"It’s under ‘Cate’," she said, setting the food on the end of the bed.  Spencer smiled.  "Yes, I see that.  I was just seeing if anyone else had made it in.  Thought maybe you’d get ambitious.  Guess not."  She flipped the phone closed and tossed it back in Ashley’s bag, pulling out "Lucky Number Slevin" which was tonight’s flick.  "Ooooh, action!  So, was it hard?"

Ashley shook her head.  "Not really.  I looked like a stammering idiot –."

"Not surprising."

"Shut up.  But, it worked out.  And we just talked."

"About me?"  Spencer dumped the rice into a bowl Ashley had pulled out from the side table, and was pouring water in.

"Yeah…and she wants to meet you."  Spencer stopped stirring and looked up.  Her face fell, but she tried to recover with a smile.  Ashley’s stomach twisted.  "But you don’t have to –."

"I want to."

"Spencer…"

"No, I want to.  I just…I thought I’d be dead before you got a new girlfriend."  Spencer went back to stirring the rice and water, trying to laugh it off.  The knot in Ashley’s stomach got tighter.

"She’s not my girlfriend.  We haven’t even talked about a date yet.  She wants to meet you and we haven’t even gone to a movie together."  Ashley then realized how weird that was.  Of course, this whole relationship was just weird.

"Well, maybe she wants to meet me before I die."  Spencer handed the bowl to Ashley and looked at her with sad eyes she was trying to hide with her smile.  Ashley hung her head and walked down the hall to the Staff Lounge to nuke the rice.

Rodney was in the lounge, stretched out on the couch, obviously on his break while the patients ate their dinners.  Ashley patted him on his head as she passed him on the way to the microwave.  "Mexican night, Rodney.  You should have warned me."  After punching the buttons, she turned around to go back down to Spencer’s room, and she noticed he was standing a few feet behind her.  He looked at her, a small frail man who couldn’t speak but could say everything with his eyes and his hands.  He held out his arms, waving his fingers towards her, saying, "C’mere kiddo."  She dropped her head, and stepped into his embrace, her tears coming slowly but steadily.  She hugged his waist as he put an arm around her back, and cradled her head with the other.  He slowly rocked them back and forth.