Time Warp: Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday

[Tsukiko Aoki]

May 21st 2005

---

It was her birthday, and yet here she was at the hospital. Fortunately her shift was nearing it's end, and she had asked one cutie pie Roman Tilford to have dinner with her after. A late dinner, which meant they would probably be stopping by Bessie's; not a lot was open at ten at night.

Once her switch had shifted she made her way to Rome's office, knocking gently on the door to announce her presence. "Knock, knock. You ready to eat?"

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

Roman hadn't expected the invite for dinner, but once it had come he'd been glad to accept. She was very sweet, and very pretty, so what reason would he possibly have in turning her down? Zero reasons, that was what.

He'd had a long day, including a grueling session with one of his more difficult patients that hadn't ended on a particularly good note. He'd already made a note for one of his nurses to follow up with them tomorrow. Until then, he couldn't do much.

He was just finishing up a few notes in his files when the knock came. Looking up, he grinned at the sight of Kiko. "Yeah, I am. Just give me a second." After signing off on his notes, he shut down his computer and grabbed his jacket. "How was your day?"

[Tsukiko Aoki]

"My mom called me on my break to say Happy Birthday. She's all disappointed I didn't have off tonight."

Kiko headed out the door and down the hallway, holding out a hand to her friend. She hoped he would notice, but there was a fair chance he wouldn't. Rome was oblivious at times.

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

Right! She had mentioned her birthday earlier. Shoot. He should have run out during his almost non-existent break to get her a card or something. Well, maybe he'd let him pay for dinner, or something. "Well, happy birthday! And you may not have been off, but you were making a difference for the kids on your floor. That's pretty great if you ask me."

And no, he didn't notice the hand. He was captain oblivious when it came to women.

[Tsukiko Aoki]

As expected Rome failed to notice her hand, and so Kiko sighed and placed it in her jacket pocket.

"That's what I told her! But you know how parents are. At least I have someone to celebrate with me." She nudged him in the side playfully at that.

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

Sadly, for Roman to notice anything when it came to women, he just about had to be beaten about the head with it. If by some miracle he did notice, he turned into a stuttering, flushed mess.

"Yep, you've got me." Grinning, he nudged her back lightly. "Where to?"

[Tsukiko Aoki]

"I was thinking Bessie's," Kiko admitted, "But only because I know they'll be open."

It was late enough that she worried about arriving at other places right as they were closing for the night, and while some restaurants would certainly let them in she didn't think that was very fair to the staff.

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

"Ahh, Bessie's. I wonder if they ever get sick of the hospital staff going over there at ungodly hours." He'd been there before very late at night, or very early in the morning, depending on how you looked at it. Most of their coworkers probably had at one time or another.

"So, any big plans for your birthday apart from working? Your sisters are around, aren't they?" He remembered her mentioning sisters before. Maybe she had plans with at least one of them.

[Tsukiko Aoki]

"No way! If we don't go over there then what? They'll be making what, two dollars an hour and no tips?"

Truthfully Kiko didn't know if Bessie's paid minimum wage or participated in depressing server wages on the grounds they would make it up in tips. Either way she was fairly certain that a slow night for a waitress could mean bills not paid.

At the question about plans she shook her head and pushed open the door leading into the parking lot. Her car was parked at the very end, far away to allow patients better access.

"Nope! Hinata's out in California now, and Hoshi's visiting our grandparents."

All the way out in Okinawa. Kiko had never traveled to her parent's home country before, and she was a bit jealous. But on the other hand, she didn't know when she would have the time.

Maybe one day.

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

"True! They'd be lost without us, clearly. We'd better help them out as much as we can tonight. Dinner and dessert!" Because who didn't have dessert on their birthday? Seriously. It was a rule.

He followed her through the parking lot, enjoying the weather. It may have been late, but it was still nice out. "That's too bad. ... Then again, I'd probably pay to have Cassidy not show up for my birthday." Kiko was probably used to his gentle jibes against his eldest sister. The days she chose to use him as her personal therapist for trivial and often headache inducing things were often the ones he had the most to say about her. Why couldn't she be normal, like Jillian? His middle sister was a joy.

"Maybe you can do something when Hoshi comes back? And in the meantime, I'm happy to fill in." Kiko was pretty. And nice. And easy to talk to. She was the kind of girl his mother would chase after him to date. If he didn't trip over his own words or act like Captain Awkward around her, that was.

[Tsukiko Aoki]

"Now you're in the spirit!" Kiko laughed as she headed for her car. "You follow me over there? Or do you want to drive together and I'll drop you back off here on the way home?"

She thought it might be easier for both of them if they took separate cars, simply because they had to go back to their own homes afterwards. She would enjoy the opportunity to chat while driving, but they would have dinner and dessert all to themselves.

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

"Yeah, I can follow you over. Then we don't have to make a trip back." He also tended to park in the back to spare the front stalls for patient and visitor parking. This plan would also spare Kiko from seeing his toy Pikachu taped to the dashboard. Not that he was ashamed of it. He had little Pokemon plushes and toys all over his office.

For the kids, of course.

Not for him.

Really.

Once they both arrived, as they headed in he looked down at Kiko and smiled. "Can I at least buy you dinner? You can't buy your own birthday dinner. It's a rule." And because his mother would probably kill him if he didn't at least offer.

[Tsukiko Aoki]

Kiko beamed up at Rome. Was this the moment that he began to reciprocate her feelings instead of flailing about obliviously? Or, more likely, he was merely being polite.

That didn't matter. She was going to take what she could get.

"Oh, that's so thoughtful of you!" She cooed, giving her best flirtatious face at him. "Are you sure?"

[Dr. Roman Tilford]

Sadly, much like not noticing Kiko's hand earlier, he didn't clue into her flirting. If he had, he would have turned into a ridiculous mess of tripping over his words.

"Of course I'm sure," he promised. He was also trying to think of what might suffice as a good birthday present for a female friend. Perhaps he'd ask Jilly. She always had the best advice. "Anything you want, it's on me."

[Tsukiko Aoki]

Kiko huffed out a sigh as she followed Rome into the diner and towards a booth over by the window.

"All right, thank you."

Why did he have to be so oblivious!? Did he even notice her flirting? What if he did notice and was trying to politely ignore her?

That was a depressing thought.

She slipped into the booth and gave the menu only a quick glance before setting it to the side of the table.

"I think I'm going to have the egg salad sandwich. Maybe some mozzarella sticks for an appetizer, what do you think?"