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"Good," she says with a shaky breath. "So…should we meet in my office…or yours? Oh or maybe I could see if any of the conference rooms are–"
"Grab your stuff," I bark. "We can go to the coffee shop down the street."
She scrunches her face up, looking flustered. "What? Uh, no. Let's just stay here at the hospital. There's coffee in the break room and in the cafe downstairs."
"That coffee sucks. Come on, Vanessa. I'm not trying to steal you away from the comfort of having your watch dog, Hudson, nearby. I'll be able to focus better with a decent cup of coffee somewhere that isn't here."
I turn and start marching down the hall before she can protest any further. She catches up to me near the elevators, running up behind me in her kitten heels with her bag and jacket draping from her arm.
"You know, another thing that will be crucial to making this work is for you to stop being so bossy," she suggests as the elevator doors close.
"Can't. It's a core trait of mine. I'd say you should know that about me already, but…we agreed to keep those kinds of comments to ourselves."
She stares straight ahead with nostrils flaring the whole way down. She only looks more pissed as we stop at each floor and take on more passengers. Every new person that climbs on forces her to squeeze in closer to me. I keep my hands at my sides, resisting the urge to reach out and brush a stray hair out of her eyes. The way she looks right now, she'd probably bite it clean off if I tried.
As we take our seats at the coffee house, she stares at my cup and smiles.
"You insist on dragging me to a fancy cafe for your coffee, instead of drinking the perfectly good stuff at the hospital…only so you can order it black?"
I narrow my eyes and smirk. She knows damn well I only take my coffee black.
"Since the past doesn't exist, I'll just have to lie and say I took a guess that you're the type that likes those ridiculous latte-frappe-mocha-espressa-whatever it is they call them now. I suggested we come here for your sake."
"Thisis an Espresso Con Panna, which shouldn't be so hard for a neurologist to pronounce. It's a nice treat, but I would have been just fine with the coffee in the break room. Besides, I find it hard to believe that you'd ever suggest anything for my sake."
I spike my brows. "Careful, Dr. Lopez. You sound like you're breaking your own rule."
She closes her eyes with an exasperated sigh. When she opens again, they're ignited with fury. "It's not a rule. It's a deal we both agreed to and just shook on less than a half hour ago,andit's one that you've been ridiculing ever since."
"Fine, fair enough," I grin, lifting my fingers from the table top. "My apologies. From now on, I'll be on my best behavior."
"Great. Now can wepleasefocus on work?"
"I looked over your presentation," I tell her, leaning back in my chair with a beaming expression.
"Okay, great. And…?"
I let out a whistle. "I have to admit, I was…impressed."
The corners of her lips curl ever so slightly into a smile, but she's quick to hide it. "You shouldn't sound so surprised."
"Shouldn't I? I mean the last time I saw you, you were…" My words are stopped cold by the piercing death glare she's shooting in my direction. "Alright, alright. You're right. Nothing to be surprised about. There is just one little thing I'll need you to validate for me."
"Oh?"
"Once we create this new version of the drug you've been working on, complete with all of the alterations you suggested, you projected that you fully expect our initial small scale human trials, when we get to that stage, will result in one hundred percent success rate? Foralltrial patients involved?"
A confident smile spreads across her face, and this time she doesn't try to suppress it. "Yes, that's right. I've already seen one hundred percent success rates in our animal trials. But with these improvements, we can speed up the effectiveness of the drug and reduce the side effects."
"Right, but…come on, Vanessa. Nobody projects a one hundred percent success rate on something like this."
She nods and looks off in thought. "You want me to validate it for you?"
"I insist."
"Right. Okay. Come with me." She jumps up and grabs her things, then bolts for the door.
I have no choice but to run to catch up to her, which I guess is only fair since I did the same thing to her this morning.
