. She might as well have a little bit of fun.
She went ahead and scrambled the eggs because that would be the easiest thing to do and she didn't have the patience to fry them at the moment. Letting them simmer for a moment she dished the french toast onto each of their plates and smiled a little as her brother talked about how it was important to have other types of doctors. "You still think you're better than them," she grinned. "It's okay that you're cocky, brother. At least you have the walk to back up the talk."
The first part of the battle had been won as far as Wes was concerned in that he had gotten Gwen to agree to a night out with people. The harder part would be figuring out when he could get a group of people together and free to do such a thing. "I'll ask around and see what schedules look like, but I promise that this will happen," he said, pointing a finger at her and then pouring the boiling water from the tea kettle into the teapot to steep. Making tea the proper way could be an ordeal, but it was worth it. Plus their grandmother would have had his head if he'd done it any other way.
Wes pressed the bacon down one final time with the spatula before lifting it out of the electric skillet and placing it on a plate covered with paper towels to drain. "That sounds like a comment about my bum," he said, shaking the spatula at her. "Not that there's anything wrong with it. I've quite a nice one, but I don't think you're supposed to be making remarks about it."
Gwen rolled her eyes at her brother as she dished the eggs onto the plates and turned off the skillets, removing them from the hot stove so they could cool for easy cleaning after breakfast. She went to the refrigerator and grabbed the syrup from inside of it before responding to him verbally. "I meant that you're cocky about being smart enough to be a surgeon. That you deserve to be cocky because you really are smart. I'm not going to talk about your bum. If you think it's nice, so be it."
Pouring the tea into cups, Wes added sugar and milk to his before preparing Gwen's to her preference as well. He had long ago learned how his sister took her tea and coffee. It was just one of those things that happened. Smirking, he grabbed the plate of bacon and moved it to the table before going back for the mugs and silverware. "Oh, that reason to be cocky. I'm less interested in that reason to be cocky than I am about my arse. Especially not that I'm worried about it being less than nice. I'll have to take a poll when I go to work. Maybe put something on the bulletin so people can vote on it." Now he was just being flippant to be cute.
"Thank you, Gwennie," he said, tone going soft and sincere. "You're very smart as well. We're a family of veritable geniuses."
Gwen took the two plates to the table, setting Wes' down at his place and hers at her own. She took a moment to get some silverware out before sitting down in her seat. She listened to her brother, rolling her eyes a little. "You and your arse don't need to be all over the hospital," she teased. "I mean haven't half the nurses seen it already?" she teased, grinning broadly at him as he sat down beside her.
She smiled at his words about how smart she was. "We get it from our Mama," she said softly, her smile faltering a little as she looked down at her plate and picked up her fork. It was best not to think too much on Mama or there would be tears.
There she went assuming that he had been sleeping with the nurses. Wes shook a finger at his sister as he sat down. "If they've been looking, which seems slightly reckless on the job," although, yeah, he had certainly checked some of the women working there out, "then they're just looking at it in scrubs, which aren't that flattering. Sleeping with co-workers always ends badly." So he avoided it. Mostly. "There might be one nurse who's seen it in all its glory."
Oy. Now he had gone and done it. The mention of the mother and the way that Gwen's smile faltered and she looked away made his heart clench up. He hadn't meant to bring a sad note down on them. Wes reached for her hand, squeezing it lightly. Talking about family was difficult now that Mama was dead. "It's alright, Gwennie. I'm sorry."
"You're allowed to sleep with all the nurses you want," she told him, managing to give a little smile. It wasn't really her business who Wes slept with. The only reason she cared was because she didn't want him to end up falling for someone who wasn't ready for a relationship. No matter how much he didn't want one, eventually she figured he would want more with someone and she just hoped that when that day came, whoever it was he fell for fell for him too.
She blinked a little and squeezed his hand back in return. "It's not your fault," she told him, shaking her head a little and putting a smile on. He hadn't done anything wrong and shouldn't have to apologize. "I just miss her is all."
The day when Wes decided to settle down and probably far, far in the future. Assuming that it ever arrived at all, which was a bit doubtful all things considered. Being irreparably tied to one's job tended to have a bit of a negative impact on the social life, and he couldn't live with that. Of the two of them, he was betting on Gwennie settling down first. Assuming that she managed to find some bloke who didn't deserve a good beating now and then.
"I know," he said, and it was his fault. He'd brought it up in a roundabout way, and he'd not been there through the ordeal when he should have been. That worried him, too. What if he really was more like their father than he thought? Just waiting to cut out when things got rough? "I miss her too. It'll be fine, though. We've got each other to count on, yes?"
"We do," Gwen said, nodding a little. She didn't doubt that they'd do just fine. They'd been okay thus far. The wound was still pretty fresh and that was the hardest part. Gwen had always felt like her mother could live forever. Unfortunately, no matter how much anyone tried to help her, that was just untrue. "We'll be alright," she assured her brother. She had no doubts that they would figure out a way to make it through like they always did. "Eat your breakfast before it gets cold," she scolded him, flashing a little smile and picking up her fork. Enough feeling sorry for themselves and each other. The day was going to be a good one, damn it.