It feels dumb to be so upset about their anniversary plans going awry. It’s just that it’s their first— first of many, Nancy hopes— and she wanted to make it special. She’d made reservations at the Italian place down the way from Marjan’s apartment they’ve been wanting to try, thrown the jumpsuit Marjan loves in the laundry so it was clean, bought flowers which she’d very carefully hidden out of reach of the cat. And here they are, in the emergency room. Not even after a shift, Nancy thinks bitterly, just her own clumsiness.
Beside her, Marjan reaches for her, pulls Nancy’s hand into her lap and runs a soothing thumb over her knuckles. “Stop kicking yourself about it, babe.”
Nancy can feel herself pouting.
“Nancy,” Marjan stresses, leaning into her side to catch her eye. “It happens. We can go out next week.”
“It’s our anniversary,” Nancy grumbles, wincing at the pull of the cut above her eyebrow. Marjan catches the movement and hums, wisely choosing not to mention it. Nancy tilts her hand, fiddles with Marjan’s in her grip. “Our first anniversary.”
“I know, baby,” Marjan replies. “And I know you had plans.”
She’d kept them a surprise from Marjan, hinting at the dress code for the night but otherwise staying tight-lipped, and maybe that’s what really stings. Nancy had done all the work of making this special for her girlfriend and she couldn’t even deliver.
“I just… I didn’t want to let you down,” Nancy admits, immediately sensing Marjan puffing up in her defense. “I wanted you to know how much I care about you.”
Marjan shakes her head, a wry smile gracing her lips. “Nancy,” she says, slow and steady, “you show me how much you care about me every day. That’s why I love you. It’s not about fancy dinners or showing each other off. It’s about being with each other.”
Nancy pauses, takes in her words. “But I love to show you off,” she says finally, half-teasing and smug, and it earns a laugh from Marjan. “You deserve to be celebrated, Marj.”
Marjan squeezes her hand, leans closer to bump shoulders. “And so do you,” she replies. “I saw that jumpsuit in your closet, don’t think I didn’t.”
Now it’s Nancy’s turn to laugh, the sound wet and small. She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying.
“But baby,” Marjan continues, “we can do that any day, okay? It doesn’t matter where we are today.”
Nancy sniffles, relishing in the contact as Marjan remains stuck on her side. “I love you,” she says, coverage for all the words stuck in her throat.
“I love you too,” Marjan replies, turning to press a kiss to the side of Nancy’s head.
They fall into comfortable quiet like that, just pressed against each other under the fluorescent lights of the hospital.
“Gillian, Nancy?” A friendly young nurse holding a clipboard calls, and Nancy perks up. The nurse hisses sympathetically at the sight of her eyebrow and beckons her toward the doors. “Triage said you’d probably just need a few stitches, and I reckon they were right, but that’s a nasty guy, huh?”
Nancy stands, squeezing Marjan’s hand one final time.
“She’ll be right back, honey,” the nurse calls, holding the door for Nancy, and Nancy just catches Marjan’s smile.
True to the nurse’s word, Nancy sits through three quick stitches, blinking against the pain but otherwise staying obediently still.
“Okay!” The nurse says, once she’s ready to check herself out, “you’re going to want to keep that clean and dry, covered for the first day or two, and…” Nancy must be pulling some sort of face, because she trails off.
“Paramedic,” Nancy intones, gesturing to herself, and the nurse smiles, nods.
“Alrightie then, so you know the drill. Perfect— let’s get you back out to your girl, then.”
Nancy can’t help but smile at the words, pushing herself up to stand with no small amount of relief. The nurse chuckles quietly and leads her back through the double doors, where Marjan is waiting. She’s texting aggressively on her phone before the doors open.
“Nance!” Marjan calls, once she’s in sight. She’s grinning, her phone tucked mindlessly into her lap immediately, and it sends a spike of warmth through Nancy’s stomach. She’s been gone maybe twenty minutes, tops, and her girlfriend looks thrilled to see her back.
The nurse waves goodbye and Nancy crosses the slowly emptying emergency room, stopping in front of Marjan and leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “Hi baby,” she murmurs, mood vastly improved now that she’s not actively bleeding.
Marjan leans forward, presses her forehead against Nancy’s middle for a moment like a cat headbutting someone, and then stands to meet her face-to-face. “You all set?” She asks, and Nancy nods. “Awesome,” Marjan says, threading their fingers together again and leading Nancy toward the exit.
“Let’s get out of here,” Nancy says resolutely, grinning when Marjan agrees.
Nancy doesn’t really think about why they’re heading to Marjan’s place instead of back to hers. She’d assumed the emergency room was the end of their night, the sort of thing that puts a damper on sleeping over or anything further. She’s also still a little pissed at herself for screwing up their night, so she chalks it up to not being sharp as she might normally be.
“Marjan?” Nancy asks, when they pull into the parking lot in front of Marjan’s building. “You want me to come in?”
Marjan quirks an eyebrow, leveling her with an unimpressed stare. “No,” she says, flat, “I’m leaving you in the hot car overnight. Cool?”
Nancy rolls her eyes. “I just didn’t think you’d want…”
“What?” Marjan interjects, tilting her head. “To spend the night with my beautiful, lovely girlfriend? To take care of her after she had to go to the ER?”
“Okay, okay,” Nancy cuts her off, laughing, “I get it. Sorry, I’m just kind of in my head still.”
Marjan nods, her eyes warm and knowing. “I know you are.” She considers for a moment, drags her gaze up and down Nancy’s face, pausing on the stitches. “My poor brave baby.”
“Okay, now you’re making fun of me.”
“A little bit, yeah.”
Marjan smirks and Nancy rolls her eyes, biting down on a smile.
“C’mon,” Marjan says, unbuckling her seatbelt as Nancy follows suit, “inside.”
They’re laughing when the elevator finally opens on Marjan’s floor, teasing and prodding in the familiar way they always do. Marjan steps in front of her to unlock her door, a suspiciously smug smile on her face, and Nancy hesitates for a second.
“What are you— oh.” When the apartment door swings open, Nancy is met with candles lighting Marjan’s kitchen table, a bag of takeout set in the middle. A bouquet of flowers that Nancy knows for sure wasn’t there yesterday is sitting in a vase beside it.
“I may have called in a favor or two,” Marjan says, turning to meet Nancy’s eye with a pleased little smirk. “It’s our anniversary, after all. And I wanted you to know how much I love you, going out or staying in.”
“You’re too good to me,” Nancy says, stepping closer to Marjan and quickly pecking her lips.
“No such thing,” Marjan replies, certain as anything.
Nancy smiles. “Even after I was pouting over three stitches?”
“Even then,” Marjan says. “Happy anniversary, Nancy.”
“Happy anniversary, baby.”
