Issue 1 Downtime

When Derek got done with his shift, he'd find Chloe sitting in the lobby, holding a picnic basket on her lap.

Derek looked... well, exhausted. And stressed. And... well, basically he'd seen better days. Or weeks. Or months. "Hey, Chloe," he said tiredly when he saw her.

"Lets go have some lunch." Chloe said.

"I..." he sighed. "All right. Let's get lunch," he said, not having reason or inclination to turn her down.

"Long day, babe?" Chloe said, kissing him on the cheek.

"I... Yeah," he sighed, "They're all long."

"Well, lets get outside and get a bite to eat and enjoy the rest of the day." Chloe said

"Please. Let's," he sighed. He hesitated, then he took her hand as they headed out of the infirmary

Chloe squeezed his hand "Have you talked to your mom?"

Derek sighed. "Yeah, I have. She's... doing all right. Staying with her sister now while she's getting ready for her treatments."

Chloe hugged him "See? Its going to be ok."

Derek sighed. "Yeah, I guess so... I just... Last time she went through this, Dad made sure she had one of us there every day. Now he's dead and I'm over here. It's just not right."

"She has her sister to take care of her, and you can talk to her on Skype and stuff."

"Yeah, but..." He sighed. "I hate this."

"I thought you'd like a picnic." Chloe said, confused.

"What? Oh, no, no, not that. Love the picnic. Hate the 'should I be doing this, am I being a shitheaded horrible son' questions and the 'is mom going to be okay' and the 'will I be able to get home in time if things go bad' questions. I fucking hate questions period, I think."

"No, Maybe, and Yes." Chloe said, hugging him.