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The thought was tempting, to write the whole situation off as some kind of trauma-induced fever dream. This wasn’t how Danny would have wanted to initiate his brother into his new world—with pain and anger and bloodshed. But it was too late for anything else. “No such luck, I’m afraid.” He tried to keep his voice light.

Gabe studied Danny’s face. Danny wasn’t sure what his brother was looking for this time, but after a full minute of silence, Gabe sighed and said, “I canmaybegive him a chance. For you. One chance.”

Danny couldn’t have contained his grin even if he tried. “How gracious of you.”

“Mmph. Doesn’t it—doesn’t it gross you out though?”

“What?” Was his brother about to say something rude about gay sex? No, Danny knew for a fact Gabe had hooked up with more than one guy in the past.

“The whole drinking blood thing.”

Oh, right. That thing.

“No. I mean, it doesn’t hurt. They have this thing where they can make it feel really good actually, but—” Danny broke off when he saw the horrified look on Gabe’s face. “Oh. Shit. You just meant, like, in general, didn’t you?”

Gabe’s face was turning an interesting shade of red. That kind of stress couldn’t be good for healing. “You let himdrinkyou? Yourblood?”

Danny knew he shouldn’t laugh, it was definitely not the time, but he just couldn’t help it. “You really shouldn’t get worked up in your condition. Your body needs to heal.”

“That bastard!” Gabe shouted. It seemed they were back to yelling.

“Gabe,” Danny placated, stifling his laughter. “Iaskedhim to do it. I wanted to know how it feels. Blame my overcurious mind. And no, it doesn’t gross me out. We see blood all the time. If I didn’t have a strong stomach, I wouldn’t be an ER nurse.”

“There’s a difference between seeing blood and drinking it, Danny.” Gabe still looked horrified, but the volume of his voice dropped, at least. “You’re being awfully blasé about this.”

“Who’s drinking blasé blood now?” A familiar feminine voice came from the doorway, and both brothers turned their heads to face the new guest.

“Chloe!” Danny was so happy to see his friend. He knew it hadn’t been that long in reality, but with everything going on, it felt like it had been forever.

“Sorry to interrupt. Came by to see my favorite ICU doc. Heard you’d been in a fight. I didn’t expect to walk in on such an…interesting…topic of conversation.” She raised an eyebrow at Danny.

He grinned back at her. He figured she couldn’t have heard much or she wouldn’t be acting nearly so casual. “Oh, we were just discussing different fetish communities. Gabe’s thinking of branching out.”

Gabe glared at him, while Chloe gave a delighted laugh. “Dr. Kingman, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“I hate you both,” Gabe muttered, an impressive scowl on his face.

Chloe waltzed further into the room, raised a tinfoil-wrapped bundle, and shook it at him. “Even if I brought you homemade banana bread?”

Gabe’s glower dropped immediately, and he reached out with his uninjured arm, making a “gimme” hand. Danny couldn’t blame him. Chloe’s husband was an amazing baker. All the staff lived for the days she brought in treats from him. She shook the bundle again at Gabe, keeping it just out of his reach. “Now, now. What do you say?”

“I hate you…less…” It sounded like even that much pained Gabe to say.

“There’re those magic words.” She handed the baked goods over to Gabe, who graciously allowed Danny to have a piece in exchange for unwrapping the bundle.

“Mm,” Danny hummed around his bite. “Heaven.”

Chloe looked pleased. “I’ll tell Marcus you said so.”

The three of them spent the next half hour chatting about various hospital gossip, but when Gabe began yawning atrociously, Chloe and Danny left him in peace to get coffee from the cafeteria before their shift started.

Danny hugged his brother goodbye, taking extra care not to bump his injured arm. “Text me when you’re officially discharged. I’ll come get you. No arguments!” He pulled Chloe out the door before Gabe could voice any more objections.

They grabbed their coffees—Chloe choosing, as usual, to put way more milk than should be legally allowed in hers—and found their favorite cafeteria booth empty.

“Danny, Danny, Danny.” Chloe started tutting at him as soon as they sat down.

Danny froze with his coffee to his lips, racking his brain for any offenses. “What?”

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