my sun will just send you to war [jelly]

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Still fuming from the fight, Joshua had the strong urge to challenge the man further on his decision. He barely heard Nell as she cautioned him. It was stupid. All he'd done was stick up for his wife and he had to deal with a lifelong ban from the casino? There would be no more visiting Nell during her break or picking her up after work if he wanted company, at least not unless he wanted to wait outside in the car. He hated doing that, it made him feel like a misbehaved child. He was not a child. Her boss didn't seem nearly as temperamental as the Fire, responding with a cool professionalism. Though it did not calm Joshua's ire, it certainly stopped him from taking things any further. Glowering, he kept his mouth shut and shook his head as the man turned to head back inside. Hate him. Fucking hate him.

A fierce scowl fixed to his face, he agreed, "No, it wasn't." He didn't consider himself to be in the wrong. All right, so perhaps he should have taken things outside before drawing the attention of the whole casino, or else let the guy know that it was Joshua's wife that he was bad-mouthing, but it wasn't like he'd been drunk off his ass. Arnie could barely coordinate himself enough to flip the couple off properly as he stumbled away and yet Josh was the bad guy? He almost forgot Nell's punishment in all this until he remembered that her boss wouldn't be too pleased with her, either. "I... wouldn't say anything," he cautioned reluctantly. "At least let it blow over first. I don't want to get you in any more trouble." Far as he was concerned, this guy was a douche. Who knew what he'd do about Nell if she questioned his decision? It was possible that her boss was a nice guy to well-behaved patrons and employees whose husbands didn't cause a scene but he was biased and thus that bias would stick. He raised his brows. "Yeah, right." As she'd assumed, he wasn't going to put money on Nate forgetting about any of this.

By the time they'd reached the ER and sat down to wait, the ire had worn off for the most part to be replaced with a drained feeling, like he'd been working hard all day. First Jasmine, now this? He cast a guilty glance at his wife, realising he hadn't apologised about earlier. "Sorry about earlier, babe." He squeezed her shoulder and ran his thumb over it a couple times before dropping his hand. He wouldn't bother with a whole spiel about how he knew that he was in the wrong, that he wouldn't do it again. Of course he understood that what he'd done wasn't all right but that didn't change the fact that it happened. It also didn't change the fact that it could happen again if he ran into McDrunk or another asshole with a big mouth. His lip twitched as she held up the magazine. "Guess we'd better get comfortable, we'll be here a few hours." Being that it wasn't an incredibly large city, the wait times weren't horrendous, but as with any hospital, they were still quite long.

[NELL DOE DALE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #77a090; padding:10px; border: 5px solid #95363a;] see my sun will just send you to war IF THE BATTLE DON'T KILL YOU It was almost comical to have Josh going from enraged at her boss to "maybe you shouldn't." Her smile was genial and wide on her face. His concern was sweet, but she didn't really feel worried. She liked the man, as he was one of the better bosses she ever had. After Jane, any kind of boss was better. "It's all right, he's a civil man." She couldn't imagine Nate deciding to fire her just because she wanted to talk with him. He wasn't that kind of guy. Her husband didn't know this, so she wasn't surprised when he reacted with dubiousness to the possibility of it blowing over. It made a soft smile tug at her lips, though she still felt the twisting of worry at her gut in regards to Josh's condition. And also a hint of worry considering that Arnie decided to drive home. This was nothing short of a mess, but it was easy to keep her spirits up about it. Her pride was in tact in terms of lowered pay, she didn't mind that happening, and her husband didn't get the worst of it. Optimism shined easily through the cracks. Truth be told, she would have liked them to get special privileges since Josh's father practically ran the place. However, she didn't want to be one of those people who constantly griped about not being treated specially. She sent another smile her husband's way when she felt his hand on her shoulder, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek as reassurance. "It's all right," she told him, her voice free of any bitterness and contempt. It was easy considering she didn't feel any ill will toward him because of what he'd done. He'd been upset and he was defending her. She understood her husband well enough to understand how his behaviors usually went. However, even so, he still always managed to surprise her. She didn't want to ever get used to him like that. Nell pulled the pen out of the purse by her feet, clicking it open as Josh said they might as well get comfortable. "Play a game with me," she offered, holding up the magazine with its comics and mazes and "find a difference puzzles. Everything was more fun with him involved, after all, and she didn't want him to be bored out of his mind either. She knew that he wouldn't be too much of an adult not to want to play with little kids books.