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Yeahhhhhhhh, he's struggling 😭 Thank you so much! ♥️

Your med school ex.

Jack Abbot x Doctor!F!Reader

13k || All my content is 18+ MDNI || CW: jealous!Jack; insecure!Jack; Jack reacting poorly to his jealousy and being a little dickish at times; but also soft fluffy moments; sexual innuendos; bad sexual innuendos; bad flirting; your ex being gross and smarmy and flirting with you despite you telling him you have a boyfriend; reference to oral; bad Top Gun reference; mention of stabbing victim but nothing graphic, just that there is one; Paris comes up again; Van Gogh; zebras; angsty; part 2 to follow, will be a HEA; not edited or beta-ed; no y/n or related

Summary: Jack gets jealous when your med school ex shows up and spends the day shadowing you.

AN: I love a good jealousy moment, especially when there is approximately zero reason to be jealous. It's such a human emotion and one that can banish logic and rationality so fast. That said, a good portion of this feels so silly and I don't know how I feel about it, but I'm just pressing send. Based on this ask from the 1k celebration! I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading! ♥️

"Is it July 1st?"

"Not to my knowledge," you answer Jack, equally as confused by the four unfamiliar white coated doctors standing at the hub. One feels vaguely familiar but you can't place him in the cursory glance you give the four as you walk with Jack.

"Okay." He draws the word out as the two of you make it to your lockers and start opening them. "Can't wait to find out what that's about."

"Residents from Cleveland Fairview are shadowing and observing today," Dana explains as she walks up.

Your brows just furrow further as you glance at her while putting your stuff in your locker. "Why?"

"No fucking clue, Gloria just showed up shortly after I got here and told me. I'm guessing it has to do with PittFest and wanting to see how we run to bring things back to their program," she shrugs.

"Michael probably knew about it and it's just another one of those little things he forgot to tell me about," Jack mutters, shutting his locker door and putting his stethoscope around his shoulders.

It's been a bit over eight months since PittFest and Jack and Dana were finally able to convince Robby to take some serious time off to focus on himself, which required him to get some distance from the Pitt. Part of the convincing was Jack agreeing to shift to days and take on some of Robby's admin stuff for the two months he'd be gone. You were able to shift to days with him because, with perfect timing, Collins wanted more night experience and asked if you'd switch with her for a bit.

You try to stay somewhat positive. Or maybe it's cynicism with a positive edge. "Maybe it'll provide us with some good entertainment today?"

"We'll see," Dana hums, exchanging glances with you and Jack before walking back to the hub.

"I'll settle for it just being like a normal day with extra bodies." Jack takes a quick look around and then steps closer to you and gives you a quick kiss. "Love you. I'll see you out there."

"Love you too." You smile at him and watch him walk over towards the hub before returning your attention to your locker. You grab your stethoscope, hang it around your shoulders, shut your locker door and use the restroom before walking to the hub.

You and Jack have been together two weeks shy of a year now. You'd both felt something towards each other the day you guys met when you were an intern. But you worked days and Jack worked nights, so it was rare you got to see each other that much.

Half way through your r3 year you switched to nights and after doing the will-they-won't-they thing for five months you and Jack finally decided you would, unable and unwilling to wait any longer. You started dating about a month before you became an r4. It had required HR and paperwork and an agreement between you and Jack that work was strictly professional, absolutely no pet names or kissing or hugging or touching outside of how any other resident and attending might incidentally touch at times, no name dropping each other at work when saying you have a partner, and Jack was obviously going to be just as hard on you and not give you any special treatment.

The only built-in exception was a kiss at the lockers as you started shift, so long as nobody was around. There had been a couple of other exceptions on the roof after particularly shitty days or hard losses. You try to keep personal talk to a minimum at work but sometimes it's inevitable, and on some very very rare days, it's almost required. Overall though, you guys are impressively good at maintaining the professional-personal divide, and observers not in the know who see you and Jack interact at work generally don't clock your relationship.

Being together also meant that when you put in for the open attending position, Jack wasn't involved in the hiring process for that position like he normally would be. Nobody was surprised when you were given the job, everyone had seen it coming since you were an intern, frankly, with how good you were at seemingly every aspect of the job.

Jack is chatting with Dana as you walk up to the other side of the hub. Before you can take a look at the board and evaluate what you're walking into, a vaguely familiar male voice calls your name. Though you can't place the voice, you recognize the man walking towards you the second you see him and immediately want to pretend you're sick and go home. This is going to be a fucking nightmare, you already know it.

The man approaching you is your med school ex, if you stretch and consider what the two of you had as a relationship, which you do not. You look back and cringe at the entire situation. He's one of those types who completely ignores you when you say you have a boyfriend, thinks he can make you cheat or leave them for him. If you ask him to stop flirting he just flirts harder. You know all too well because it was a problem before you got involved with him. But it was med school and he was hot and you were pent up and sex was good stress relief, even if you had to do most of the work for yourself.

"Dale?" You force a small smile and laugh. You can feel Jack's eyes on you already. "Hi, um, wow, I forgot you were at Fairview. How have you been?"

"Hey you!" Dale beams at you. Jack bristles when Dale wraps his arms around you in a tight hug, jealousy already starting to course through him. You barely return it, lightly draping your arms around him in return and awkwardly patting his back. "I've been alright, how about you? What's new? I'm excited to see what life is like at PTMC!"

Jack's eyes scan over Dale when he finally releases you. He's objectively a very attractive man, Jack will admit that. He's close to your age, too, and Jack has always been at least somewhat insecure about how old he is and the age gap between you. His left ring finger is empty so he's not married, and the way he hugged you and is looking at you tells Jack the two of you have a history that's more than just meeting at a conference lunch or something.

"I've been really great, actually. I love working here and have made some really great friends and found the most amazing boyfriend who I love and can't get enough of. And you know, residency is almost over and I have an attending position here so I really can't complain at all." You have to force yourself to not let your eyes find Jack when you start talking about your boyfriend. Jack can't help but smile to himself a little when you say it, looking back at Dana. "And uh, yeah, yeah, we're excited to have you here today."

"Would you be just as excited to have me here tonight? I got a hotel room, didn't want to have to drive back the same day. We could go out and catch up? Maybe have some fun after." Dale leans into your space, trying and failing to ooze sex appeal as he flirts.

Jack goes rigid, his eyes snapping back to you. In his peripheral he sees Dana raise her eyebrows, a look of shock coloring her face. You literally just said you had a boyfriend you love and can't get enough of and this asshole is brazenly inviting you back to his hotel room.

"I was having him shadow her because they're both r4s but you want me to switch it?" Dana asks, her eyebrows still raised.

Jack rolls his jaw, actually considering Dana's offer. He sighs. "No. That makes the most sense." He looks down at the tablet in front of him. "Professionally, anyway," he mutters under his breath as he waits to hear your reply. Dana chuckles and gives him a sympathetic smile, squeezing his forearm.

"That would be great!" you nod. Jack's stomach starts to sink, even with as much as he trusts you. "Getting the whole group together will be lovely, everyone's usually up for a post-shift drink or two! And then if you guys have any follow up questions or want to talk about things you saw we can do that! I'll spread the word about tonight. I've gotta run though, I need to go find Dr. Mohan before we run the board, I'll see you around." You turn and nearly run away, leaving Dale no chance to argue or say anything else.

Jack lets out a relieved breath. He feels kind of bad for doubting you for even a second. He knows you better than that. But it's really not you as much as it's his own insecurities and doubts about himself. Because Jack would understand if you left him, especially for someone younger and more attractive and who almost assuredly has far less baggage than him, all boxes Dale appears to tick.

"Ready to run the board?" Shen's voice pulls Jack from his thoughts.

"Yeah," Jack nods as he looks over at Shen, still clearing the distraction from his voice. "Yeah, let's do it."

Running the board doesn't take long, all things considered. Once everyone is gathered for shift change Jack has the doctors from Fairview introduce themselves and then has Dana announce which PTMC doctor each Fairview doctor is paired with. You shoot her a please help look when she finishes reading them out as Dale walks over to you and wraps an arm around your shoulder, excitedly rambling about how it'll be just like old times. He whispers things could be even more like old times tonight, trying and failing to be seductive. You almost slam your head into the counter of the hub just to get out of work.

Jack clenches his jaw as he watches Dale throw his arm around you and then whisper to you. He doesn't even need to know what exactly it is Dale said, with how the guy has acted so far Jack knows it was something suggestive and flirtatious. The fact that you look at Dana even harder and start to beg her with your eyes all but confirms it.

You step out from under Dale's arm as Jack gives out patient assignments and pairs the med students, interns and r2s with r3s and r4s. You're floating today, not really assigned to any one of them, just available as needed, so you don't have the benefit of another person being with you to help buffer Dale.

"Okay," you sigh as you look over the patients Jack assigned you, scoffing to yourself quietly as you realize none of them require an r4, much less exclusively an r4. You look up at Dale. "Can you go introduce yourself and get set up for the sutures in room 9? I'll be right there."

He nods, shocks you by walking off without some pitiful attempt at flirting. Once Dale is far enough away and the hub has cleared out some you walk over to Jack where he's still standing at the counter.

"Is there a reason you're giving me all intern or r2 cases to start?" You raise your eyebrows at him.

"You'll get them out quickly and we need the space." That's a fair enough answer. He should stop there, he knows it. And yet he doesn't. Jack looks over at you, face stoic, if not just a touch icy in a way that makes you furrow your brows and frown a little. "And I thought you might like some time to catch up with your friend. He sure seems really interested in you."

You gape and shrink back a little. You narrow your eyes at him as you recognize the jealousy etched into his features. “Are you jealous?” You know that like everyone, Jack has his own insecurities and isn't immune to jealousy. It's still kind of unexpected, though, especially the idea of your Jack, your soulmate who's the perfect imperfect man for you and whom you're never letting go, being jealous of Dale. Jack has nothing to worry about or be jealous over in general with you, but especially not in relation to Dale.

Jack looks at you sharply, tries and fails to look offended. He hates how easily you saw his jealousy, because of fucking course he's jealous. All he can think about is how Dale is everything he's not and how being with Dale would be so much easier for you on what feels like every level. Maybe even better for you. “No. I’m not.” He cocks his head and raises his eyebrows at you. "Should I be?"

Despite his protest otherwise, it's obvious Jack is jealous. If anything him saying he's not underscores how much he is. You scoff a soft laugh, shaking your head at him. “Oh, you really are jealous." Jack clenches his jaw and stares at you for a second, anger or maybe annoyance radiating off him. He shakes his head at you once and turns, starting to walk away. "Wait, Jack," you're able to jump in front of him as he grabs a tablet, "why would you be jealous? Talk to me, please.”

He sighs, trying to sound irritated even though he knows that's not really what he's feeling. Jack knows he's insecure and vaguely sad and anxious that you're going to work with this guy all day and remember how great it was and leave him. And Jack doesn't know what he'll do without you. Just thinking about losing you makes it hard to breathe.

"I wouldn't be and I'm not unless you're telling me there's some reason I should be." Your eyebrows draw together as you frown, like you're trying to decide if he really thinks there's a reason to be jealous or if he's just feeling jealous. Both of you hate the way his voice grows a little cold. "Get to work, Doctor."

You let out a dejected sigh. Before you can say anything to try and reassure him that he has nothing to be jealous of, Jack walks away. "Jack," you whisper, a less than even half-hearted attempt to get him to stay and talk to you since you know it's a futile effort.

"You okay, Hon?" Dana looks at you from across the hub over the top of her glasses.

You take a deep breath. "If you can't find me at any point today I'm on the roof." You're only half joking. She nods and gives you a sympathetic smile before you're off in search of fucking Dale.

Like Jack said you would, you quickly get all your assigned patients treated and discharged, freeing up multiple rooms and giving you the ability to pick up more complex and challenging cases. Unfortunately for you Dale won't shut the fuck up about med school or stop flirting with you no matter how many times you bring up your boyfriend. Your boyfriend who you've felt staring at you multiple times over the last three and a half hours.

You jump on the next trauma to come in, a stabbing victim with multiple wounds to the chest and neck. Jack joins you but lets you take the lead, the two of you working together flawlessly, anticipating the other's next move and seamlessly handing off instruments as necessary. Dale is there and does help to some extent but he's very obviously thrown by Jack's presence, hesitating and almost stumbling his way through things at times. Garcia doesn't hesitate to tell him to move and push him out of her way when she's finally able to get down from the OR and you make a mental note to buy her a drink tonight as you stifle your laugh.

Jack already has his gown off and is removing his gloves as your patient gets wheeled out of the trauma room to go up to surgery. You're unsurprised that he's in a rush to get out of being in a room with you and Dale given his attitude the last time you spoke. It makes sense that he has no interest in having to watch you and Dale interact any further.

You really think he's going to walk out without acknowledging you at all and the thought stings. It's not like you spoke a little before the trauma, Jack came and jumped in shortly after you got the patient transferred off the EMTs' gurney. You don't need praise, don't need Jack to tell you good job or anything like that. Just a look or something small from him to acknowledge he was in your presence and it meant something to him.

Keeping the longing and sadness you feel from being totally obvious on your face and in your eyes as you stare at Jack's back is difficult, but the last thing you need is Dale thinking you're upset about not getting praised and teasing you about it, inevitably making a praise kink joke to flirt with you more.

Jack turns as he gets to the trauma room doors, happy to see your eyes on him and not Dale. He knows he shouldn't be worried about that but he can't seem to help it right now. Jack reads you easily, and while your sadness is imperceptible to anyone else, he's able to see it on your face and in your eyes easily and he hates it. He hates knowing he's responsible for it, at the very least in part. He knows he needs to try and catch you alone so that the two of you can talk. Jack gives you a small smile and nods at you. "Nice work, Doc."

"Thanks," you nod at him with your own small smile, "learned from the best." That earns you a bigger smile as Jack laughs softly under his breath, shaking his head at you before turning and walking out the door.

You watch him walk away through the window for a couple of seconds before Dale ruins the moment.

"Holy shit, that was incredible!" Dale laughs. "He's just as amazing as everyone says, damn!"

"He's pretty great," you nod, tossing your gloves and gown in the biohazard bin and walking out of the trauma room to get back to your other patients.

"He's more than great!" Dale says as he catches up to you. "He's truly amazing. And the two of you together were awesome too. You guys were so smooth and in tune."

You want to make some ridiculous comment like, yeah, you should see us in bed together, but that would go against everything you and Jack agreed to and would probably just give Dale ideas if anything. "We've worked together a lot," you shrug. "Come on, we have patients to see." You walk off toward a patient room before Dale can bring Jack up again.

Dale, however, doesn't stop talking about Jack in between patients for the next hour. You can't decide if it's worse or better than him bringing up med school moments between the two of you that you'd rather forget. And it does nothing to stop him flirting with you and making passes at every opportunity he sees.

"I was so pumped when I heard Abbot was working days. I thought he worked nights and was about to try to get them to let us shadow night shift," Dale chuckles.

"Dr. Abbot," you remind him. "He does normally work nights and so do I. But we've all had to shift around a bit temporarily, so you got lucky."

"It's gotta be a fucking sign, right?" Dale bumps your shoulder with his and you stiffen, praying that Jack isn't around and about to hear whatever trash Dale is about to spew. "The universe bringing us back together at just the right time and leaving the night open for us to do whatever we want."

It's so pathetic you cringe. "I want to have a drink or two and go home, grab a shower, have sex with my boyfriend and go to sleep."

"You think your boyfriend will come out with us?" It's the first time Dale has acknowledged you have a boyfriend and you're a bit surprised he actually did.

You laugh to yourself. "Oh, I imagine he will."

"Hey, you think Dr. Abbot will come out with us? I'd love to have a drink with him," Dale glosses right over your answer about your boyfriend.

You smirk to yourself at the way Dale just unknowingly asked the same question twice. "Yeah, I bet he will."

Whitaker walks up to you with a question and requests you come look at a patient with him and you could kiss him on the forehead for saving you from more of Dale's bullshit. You quickly agree and start asking him questions as the two of you walk towards the room, Dale following along behind you.

The second you're out of the patient's room and Whitaker is gone, Dale brings up Jack again and manages to turn it into flirting. "So I heard there's another open attending position and I'm gonna apply. How cool would it be if I ended up getting to work with Dr. Abbot?"

Your stomach drops at the thought of Dale being an attending here. You'll find Robby and threaten to quit and do your best to take Jack with you if you find out his name is seriously in the mix for the position. It doesn't matter that Dale would know you and Jack were together. You don't want to see him, even just for handoff at shift change.

"I mean you wouldn't. Not really," you shrug at Dale like it's obvious. "It's a day shift position. Dr. Abbot will be back on nights by the time whoever fills that spot starts. So will I. I got the open night shift attending spot."

"Well maybe I could convince someone to swap with me so I could work nights. Or maybe I could convince you to stay on days with me," Dale drawls with a slimy smirk, "could help you decompress at night like I used to."

Your face curls into an expression of vague disgust and you can see the confusion in Dale's eyes as he tries to figure out which part of what he said disgusted you, like it isn't patently obvious. "I thought you wanted to work with Dr. Abbot?" You look down at your tablet and flick through some test results to show how uninterested you are in Dale's offer and how it has no significance to you. "And there's no way I'll move to days. Night shift works perfectly with my boyfriend's schedule and he's the only one I'll be decompressing or doing anything else with. Can you do me a favor and go walk Whitaker through those stitches? Thanks."

There's a pause, and you know Dale is trying to bait you into looking at him or saying something else to fill the silence. But you don't do either, instead thinking about what would happen if you just stopped talking to him or answering him.

Dale is forced to break his own silence as you continue to look at test results and consider fully ignoring him. "Anything for you," Dale hums at you before walking off. You can just about hear the wink you're sure he gave you in his voice.

With Dale now occupied you're quick to take the opportunity to speak to Jack when you spot him sitting alone at the north nurses station.

You slip into the free chair and push yourself closer to Jack, but still a respectable distance apart, keep your tablet in your lap. "Just wanted to let you know that you're all I've heard about for the last hour, so it appears my friend is in fact really interested in you."

Jack looks up at you, eyes softening reflexively because it's you. The corners of his lips twitch up into the ghost of a smile and you give him a small one back. He's happy you saw him and came over, especially without your friend whose name he tells himself he can't remember. He may or may not have seen that your patients were more or less clumped in north rooms and deliberately chosen to sit here and chart in the hopes this might happen.

"And I care because…?" he trails off, eyebrows slightly raised as he continues to try to pretend he doesn't care and isn't jealous. He's vaguely proud of himself for not asking how you know Dale and who he is to you.

"Just thought you might like to hear you're the topic of conversation," you shrug. You scoff a laugh through your nose and shake your head. "He hears there's an open attending position and is hoping to talk to you tonight and get you to put in a good word for him."

"Ha!" Jack laughs loud enough to draw a little attention for a few seconds, him pretending to be more involved in charting than he is and you looking down at your tablet. "He fucking wishes."

"Because he's not the right doctor for the job or for some other reason?" You give him a knowing look.

"Both," Jack mutters. You click your tongue at him and change the look you're giving him to ask really? "I'm kidding," Jack sighs. "He's not the right doctor. I've observed him working with you and during that trauma. He isn't a bad doctor, at all, he's good enough, but not here good, you know what I mean? He doesn't have it, that special thing that you need to work at a level 1 trauma center."

"That special thing?" you ask with an amused smile and raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, ask Robby one day. He'll agree there's a thing. Like a, a je ne sais quoi." It's really not that funny but for some reason it hits in the moment and you crack up when Jack says je ne sais quoi. He ignores your laughter for now. "It's like a certain drive and temperament and finesse with patients and their families so you can get the info you need efficiently, and the ability to think on your feet and be textbook but also flexible and creative and able to tell when's the time for each. And you're being very mean still laughing at me about the French."

"I'm not laughing at you about the French," you giggle as you try to get your laughter under control.

Jack looks at you and nods slowly, eyes narrowed in humorous disbelief. "Right, right." He's not really mad or hurt of course. The opposite in fact because he loves hearing you laugh, especially when he's the one who makes you.

"I'm not. You saying it just struck me as very funny in the moment, yes, but that's not why I continued." Your laughter trails off as you tilt your head at Jack. "Do you remember our third date?" You raise your eyebrows slightly to let him know you'll explain later and won't be offended if he doesn't want to have a personal conversation at work even though you're alone.

"The Frick Art Museum." He barely has to think about it.

Dale is completely lost to both of you now, neither of you thinking about him, only focusing on each other. Jack's jealousy sinks to the back of his mind as he relaxes some.

You pull your head back just slightly as you smile at him, both surprised and not surprised. "You knew that so fast."

"Yeah, because one," Jack drops his voice and leans in closer, completely comfortable having this personal of a conversation when it's just the two of you, especially today, "you came back to my place and we had sex for the first time and I'm never gonna forget what it felt like to be inside you for the first time, so the whole night was memorable, and two, after we decided to go there I was looking at their website and very clearly remember shaking my head to myself and rolling my eyes because it said something like it was designed to exhibit its collection in an atmosphere of intimacy, so then the next morning when I woke up to you snuggled against me I kind of laughed to myself about it while I watched you sleep because we left the atmosphere of intimacy to go be intimate for the first time."

You shiver a little as Jack explains one because yeah, you couldn't forget your first time either. As hot as it is there's also something so achingly sweet about it. Your heart aches more as he explains two, even with as amusing as it also is, because you didn't know he watched you sleep that morning.

"That's all so sweet. My little romantic." You smile at him, all lovesick and melting. You wish you could kiss him so badly. Jack gives you a single nod and raises his eyebrows to remind you he has no idea why you brought this up. "When we were there we were looking at some painting and I said I liked it but couldn't put my finger on why and you said yeah, there's a kind of je ne sais quoi to it and I could not fucking tell if you were being serious or trying to impress me with the French or trying to be funny. But now almost a year later, the mystery has been solved and I know you were saying it seriously." Your hand moves towards him to run through his curls and push them off his face but you catch yourself. "I find it cute. I like it."

Jack chuckles and shakes his head at you. You're thrilled he seems to be relaxing and letting go of at least some of his unnecessary jealousy. "I can't believe I don't remember your reaction if you were that uncertain."

You laugh softly and shrug. "I didn't know how to react, so I panicked and kissed you."

Jack lets out a fake gasp, dropping his jaw dramatically. "So you didn't even want to kiss me in front of the painting? Good job it wasn't our first kiss." He clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

You playfully roll your eyes at him again. "Of course I wanted to kiss you! I was always wanting to kiss you. I'm still always wanting to kiss you! And I think you were always wanting to kiss me too, back then. It's why our first kiss was on the roof, you couldn't even wait to take me on a real date first!" You look down at your tablet and check on a couple of lab results you were waiting on.

"Hey." Jack nudges your foot under the counter. "I'm still always wanting to kiss you. If you don't know that we have a serious problem, genuinely."

You look back up at him and shake your head. "No I know, I didn't mean it like that."

Jack's eyes flick about your face to make sure there's no uncertainty. "Good. If we had an open room I'd break the rule this once and take you in there and kiss you just to make sure you know."

"Family room," you suggest quickly.

He shakes his head and laughs. "We are not making out in the family room."

"Why not?" you pout at him.

He laughs to himself at your pout and shakes his head. "Because there's people in there right now and because I can't be in there in the future with a family telling them I'm so sorry your family member died while the back of my mind is thinking about the time I made out with my girlfriend and got half hard in this room."

You smirk at him. "Half hard?"

Jack shoots you an incredulous look. "What do you think kissing you how I'd kiss you right now would do to me? Just fucking seeing you is enough sometimes, especially in the scrub bottoms you're wearing today. And the fucking competency kink when you do something well or make a diagnosis or come up with a solution, which is like all the fucking time. It is frankly a testament to my incredible control that I'm not almost always half hard the entire shift when we work together. You just… do things to me."

You can't help yourself, smirk widening and eyes narrowing at Jack. "One might say I have a je ne sais quoi about me that you love?"

Jack huffs. "Yeah, you have a je ne sais quoi alright," he says under his breath just loud enough for you to hear, the sexual undertone in his voice matching your sexual innuendo.

"I'm being serious!" you protest, feigning innocence. "I meant the ED physician je ne sais quoi you were talking about!"

"I am too! You do. You have that drive and temperament, the finesse with patients and family, you think on your feet, know when to be textbook and when to be flexible or creative." Jack grows serious, earnest. He really wants you to hear him and internalize what he's saying because he knows how much you struggle with confidence and doubt yourself at times. "I knew that within an hour of working with you your intern year. You just had it. That's rare. Some people just don't have it, don't have any of it. Most people have parts of it and you have to really drill the other parts into them so that they have the whole thing. You just had it. I didn't have to drill any of it into you."

You give him a soft smile, making your next question catch him even more off-guard. "Is that why you decided to drill yourself into me?" Jack lets out a breath and closes his eyes as he looks away from you, hanging his head while he tries to maintain his composure and not laugh like he wants to. His reaction makes you start laughing. You clamp your hand over your mouth for a second and then move it. "I have to walk away now," you say lowly, trying not to let your laughter overtake the words. If you stay here with him you will end up crying from how hard you'll laugh and make a total scene.

Jack looks back at you and shakes his head as he watches you rise from your seat and start to walk away. "Yeah, get the fuck out of here you fucking goose." He says it just loud enough for you to hear before he laughs to himself. He's so glad that you managed to escape Dale and that you guys got this time together because it has soothed his jealousy and relaxed him tremendously.

You spin on your heels and look back at him. "Ha! Goose?" Jack shrugs. He has no fucking clue where that came from either. "Well, okay, roger that Maverick."

Jack's jaw drops and he gapes at you in mock offense. "Did you just call me, an army veteran, a naval aviator?"

You shrug at him. "Pas exactement," you smirk. You spin back around, already taking a step as you do and walk straight into Dale.

One of Dale's hands finds your waist and the other finds your hip, hand a little too low for Jack's liking as he watches the scene play out.

"Woah, careful there," Dale laughs, a haughty smile curling up on his lips. "If you wanted to be close all you had to do was ask," he winks at you as you take a large step back from him, his hands lingering on you until they can't reach anymore. It makes you feel gross. "And I didn't know you spoke French. The language of love." He leans in close to you and stage whispers loud enough for Jack to hear. "It sounds so beautiful in bed. I speak it too, could show you just how beautiful it sounds in bed later."

You look at Dale as expressionless as you can get your face. "Good to know, I'll have to try it with my boyfriend tonight. Tests are back on Mr. Smith, let's go talk to him." You start to walk towards Mr. Smith's room but glance over your shoulder at Jack.

He's sitting straight up in his chair, his entire body stiff as he clenches and unclenches his jaw, his eyes burning with jealousy as he glares in the direction of you and Dale. The work your conversation just did to relax Jack and calm his jealousy is gone. You know it and Jack feels it. It's like you never spoke and he's just been stewing this entire time.

As the day continues to eke along Dale continues to flirt with you and Jack continues to observe it himself or hear about it through gossip because Dale is completely shameless and will flirt with you in front of anyone. The gossip is truly people more or less laughing at Dale because they know you're so committed to Jack and it's funny how you keep shutting Dale down and he keeps trying.

"Hey, you wanna go grab some lunch?" Dale asks as you sit at the hub charting.

"Good one," you laugh. You glance up when Dale is silent, looking at you confusedly. "Oh. Oh you're serious." He nods slowly. "Um yeah, go ahead, sure. Yeah, that would be great actually." You'd love to get some time away from him.

Dale smirks at you. "Don't wanna come with me?"

You look back down the computer and log off. "Not particularly, no. Plus I'm not hungry and have patients to see. But you go eat." You push out of your chair and take off for the women's restroom so that Dale can't follow you and will hopefully just slink off to lunch.

When you slip out of the restroom you're relieved that Dale isn't waiting around for you. You let out a long breath as you walk back onto the floor. With your time free of Dale you check on a few patients, take some ibuprofen, help Mel with a patient and decide to head to the roof just to feel the sun on your face and get some air. You don't want to come back down but you know you have to.

Jack has been looking for you when he spots you getting off the elevator. He walks over to you. "Where were you?"

You smile at him, resist the urge to walk straight into his chest and wrap your arms around him. "Just getting some air." Jack's eyebrows raise slightly. He knows what that means and is just trying to ask if you're okay, but the way Jack glared at you and Dale after your last conversation colors your vision. "I was alone," you mutter at him, a little hurt. You try to step around him to keep walking but Jack moves with you, grabs you gently by your arm and moves the two of you off to the side.

"That's not why I asked. At all." He realizes he's still holding onto you and drops his hand. "I asked out of concern. Getting air is usually not the best sign. Did something happen? Do you need to talk?"

Jack's concern warms you and you give him a soft smile as you shake your head. "No. He just asked to take lunch," Jack snorts and the two of you exchange amused looks, "I know. But it meant I had some time to myself and I just wanted some air."

He nods at you. "What side were you on?" he asks gently.

"The right side."

Like you knew what Jack's question meant, he knows what your answer means. You were on the safe side of the guard rails, away from the edge. "Good." He drops his voice and glances around, changing his stance a little to make it seem more like you're just two doctors chatting about something. "I need you, you know?"

Jack's question and the look in his eyes tell you he's trying to use his words to explain how he's been feeling all day, that the jealousy he still won't verbally admit he has stems from how much he needs you and how he feels a bit threatened, like he could lose you. The two of you truly have become masters of unspoken communication.

You nod with a reassuring smile. "I know. And you have me. Forever. I promise," you tell Jack, saying that you're his and his alone and that he has nothing to worry about without saying it.

Jack holds your gaze for a moment before clearing his throat. "You eaten anything since we started?" Another little silent expression of love.

You shake your head at him. "No. Have you?"

"No."

Both of you reach into one of your pockets and pull out a protein bar to give each other at the same time, laughing as you realize. The laughter trails off into a warm, almost sappy silence as the two of you realize you're each offering the other their favorite brand and flavor protein bar, keeping them in your pockets so you have them to hand to the other to make sure they eat.

You break the silence as you take the protein bar Jack offers you, tapping the one you're offering him on his hand so he'll take it. "Eat it, yeah? For me."

Jack drops his voice to a hushed whisper, a smirk ghosting his face. "Oh, I'll happily eat it for you." He sounds even more suggestive with his voice this low, emphasizing the natural gravel he has to it.

You gasp breathlessly to keep from attracting attention, match Jack's hushed whisper. "Jack Abbot, are you flirting with me at work?"

He takes the protein bar from you and starts to open it, shrugging shallowly. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he murmurs before taking a bite.

Three hours later you slip out of the room while Dale spars with Garcia about whether a patient needs emergency surgery. Part of you wants to stay and watch her wipe the floor with him but a bigger part of you wants a break from him, especially with how hard he's been flirting with you since he came back from lunch. You've stopped replying to it and are pretty sure that's why he's trying harder and more frequently.

You're relieved when the hub is completely empty and nearly fall into one of the chairs. You really should log on and do some charting but you want to save it for when you're with Dale so that you have a reason to focus and not talk to him.

"Hey," Jack greets you just a little gruffly as he stands at the counter beside your computer. He's overheard much of what Dale's said to you recently and it disgusts him and pisses him off and still makes his jealousy grow even though he trusts you and knows you're just as put off by it as he is.

You smile at him warmly despite his seemingly better mood from the last time you spoke having worn off. You're always happy to see him and get a few minutes with him even if he's grumpy or annoyed. "Hi, Ba-" you start to tack on a pet name but catch yourself, "how's it going?"

"Who is he?" Jack finally breaks and asks the question he's spent the last eight hours ruminating on, trying to tell himself it doesn't matter who this guy is or how you know each other or if he's an ex.

"Dale?" You laugh softly to yourself which is clearly the wrong move because it just pisses Jack off even more. "Honestly impressed you made it eight hours without asking and speaking with me about it."

None of this is funny to Jack so your laughter, as good natured as it is, unknowingly feels like a bit of a slap in the face. Jack hates the way he can't let it go and not worry about it or control his jealousy better, but he just can't. It's you. You're the best thing to ever happen to him and it feels like there's a threat to that.

"Yeah, Dale, if that's his name," he almost spits out Dale's name as he acts like he doesn't know it, like it isn't a name he'll never forget. Jack leans on the counter a bit so that he's closer to you and can drop his voice. "The one shadowing you who can barely look at your face without first running his eyes up and down your entire body and who's staring at your ass whenever he's behind you and who's fucking incapable of talking to you without somehow flirting. It's a good thing I was with a patient when you bent over to pick up that kid's teddy bear because if I'd been free while watching the way he fucking ogled your ass I'd have come over and fucking hit him."

"Okay, one, he's not a kid, Jack, he's my age-"

"God, please don't fucking remind me!" Jack groans, shutting his eyes and rubbing a hand over his face.

You sigh. "We went to med school together. So I guess if you want to be extremely generous with the term, we were together during med school. We very very occasionally went on dates. It was mostly just sex to relieve med school stress, you know?"

Jack shrinks back, his blood starting to feel icy. "He's your med school ex? You were in a fucking relationship with him? For four fucking years? And now he's back trying to flirt with you and get you back?" That's far worse than he thought, his anger flaring even more, a total cover for his equally flaring insecurity and worry that he's going to lose you.

"What? No!" You roll your chair to be a little closer to him. "We didn't start until like third year. And he's not trying to get me back, he's trying to get casual sex! Which doesn't even fucking matter because he can try all he wants, he's not getting anything from me. I want nothing to do with him."

"Oh so only two years, that's so much better." He rolls his eyes.

"Jack, you're putting too much stock in it," you tell him softly. You wish you could take his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze or give him a kiss. "I don't even really consider it a relationship. We had a few dinners and went to a couple movies. The rest was just casual sex. That's all it was. It was never anything remotely serious for me. I never had feelings for him or saw us settling down together or some shit. I wasn't heartbroken when med school ended and I no longer saw him. I've made zero effort to keep in any sort of contact with him."

Jack scoffs. "Just casual sex," he mutters. "Doesn't look like ER Ken can say the same."

You blurt out a laugh because it catches you so off guard. "ER Ken!" You stop laughing and shake your head at him a little. "Fuck that. And who the fuck cares what Dale can say? I sure fucking don't. He's flirting with a brick wall, Jack. I found the love of my life. And it's you before you get any ridiculous ideas." Jack clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes at you, clearly annoyed by your words. You close your eyes and rub at your temple, the headache you've been fighting all day coming back. You pop a few more ibuprofen from the drawer since you have your iced coffee with you. "I cannot believe you're jealous over fucking Dale," you say through a scoffed laugh that Jack hates. "You know he like, worships the ground you walk on?"

"Sincerely doubt that," Jack deadpans.

"I'm serious. You are the subject we've actually discussed the most today. You and how excited he was that you were here and working day shift because he heard you normally worked nights and that he's dying to get some time to shadow you or at least work with you and do I think Dr. Abbot will come out with us all tonight and every hour he's bringing up a different publication if it's remotely related to the patient." You tilt your head at Jack and bob it forward to emphasize your words. "In med school when we were ranking for the match PTMC was his first choice because of you. Because he'd read all of Dr. Jack Abbot's publications and he'd heard about Dr. Abbot at conferences and saw you speak at one and it was life-changing, you're the best out there, so he just had to train under Dr. Abbot at PTMC. He didn't match here, obviously. But he still wants to be you so badly. "

Jack raises his eyebrows and presses his lips together in a line, nodding. "Right down to taking and having my woman I see."

You sigh and look at him pointedly. "Jack." He pulls his lips down and shrugs at you. "He's not taking your woman. He doesn't even know I'm yours. I'm not flirting back, I'm reminding him I have a boyfriend at every opportunity and most importantly, I don't want him. I only want you." You lick your lips and blow out a breath that has the lightest touch of a laugh. "He'd probably shit himself if he knew that you are my boyfriend. He's your biggest fan, even if you don't believe me. When I went to that conference as a baby r2 he was there and boy was he so fucking disappointed it was Robby who was with me and not you-"

"Did you sleep with him?" Jack cuts you off, suddenly standing army straight with a clenched jaw and narrowed eyes that burn into you.

You gape at him. "What the fuck does it matter if I did, Jack? We weren't together. We weren't on the precipice of being together. I wasn't on your fucking radar. I didn't think my crush on you was ever going to be anything more than a one-sided crush."

"So you did." You make an and? face at him and Jack scoffs, shaking his head. "And you were, actually. You were on my fucking radar from the first time I saw you your intern year. You became the entire fucking radar, the only thing on it." He throws you a look and then walks away with nothing more.

There's something incredibly vulnerable and loving about his words even with the anger and frustration and veiled hurt Jack infuses them with. You push out of your seat and speed walk after him until you catch up and are able to step in front of him and stop him. "How was I supposed to know that, Jack?"

Jack knows that's a fair question. He was good at hiding it because he had to be, for multiple reasons. And at that point you weren't working a ton of nights so you guys didn't see each other that much.

"Fair," he admits with a nod. He looks at you for a second and then sighs while looking away, his shoulders relaxing. He looks back at you with softer eyes and shrugs. "You're not flirting back but you're not stopping it. His flirting."

You give him an apologetic smile. You know how much feeling jealous sucks and hate that you're making him feel that way. "I know, I'm sorry, I can imagine what that must look and feel like and I should've talked to you earlier. And I know you're not going to believe me but he is one of those men where if you ask him to stop or try to get him to stop he just flirts harder. So the best thing for me to do is ignore it when I can and just say I have a boyfriend even though he clearly doesn't fucking care."

Jack grunts noncommittally. "Why haven't you introduced us if he's so obsessed with me?"

"Are you serious?" you huff. "I would but you've been conveniently busy all day and do your best to avoid being within a ten foot radius of him. I can't believe you don't want to assert your dominance or some shit, get him away from me. He's fucking desperate to spend time with you, especially in a trauma. He wants your praise so badly."

Jack pulls his lips down and raises his eyebrows a little as he considers your words. "Maybe I should give him what he wants and let him shadow me for a bit. Take him under my wing."

"Don't be a total dick if you do." You give him a knowing look. "Just be normal, show him how amazing you are and make him wish even more he did his residency here. Then when we're out tonight you can kiss me or be all over me or whatever you want and he'll be put in his place so hard."

Jack's lips pull up into a sly smirk. "Define being a total dick."

"Dr. Abbot! Can I get your opinion?" Santos calls to Jack from the doorway a couple rooms down. Jack nods at her.

"Saved by the bell," you mumble.

Jack snorts. "Hardly." He turns and starts walking away but stops. He hears your resigned sigh as he walks away and he knows you're trying and that he might be putting a little too much of this on you when it's really on Dale and himself. The last thing he wants is for you to think he doesn't trust you, because he truly does even though he knows it must not seem like it.

You know why Jack is reacting how he is and you get it, you know how illogical jealousy can be. You know he's not mad at you and isn't questioning your commitment to him but is just feeling insecure and threatened and is worried he might lose you in addition to being genuinely pissed off by the way Dale talks to you, and that he's even more mad he has to stay professional and can't just haul Dale aside and tell Dale to back the fuck off of his girlfriend.

Jack turns back and finds you still standing where you were and watching him walk away from you. He knows he's been a dick to you most of the day and is already kicking himself for it, knows he needs to apologize. Jack meets your eyes. "I believe you. And I trust you and your judgment." The smile he gives you is small and soft, and to anyone else it just looks like an attending encouraging a resident. But you know the way his eyes crinkle extra at the edges is Jack's silent way of saying he loves you.

You have to control your smile so that you don't beam at him completely inappropriately, but you're still able to have a little fun with him. "Thanks, Dr. Abbot."

Jack rolls his eyes at you affectionately at the title and your deliberate use of it, knowing what it does to him. But as he turns around and walks off again all he can think about is how he can't wait for the day he can call you Dr. Abbot back.

You turn to walk back to the hub, sighing heavily when you see Dale walking toward you. "Damn! Did I miss Dr. Abbot again?"

"Evidently," you deadpan at Dale, hoping he'll take the hint and talk about anything other than Jack.

He doesn't of course, and starts asking about Jack as you walk back to the hub to check the board. "God is it just totally fucking amazing getting to train under him and work with him on a daily basis?"

If you were anywhere other than work you'd actually make the suggestive comment about being under Jack that immediately popped into your mind. But since you sadly are at work you grab a tablet at the hub and look at the board as you think about how to answer.

"It is, yeah. I feel very lucky every time I get to work with him. I mean I know I'm lucky to be taught and mentored by him. He's one of the best in the field. He really needs to accept the offers and help write the textbook on emergency medicine. It's still bewildering almost to think about how much I learn from him every time we work together. It feels like at some point there shouldn't be anything left to teach and learn, but there always is, he always finds things, even though I don't think he realizes it half the time. And I know it'll be like that always, even when I'm an attending." Unbeknownst to you Jack has been back in earshot of you and Dale since you began answering Dale's question.

"He's an incredible teacher and just a really good guy. He has confidence in all of us, sometimes unwarranted confidence I think," you laugh to yourself, "but that rubs off on you after a while, you know? His confidence in me has given me more confidence in myself. He's made me a better doctor, the doctor that I am today, and a better person, honestly. Every doctor who has the opportunity to be taught by him is better off for it and so are all of their patients. It's honestly hard to imagine the kind of doctor I'd be today without his influence and mentorship, but I know I'd be a worse one."

Jack's heart melts and he wants to beam and cry and kiss you and propose and never let you out of his arms as he listens, hears what you really think about him and what you tell people about him when you don't think he's listening. He didn't think you'd ever say anything bad, he knew you wouldn't, but you didn't have to say everything you said, you could have just said yeah it's amazing and Dr. Abbot is great. You said so, so much more, gave Jack praise he's not sure he deserves.

You look over at Dale. "So yeah, Dale, it is totally fucking amazing getting to train under him and work with him on a daily basis." You click your tongue at him, your next words dripping with sarcasm. "It's really too bad you didn't match here." You roll your eyes as you look back to the board.

The sarcasm is lost on Dale who apparently believes you're being serious. "It is yeah. We could still be together. Residency would have been a lot more fun with you around. Especially in the downtime," he sighs almost longingly. You swear you gag a little at it, and for the second time today you consider slamming your head against the counter of the hub.

Jack clenches his free hand into a fist, Dale ruining his mood and spiking his jealousy again. Any comfort and reassurance Jack took from your words about him are dissolved so easily by Dale's suggestion that the two of you could still be together and you could still be fucking Dale.

"I bet working that MCI with him was insane, especially with his army background," Dale chuckles. "He must have some wild stories to tell. He told you any good ones? I wonder how much real action he saw over there. He was a medic, right? I wonder if he had to try and help people while under fire or after an explosion or-"

You shift on your feet at the mention of PittFest, but you freeze when Dale starts talking about Jack's service, because absolutely fucking not. "Talking about PittFest is still under a moratorium and it's not really something we laugh about. And talking about Ja-, Dr. Abbot's past is always a no unless he brings it up and wants to talk to you about it. Okay?" You don't give Dale a chance to answer or talk back. "Great. I appreciate your understanding. Let's go check out the fractured hip in 12."

Thirty minutes later Jack finds you and Dale as you're walking out of a patient's room. "Fairly nasty MVC patient coming in. You mind if I take him? He can shadow me for a bit after." Jack glances at Dale, who might actually be vibrating with excitement.

You bite your tongue and manage not to shout yes, please save me. "You're the boss, you don't have to ask," you shrug at Jack, looking back down to your computer screen. You could throw Jack a look reminding him not to be a total dick to Dale, but these last thirty minutes with Dale pushed you to the point where you really don't fucking care.

Jack finally looks over at Dale for more than a cursory glance. "You up for it?"

"Absolutely, Dr. Abbot!" Dale chirps, walking to Jack and nearly gluing himself to Jack's side. "This is so great, thank you so much for this opportunity, I've wanted to get to work with you and talk to you all day." Jack starts walking off towards the ambulance bay, Dale continuing to talk. Or ass kiss, really. "I've read all of your publications, once we have this patient stable I'd love to discuss-"

Jack laughs. "I don't remember any of them super well off the top of my head, so there's probably not going to be much to discuss." He grabs a pair of gloves from one of the pockets of his pants and puts them on as the ambulance rolls up. "You gonna put on some gloves or what?" Dale looks around for a box, clearly half panicked about looking like an idiot in front of Jack. Wordlessly, Jack pulls another pair out of his pocket and holds them out for Dale.

Dale titters as he takes the gloves. "Thank you so much, Dr. Abbot, I'm just so used to us having gloves-"

"You should always keep a couple of pairs on you," Jack interrupts Dale. There's a pause, Dale just staring at Jack and nodding. "You need to put them on," he reminds Dale, shaking his head to himself and walking to meet the EMTs.

"Right, of course! I'm sorry I'm not usually like this, it's just you're you and-"

"Not the time for apologies, nor do I want them," Jack says pointedly to Dale. "Listen to the bullet."

Jack keeps Dale with him the last three hours of the shift because if Dale is with him, Dale isn't with you. It's painful though, to put it lightly. They run another trauma together and work on other patients, listen to some of the other residents present and Dale watches Jack walk the med students and residents through different procedures.

With thirty minutes left on the shift, Jack catches Dale staring out the window at you again, and combined with the fact that the patient they're working on is unconscious, it breaks him. He has to know what Dale has to say about you. "How do you guys know each other?"

Dale snaps his head back to Jack. "Me and..?" He trails off glancing at you. Jack nods. "Ah," Dale laughs. "Med school girlfriend. She's my one that got away," he sighs, a distinct tone of longing and almost lewdness in his voice that matches the way he's looking at you.

Jack clenches his jaw, his heart rate ticking up when Dale calls you his one that got away. Based on that he knows that you're wrong and Dale isn't looking for casual sex but to get you back.

"She's great, an amazing girl." Jack rolls his eyes and clenches his jaw harder with the way Dale refers to you as a girl and not a woman. "Smart, good at her job, both the medicine and the patients." His jaw relaxes a bit with as floored as he is that Dale said anything substantive about you, as understated as it was.

"Plus, she's hot as hell, just look at her. Between you and I," Dale lowers his voice slightly despite the two of them being the only people in the room, "she's fucking incredible in bed."

Jack goes still, his breathing now picking up as Dale unwittingly crosses a line. He tells himself he has to remain professional and calm and collected no matter how badly he wants to come unglued. He can take Dale to task at the bar tonight with you curled into his side. Jack tries to convince himself that he doesn't care and it doesn't matter that Dale knows how incredible you are in bed, but he does care and it does matter to him.

"She keeps saying she has a boyfriend, but I think I can still win her back. She'd make a great wife and mom and honestly, I'd love to have her back in my bed," Dale sighs. "She's the full package and that's what I'm looking to get."

Jack knows he has to get out of here before he does or says something he'll regret. He walks to the door and puts his hand on the handle, glares at Dale as Dale continues staring out the window at you. He doesn't try to hide the malice or disgust or rage in his voice. "You talk about all women like they're packages for you to own, or is she just special?"

Dale's eyes finally leave you as his head whips over so he can look at Jack, horrified with wide eyes and his mouth rounded out. "No, no, I don't think, she's not," Dale trips over his words. It's comical to Jack, enough so that he laughs through his nose. "I don't, women aren't-"

He shakes his head and cuts Dale off, cold and almost sneering. "Finish the sutures in here and then you can be done for the day." Jack doesn't stay to listen to Dale's protests about how these sutures won't take him thirty minutes so he could do something else before the shift is over or his requests to explain what he meant.

Jack heads to the bathroom, holding onto each side of the sink and leaning into it as he tries to calm down and let it all go. He takes in a couple of deep breaths and stares at himself in the mirror, quickly realizing that was not the right move as his mind starts comparing himself to Dale, increasing his insecurity tenfold. He leans on the counter and splashes some cold water on his face, drying it and heading out to find you.

You're standing at the hub now finishing some charting. Dana is there too, but on the opposite side getting things ready for handoff. Jack walks up and stands next to you, your upper arms brushing just slightly before he takes a little step to the side to keep things professional.

You glance up at him and smile before turning back to your computer. "How'd that go?" You keep your voice low because Dale is still here and Dana's at the hub, not that either you or Jack really cares if she hears anything.

Jack shakes his head and lets out an incredulous breath. "Please explain to me how in the fuck you were ever with him? Because I don't know how you even survived eight and a half fucking hours with him. I barely survived three. I… I don't even know where to fucking begin. I'm speechless."

You smirk and nod your head. "Wow. It takes a lot to render our Dr. Abbot speechless." You glance at Jack again. "And yeah I know, trust me, I've been asking myself that same question all fucking day because I cannot fucking stand him and he wasn't much better back then. Clearly not my proudest or finest moment."

"I've been doing this a while now and have seen a lot of residents, and I have never been so put off by one." Jack huffs. "It's like impressive in its own fucked up way."

"Yeah," you draw the word out, "I have no idea what I was thinking. I'd go back and shake ms3 me but if I hadn't made the colossal mistake of even associating with him, I don't think I'd be here, which means I wouldn't have you. So it was so much more than worth putting myself through him." Jack raises his eyebrows at you a little, silently asking you to explain further. "I knew I wanted to match into an emergency medicine program ideally, but PTMC wasn't initially somewhere I planned to interview and rank. Then he wouldn't shut the fuck up about you and how great of a program it was in general and I did more research and decided I should interview if I could. After the interview it was my number one. And yes, some little part of me was motivated by matching here as a fuck you to him when he didn't match here because I was quite confident he wasn't going to. But it really was about the program and opportunities."

Jack fights back a laugh. "I hope you rubbed it in his face."

"Of course I did." You grin up at him. "It was easy and watching him pretend not to care was incredibly amusing."

"I bet it was," Jack snickers. After a pause he takes in a breath through his nose, contemplating almost. "You know according to you I'm basically the reason you even gave PTMC a look and now you're here and we're together. How poetic."

You hum and give him a teasing smile, the charting you're supposed to be doing completely forgotten. "Isn't it just?"

Jack fights off the urge to lean in and kiss you. "I'll admit you're right about the biggest fan thing. He was such a fucking suck up. He asked questions about my papers and kept suggesting ridiculous and unnecessary procedures and treatment. For the most part his suggested diagnoses were all zebras and no horses just to show he knew the zebras. I swear to christ someone could have come in with three gunshots straight to their brain stem and he'd have been throwing out all sorts of fucking explanations about the cause of the patient's brain death and forget to consider the three fucking gunshots to the brain stem."

"Aw," you drawl, "you weren't impressed by his zebras?"

"No!" Jack scoffs. "I had to talk the mom and dad of a five year old down from wanting us to run probably several thousand dollars worth of tests on their kid because he's in there bringing up a bunch of different zebras in front of mom and dad just based on reported symptoms, before we even began examining the kid."

You chuckle. "You know he probably studied in every spare moment he had in the week leading up to today just so that he could impress you with his zebra knowledge."

"Yeah, well fuck him and his zebras," Jack huffs, shaking his head.

You have to cover your mouth and bite your tongue to keep from laughing too loudly and drawing attention to you and Jack. "I'm so getting you a shirt that says that."

"And I'll fucking wear it proudly," Jack says without hesitation. "I mean you knew not to bring up the zebras in front of patients or their parents or family members as a fucking intern!"

You click your tongue and cock your head at him. "I guess zebra handling is part of the ED physician je ne sais quoi."

Jack laughs through his nose and shakes his head at you, his eyes so full of love it makes your head spin. "I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"No," you giggle, shaking your head at him. "You're not going to live the painting je ne sais quoi down either now that I know you were being serious."

"Oh great," he mutters, his eyes and playful smile belying his attempt to seem tired of it already.

"It is great, yeah," you nod at him. "We're going to go see Starry Night Over the Rhône one day and as we stand there looking at it I'm going to nudge you and say there's kind of a je ne sais quoi about it and you're going to roll your eyes at me and pinch my ass."

Jack flicks his eyebrows up at you with a small smirk. "We're going to Paris?"

Your head tilts and shrinks back just a little, a surprised smile pulling onto your face. "Okay I am actually so impressed you know where it is."

Jack nods in agreement for a couple of seconds and then shakes his head and grimaces. "You should only be impressed by my guessing skills," he admits.

You laugh softly and shake your head. "It's at the Musée d'Orsay." You smirk at him. "I'll check and see if they have any zebra paintings for you."

Jack rolls his eyes affectionately and nudges you with his elbow. "Maybe I won't take you to Paris and risk any zebra paintings," he teases. You flash him the quickest pout and he chuckles. "You know I'd take you to Paris tomorrow if it was feasible with work and would make you happy."

"I do know, yeah," you murmur. You start to look back at your computer but your eyes snag on Dale, who's staring at you through a window in a patient's room, having apparently followed Samira in on an interesting case. You pull your eyes away fast and sigh, shake your head a little.

Jack sees, and doesn't need to follow your line of sight to know you just caught Dale staring at you. "He did that the entire time he was with me." You glance at him and give him a look. "No, I'm serious. If he wasn't looking at me or looking at the patient because I was looking at the patient, he was looking out of whatever window was available to him so he could try and find and stare at you. I almost fucking broke and told him I was your boyfriend like fifty fucking times."

"Why didn't you? You could've, I wouldn't have minded. You can now for all I care." You shrug.

"We agreed to be professional at work, and to specifically not do that. That was one of my big things when we got together. I couldn't break it just because I got…" He still doesn't want to say the word jealous. It feels shameful even though he knows it's just a human emotion. Jack sighs heavily. "It wouldn't be fair to you, for me to just decide when an exception exists or ask for one because I can't handle my emotions well enough. And you could've told him all day but you respected our agreement and didn't. So it's only fair I do the same."

You nod. "You know that's the only reason I haven't told him it's you, right?"

"I know and I appreciate you respecting our agreement." Jack runs a hand through his hair absent-mindedly. "I really don't want to ever have to talk to him again, so my plan is to do my best to avoid him the rest of the evening."

You smile and laugh under your breath. "Seems like a good plan." You've relaxed over the course of this conversation. Jack seems lighter and more relaxed too and you're sure it has to be because spending time with Dale made him realize how there is absolutely nothing to be jealous over. "Hopefully I can get him to leave me alone at the bar. But has working with him greatly reassured you that there's nothing to be jealous-"

"You won't," Jack cuts you off, a far away look in his eyes as your words take him back to everything Dale said. You watch as Jack's jealousy and worry and insecurity and anger all claw their way back to the forefront of his mind, shoving logic and rationality down behind them. Jack drops his voice further and looks back at you. "You won't get him to leave you alone at the bar because you're wrong. He doesn't just want casual sex from you. He wants you back. He thinks you're the one that got away. He told me that. So maybe you don't think whatever you had in med school was a relationship, but he sure the fuck does."

"It doesn't matter-"

Jack interrupts you again. "Oh, and I almost forgot. He told me you're 'incredible in bed.' So that was really fucking great, hearing another guy talk about how incredible you are in bed and knowing he was actively imagining fucking you and that he could imagine it very, very well because he's done it before."

There's a pause as the two of you look at each other. You're trying to figure out what it is Jack wants you to say or do in this situation. You want to know what you have to do to make this better, but you don't know if there's anything you truly can do. Because you can't control Dale and what he says and you can't erase your past.

You break the silence after a minute. "I don't know what you want me to say Jack. I can't change the past or control what he says."

Jack pushes his bottom lip out and shakes his head. "I don't want you to say anything. I just want you to know you were wrong and he wants you back. For good. He wants to marry you and have kids with you. So you're not going to get him to leave you alone at the bar. He's going to be focused on winning you back." Jack shrugs at you, his insecurity and worry and anger at Dale boiling over. He makes one last icy comment to you before he turns and strides away. "Here's hoping you don't let him, I guess."

I hope it was okay and that you enjoyed! Part 2 should hopefully be out soon! I really love hearing your thoughts and comments and your interactions truly mean the world to me! Thank you so much for taking the time to read! ♥️

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