think of you later || quest

[Bailey Emmanuel Dean]

She'd been working more shifts lately. Pulling overtime as much as possible. Truth be told, it was Bailey's way of keeping herself way from Todd. It was only when she was walking or driving somewhere or failing to fill her time that she managed to happen upon him. Maybe being at the hospital put her too far away from him for whatever sick force of nature this was to work properly. Regardless of the reasoning, she found herself at work more often than usual, and this time she'd worked straight through until dinner time. She was exhausted. She was hungry. And the last thing she wanted to do was spend another hour at the hospital to eat at the cafeteria.

When she got behind the wheel of her car, she said a quick prayer, begging her car to go where she willed it instead of taking her to wherever Todd might be. She'd seen plenty enough of him at this point and didn't really want to deal with another argument about their past.

As it happened, she was in luck. The blue Honda Civic took her to a small diner on Main Street without an interruption. She parked in one of the last few spaces in the lot and headed into the restaurant. Running a hand through her blond locks, she looked around. She'd forgotten how much she hated to eat alone. But she hadn't invited anyone either. Shaking her head a little, she confirmed with the hostess that she was dining alone, and the girl led her to a two-top table.

Bailey sat down and placed her head in her hands, trying to bring herself into the mindset of relaxation rather than work. It probably would have been easier if she wasn't alone, and it was only a matter of moments before she found herself wishing someone would join her. There were plenty of other unexplainable happenings around town. Surely this feat wasn't too much to ask.

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[Quest Franklin Thomas]

Quest drew a shaking hand through his soft locks of hair, momentarily considering pulling an all-nighter at the hospital before one of the older receptionists gave him a look that clearly said 'go home before I make you'. Smiling at the sweet lady Quest threw a dark jacket over his button up shirt, freed from the blinding white coat that was required for his work attire. Dark hues glanced up at the clock, noting that he'd successfully managed to at least get off in time to go to a diner on main street, one of his usual haunts because Quest found cooking after long hours to be a drain.

Getting settled in his silver '09 Chevy Silverado pickup Quest immediately shut off the radio, allowing himself a few moments of serenity. His week had been packed with injures, trauma, and avoiding-near-death experiences. In fact, Quest was pretty sure he'd been avoiding these experiences for nearly a year, and it was becoming quiet troublesome. Especially as to how he was consistently having to explain to the cops the reason as to why he pulled over, only to watch a fatal crash occur in front of him. Not that he wasn't already on a first-name basis with the police department crew due to his work in the Emergency portion of the hospital but Quest was slightly uncomfortable with them knowing more personal details about his life.

Pulling the truck into a parking space close to the diner doors the male eased out of the vehicle, reminding himself to stuff a black billfold in the back of his tan dress pants. Feeling slightly over-dressed for going into the diner Quest pulled open the door, pausing to allow an older couple to pass through the door he held first. Nodding his head as the elderly woman thanked him and patted his arm before being ushered in by her husband. Quest couldn't recall the number of couples that he'd seen together in the hospital, supporting each other in times of need. To him it was sweet, a lighter scene to his normally strenuous days. Drawing in a deep breath Quest walked through the doors, ignoring the suggestive looks the hostess was giving him and instead chose to seat himself.

As he'd suspected the diner was fairly packed with people who were also just as hell-bent on not cooking a meal. Plus, Quest found it nearly useless to cook for just himself. Sighing and glancing around the small diner dark hues fell upon a small form of a woman, head slightly bent as if she were just as exhausted as he was. But she also seemed familiar to him. Taking purposeful strides towards the female Quest fought back the annoying voices in his mind shouting at him to just sit by himself. Standing beside the table Quest cleared his throat to alert her of his presence before a deep timbre of lyrics poured from his lips.

"I hope I'm not bothering you miss. But I believe I've seen you before, I think the Hospital...I'm Quest Thomas, or Dr. Thomas. I work in the Emergency portion of the Hospital."

[Bailey Emmanuel Dean]

Her stomach rumbled and Bailey pulled a menu closer, though she didn't bother lifting her head much to look at it. She was entirely too exhausted to do anything that required so much effort. Her eyes roved over the menu and she discovered that she might actually be exhausted enough that she couldn't decide what to eat. With a slight frown, she pushed the menu away and let her head sink back into her hands. She closed her eyes, momentarily entertaining the idea of going home and crawling into her bed. She could actually picture the fluffy white comforter. But the smell of coffee had her stomach grumbling, and she forced herself to pull the menu over again. She could sleep later.

She'd finally managed to start reading the list of entrees when she heard the chime of the diner's front door opening. It wasn't the first time it had done so since she'd arrived, but now that she wasn't fantasizing about sleep, Bailey couldn't keep herself from glancing toward the door. A soft smile played on her lips as she watched a man hold the door for an older couple. People weren't that polite anymore. You saw it more in small towns like this, but it wasn't as commonplace as Bailey thought it should be.

The moment the man was close enough to see her, she let her eyes focus on the menu again. She was sure she looked much too exhausted to be attractive, and she didn't want to embarrass herself. As luck would have it, though, she heard heavy footsteps make their way toward her table. Bailey shifted her hands slightly and peeked at the man from the corner of her eye. He wasn't going away. But now that she was looking at him up close, she didn't really want him to.

Raking her hand through her hair, Bailey turned her eyes up toward the man and offered him a bright smile. "Right. I've seen you around. Nice to meet you, Quest. I'm Bailey. NICU." She offered him her hand and glanced briefly around the room, trying to be sure he wasn't on his way to meet someone else. "Are you meeting someone?" she asked, though she assumed he wasn't. If that were the case, he probably wouldn't have stopped to talk to her. "I've got an empty seat if you want it," she told him, gesturing toward the empty chair.

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[Quest Franklin Thomas]

The smell of coffee intoxicated him, and also gave him the energy to smile politely at the blonde as she introduced herself. Usually he preferred to sit alone in the diner but Quest felt that if he were to try and get a seat by himself that he would've done the same thing she'd been doing, placing his head in his hands. And that would have lead to a sleep filled with exhaustion that when he woke up he would still feel just as tired as he had when he fell asleep. His life rotated around coffee, sleep, and work. Not that the benefits from working so much hadn't paid off, he could easily afford whatever he needed, but money wasn't everything to him.

Quest found it necessary to keep himself entertained and moving on. Otherwise he was plagued by thoughts of his deceased mother and who really wanted to think such dark thoughts? He had better ways to spend his time. Such as dealing with the latest crisis that occured in Bellville and tending to the injured. In truth Quest was beginning to thing injuries and serious ones at that, were becoming a very common thing. Whereas it seemed that he managed to skirt fate daily and never get hurt, always somehow knowing when to pull over and avoid a near collision. Releasing a breath Quest pulled himself from his thoughts and settled his dark hues upon the beautiful blonde in front of him. If she didn't look as exhausted as he felt Quest probably would have come up with some catchy line.

Choosing to opt out of openly hitting on her he nodded to Bailey and took a seat across from her. Crossing his arms on the table Quest offered her a friendly enough smile, her tone was soft and smooth and he immediately guessed she was good at her job. He knew that being in neonatal intensive care unit was difficult, and it was one of his highest reasons for avoiding that section of the hospital if he could. He much preferred the constant flow of people coming in with various injuries and ailments that were considered emergency. It kept him awake, and helped to keep him focused on his job instead of his wonderful king sized bed with black sheets at his house. Not bothering to look at a menu Quest watched Bailey before speaking up once more, his exhaustion slightly hinted at in his words.

"It's nice to meet you, and thank you for offering me a seat. I fully believe I'd be asleep right now if it weren't for you offering me one."

Offering a grin Quest moved his gaze momentarily from her face to draw the attention of a waitress to them so they could at least put in an order before he decided to skip yet another meal in favor of sleep. As a licensed doctor he knew fairly well what long hours of work with little sleep did to one's body, and in Quest's opinion hospital and private practice staff were very hypocritical. At the hospital everyone ran on a crazy schedule, working weird hours and never really developing a true sleeping schedule. Hence why most of them always felt the drag of sleep even when they just wake up.

"I think coffee is perhaps the greatest thing ever made."

His words were offered up in a lame attempt to start a conversation, his mouth picking up in the corners to smile at the blonde. At last a pretty enough waitress appeared at the table and asked for their order. Shifting his gaze to Bailey Quest offered a slow smile.

"I'll have whatever she's having, and coffee."