Chapter Text
Over the course of the average lifetime you meet a lot of people.
Some of them stick with you through thick and thin.
Some weave their way through your life and disappear forever.
But once in a while someone comes along who earns a permanent place in your heart. ~ The Wonder Years
The sleepy, ten-year-old boy slowly opened his blue eyes and glanced at the digital alarm clock next to his bed. He groaned and burrowed back underneath his covers, pulling them up over his head and tried to drown out the sound of his mother's persistent voice.
No such luck.
"Matthew Kellan! Get your lazy butt out of bed right now! You're going to miss the bus!"
The voice was closer this time and Matt knew that it would only be a matter of time before his mom came into his room.
"Matthew!"
She was standing right over him this time and before he could respond, he felt the warmth of his covers being jerked off of his body.
"Mom..." he mumbled, grabbing for his pillow to cover his suddenly exposed head. "I'm tired."
But Rey was not in the mood for her son's antics this morning. "Then you should have gone to bed when I told you to last night instead of sneaking downstairs to watch TV," she reprimanded, grabbing the pillow from him and tossing it across the room.
"No one in my class has to go to bed at 9:00," Matt mumbled, once again bringing up the bedtime that he believed was too strict. "It's stupid.
"No, this is stupid," Rey said, ignoring the bedtime remark. She didn't have time to get into that argument with him this morning. "You're in fifth grade and have a perfectly good alarm clock sitting right there next to your bed. I should not have to come in here to get you out of bed."
"So don't."
"You should be responsible enough to get yourself up and ready for school in the morning without me," Rey said, opening the blinds on his windows.
The sunlight poured into his darkened bedroom and Matt groaned again as he covered his face with his hands. He remained in his bed, but couldn't stop himself from opening one of his eyes to look up at her. "I'm sick."
"Get up," Rey said, putting her hands on her hips.
"I really am sick!" he protested, biting back a grin. Having a doctor for a mother, he knew that excuse wouldn't work before the words were even out of his mouth. But it didn't stop him from trying. "Feel my forehead."
"I'm not playing around, Matt," Rey said, glaring at him. "I have an important meeting at the hospital this morning, so neither one of us can be late. Now, get up."
Matt stayed in bed for another minute before he finally dragged his body up into a sitting position. Knowing that his mom wouldn’t leave his room until she saw him walk into the bathroom, he slowly stood up. "One of these mornings, I really am going to be sick," he said, trudging toward his bedroom door. "And then you're going to be sorry."
Rey shook her head at him and turned to follow him out the bedroom. "Just hurry up so you won't miss the bus," she muttered.
"I won't miss the bus," Matt told her before shutting the bathroom door between them.
Twenty minutes later a freshly showered and fully awake Matt bounded down the stairs into the kitchen.
Rey was standing in front of the toaster, using it for a mirror as she hastily applied some lipstick to her lips.
Matt shook his head. "We have a hundred mirrors in this house and you have to do that here?"
"This lipstick was down here in my purse," Rey explained as he pulled open the cupboard door in search of something to have for breakfast. "And this was the closest thing, so get off my case."
"Get off my case," Matt mimicked her as he opened another cupboard. Shaking his head again, he pulled out a bag and began opening it up.
"Cheetos are not breakfast," Rey scolded when she realized what he had chosen.
"It's all we have," he shot back, popping a cheesy snack into his mouth. When she frowned at him, he pulled open the cereal cupboard to reveal an empty space where the cereal and pop tarts were supposed to be. "And even if we did have cereal, we probably don't have any milk." Matt moved over to the refrigerator and opened the door to prove his point. "See? I drank the last of it last night."
"I'm sorry, buddy," Rey apologized quickly. "I forgot to go to the grocery store."
"That's what you said yesterday," he muttered before popping another Cheetos into his mouth. "What about lunch?"
"What about it?"
"Did you make me any?"
"I put twenty five dollars on your school lunch account last week," Rey reminded him, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Eat lunch at school."
"It's Thursday. They serve fish sticks on Thursday.”
"So?"
"I hate fish sticks."
"You do not," Rey chided. "You love fish."
"I like fried fish, grilled fish, and even that fish stew you make, but I do not like fish sticks," Matt protested, wrinkling up his freckled nose.
"Well," Rey countered. "Don't they serve sandwiches in the cafeteria, too?"
Matt quickly checked the menu that was hanging on the refrigerator. "Peanut butter and jelly. I don't like their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They put too much peanut butter on them."
"Well, you'll survive," Rey said lightly. "Now go get your backpack before you miss your bus."
"I won't miss my bus," Matt said for the second time that morning. "Did you sign my permission slip?"
"Permission slip?" Rey asked absently. Her mind was definitely elsewhere this morning.
"Mom!" Matt cried in exasperation. "My permission slip to go to the space museum. It's due today."
"I thought we already did that."
"You gave me the money but forgot to sign the permission slip," Matt reminded her, pulling the paper in question from the magnet on the fridge. "Mr. Byrnes says I can't go without a parent signature whether I paid or not."
"Well, that doesn't seem fair," Rey said, glancing at the clock on the stove. "Give it to me and I'll sign it now."
Matt rolled his eyes and shoved the permission slip across the counter to her. He watched as she scanned it and then signed her name at the bottom before handing it back to him.
"Okay, you're all set," she said hurriedly, kissing him on the forehead. "Now get out to that bus stop before you miss your bus."
"I'm not going to miss my bus," he grumbled as he pulled on his jacket and headed out the door.
"Have a good day at school!" Rey called after him as he closed the door behind him. "I love you!"
She thought she heard him mutter a response, but she didn't have time to think twice about it. Rey and the staff of Rochester Memorial were being introduced to a new neurosurgeon this morning at a meeting with the hospital board of directors and she couldn't be late. As a neurological pathologist, Rey would most likely be working with him on a lot of the same cases. Which really meant that they would be butting heads as he pushed for surgery and she countered with her drug treatment therapies.
"I was just getting used to arguing with Luke," she muttered to herself as she gathered her coat and briefcase. "I had him right where I wanted him and now they give me some new jackass who thinks he's God's gift to—"
Her little rant was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. She looked up to see her son walking back into the kitchen.
"Don't tell me..." she said with a frown.
Matt looked up at his mother with a sheepish grin on his face. "I missed the bus."
"Come on, people." Rey impatiently tapped her fingers on the steering wheel of her SUV and silently swore at the line of traffic sitting in front of her. She knew this would happen. There was always a line of parents outside the school to drop off their kids in the morning and she was stuck in the middle of the chaos.
Matt sat in the front seat, flipping through the radio stations as he listened to his mother complain to herself.
"Just open the door and let the kid get out of the car. What's so hard about that? What could possibly be taking so long?"
"Does it make them go faster when you mutter at them?" Matt finally asked, grinning up at her.
"No," she shot back at him with a grin. "But it makes me feel better." She reached over to muss his light brown hair. "Who is the parent here, anyway?"
"Parent?" Matt asked sarcastically. "You’re more like a raving lunatic this morning."
"And you're stuck with me."
"Lucky me," he added, rolling his eyes at her.
It was in moments like these that Matt reminded Rey so much of his father.
"So what's your big meeting all about?" he asked, changing the subject.
"A neurosurgeon from New York City is gracing Rochester Memorial with his presence today," Rey told him with a scowl. "And Dr. Holdo is pulling out all the stops to make him feel welcome. We're having a meet-and-greet type thing and everyone who is not with a patient is required to attend." She moved her car up an inch. "When I started working there, all I got was a cup of coffee from the hospital cafeteria," she added dryly.
"But I thought that Dr. Luke was the brain surgeon there."
"He is," Rey said, looking out her windshield to see what the possible hold up could be. "But this new doctor is younger and he’s supposed to be a brilliant doctor in the prime of his career," she continued, mimicking Dr. Amilyn Holdo, chief of staff at Rochester Memorial. "This is a great opportunity to advance our surgical department and we are lucky to have him choose us."
Matt grinned at her impression. "So, he's better than Dr. Luke?"
"Better than God...or so he thinks," Rey muttered without thinking.
"But I thought no one was better than God," Matt reminded her.
"Well, apparently someone forgot to tell this guy."
"So, this new doctor is a jerk?"
"Probably," Rey said, inching her car forward.
"You mean, you haven't met him?" Matt asked, looking at his mother curiously. "Then how do you know anything about him?"
"I know his type," Rey said. "I've been working in medicine long enough to know that you don't get to be as infamous as this guy is supposed to be without being an arrogant son of a b—" She stopped when she realized what she was about to say. "Jerk. An arrogant jerk."
But Matt was no dummy. His grin told her he knew exactly what she was going to say. "But Dr. Luke's not a jerk."
"No, he's not," Rey conceded, looking at her son.
"Well, then maybe this guy isn't either," Matt concluded. "Since they have the same job and everything...maybe he won't be a jerk."
She loved his ten year old logic. And she also knew when she had been put in her place.
"Maybe he won't be," Rey agreed. "I should give him a chance, shouldn't I?"
Matt nodded and grinned at her.
"I guess I don't handle change well, Matty. I had just gotten so used to working with Luke and we've developed such a good working relationship and now I have to get used to this new guy."
"Moving back here was a big change," Matt reminded her. "And that turned out okay."
"Yes, it did," she agreed, smiling at him. "How did you get to be such a good kid?"
Matt shrugged off her compliment and reached down to get his backpack when he saw that they were approaching the drop off spot. "Thanks for the ride, Mom," he said as he opened the car door.
"Anytime," Rey replied, leaning over to receive the kiss he planted on her cheek. "Do you think you can manage to be on time for the bus to go home?"
Matt screwed up his face at her sarcasm. "I'm not taking the bus home. I have football practice today after school and Danny's mom is picking us up."
"Right," Rey said, remembering the day's schedule. "Well, have a good day at school and a good practice. I love you."
"Love you, too," Matt said, hopping out of the car. "Sorry if I made you late for your meeting."
Rey waved as he ran up the sidewalk toward the school and then somehow managed to maneuver her SUV to the exit of the parking lot without crashing pinto anyone.
Picking up her cell phone, she dialed the number of her colleague and best friend, Dr. Rose Tico.
"Where are you?" Rose demanded. "I thought we were going over the DuBois case before the meeting with Dr. Godsend."
"And good morning to you, too," Rey said as she joined the line of cars waiting to exit the parking lot onto the main road. "Matt missed the bus and I'm running late. Save me a seat, okay?"
"Of course," Rose said. "Want me to get you a cup of coffee, too? I don't know if we'll make it through this circus without large doses of caffeine."
"Now I remember why I love you so much," Rey said with a grin. "Coffee would be wonderful. Is Hux going to be at the meeting?"
"He's already here. He's meeting with the other members of the hospital board before the staff meeting," Rose said, referring to her boyfriend. Rey could hear the smile in her friend's voice as she added, "We drove in together this morning. It was nice."
"Aww..." Rey teased. "How sweet."
"Don't start," Rose warned. "Just hurry up and get here before—"
"Shit!" As Rey turned out of the school parking lot, she instantly felt her car collide with another. "Rose, I have to go. See you in a bit," she said into her phone as she pulled off to the side of the road. She looked in her driver's side mirror at the silver Mercedes. "Damn, this is all I need today," she muttered, getting out of the car in a huff.
A tall, dark haired man got out of the sports car looking just as pissed off as Rey felt and walked toward her with his jaw set in anger.
"Don't you look where you're going?" Rey demanded, walking right up to the man. Raising her chin to look into his face, she added, "You drove right into me!"
"I hit you?" the man asked incredulously. "I don't think so!" Gesturing to the point of impact between their two cars. "You pulled right out of that parking lot without looking!"
"I did not!" Rey shot back indignantly.
"Well, if you weren't so busy talking on your cell phone and fixing your makeup, then you'd remember what just happened," he said angrily. "You—"
"Talking on my cell phone and fixing my makeup?" Rey interrupted angrily. "Is that some sort of sexist remark?"
"No," he said dryly. "It's an observation."
Rey followed his gaze and felt her cheeks flush as she realized that her cell phone was still in her hand. "Well, I wasn't fixing my makeup," she said lamely.
"Obviously," he shot back, taking a moment to look at her.
"Well, you know what?" she snapped, his remark rubbing her the wrong way. "There's nothing like meeting a gentleman."
"Or," he quipped at her snidely. "You could say...running into one."
"Great," Rey sighed. "You're a smart-ass on top of everything else. I already have one of those in my life, thank you very much."
The man stared hard at her before Rey swore she saw the corners of his mouth turn up into a bit of a half smile. He shook his head at her and then went to survey the damage done to both of their cars.
"Look," he said, examining the front bumper of his car. "Let's just forget this ever happened, okay? I'm late."
"So am I," Rey exclaimed, not believing the audacity of this man. "But I know better than to leave the scene of an accident."
"Lady," he said, running a frustrated hand through his wavy hair as he scowled at her. "There’s no damage to your car. Isn't that why you bought that gas-guzzling tank?"
"As opposed to your much better mid-life crisis vehicle?" Rey shot back, not at all sure why they were suddenly insulting each other's cars.
"Mid-life crisis?" he repeated. "I'm barely thirty-five." Shaking his head in disgust, he paused for a moment and then continued in a more even temper, "Look, why don't you just quit while you're ahead? My car is fine, your car is fine and we're both late. So let's just get back in our fine cars and get away from each other?"
"Fine!" Rey said, walking back to her car. “What else can possibly go wrong today?" she muttered to herself as she watched him pull away.