Chapter Text
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Maggie sat in the on call room for several minutes after the kiss. She tried picking up her phone to text Alex, but she ended up deleted every message she typed out. It felt too private.
Even for Alex? A small voice whispered in her head.
Yeah, even for Alex.
This wasn't her secret to tell.
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That resolve lasted all of about two afternoons. Alex tightened her jaw as Maggie paused the show for the fourth time and opened her mouth to speak.
"Nuh-uh," Alex stuck her finger out. "If you say the name Dr. Katz again I'm throwing the big pillow at you."
Maggie closed her mouth and hit play again, affronted.
About eight minutes later a big pillow went flying across the living room at Maggie's head.
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The guys were no help either. Larouche just kept badgering her about who the mysterious woman was, and Miller kept insinuating she was a lesbian now. The only one being halfway decent about the whole thing was Shahir. But the most he'd really been able to do was correct Miller as he swept by on his way to a patient, “She’s not gay, Dr. Miller, she's fluid."
And Sydney, Dr. Katz herself, was probably the worst of the bunch. She wasn't even acknowledging the kiss.
"She's engaged." Maggie sighed and slumped onto the couch. It was midnight. Alex rolled her eyes out of Maggie's view and glanced at the white save-the-date envelope poking out of her own purse. She already got the memo. "I guess it doesn't matter anyway, because she's marrying Hershel after only knowing him for ten weeks, and apparently she'll have 'a lifetime of wedded bliss' to get to know him. And kiss him. When he least expects it." Maggie groaned and pushed her face into the nearest pillow.
"She's obviously only marrying him because she can't explore her lesbian love for you while still maintaining her title of Most Uptight Jew on the Planet. Did you pay the electricity bill?"
"Do you think she's a lesbian?" Maggie asked quizzically, lifting her head off the pillow.
"Why don't you ask her?"
"You don't get it. She literally runs from my direction these days. Yesterday, we were performing a C-section, and she didn't make eye contact with me once. Not once. In fact, at one point, she asked Dauda to ask me if I would hand him the scalpel so he could hand it to her. Why bother asking me to assist if you're just going to treat me like a ghost?!"
"Maybe she wanted to keep you in her sights so you guys could do that desperate-longing-glance thing you're always doing when the other isn't looking."
"I haven't paid the electricity."
"I knew it."
"Then why even ask?" Maggie quipped, as she pulled out her laptop from under a pile of text books.
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When Dr. Katz hugged Maggie her body went stiff on instinct. Dr. Katz was hugging her. Dr. Katz, who kissed her and then literally got engaged to escape her, is now hugging her. She knew she froze, and of course, Sydney didn't let it go.
"You don't think I'm going to kiss you again, do you?"
"Are you?" Maggie couldn't tell if she wanted her to kiss her again or if she wanted to yell at her for making her feel all bunched up and confused and slightly turned on on an already shitty day.
"Goodnight, Dr. Lin." Sydney said with a look like she definitely wanted to kiss her again.
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The way Sydney looked at Maggie, after Neshama told her wife about Sydney, was all the confirmation Maggie needed. Of course Neshama told the whole story, but with just that sentence (It was Sydney Katz who told my mother), Maggie already knew what the story was.
Sydney was hard on her because she liked her too. Maggie got it. She understood. She felt defensive of Syd, which was ridiculous given the circumstances, but she did. Neshama went through hell, but she made it through to the other side. Didn't she see that Sydney was still in that hell? Maggie's eyes were soft for Sydney for the rest of the night. Every splinter of pain Neshama caused Sydney tore through Maggie too.
Sydney told her she was out of her depth. And maybe she was. When Maggie said, "Neshama's happy, do you get that?" She hoped Sydney heard what she meant. You could be happy too. With a woman. With me.
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Maggie felt the soft fabric land by her head. Her eyes were closed but she wasn't asleep yet. When she turned her head and opened her eyes she saw the surgical cap. It was a bold move. It was so her. Maggie's heart leapt up in anticipation, followed quickly by her body, aching down to her fingertips, as she stood up to look at Sydney Katz.
"I like girls." She looked defiantly at Maggie. Syd was finally giving it up, but she wasn't letting go of her pride. "There. I said it."
Maggie decided then that she was going to reward her bravery. She was going to reward her all night for it.
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"What was that, uh, that thing you did before?" Maggie blinked innocently down at the splash of red hair resting on her chest. She felt Syd's small smile against her skin, but she didn't respond.
"Oh what, so now you're shy?" Maggie teased.
Sydney lifted a heavy head and opened one eye at her, then squinted it in annoyance. "Be an adult, Maggie."
"Oh, I have been very adult. X rated, even." She drawled out as Sydney tried to move off of her, probably in an attempt to make a run for it. Maggie entwined every available limb around her to keep her still.
"You're not getting away so fast." She lifted Sydney's arm and read her watch. "Since you don't want to talk, we have exactly one hour and twenty-five minutes for you to show me instead."
Sydney pulled herself up so her face was hovering over Maggie's. The want in her eyes was powerful, and Maggie swallowed hard. "Okay, Dr. Lin, you're on." And just like that her soft, hot mouth was licking into Maggie's, and her hips began their slow, warm rhythm against her body.
Maggie's last coherent thought was that she could get used to this. After that, Maggie didn't think of anything other than yes, and more, and there, right there, and Sydney, Sydney, Sydney fucking Katz.
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