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The next month of work continued this way: Zack would do his best to ignore Derrick, and Derrick would perform the daily tasks of bringing Zack orange juice and fixing his printer for him. Nothing seemed to break through the ice though. Zack still hated gays -- and especially Derrick -- to the very marrow of his bones, and Derrick could see it in the red dragon's glaring eyes every time his gaze happened to meet Zack's. In all honesty, Derrick felt sorry for Zack, because Zack was shutting himself up in a very lonely, self-centered world. There wasn't anything he could do but be friendly, though, so that is what he did. Zack refused to do anything but hate and ignore the existence of Derrick, and so that is what _he_ did.

One particular evening Zack had gotten done a little later than usual, so on his way home he was stuck in rush hour traffic with pouring rain, which was very unusual for San Diego. He was supposed to meet his brother for dinner that evening as a special treat, but from the looks of the streets, it wouldn't be happening any time soon. He saw the flash of police lights and a tow truck about a half-mile up the road and guessed there had been an accident. He pulled out his cell-phone and dialed his brother, holding it to his ear for a few moments.

"Drat, voicemail." he complained, snapping the mobile shut on his leg. The cars moved along slowly as the police routed the stream of cars around the wreck. Everyone was rubbernecking trying to see what had happened, and this made Zack even more upset. Finally he got past the collision, but as he looked into his rear view mirror he slammed on the brakes causing the horn-blaring line of vehicles behind him to screech to a halt... He jumped out of his car and ran over to the wreck again, staring in disbelief: it was his brother's car. A policeman walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sir, I have to ask you to either move on or pull off the road. Your ca-"

"Officer! Have the ambulances come yet?"

"Yeah, they came by here about fifteen minutes ago-"

"Was everyone alright? Was anything wrong?"

"Why? You kno-"

"The driver of the red car was my brother. Please, how is he?"

"Both the victims were pretty bad."

"Thanks, I'll get my car. I'm sorry for stopping the traffic -- I'm on my way."

******

A little while later Zack raced into the emergency room, panting and nearly in tears. He jogged up to an attendant's desk to leaned on it for a few moments before talking.

"Is a Jesse Whitstone here? T-They brought him here . . . . just a l-little bit ago from a car accident."

The nurse at the counter typed in the name and looked up at him. "Sir, he's been taken into emergency surgery. You can go to the waiting room of the surgery floor if you would like."

"Yes! Yes, r-right away please."

Another nurse came up to him and motioned for him to follow her. After a series of hallways, elevators, and staircases, they finally came to a large waiting room. Nearly all of the seats were full except for two. Zack started for one of them but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who was sitting in the next seat over: it was Derrick. The black drake was cradling his head in his hands, not looking up from the floor even for a moment. A nurse tapped Zack on the shoulder.

"Sir, would you please sit down? We use this doorway to transport patients and we can't have anyone standing in the middle of the room."

"Oh . . .yes, of course." Zack answered, turning towards the other free seat just as someone sat down in it. He grunted out a curse and forced himself to walk over and sit in the chair next to Derrick. As he sat down Derrick looked up, a similar shock tainting his own complexion.

"W-why are you here?" He asked timidly.

"What's it to you fag? My brother was in an accident, leave me alone."

For a moment Derrick looked back at the floor silently, then began to talk again, quietly as before, but not so timidly.

"It's a coincidence your brother was in an accident. My mother was supposed to visit me tonight, but I got a call telling me that she had been sided when another car skid."

Zack became angry at this point and grabbed Derrick's arm.

"Listen, I don't care about your f-!" He stopped himself and brought his voice down to a whisper as he saw people staring at him. "I don't care about your mother. I don't care what kinda coffee you drank this morning, I don't care what things you and Chris do in the night, and I don't care about anything you have to say! So just shut up and keep to yourself!"

This time Derrick remained silent. He just sat there staring at the floor, occasionally breaking his stance by rocking on his heels. Zack, despite his annoyance with Derrick, went back to focusing on his brother and neared the point of chewing his nails. Minutes ticked by, then an hour, then two hours. His head jerked up every time a person walked through the door, only to be disappointed as he or she headed in a different direction. At long last a portly beaver in a lab coat walked through the doors and headed over to the two. He looked at his clipboard and then up at Derrick.

"Mr. Deumont?"

"Yes?" Derrick replied, looking up at the doctor.

"I . . . your mother didn't make it through the surgery. Her injuries were just too severe. We tried every possible recourse. I'm very sorry."

For a few seconds nothing was said. Derrick simply resumed his gaze at the floor, but finally he whispered out "It's all right". The doctor hesitated, trying to find something comforting to say, but after a few moments of unsuccessful searching merely bid Derrick a good night and suggested he go home and get sleep. With that he left the way he had come and left Derrick to his thoughts and Zack. Though Derrick's face was solemn and mostly expressionless, Zack could see the pain in his eyes and could not help but feel a little sorry for him. He was thinking about the situation when a dolphin walked up to him and introduced himself.

"Mr. Whitstone I presume? I'm Dr. Casidy. We caught your brother just in time. He's suffered several very bad injuries, but apart from some scarring I think he will be back to himself. He'll need therapy of course, but he is a very fortunate patient."

"Oh, thank you so much! Can I see him?"

"Not right now. I'm afraid visitors will have to wait for a while before he has recovered enough. I suggest you go home and get some rest. I'm sure this has been a very tiring day for you."

Zack nodded and stood up, shaking the doctor's hand.

"Thank you doctor, I appreciate it very much. Thank you so very much."

Dr. Casidy smiled and nodded.

"Certainly, it's my job. Now, I have some duties to attend to, so I wish you a good night."

"Thanks, and you too!" Zack called as the doctor walked away. He sighed and picked up his coat, then headed for the exit. On his way out, though, he looked back at Derrick. He was still gazing at the floor, his face unchanged. Zack shook his head and walked out.

The next day, as much as he despised the dragon, Zack could not shake the image of Derrick's predicament out of his head. In fact, that image remained ingrained in his mind for the next several months. For the most part, Zack continued to give Derrick the silent treatment, remaining cold and unfeeling towards him. Nevertheless, there were times when he looked into the other dragon's eyes and saw nothing but pain. That pain started to haunt Zack and his gays-want-nothing-but-sex mentality. His brother was now recuperated and back in his own work, but Derrick had lost someone, and in a very rough way. As the days went by Derrick seemed to become slower and slower. The Wednesday nights he broadcasted, he had lost his spunk and liveliness. All of this had planted a little guilt into Zack's heart, as inflexible as he was, and finally he decided to try and make up for his lack of understanding during the death of Derrick's mother. Now, Zack wasn't much of an apologizer, but he had an idea of what to do.

Derrick tapped on the keyboard keys as the music for the current track played over the air. That was pretty much his job during this shift: play music, make comments on it in between, and keep the audience of night-owls entertained. The loneliness was driving him nuts, and his stomach was growling as usual. There was no one else in the building during his shift, so everything was dark except for the monitor, making the loneliness seem to close in about him all the more. That coupled with the grief of losing his only living family member made the room a torture chamber of silence. This particular piece of music wouldn't end for ten minutes . . ten minutes he had to think about how lonely he was, and how his stomach was empty. He could really go for a couple of McDonald's quarter-pounders with cheese, with extra pickles. He groaned a little at the thought; the image was so real in his mind he could smell them.

"Hey."

Derrick screamed and jumped out of the chair, losing his balance in the process and landing in a heap against the cubicle wall. He spotted Zack's form standing in the doorway and threw his head against the side in self-disgust. This was worse than being alone. He pulled himself up and sat in the chair, still trying to calm his heart rate down.

"I'd appreciate it if you gave me a bit more warning." Derrick grumbled. He heaved sighed and rested his elbows on the desk, leaning his face into his hands. "What do you want, Zack?"

Zack walked in and pulled his own chair up to sit in, and pulled three McDonald's bags from outside the door. He tossed one to Derrick and dumped french fries out of the second, keeping the third for himself.

"I got hungry for a midnight snack . . . I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I bought a bit too much, so I could use some help eating it."

Derrick gave Zack a disbelieving look and nearly tore open the bag. Sure enough, there were three quarter-pounders with cheese. The black dragon looked up at Zack again, who was already starting on his own bag.

"Zack, why are you doing this? I-I can't believe this! I've got to be dreaming . . ."

"Well," Zack responded, swallowing a mouthful, "I don't see what's so dreamy about McDonald's, but whatever floats your boat."

"You know that's not what I meant." Derrick retorted. "Why are you being nice all of a sudden? I haven't won a lottery, I'm not getting a raise, I'm not your competition for a promotion, and I KNOW it's not because you like me."

"Your burger is getting cold."

"I can't believe it! This is like Scrooge after he's seen the three ghosts or something!"

"Four, actually, if you count Marley."

Derrick glared at Zack for a moment for lack of knowing what else to do, then sighed and gave into the delicious fragrance filling his nose from the burger. He chewed on it, and before he knew it, that one was gone, so he started on the next one, but that one he finished too. He ate the third one and began munching on the french fries. Finally he was beginning to feel full. Zack was still slowly eating his cheeseburger, working on his second and seemed perfectly content to devote his entire attention to it. Derrick leaned forward and scrutinized the red dragon's face. There was no joke in it, though there wasn't any particular show of kindness to it either. He couldn't help but be baffled by this sudden turn-around in character, if it could be called that.

"So . . . how is your brother doing?" Derrick asked, still trying to detect any indication of fraud.

"He's doing fine. Jesse is back on his job in New York, earning money and doing everything he normally does. Do you have any siblings?"

"N . . . no, I don't. I was an only child. My dad passed away a while ago, so I don't really have any family now." Derrick responded, beginning to feel a little safer. Just then the song on the playlist for that night ended and Derrick had to close up shop.

"Well folks, it's been a great night with you all, and I look forward to spending some time with you next Wednesday night with 'A Little Night Music' on KPNN. Have a good evening!"

Zack gave a little surprised look.

"That's it? Your shift is up?"

"Well, it is five in the morning you know. Apparently your "midnight snack" came a little late." Derrick answered with a grin. "In any case, thanks. I really needed the food and the company."

"I should be heading home. I need to get some sleep if I can." Zack said, standing up and stretching. He grabbed the discarded paper bags and shoved them into the trash can. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Good night."

"You too Zack."

Derrick stayed behind a little after Zack had left, shutting down the equipment and computer. He was still puzzled by Zack, but had determined that if it was going to bug him, at least it would be bugging him pleasantly. Maybe Zack was finally coming around. He picked up his briefcase and headed downstairs, shutting out the hall lights as he went. As he neared the front entrance, however, he heard the sound of a choking engine.

"Uh oh." He thought. He walked outside to find Zack struggling angrily with his old truck. Derrick walked over to the junky old vehicle and opened the driver's side door.

"Need a lift? We can have it taken care of tomorrow. Meanwhile I can get you home to call a tow or something."

Zack thought through the offer for a moment, then nodded.

"Sure, thanks. This just isn't my night."

"That's alright. Hop in." Derrick said, unlocking his own car and jumping into the driver's seat. Zack eased into the passenger's side and buckled in.

"Thanks again, it's nice of you."

"It was nice of you to bring me dinner, so I figure we're even." Derrick grinned. "Where's your place anyway?"

"Oh, just turn right out of the parking lot and follow the road down a ways. I live in an apartment building on the right . . . Derrick, I'm not good at apologies . . . but when your mom died, I was wrong in how I treated you. It's been bothering me a lot, so I wanted to get it settled."

Derrick's face grew solemn and he let out a heavy sigh. "So, the McDonald's was a peace offering, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess it was. I'll keep my opinions to myself from now on, and I'll try not to be so cold . . ." Zack noticed that Derrick didn't respond, but instead just kept that same solemn face. "That is what you wanted, right?"

Derrick shook his head.

"Not really, Zack, no. I mean, yeah, it'd be great if you were nicer, because frankly all the time you're just being a . . . well, I don't know how to say it graciously. What I really want though, is for you to lose that silly bias of yours. You don't have to be gay for heaven's sakes. I couldn't care less what you are; that's up to you. What bothers me is that you act as though anyone who's any different from your opinion on the matter is no better than an animal to be kicked and chided. We have feelings too you know, and they can be easily hurt . . . Now, I know what you're trying to do, and I accept your apology. You're forgiven. But please, for your own sake try and understand us a little better."

For several long moments Zack didn't say a word. He had always been against gays. They seemed just so . . . so unnatural, and he had never let himself see them any other way. Yet here he was talking to one, and the more he talked, the more he realized how wrong he had been. They weren't unnatural, they weren't even that different, they were just . . . them.

". . . you're right, Derrick . . . I'm sorry . . I'm still not used to stuff like this, but you're right, and I've been wrong. I guess I had a little more to apologize for than just dissing your mom." Zack hung his head after saying this and gazed at the dashboard. Derrick reached over and patted his shoulder.

"It's alright Zack. We all have our stubborn points. I'm just glad we can be friends now instead."

Zack heaved a slightly disgruntled sigh and shook his head. "Don't mention it." By this time, they had reached the apartment and Derrick pulled his car over to the curb. Still subdued by the conversation, Zack did little more than hop out and exchange goodbyes before turning and heading to the green double doors of his apartment building. Within a matter of minutes he was up in his warm bed, trying to drift off, but something was nagging his mind.