State of Grace | a sapphic medical drama

Chapter Twenty-Five

Art's POV heheyy

enjoy!!

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When Artemis walked into Dirty Charlie's behind Kat and Evan, she wasn't expecting to find Charlie there with Bianca Gavin, that insufferable, second-guessing, clearly jealous ex of hers.

She was on the phone with Flynn, trying to figure out the rest of their schedule for the week and who was going to pick Noah up from school the next day, when she saw Kat waving at Charlie. Artemis lifted her hand to wave as well, but then she saw Bianca and her mood instantly soured. She slid into the booth next to her sister, trying to listen to what Flynn was saying on the phone.

"I'm gonna drop him off at school in the morning, but I'm covering the ER all day tomorrow. I can't pick him up at three."

Artemis groaned. "I can't either! I have a surgery. What about your mom?"

"Still in Nevada," Flynn responded. "I can ask my sister, Liv."

"What's the surgery?" Penny asked, listening in on her conversation.

"It's just an aneurysm," Artemis replied.

"Can't Penny do it?" Flynn asked over the phone.

"I can do it," Penny told her with a shrug. "I don't have anything all afternoon. Or I can pick Noah up from school."

Artemis thought about both scenarios and decided she would much rather spend the afternoon with her kid. "Could you actually do the procedure?"

"Oh, sure. If the patient dies, though, I'm signing all the paperwork with your name," Penny replied jokingly.

"Have you done that before...?" Artemis asked.

Penny laughed and said, "Of course not!"

And though Artemis would very much like to believe that her sister would never do anything illegal like that, she was now starting to think maybe she'd already done that before.

"Never mind, it's fine. I've got Noah. I'll pick him up from school tomorrow," Artemis told Flynn. "Can you put him on? I want to say goodnight. I got the picture, I just... Wanna hear his voice."

"Yeah, sure. He's in bed already, let me check if he's still up!"

"Thanks, Flynn."

While she waited for him to make his way upstairs to their son's room, Artemis glanced across the room towards the bar. Charlie was laughing at something Bianca had said. She had an infectious laugh, especially when she giggled at something she found especially hilarious, but Artemis caught herself glaring at Bianca. Was she actually that funny?

"Hey, Art, I'm sorry, he's already asleep," Flynn whispered. "I'll call you in the morning, though. I'm sure he'll have a lot to say at breakfast."

"It's okay. Thanks, anyway, Flynn. I'll see you tomorrow," She replied before ending the call.

She dropped the phone on the table a little too hard.

"What's up with you?" Evan asked, his hand raised in the air to try and get a waiter's attention, but it was pretty busy for a Monday evening. It took a while before someone came their way.

"Nothing," Artemis muttered and gave the waiter who stopped next to them a nod. "I'll have a vodka soda." She felt bad after a second for sounding so snappy, so she added a little, "thank you."

"I'll just have a beer," Kat said, smiling up at the kid.

"Two, please," Evan added.

"Can we get refills over here?" Dean asked, pointing at his and Penny's empty cups.