If Kyle had ever need confirmation that he was absolutely, one hundred percent not straight, that little rendezvous in the on-call room would have been more than enough proof.

It wasn’t something he wrestled with. It was just something he’d learned about himself a little later than other people might have learned it. So he was bi. Big deal. In Kyle’s mind, that wasn’t anything to angst over or even treat as much of a concern. He’d clearly always been bi, he’d just never found a man he was that attracted to that he was willing to make a move.

No, being bi wasn’t the problem here. Fucking a colleague was the problem. Especially one who had such a high profile in the hospital and around town. It was impossible not to sometimes look at Wes like he was a perfectly-cooked steak and Kyle was a man starved. Their tryst in the on-call room had been one of the hottest experiences of his life, and he found himself daydreaming about it whenever he had downtime, to the point where Beth had noticed and asked what he was thinking about.

There was no way it wasn’t all over the hospital by now. Just the fact that Wes didn’t seem to treat him like all the other nurses was enough to get the rumor mill going. The looks the two exchanged every now and again were like pouring gasoline onto an already roaring fire.

And yet Kyle still didn’t regret it. He had no idea where to go from there, and the next day was an exercise in awkward as he tried to sort out his interactions with Wes. But he still didn’t regret it. They were both adults. They’d figure out what was probably just a bit of fun; a way to blow off steam amidst a stressful situation.

That was the hope Kyle relied on as he followed up with Wes’ patients. There were only two who’d been admitted overnight, and both had stabilized well before they were given over to his care, so Kyle mostly tried to keep them comfortable and distracted until they could be discharged.

Around mid-morning—after catching Wes’ eye for a half second and then fleeing back to his work like a coward—Kyle made his way to the nurses’ station to update his charts.

“Kyle!”

He didn’t recognize the voice at first. His brow furrowed and he looked around, only to see Brandon rushing down the hallway, his face awash with worry.

“Brandon? What’s wrong?”

Katie. It had to be Katie. His pulse raced, his heart leaping into his throat as he tried to remember the cases he’d heard the others talking about today. There wasn’t anything too severe—not that he remembered. But that didn’t mean something wasn’t very, very wrong.

“I’m freaking out, man,” Brandon said, reaching the desk. An unnecessary admission, since he looked like he hadn’t slept for a week. “I need your help. Please, Kyle.”

So many scenarios raced through Kyle’s mind, and the terror in Brandon’s eyes wasn’t helping matters any. His brother reached for him, grabbing the arm of his scrub shirt, and Kyle let himself be pulled down the hall by the frantic man.

You need to stay calm, he reminded himself. Brandon and Katie need you to keep it together.

But as soon as that curtain was thrown back to reveal a little girl with a tear-streaked face and a very swollen ankle, Kyle found his resolve crumbling. Realistically, he knew it wasn’t anything serious. She was conscious and breathing and just from a quick visual assessment, it seemed like she’d maybe taken a tough spill or something. She was hurt, but she would be okay.

And yet for some reason, Kyle’s mind latched on to all of the worse things that could have happened to his niece.

Trying to quash his initial reaction, he smiled at Katie and stepped into the exam space. “Looks like you did a number on your ankle.”

“I tripped and fell,” she said, not looking him in the eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

As he stepped closer, Kyle realized the tear tracks were just stains. The fresh glimmer had faded a long time ago, and Katie’s more relaxed attitude seemed genuine.

Brandon, however, was still a bundle of nerves. “She was in a lot of pain. And look at how big the swelling is! God, Kyle, what if it’s broken?”

“Can I take a look? I promise I won’t touch.”

Katie nodded, her teeth snagging her lip. Despite her response, there was enough worry in her eyes to give Kyle a pretty good idea of what happened here. She’d gotten hurt and she was in pain and scared, but she was trying to be strong for her dad.

The least Kyle could do was to keep his shit together and not let himself worry about what was a very typical childhood injury.

Crouching down, he took a look at her ankle around the injury site, but stayed a good distance away from what was likely just a sprain. He was about to reassure them both of that when the curtain pulled back and a familiar voice greeted them.

“Mr. Harris,” Wes said, and Kyle felt a shiver race up his spine despite himself. “And you must be Katie.”

Kyle rose in time to see him tuck Katie’s chart under one arm and offer a hand for Brandon to shake, then Katie. She looked up at him shyly, but took his hand and gave it a shake.

“I’m Dr. Monroe, and I’m going to do everything in my power to get you feeling better so you can get out of this place, okay?”

He spoke to her in a quiet, calm voice, an easy smile dominating his features. Even Kyle felt somewhat soothed by it.

“Was there someone in here before you came to get me, Bran?” he asked, getting to his feet so Wes had room to work.

“Yeah. Another nurse. I don’t remember her name. She took Katie’s blood pressure and temperature and everything,” Brandon said, frazzled.

Without Kyle having to ask, Wes simply offered him the chart. His heart did a silly little flip in his chest, despite the fact that he knew the smile the man offered wasn’t really for his benefit.

“So how did you hurt your ankle, Katie?” Wes asked, crouching the same way Kyle had.

She told the same brief story as before, though Brandon added it was during PE class.

“We were playing soccer,” she admitted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I went to kick the ball and…”

She made a motion with her hand that told the rest of the story. Apparently she’d suffered a Charlie Brown style spill, but without the presence of a Lucy to blame it on. Kyle winced. No wonder she’d chosen to be a little stoic about the whole thing and downplay how much it hurt.

“Sure, that’s one version of events. But I think it went down like this:”

Wes cleared his throat, and to Kyle it was a clear distraction from the gentle prodding he was doing at the site of the injury. It seemed to work, as Katie’s attention was on him, not her ankle.

“I think you were going in for the slide tackle at just the right moment to keep the other team from scoring,” Wes said as he carefully manipulated Katie’s foot, “and right as you were about to connect,” he paused for a moment and looked up at her, “who’s your least favorite person in your class?”

Katie’s cheeks flushed red, but she answered almost immediately. “Tyler.”

Wes made a face. “Yeah. Nothing good ever came from a person named Tyler. I think you were just about to stop a scoring drive, and Tyler stuck out his stupid foot to trip you. That sound about right?”

A small, secret smile touched Kyle’s lips even as he looked over the information Wes had taken down. Katie giggled, completely oblivious to the examination that was going on. Even Brandon seemed to relax a little.

“I wish I could say it happened that way,” Katie lamented.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” Wes gave her a wink, then stood so he could address everyone in the room. “It’s almost certainly a sprain. We can do an X-ray just to be safe, but I really don’t see any evidence of a fracture.”

“Would a sprain really swell that much?” Brandon asked, skeptically.

To Kyle’s surprise, Wes didn’t answer right away. Rather he looked to him, waiting patiently as Kyle finally understood he was being given a chance to answer his brother.

“They can. Especially in children. Since her range of movement isn’t that limited, a sprain is a safe bet.”

Brandon nodded, and Wes went on to explain the treatment plan. Rest, ice, compression, and elevation, mostly, but he was also going to give Katie a brace to help keep the ankle steady. With everything ordered, Wes made his way out of the room to see to his other patients, leaving Kyle to speak to his brother and niece alone.

“That’s the doctor you were having problems with, isn’t he?” Brandon asked almost immediately.

Kyle felt heat rise in his face as he wrote down Wes’ orders. “Mostly resolved now.”

“I see that.”

His brother was obviously feeling better about the situation, because he was wearing the textbook definition of a shit-eating grin. Even Katie was looking at him like she knew something he didn’t.

“What?” he asked the room, both brows lifting.

“Nothing.” Brandon waved him off. “He just seems like a good man. Actually… will you thank him for me?”

A sudden flush colored Kyle’s cheeks as he imagined just how he could thank Wes. Brandon definitely didn’t need to know that, though, and so he just murmured his agreement and scrambled to fetch the brace. The sooner he could get Katie on her way, the sooner she’d be back to her old self. And honestly, he’d hoped to catch up with Wes at some point.

Whether it was luck or providence, he spotted Wes at the end of the hall and jogged to catch up with him. “Dr. Monroe,” he called, amending it as he got closer. “Wes. Hold up.”

Wes stopped, and those steely eyes fixed on Kyle with an intensity that took his breath away. Their last interaction might have been completely innocent, but just one look reminded him of the on-call room, and fire lit through his veins.

But he wasn’t here for that, as much as his body disagreed. He’d wanted to find Wes for a very specific reason, and fortunately that reason didn’t involve either of them being unclothed.

“I just wanted to thank you for what you did back there. Brandon was a wreck, and poor Katie was trying to keep it together for him. I tried to do what I could, but you just… came in and made everything better, in a matter of minutes.”

“Part of the job,” Wes said, though his expression softened considerably. “The biggest part, if you ask me.”

He shrugged and made to leave, but Kyle reached out on a whim and grabbed his arm. Wes stopped, his gaze moving slowly from Kyle’s hand to his eyes. It wasn’t that heated, sexual gaze he’d given earlier, yet somehow it made him feel just as exposed.

“Thank you,” Kyle said again. “It means a lot to me. I… haven’t always been there for Brandon and Katie, so it’s nice to see someone care about them. Even if it’s just part of the job for you.”

“It’s not,” he said after a moment. “It’s not just part of the job. It is the job.” His lips curved into a slow, almost sly, smile. “But on the other hand, Dr. Silverman was supposed to handle this case, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t taken a special interest because of the last name.”

Kyle let out a surprised, somewhat self-conscious laugh as he drew his hand back. What was he supposed to do with that, exactly? He’d never wanted special treatment, but he had to admit it felt… nice. The sentiment behind it, at least.

“If you want to thank me, though, I have an idea.”

His throat became instantly parched, the smooth reach of those words stoking an ember that still smoldered within him. Wes could have asked him back to the on-call room at that moment, and he likely would have agreed.

Instead, he asked for something that was honestly pretty innocent.

“Meet me at the duck pond in Moore Wood after your shift.” When Kyle gave him a confused look, he added, “We need someplace to talk about the hospital without everyone overhearing, right? And the sooner we can get a plan together, the sooner we can present it to Sloane.”

Right. The hospital. The whole reason they’d started spending time together in the first place. Of course it wasn’t anything else. Definitely not a date, as much as his stupid heart apparently leapt at the thought.

Why he was disappointed by that, Kyle didn’t care to examine. He pushed it aside, summoning the most professional smile he could manage, and said, “I’ll be there.”