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#patients in the entire hospital- when they need to go to the damn ICU.
dhampir-dyke · 1 year
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haha..... I'm a hea lthcare h.....her o..... *starts sobbing*
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kamyru · 1 year
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The blood on my hands scares me to death (Toshiki Kasumi, Munechika Takado & Sentaro Kyogoku) (Shorts)
This is for @voltagefandomproject
TW: Mention of death, losing patients and suicide
Toshiki Kasumi
Words counting: 300
Dr. Kasumi closed the door of his office and put away his jacket. He wanted to relax but couldn't. So, he walked in circles in his office, trying to be as discrete as possible and not make enough noise to be heard by his colleagues from ICU. He sat on his seat, then stood up the next second. Dr. Kasumi didn't remember checking if he closed to door with the key. He had to go and do it.
The moment the cardiologist's hands touched the knob, he froze. The metal didn't feel cold. It was warm, nearly as warm as a living human. No, no, no! Toshiki Kasumi couldn't stand it. Minutes ago, he met his best friend's parents at his grave. "If it's not the Angel of Death," they said to him. Kasumi couldn't see it, but he could feel it: the blood on his hands. He had to do something about it. Where was the sink? WHERE WAS THE DAMN SINK?
The head of EICU tried to open the door, but it was locked. The beautiful man nearly broke down the door while trying to escape his asphyxiating room. He could swear that the blood of his dead patients hit his face but couldn't do anything about it when his hands were dirty.
"It's today," Dr. Takado whispered when he saw his boss rushing from his office to the bathroom in the on-call room. He froze with his eyes on the door. His lips got as thin as a needle. One, two, five, ten minutes passed, and Dr. Kasumi returned. The orthopedist's eyes traveled from his face to his hands. They were red and with a rash. The same happened the last year and the year before the last. And would probably happen the next one too.
Munechika Takado
Words counting: 370
Dr. Takado opened his eyes and threw aside the blanket he messily put over himself two hours ago. Why did he go home when his entire life was in the hospital? He didn't do enough yet again. Where did he leave his car keys? At least he was smart enough not to get in his home clothes. Dr. Takado didn't have a home. He had no right to own one after all he did. His money was made out of blood, flesh, and tears. He didn't have the right to use them.
The head of the EICU let out a sigh when he heard the door of the headquarters opening and closing loudly, followed by heavy steps. He didn't need to leave his office to know that the doctor who had left less than three hours ago was back. However, he stopped writing when he heard a barely audible mumble from the other room. When he got closer to the door, the words became clear enough to be understood.
"Where did I put the patient's file."
After another minute, Takado planted himself in one of the multitudes of empty seats, surrounded by textbooks, papers from the file, and a running computer. He had to know if there was a way to save the patient's diabetic foot attacked by gangrene. What if, a few hours before the surgery, someone discovered a way to save them? What if he missed a "Nota Bene" from his textbooks that said the recovery without the amputation was higher than he had thought?
But no, it was just like Dr. Takado knew. The amputation was imminent. He left the office and walked away while looking at his hands. The orthopedist was thought to be one of the best in Japan, and even in the world. However, the number of limbs he cut off was too high to make him proud. Why his bloody hands were still on their places while kids had to learn to walk with no legs?
"The safety nets on the roof aren't put there only for the patients," Dr. Ekuni wrote on his board, covered his face with his arm, and tried to get enough sleep for both him and Dr. Takado.
Sentaro Kyogoku
Words counting: 271
CPR on kids is made with only one hand pressed in the middle of their chest. The frequency of the compresses has to be around 100-120 and their depth between 4-5 cm.
Dr. Sen was used to performing CPR so much that he could last around ten minutes without being replaced by someone else. He was more than sure that he could last twice that time. Though, he couldn't confirm it, being surrounded by empathetic and well-taught colleagues.
But there was one thing about CPR Dr. Sentaro Kyogoku couldn't get used to - stopping it for declaring the moment of death.
It was ten minutes since the pediatrician fell on his knees in front of the child he had tried his best to save from cancer for more than a year. Ten minutes since he tried to convince the God he didn't believe in, to give their soul back. Dr. Sen failed this time, like many others. He wouldn't hear the kid complaining about chest pain in the morning. However, he would hear the sound of their ribs contracting while trying to fall asleep for two hours.
People had told Sentaro Kyogoku that he looked like an angel, and unlike Kasumi, they didn't add "of death" afterward. But of what use were their words if he couldn't save every child in the world from suffering? Of what use was his face when he was losing five patients a day?
The latex on Dr. Sen's hands stopped him from feeling the warmth living in the kid's body. And now that it was gone, it was no use because the warmth also disappeared.
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alongpause · 2 years
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It is April 1, 2020. The entire world has shut down. 
Well, not the entire world. Hospitals and grocery stores, they're still open. Pharmacies and anything deemed "essential", they're still open. 
The rest of us are locked in our houses. When I do leave the house, it's only a quick shift out in the night to grab what I can, and I avoid everyone. It feels like a horror movie. Grab what you need. Some things that you want, if you can fucking manage. Don't touch anyone. 
The loudspeaker in the small store stops playing music to let a soothing, feminine voice tell us the new rules of our world. Maintain a six foot distance. Only leave your house when you have to. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your fucking hands. 
Don't leave your God damn house, motherfucker. You'll catch your death and you'll give it to someone else at the same time. 
My sister works as a nurse in the ICU. It has now been deemed "the COVID Unit" because they're only treating patients there who tested positive for Coronavirus. 
The number of cases keeps rising. Feels like just yesterday it was 4, and today it's 900 and something. And that's just in Alabama. 
People are dying, genuinely, and I know people die from any illness, honestly. Flu season never leaves without claiming a life. But the news is jaded about flu deaths. They're old news. They cycle back every single year. 
Coronavirus has no season, no locality. It is worldwide. Everyone is watching. Everyone is looking at the number of confirmed cases and related deaths as it ticks higher and higher. 
It's a fucking horror movie. 
I'm fine. My seasonal allergies are acting up, but that's the most I can complain about, physically. Mom and Dad have been working from home for just over two weeks. We've been playing games and watching movies together. I don't think I've spent this much time with them in my entire life. 
We're having fun. 
I hate it. I hate it because now I know they could be like this all the time, could have been my whole life, and they aren't any they weren't. It makes it hard to just sit back and enjoy what's happening. 
That and the fact that memory is such a fickle thing. Bad things grow larger and more detailed over time, and all I can do is sit and think of times when I was smiling and I thought we were okay, and then everything in the air shifted, and someone snapped. 
Someone snapped down on me. 
I feel like a shelter dog. Like I left my old owners, they used to kick me, and I have these nice, new people, but my ears still twitch when they move a certain way, have a certain tone, when I can sense the little changes in the atmosphere. Waiting for the boot. 
Everything is empty. The mall, the highways, the airports, my fucking soul… Empty. I miss other people so bad that I hardly know what I'm doing when I see them. The muscle memory to shake a hand, to hug someone, anything, it's all betrayal. It all has to be repressed. Flickers of accidental contact are sacred, savored, and terrifying all at the same time. You have to go home and wash them off, scrub, scrub, scrub, so no one knows. 
Now the whole world knows what I felt like when I used to kiss him. 
Oh, how jealous I am of people with partners. I just want someone to hold me. To talk to me. Someone who really loves me and doesn't scare me and likes to be around me and chooses to be around me. 
The other day, my neighbors were congregated in a large circle outside. Everyone arms length apart, unless they were with their spouse, in which case, two people were huddled together away from the rest. 
They were all just talking. Some of them had their dogs with them, on short leashes. Dogs can get the virus, too. 
I see little kids out with their parents and I wonder what this is like for them. Their spring break just keeps going, but they can't go see Grandma, or play with their friends. They have to stay with their mom, who is wearing a mask over her mouth, and their father, who is diligently waiting to push his wife and child out of the way if anyone ventures too close. 
We're all nice, we're all friendly, we're all scared of each other. 
I assumed my neighborhood was only elderly white people, because that is what's on my cul-de-sac, but I see families with small children out, now. Teenagers typing on their phones as they trail behind their parents. None of them are white. 
We're all stuck here together and finding out who we really live with. What our community really is. How limited perception can be. 
There is a game now, something someone thought of that just caught on, something to put a smile on other people's faces in this hard time when we can barely even be there for each other. 
Put a teddy bear in your window. 
People who know about the game count points for every teddy bear they see when they're out for a walk, or a drive. Other people just see a strange trend and smile. 
I brought four stuffed animals to my father and asked him to pick the one he thought represented our family best. He told me to put all four in the window. 
There is a character from a Disney film, a dog, a raccoon, and a sock monkey. I think it is a nice variety. I think there is something for everyone, in that selection. 
My mother informs me that when they came back from their daily walk yesterday evening, a child was excitedly pointing the toys out to his parents. 
And this makes me happy. 
Those are my toys and I have no room to display them, they're not first-draft picks, they're bench-warmers. They were just sitting in a large bag in my closet. Now they're on display and they're making people happy and that's so simple and so sweet. 
So beautiful that something I was taking completely for granted is helping to brighten someone else's day. I think I'll tell my parents we should put different toys on rotation. The same neighbors will pass again, after all. 
The quarantine keeps getting extended. End of March. End of April. Indefinite. 
That's the worst one. Schrödinger's infinity. Indefinitely. Until further notice. Until otherwise stated. TBA. TBD. N/A. Who's to fucking say? 
It's April 1st. I've never been big into April Fool's Day. I have a few good ideas from seeing videos on the internet. Everyone's been so bored, stuck at home, that it's basically been April Fool's Day for the past two weeks. 
I don't know that my parents would appreciate a prank very much. As much as anyone healthy hates to admit it, right now, stress levels are incredibly high. 
We're all so tender, just walking bruises, and people like me, we can't even talk to our therapists about it. 
I could call her on the phone, but I know that if I do, I have to sit in the closet or in my car, or some place cramped and strange like that, so that we maintain the privacy we usually have, and I don't think I can manage it. I think I would cry. I think that would make me feel like the world is really ending. 
Some people feel that way and I know why, but I can't. It won't settle into my mind. There is a determined and blind optimism that I'm not sure I ever knew I had, and it has sealed the exit, no doubt can sleep in, we will not succumb. We will overcome. This will end. I will live to see the end. 
I've always been such a personal defeatist, but my faith in humans, in humanity, is shocking me. My faith in myself, growing as I realize I'm just as entitled to the faith I give others simply by their merit of being human? Once an impossible dream, now I realize at least part of me believed all along that I can make it. 
Especially this time. Stay home. Stay home. I can do that. I can manage that. I always do that. In fact, I think I'm going outside more now than usual. 
It's strange the way one reacts to a situation. If you had told me I'd have to stay at home with my parents for over a month and not see any of my friends, not see my therapist, nothing, I would have told you I wouldn't make it through the third week. I would have told you that I wouldn't shower or go outside once, that I'd pay in bed the whole day, and I'd pick up the knife again and keep cutting and cutting 'til I whittled myself down to the bone and then, finally, it'd be too much. And I'd snap the bones. 
But I've been showering more than usual. Probably because Mom is around and she is not quiet about how I look or smell. I've started taking showers without prompting or scolinding, just to avoid it. Suddenly, the look on her face is worse than the shower itself. It has not been that way as far back as I can remember. 
I seamlessly faded from the phase of not wanting to bathe because I was a child, to dreading breathing because being naked was unbearable on several thousand levels. And it's gotten worse in the new house, because the bathroom doesn't feel private enough. There used to be two doors between me and the hallway. A whole room between me and the hallway. Now there's barely enough room for a toilet and sink between me and the rest of the world, and the lock doesn't feel strong enough. 
A lot of people in my living situation wouldn't even bother with the lock. Two other residents, my parents, and they have their own bathroom. My father has never even been in the bathroom I use. But still I lock the door. I'm not stupid enough to trust the thin red line of blood relations as a taboo that will keep me safe. Not anymore. 
And all this and more happening in my personal world, four rooms, two bathrooms, a screened in porch, a one car garage, a partially finished attic, a backyard accidently fenced in because the people on every side have built fences. (I guess that makes our yard fenced out?). 
Inside that there are three people, three infinite universes of electrical currents, composed of carbon. And all around us the world is shut down. 
Disney World shut its gates, and the photos are eerie. Empty Disney is something we only imagined in apocalyptic sci-fi, and even then, we were optimistic enough to believe deranged scavengers would be there, living off the canned food. 
To think I was there 6 months ago and it was full of life and energy and motion and emotion, every fucking human emotion possible, and now there's nothing. I wonder how the geese are doing. 
What are they doing without popcorn and bread and anything someone feels like throwing or dropping? How are they fairing without the easy pickings of thousands of people's discarded food available at every moment? They're been there for decades, generations, do they know what it's like to be geese anymore? Do they know they're geese? Can geese born and raised in Disney World even communicate with other geese, or have they, like humans in a community, slowly mutated their language over time into something that can not be understood even by members of the same species? 
Why do I give a fuck about the geese? 
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burnedbyshoto · 4 years
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a nurses job
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— Bakugou breaks his arms and as a nurse, you have the responsibility to make sure that he is comfortable, even when he needs to use the bathroom.
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pairing: pro hero!bakugou katsuki x nurse fem!reader
warnings: smut, 18+, prohero!bakugou, golden showers/water sports/piss kink, degradation (giving), dirty talk, lusting/pining, handjobs
word count: 5,050
a/n: so, I was going to make this a piss in ur mouth and pussy type of fic, but I kept seeing all those beautiful bakugou piss arts where he’s with a nurse.... so this is inspired and brought upon by all the water sports bakugou x nurse art ive seen for three months.
kinktober day 21 main kink: piss | kinktober masterlist
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You’re not quite sure what persuaded you into wanting to become a nurse as a child.
Maybe it was because your quirk (when you hum at an A flat, everyone within 5 meters experiences accelerated healing properties) was useless for Pro Hero work, so you realized early on that being a Pro Hero was a distant dream. Maybe it was because medical staff were still hailed as everyday heroes despite being in a world with people who could perform extraordinary achievements. It started as a small obsession to prove to the soon to be jobless, dream broken, and graduated failures of the hero course high schools that you had done more than them. That you, unlike them, were recognized as a hero. 
You were decent with math and science, so you strove for medical school. But with the horrendous costs of schooling, your then living situation, and your dislike of unneeded and unwanted competitive stress, you deterred toward the nursing pathway. It was a pathway where you really found yourself, or at least, you thought so.
Empathy, emotion, and the need to see people come out of a hospital better than when they entered was something that grew on you quickly and obviously. Your earliest clinical rounds often left you with swollen, tired feet from walking around for restless hours, but with a smile on your face that was irreplicable. With every semester in school, you got better, connected better with your patients. Your feet still ache after long shifts, and sometimes your smile is hollow and broken, and if you look closely, you could see dried tears and puffy eyelids, but you wouldn’t ever regret this decision to become a nurse.
At twenty-five, newly graduated from nursing school, already working full time at the best hospital in Japan, while studying for your degree to eventually become a nurse practitioner. You loved your job quite a lot. They had placed you immediately within their Post-OP, ICU, and recovery wings, and even though you were somewhat new, you were celebrating a year of working in a few weeks, you already had some… more than familiar faces.
“Well, Ground Zero-san, I guess you owe me a drink because unless my eyes are deceiving me, it looks like both your arms are broken, no?” you hum, your grin bright and wide, not even attempting to hide it’s glee as your high profile patient sat seething on the hospital bed. “It’s been, what? Two weeks since you last showed up here? You getting old?”
“Oh, would you shut the fuck up, you shitty ass nurse?!” Bakugou snarled, his arms obviously trying to tense and move against the large casts that envelope him. “The fuck would you expect to happen when facing off with a quirk that’s specifically meant to break people’s arms?!”
“Deku didn’t break any arms,” you point out with a soft laugh, eyes still scanning and reading through his charts to check his medical needs and medicine prescribed by the attending and when he should be taking them. “A bit weird that only half of the Wonder Duo was indescribably injured, no?”
A loud snarl ripped from Bakugou’s throat, and you stifled your own laughter as you raised your eyesight to look him straight in his raging eyes.
“I took that damn nerds hits because he’s broken his arms so many fucking times he’ll be forced to amputate them if he breaks them again!” Bakugou’s eyes were near white in his anger, but the intensity of his emotions was heavily diminished by the fact that his arms were strapped to his chest in thick, round bandages.
“You can admit you care for him,” you chide, ignoring his ‘like hell I do!’ Placing the chart down and walking to his IV drip, you checked to see if anything he was hooked to required any changes or whatnot. “Besides, this is not the first time I’ve seen you in here! It was quite surprising to see Ground Zero on bedrest on my first ever shift here.”
That much was true.
You had been working at Tokyo Hospital for nearly nine months now. Within the nine months, you saw a lot of heroes; that much was true. Your quirk was versatile as a nurse, and you were bright, young, very good at your job, and definitely a beautiful individual. So, when you were assigned to be working most of your days healing heroes because they were the backbone of the country, it didn’t quite catch you by surprise. It was a common assignment you had as a nursing student too.
You just didn’t expect the head nurse of the floor to assign one of your five rooms to be holding none other than Ground Zero, a.k.a Bakugou Katsuki.
Of course, you weren’t an idiot. You had known about the explosion hero since high school! You had sat in front of your TV in high school, attempting to do your homework while watching the rather intensive first-year battles. He had done well in every stage, placing within the top three each time and even winning the game! You had cringed at the awards ceremony but had been horrified at the news of his kidnapping. 
But after that, with the rising tensions of the villain world upon the dying world left behind by All Might, you had forgotten him for a moment. As time went on, and finally, a new support system was brought forth, Ground Zero, much like his quirk entailed, exploded onto the scene alongside Deku and a few other young heroes.
So, sure, you expected to maybe one day run into the ash-blond hero, but you didn’t expect it to happen on day one.
All things considered, the two of you got along rather well.
His... strong personality did make you wary of him at first, taking his near verbal barrage until you, very flusteredly he will argue, told him to ‘shut up, you butthole!’
You were horrified at your lack of professionalism, and Bakugou had gone silent as he stared at you in silence.
“Did you just call me a butthole?” he echoed, his face full of emotions you could not read. You felt on the verge of panicking, unsure if he was going to potentially tell on you! The sounds of a barking laughter rang in your ear, and you looked up to see his grinning, much more relaxed form. “Are you some shitty preschooler?!”
Thus began a working relationship of sorts between you and Bakugou.
He was an asshole, and you tried your best to not let him talk you off a cliff. It didn’t take very long for you to find out what made him tick surprisingly enough, and you used that to your advantage. The best way to tease him right now was by reminding him that he had been hospitalized more times than Deku, who apparently had held the record for the number of hospitalizations between him and his friends.
“Are you going to mention that shit first meeting every time we talk?!” Bakugou barked, his eyes narrowed as he turned his head away from you.
“After you admit you care deeply for all your friends!” you chirp back, stepping away from his IV drip, satisfied by what you saw. “Well, you look good for now. I’ll be checking up on you every ten to fifteen minutes since you can’t press the button until we can get those casts off! Did ya need anything before I go check on my other patients?”
“Open the damn window; it’s stuffy in here,” Bakugou grumbled, his face finally facing you again. 
“Of course,” you smile cheekily, your eyes squinting with your broad grin. “It’s a nurse's job to make their patients comfortable and happy!”
Standing at the side of the bed, you stretched over Bakugou to grab the edge of the window and slide it open. Through your stance, you were entirely aware of how this looked, how this felt. Your breasts centimeters from Bakugou’s face, your eyes never once breaking from the window to feign your innocence as you finally pull away. Even with scrubs on, you could feel his hot, sharp breathes expelling through your clothes, his ears tinging just the smallest bit red as you smile.
“Anything else?” you asked sweetly, failing to hide your impish grin.
“Put the water cup close by,” he grunted, eyes staring at the liter of water at his side table. Well, he wouldn’t be able to use his arms until just before he was set to be discharged, so moving the water closer was a good idea.
Nodding, you grabbed a nearby cup, filling it three-quarters of a way full before placing it onto the feeding table and dragging it near his mouth, a bendy straw already secured into the cup. You watched as he shot forward, putting the plastic straw into his mouth and beginning to drink the cold water. His eyes were back on yours, deceivingly cold had you already not been an expert on his personality.
With one final soft chuckle, you waved at Bakugou as you headed out, a cheerful smile on your face as he continued to drink his water.
“See ya in a few!”
Well, you guess there was one more important detail about your relationship with Bakugou Katsuki. For the past five months, you have been doing everything in your power to seduce him — to get him to admit that he wanted you too.
You knew the ethics and the morals behind falling for a patient of yours, much less a high profile patient at that. You knew that if your little crush was ever found out, you would most definitely be moved from his room. You were also damningly aware that you should have brought up your initial feelings for the explosion hero to your admin the moment it arose. But the thought and the way you were always so happy to be around him eventually overruled your logic. Five months ago, you had stayed at the hospital until nearly three am, talking with a severely concussed Bakugou. You were stationed for an overnight round with the task of making sure that he didn’t fall asleep. And for the first time in your time knowing Bakugou, the two of you somehow clicked into place, and when he was discharged the next morning — the nurse who had a quirk to rid of concussions finally arriving — he had thanked you.
It was so benign, so incredibly simple, yet the way the golden sunshine illuminated his blond hair and made his red eyes shine like a ruby, you found your own tired body feeling heated and warm. He wasn’t such a lousy conversationalist, and you had already enjoyed all your interactions together, yet it still caught you off guard to feel your heart pounding in your throat as he pulled on his jacket and left.
So after coming to terms with your sudden infatuation for the stubborn hero, you began to express your desires and feelings for him without having to say it. For all that he was worth and all that he expressed himself to be extremely observant, Bakugou Katsuki still had no idea that you liked him.
Unfortunately, your scrub nurse uniform wasn’t precisely seductive. The light blue of the breathable, sterile uniform was about as unsexy as uniforms got. But that never stopped you from leaning in too close when doing what Bakugou demanded of you. It didn’t prevent you from accidentally dropping papers in front of him and bending over to show off the curves of your ass.
There had never been a time such as this one where you hated that the old, ‘sexy’ nurse outfits were no longer up to standard and banned from use. How you would have loved to be wearing gartered held stockings just to accidentally flash to Bakugou. But, you suppose that it’s alright. Even though your feelings and ambitions to get the Pro Hero to like you as much as you did him, you never tried to push it.
For now, you were just an asshole tease.
You carried out the rest of your rounds in peace, your pager sitting comfortably in your pocket, unused, unneeded for now. The rest of your four patients were doing well for now.
One was asleep, most likely due to the medicine coursing through his veins, but his vitals remained unchanged.
Another was in the process of getting ready to be discharged, her family there to help her in leaving.
The third was eating his dinner, eyes concentrated on a poker game on the TV as he asked you to help fluff his pillow.
The last was busy with a physical therapist, her forehead slick with sweat as she attempted to sit up from her chair.
All in all, they were all doing fine, and you were back to the beginning, back to Bakugou’s room.
You entered his closed room door to be greeted by an empty bed. Your eyes widened immediately, the initial wave of pure horror flashing through you that by some freak accident, some murderous villain had kidnapped the injured hero straight from the hospital bed. 
“Ground Zero-san?!” you called out, a pitched voice of concern frilling your voice as you stumbled through the room. Your eyes were frantically searching the room, fingers feeling the lingering warmth of his body on the bed and your eyes noticing the empty water cup on his table still. The sheets of his bed haphazardly thrown off as if in a struggle.
Your fingers wound around the panic button, your ears straining to hear any sort of sign of Bakugou still being here.
A gritted teeth snarl was muffled from the attached bathroom, and you froze, unable to move as you felt the untouched button in your hands turn as light as a feather. You approached the bathroom door with soft footsteps, the smile on your face, unable to be stopped as you pulled the door open.
The sight you happened upon was something that made your lips curl into a wider smirk as the hospital clothed-clad hero absolutely struggled with his lack of functioning hands and arms to pull down his pants. Something he couldn’t do himself because the socks and slippers on his feet kept him from even attempting to tug his pants off with his toes.
In his struggle, undoubtedly miserable attempt to get his pants and underwear off his waist, Bakugou seemed ignorant to your arrival. His back still towards you, his head tilted down in his struggle as he twisted and pulled at practically nothing.
And as you watched him struggle, you couldn’t help but let your eyes drink in his form that stood tall before you. Most occurrences where you found yourself face to face with Bakugou, he was always tucked in a bed (except that time you realized your feeling for him), whether it was because he needed to be or because he was forced to be. So seeing him in his full height, seeing how despite your size, you were still only at his shoulder, made your eyelashes flutter.
He was tall, so deliciously tall, you wanted to climb onto a chair to see if he would be taller even with that added height. And oh how the flimsy material of his hospital outfit was stretched then against the taut muscles of his back. They flexed and shifted with his aggravation, and the only thought on your mind was to rake your fingers against the tempting muscle and skin.
“Shitty. fucking. villain!” he hissed angrily, sweat trickling down the back of his neck as he still struggled to do what nature called him for. 
But you couldn’t help it; the flexing muscles of his back, the lower tenor of his voice, and the way he seemed ridiculously larger than life at the moment tipped your restraint over. Your ability to hold back crashing through you like a tsunami wave, drowning you until you found your hand tethered to the tight spot at the center of his spine, your hushed words drifting to his ear like sweet, warm honey.
“You need any help here, Ground Zero-san?” you asked, your voice just loud enough to have your hot breath fanning against his sweaty exposed neck. You could feel him twitch in your hold, his body stiffening as he whipped his head around to look at you, red eyes wild, wide, and dark.
“Don’t ya know how to fucking knock?!” he snapped, his body flushed at being caught in the bathroom, unable to shed his clothes. He doesn’t move from your touch, and that small detail makes you warm, knowing that he wasn’t entirely repulsed by your touch. 
“You were missing from your bed, and I called your name,” you smile despite his angry glare. “I know you are susceptible to hear loss, but I thought you were still in the clear.”
“I ain’t fucking deaf,” Bakugou growled, his face twisted with a frown. “And that still doesn’t explain why the hell you’re here!”
“Oh, were you not just completely struggling earlier?” you feign shock, the grin on your face unstoppable at the embarrassed scowl that sets on his face. You step even closer to him so that your torso is perpendicular to his side. Your hand still gently touching his muscled back, and your free hand gently pressing to his own abdomen, the feeling of his flexed muscles, making you dizzy as you peer down at the white toilet. “Is there a villain in the toilet? I didn’t think that was possible!”
“Of fucking course not, there’s not a shitty villain in the toilet.” Bakugou flushed, his body entirely trapped by you, but he made no play to escape.
“Oh, so did you need help?”
Bakugou stares at you, his mind whirling a kilometer a second as he contemplates his next course of action. The both of you know he needs help, and still, the both of you are aware that his ability to ask of that from you is slim to none given he couldn’t even wait for you to return to his room.
“Tch,” he clicks his tongue angrily, annoyed, completely fed up. His eyes rolling to the ceiling, refusing to acknowledge you as his head nods once. “Help me, shitass nurse.”
“Of course!” you chirp, your eyes finding his hooded ones.
You give him one last warm, sweet smile before the hand on his torso lightly drags down his stomach, soft in its unashamed way of feeling him up. Your head tilted as your fingers hooked into the tight waistband of his pants and pulled it down, the heat of your palm accidentally dragging itself over the imprint of his cock behind his boxers.
The slight, flustered choking noise at the back of his throat didn’t go ignored by you, but rather but aside for later. Your eyes flashing up to see his red eyes wide, his cheeks so lightly dusted with pink as you managed to pull down his boxers too. 
“There!” you exclaim, your eyes closing in your grin before you turn your attention back down to his exposed dick. 
Immediately, you had to hold back a noise of pure want and lust at the sight of him. He was long, undoubtedly eight inches, definitely more. Although you couldn’t tell how thick, you knew his dick would fill your palm without a struggle. The trimmed, dark blond pubes and the protruding veins are what did it for you, your tongue poking out for a millisecond to wet your lips as you stared at his dark pink head.
“Stop staring at it!” Bakugou hissed, clearly embarrassed if the slight voice crack said anything about it. 
You looked back up at him, fake confusion swimming in your eyes as you tilted your head. “It’s only a penis. I see millions of these all the time.”
“Yeah, but it’s fucking weird!”
A soft laugh escaped your lips, your eyes rolling softly as you sighed in retreat, “Fine, fine, let's pee big boy and get you in bed.”
With your dominant hand, you grabbed his dick with a soft grip, pleasure simmering through you at the confirmation of the thick dick in your palm. But it seemed you weren’t the only one who thought that for the moment you tried to steer his dick toward the toilet to assist in aim, Bakugou hissed loudly. His flesh twitching to life in your warm, soft hand as it began to grow upward.
You didn’t say anything; your jaw remained as tight and closed as your vocal box despite the egging need to tease him and celebrate his apparent approval of your touch. So, eventually, in a voice that defied the nervous energy coursing through your veins, you asked: “Didn’t you need to pee?”
Bakugou let out a throaty, guttural groan, his anger hissing between his teeth as his dick twitched again in your hold, growing longer and harder still.
“I can’t take a damn piss with a hard-on, you idiot!” he roared despite the strawberry red blush on his cheeks. You admired the way he was still fighting for control of an upper hand here despite — clearly — not having any.
“Oh, haha! Silly me!” you laugh, your hand shifting against his length, your warm palm getting closer to the base of his cock.
“W-What are you doing?!” Bakugou spluttered, your soft butterfly touches sending him through a loop he clearly wasn’t expecting. “You could just wait for it to die!” 
“It’s a nurse's job to make their patients comfortable and happy,” you repeat your words, your hold on his dick growing firmer and harder just as his cock continued to do. “You clearly need to pee, and there’s no telling when your cock will go down.”
“I’LL MAKE IT GO DOWN!” Bakugou yells, but the usual sharpness to his tone has deflated, diminished to nothing but whining embarrassed yell. You look up at his clenched jaw and how a pretty pink glows on his cheeks, and you’re mesmerized.
Looking back down at his growing cock that warms your hand immensely, you hum, slightly twisting your hand around his length. Bakugou shudders, a whine hidden in his throat as you open your own mouth.
“Do you want me to stop?” you question, your eyes fluttering up to look at his clouded red ones. “Do you not need or want me?”
That was a double-headed question if Bakugou ever heard one. He looked at your glossy lips, the way they were pouted, so ready to be kissed, to be claimed, and that delirious look of want and need in your eyes. And he knows better; he knows that this is not the place, not the time to act on emotions like this. The need to pee sits heavily on his lower belly, just like the need to cum makes him twitch and pace uncomfortably. God fucking damn his broken to smithereens arms.
But you already know this, of course, you do. But you also know how stubborn he can be, how anal he can be about the littlest thing. So with no answer, you weaken your grip, making him think that you’re ready to leave, and he falls right into the trap.
“Make it fucking q-quick,” his voice cracks, the embarrassment nearly tangible as you nod your head firmly, your fist tightening around his cock.
Your warm fingers pressed onto his length, beginning at a slow leisurely pace, your eyes glued onto his face, detailing how he reacts to every small flick of your wrist, every little difference of grip in his hands. Your strokes began to grow larger, your fingertips tracing the bulging veins on his cock, your eyes hypnotized by the way his face pinches in his pleasure, the blush on his cheeks, the way the hot pants expelling from his mouth curl warmly in your lower belly.
“Y-You do this with all your shitty patients?” Bakugou growls, but it sounds weak, too blurred and slurred with his increasing pleasure.
Your fingernails drag against the underneath of his cock, tracing the incredibly sensitive skin until he’s slowly thrusting his hips into your fist. “Only the hot ones,” you tease, your thumb pressing against the tip of his beading tip, the warm pre-cum slick and spreading quickly against his flushed tip.
“You’re fucking disgusting,” Bakugou continues, his head tipping backward, exposing the slenderness of his neck that begs for your teeth to sink into. “Just needed to take a fucking piss.”
“Nervous, you’ll pee all over me, and I won’t want to suck your dick?” you ask, your fingers brushing near his scrotum, eyes blazing dangerously at the sight of his gasping, jaw-dropping face. His hips rut forward, leaking cock dripping with his pre-cum, and you giggle softly, fisting him faster, spreading the pre-cum against his heated sex.
Your fingers run against his throbbing length, your palm tight and hot against his cock, the veins you drag across searing against your flesh, ingraining itself onto your skin and memory forever. Despite it all, the obvious near tangible horror Bakugou has on the thought of pissing on you, he continues to fuck into your fist. 
“Damn bitch like you would probably l-like it if I pissed on you,” Bakugou pants, his casted arms twitching at his chest. His head tilted away from you, but his eyes burning into you, the red eyes hot as fire against your skin. “You want me to piss on you? Make you my bitch.”
The words burn against your skin, your teeth biting onto your lower lip as you meet his gaze. You’ve never considered it before, never thought you’d be into it. As a nurse, you’ve been around piss, shit, and vomit, and while you had grown unfazed by it, you never considered the prospect of a man pissing on you. But you thought of it, of Bakugou standing above you, free from his casts, hands on his cock as he smirks down at you with golden liquid spraying from his cock, soaking you where you lay. 
You shudder, pleasant chills running down your spine as you stare into his eyes yet again. 
“And if I do?” you ask, fingers rolling the head of his cock between your forefinger and thumb, relishing in the way that he snarls low in his throat. “What’re you gonna do about that, Ground Zero-san? You gonna piss all over your bitch after you get out of here.”
“You want me to piss on you here?” he asks, his voice snappish, strained, his hips drilling harder into your hand that was quickly speeding up. A battle of power and speed between the both of you as he looms over you, face flushed, pink, and lips demanding to be kissed. “Wouldn’t be surprised if you do.”
“Why’s that?” you breathe, his lips tantalizingly close to yours, a breath away as your hand grips and tightens even more around the base of his cock, causing a pained-pleasured hiss to rip from behind his teeth as he looks at you.
“Don’t act like your shitty ass hasn’t been trying to seduce me every time I show up,” Bakugou gruffs, his hips continuing a drilling rhythm into your fist, his body no longer shy or embarrassed.
“So you noticed but never said anything?” you counter, your fingers shifting over to his swollen, hot balls. You fondle them, tugging at their weight gently, taking in the way his eyes roll to the back of his head and the way his teeth tear into his lip. “Coward.”
“Hah?! Who the fuck—”
You can’t help yourself anymore, your mouth coming to slam against his in a piercing, searing kiss. He moans into the kiss, and you gasp back, tongues clashing together, teeth knocking into each other as awkward, nearing uncomfortable kisses are exchanged. His sweet scent of caramel wafts into your nose, and his grunts and groans are addicting, entirely enthusiastic noises that send your own thighs clenching shut to quiet the heated need in between your thighs.
Your hand increases in its speed, his whines and groans so pretty and piercing into you. 
“How fucking gross,” you laugh into his mouth, the slicked heat of his precum lathering your palm until soft noises of your fisting hand begin to fill the sterile bathroom. “You’re a child, wanting to piss on things that you shouldn’t. You came to the bathroom and got a hard-on instead of pissing, Bakugou, aren’t you embarrassed.”
“Y-Y/l/n,” he hissed, his jaw falling slack against your mouth. His hips are drilling into you faster and faster, the throbbing of his cock, the growing, thick scent of his caramel sweat filling the room and your senses. “F-Fuck!”
“Such a dirty, childish pro hero,” you smile your tongue curling into his mouth and dragging against the roof of his mouth as he shudders helplessly against you. “Cum already, Bakugou, cum and piss over yourself like some small brat.”
He shudders, and you find your mouth leaving his own as you stare down, spurting white ropes of cum pour from his tip, completely covering the toilet seat with his sticky white cum. And you watch as soon as his body collapses onto you, entirely spent from the orgasm, yellow piss streaming from his tip.
The toilet fills with his cum and piss, and you grin once his balls and bladder are completely drained. His cock limp and weak in your hand as you hum, your quirk activating and causing the exhausted Pro Hero to recompose himself so that he wasn’t entirely weak against you. 
“Such a good patient,” you coo, pulling up Bakugou’s boxers and hospital pants without a second's thought. Patting his butt gently, you watched as his still exhausted red eyes stared at you. You walked over to the sink, washing your hands so that you could continue to finish the rest of your shift.
“Don’t think this is over, shitty nurse.”
You look at him over your shoulder, your fingers curling under the warm water as you grin.
“I expect to be fucked and pissed on next time,” you counter, your smirk devastating and sending a fire right back to Bakugou’s groin. “No freebies anymore.”
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jadelynlace · 3 years
Text
Ink Drinker / Modern Vikings AU [Ivar x F!Reader], Chapter 6
catch up here!
synopsis: Ivar was only meant to be a friend with benefits, but he caught feelings for his older brother’s best friend, and co-worker: you.
pairing: Ivar x F!Reader
***content warning [PLEASE READ]: this chapter has the after effect of the trauma call, and too many emotions. surgical mentions and medical terminology are in this chapter as well. anything in italics indicates a flash back.
author’s note: I’m so sorry.
 ~
“Floki, why can I be left alone?” Ivar asked.
“Because the last time you were left alone you ended up with fifty thousand milligrams of pain killers in your stomach. Now, come here—do you know this?” Floki replied with his fingers taping the photo copied image.
“I drew that.” Ivar said back.
“Yes, you did. Where do you want it?”
“What do you mean?” 
“You hate your body so much why don’t you cover it in something you like?” 
*
It is sixteen hours that Ivar is in surgery. His world is dark, nothing but, with pierces of noises that he can recall. But trying to decipher them only makes the surroundings dull, caked in black and muffled with a buzz of an unruly bee hive. There are pokes of pain, he remembers the green light, and he remembers the pot hole he swerved to miss. He doesn’t remember how fast he was driving and the second he was over the yellow line made no difference for the sudden beast of a truck to find him. 
Everything below Ivar’s powdered knee caps are reattached. Grueling hours on the table while he’s sewed back together like a monster. Enough time for Hvitserk to get clothes, to get you clothes, to pack a bag for his brother per your request. Even in the presence of clean laundry you can’t take your blues off yet—they’re holding you proper because you just saw Ivar that morning. You two made love in the low morning light, filled with ecstasy, his seed and then he made you eggs with extra hot sauce and hugged you tightly you were sure you stopped breathing. He told you to be safe, baby, like he did at the dawn of each shift and that he would call you when his last appointment was finished, and on his way back from shopping for supplies for the parlor and that you two would make lunch plans. In his speed, his haste to make sure he didn’t miss you before the two tone song of death would sing in the radios, he instead, became the reason it did.  
Your chief shows up when you tell him the nature of the emergency. Pulling additional personnel on for overtime and they take the rig out of service and from your hands. Words don’t spare any differences and although he offers you a hug, when you take it he slips you a piece of paper. 
“Remember the job you’re doing. And the change you’re making.” He whispers in your ear and you look at the folded sheet. It’s a photocopy of a poorly drawn fire truck with an even worse sketched stick figure, and you had scribbled it when you were five. Back when you met chief for the first time because now you hold the same badge number your father once did. 
“If I give you your Dad’s old badge number, are you going to act like a jack ass like him?”
“I can’t make any promises chief.”
“I have a partner in mind for you, you’ll like him. He’s a good kid. A good medic.”
“This good kid got a name?”
“Yeah, Hvitserk. I’ll introduce the two of you.”
This is the call that shapes you as a medic, as a provider, and changes how you see things. This is the call that sends a new person out into the street, whether Ivar lives or not. This is the call that forever holds terror in your heart because he was laying in the back of your ambulance, and that was the one spot you never wanted him to occupy. 
Aslaug walks through the doors and she’s already two tissues deep into a soggy mess. Hugging Hvitserk and hugging you and you wish you were meeting this woman for the first time under any other circumstance. Floki thanks you and you don’t quite know why, even though the words fall heavily and un-calming, he still thanks you. And when the surgeon returns before the four of you, you’re the only one that doesn’t stand. But he calls your name because you know him, he was lab staff that tested you for your certifications and he told you that you’ll make a damn good medic one day. 
“Remember what I said on the day of your exam?” He asks and you nod, puzzled and impatient looks on the other faces. “You are a damn good medic—you both are.” He adds, eyes jumping from yours to your partners. “And it shows on this call, of all of them.” Hvitserk’s shoulder nudges you and you only nudge him back, perhaps little too hard in your delirious state. “Essentially what we did, was replant the lower portion of each leg. Now, given the extent of his injuries and how his body handles such, I don’t have a clear cut answer for you on his overall mobility. He may need to have screws implanted, he may need prosthetics. He’s going to be in the ICU for the next 48 hours for constant monitoring. We’ll have him sedated so his body can focus on what’s at stake. He’ll need physical therapy for a long time, and he’ll likely be disabled for the rest of his life, given again, how his body handles this. It’ll be a long road. But, like I said—you two are damn good medics and that is the one reason his legs were able to be saved. I will let you know when he’s moved to the ICU.”
You look back at your partner and his face is as blank as yours; influx of emotions just ready to dive from the void but your minds are still churning, still processing all of what boomed from the doctor’s mouth. Ivar’s chance at returning to a normal life was resting in your hands and you two gave the best damn efforts and they worked. The countless hours of dissection, wondering if you’re cut out for this career, these responsibilities, hours of trauma and blood and vomit all fizzle away because you now know that you are. And it just took Ivar to prove it.
When your eyes open again there’s a sharp pierce in your temple, scrunching eyes together and slowly moving, your head rises from Floki’s shoulder and the lights in the ICU have dimmed in the late hour. Impressions stood between his nostrils, falling like petals over his cheekbones, bleeding through split brows and pink flowers through the depths of his neck. His chest sinking and fainting with time, there was a moment of deafening silence when you are looking at his body; seemingly so small under the contraptions. The depths of earth, and the worst hell was seeing him lay on this cot. He’s only sedated now, even though Ivar looked of death, he was still alive under the harvest of wires. The words of how “we’re doing all that we can” do not bring any more comfort, they just take Ivar like a wave rapidly back out to sea. And now you understand how your patients, and their families feel when you speak the same phrases to them. The clinical assessments do not stop a rigorous schedule, motoring for the possible failure. The room is kept warm, and every so often when you will yourself to peek in, you can see the sheen of sweat that’s over Ivar’s forehead, dancing across his chest under the stickers, the monitors. The capillary refill on his toes show promise, and when the nurse says that to her doctor, you find yourself attempting the same motions on your thumb nail. Pressing the pink away and making room for the white, and then in a quick release, the pink swarms back. The ultra sound machines reminds you of the new equipment in your rig as it assess arterial blood flow every hour.
IV bags drip, slow and agonize and the change of wrappings, dressings and cleaning of both the limbs and Ivar himself collect. You spend hours watching the fluid levels sink, his eyes flutter, his fingers in his hand dance and you grow cold because you just want to hold him. To lock him in a steel tower and to constantly remind him how strong he is, because you know the longest road will not come from learning to walk. It will come from Ivar trying to find that he is worthy to live on.
Blackness had retired across your cheeks, wrapping a veil of makeup that melted into battle scars and you could not move if your body depended on it. Aslaug sits next to you; she takes her time wiping the makeup off from under your eyes, the soiled mascara and she’s humming to you. She had been telling you how when Ivar was young, she would sing to him and it would calm him down. How she sang to him in the hospital after he tried to overdose, tubes pumping his stomach as she blamed herself for such wrong doing. How Hvitserk blamed himself because he gave no one a warning cry. And how she’s singing to Ivar now, even though he can’t hear it, because it comforts the three of you as a whole. 
When your eyes follow the nurse into the room, you can hear her say something to Ivar and you watch his head turn in confusion. Grogginess and a fog on his brain as she talks to him like it’s a normal conversation; wishing him a good morning, how the weather looks promising for a beautiful day and you wish you had that level of bed side manner. You never get the promising parts of the journey; you get the patients that are coding and in a rush to the life saving team in the hospital. You love the ones who tell you their entire live’s story in the back of the rig on the way to the emergency room, sharing details and calming your mind with how simple, and yet how different every walk of life is. The nurse says something about you, about Hvitserk and Aslaug and Floki, out and waiting and ready to see him when he’s fit. You wave through the glass and there’s the tease of a smirk on Ivar’s face, even in his slightly sedated state. A dastardly, bastard smirk and his hand lifts off the bed slightly, wiggling his fingers back to you. The tears start up again, pounding a sledge hammer through your skull after all of the unruly pressure and messes of crying as your body tries to go numb.
“Where’s my mom?” You hear Ivar say in a voice that muted slightly as the nurse stands in the door way to exit. “Can I see my mom?” And the nurse nods. Aslaug stands and kisses your hair line as she walks into the vicinity, Ivar watching her and you need to back up, you need to walk away from the room, this hall way and this battle. A faint wheeze goes through your chest and Floki catches it first before Hvitserk has a chance to lift his head and open his eyes.
“Let’s walk, dear,” Floki says and his voice is not authoritative but it still demands you to comply as he loops an arm around your shoulder. “Walking can help to clear the mind.” It’s your first time outside in almost three days, and the sunlight burns you like you had been its victim on a sand covered shoreline for one too many hours. The hospital grounds are manicured, they’re neat and arranged with an abundance of flowers and colors in the open air but everything to you still feels so dull and lifeless, pointless and hopeless and walking only churns your thoughts to double, triple in size like a snow ball rolling down a hill. 
You’re finally allowed in to see Ivar and you approach slowly, like touching him will seer you suddenly, stain you with a unremovable pattern and you’ll forever be reminded. His blue eyes are dull and groggy when they open, the nasal cannula wrapping his face and your eyes dance over the scurf collecting on his jaw, and the faint bruising, cuts and scrapes on his skin.
“Hey baby,” His voice rasps and you kneel by the bed, tears already on their journeys to streak your tried skin and Ivar’s needle poked, IV covered arm comes to wipe what he can reach. “You were there, weren’t you?” And you can only nod, eyes still damp and you relish in the touch he gives you only if it’s for a second. “You saved my life, baby,” Ivar finally adds and that makes the whimper start again, the choke of a sob in your throat and he tries to quiet you, slithering a quick noise from his lips and you rest your head against the bed, his hand still on your hair. 
“I drove the ambulance over a hundred miles an hour,” You finally say and they’re the first words you can use to process the trauma you two had lived through together.
“That’s my girl,” Ivar smiles, speaking with a voice that sounds like sandpaper.
“I love you Ivar—no matter what happens, I love you so much,”
“I love you too, Y/N,” Ivar says and his voice is weaker now and he needs rest. “Kiss me before you go?” He says with eyes scanning your face, and you can’t deny that now. Pressing your lips softly against his, your hands cupping his cheek and you hope it’s not the last kiss you’ll ever get from him. “I’m not going anywhere, baby,” Ivar tells you. “I’m afraid. But I’m not going anywhere,” You nod as he speaks, a forehead against his for a second and his hand is still trying to reach on you where he can. This is the man that would pull the tubes and the wires from his chest if he could, if that would make him get closer to you. “You’re stuck with me,” And there’s a faint snicker after his words, weak and drowned out from the normal tone but you’ll take it after not hearing his voice for three days.
“I’m stuck with you,” You say back with a small smile. But it still doesn’t bring enough hope.
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allthingsfangirl101 · 3 years
Text
A Change of Heart Part 2–Matt Brody
Tumblr media
Part 1
Wattpad request by psych0bxtch
Matt's POV
When I heard the flatline, my stomach dropped. The only thing I could hear other than the worst sound in the world was Summer sobbing violently as Mitch tried to keep her from collapsing to the floor.
"No," she kept sobbing. "She can't be. . . Please tell me she isn't. . . Mitch. . . She's my baby sister. . . Please."
"Keep trying," I said under my breath when I finally found my voice. Everyone looked at me as I cleared my throat and took a step towards the ambulance.
"Keep trying," I said louder as they slowly started to unhook Y/N's lifeless body from their machines. "You can't give up on her. She's. . . We need her."
I ignored Summer's questioning look and instead, my eyes glanced towards Y/N. Suddenly, my view of Y/N in the back of an ambulance changed to the last time we were alone together in the South Lifeguard Tower. I couldn't decide if I was more haunted by her laying there unmoving or the look in her eyes when I rejected her.
"I need her," I mumbled. I glanced over at Summer to see her tears slowly stopping.
"Matt?" She said under her breath.
We broke our eye contact when we heard them charging the defibrillator. I held my breath as we all waited to hear the heart monitor start beeping. As we impatiently waited, Summer walked over to me, but I didn't look away from the EMTs working on Y/N.
"What did you mean when you said you need her?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Be very careful with your next words, Matt."
"I can't imagine my life without her," I blurted out. I kept my eyes on Y/N and the EMTs as I continued, "I hate that us almost losing her is what made me realize it."
"No," Summer cut me off, making me finally look at her. "You aren't doing this. Y/N is an amazing girl and you broke her. You broke her, Matt. She finally got the courage to tell you how she felt and you shot her down. Are you telling me that all this time. . . Or are you just suddenly realizing it because we might. . . No. My sister deserves better. Y/N deserves a guy who knows he wants to be with her. Not some Olympic Asshole who picks and chooses when he gets a girl."
I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted when we heard a beautiful beep. You could hear us all sucking in a synced breath when we recognized the sound. We turned around and saw the EMTs letting out relieved sighs.
"She's back," an EMT said as he glanced over at us. "We got her back."
"Alert the surgical team at the nearest hospital," the other EMT started giving instructions. "We need to get her into surgery as soon as we get there."
The EMTs started talking indistinctly as they hooked her up to more machines. I jumped when they slammed the door shut and the ambulance sped off. I turned to say something to Summer but she was already jogging towards her car. CJ and Stephanie sent me matching glares before following Summer. Ronnie cleared his throat, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with me.
"We're going to the hospital," Mitch said with not even an ounce of emotion in his voice. "Want a ride?"
We rode to the hospital in silence. I watched the buildings zoom by, the anger in Summer's voice repeating over and over again. The glare she gave me sent chills down my spine just thinking about it.
She was right. Y/N is too good for me.
As we sat in the waiting room, I thought back to our conversation in the South Lifeguard Tower. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized I never shot her down. I didn't say anything to her. She assumed I didn't have feelings for her because I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything because I was too shocked.
I looked up and noticed Summer watching me with tears streaming down her face. She had numerous reasons to be pissed at me but the real reason was because of the conversation in the South Lifeguard Tower. I stood up, nervously wiping my hands on my shorts as I walked over to her.
"Don't," she said, her voice getting caught in her throat. "I don't care how guilty you feel about shooting my sister down. I have more important things to think about. Like how Y/N is fighting for her life on a surgery table right now."
"Summer," I stuttered. "Please just. . ."
"Stop!" She yelled, quickly standing up. "My sister is dying, Matt. I don't give a shit that you feel guilty for turning her down. You have no idea how much you hurt her."
"I didn't. . ." I stuttered.
"Of course not," she scoffed. "She took two weeks off from work. Want to know what she did during that time? She spent the entire two weeks crying her eyes out. She was embarrassed, defeated, humiliated, and felt like she couldn't face you. Here's the real kicker; she came back for you!"
"What do you mean?" I asked under my breath.
"You were losing it, Matt," she sighed. "We could all see it."
I looked behind her to see everyone else watching us with the same look on their faces. When I made eye contact with Mitch, he shook his head and looked around the waiting room.
"Summer," I said, my voice breaking as I turned back towards her.
"Enough," she said through her teeth. "Y/N doesn't deserve you, Matt Brody. She deserves better."
* * * * *
An hour later, we still hadn't heard anything from the doctors working to save Y/N's life. We sat in the waiting room of the ER, all of us on edge. Whenever someone walked through a door, we all jumped.
"For Ms. Y/N Quinn?"
We all jumped up, slightly surprising the doctor when he saw how many of us were there. He looked around, trying to figure out which one of us he needed to address first.
"I'm her sister," Summer said shakily as she took a step towards him. "Is she. . . Did she. . . Please tell me she's okay."
"Your sister is one hell of a fighter," the doctor smiled sweetly at her.
"She's okay?" Summer said with nothing but hope in her voice.
"For the most part," he said slowly.
"What does that mean?" Ronnie asked.
"Well," the doctor said, slightly clearing his throat. "As you know, they were able to restart her heart in the back of the ambulance but her vitals were too low when she got to the hospital. As we took her into an exam room, she stopped breathing again. After a few tests, we discovered that it wasn't just the drowning that almost killed her."
"What was it?" Summer asked, slightly taking a step closer to the doctor.
"A bullet."
My breath got stuck in my throat. I looked over at Summer to see her covering her mouth, trying to stop the sob.
"When the hell was she shot?" CJ asked under her breath.
"Underwater," Mitch mumbled to himself. We turned around to see him thinking about something.
"Mitch?" Summer said under her breath.
"Before I jumped in after her, I thought I heard something strange. If I hadn't hesitated. . . I'm so sorry, Summer. I heard the gunshot and that's what made me jump in after her. I should've done that sooner. I'm so sorry."
"This isn't your fault," she said gently. My heart dropped into my stomach when Summer glanced over at me.
"How is she?" Mitch asked.
"We got the bullet out," the doctor continued, "and stopped the bleeding, but she still lost a lot of blood during the surgery. I'm afraid she's slipped into a coma."
"When is she going to wake up?" Summer asked almost instantly.
"We can't be entirely sure," he sighed. "She could be asleep for a few more hours or a few more days. When a patient loses a lot of blood, their mind tends to shut off until that blood is reproduced. But I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to make her feel comfortable until she does. I can take you to see her, Ms. Quinn."
When the rest of us took a few steps closer to Summer and the doctor, he stopped us. "I'm sorry," he said, clearing his throat, "but only family can go into the ICU."
Even though we didn't like it, we sat back down. I intertwined my fingers, struggling to calm my nerves. The next few days were never-ending. While the others went home, I stayed sitting in the uncomfortable ER waiting room chair.
"Matt."
I jumped when I felt someone kick my foot. I looked up to see Mitch standing above me with his arms folded. He sighed as he slightly shook his head.
"Go home."
"I'm good," I said, clearing my throat.
"No, you're not," he sighed. "You haven't slept, you've barely eaten, and you look like shit. Not to mention that you reek."
"I'm not leaving," I said sleepily.
"Matt," he sighed again as he sat next to me. "I know you feel guilty for what happened to Y/N, but the boat fire had nothing to do with you. If anyone is to blame, it's me. I was the one who didn't jump in after her soon enough. I keep hearing that damn underwater gunshot. It replays in my mind and my dreams. This was my responsibility. All of your safety falls on me. I failed Y/N. And Summer."
I suddenly realized how much this has been weighing down on him. His shoulders were tense, his back was hunched, and his eyes were heavy.
"Mitch," I said, making him look at me, "Y/N wouldn't blame you for anything that's happened. You jumped in, you found her, you brought her back to the boat. You saved her, Mitch. All I did was break her heart."
"About that," Mitch said, clearing his throat to cover his laugh. "What the hell, man? She told you how she felt, you shut her down, then she gets hurt and that makes you suddenly have feelings for her?"
"First of all," I sighed, "I didn't shoot her down. I didn't respond right away and she took that as me not having feelings for her. Second, I didn't say anything about "suddenly" having feelings for her."
"Hold on," he said, more anger in his voice. "After all the shit that's gone down, you actually have feelings for her?"
When he looked at me, he saw my answer clearly written on my face. He scoffed as he looked away, slightly shaking his head. When he looked back at me, I felt like a kid about to get scolded by my father.
"Please tell me you realize how much of an asshole you are," he scoffed.
"Mitch," I stuttered.
"Y/N is an amazing girl. You'd be lucky to have someone like her interested in you. Honestly, you don't deserve her anymore. Hell, you didn't deserve her when she told you how she felt. And if you walk into that hospital room and confess to having feelings for her all along. . ."
He didn't finish his threat. Instead, he stood up and wiped his hands on his pants. He was about to walk away but stopped. He didn't bother to turn around as he spoke up.
"By the way," he said through his teeth, "She's awake."
I watched Mitch leave before slowly standing up. I made my way down the hallway, my nerves jumping all over the place the closer I got to her. I hesitated outside her room, continually wiping my sweaty hands on my pants. Whenever I reached for the door handle, I never made it all the way to it. As I tried to reach for the handle again, the door swung open.
"Matt," Summer gasped. She looked over her shoulder before quickly closing the door. "I don't think you should be here."
"Summer, please," I stuttered. "I just want to. . ."
"You've done enough."
* * * * *
After Summer stopped me from going into Y/N's room, I was even more determined to talk to her. I waited for Summer to leave before sneaking back down the hallway. I ducked into Y/N's room, my breath getting caught in my throat when I turned and saw Y/N asleep in the hospital bed.
I felt numb as I walked over and sat next to her. I hesitated to grab her hand because I didn't want to wake her up. Instead, I sat back in the uncomfortable chair and thought about the last conversation Y/N and I had.
~•~
"Your sister is looking for you," I said. I got concerned when I noticed her still facing away from me. I slowly walked over and grabbed the gauze that was frozen in her hand.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, not at all convincingly.
"Y/N," I elongated. "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," she said again, sounding less convincing than before.
"I'm in love with you."
I heard her suck in a breath the same time I sucked in one of my own. My mind instantly started going 100 miles an hour.
She was in love with me? Since when? Does everyone know? How could I not know?
"What?" I asked under my breath for clarity. I wanted, no needed to make sure I heard her right.
"Never mind," she stuttered. My heart sank when she started to leave the shack.
"Y/N," I said, trying to get her to look at me. My shoulders slightly sank when she remained facing the door. "What did you say?"
"Just forget it," she said quickly.
Right as she was about to leave, I quickly grabbed her hand and slowly turned her towards me. I tried to get her to look up at me but she kept her stare to the ground.
"Y/N?" I whispered. "Did you mean it? Are you really. . ."
"Yes," she forced out. When she finally looked up at me, her eyes sank. My heart clenched when I saw her struggling to hold back embarrassed tears.
"Y/N," I stuttered, "I'm not. . . It's not that . . . I'm sorry."
She roughly pulled her hand out of mine and cleared her throat like she was trying to get rid of a lump.
"Okay," she whispered.
"Y/N," I sighed.
"It's fine," she said before I could get a chance to explain what was going through my head. It wasn't that I didn't have feelings for her. The truth was, I wasn't sure how I felt about Y/N Quinn.
"I should umm. . . You're taking over, right? You're on the next shift? Okay, I'm gonna go then. Bye, Matt."
"Y/N," I said, trying to get her to stay and hear me out. "Please let's. . ."
I physically jumped when the South Lifeguard tower door shut between us. I sat on one of the extra chairs, my mind not stopping. I ran my fingers through my hair as Y/N's defeated and embarrassed look on her face was stuck in my head.
"I don't know how I feel about you," I mumbled to myself. "But I know I don't want to lose you."
~•~
I've always felt this pull towards Y/N. I just thought it was friendship. That is until she told me how she felt for me. I looked over at her, the guilt suffocating me.
"You don't get it," I whispered, shaking my head and looking away from her. "You left before I could explain. I wasn't stuttering that I didn't have feelings for you. I was stuttering that I wasn't sure. I know that's not better but. . ."
"Matt?"
My head snapped up when I heard my name weakly said. I was met with Y/N's Y/E/C eyes. I smiled as I scooted closer to her.
"Hi," I whispered.
"What are you doing here?"
"I had to see you," I started to ramble. "Look, I know things have been weird between us and I hate it. I absolutely hate this tension between us, Y/N. When you were gone, those were the worst two weeks of my life. I was miserable. I wanted to call you but Summer kept telling me to leave you alone."
"She what?" She asked softly but I kept talking.
"And then when you came back? I didn't know what to do or say. Whatever I rehearsed, didn't seem good enough. Then the boat fire. . . You were underwater for four and a half minutes. Mitch gave you CPR for the whole five-minute boat ride back to shore. The EMTs took over for three minutes before they hooked you up to the defibrillator. One minute and forty-two seconds later, you flatlined. That was the longest minute and forty-two seconds of my life."
"Matt," she said weakly, trying to interrupt me again.
"When you told me how you felt," I continued, "I didn't respond but not because I didn't have a response for you. It was because I was evaluating."
"Evaluating," she repeated. "Matt, what does that mean? Evaluating what?"
"Us," I said before I could stop myself. "I mean evaluating who you are to me. We've been good friends since you started at Baywatch, but I've always thought our relationship was stronger than just a simple friendship. And it wasn't until you left those two weeks that I realized it was a lot deeper than a simple friendship."
"What are you trying to say?" She asked hesitantly.
"I'm saying I have feelings for you," I said quickly. I watched as her eyes widened. She was studying me hard, probably trying to decide if I was being honest with her.
To help reassure her, I continued. "Y/N, I'm not just saying I have feelings for you because I almost lost you. I'm saying it because I didn't realize how I felt for you. I had a general idea but I wasn't sure exactly. I know this doesn't make much sense, but it's the truth. I care about you, Y/N, a lot. I'm sorry it took almost losing you for me to wake up and realize that I've loved you all this time."
I held my breath, waiting for her reaction. When her eyes filled with tears, I couldn't tell if they were happy tears or angry tears. The silence ate away at me, almost as much as the guilt.
"Please say something," I whispered. My breath got caught in my throat when she slowly smiled.
"Come here," she whispered.
I scooted the chair closer to Y/N's bed and grabbed her hand. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers. The second our lips touched, we instantly started moving them in sync.
Every feeling I've felt since her confession intensified as we finally kissed. It was like everything we've been holding back, burst. Without breaking the kiss, I stood up and carefully crawled onto her bed until I was hovering over her. The kiss got heated as Y/N reached up, grabbed my shirt, and pulled me closer to her.
She moaned when I used the hand that wasn't holding me up to gently rub her hip. I smirked against her lips as I slowly slid that hand up her body. She gasped, breaking the kiss when I found and squeezed her boob. That surprised gasp turned into a painful one.
"Shit," I gasped, moving my weight off of her. "I'm so sorry, Y/N. I should've. . . You've been shot and I. . . I'm sorry. For everything. I never should've. . ."
"Matt," she whispered, cutting me off as she reached up and gently cupped my cheek in her hand. "It's okay."
"No," I stuttered. "It's not okay, Y/N. None of it is. I want to make it up to you. I need to make it up to you."
"Then take me on a date," she said so simply.
"What?"
"Take me on a date," she repeated.
I smiled, feeling like a giddy idiot as I laid down next to her. I let out a satisfied sigh as she immediately cuddled into my chest.
"As soon as you get out of here," I whispered, "I'm taking you on that date."
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sincerelyella · 3 years
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Always Remember Us This Way Part 2
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Book: The Royal Heir (AU)
Pairings: Liam x MC (Ella); Drake x OC (Alyssa Devereaux Walker)
Song Inspiration: Always Remember Us This Way by Lady Gaga
Characters belong to Pixelberry; MC Queen Ella Rys and Malia Rys belong to me; Alyssa Walker belongs to the amazing @burnsoslow and used with permission in this series.
Catch up here
A/N: In celebration of King Liam and Queen Ella’s baby girl being born in TRH2 I wanted to write something to commemorate it (kinda). Some things are canon, but don’t expect it to follow the book much.
Big thank you to @burnsoslow for reading over this and editing and making suggestions so I don’t sound like a crazy person.
Warnings: TW: angst; TW: blood; TW: childbirth complications; TW: possible major character death. There are mentions of real medical emergencies and procedures, if this is a trigger for you please don’t read any further. Also, I do not work in a maternity unit at my hospital so please excuse any inaccuracies.
Words: 2481
Liam sat in the corner of the suite that was originally assigned to Ella in the maternity unit. He sat next to his newborn daughter, Malia, occasionally checking on her if she whined or cried. The nursing staff had started checking on both him and Malia, feeding her formula or changing her diaper. He was thankful for the help since he couldn’t seem to function. He hardly spoke to anyone, he didn’t call anybody; all he could do was sit and stare at Malia.
He kept thinking about Ella; the last time he saw her smile, the last time he kissed her mouth, the last words she said to him, the last time he heard her sing.
So when I’m all choked up, And I can’t find the words
Every time we say goodbye, Baby, it hurts
It had been about an hour or so since he last saw his wife, he couldn’t get the last image of her out of his mind. She was extremely pale, unconscious, with her mouth open. Her beautiful face looked so … lifeless. Liam leaned forward in his chair, hands covering his face as he started to sob. He didn’t know how long he sat there crying; his whole body heaved as he tried to suck in air. She made me promise to save our baby. He knew this is what she would have wanted, but why? He wiped his hands on his jeans and looked at Malia again, reaching over to touch her little body. Somehow, being close to his baby girl made him feel closer to her mother, and it gave him some peace. “I’m sorry I let you down, princess,” he whispered shakily as he tried to hold back a sob. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to be happy together. We were supposed to take you … home … ” he trailed off and sucked in a breath to hold in the tears.
When you look at me, And the whole world fades
I’ll always remember us this way
Suddenly, his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Drake’s face on the caller ID. He swiped to answer and just held the phone to his ear, unable to say the words.
“Li?”
Liam mustered all the energy he could, but his voice still cracked as he spoke. “Drake.”
“Liam. What’s going on?” Drake could sense it; he heard the wavering in Liam’s response. Something wasn’t right, and his best friend had never called him and Alyssa after leaving for the hospital. He heard Liam’s erratic breathing on the other end of the phone. “Liam! What is it? Is it the baby?”
Liam broke down on the phone. He couldn’t speak; he just cried and didn’t give a damn who heard him. He could vaguely hear Drake on the other end panicking, then hanging up abruptly. Liam let the phone fall from his ear to the floor. I shouldn’t have answered that.
**
Drake hastily hung up on Liam. Why did no one call me?! What the fuck is happening? Drake fumbled with the phone. His mind was going a mile-a-minute after hearing his best friend lose control of his emotions. The always stoic king wouldn’t just display his emotions like that in public ... unless it had something to do with his family. He wasn’t sure what to think or how bad it was going to be. He dialed Bastien’s number and waited … and waited … and waited. He growled, cursing under his breath as he hung up.
“Drake? Why are you growling? Did you get in touch with Liam?” Alyssa walked out from the bedroom, seeing her husband’s panic stricken face, and her eyes widened. “What’s going on? Is it the baby?!”
“I-I don’t know! I called Liam and he …” he trailed off, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.
“He what?” Alyssa’s heart filled with dread, the pregnancy hormones didn’t help matters. She hastily walked to her him and placed her hands on his cheeks to look at her. Her husband rarely cried, and right now, he was very close to it.
“I don’t know, Lyss,” he whispered. “I asked … about the baby … and he completely lost it on the phone.”
Alyssa gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, eyes immediately watering. “Oh my God, do you think it’s Ella? We have to go!”
Drake sprang up from the couch and fell into step with his wife who rushed to the front door. He grabbed his keys from the kitchen island, and the pair made their way to the truck to head for the hospital.
**
There was a knock on the door of the maternity suite, and Liam snapped his head up, opening his eyes. He blinked to refocus and saw Dr. Ramirez standing there, studying him with a worried look. Liam stood abruptly, trying to wake himself up. “I-I’m sorry … I must have fallen asleep.” He wrinkled his brow. “Where is my wife?”
Dr. Ramirez stepped forward. “Her Majesty was bleeding profusely. I apologize if you were removed from the room but- ”
“It’s fine, doctor, but my wife?” He punctuated the last few words. “I want …” He took a breath in and let it out slowly to control the overwhelming emotion building in his chest. “I … need … to see her.” He didn’t want words right now; he just wanted to see Ella.
Dr. Ramirez nodded in understanding. “I can take you to her now; the nurses will watch Malia here.”
Liam nodded and turned to Malia before leaving. “Daddy will be back soon; I love you.” He gently kissed his daughter on the forehead before following Dr. Ramirez to the intensive care unit, Bastien following close behind.
As they walked, Liam turned to Bastien.
“Your Majesty?”
“Please have guards outside of Malia’s room.”
Bastien nodded, “Yes, sir.”
Once they reached the ICU, Liam was taken to a large area that had no patients. “Why are all the rooms empty?”
“This wing has been cleared out so that Her Majesty is the only one here.”
Liam nodded, his anxiety rising as they got closer to a single area of the unit that looked like it was occupied.
Dr. Ramirez stopped in front of a door with a guard standing outside of it and turned to Liam. “She is stabilized for now; however, we admitted her here so we can watch her closely. I just wanted to warn you, Your Majesty” - Dr. Ramirez placed a hand on Liam’s arm to get him to look at her - “She has a lot of wires around her, she’s getting medication and blood, and she isn’t awake yet. It might be a little … overwhelming for you.”
Liam nodded and waved his hand so the guard would move. He slowly turned the knob and peered inside. He felt tears of joy, relief, and the pain from being so close to losing her fall from his eyes as he walked towards the bed and grasped her small hand in his. Liam leaned over to kiss her lips, cheeks, forehead … any part he could reach, he kissed. “I thought I lost you, I love you, don’t leave me again,” he whispered in between kisses. He vowed to himself that he would never take another day with her, his family, for granted.
He finally sat back in the chair next to the bed, put their intertwined hands on his forehead and thanked God she was still there with him.
A knock pulled him out of his moment and Dr. Ramirez walked inside. “Your Majesty, are you ready for me to answer some questions now?”
“Y-yes, I’m sorry … I just needed to … see her,” he croaked as the lump grew in his throat.
“I understand; please don’t apologize.” She pulled a chair up to sit in front of him. “So I’ll explain what happened. You can ask me whatever comes to your mind.”
Liam nodded.
“Her Majesty had a retained placenta. This means that the sac that held Malia was supposed to come out just a little while after Malia was born. But in Her Majesty’s case, it didn’t. A small piece of it was attached to the wall of her uterus.”
“How … did that happen?”
“Unfortunately, the causes are still unknown. There are risk factors for it, but she didn’t have any of them when I was seeing her throughout her pregnancy. The only thing that I can think of was that her labor was somewhat long and extremely difficult for her. That could have played a factor.”
“Okay, so she’s not bleeding right now?”
“Well, after childbirth she will be bleeding; that’s normal. The problem was that her placenta needed to be removed and that area cauterized. We gave her medication to stop the hemorrhage from that area. She was bleeding entirely too much, so much so that her blood pressure dropped to a dangerous level and her heart rate spiked.”
“Is that why she was …” His eyes welled up again, and he clenched his jaw to stop them from falling. “Is that why she was … unconscious and pale?”
Dr. Ramirez nodded. “Yes, the blood loss made her pass out, and that’s the reason her blood pressure was so low. She had a lot less blood volume in her body than normal, and her heart was beating faster to compensate.”
Liam nodded again.
“She has a blood transfusion going right now. We’ll see how she does with that and recheck her.”
“When do you think she’ll … wake up?”
“It’s hard to say, her vitals are stable right now; and we took her off oxygen a little bit ago.”
“Thank you … so much for saving … my wife.” His voice hitched at his last words, and he cleared his throat. “I thought I’d lost her …”
“Please don’t thank me, Your Majesty. This is my job, and it’s an honor to be her doctor.” She gave him a small smile. “She means a lot to all of us as well.” Liam smiled in understanding. His wife took the hospital on as her personal project when she became queen. She made it her mission to assist with quality assurance and worked with many doctors and nurses to improve hospital flow and policies. Dr. Ramirez paused and cleared her throat before she got emotional. “Now, you know how to get in touch with me should you have any questions or concerns?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Dr. Ramirez curtsied and left the room, while Bastien poked his head inside. “I’m sorry about this, sir, but Drake has called me nonstop. What do you want me to tell him?”
“I’ll call him and tell him what happened.”
Bastien nodded and closed the door behind him.
**
Drake and Alyssa ran into the hospital, looking for the maternity unit.
“There!” Drake yelled and they rushed to the front desk.
“Excuse me,” Alyssa said, out of breath, to the secretary at the desk. “We’re here to see Queen Ella. We know she went into labor earlier this morning.”
“How are you related to Her Majesty?”
“We are her best friends, practically family. I expect you’ll see us on the security clearance list.” Alyssa said in a firm tone, setting her lips in a hard line. “King Liam hasn’t been answering our calls. W-we need to see her!” Her voice cracked, the tears in her eyes threatening to fall.
Drake gently held his wife and rubbed her shoulders.
“I need to check with protocol, ma’am. I’m very sorry about this, but … the royal family have certain security measures in place.” The secretary gave them an apologetic look.
“It’s fine, thank you. We’ll wait over here,” Drake coaxed his wife to sit on one of the chairs in the family waiting area.
“We’re her family, Drake.” Alyssa wailed. “We should be able to see her!”
“Shhh, I know, but if something happened to her or the baby, they’re going to be extremely cautious.” He regretted his words immediately as he watched Alyssa begin to cry into her hands. He pulled her into his arms and stroked her back as he let her cry.
“D-did you try … calling Bastien … again?” she sniffled into his chest.
“I’ll try again, baby,” he assured her, as he dug into his pocket, fishing for his phone. He pressed Bastien’s number and hoped that damn man answered his phone this time.
“Drake.” He heard Bastien’s lowered voice on the other end of the line.
“Bastien! What the fuck is going on? Why haven’t you answered my calls?!” Drake forgot where he was as he shouted; his voice carried through the halls.
“I’m sorry, Drake, but we … didn’t have any answers and His Majesty was-”
Drake sighed in frustration. “Just … where is he, Bastien? Where is Ella? And the baby?”
Drake heard a beeping on his phone and looked down to see that Liam was calling him. “Bas, Liam is calling-”
“You need to answer that.” Bastien promptly hung up, and Drake answered Liam’s call.
“Li. Where are you? Lyss and I are here in the maternity unit.”
He heard his brother sigh on the other end of the phone. “I’m in the ICU … with Ella.”
“Th-the … what?!”
“I’ll explain everything when you get here. We’re on the fourth floor.”
“We’re on the way.” He hung up and slowly met Alyssa’s stare.
“What did he say?”
Drake took a deep breath in and let it out. “Liam is on the fourth floor-”
“Why? What’s on the fourth floor?”
He paused for a moment, looking at his wife. “He’s in the ICU … with Ella.”
Alyssa’s jaw went slack. “THE ICU?!” Faster than he had ever seen her, she bolted up and ran for the elevator, pressing the button repeatedly.
“Alyssa.” Drake grabbed her hand and held it. “Don’t panic! It’s not good for you or our baby.”
“Don’t panic? Do you know what the ICU is?!” Her lower lip trembled.
“Liam actually was able to actually speak without crying, Lyssa,” he said, trying to calm her down. “I’m hoping that means things are better than they were when I first talked to him.”
The elevators dinged open and they both filed in, pressing the button for the fourth floor. As soon as the elevator doors reopened, Alyssa raced to the nurse’s station.
“We’re here for Queen Ella; the King called us!” Alyssa panted, gripping the counter tightly.
Drake grabbed her quickly and pulled her to him.
“Hey guys.”
Drake and Alyssa turned to see Liam, standing there with puffy, bloodshot eyes, shirt wrinkled and untucked, and his hair disheveled … like he had been running his hands through it all day.
“Wh-where is she, Liam?”
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Clear as Day
 Part One?
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AN: Here’s some friends with benefits with Vince that I came up with in between cases at work. Vince if you’re reading this I’m so sorry please stop right here but also hmu I swear I just wanna be friends. I don’t know much about being a pediatric nurse (financial law anyone?) but I did volunteer at a hospital for a while so I hope it’s not super far off. I have plans and some stuff written for a part two that could be the same length so let me know you want one but it could be complete like this. (First person narrative but again no names or descriptions for the mc)
Warnings: language, definitely (also English isn’t my first language so perhaps some mistakes) and smut, also definitely (yes you read that right I did it again)
Word Count: 13.3k
I loved my job. I really did. I found it rewarding to be able to make tiny faces light up but I was currently on my second day of 12 hour back to back shifts, with yesterday closer to 14 hours, and I just really wanted to spend the entire day in bed.
It wasn’t even 7 a.m. yet and the streets of Toronto were already bustling, everybody preparing for a busy day. The sound of the ice cubes sloshing around in my coffee had become a staple background noise for the walk from the employee parking lot to the front entrance of the hospital, it soothed me.
As soon as I stepped into the building I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face, despite being sleep-deprived and basically needing a break already. There was a new drawing pinned to the wall by the nurses’ station and if the image of my smiling face wasn’t a dead giveaway already, it was hard to miss my name written on top of it in big bold letters.
It had started out as a joke really, a half-hearted complaint about me not getting as many drawings as others because most of my patients didn’t stay long in the ICU. From that moment on Lucas, my only long-term patient right now and all-time favorite teenager, had made sure that there was always a new one waiting for me every week. He was really good at drawing as well and I had an entire stack of amazing portraits, landscapes and lots of other random things at my apartment that I cherished dearly.
“He wanted to give it to you himself but then we had to give him something and he asked me to put it up so you’d see it as soon as you got in.” I turned around to see Mariah standing behind me, her face showing the same look of fondness as mine. Most of the nurses were pretty convinced that he had a crush on me and while I had to face lots of playful jabs because of that, she never gave me shit about it. She was probably about to head out and I knew that she only stayed behind to tell me this so I made sure to thank her.
“Is he up yet?”
“Surprisingly not, although he should be soon. He’s had a rough night and he stayed up way too long to draw but I doubt that anything could ruin this day for him, two dreams coming true and all.”
As soon as her words registered with me I mentally facepalmed, I’d completely forgotten that we’d get a visitor in a couple of hours. Because of Lucas’ surgery he hadn’t talked about hockey all that much lately, so I’d kind of forgotten that today he would get to meet one of his idols. I was about to respond something when I spotted Sydney waving me over.
Sydney was in charge of all of the pediatric nurses during the day shift, meaning that I had approximately three seconds to make my way over before she’d get impatient because she was always so busy. I waved goodbye to Mariah and speed walked over to Sydney, curious to see as to what she needed of me. She never beat around the bush, always coming straight to the core of things so I didn’t expect the conversation to last long and today was no different. She probably held the world record for fastest talker.
“So you know we’re getting a visitor today which means that I need someone to run a tight ship for me. You’re young and perky and I asked around and people love you. I know you helped with some of the Leafs the last time so you should already be familiar with the protocol. This is a big hospital and I want all of the kids on the list to get a chance to talk to Mr Dunn and that won’t happen if he gets lost so I want you to stay with him at all times, got it? I’ll get one of the on-calls to take over for you during everything.”
I couldn’t even get a word in before her pager went off and she jogged off after practically thrusting a file into my hands, unable to respond anything as she said something over her shoulder about this being a gift. I stared after her with my mouth hanging wide open, not really comprehending what had just gone down yet.
Being ‘young and perky’ had apparently just managed to get me demoted from a RN to a babysitter for yet another over-confident celebrity which didn’t really feel like a gift at all.
Lucas had told me all about how great this Vince apparently was but I had seen my fair share of famous people walking around these halls with camera teams following them, it was kind of a part of working with sick kids. There were exceptions of course, some of them were really nice but those were usually the ones that didn’t visit the kids for some good PR. While I was glad that it would make Lucas happy it didn’t really impress me anymore.
Besides I hadn’t really paid attention to hockey ever before, although it was hard to escape the hype right now with me being a St. Louis native. Some of my friends had sent me pictures of the parade from about a month ago but I hadn’t really paid much attention because I’d been slammed with work, not recognizing any of the players either way.
The file Sydney had given me consisted of a schedule for the day and a list of the kids that wanted to meet Vince, which was surprisingly long for this being a hospital in Toronto and him playing for the Blues. Even with my limited, read non-existent, hockey knowledge I was pretty sure that the team wasn’t liked very much in the league but I blamed it on them winning. Sydney was right, we would have to make good time to get through everybody.
I couldn’t exactly spend forever going through the file because I had mostly new admissions assigned to me and that meant lots of charting and running tests. I did spend my break reading through everything and trying to come up with a plan while shoveling food to my mouth at record speed however. Even if I wasn’t exactly thrilled with this assignment there was absolutely no way I wouldn’t be prepared. I would leave this hospital with the best possible impression of me, all things be damned.
It was kind of hard to focus on what was written in front of me though when I had three other nurses standing close by and ranting about how hot Vince apparently was. Lucas had shown me his hockey card a few times but I didn’t really know what he looked like because I was usually busy putting in a new IV line at the time, something he’d come to hate so talking about hockey was the perfect distraction. I was tempted to google him but before I got the chance my pager went off, signaling that the incoming convoy was about to arrive.
Unable to stop myself I checked my reflection quickly in one of the mirrors on my way out of the restroom. Call me vain but I didn’t want to end up in any pictures or videos looking like a total slob, even if it was just in the background. I’d taken the time to shower this morning but I definitely would’ve added more than the layer of concealer if I’d known about this earlier. At least I’d gotten my brows done and my lash extensions refilled a couple of days ago. Deciding that it was too late to do anything else about it I walked towards the front entrance with the file in my hands, making sure one last time that I knew where to take this Vince first.
It wasn’t hard to spot him in the group that arrived, the big shiny trophy he was lugging around kind of a dead giveaway.
He was good-looking, I had to give him that. Not in the rugged handsome way however, it was more of a defined features and beautiful way. The kind of look that got you dubbed as a pretty boy during high school, the polo shirt he was spotting only reinforcing that image.
I couldn’t really imagine him playing ice hockey. He was fit of course, but he wasn’t as big and bulky as I’d thought and if I had to guess I’d peg him as a baseball or lacrosse player, perhaps soccer even. If all hockey players looked like him however, I might have to catch a game or two after all.
I walked over with my big work smile plastered on my face, hand outstretched and he set the cup down to shake it as I introduced myself first. I caught him looking me up and down quickly but I wasn’t really one to talk because I’d done the same exact thing just seconds earlier.
“Hi I’m Vince, nice to meet you. Love the scrubs by the way”, he responded with a dazzling smile, gesturing at my outfit. Compliments weren’t a bad start, especially since I was wearing one of my favorites with an adorable blue and pink dinosaurs print.  
“Thanks, one of my friends paints them for me.” Not willing to dwell too long on awkward small talk I continued: “Do you want me to get like a wheelchair for the cup or are you gonna carry it the entire time?”
“I think I’d get a lot of shit for not carrying it so thanks but no thanks.”
I quickly introduced myself to the rest of the team before herding everyone towards the elevators because he had to be upstairs in a couple of minutes. The camera team was more intimidating than I’d thought and I tried my best to distract myself from it as I pointed out different things around the hospital, only hoping that I wasn’t rambling without making any sense.
I was pretty sure that Vince could tell that I was uncomfortable because he kept our conversation going the whole time, obviously trying to make me laugh. His own laugh was hard to ignore and by the time we walked into the room where a livestream would take place the smile on my face was real. At least he wasn’t just easy on the eyes but he seemed fairly entertaining so far as well.
I watched him do the stream with Owen, who I’d spent some time in post-op with after his surgery a couple of weeks ago, and then stood close by as he talked to the long line of patients and people who were able to come up here. Sometimes when he saw a special needs kid getting closer he’d turn to me to ask for advice and tips and even all that ruckus didn’t stop him from keeping up a normal conversation with me.
He’d pick up right where we left off whenever there was a small break in between people and I wasn’t only amazed at his multitasking, but also at how amazing he was with the kids. He made me show him how to hold a baby and I think I’ll never be able to forget the image of a cute little baby boy in the cup.
“I ate cereal out of there this morning”, he whispered conspiratorially to me after the mother was finally done thanking him and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Of course you did. I hope you put it in the sink afterwards at least.” He gave me a wounded look, as if me insinuating he was not a clean person was hurting his ego and I laughed even more. I couldn’t really tell if he was trying to flirt with me or if he was like this with everyone but the mixed signals he’d sent me all afternoon were starting to get confusing.
“You think so lowly of me, I thought you’d know better by now.” With anyone else the wink he sent me as he delivered his line would have probably been overkill but somehow it worked for him.
The fact was that I did know better by now, even if it had only been just under two hours. I probably hadn’t been this wrong about something since I absolutely botched a math test in tenth grade thinking I aced it and he had turned out to be nothing like I had imagined him to be. Perhaps the early morning sleep-deprived me lacked the sense of being able to assess character that I usually had.
When I told him that it was time to leave he looked at me with a puppy eyes, pleading with me to let him stay a little longer. Working in pediatrics I got this a lot but somehow it had a whole different effect on me coming from a 6 feet tall hockey player with lips that were practically made for pouting.
“But there’s still some people left that I haven’t gotten to.”
“There’s also some kids that couldn’t come up here because they are too sick waiting for you in the ICU and you won’t be able to see all of them in time if we don’t go over there now. There’s a tight schedule for a reason you know.”
“Fuck the schedule, I’ll just stay longer,” he said with a cheeky grin but not before covering the ears of the little girl in front of him with his hands so she wouldn’t hear him curse. At this point I felt like it was way too easy for him to make me laugh but at the same time I didn’t really want to do anything against it. These halls had seen worse things than people laughing after all.
“You fit right in with all of my patients, you know that? And don’t you have plans with the cup for this evening?”
I didn’t get an answer straight away because Vince took his time to talk to the last five families left in line before we made our way back to the elevators. I had kind of forgotten about the camera crew that was there to document it all until all of us were crammed back inside the tight space, my shoulder brushing against Vince’s arm so I wouldn’t bump into any of the expensive equipment.
“I promised to make an appearance at this club but they’ll wait for me. By the way, you should come as well.” At first I thought he was joking, surely he had to be as we’d only met, but his try at a winning smile told me he was anything but. Again, was this him flirting or was I losing my mind?
“Shooting your shot while you’re in my good graces because of the kids, I see. I’m gonna have to disappoint though, I’m stuck here till seven and then I have another 12 hour shift coming up tomorrow so I can have a four day weekend.” I had already kind of accepted that we would never see each other again, especially with me turning him down now, and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a bit sad about it.
“That sounds brutal. I’m throwing another party at my condo on Saturday if you’re free then.”
“I’m actually driving up to a lake house with some friends for the weekend, sorry.” By now I really was interested because he seemed fun and I wanted that for my last few weeks up here but his timing was truly the worst.
“Wow, you’re really making me work for it,” he let out a teasing chuckle then, running his hand up and down his neck in a very distracting move as he contemplated his next words “I’m assuming you have a busy week next week as well so perhaps next Saturday?”
“Ummm.. I already agreed to meet some friends at a bar on that Saturday,” his face fell at that so I couldn’t help but add “but you’re welcome to meet us there if you want to see how the working class parties. Bring some of your friends as well if you want.”
The smile he gave me at that was equivalent to that of a five year old patient when they get told that they could have a slice of the chocolate cake and it made me glad that there was no one monitoring my heart rate at the moment.
-
The next day was just another regular day at work and while I had lots of fun yesterday, I was glad to be back in my comfort zone. Working days was anything but boring and I had been so busy that my watch told me I’d already reached my step goal for the day halfway through my shift.
I finally had some time to update the charts while sitting down at the nurses’ station, desperately hoping for some down time soon so I could perhaps even grab another cup of coffee to stop me from climbing into a free bed and taking a nap right there.
I’d seen many people pray in this building and not all of them got what they wished for but somehow today must have been my lucky day because just as I’d finished that thought someone cleared their throat in front of me. I was ready to answer some questions from worried parents but what I totally didn’t expect was Vince standing there with two coffee cups.
“I thought I’d drop this off as a thank you for babysitting me yesterday and I had a feeling that you’d need it”, he said before giving me one of his dazzling smiles. He looked good in a black t shirt and some jeans, his perfectly styled hair in contrast to the messy bun currently on top of my head. That is if the rat’s nest could even still be called a bun.
“Vince Dunn you just keep on surprising me”, I responded with a breathless laugh, not really knowing what else to say at the sweet gesture. What do you say to a good-looking hockey player that not only asks you to spend time with him three times but also takes the time out of his day for this?
Well, besides thanks, obviously.
Vince handed me one of the cups and I took a sip before looking up at him in surprise.
“How do you know the way I like my coffee?”
Instead of answering, he pointed at something behind me and I turned around to see the coffee order list I’d started a while ago in case someone decided to grab some for everyone, my name on top of the sheet.
“I noticed it yesterday in passing, I swear I’m not a stalker or anything.” He blushed at this and it was so cute and unlike his otherwise smooth self that I couldn’t just let him off the hook.
“You know, that’s exactly what a stalker would say”, I responded with a sly smile and while his face turned even more red he burst out laughing. By now we had the attention of every nurse close by and I was pretty sure that all of them were eavesdropping but who could blame them, I’d do the exact same thing. People here lived for the drama, kind of a given with how much time we spent in here because it didn’t really leave much space for a life outside of these halls. Especially if said drama involved a very hot hockey player.
“I’m changing the topic now before I embarrass myself in front of you even further just so you know. I did actually come here for one more thing,” he trailed off before bending down to pick up a bag that I hadn’t noticed before, too distracted by the guy in front of me. “I brought this for Lucas so he has something to show his friends once he gets back on the ice.” He pulled out a Blues’ jersey and turned it around so I could see that it was one of his, complete with a signature and a small message.
Lucas had been an avid hockey player himself up until his kidneys basically decided that they didn’t want to work anymore a while ago. Things had gotten so bad that he had to permanently stay in intensive care with us until after months of dragging people in here to get tested they finally found a donor in a family friend last week. At least his surgery had gone well and while I’d miss having him around, I was glad that he’d finally get discharged to recover at home later today.
I took another sip of the coffee before getting up and walking next to Vince to Lucas’ room. Lucas greeted me with a smile, which only grew after he saw who was following me into the room. Despite having struggled for so long he had always been in a good mood, even when he had to celebrate his fifteenth birthday in the hospital a few weeks ago.
“Look at you, it’s your last day in here and things just keep on getting better.” Vince and Lucas did the handshake they’d come up with yesterday, something that was absolutely necessary as a hockey player or so I’d been told.
Lucas had grown up in Chicago and he’d seen Vince play for the team there but had only really started paying attention after the apparently best fight ever Vince had gotten into at one of the games. Obviously not my words. The connection between the two of them had been instant and all the hockey talk had my head spinning more than during the first few weeks of nursing school so I made a quick exit, leaving them to it.
“I bet every nurse wishes they could trade spots with you right now, me included by the way”, Rachel, my partner in crime since day one of our college classes together, said as soon as I returned to my spot at the station.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about”, I responded, acting clueless. With a raised brow she reached for my coffee cup, spinning it around to reveal a small note written on the side of it that I hadn’t even noticed before.
“You sure about that? This fine specimen of a hockey player just gave you his number and you still act like there’s nothing going on? Besides, everyone saw you two getting all chummy yesterday.”
I snatched the cup out of her hands, quickly checking if the coast was clear before pulling out my phone to add his number to my contacts while keeping my head down so I wouldn’t have to look her in the eyes.
“Oh wipe that shit-eating grin off your face. All I get is annoying parents and you get hot dads and famous athletes hitting on you out left and right. Like leave some for the rest of us girl, it’s not fair.”
-
Even though I’d shot Vince a quick text so he could have my number as well, I never really expected anything more than his response that he’d saved it.
To say I was surprised when he texted me the following week was definitely an understatement. It wasn’t a booty call either, no, he’d texted me in the middle of the day asking if I was working days or nights this week.
Me: days as usual but I’m actually on-call today, got luckyy
Dunner: so you’re home right now?
Okay so perhaps this was a booty call after all. Not that I particularly minded.
While his first response had been pretty fast he took a little longer to answer after I told him that I was home indeed. Laying on the couch in an oversized shirt and yoga pants rewatching some Grey’s Anatomy on to be exactly. Almost the same as working. The rainy weather set the perfect mood for a lazy day in though so I hadn’t moved from my spot ever since returning from the gym this morning.
Dunner: this Chinese place near me has a special two for one offer today and I wanted to bring you some to work
I still wasn’t sure if this was him flirting but I’d also never had somebody I’d only met a week ago offer to bring me food to the hospital so he had to be, right? I sent a screenshot of the message to Rachel but I knew that I couldn’t count on her responding to it anytime soon, seeing as she was actually at work right now. I decided to be forward, telling him that I wouldn’t complain about some good food either way.
Inviting someone who was basically a stranger over to your apartment generally wasn’t exactly the best idea, but I counted on the impression I had of him so far and the reputation he surely had to uphold as a NHL player. Besides, we had lots of medical equipment scattered around the apartment so surely I’d find a syringe or something to defend myself if needed.
Dunner: I’ll be over in 30 so try not to get called in before then  
True to his word the bell didn’t ring much later. I’d debated making an effort and changing but I wasn’t about to wear jeans or a skirt to hang out so that didn’t leave many options. Brushing your hair wasn’t nothing either so that counted in my opinion.
Vince had gone through the same train of thought as well apparently because he looked super cozy in some sweatpants and a hoodie that had gotten slightly wet, presumably from his walk from his car to the building as our parking situation was really shitty. He stepped inside and reached up to run his hand through his damp hair before shaking his head, making little droplets of water fly in every direction.
“This is why they don’t allow dogs in here”, I laughed, gesturing to my shirt that now looked like an abstract splash painting.
“Let me make it up to you with some of the best food you’ve ever had because I brought lots” was his response as he lifted the bag of take out while slipping off his shoes by the door, hair now sticking in all directions.
“Alright Dunner, show me what you got”, I said with a wink over my shoulder as I made my way into the kitchen, continuing my bold streak from earlier. I had also learned by now that nicknames were even more important than handshakes as a hockey player. I was pretty sure I’d heard him mumble something along the line of ‘Gladly’ but I was already too far ahead of him to be absolutely certain.
“You’re watching Grey’s Anatomy? Isn’t it like crazy inaccurate?”, he asked with a look at the TV in the living room as I hadn’t bothered to pause the episode.
“Yeah of course it is but I still like it somehow. It’s like the hospital equivalent of bad trash TV shows so it’s kind of my guilty pleasure.”
“Okay give me a quick summary of what I need to know for this episode so we can watch it while we eat.”
I looked at him like he was crazy but he urged me on, looking up at me expectantly from where he’d sat down on the couch. Eventually I gave in, trying to keep explanations as short as possible but even then it took me quite a while to get through, yet Vince never once looked like he was bored. He didn’t lose his interest in it after that either, only looking away from the screen to decide what he was going to eat next, all of the choices delicious just like he promised.
Stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving the both of us stayed unmoved on the couch watching episode after episode. Somehow my legs had ended up on his lap and his hands were resting on my knees, drawing slow circles as we made eye contact from time to time. Every few minutes his hand would inch up a little and with him biting his lip as he did it there was no way I would stop him, any doubts about his intentions long gone by now. I couldn’t stop the smile spreading on my lips as his hand finally reached the top of my thigh, softly kneading the sensitive part on the inside. If I was into hand porn, I would have orgasmed already at the sight of his hands wrapped around my thigh.
“What are you grinning about?”, Vince asked with an easy smile himself, looking at me in a way that told me that Meredith had long lost his attention.
“Just waiting for you to finally make a move.”
“I was trying to be somewhat of a gentlemen but I really can’t help myself with you wearing those pants..”
“Well you seem to be awful at it so don’t be one then”, I teased back feeling confident yet again.
In a flash he had somehow - I’ll probably keep wondering about the details for the rest of my life - managed to lift me up enough to shift me so I was straddling his lap, now turned on by his manhandling and the way he was currently looking up at me. For a second both of us stared at each other, trying to figure out if this was really going to happen. Vince lifted his hand from my hip to my face, slowly pulling me down towards him.
Our lips didn’t even get the chance to connect before my phone started ringing.
I jumped up from his lap, immediately recognizing the ringtone I had set for all work calls and almost kneeing him in the crown jewels in the process. One look at my screen told me that it was an emergency which prompted me to run into my room cursing. I quickly pulled on the pair of scrubs I’d laid out in the morning, one hand still pulling the top down while the other was trying to attach my badge properly by the time I made it back into the living room. Vince hadn’t even moved from the couch yet, eyes wide and legs still comfortably spread apart, a sight that made me want to climb back on top of him but unfortunately I couldn’t do that.
“I’m so sorry but I gotta go, you don’t need to rush though. Feel free to keep on watching if you want but please don’t rob us and make sure the door is closed if you decide to leave after all, it locks automatically. The food was delicious thank you very much and bye!”
I barely heard him saying bye as well before I was already through the door, not really looking forward to spending the next few hours in the chaos that usually came with emergency calls. Especially after how much I’d enjoyed spending time with Vince and how much I wished that we would’ve just skipped all of the testing-the-waters stuff and would’ve just went at it like madmen.
-
The weekend couldn’t arrive fast enough and by the time it was Saturday I was ready to abandon all of my plans so I could sleep the rest of the day. I’d gotten in late last night after working overtime and I probably would have stayed in bed till noon if it wasn’t for Rachel and Mariah bursting into my room at nine in the morning. At least they didn’t wake me at the crack of dawn and the cake they were carrying to my bed looked pretty delicious as well.
“Look at you, another year older and yet still sexy as fuck”, Rachel exclaimed as she hopped onto the bed beside me after they’d finished their horrible rendition of Happy Birthday. Mariah settled on the other side of me and I guess my friends knew me well enough because we didn’t move from that position except to grab some more food and booze until it was time to get ready for tonight. Best roommates ever.
“You need to look extra hot tonight, I want Vince to lose his shit when he sees you.”
Ever since I’d sent the screenshot to Rachel and told her about the couch situation, she had been on my back about the thing. Something about me needing to bag rich hot athletes for her sake. I didn’t even argue with her anymore, only rolling my eyes in sync with Mariah whenever she brought it up.
To my surprise Vince hadn’t been deterred by my hasty exit a few days ago, something that had definitely surprised me. It wasn’t the first time that my job had cockblocked me and it definitely won’t be the last and I’d met more than my fair share of guys who were absolutely not into that at all. The fascination with nurses died really fast once people realized how much time we spent on the job.
Vince and I had texted constantly since he spent the day with me and he had somehow managed to make casual conversation with a flirty undertone the entire time. We’d already established that neither of us was looking for anything serious right now but I had decided that I would definitely not say no to some fun with him.
Some birthday sex would be great for starters. I let Rachel curl my hair while I focused on perfecting my make up because I wanted to look good tonight, not just for Vince but also because by next weekend I’d already be packed so this was really my last big hurrah before moving back home.
The thing about spending most of my days make up free in sports bras, comfortable panties and running shoes was that if I did bother to go out, I put in a lot of effort. I was determined to turn heads tonight so I pulled on a black lace bodysuit that practically presented my boobs on a silver tray, a pair of jeans that made my ass look spectacular and some black stilettos that I hoped wouldn’t kill my feet in a few hours. I had to go braless under the bodysuit, the mesh part on the back making that very obvious and I had a feeling that Vince wouldn’t exactly mind either.
“Girl I’d totally bang you because you look so hot but that outfit shows off everything that’s wrong with you”, Rachel said as we all examined ourselves one last time in front of the full-length mirror in my room and took pictures. I shot her a confused look.
“Wait what’s wrong with me?”
“Well for one your ass looks bangin and so do your boobs and I’m pretty sure that I could tell if you had a dick wearing that and people with dicks are my type soooo..”, she trailed off and both Mariah and I turned towards her with an incredulous look before bursting out laughing, all the day drinking taking its toll already. It wasn’t exactly new for Rachel to stop making any sense once she had some alcohol in her but it was still just as entertaining every single time.
“I can’t believe you’re complaining about her not having a dick right now”, Mariah sighed and I couldn’t stop giggling at my idiotic friends.
“I’m not complaining! I’m just saying that I need a dick to-“
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. Just – just for once in your life be at least somewhat normal please”, Mariah interrupted her exasperated and the both of them continuing to bicker still had me laughing by the time we climbed into the back of our Uber.
We were the last to arrive of course, because Rachel had insisted on us being fashionably late so by the time we made it inside the bar I could already spot my friends sitting in the back. She had also insisted on me wearing a stupid Birthday Girl sash, reminding me how many free drinks it would get me, but I drew the line at the tiara she had pulled out of her purse as well. I was too old for the full 21st birthday look after all.
After I was hugged by everyone and had received all of the birthday wishes and presents I realized that Vince wasn’t among the group, which was weird because we’d been texting all day and he had asked to confirm the time and place again just this morning.
It was as if my thought made him appear because soon I felt two hands gently grab my waist while his cologne infiltrated my senses. He spun me around and the force of the move had me reach out to rest my hands on his shoulders so I wouldn’t fall over. I knew he had done that on purpose.
We were standing so close that we would have definitely gotten in trouble if this were a middle school dance and the way he looked down at me right now made me curse everything that came to my mind because I just wanted to drag him to the nearest bathroom so he could bend me over the counter but of course that wouldn’t be acceptable in front of all my friends.
“Why didn’t you tell me that today is your birthday? Now I’m going to have to make up for the fact that I didn’t get you a present.”
I had a feeling that I wouldn’t mind whatever this making up entailed, if the way he tightened his grip while looking at me as if he was thinking about bathroom counters as well was any indicator.
“Because you don’t just tell people that it’s your birthday, that’s weird.” He pulled me even tighter then, wrapping his arms around me and wishing me a happy birthday after giving me a kiss on the cheek that gave me goosebumps. Before he had the chance to pull away however, I leaned up on my tippy toes because even with heels he was still taller than me and whispered “I can’t wait for the making up for it part though” in his ear.
He groaned in response and he dropped his hands to give my hips a squeeze before reluctantly letting go of me. Only now did I spot the two guys behind him that were all watching us with amused expressions, which had to be the friends he said he’d bring. Introductions were quick and I didn’t even bother to introduce everyone to Vince and his gang because the group was so big that the three of them wouldn’t be able to remember many names either way.
We settled into one of the booths and Rachel practically pushed me into the seat next to Vince, not that I minded of course. Conversation flowed easily, as did the drinks, and soon I found myself climbing out of the booth because I had just about consumed my body weight in liquid and desperately needed to go to the bathroom for something that unfortunately wasn’t sex. Walking over I could feel a slight buzz already but not to the extent that would make me stumble in my heels, perfect for a night out.
By the time Mariah and I returned I could tell that another one of Rachel’s plans was in action because now there was one more person sitting at our table, meaning there wasn’t enough space left for both Mariah and I. I was about to move to sit with some other friends in the booth next to ours when Vince, who was conveniently seated at the edge of our booth, told me to sit on his lap and that was an offer I would never turn down.
He grabbed my hips to pull me closer and onto his lap as he said: “Don’t worry I won’t bite.”
I couldn’t resist messing with him though, so I purposefully shifted closer to his crotch and leaned towards him so only he could hear me as I whispered: “What if I want you to though?” I could tell he was trying to suppress a groan and he gripped me even tighter, pulling me back into him.
Poor Vince, his balls were going to be the same color as a Blues jersey soon enough.
Unfortunately I couldn’t elaborate to make the situation even worse for him because I was being pulled into the conversation at the table. I could feel him growing hard underneath my ass though and the fact that I was able to rile him up so easily really did wonders for my self-confidence..
After I could tell that he had calmed down again I decided to put him out of his misery. Well, kind of. Me leaning across one of the pool tables as I took my shot gave him a perfect view of my cleavage or of me bending over after all, depending on where he stood.
“Are you always this bad?”, I asked after he missed yet another shot.
“No, usually I’m average at least but I guess I’m a little bit distracted right now.” He didn’t even try to hide him staring at my boobs as I took my turn. We’d both long dropped any pretense about where this was headed. After I made my shot I walked around the table to get a better angle for the next one, accidentally brushing up against Vince who now had a perfect view of my ass.
“I hope you’re only average at pool and not at anything else”, I teased him with a look over my shoulder after watching the ball roll into the hole the way I’d planned before straightening up again.
“Let me take you home so my neighbors can confirm me being anything but average”, he responded, his voice deep as he moved next to me, one of his big hands resting on my lower back to play with the fabric there, the heat of his hands practically burning my skin as I looked up at him.
Our intense eye contact was interrupted by one of the waitresses who walked up to the pool table sheepishly with a drink on her tray.
“Hey, that guy over there sent you this and I’m supposed to tell you to come over to him so you don’t have to, uh, keep playing with a - um - loser. His words not mine, sorry.” She pointed to a guy a few tables over who was decently good looking but radiated Asshole Energy off of him, his incredibly rude move not really helping either. Even if it wasn’t for Vince standing next to me I wouldn’t have touched him with a ten foot pole.
Vince had tensed up at the words and I watched him ball his hands into his fists, every muscle in his body tightening with anger. I had no doubt that because of his hockey experience he could hold his own in a fight but it wasn’t something I needed tonight. I thanked the waitress before setting the drink down and making a show of turning towards Vince, one hand trailing up from his biceps to the back of his head so I could interrupt the stare off he was currently having with the other guy.
“Don’t worry, I’m flattered that I seem to be able to distract you so much. To be honest I can’t really concentrate either because now I really want you to make me scream so loud that your neighbors file noise complaints.” Vince choked slightly and then reached for the drink that was sitting next to me, taking three big gulps while looking at me, his eyes dark.
He then grabbed my hand and I didn’t miss the smug look he threw at the other guy over my shoulder before pulling me towards the backdoor of the bar, the pool game abandoned without a second thought. The air outside had cooled down a bit by now but I didn’t even get the chance to acknowledge that because Vince had me pushed against the wall in a second, one hand resting next to my head while the other reached up to cup my face, dropping his head for a kiss.
All this teasing had finally led to this.
It was rough and yet sensual at the same time, his lips demanding and it didn’t take long until his tongue licked along my bottom lip, asking for entrance. He then deepened the kiss even further and I reached up to bury my hands in his stupidly perfect and soft hair, eliciting a throaty groan. When he pushed one of his legs in between mine I couldn’t help the moan that escaped me in turn at the delicious friction, followed by yet another one as he dropped his head to suck along my neck. I could feel how hard he was and it turned me on beyond imagination.
The thought that I would probably let him fuck me in this alley right now brought me back down to earth because this was not how I envisioned my night going.
“Vince, hold up”, I murmured and as soon as my words registered with him he pulled away, both of us panting.
“What’s wrong?”
I laughed at his expression, he looked at me as if he was truly worried that he’d overstepped a boundary. As if I hadn’t thrown hints left and right for the last couple of days. His swollen lips made it hard to concentrate because I just wanted to sink my teeth into them until he groaned again the way he had only seconds ago and I silently cursed his stupid perfect lips. I wondered what damage they could do.
“Nothing’s wrong, nothing at all. I just wanted to say let’s go back inside for like another hour or so and then we can take off.” The smile that quickly spread on his face made it obvious that he was going to say something not-PG-13 before he opened his mouth again to ask:
“Do you think your friends would mind if I dragged you home right this second?”
I had to laugh at that but it quickly died in my throat as he moved his hands to my hips to pull me close again before crashing his lips back onto mine. The going back to the others part would apparently be slightly delayed but with the way his lips and body moved against mine right now I would probably agree to anything if it meant getting to stay right in this position a bit longer.
This time it was less rushed and frantic and instead he took his time to explore every inch of my mouth while his hands wandered my body. Mine were roaming as well, from the neck down his muscular shoulders around to the front before finally creeping up his back below his shirt. I enjoyed the way I could feel his muscles tense under my touch but eventually we had to pull away from each other. We’d spent way too much time out here as it is.
“Let’s go back inside, the faster we get back the sooner we can leave and besides they’re probably wondering what we’re doing out here so long.”
The smug looks we received once we made our way back to the tables after I fixed my hair and make up and Vince did whatever he had to do to conceal his massive hard on made it clear that everyone had a good idea of what had gone on outside though. I’m pretty sure Rachel would have high fived me if it weren’t for the people sitting between us.
I sat on Vince’s lap again and this time it was torture for the both of us to wait until it was finally an acceptable time to make a getaway. I let Rachel take all the presents for me and she made Vince give her his address and phone number before she let him pull me into the back of an Uber.
I was pressed against him for the entire ride, his hand resting way higher on my leg than technically publicly acceptable. With every turn or bump in the road he accidentally brushed my core and at more than one point I had to hide my face in his broad chest so the driver wouldn’t hear the soft moans that couldn’t be stopped. I could tell that he was trying his best not to get too handsy as not to cause a scene but once we were alone in the elevator of his building all bets were off.
He walked me back against the doors, pushing one of his legs in between my own again and kissed me with a force that made me glad that I had tons of metal behind me as leverage to push back. He only pulled away once the little ‘ding’ could be heard and even then he only held off until he had me inside his apartment, barely waiting a second before he shrugged off his jacket, quickly moving onto mine.
Somehow we managed to make it onto the couch without breaking apart our kiss and I barely had time to admire his floor to ceiling windows before he pulled me close until I was straddling his lap. His lips were working on my neck again and I reminded him to not leave any marks there because I had to work on Monday morning, which only prompted him to move down lower, sucking at the skin right above the lace of my bodysuit.
“No one will see those then”, he murmured against my breasts and I moaned as he reached up to palm them through the material. By the time he was done I had several purple marks littering my cleavage and I really needed to see more of him so I motioned for him to take his shirt off, watching in awe as he reached back to pull it over his head in the perfect way only guys managed to.
His body could only be described as a work of art and I could tell that he worked really hard for it as I traced the outline of his abs, muscles contracting and goosebumps rising at my touch. The city lights made for the perfect lighting and the way his skin glowed in their reflection belonged in a museum if ever captured.
Vince reached for the button of my jeans and looked at me as if to ask if I was okay with that. I nodded before standing up, trying to get out of my jeans and heels in a quick but still somewhat sexy motion but I probably succeeded only halfway. He didn’t seem deterred by my struggle at all, the hungry look in his eyes never once vanishing.
As soon as I stood upright again Vince reached up to trace the lace embellishments, slowly moving his hands down lower towards where I really wanted them. Considering the fact that the bodysuit had already been pretty revealing in itself there wasn’t really much ‘new’ skin to see so far but he still looked at me with an intensity that almost made me shiver.
He reached to pull me down on him again but instead I surprised him by sinking down to my knees in front of him, his breath audibly hitching in his throat. For a second he was silent but as soon as I poked my tongue out to trace the ‘V’ on his lower stomach he let out a low moan, throwing his head back.
“Impatient much?”, I teased him, pleasantly surprised at my ability to make him almost lose his shit without even really doing anything.
“You have no idea. I’ve thought about this for days”, he admitted and I only smiled in return, moving to pull his jeans down along with his boxers without revealing that I had done the same. He got up to step out of both while I was focused on watching his dick bounce with the movement, amazed at the size of it.
As soon as he made himself comfortable again I grabbed the base with one hand while resting the other one on his thigh as I moved to lick the drops of precum that adorned the tip. When my tongue made contact he moved one of his hands into my hair, holding it back so he could get a better view.
“Fuck, you look so good like this”, he cursed when I finally wrapped my lips around him, taking the head into my mouth while swirling my tongue around him and taking him a bit further. I removed my lips and I could tell he was about to protest but any words died in his mouth when I started sucking his balls, reaching up to pump his length that was already slick from my spit with my hand.
He seemed to find his voice again once I licked up the underside of his dick but it was only a string of curses that turned into moans when I took him into my mouth as far as I could, my nose touching his pelvic bone. I relaxed my throat and swallowed around him, my name falling from his lips again and again as I reached up to massage his balls at the same time. I looked up to see him watching me with his pupils blown, hair sticking in all directions from running his hands through it so many times and his mouth slightly open. His arms were spread out beside him on the back of the couch and I wanted to take a picture to commemorate the moment, wanting to remember this forever. He had definitely never looked better and no one could convince me otherwise.
The hand in my hair helped me set a rhythm as I bobbed my head while licking around him and Vince was a moaning and cursing mess above me. It didn’t take long before he quite literally pulled me off him, running his hand across his face and taking a few calming breaths.
“You’re incredible but I don’t want to cum yet”, he finally murmured when he helped me back up and I wasn’t sure if he was only complimenting my blowjob-skills or more but the way he was looking at me right now made any thought besides wanting him inside me disappear.
“Vince I need you”, I practically begged and he quickly nodded before standing up with me still in his lap, reaching out to grab the back of my thighs to prevent me from slipping down. He somehow managed to walk up the stairs with me still wrapped around him while I trailed kisses along his collar bones and it was probably the hottest non-sexual thing I’d ever experienced with a guy.
He turned on a soft light once inside his room and while I would have loved to have a look around I was pretty distracted by the way he literally threw me on the bed before crawling on top of me, my legs falling apart to make space for him as if it was the most natural thing on earth.
Vince kissed down my breasts before suddenly stopping somewhere above my belly button.
“Okay I have to admit I’m a bit lost here, as hot as you look in it how the fuck do I get this thing off?” I probably shouldn’t laugh in such a somewhat serious situation but his helpless expression did nothing to stop the giggles that escaped my mouth. He was smiling as well and I was glad that we could laugh about the slight hiccup without it turning awkward.
I quickly reached down to snap open the buttons before sitting up and pulling the piece of lace over my head, discarding it in some corner of his room now completely naked.
“Much better”, he murmured, one of his hands reaching out to grab a hold of my boobs while the other one wrapped around my back, lowering us back onto the mattress. Eventually he trailed his kisses over the part of my skin that was marked up by him until he sucked one of my nipples into his mouth, his hand taking care of the other one.
Slowly but surely he kissed his way down my body, skipping over the part where I needed him most to suck along the inside of my thighs. The sensation rushed through me, my core already throbbing from days of built up expectations and I let out a whine. I was tempted to try and close my legs so I could at least get some kind of friction but his shoulders between them made that impossible.
“Patience baby, don’t you know that good things come to those who wait?”, he murmured and I shuddered at the feeling of his breath fanning across my heat. I didn’t even have the time to think about the fact that he had just called me baby or that I was actually a firm believer in good things happening to those who worked for them because he reached down to drag one of his fingers through my folds and all thoughts left my body.
“Shit, you’re so wet already”, he said softly but I was unable to give him any response besides a frantic nod and another desperate whine.
I’d fantasized about this for the last couple of days of course but nothing came close to the reality of one of his thick fingers dipping into my core. He teased my entrance for a bit, only pushing inside to his first knuckle but then I whined again and he pushed it in as far as he could. I was so lost in the feeling that I hadn’t even noticed him moving back up my body until he littered the valley between my breasts with heated kisses.
“So tight. I can’t wait to feel you around my cock.”
As if the words he’d moaned into my ear weren’t already enough to make any coherent thoughts disappear, he added a second finger and I arched my back into him, the change of angle just right in a way that had me gripping the sheets so tightly that my knuckles turned white. He reached dropped down to tease my nipples, sucking and licking them expertly while his hand thrust up into me.
My moans were already filling the room but then he started circling my clit with his thumb and I knew that I wouldn’t last much longer, the anticipation and desperation definitely helping to speed things along. He looked up at me to watch my reactions and the sight of him with his mouth latched onto my breast was almost enough to send me over the edge by itself.
“I’m so close Vince, please don’t stop”, I begged and this seemed to spur him on further, his movements turning even more eager as he continued to place sloppy kisses along my skin. It was the combination of everything he was doing to me that finally brought me over the edge, the release so sweet after needing it for so long.
He made sure to extend my orgasm as long as possible, only pulling his hand away after I whimpered slightly, the stimulation a bit much now. His softly kissed his way back down and along my thighs now and I could tell that he wasn’t quite done with me yet.
“How’s the birthday girl feeling right now?”, he asked with a teasing smile and normally I probably would have smacked him for this but right now I would tolerate it because I was still in my blissful post-orgasmic state.
“Amazing so far, could do better though.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Mhm, I’m pretty sure I was promised some making up for the lack of a present and I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet.”
“Well excuse me then while I go back to work.” And with that he flattened his tongue and boldly licked one long stripe across my slit.
He started out slowly and I was glad because I was still a bit sensitive from my last orgasm, lapping at my entrance and pushing his tongue inside of me, making me gasp. It didn’t take long however until he grabbed my hips to pull me closer and onto his mouth, pushing my legs up to expose me even further to him and ultimately giving him better access.
When he sucked my clit into his mouth I couldn’t help but arch my back off the mattress again, burying my hands in his hair as he reached up to hold me still. This guy’s lips weren’t just pretty, they were apparently amazingly talented as well.
He replaced his tongue with one of his thick fingers, slowly pushing in and soon his name fell off my lips in a religious chant as he added yet another one, curling them upwards for maximum pleasure. I could feel my high coming from a mile away and Vince apparently must have too by the way I was grinding myself against his face because he quite literally dove back in, determined to shatter my word.
And shatter my world he did.
I was pretty sure I would have floated away as I reached my high if it wasn’t for Vince’s hand across my stomach keeping me grounded. My legs were still shaking with the aftershocks of one of the arguably - no hands down - best orgasms I’d had while getting head in my life. By the time I was finally able to open my eyes again he was wiping his face before grinning down at me.
“You look so fucked out already and we haven’t even gotten to that part yet”, he teased and I let out a chuckle before pushing at his chest. Leave it to him to make fun of me after he was the one who put me in this situation. Not that I was complaining of course.
“Don’t worry, it’s a good look on you. One that I’d definitely like to see more often.” He leaned down to nip at my neck then, his cock prodding at my thigh.
“If you keep doing that you definitely will”, I responded with an airy laugh, still kind of breathless. All talk died down after that however when he captured my lips with his again as he crawled on top of me, settling between my legs. Kissing him was definitely addicting and the fact that I could taste myself while doing so only made it ten times more hot.
Vince rolled his hips against mine, groaning into my mouth when his cock dragged against my skin while I couldn’t stop the moan escaping my lips either. Breaking the kiss he pulled back in a way that had him in a push-up position above me, giving me a moment to enjoy the view. His hair was sticking in all kinds of directions, his pupils so blown that they almost seemed black instead of the usual beautiful green and his muscles were flexing from holding the position.
“Still want to keep going?”, he asked and in my daze it took me a second to realize that this was him asking for consent. I had no doubt that he wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want him to but this, him offering to stop when he had done so much for me already while not getting off yet in return, was sweet. Especially since I had made it more than obvious that stopping was definitely not on my mind.
I moved to flip us over then, straddling his thighs and wrapping my hand around his dick, pumping him a few times and in case that wasn’t confirmation enough for him I leaned down to whisper a “definitely” in his ear.
“Condoms?”
“Top drawer on your right.”
Only because we weren’t in the middle of his huge bed was I able to reach said drawer, grabbing one of the foil packets out of the box and ripping it open with my teeth before rolling it down on him. I scooted up enough to line his cock with my entrance and while I tried to watch Vince as I sunk down on him the way my eyes fluttered shut at the sensation was out of my control.
While there had definitely been enough foreplay to make the sliding in part easy it was still quite a stretch, one so amazing however that it had the both of us moaning at the same time.
“Shit you feel incredible”, he breathed and I nodded my head in agreement, too lost in the pleasure to form any coherent sentences. Rolling my hips against him created some amazing friction that had my head spinning as I clenched my muscles, eliciting throaty groans from him.
Vince reached for my hips, gripping them tightly as he helped guide me along, my clit catching on his pelvic bone with every backward movement. “You got one more in you babe?”, he asked and to my surprise I could tell that I did. The fact that I could already feel it bubbling inside of me spoke volumes of our chemistry in bed together. This was a friends with benefits arrangement I could definitely get behind.
He sat up then, changing the angle at which his cock dragged against my walls and also making it possible for him to take one of my nipples into his mouth, gently grazing his teeth against it while tightening his grip on my hip as he thrust up into me. At this point I was a moaning mess on top of him but I honestly didn’t care. I hadn’t had sex this good in a while and the way he looked up at me in awe made it impossible to feel anything but sexy.
I didn’t even need any extra help to reach my third orgasm of the night with his name falling off my lips, the feeling so strong that my mind was absolutely blank and I saw stars dancing across the back of my eyelids as I arched into him with my eyes shut. He made sure to let me ride it out, groaning as he felt my walls tighten around him but as soon as I slumped against him he turned us around so he was on top of me, never once pulling out.
The pace at which he was chasing his own high now was relentless and hard and I would have held on for dear life if he hadn’t raised my arms to keep them above my head. One of his hands easily encased both of my wrists while he used his other to keep at least some of his weight off of me. I knew that a fourth orgasm was off the table, I was way too exhausted for that by now but he still felt amazing inside of me. I wrapped my legs around him to allow him deeper, the smack of our skin and our moans so loud that I was glad that we didn’t have any nosy roommates right next door. Those noise complaints from the neighbors I’d mentioned earlier might still roll in though.
With this pace it didn’t take long for his thrusts to lose all rhythm and I could tell that he wouldn’t last much longer. I clenched around him to bring him even closer and he groaned into the crook of my neck where he had buried his face, my name and some colorful curses falling off his lips. He readjusted his position so he could lean up enough to look at me while still holding my wrists above my head and I watched him throw his head back in pleasure as he slammed deep inside of me one last time, face contorting in pleasure as he reached his high. I could feel him pulsing inside of me and a pleasant shudder ran through me, making me sigh at the feeling. Perhaps this was my body’s way of saying girl if I could have, I would have.
He let go of my wrists then and I wrapped my arms around him as he dropped down on top of me. We both caught our breath for a few seconds which honestly wasn’t easy with the extra weight on my chest but it was a nice feeling. He had to carefully pull out and roll off of me eventually, throwing the condom next to the bed to dispose of later. For now it was nice to lay beside each other, covered in a sheen of sweat and still panting.
After finally landing back on planet earth I looked to my right at the alarm clock waiting on the nightstand, only now realizing how late it had gotten. Vince lifted his head enough to check the time as well and let out a light groan at the sight.
“You can spend the night if you want but we should definitely shower before that. Even if it wasn’t your birthday – well technically it’s not anymore – I’m not some dick that would kick you out in the middle of the night.”
I was surprised at his offer, I’d been with guys who were those dicks but I was even more surprised when he told me to pick something to sleep in from his closet before pulling on a pair of boxers and getting up to grab waters for the both of us.
I decided to postpone this until after showering, quickly making my way to his ensuite to use the toilet. I saw enough UTIs at work, I didn’t need them following me home. I was trying to wipe my make up off as best as I could with a washcloth and the face wash from his counter when he returned to his bathroom, a new toothbrush triumphantly in his hand.
“Found this in my junk drawer in the kitchen but I’ll be honest, I have no idea how it got there. The wrapping is unopened tho”, he admitted sheepishly and I laughed.
“Doesn’t matter, I’ll take it.”
Our shower was quick, both of us too exhausted for any more funny business but if my gaze had dropped from time to time appreciatively no one would ever know. He had an amazing body and I would have to be a nun not to acknowledge that.
Especially while he was naked in the shower.
I definitely wasn’t a nun.
Looking for clothes to sleep in turned out to be more difficult than I’d originally thought because of his affinity to clothes that were at least one size too big. Most of them would reach my knees in a really unflattering way and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep while drowning in fabric. I tried on three, neatly putting them back afterwards and actually contemplating sleeping in only a pair of his boxers before finally finding one that didn’t make me look like a kid.
I could tell that it was an old shirt, perhaps from a previous team, worn down over time with a slightly faded print but it was comfortable and it smelled like him, even if I doubted that he had worn it anytime recently.
Vince was already tucked into bed by the time I stepped back into his bedroom, scrolling through his phone but putting it down on the nightstand once I got closer. I could see that he’d searched for a second charger so I could plug my phone in overnight as well and it was such a little gesture but yet it made me smile.
“I prefer to sleep on the right side, I hope you don’t mind”, he said as I climbed under the cover beside him. I shook my head no before responding:
“Nah, I actually like the left side better.”
“See, we’re meant to be fuck buddies.”
“I could already tell from the three orgasms but hey, if that’s what it takes for you to realize that.”
“You have a point there.”
Any other time and I certainly would’ve stayed up for a while longer so we could talk but right now I knew I wouldn’t last long. For a second I wasn’t sure how to do this, would it be weird to cuddle?
Vince made my decision easy however when he pulled me close until my back was flush against him, wrapping his arm around my waist. After our exhausting shenanigans earlier it took neither of us long to fall asleep.
The next morning I woke super early, my inner clock not allowing me to sleep past seven despite staying up late. I’d turned around in my sleep to lay on my stomach but Vince had somehow managed to keep his arm around me and get even closer.
I was slightly worried for my safety because of the fact that I had managed to sleep through a 200 pound guy basically laying on top of me but I’d slept like a baby. I could tell that Vince was still asleep by the even breaths that fanned across my neck but one part of him definitely wasn’t, poking my side. Bless the male population for their sleepy boners.
I was trying to let him sleep as long as I could, I really did, but with him so close to me and the images of last night combined with the very interesting dream I’d just woken up from burned into my memory I couldn’t help myself. I slowly turned in his arms so we were back to the position we’d fell asleep in, on our sides and pressed together spooning.
Even through my shirt I could feel his body radiating heat and if the night had been warmer it definitely would’ve been too much but right now I just wished for all barriers between our bodies to disappear.
My shifting had apparently woken Vince up successfully because he let out a throaty groan before, consciously or not, rocking against my ass and burying his face in my neck.
“Morning”, he said and I’m not gonna lie his husky morning voice did things to me that didn’t exactly help my situation.
“Morning, how’d you sleep?”, I asked, turning my head slightly so I wasn’t having this conversation with his incredibly comfortable pillow.
“Could’ve been longer but I don’t mind. Now that I’m up however..”, he trailed off, lightly biting my neck and moving his hand from my waist to grab my boob, rocking into me again, this time definitely on purpose.
This was definitely a friends with benefits situation I could get behind.
-
Somehow Vince managed to weasel his way into my life after that. He’d come over after I finished a shift at the hospital, spend the night and leave me incredibly satisfied the next morning when both of us went our separate ways again. Our time with each other was pretty short, only a week, but somehow I’d had more sex in that one week than in the last few months combined.
My last shift at the hospital on Saturday was, for a lack of better words, sad as fuck. So many people came up to me, telling me how much they would miss me and what a great addition I had been over the past year. When they brought a cake into the break room with a sweet message written on top of it I couldn’t help the tears that welled up. I could see Rachel subtly wipe at her eyes as well and I hugged her tightly.
“Remember our first day of classes? Oh how things have changed since then”, she muttered against me and I nodded. One thing that hadn’t changed however was our friendship. She was the reason I had come to Toronto, where she had grown up but it had been five years since I left my home to go to college and I knew that it was time to go back to my family and childhood friends.
“Don’t think you’ll be getting rid of me this soon, I’ll call you all the time and with there only being a one hour time difference between Toronto and St. Louis you have no excuse to avoid me.”
“As if I could ever avoid you, you little shit. But if your hometown insists on having you back I’ll allow it, I guess.” Her insulting me told me that she was okay again so I let go of her, the both of us still sniffling a bit as we each grabbed a piece of the cake.
When I finally made my ay back home that night Vince was already there. Mariah had probably let him in. There’s been some raised eyebrows at first but after seeing him here every day neither of my roommates was surprised when he knocked at our apartment door. Somehow he seemed to sense that I wasn’t in a talking mood right now, especially about having to say goodbye to the place that had been my home for the past year.
I was excited to see my family and friends in St. Louis again, don’t get me wrong, but goodbyes were never easy.
He greeted me with one of his comforting hugs that I’d already grown accustomed to before dropping his head to press a soft kiss on the top of my head before pulling me to the bathroom.
My shampoo and other toiletries were some of the last few things that hadn’t been stuffed in boxes and duffel bags yet and the sight made tears well up in my eyes.
“It’s okay, you know. I don’t like leaving here either”, he murmured in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind, moving us so we both got hit by the stream of hot water. I wanted to forget everything but the feel of his naked body pressed against me but right now I knew I was too in my head to actually be able to enjoy it. Later maybe.
“But you get to come back every summer for a couple of months. I don’t know how long it’ll take until I can visit everyone again and even then it’ll probably only be for a few days.”
“That’s true. But your friends can also visit you. And in a few weeks I’ll be down as well and then you’ll be so annoyed by me constantly bugging you that you won’t be able to miss your friends here anymore.” My sniffle turned into a laugh at his words and I almost swallowed a big gulp of water in that moment, making both of us break into fits of laughter.
I was glad I’d have him with me again in a few weeks. Hopefully at least. We’d talked about our situation and I told Vince to hit me up again once he’d made it to St. Louis too in a few weeks and while he said he would, I knew that there was the possibility that he might not. I didn’t have the opportunity to dwell on the thought too long though because he’d managed to distract me yet again when he placed searing hot kisses along my shoulder.
If he hadn’t managed to get me out of my shell back in the hospital I never would’ve ended up with him in the shower right now. Or bent over the mattress a few minutes later.
Vince Dunn, the arrogant professional athlete, had turned out to be nothing like I’d expected and I had never been more happy to be wrong.
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fakeyellow · 4 years
Text
A betting pool starts amongst the Edenbrook staff on who Dr. Lila Valentine is dating.
It was yet another day in the locker room as the interns stripped off their clothes and put on their scrubs. There was the usual mindless sound of chatter as they asked each other how their weekends had went when Mitch paused, his muscled chest on full display as he stared imperiously at his fellow interns.
“So what’s the deal with Dr. Valentine? Is she seeing anyone?” he asked.
“I’m out,” Esme slipped on her top and walked out of the room.
Mitch didn’t spare her another glance as he leaned against the lockers, his arms crossed, “I bet she’s with Dr. Ramsay.”
Sothy looked uneasy, his usual grin gone from his face, “Dude, that’s not cool. Dr. Valentine’s a good doctor.”
“I don’t mean she slept her way into the diagnostic team,” Mitch said, rolling his eyes, “She was the best competitor and she won the position. I’m just saying, I think they also have a thing.”
“I don’t know,” Gary interjected, his face turning thoughtful, “Dr. Varma seems to really like her too. She keeps complaining about how good Dr. Valentine is.”
“Nah, you guys are both wrong,” Sothy said at ease now, his grin reappearing, “She’s definitely with Bryce. Have you seen that dude?”
While Mitch had indeed seen Bryce in the changing room, he was not as impressed with him as Sothy seemed to be, “Fifty bucks she’s with Ramsay.”
The other two looked at each other curiously before shrugging.
“You’re on.”
Gary Garrison was having a good day.
Sure, Dr. Varma had shut him down immediately when he’d asked about her relationship with Dr. Valentine, but he was confident that his intuition was correct.
As snarky as she usually was with Dr. Valentine, he hadn’t heard her talking about anyone else quite so often. Not to mention when he’d first been introduced to her, Dr. Varma had had called her one of the best damn doctors in the hospital.
Gary had no doubt that there was some sort of passion beneath their friendly rivalry. He was going to win a cool $100 from the others.
“So, do you know if Dr. Varma and Dr. Valentine are in a relationship?” Gary asked pleasantly.
The nurse he’d been talking to frowned at him, startled by the sudden change in subject, “I don’t know. Why do you want to know?”
Gary suddenly realised that the bet he’d made with Mitch and Sothy was probably something he should keep to himself.
“Oh, no reason!” He said loudly, feeling himself starting to sweat, “I just wanted to know if she was… free?”
The nurse looked wholly unconvinced and she continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer.
“I-well-“ Gary stammered before hanging his head in defeat, “I may have made a bet that Dr. Valentine is with Dr. Varma.”
He looked to the ground, sheepishly scratching his head as he waited to be reprimanded.
But when he looked up to meet the nurse’s eyes, she seemed positively thrilled.
“A bet?” She asked, her eyes burning with excitement, “Count me in.”
There were few people at Edenbrook who did not know Dr. Lila Valentine after her tumultuous first year.
Even if they didn’t know her personally, they knew of her: the doctor who had taken the hospital by storm, the doctor who had nearly lost her license by stealing from a pharmaceutical company to help a much loved patient, the doctor who had saved the life of the new Chief of Medicine when even he hadn’t been able to figure out what was wrong with him, the doctor who had become the youngest fellow on the diagnostic team.
There were numerous stories told about her and while they were filled with varying levels of truth, there was still one underlying consensus:
Dr. Lila Valentine was a damn good doctor and a damn good person.
It was hard not to like a person like Dr. Valentine, ever diligent and willing to help out others. Despite efforts to sabotage her reputation, there was hardly anyone who actually had something bad to say about her- most people only had good anecdotes to share, when she’d helped them out one way or another.
As it turned out, there were quite a lot of people interested in Dr. Valentine’s love life and Mitch soon found that he needed to keep a notebook in order to track the overwhelming number of bets being made.
“Dr. Zaid once caught her and Dr. Lahela making out in the supply closet,” An IM resident told Mitch conspiratorially as she handed him a twenty, “He was in a bad mood the rest of the day. Well, worse than usual.”
~
A NICU nurse went out of his way to find Mitch, “$50 on Ramsay. They stayed overnight once, watching over a premature baby. There’s something between them for sure!”
~
“I walked into the on call room once and I had to walk out immediately. I don’t think Drs. Valentine and Varma noticed but… I definitely noticed them,” A surgical resident whispered, blushing furiously even as she pushed a fifty dollar bill to Mitch.
~
The nurse sighed heavily, “I was personally rooting for Rafael.”
Seeing Mitch’s blank face, she quickly clarified, “He’s a paramedic. But then he showed up at the hospital one day with his girlfriend.”
“It’s a shame. I saw them sleeping together in his hospital bed once and it was just the cutest thing I’d ever seen…” she clucked her tongue in disappointment before turning serious, “I want $40 on Dr. Lahela.”
Mitch had just handed a ticket to Dr. Taylor when he found himself facing a certain surgical resident.
“Dr. Lahela,” he greeted professionally, giving away no signs of apprehension.
Bryce glanced down to the notebook in Mitch’s hand with a smirk, and Mitch felt his grip on it tighten.
“I want $50 on Bryce,” Bryce finally said, handing him a crisp bill.
“Nice,” Mitch couldn’t help but nod in respect as he handed him his ticket.
“Always bet Bryce, baby!” Dr. Lahela declared as he walked off jauntily with his new betting receipt.
“Alright, Dr. Lahela has moved down to even money,” Mitch announced to a muttering crowd.
One day, during his break, Mitch was surrounded by a verifiable militia of hospital personnel, from security guards to lab techs to physicians. The chatter suddenly died down and Mitch had only the time to wonder why when the sea of people parted and the Chief of Medicine appeared in front of him.
“Dr. Banerji,” Mitch greeted with one of his most winning smiles, even as he began to panic internally. Was he going to lose his career all because of a single bet?
No. The panic quickly dissipated, and Mitch felt a calm take over him. He’d been in worse situations than this and he’d found that there was little the charm of a good looking and self assured man could not mitigate. There was only one way he’d get out of this.
“Would you like to place a bet sir?” Mitch asked confidently with one of his most winning smiles.
Dr. Banerji remained silent but Mitch did not let his composure break, staring intently at the man who held his career in his hands.
And then Dr. Banerji laughed and Mitch could not help but breathe in relief.
“No, no. I don’t think I’d be setting a good example if I were to bet on the personal lives of my employees,” he said and while he was chuckling, there was still an underlying current of warning that kept Mitch on edge.
“Of course,” Mitch said.
“But I do have to admit. I was a bit curious as to who was in the lead.”
“Sir?”
Dr Banerji looked at him expectantly and Mitch quickly responded.
“Well Dr. Lahela is the current favourite, although Dr. Ramsay is a close second.”
“Hmm,” Dr. Banerji murmured, a mysterious smile on his face, and Mitch suddenly remembered that Dr. Banerji was the personal mentor of Dr. Ramsay. Not to mention, Dr. Valentine had saved his life.
There was no way he didn’t know who she was actually dating.
“Good day,” Dr. Banerji took his leave, chortling, and Mitch felt a sharp pang of regret that he had missed out a chance to ask for inside information.
A month had passed since the start of the betting pool, and while it had expanded to include a good quarter of the entire hospital, they were still no closer to reaching an official verdict.
If Dr. Valentine had felt scrutinised after the announcement of her disciplinary hearing, there were twice the number of eyes on her now.
But she didn’t seem to notice, passing each day oblivious to the attention on her.
Lila walked out of a patient’s room now, her brow furrowed in concentration as she made a few marks on the patient chart.
It was at this moment that Jackie made her way down the hallway. Upon seeing her, Lila bumped her hips playfully against Jackie’s, and the eyes of all of the staff in the vicinity seemed to focus in on that single action.
There was a playful exchange of “Doctor” between the two but Lila continued to keep walking to the disappointment of many.
Bryce appeared now, turning around the corner as he wheeled one of his patients out. Seeing Lila, he winked at her, and while this was standard behaviour for the flirty resident, Lila suddenly stopped him, placing a light hand on his shoulder.
Unknowingly, people began to lean forwards as Lila and Bryce engaged in a quiet conversation. When they stopped talking, there was a sudden buzz of activity as everyone pretended to be busily absorbed in their work.
The ding of the elevator announcing its arrival caused a current of excitement in the air as people waited with bated breath to see the newcomer, hoping desperately that it might be a certain diagnostician who would put an end to this bet.
Dr. Harper Emery, Chief of Neurosurgery, entered the ICU and there was a collective sigh of disappointment as Lila greeted the woman, handing her a patient file on the diagnostic team’s newest case that was in dire need of a neurosurgeon’s expertise.
The mood seemed to dampen until a sharp look from the surgeon caused everyone to begin working with renewed focus.
“You want to come over?” Sienna asked Danny brightly, “My roommates won’t mind. I mean, Lila barely comes home these days anyway.”
At the mention of Lila’s name, Mitch suddenly sidled up to her at the nurse’s station.
“Dr. Valentine hasn’t been home lately?” Mitch repeated and he slowly looked over Sienna, as if reassessing her worth to him.
Looking thoroughly unimpressed by his blunt intrusion into their conversation, Sienna responded, “If you have any questions, you should ask Dr. Valentine herself. Bye Danny.”
Sienna left but Mitch was beyond caring as he also left to round up his fellow interns.
“Dr. Trinh mentioned that Dr. Valentine hasn’t been home lately. That means she can’t be seeing Dr. Varma, she has to be seeing Ramsay!” Mitch declared triumphantly.  While the bet had started out harmlessly, it had gotten so big, and now, it was a matter of principle to him. He needed to know for his own pride that he was right, that Dr. Valentine was dating Dr. Ramsay.
“Well, Bryce doesn’t live with them either so he’s still an option too,“ Sothy pointed out.
Mitch grimaced at the truth of his statement.
After yet another tiring day of work, Mitch made his way to the locker room when he suddenly did a double take and took a few steps back.
There, in the diagnostic team’s room, visible through the glass walls, were Dr. Ramsay and Dr. Valentine alone.
The walls were unfortunately soundproof and Dr. Valentine’s face was obscured from his perspective, but Mitch could still see how close the two were to each other.
A tender smile appeared on Dr. Ramsay’s face, the likes of which Mitch had never seen before on the usually strict and tough physician. Dr. Ramsay then placed a hand on Dr. Valentine’s shoulder and Mitch surreptitiously sneaked over to a different vantage point.
And there it was.
Dr. Valentine’s face was flushed pink, her eyes filled with an adoring light as she listened to what Dr. Ramsay was telling her.
There needed to be more evidence before the bet could be finalized but this was as good a confirmation as Mitch needed and he whistled cheerily all the way home.
Lila practically purred in contentment, curled into her lover’s embrace on the couch and relishing the feeling of their hands stroking her side.
Reflecting on her day, Lila still felt herself flush with pride at the memory of Ethan’s words to her. Even after the better part of a year, it was hard not to feel out of place in the diagnostic team meetings, not to let herself become overwhelmed by the sheer knowledge and skill of her more experienced colleagues.
But today, Lila had been the one to guide the team to the correct diagnosis after days of struggle and countless consults; she’d been the one to see past the distracting myriad of abnormal test results. She had been the one to see the patient and notice the hepatomegaly that indicated liver failure even as the lab results said otherwise. She had been the one to figure out that the patient had Wilson’s Disease and place her on the list for a desperately needed liver transplant.
Ethan had pulled her back after the meeting to express his admiration for how far she’d come (“Good work, Doctor.”) and she felt like she was still on a high from that. Lila had never imagined she’d hear those words from a doctor she’d idolised since her days in medical school.
But then there were a lot of things Lila had never imagined would happen.
Their relationship had faced a lot of obstacles, including the woman herself because of her reservations, but it had all been worth it the day Harper Emery had told Lila that she loved her too.
There wasn’t an exact moment that Lila could pinpoint the start of her feelings for Harper; it had been a gradual realisation. Outside of the hearing, she hadn’t had much chance for interaction with the Chief of Medicine, but she’d stumbled upon the woman one day, alone in an empty surgical suite, running her hands wistfully over the surfaces.
One conversation had led to another and Lila had seen more and more of the woman behind the mantle with each meeting.
And then one day, she’d looked at Harper and realised that she loved her, had loved her for a while.
It had taken a long time for Harper to admit her own feelings but now they were together and Lila would not trade the world for it.
Of course, they both knew it was too early to report their relationship to HR. It was too soon after her disciplinary hearing and Lila had no intention of staining Harper’s professionalism, nor did Harper want to cast a shadow over Lila’s burgeoning career. It’d still be a year or so before things settled down and they could safely report their relationship without fear of excessive backlash.
But for now, Lila contented herself by snuggling into the warmth of Harper’s arms.
“You’re getting bold,” Harper said with a smirk in her voice as she pulled out the post it note that had been attached to the file she’d received from Lila.
“They all think I’m dating Bryce or Ethan or Jackie anyway,” Lila dismissed carelessly, “I don’t know how any of them believe I don’t know about the bet. They’re so obvious.”
“And wrong,” Harper murmured before leaning down and drawing Lila into a kiss that stole her breath away.
Lila hummed happily as they continued to kiss, feeling as if her heart might burst from all the happiness and joy she was feeling in this moment.
“Bed?” Harper asked sultrily, gently tugging Lila’s lower lip with her teeth as she withdrew from their kiss.
“Please,” Lila breathed out and all thoughts escaped her mind as she lost herself in the embrace of the woman she loved.
A/N: lol did anyone guess the pairing?
several points of explanation:
We don’t know much about the new interns so I just based their personalities off of what we’ve seen so far. It made sense to me that Mitch would be experienced with large betting pools as like a frat guy or whatever, and that Gary wouldn’t be able to lie about the bet.
I wrote Lila to be a very affectionate person. She enjoys having fun and she’s had a couple of light trysts with some of her friends her first year; they’re all young and good looking and under inordinate amounts of stress that only each other understand, what’s to stop them? I don’t know if Ethan would have been up for a one night stand so you can think whatever you like, it’s open. But ultimately, she falls for Harper and they’re in a committed relationship.
Dr. Banerji knows about the relationship and thinks they’re good for each other although he regrets that they have to hide it for now. Sienna knows and I couldn’t decide if Bryce/Jackie/Elijah also know or if they only know that she’s in a relationship.
The Wilson’s disease case I summarised briefly is a true story that Dr. Lisa Sanders wrote about in her book, “Every Patient Tells a Story.” Fun fact: she actually inspired the show, House MD
Bryce has moved down to even money - this means that if he turned out to be dating Dr. Valentine, everyone who bet on him would get their money back. 1:1 odds, as opposed to getting like double their money.
to reiterate: Lila’s flushed bc she’s proud to be praised by her idol turned friend. Mitch is just misunderstanding everything.
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Every Day I Love You More - Ch. 5
Chapter 5 - YOU DIDN’T KNOW? 
After having drunk sex, Jo and Alex are having a baby. An actual baby. Here’s how everyone finds out.
-Sequel to I’m Happy Right Here with You-
Alex slips up, more people find out. 
It had been three days since Callie found out about Jo’s pregnancy and there had been no shortage of teasing remarks from Callie and Cristina. Every time Jo or Alex were left in a room with either of them, they were forced to hear the endless jokes being made about them and their drunk sex baby. Jo found it funny if she was being honest. The lightheartedness of this pregnancy was so refreshing considering what happened the last time. The jokes were a welcome distraction from the fact that Jo was in the process of filing from divorce from Paul and her lawyer was going to submit those papers by the end of the week.
That morning, she’d woken up before Alex did, which wasn’t unusual. However, for the first time in weeks, she woke up without the sudden need to vomit. She laid there on her side and stared at his sleeping form for a while longer. It was surreal waking up next to him. This morning especially so, since it wasn’t clouded by overwhelming nausea. Jo was convinced that there was no way that this was her real life. She had to be dreaming.
She had been stroking his hair for a few minutes when Alex spoke, “You know, watching people sleep is kind of creepy.”
Alex opened his eyes only to find Jo rolling hers, “Can’t you be normal and just say, ‘Good morning, babe. I love you and I can’t believe you’re carrying our baby.’ Can’t you do that?”
“Good morning, babe. I love you and I can’t believe you’re carrying our baby,” Alex gave Jo a quick kiss as Jo gave him a look of annoyance. “Hey! You’re not throwing up today. That’s a good sign.”
“Yup,” Jo nodded. “I feel great, actually. I think the baby finally decided to cooperate.”
Alex placed his hand on her flat stomach, “I can’t wait until you have a bump.”
“You mean until I get fat? Honestly, neither can I,” Jo smiled. “But Lucy said it might be a while before I start showing. I have a retroverted uterus so I’ll probably start showing later than most women. But I guess that’s a good thing. The longer I can hide my pregnancy, the less of a chance for Paul to find out and try plea presumed paternity and make our lives a mess.”
“He can try and try, but he won’t win, Jo. This is our kid and if we need to do a paternity test to prove it, then we will. He has no rights here,” Alex assured.
Jo took a deep breath and thought of how supportive Alex had been ever since she had confessed to him about her marriage. She exhaled, “You’re right. He has no rights. This baby is ours and he can’t take it away from us.”
They laid in the bed for a few more minutes in silence before deciding it was time to get up and get ready. After having been on Peds for over a month now, Jo had switched onto a different service for the next couple weeks. A part of Jo was a bit disappointed that she wouldn’t get to spend the entire day with Alex anymore, but she supposed she should be excited for a chance to learn something new. For the next two weeks, she’d be on neuro with Derek Shepherd.
When Jo and Alex arrived at the hospital, they parted ways and Jo went down to the residents’ lounge. She smiled as she saw her friends getting changed into their scrubs for the day. Jo grabbed a clean pair of scrubs and started to change clothes. Just as she was pulling her shirt off, she heard Stephanie whistle.
“Damn, Jo. Did you do anything different? Because your boobs look great,” Stephanie commented.
“Oh,” Jo laughed awkwardly. “It’s just a new bra… is all. Ever since Alex and I got together, I decided to update some pieces of my wardrobe if you know what I mean.”
“Look at Jo, trying to be all sexy for her man,” Stephanie teased.
“I bet he loves it,” Leah wiggled her eyebrows. “How many times a day do you catch him staring at your boobs in that thing?”
“Way too often,” Jo admitted.
The girls laughed and continued to get dressed. Once ready, Jo made her way to the Neuro ICU where she’d be meeting Dr. Shepherd for rounds. It had been a while since she had been on a neurosurgery, so Jo was excited for the next couple of weeks. The first patient she’d be rounding on was a trauma that came in last night. The man had massive internal injuries that were addressed immediately after coming into the hospital. He had not been stable enough last night to take in for surgery that would stop a slowly growing brain bleed, so Dr. Shepherd would take him in first thing this morning to correct it.
“Wilson. It’s good to have you on my service again,” Derek smiled as they walked out of the patient’s room. “How are you doing? I haven’t really gotten a chance to speak with you since you and Karev got together. He’s been hogging you to his service.”
“I doing great,” Jo grinned. “Excited to be on neuro again.”
“Well, you will be getting just a bit of peds today,” Derek shared. “We’ve got a baby with spina bifida that we’ll be working on this afternoon with Karev. Are you thinking about going into peds?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Jo shrugged. “I like everything. I do love peds, but who knows? Maybe I’ll end up in cardio or neuro or ortho. Don’t tell Alex I said that, though. I think he’s trying to be my Robbins.”
“No worries. Your secret is safe with me,” Derek chuckled. “Come on, let’s go. We’ve got a brain bleed to stop and a couple aneurysms to clip before our fun spina bifida surgery.”
The day went by pretty smoothly for the most part. The guy with the brain bleed came out of surgery without any major deficits. Jo had assisted in a couple aneurysm clippings and now they were on their way to the pediatric wing to visit the spina bifida baby in the NICU. When Derek and Jo arrived, Alex was already giving the parents a brief rundown of what their baby—Brandon’s—surgery would entail. Derek explained the procedure in a bit more detail and encouraged the parents not to fear.
While Jo prepped the patient, Derek and Alex prepared to scrub in together. Alex looked up at the older man, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, Karev. What is it?" Derek nodded.
"Has Jo been okay today? I'm just wondering because she looked a little dizzy and unsteady this morning before we left the house," Alex inquired.
"She's seemed alright to me," Derek encouraged. "We've performed quite a few surgeries today and she hasn't swayed once. Why is something wrong?"
"No," Alex shook his head. "I was a little worried. She just got over the morning sickness a couple days ago and it was pretty hard on her. I didn't want the next thing to be dizzy spells that could affect her work."
Unsure what to do with the new information he'd received, Derek just decided to go about the conversation as if he know what was going on, "Oh, well she's fine. Great even."
Alex nodded thankfully as Derek mulled over Karev's words. Alex must've thought that Derek already knew about Wilson's pregnancy from Meredith, so he decided to go about the procedure as if nothing had happened. The surgery was successful and Derek decided that he'd let Wilson leave early. Everything else could wait until tomorrow.
As he arrived home that night, Derek kissed his wife and kids. He ate something quickly and spent the next few hours on the phone with D.C. as they tried to come up with more plans about the brain mapping initiative. Finally, at around eleven o'clock, he was able to get ready for bed. Derek had been sitting in the bed reading a medical journal when Meredith walked into the room.
“How was your day?” Meredith asked as she climbed under the covers.
“It was good,” Derek smiled. “I had Wilson on my service today. She is a very good and capable resident. Incredibly sharp. We clipped a couple aneurysms, stopped a brain bleed, and operated on a little boy with spina bifida.”
“Awe, like Zola,” Meredith commented. “Sounds like you had a pretty calm day today. Those are nice when you come home to two kids under the age of three.”
“You are so right,” Derek nodded and gave Meredith a quick kiss. “Oh! I almost forgot. Why didn’t you tell me that Alex is having a kid?”
“What?” Meredith sat up from the bed. “What are you talking about?”
“Wilson is pregnant,” Derek stated. “Karev mentioned something about how he was glad that she was mostly over the morning sickness now. But he said he wanted to keep a close eye on her because this morning at the house she seemed a bit dizzy.”
“What?” Meredith was confused. “Wilson is pregnant?”
“Wait… You didn’t know?” Derek asked.
“Would I be reacting like this if I knew?” Meredith was shocked. There was no way one of her best friends was having a kid and she didn’t know about it. “No. There’s no way. Alex would tell me if he were having a kid. He’s one of my best friends.”
“I don’t know,” Derek shrugged. “He mentioned the morning sickness so casually, it was like he assumed I already knew. That or he slipped up and didn’t realize what he said.”
“No, I’m sorry,” Meredith jumped up from the bed. “I can’t sit here wondering. I’m going over there right now to find out.”
“Meredith! It’s midnight. Don’t go bother them. You’ll see them tomorrow,” Derek tried reasoning with his wife.
“I can’t wait,” Meredith shook her head as she threw on a pair of jeans. “This is huge. This is life changing, Derek. This cannot wait until tomorrow.”
Before long, Meredith was on her way to Alex’s house. When she parked in the driveway, she searched around her purse for the old set of keys to the house. Finding them, she made her way up the porch steps and let herself in through the glass door. She walked up the porch steps and stormed into Alex’s room yelling, “You guys are having a baby?”
Alex and Jo—who’d been sleeping peacefully—startled out of sleep. Jo screamed as she saw Meredith’s dark figure lingering by the door. Alex sat up quickly, trying to assess the situation and determine if they were in any immediate danger. Finally realizing it was Meredith, he slumped back down onto the bed, “Dude. What the hell? Why are you yelling?”
“Is it true? Wilson are you pregnant? Are you guys having a baby?” Meredith interrogated.
“What?” Jo said, distraught.
“Derek said that Alex mentioned how he was happy that your morning sickness was gone, so then he asked me if I knew that you guys are having a baby.”
“Shit… I didn’t even realize I said that,” Alex rubbed a hand over his face. “Jo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to tell him.”
“It’s okay,” Jo shook her head.
“So, it is true?” Meredith asked. “You guys are having a baby! Alex, how could you have a baby and not tell me about it? This is huge!”
“What is going on?” Cristina had woken up to shouting coming from down the hall and came to investigate once she recognized her best friend’s voice.
“Did you know?” Meredith turned to Cristina.
“Did I know what?” Cristina made a face. “And why are you screaming?”
“Did you know that Alex is going to be a father?” Meredith demanded.
Cristina froze, eyes wide, “Um…”
“Oh my God! You knew and you didn’t tell me,” Meredith accused. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me this. I had to find out about it from my husband.”
“Hold on, you told Derek before telling Meredith?” Cristina looked at Alex. “That’s a crappy move, man. Even for you.”
“I didn’t mean to tell Derek,” Alex defended. “I said something about Jo’s morning sickness and he must’ve thought that Meredith already knew.”
“Hello, pregnant person over here wants to speak,” Jo gathered everyone’s attention. “Look, Dr. Grey. We didn’t want to tell anyone until I hit twelve weeks. I’m sure you can understand that. Yang found out because she lives here and saw the pregnancy test boxes in the trash, and Torres found out because I had to leave the room for an x-ray. I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but if it makes you feel any better, there’s an ultrasound picture on the fridge downstairs.”
“Even Callie knows?” Meredith sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I was just a little blindsided finding out this way. I’m happy for you two. I’m sure you are going to make wonderful parents. Wait, you said you have an ultrasound picture already? How far along are you?”
Jo grimaced, knowing that as soon as she shared how far along the was there would be a whole new slew of questions. Jo took a deep breath, "Just a bit over ten weeks."
"How are you ten weeks? My birthday was ten weeks ago and you guys weren't together then," Meredith scrunched her face. She lowered her voice and sat down in front of Jo. "Are you sure Alex is the father?"
"Mer!" Alex chastised.
"What? I'm making a valid question," Meredith lifted her hands in apology. "As far as I remember, Alex, you and I had a conversation at my birthday party where I told you that you were being stupid and to make a move because I couldn't stand seeing you pouting and staring from afar."
"We did?" Alex asked. "I don't remember."
"Well, yeah figures, because you were completely wasted," Meredith reminded. "So, explain this to me so I can understand."
Alex and Jo both sat in silence, reluctant to verbalize what had happened that night between the two of them. Cristina, on the other hand, had been waiting for a moment like this to present itself. Bursting at the seams, Cristina blurted, "They had drunk sex the night of your party and accidently made a baby."
Meredith stood there stunned for a moment before breaking out in laughter, "Oh my... oh my God… you guys… Haha, you made a drunk sex baby. you know I can't say I'm surprised that this is how you are becoming a father, Alex. It's karma for all those years of being a man-whore. You on the other hand, Wilson, you surprise me. Didn't think you had it in you."
Jo buried her face in her hands in embarrassment and Alex glared at Meredith and Cristina as he felt his face get hot. This was not how he had pictured Meredith finding out about his kid, but he guessed that there was really no other way that would feel like them. Alex was glad that Meredith knew, because now he could ask her tons of parenting advice and tips on dealing with the hormone changes Jo would be experiencing very soon.
"Wow. I can't believe it," Meredith said after calming down. "Alex Karev. In love. A father. you're all grown up. You see, I told you that Wilson would be good for you."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You were right," Alex grumbled. "Now get out of my room and go home."
"I'm not going home," Meredith stated. "I'll stay with Cristina. Now, Jo you said something about an ultrasound picture?"
"Yeah... it's downstairs on the refrigerator," Jo replied, removing the hands covering her face. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about hiding it when you come over."
Meredith smiled, grabbing Cristina by the arm to drag her down the stairs to look at the sonogram. Just as Meredith was about to leave the room, she popped her head back in the doorway, "Oh and just so you know, I fully expect to get a copy of every ultrasound photo from here on out."
"Get out!" Alex huffed.
"Goodnight," Meredith grinned.
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brokenclockwork · 4 years
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What They Don’t Tell You Hospital Edition (pi.patient)
This is largely aimed towards long term stays in hospitals, and is obviously not a universal piece, however I thought it could help people who haven’t spent chunks of their lives in hospitals, but write muses that have...
PATIENT
When you are admitted into the hospital they’re going to give your a body once over and remove things like jewelry, patches, bandages, ect. They’ll likely replace them, but it’s so they know there’s no extra factors if they need to run tests. 
Eat before you go to the hospital if you can, because they do not trust you and they are going to make you sit the amount of time required to be without food and water before a test either way, unless you were going to the hospital for a scheduled time for that appointment. 
In more medically advanced hospitals you will likely find yourself on a hospital bed that has a mattress that shifts, if you are there long term. It’s not the most comfortable, and takes awhile to get used to, but it is a very good thing, because otherwise you will get bed sores. 
If you do not have one of the beds above, nurses will come in at regular intervals and ask you to shift (if you can) or shift you for this same reason. This is typically done (if you can’t do it yourself) with a large pad of some sort with straps. They also use this to move you up the bed, because somehow, even if you are totally immobile, you will migrate down the bed constantly, without realizing it. I have seen smaller / busier hospitals use a folded top sheet for this, in a pinch. 
Diet and liquid restrictions happen for a bunch of different reasons, and can change pretty frequently, so be sure to talk to your doctor about any you have.
Unless you are not coherent, or you have a SUPER STRICT DIET RESTRICTION, you are in charge of ordering your own meals. 
Depending on the hospital, your condition, and the ward you are in, visitor numbers and length of time they’re aloud to be there can also be restricted.
The last three above are frequently ignored when you are in the hospital during holidays. Chances are, if you don’t abuse it or make a big deal over it, nurses will turn a blind eye to your whole family shuffling into your room, with thanksgiving dinner, restrictions be damned.
On that note, you are going to see nurses and nurse assistants way more than your doctors. There tends to be a time where they make a round, and then they won’t be back for the rest of the day unless something goes really wrong. There is also a chance that if your next of kin is in the room when the doctor shows up, and you’re sleeping, they won’t even wake you up and give the update to them instead. 
Time is an allusion. The nurses cycles do not stop at night. You sleep when you can. Keeping the window open is the only way to tell when a new day has passed. 
As far as pain medication goes, sometimes there’s a learning curve. The nurse might knock you out by giving you something too strong, or they might end up having to call your doctor to get you a “breakthrough” of something. They are not doing this on purpose. Especially if you weren’t on pain medication before coming in. Be as patient as you can, and communicate what you are feeling. 
A nurse will ask once or twice a day if you want to “get cleaned up”. Especially if you are immobile. This includes showering / getting a rag bath, brushing teeth, and getting your hair tended to. Most people only think about the first. Do not be that person, because long term stays where you refuse can and will end with you having big mats in your hair. 
Medical staff will not just like. Try and lift you from the bed to like. A wheelchair if you are entirely immobile, and they have a choice. That is super dangerous, and puts them at all sorts of risks. Hoyers are very handy inventions that are literal life savers, even if you will feel CRAZY helpless and anxious in them unless you’re used to them / have big trust in your medical team. 
Nurses are unbelievably strong. At least once you will look at an absolute twig of a 5 foot nothing woman and think, oh god, i’m fucked. She won’t be able to help me. And then she’s going to flip you around like a newborn babe. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s equal parts intimidating and amazing. 
if you stay long term you are going to get close to your nurses. Especially if you’re in a ward like ICU where there aren’t a lot of patients to nurses. Most often, that affection goes both ways.
You are going to hear other patients in the hospital. Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s beautiful. Sometimes it’s scary. And sometimes it’s devastating.
The color of the nonstick socks they insist on putting on you mean something. That’s why they insist on them. For example, in my state, yellow is a fall risk patient. They may also have a small throw blanket they give you of the same color for this same reason.
Physical therapy is not something you just get after a big injury. If you are in the hospital long term they will likely give you physical therapy throughout your stay, because otherwise, you run the risk of your muscle eroding. 
Some kind of gross stuff under the cut. 
Catheters are a thing. They hurt. You’ve got to find the right size, and if they aren’t the right size your kidney will literally spasm. 
Long term immobility will make your nurses very curious about and invested in your bowel movements. This is because you can get impacted, which can actually cause you to have some more serious health responses. 
Nurses are not shy / scared off by much. You will be embarrassed, but in time you just sort of...have to rely on them if you don’t have a constant family network there, and even sometimes if you do. 
If you are completely immobile you will probably be on a pad / diaper that will take two people to clean you up with, most times. 
No one obviously wants to read about the above, but I think they’re good things to know, to understand the absolute level of helplessness some people feel within hospitals. 
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flowerfan2 · 4 years
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Group Texts Are Ridiculous (Or, Five-0 Starts a Group Text) - Chapter 4
Hi all!  Here’s Chapter 4 (of 5); then there will be an epilogue/short follow-up in the series, and possibly more.  If you’re enjoying this, could you please re-blog it?  I’m trying to figure out whether it is still worth posting fic on tumblr as it seems the large majority (almost all? 99%?) of my readers are on A03.
Many thanks, and enjoy this one (which could also be titled “Danny’s Kiss Is Magic”).
McDanno, T, A03, 7,500 words so far
Chapter 4
August 4, 2020
DW:  Ok, I just sent you what I could put together.
SM:  Thanks, I appreciate it.
DW:  Be smart about it, though.  
SM:  What’s that supposed to mean?
DW:  Have a game plan.  Think before you act.
SM:  Are you implying I’m not capable of carrying this out?
DW:  I know you, you get carried away.
 SM:  So I’m too impulsive?
 DW:  You said it, not me.
 SM:  I hardly think it’s relevant here.
 DW:  Fine, whatever.  Get yourself killed.  See if I care.
 TR:  Cough.  Group text.
 SM:  Hey, Tani.  What’s up?
 TR:  Not much.  Just minding my own business here at headquarters.  
 JG:  You guys should probably take me out of this group now.
 SM:  Any good cases?
 TR:  Pretty quiet, actually.  Except for the stomping coming from Danny’s office.  Towards mine.  I better get off the phone.
  <b>August 5, 2020</b>
 JR:  Saw the texts from yesterday.  Are we helping Steve with an op?
 DW:  “We” aren’t helping Steve with anything.  
 JR:  Okay.  But you know I’ll help out, if there’s anything you need.  
 DW:  Thanks, Junior.  Focus on the perp you’ve got in the back seat of your car for now.
 JR:  Yes sir.
 TR:  You know we’d all help.  Even Grover, I bet.
 DW:  While I appreciate the offer, what I’d really like is to get a confession in the case we’re actually working at this very moment.
 TR:  So, what, you want us to bring this guy in so you can talk to him?
 DW:  Something like that, yes.
 LG:  You’re really getting the hang of this boss thing, Danny.
 DW:  **middle finger emoji**
  <b>August 15, 2020</b>
 LG:  Is Danny with any of you guys?
 TR:  Nope.  He left RumFire before we even ordered a second round.  Seemed distracted.
 LG:  Where did he go?  He’s not answering his phone.
 TR:  I don’t know, home, I guess?
 <i>TR changed the name of the group text to</i> <b>Danny please answer your phone</b>
 LG:  Is Junior there?  Can he check?
 JR:  I’m at Tani’s.  What’s wrong?
 LG:  I got a call from Kono.  I need to find Danny.
 QL:  I can go over to Steve’s place and see if Danny’s there, I’m closest.
 LG:  Thanks, Quinn.  Go now.
 JR:  He might be at headquarters.  
 LG:  It’s past midnight on a Friday.  I doubt paperwork is that interesting.
 JR:  Sometimes he hangs out there, on the couch.
 LG:  Are you telling me he’s sleeping at the office, Junior?
 JR:  He didn’t want me to tell anyone.  I guess the house seems kind of weird without Steve.
 LG:  We’ll come back to that – for now, one of you get over to headquarters and see if Danny’s there.
 TR:  Lou, what are you not telling us?  What’s wrong with Kono?
 LG:  Kono’s fine, just find Danny.  
 TR:  Is she still hunting down sex traffickers?  Oh fuck, I bet Steve was helping her with an op.  That’s what those texts from Danny were about, sending Steve intel.
 JR:  Is Steve ok?  Does he need our help?
 LG:  Calm down, Junior.  You’re not going anywhere.
 QL:  I’m at the house.  I used the key in the hiding place when Danny didn’t answer the door right away. Eddie’s not much of a guard dog, he’s just licking me.
 LG:  He knows you.  Is Danny there?
 QL:  Hang on, I’m going upstairs.  He’s not going to jump around a corner and shoot me, is he?
 LG:  Let’s hope not.
 QL:  Okay, Danny’s here, he was just asleep.  But he’s awake now.  
 LG:  Tell him to call Kono immediately.
 QL:  He’s doing it now.
 TR:  Quinn, what is she saying?  What’s going on?
 QL:  He didn’t tell me.  Did you know Danny gets dressed crazy fast?
 QL: He’s got a go bag under his bed. Not sure they’ll let him take those guns on the plane.
 TR:  Ask him if we can help.  We can meet him at the airport.
 QL:  Too late, he’s gone.  
 TR:  Is Steve okay?
 QL:  I don’t know.  Damn.
 LG:  Sit down and breathe, Quinn.  
 QL:  I’m all right.  But shit. I’ve never seen Danny look like that.
 LG:  Like what?
 QL:  Terrified.
  <b>August 17, 2020</b>
 JR:  Ok, how long do we wait before we call in the calvary?
 JR:  *cavalry
 TR:  Backup?
 JR:  Yes.  
 TR:  We don’t even know where they are.
 JR:  Other than Danny rented a car at the airport in Seattle yesterday morning.
 TR:  How do we know that, exactly?  And why didn’t you tell me?
 JR:  You didn’t ask.  And Jerry is tracing Danny’s credit card.
 TR:  This is nuts.
 JR:  I’m gonna go to Seattle.  I’ll call Danny when I get there.  If I’m already there, he won’t tell me to stay home.
 LG:  No, but I’ll tell you, right now.  Stay where you are.
 JR:  This group text thing may have been a mistake.
 TR:  You think?
 LG:  Just listen for a minute. I heard from Kono.  No need for backup.
 TR:  Are you going to tell us more or what?  
 KK:  Guys, Steve is ok, and so is Danny.  You can relax.
 LG:  Kono, these kids are going to bite my head off if you don’t give them some details.
 KK:  First off we’re sorry we didn’t get in touch sooner – Danny wanted me to call Lou last night as soon as Steve was out of danger, but then things got a little hairy.
 QL:  But now?
 KK:  It’s all good.
 LG:  Maybe you should start from the beginning?
 KK:  Too long to text the whole thing, but you know Steve was helping me on an op.  One of the people financing a sex trafficking ring was rumored to be in the area, and we set him up.  During the take down Steve got hurt, but he’s going to be okay.
 TR:  What happened?
 KK:  He kind of jumped through a plate glass window and out of a building to get away from a bomb.  But we caught the bad guy, so he’s pretty pleased with himself.
 TR:  I see why Danny is particularly annoyed when I do that kind of thing.
 KK:  Steve got pretty banged up, and some glass got in his eye, but the doctors say he’s doing well now.  Had to have surgery last night, though, there was some internal bleeding they didn’t catch right away.
 JR:  Why isn’t Steve texting us, or Danny?
 KK:  They’re both asleep.  It was kind of a tough night for both of them.
 KK:  [Photo - SteveandDanny.jpg – 8.17.2020]
 TR:  Awww.  Danny looks so small.  Look at him tucked in there between Steve’s side and the bed railing, all snuggled up against Steve.  
 KK:  Doesn’t he look tiny?  I know people always say patients in hospital beds look small, but with Danny slotted in there right next to him, Steve looks normal sized.
 LG:  Actually he looks like he crashed through a plate glass window, but I suppose that’s normal for him.
 QL:  Steve’s holding on to Danny even in his sleep.  I’m dying here.
 JR:  Is it ok to ask if Steve’s gonna lose his eye?  That bandage looks serious.
 KK:  So far the doc says it should heal, with minimal vision loss. But it’s too soon to tell for sure. He might need another surgery.
 TR:  I’m saving this picture forever.  I can’t believe the hospital staff let Danny climb into bed with Steve.
 KK:  By the time this happened Danny really didn’t care what anyone else had to say on the subject.  
 TR:  I can imagine.
 KK:  You guys could have given me a heads’ up, you know.  Would have saved some drama yesterday.
 LG:  What do you mean?
 KK:  Danny barreled in here looking for Steve, calling himself his partner, and then there was a bit of a scuffle about what partner meant.  
 TR:  Well, they’re not exactly partner-partners.  Just work partners.
 KK:  You sure?
 TR:  They’re pretty touchy-feely, but they certainly don’t share a bed.
 JR:  Usually.  Unless I’m in the guest room when Danny’s over.
 TR:  Excuse me?
 JR:  The couch is bad for Danny’s back, and Steve refused to let me give up my room for Danny.  So they both sleep in Steve’s room.
 TR:  Were you ever going to mention this?  Or is this one of those respect for your superior officer things?
 JR:  I plead the fifth.
 KK:  Well the cat’s out of the bag now.
 JR:  I don’t think we should assume they’re together, not until they tell us.
 KK:  Okay, but after seeing the big ol’ kiss Danny planted on Steve in front of the entire ICU, I’m feeling fairly confident this isn’t platonic anymore.
 KK:  Steve’s reaction was priceless, too.  He grinned like you wouldn’t believe, brighter than the Hawaii sun, and then pulled Danny down to kiss him back.  
 LG:  Hot damn.
 TR changed the name of the group text to Danny’s Kiss Is Magic
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justjessame · 4 years
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Not A Loser Anymore Chapter 5
Morgan felt like a house fell on her. Everything hurt. Her teeth, her hair, her head, her feet. There wasn’t an inch of her body that didn’t feel like it was battered or bruised. She woke up with enough pain for the entire fucking Naval Academy.
She looked around, trying to decide where she was, a hospital obviously. Since she was hooked up to enough monitors and had enough IVs to feed a small nation, she had to assume she’d been found in time. In time to be saved, but by who?
Her heart monitor alerted the nursing station that she was awake, that sharp spike of unease made everyone’s heart ratchet up. A kind looking nurse walked in and smiled. “Thank goodness you’re awake!” She greeted Morgan, walking to turn the monitor’s warning screech off. “Your visitors are pretty scary, especially when you’re completely out of it and the doctor keeps having to explain that you’ll wake when you feel like waking.” She smiled down at her patient. “You’d understand, they told us you’re a doctor yourself.” She checked the IVs and then asked Morgan the two most important questions she had ever heard. “Are you in pain?” Morgan tried to shrug her shoulder, but a flare of intense pain flared through her. “So that’s a yes,” the nurse smiled. “Are you up for visitors?”
“Yes,” Morgan’s voice was hoarse. “Where am I?” She asked, once the nurse gave her a sip of water from a cup with a straw.
“Los Angeles.” She noticed Morgan’s grimace. “Do you know your name?” Suddenly realizing that she hadn’t asked that important question.
“Captain Morgan Dean.” Morgan answered promptly. “And if I haven’t been out for years, the current President of the United States is an asshole I didn’t vote for.” That made the nurse chuckle. “Who brought me in?”
“Let me go get them,” the nurse answered with a grin. “If I don’t inform them immediately, I’m afraid they’ll tear the hospital apart.” Before she left she told Morgan she’d send the doctor in to see her soon.
The first head to pop in the door, a few moments later, was Jensen’s. Morgan tried to smile, but her face hurt. Then came Cougar, Pooch, Roque, and finally Clay. “Well, look at this,” she said, feeling her body scream at the effort. “The gang’s all here.”
“Lie still,” Jensen whispered, coming closer and standing right beside her. “You’re more banged up than any of us have ever been.”
“That Wade Travis,” she joked, gasping when her ribs protested. “He’s a dedicated employee isn’t he?”
A growl came out of one of their throats, but her eyes were still swollen, so it was hard to pinpoint the source. “Tell me I’m still at least a little pretty, guys,” she whispered, feeling their tension roll over her. “I mean, I can't survive on my charm alone.”
“You’re fucking beautiful, Morgan,” Clay’s voice piped up from the other side of her bed, at her head, as he tried to reach in and touch her, but every part of her was badaged, bruised, or hooked up to a machine. “Always have been, always will be.”
“A poet,” she said, looking up at his vague outline. “Well, thanks for the attempt to make me feel better.”
The silence became overwhelming. She couldn’t stand pity, or whatever they were all so focused on. “So with one vote for ‘I’m still pretty’, let’s try this again. Which one of you found me and rescued me?”
Jensen gave a half-hearted chuckle. “That was me. I thought-” He took a ragged breath. “You weren’t moving, and I thought-”
Morgan tried a smile again, and figured the pain was worth soothing her hero. “Aw, Jensen, I’m great. I mean, a day or two more and I’ll be up and ready to dance.” Again the silence descended. “Unless you guys know something I don’t.” She finally let her fear come out in her voice.
The doctor looked around the waiting room at the men sitting in a clutch. One was still coated in the woman’s blood, and there were smears of it on two others. He cleared his throat and five pairs of eyes flashed to him.
The leader, clear because he stood faster than the others, confronted him. He held up a hand to stop a flood of questions. “Her surgery went well. She’s unconscious, which is a relief, she needs the rest to begin healing. I could list her injuries, but honestly, I’m not sure I’d even get all of them out.” He sighed, whatever had befallen Captain Dean was horrific. “I hope that whomever caused the damage is-”
“That person was taken care of, Sir.” The young man coated in her blood assured him.
“Good,” the doctor didn’t condone violence, but what Captain Dean had been put through, it was beyond what he’d even seen in car crashes. “As for her recovery.” He stopped, took off his own glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t promise anything. She’s had extensive internal injuries. She didn’t suffer any spinal injuries, that we could see from the x-rays, but that doesn’t mean that she’s going to pop up tomorrow and return to her regular life. If she even wakes up tomorrow.”
“Doc,” Clay started, feeling his chest tighten, “is she gonna wake up?”
“That’s up to her,” the doctor answered honestly. “Right now, being out is good. It means she’s quiet, she’s still, and that allows healing to happen.” He sighed and moved to an empty chair. “The truth is this, gentlemen, Captain Dean has been through such trauma that her brain may not recover. If it does recover, her medical career may very well be over. The nerve damage, the blood loss, the things that the person who did this inflicted on her body, it was more extensive than I’ve ever seen.” He looked at the men gathered around him. “Right now she’s in ICU. Her visitations are limited, her care is extreme. She can see one of you at a time, and for only five minutes each.” He stood back up and offered at least some hope. “She’s a fighter, gentlemen, that I can assure you. Anyone else her size that went through the same trauma, wouldn’t have made it to the hospital.”
Morgan waited for one of them to answer, but a new voice broke the silence. “Ah, Captain Dean, I see you’re awake.” A pin light was flashed in the slits where her eyes were usually seen. She blinked against the brightness. “I’m sorry, I have to check.”
“I know,” she groaned, as his hands moved to her head. “Fuck, that hurts!”
The doctor chuckled a little. “Tender or pain?”
“PAIN,” she screamed. “Like a fucking ton of pain.”
Another chuckle. “Don’t scream out so much, these gentlemen look tense enough without your help.” He checked her over and came back to her head. “Aside from the pain, is there any other discomfort?”
“I think the pain is enough,” she gritted out. “I was asking the ‘gentlemen’ here what my prognosis is, they got a little too quiet for my tastes.”
The doctor sighed. “That’s because they don’t know.” He drew her gaze, hazing and slitted though it was to his face. “I’m not going to lie to another physician, Captain Dean. It wasn’t good, not when you went under for surgery a week ago.” He saw her taking the news in stride. “But you’re awake, you seem to have your faculties about you, you’re giving these men a hard time. I think the prognosis is getting better by the minute.” He touched her hand gently. “You’re very lucky, Captain. Your team did everything to make sure you had a chance.”
He left after a brief chat with the others. Morgan was about to drift off again, and she’d only been awake for like a half an hour. That sucked. “You tired, Mo?” Jensen’s voice called to her through the dim.
She hummed her affirmative. She felt his hand brush her bangs back from her forehead. “You scared the shit out of me, Mo.” His voice was tight and quiet. “Thought I’d found you only to have to say goodbye again. NEVER do that again.” She gave a tiny chuckle. “Clay’s not the only one who’d die without you.”
And that was all she heard before the darkness took her again. Darkness and drugs.
The next time Morgan woke, the pain was dimmer. Thank fucking God, she thought as a hand brought her straw to her lips. She sipped, not opening her swollen eyes yet. “Thank you.” She whispered, her voice still raw. “Whoever you are.”
His chuckle, she’d know it anywhere. “Scared the fucking hell out of me, Morgan.” Clay sat the cup down on the rolling table and stood over her. Her face was swollen, bruised, and he wanted to kill Wade all over again. And Max, well Max was adding to his bill. “When Roque gave me that fucking flag-”
“Shh.” She said, hushing him. “Let’s just not, not right now, please?” She was pleading with him, and he felt like his heart was clenching again. “Let’s just pretend that I’ve been tortured and survived, shall we?”
He chuckled again. Trust Morgan to make a fucking joke about her reality. “Fine, we’ll do it your way.” He wanted to touch her. “We’ll pretend a sadistic employee of the month tortured you and we fucking killed him. How does that sound?”
She smiled, or tried to, it looked painful. “That sounds wonderful. Wade Travis dead. Ah, paradise.” Her eyes opened, as much as they could and trained on his face. “Where are the others?”
“It was my turn for alone time with you,” he whispered, brushing her bangs back from her bruised forehead. “Or I kicked them the fuck out, whichever makes you less pissed.”
She gave a hoarse chuckle. “I’m not sure which would work to keep me pleasant, so we’ll pretend that I’m happy to be alone with you.”
He nodded, wishing that he could kiss her. Kiss her and make the entire ordeal disappear and she’d be better. “That works.” He smiled, his dimples coming out and he hoped she could see them. “I missed you.”
She sighed. “Me too.” Her hand was tugging on her blanket, a rare sign of stress and he knew it. “I didn’t understand that damn flag, but I’m glad I took it to Bolivia. Sit, Clay, I hate when you hover.”
He pulled a chair closer to the bed and lowered the guardrail so he could move even closer to her. “There isn’t anyone, and I mean ANYONE, that I trust more than you with my entire being, Morgan.” His hand brushed her fidgeting hand. “I put you down as my next of kin the day you signed up with our team. I knew that you were it for me.”
She looked over at him, grimacing at the tenderness in her neck. He could still see the fingerprints marking the flesh. “I fought it, Clay, fought you and me. And you kept fucking pushing.” She didn’t sound mad, she wasn’t, not anymore. “You were my commanding officer, Clay, that first night shouldn’t have happened. At least that’s what I thought at the time. That’s why I left the fucking note that you kept tossing back in my damn face. Why I ran.” His fingers were still light on her hand, so she turned it over palm up and linked her fingers with his. “I almost died after you faked your own fucking death and I never told you-”
It was Clay’s turn to shush her. “Don’t, Morgan. We have all the time in the world.” He leaned over and chanced a kiss on her forehead. He felt her groan and pulled away. “Did that hurt?”
“A little, but it was worth it.” She smirked, and realized that didn’t hurt. “You know why he took me?”
Clay nodded. “He had my personnel file. He saw you listed as next of kin.” The urge to clutch her to him and never let go rushed through him. “My fault again.”
“Nah,” she answered, brushing that shit off. “He took me for that, sure, but he had me beaten and tortured for my own fucking mouth.” She smirked again as he took in her face. “What? Did you think you’re the only person who says the wrong fucking thing at the wrong fucking time?” She rolled her eyes and found that motion actually did hurt. Damn it.
“What’s wrong, baby, should I get the doctor?” He was fearful still, terrified that the worst was yet to come.
“No, I’m fine.” She grouched. “It pisses me off that I can’t roll my fucking eyes without feeling like a mother fucking house fell on my head, but I’ll live.”
His chuckle came again. “Max is still out there, Morgan.” He was sobered by that reality. “We can’t be free until he’s taken down, not fully anyway.”
Morgan sighed. “We’ll get him, then.” Simple enough. “Pooch go home to Jolene for the baby yet?”
Clay knew that dismissal meant she wasn’t ready to deal with Max. “Not yet, still got a few weeks.”
She tried to nod and another rush of pain hit her. “FUCK!” She growled. He tensed, ready to punch the button for the nurse, but she squeezed his hand. “I’m FINE, Clay. Just irritated beyond belief with this whole invalid, pain filled bullshit.” She groaned and looked up at his face again. “Kind of wish Wade wasn’t dead, so I could punch him repeatedly in his tiny little dick until he cried.”
Clay laughed, and then they were interrupted by Jensen’s voice. “What’s so funny?”
Morgan gestured for him to join them. “Apparently Clay here thinks it’s funny that I’m in pain.” She made a pouty face and met the younger man’s eyes. “He laughs at my pain.”
Clay shook his head. “I was laughing because even as a pain filled invalid, Morgan here harbors the darkest urges imaginable. She wishes we’d revive Wade’s corpse so she can dick punch him to a sobbing mess.”
Jensen smiled down at the thought. “Sounds fun, I’ll download a necronomicon and we’ll get to work, Mo.” Morgan chuckled as Clay’s eyebrows wrinkled.
“Geeks,” he muttered, standing and giving Morgan’s forehead a very gentle kiss. “I’ll be back in a bit, baby.” He shot a look at Jensen and the younger man saluted him. “Don’t tire her out too much, Jensen.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Sir.” He mocked. Morgan tried to hold back her laughter, but couldn’t it broke and got a glare from Clay at the door.
“Behave yourselves,” he rolled his eyes and left.
Morgan rolled her head to look at Jensen. “Why don’t you take your fearless leader’s seat?” She gestured to the chair Clay left close to her bed. “Then you won’t be hovering over me either.” She muttered about being surrounded by giant men as Jensen got comfortable in the abandoned chair. “There, my hero.”
“Ah, Mo, that’s not-” Jensen blushed, trying to deny his rescue.
Morgan shook her head, gasped at the pain and moved on to what she wanted to say. “You saved me, Jen. I’m a doctor, I know it.” She closed her eyes and swallowed. When she reopened them, Jensen was holding the straw to her lips. She took a few sips and pushed it away. “Thank you. As I was saying, I know how bad it was. Maybe not the full extent, but I knew that if I wasn’t found, if I slipped under the unconsciousness, then I wasn’t going to make it.” Jensen put the cup back on the rolling table. “So, you’re my fucking hero, Jen, even if you want to fucking deny it.” She reached the hand that Clay held and took Jensen’s. Their fingers linked and he kissed her knuckles. “Thank you, Jen, for getting to me in time. For finding me. And for getting me out of that hole.”
Jensen looked into her eyes. “I saw you, strapped to that fucking chair, Mo. You were limp, but I swear I heard you say something.” He swallowed down the fear he’d had when he found her bloody in that fucking building. “All I could think about was keeping you here, with us, with me.” She stared at his blue eyes behind the ever present glasses. “I couldn’t check to see- I couldn’t stop to find your pulse, I don’t think I fucking breathed once I got you outside until Clay found it.” He licked his lips. “All I could think was that you’d promised we’d see one another again, and that was going to be the last time. That your blood all over me was as close as I’d ever get to holding you.”
Morgan swallowed. How had she missed it? Missed that beautiful, awkward Jake Jensen cared for her? Fucking idiot. “Jen,” she started, thinking that if Clay heard this all hell would break loose. “Jensen?”
His eyes were blazing behind his glasses. “I know that you and Clay are complicated. I know how you both feel about one another, I’m not stupid, Mo.” His hand held hers like she was made of glass. “But I also know that I’d never brush you aside, or try to forget you. Aside from my niece and my sister, you’re the only other person who’s haunted my dreams since we’ve been playing dead.” He licked his lip and stared into her eyes. “I wanted nothing more than to find my way back to make sure you were alright. You, Mo, just you.”
They heard a throat clear and Morgan looked up from the tense little bubble they’d created. Her doctor was standing in the doorway with a nurse. “Time for a check up, Captain.” The doctor smiled, and Jensen started to pull his hand away. “He can stay if you want him to,” the doctor gestured to the clasped hands.
“Please,” Morgan asked, looking back at Jensen. “Stay with me?”
His smile was breathtaking. “Absolutely.”
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thestraggletag · 4 years
Text
Indulgence AU, Part 2
AKA the Fuck Anon ‘verse. An AU where Jefferson never reaches Gold in time to tell him about Belle meeting Jones by herself. First part here. Also guys I need a proper name for this! Any ideas?
Prompts filled:
Wouldn't Mal visit Belle in the hospital? Just saying, there's a prompt there somewhere.
Need. More. Starbucks. Angst. Please. Please. Please. PLEASE.           
F*ckAnon!Prompt: "I'm sorry Mr. Gold, we can only allow ICU visitors to family." 
Fuck Anon prompt, Mal visits Belle in the hospital. Gold's there... there's a fight. A loud one at that.
Need. More. Fuck. Anon. Fic.
For Fuck Anon/Indulgence AU, Mal comes to visit at the hospital.
I'm not super creative but I hope theres an angsty Starbucks prompt out  there!            
It was surprising how easy it was to get used to the sound of heart monitors and the constant intrusion of hospital staff. After a while it became easy to tune all the noise out, to focus on Belle and any minute change in her complexion or expression, anything that would indicate whether she was in pain, or nearer to waking. He was determined she would not do so alone. He’d be here to comfort and reassure her. 
Three nurses, a security guard and two doctors had already tried to talk to him about visiting hours and protocol, but a phone call to the head of the hospital’s finance department had stopped all that. He was a regular donor for both Children of Bellevue and The Bellevue Association, which put him outside hospital staff reach. It didn’t particularly endear him to them, especially the nurses- he could feel them glare and glower every time they had to side-step his chair to check on an IV drip- but he did not particularly care.
When the police showed up he wasn’t surprised to hear they wanted to take his statement. After his rather heated conversation with Hatter he understood fully what had happened and had had time to spin the narrative in such a way that would leave Maurice French out of it. A pity, since it meant also getting Regina off the hook, but he consoled himself with the notion that he would deal with her at a later date.
He told them about his prior relationship with Jones, who they already knew as a low-level hustler and sometimes drug-seller. Told him of his stupid fixation with the idea he was somehow to blame for his ex-wife’s death and how he’d vowed revenge. He told them about him stalking Belle, and eventually extorting her for money in exchange for him leaving her alone.
“It was obviously a rouse to get her to meet him at a deserted location, of course. I assume he planned on… getting even with me.”
He could not bring himself to spell it out, but he knew. Knew Belle’s stab wounds had narrowly missed vital organs, that she had gotten lucky and likely had fought like hell to prevent him from accomplishing his goal. He could see defensive wounds, slashes on her arms and bandaged knuckles. She’d clearly hit him and more than once. The doctor had told him, when he had gathered the courage to ask, that the rape kit had been negative, though there were slash marks on her lower abdomen that he guessed were clumsy attempts at cutting her pants open.
The policemen were gentler with him that he would have given them credit for, and told him all the necessary resources were being utilised to try and track down Jones. Nick tried to appear as if he cared, as if he hadn’t set in motion his own plans regarding the Irishman.
He was anxious to go back to Belle’s room so he was relieved when the policemen finished their questioning, clearly happy with the information he had provided and seeming to be convinced he did not know where Jones was nor had the means to procure such information. Good.
As much as he wished to return to Belle’s room he forced himself to go to the entrance of the hospital, where he met Dove. He had a change of clothes with him, as well as food. He took the later outside to one of the benches scattered around the hospital’s small gardens and wolfed it down, feeling the reprobing gaze of Dove as he did so. He was a lover of good food, he knew, and surely disapproved of not giving a good wagyu beef sandwich the time and attention it deserved. 
He was on his way back inside when he practically smacked into Mallory, looking sleek and pissed in an Hermés dress and coat and apparently making enemies out of the entire nursing staff at the hospital. When she turned around and spotted him she smiled, looking strangely feral.
“Oh look who it is! Belle’s doting fiancé. Congrats on the engagement you lying piece of shit.”
The later part was hissed at him, though her expression made it look like they were a couple of old friends discussing the weather. How the fuck did she do that? Reluctantly he managed to drag her to an empty waiting area. It was getting late, which meant the hospital was emptying of visitors and ambulatory patients. In harsh, clipped tones he told her about his talk with the hospital’s financial department, and how he had managed to pull some strings to bypass the rules regarding visitors in the ICU. 
“Besides, being my fiancé will guarantee Belle the best of care. I don’t doubt you can put the fear of God into these people, dearie, but money talks even louder, and I happen to be one of the hospital’s main donors. Being engaged to me makes things not only easier but better for Belle.”
“What neat bit of bullshit you managed to sell yourself, darling, but I’m not buying it. You never do something for nothing.”
“It’s different with Belle. Surely you know that.”
The businesswoman snorted.
“Could’ve fooled me, given what the past few weeks have been like. And given the fact that it was your association with you that landed her in here in the first place.”
It was a low blow, but an effective one. 
“Don’t you fucking go there, Mal. Don’t you fucking dare.”
He clenched his fists, angry that any display of violence would likely mean the police being called and he being unable to return to Belle’s room until tomorrow at the earliest. 
“And why shouldn’t I? It’s the truth. You got into a fight with her, left her alone to fend for herself against an old acquaintance of yours who wanted revenge- probably just the first in a long line of many- and now here you are, sitting by her bedside, making her medical decisions and making false claims on her person. Taking titles that you don’t deserve.”
“I know!” Somehow anger had given way to pain, to what he had kept mostly locked away ever since he had received the call from the hospital. “It’s my fault she’s in here, don’t you think I fucking know that? I fucked up. I should’ve realised, should’ve kept tabs on Jones, should’ve… forced her to talk to me. Something was wrong and I jumped to the conclusion that was most familiar to me, most comfortable. Let myself wallow in self-pity. Belle didn’t deserve that. But I’m trying-” His voice broke and he looked away, grateful that Mallory was also likely to be uncomfortable with his display of emotion and would not push him. “I’m trying to make it right.”
“Do you think that’s what Belle would want?”
“She didn’t remove me as her emergency contact, or revoke my medical power of attorney. I have to think that means she’d want me here with her.”
It gave him a perverse sort of pleasure to see the Englishwoman so patently uncomfortable at the sight of his reddened eyes and the sound of his wobbly voice. She considered for a few more minutes, as if trying to ascertain the honesty of his words, and then nodded.
“I expect you to keep me in the know at all times. If she wakes up, you call me. If the doctors tell you something new, you call me. If she fucking sneezes you call me. And for God’s sake, when her father gets here from Australia you let him sit with her for a while and go take a damn shower. Get some sleep. You’re all Belle has until she gets out of the ICU. Hopefully that will be soon. And then she can decide what to do with you.”
She walked out into the hallway, people around her moving out of her way. She turned around just as she was about to reach the front doors, as if she’d remembered something.
“And I want to see her tomorrow morning. So I expect you to make a phone call and make it happen. Good night, Nick.”
Well, fuck.
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emcases · 4 years
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A Covid Day
I have been leaving later than usual for work (I drive).  There’s no traffic in New York City.  The 40-minute commute is now 20 minutes.
The morning routine now involves getting into my Covid clothing, then lining up to receive my day’s ration of PPE (I ask for one regular mask and one N95).  PPE is dispensed from a locked office now, but the hospital keeps insisting that PPE is plentiful.  I have been reusing the same eye protection for weeks now.  I should clean it more often.  It seems only a matter of time before we run out of all PPE.  The guys in the locked office will need a shotgun lol.
I take sign-out.  There are approximately 20 Covid patients waiting for beds in my zone.  Three are intubated.  One of the intubated patients appears “unlikely”.  Two of the non-intubated patients look like they will go down during my shift.
I talk to the new patients.  The non-Covid patients all have nada.  One guy has 20 chief complaints and needs an appointment.  Second guy has 5 complaints but is basically here for detox.  Admitting a patient to detox feels like a death sentence to me.  All hospital and nursing home patients are sitting ducks.  The guy doesn’t want to stay.  He wants to try some benzos as an outpatient.  The resident has never done this before and he was surprised when I give the guy a script for a bunch of libriums.
I check to see if any of my sick Covids from the last shift died.  I go 4 for 4.  All patients are still alive.  Yay!
I get called to see a Covid patient that was just discharged from the ED a few minutes ago.  He didn’t make it out.  We get him back into a room, put him on oxygen, and admit him.
A Critical Care consult comes by.  There are no ICU beds (no surprise there).  They accepted one of the intubated patients to the MICU.  The others will go to a new floor designated for Covid patients.  We’re not sure who’s running that floor - Medicine, Surgery, or Anesthesia.  I overhear the Critical Care doctor battling it out with the ICU head nurse over one of the patients.  Nothing changes at this hospital.
I check the xray of one of the sicker Covid patients.  She was signed out as cancer + right pleural effusion.  The xray is horrendous; both lungs are filled with disease.  The pleural effusion is the least of her problems.  I decide not to stick a needle into her chest.
I didn’t go to the morning briefing; there are too many patients.  There may be four vents left in the hospital.  One thing about Covid - patients die, so vents and ICU beds open up.  I am surprised by the number of deaths.  I check my work email.  There’s an email that warns us that intubation meds and equipment are running out.
All day long, codes are called upstairs.  I wonder how many of those codes are my patients.
One of the patients I am worried about looks like she is going to go down.  We re-position her and crank up the oxygen.  She doesn’t go down.
A sick patient comes in.  A normal person with a mental status.  Dying from Covid.  We go to intubate him.  Damn, there’s no suction in this room.  A resident contacts his family and his son tells us to make him DNR / DNI.  I call the son back to confirm this.  The patient has advanced kidney cancer and he wants to go peacefully.  The patient is going to die, and soon.  The son is coming to the hospital.  I hope he makes it in time.  We make the patient as comfortable as possible - oxygen, a little fluid, morphine.
I remove my PPE and sit down at the computer.  An ID attending comes by and chats.  I don’t recognize her at first through her top-to-bottom PPE.  She mentions that I should wear a mask at all times.  She’s right, but I laugh because I took off my mask about 10 seconds ago.  Honestly, I don’t think it makes any difference in the ED.  Covid is everywhere.  I am relatively certain that Covid is recirculated via the ventilation system.
More Covid patients come in.  They’re all hypoxic, but none of them will die during my shift, I think.
I go check on the sick guy.  He’s starting to brady.  It won’t be long.  I set my alarm to check on him every 20 minutes.  I don’t want to find my patient in rigor mortis, a common occurrence in the ED nowadays.
More patients come in.  None of them have respiratory symptoms, but I suspect Covid in most of the them.  The nursing home guy who was found on the floor?  Covid.  The old guy with abdominal pain (whose wife died last night)?  Covid.
Someone sends the ED lunch.  That’s so nice of the restaurant.  I send the residents to chow down, then I go.  Nicole, the senior resident, usually doesn’t eat (much) during a shift, but even she goes to eat.  During the Age of Covid, you have to get in as many calories and as much fluid as possible.  I go home thirsty and dry after every shift and wonder if I have Covid.
The nurse says the sick guy is dead.  We go in to pronounce him.  Fuck.  His son doesn’t make it in time.
There is a woman with pleuritic chest pain.  The residents and I talk about a non-Covid issue for once during our shift.  I hate d-dimers.
The son arrives.  The hospital policy is no-visitors.  We let him to see his dead father after we put PPE on him.
All of the “atypical” Covid patients have Covid on their chest xrays.  They are all admitted to beds that we don’t have.  There’s no such thing as atypical Covid anymore.  Everyone in the ED has Covid.  The ED is out of space, so the Covid patients are grouped into shared spaces.  Every once in a while, a Covid patient gets up and walks around the ED.  We don’t have the manpower to watch them, but at least they’re wearing a mask, and none of them are coughing.
More Covid patients come in.   I’m thinking about sending home the guy whose wife died last night, but he’s a little hypoxic and he bumps his creatinine big time.  I admit him.  I wonder if I should send the nursing home Covid back to the nursing home.  Will I kill off the entire nursing home, or have they all been infected already?  If he isn’t a demented nursing home patient, he should be discharged.
During a brief lull, the triage nurse calls us over for a “note” (arrival of a sick patient).  I go over, but there’s no patient there.  EMS is bringing him in, he says.  We go outside.  I see a patient being bagged.  I run back in the ED and assemble the resuscitation equipment.  When the patient gets inside, I can’t help but notice that the patient is dead.  We intubate the patient, put in an IV, and give Epi.  The colorimeter doesn’t change colors even though the tube is in the right place (a very poor prognostic sign).  “Aren’t you going to do CPR?” asks the EMS crew.  “The patient is dead”, I answer.  In all practicality, CPR has stopped in my hospital.  The next day, a new EMS directive is ordered - do not bring cardiac arrest patients to the hospital.
When we intubate the patient, there are tons of secretions in the airway.  That’s one of the weird things about Covid - patients have all this crap in their lungs, but very few of them cough.  The other weird thing about Covid is the spectrum of disease.  Why is one person totally fine and the guy next to him dead?  I work in an area with a diverse population and the deaths have hit all races, ages, incomes, and vulnerabilities.  We pronounced a 25-year-old guy the night before.
A Surgical Attending comes by with a friendly greeting.  I love her; she is always so pleasant.  She’s too good for our hospital.  She tells me that “the nurse” is on ECMO.  I know already - I have been following her upstairs after taking care of her last week.  She is a lovely patient.  Her chances are dismal.
A patient who comes in for detox refuses to leave.  Wtf?!?  He is oblivious to the chaos around him.  Do I have to call the Police to throw him out?  We decide to turf him to Psych.  We need the space.  No patients can hang out in the ED anymore.  Only quickly-dying patients get admitted.
The day winds down.  The last few minutes of every shift is tense because you’re just waiting for one of your patients to go down.  None of my Covid patients die just yet.  Two of the intubated patients went upstairs.
After sign-out, I take off my Covid clothes.  The used masks go into a baggie.  They will be reused should the day come when we run out of fresh masks.  I drive home with my residents, saving them a long subway ride.  They are appreciative.  I love my residents (well most of them).  I go to Chipotle for take-out, one of the few restaurants still open in the neighborhood.  There’s no line, of course.  I get home, shower, and disinfect my ID, my glasses, etc. as well as I could.  I watch Big Bang Theory and I eat, hoping that this is not the day I go down with the virus myself.  If it happens, it happens.
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yikesola · 4 years
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Hospital Update—
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howdy! did i emo post about feeling sick and going home from work and then didn’t post for a few days except to complain and say “i’m okay! i’m in hospital but i’m okay” 😦
oops, i guess i did
so if i worried you with that i’m truly sorry, and i want to emphasize the i’m okay bits of this story and the fact that i am still definitely okay but still definitely shook up and exhausted and processing that this week even really happened. so i’m gonna try to go over what went down and y’all aren’t allowed to make fun of me if it’s not as funny as my usual writing, deal? deal!🥰 i just have had a verrry shitty time with the fact that so much that happened is a blur and i kinda depend a lot on my interpretation of events, and i want to write it down so i have some kind of record before i lose even more details— and that can mean that while writing this out it’s gonna actually be a litttle tmi, and more medical mumbo jumbo than you care about, but hey what level of social media isn’t dripping in performativity? what else am i gonna do, besides type this out? watch more family feud? wait for my next potassium horsepill?
so i legit just thought i had a flu last week, thought i’d need to just sleep off the nausea and fever and body aches and tummy troubles, have some soup, have some sprite and gatorade, have some saltines, have some tylenol. i had been complaining for a few days about not feeling well and thought that’d be the worst of it as i never really get sick and when i do i never do much about it other than being a pioneer woman and suffering through it. and this post would be soooooo boring if that were the case— don’t worry, it was not the flu.
so something cracked in my blood after i went to sleep to try to feel better, and my body did that autoimmune thing that bodies do where it said “hey..... something’s trying to kill us. what if we died first?? that’ll show em!” and my blood platelets started eating themselves. not ,, good.....
meanwhile it was the next morning and i was supposed to get ready for work but i still felt like shit (because my body was torpedoing itself) so my dear memere coming to check up on me saw me wild and vomit-strewen, except i wasn’t actually wild at all i was just shutting down blood-utilizing organ by one and imagining that i was this wild Romantic mrs rochester in my burning nightgown while my aunt and memere quibbled over whether they could get me into the car to try urgent care. in my haze i heard that and my dumb ass was like “is it that necessary??” and luckily my dumb mouth wasn’t functioning at the time bc she didn’t say nothing and instead my relatives called an ambulance. our little mountain town has its own hospital, that’s a nice part of the story! it’s a nice little hospital!
the paramedic was lovely and tried to get me sweatpants because it’s november. i didn’t listen to her because my fever was insane and i was more concerned with making sure my cats weren’t in the way of the gurney 🤪#yikesolabranding
i had the same paramedic in the ambulance with me when they sent me to the hospital in the big city and i spent the whole 90 minute drive talking about how much i love those fucking cats
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that’s beside the point, but i want to be clear about who i am at my core apparently, always talking about the gals 😻
so i get to the hospital and this is the first black out. i guess technically second because of when it all started, but let’s pick up with me waking up in the hospital. i have nine plasma. i have a fever of 105. i’m being given a blood transfusion, thanks high schoolers who wanted to get out of running the mile in PE that day!
they throw their dartboard tests and decide i have TTP—
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basically, they just need to trick my blood into calling off the attack. how are they gonna do that? they’re gonna confuse the blood, overwhelm it, overcrowd it. they’re gonna get me to the fancy city hospital and treat my veins like frosting piping bags.
it’s snowing— no helicopter for me. i have a catheter at this point btw, and this is one of the parts that i know is tmi but ....... ladies and friends, y’all ever had a catheter?? 😩🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 i’m dying and legit think i’d rather piss myself to death, it hurts that bad. we take an ambulance down to the valley, i complain enough about the catheter that they finally take it out for which i apologize incessantly (something that’s probably more annoying than the original complaining but i could die in my own piss comfortable and happy so whatever let’s not worry about it.) i pass out again.
i wake up in ICU. i’m assured i am neither pregnant nor have AIDS. good news✌️ especially considering some family history i won’t dive into here. they’re saying the catheter word again and that scares me bc ow, but don’t worry! this one is going in my neck :) it’s how we’re gonna save my life—
we pump thirteen (13) bags of plasma into my neck via dialysis. it works so well they decide they’re gonna do it for a week! i am weeping through the entire 90 minute procedure btw, and apologizing for it. i’m a Fun Patient!
i pass out again.
i wake up to another assurance that i am still unpregnant and don’t have AIDS. hmmm glad those ones stick!
my aunt is begging me to rub my two brain cells together so i can unlock my phone. i do, which is interesting considering when asked the year i repeatedly answer 1992 and 1994. but my 4digit phone passcode? try and wipe that from me, bitch ass stroke
my aunt calls my dad. he is less of a jerk than he could be :) he thinks my uninsured ass should move to the hospital he works at in california. fucking comedian
i text some friends waiting in my hospital bed. it’s a messy text. if you’re a friend who got one of those texts, bless your reading comprehension abilities and please know that my intention was to say something like “i don’t want to worry you, I’ve checked into the hospital but am okay” but it was like in pooh’s grand adventure when pooh bear spilt honey all over christopher robin’s note that literally said “DONT worry about me, i’m NOT going far away” and read it as “worry about me, i’m going far away” and basically i should’ve taken the opportunity to pass out again instead of trying to text lol
i did call one friend instead of text and she was at dinner with her husband, so sent a little “call you back later!” before listening to the voicemail and the poor dear felt very bad for blowing me off, though i promise i did not feel blown off, i shouldn’t have called at dinner time like a damn telemarketer!
so i wake up again and it’s been two days 😞😞 whoopsie! they’ve done more plasma, i’m stable, and my brain is coming back. I’m BORED. i’m trapped in my body and can’t move and in incredible pain! i’m covered in bruises. i’ve vomited on myself. it’s time to pump me with more plasma. while they’re doing the 40min prep work for that, i am drenched in confusion, like that camouflage spell in hp5. i start screaming apologies (even when my brain is broke i can apologize, social feminization is a hell of a drug) to my doctors who ask me who the president is and i become the “don’t make me say it” meme. that made us all feel a little better.
they pump their plasma. my episode passes. i have a violet allergic reaction all over my body. they pump some benadryl. it goes away.
i can eat solid food! by “solid food” i mean strawberry jello. they tell me to order food of more substance. i order a meatloaf, and pass out before it arrives. i feel bad, eat it cold. i have Never had a better meatloaf, although if i’m being perfectly honest she was closer to a salisbury steak. genuilnely, *chefs kiss*
it’s day five, it’s time for me to leave the ICU. this fancy new room has a toilet :) and a shower! i finally get that vomit out of my hair. my aunt brings me my glasses; they’ve been on my bedside table this whole time
day six is a petulant day ..... idk why but my neck catheter was killing worse than usual and the plasma treatments had been slowly getting more bearable but then this day ,, wasn’t. and suddenly this all felt like a lot of hoops to jump through. and i had some “this isn’t fair🥺” moping as though not being dead isn’t wicked cool enough on its own. whatever, i’m feeling a lot better today, and y’all were really nice about my grumbling so thank you for that, without an ouce of facetiousness🥰
day seven, thanksgiving! i’m finally awake early enough for breakfast. i have fruit loops and laugh at mr amazing’s pain. i have hospital turkey for thanksgiving. it’s as bad as hospital turkey has to be, i can’t blame it for that. my memere sends two blank text messages. she’s 84, so i interpret them as “happy turkey day” and “love you”
i have what is supposed to be my last plasma treatment. before they pull my neck catheter out, they decide it willl not be. i’ll have at least one more in the morning. they’re still not comfortable, but i don’t cry through all 90minutes now. only like ,, 70 minutes of it🤙 maybe i’ll break under an hour tomorrow.
that’s all for now— at this time discharge is looking like monday or tuesday. my TTP recovery is likely, just a matter of time. i’m having a really hard time looking at my phone screeen (typing this has taken on and off 4hrs of dizzy and break) but so look forward to getting back into things that make me happy like japhan content and all the fests and kiss prompts i was working on before this. thanks for listening to this poor approximation of what i remember of my hospital experience! ✨✨🥰 sorry idk how to add a damn read more
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