He glanced up from his magazine, cursing under his breath when his seat was roughly pushed forward again, he wanted to kill the stupid airline for fucking up with the reservations, how difficult was it to ensure that they didn’t double book? Now he was stuck in coach, separated from Adie and to top it off he had the joy of the kicky child in the seat behind him. If his chair was shoved forward one more time he was going to turn around and throttle the child before he threw him out the emergency door! Okay maybe that was a bit drastic but his patients were certainly wearing extremely thin.
Just count to ten Nick! He thought to himself. The child eventually got bored but he was unsure how long it would be until the jerky movement started again, he sighed at his own thought and looked across to her. Even though she was situated a row in front of him he could tell that she was unhappy too, she was staring straight ahead of her, basically gazing into the upright tray table, her head resting on her palm, her eyes glazed and he wondered what she was thinking about, well if he thought about it he already knew.
Ever since Saturday, the wedding, she had been distant. Saturday she had been emotional but she had been around him, hugging him , kissing him, laughing with him then Sunday, god it was like she was a different person. She couldn’t have gotten further away from him if she tried. He knew that she had been busy helping Denise with the BarBQ that she had laid on for the remaining guests from the wedding but even when they had been alone in the evening she had resisted his advances, pushed him away saying that she was tired. Maybe she had been though, maybe this was just all in his head because of what Denise had said.
“They were big sighs,” the elderly plump women sat next to him commented.
“Long weekend,” he smiled to her.
“You live in Florida or were you just visiting?” She asked continuing with the small talk that he was not really in the mood for, but he knew better then to be rude, after all karma was a bitch and right now karma was probably sat behind him in the form of the kicky child.
“I used to live there, went back for my best friends wedding,” he told her closing the magazine and placing it in his lap.
“How lovely, I do like a good wedding. Are you married?” she asked glancing down to his hand, noticing no ring.
“No.”
“A Handsome young man like yourself not married?” She questioned, “I bet you have a girlfriend though don’t you?” She asked and he smiled.
“Yeah, she’s just sat over there,” he pointed.
“Well isn’t she a pretty thing. So young man if you’ve got yourself such a pretty girl why all the sighing?” He chuckled at being called young man, at almost thirty he didn’t think he qualified to be called that, but in relation to her age he probably was.
“It’s been a long weekend.”
“People asking about when you two are going to tie the knot?” She asked him.
“You could say that,” he told her.
“Well take it from me, there is no point in rushing into these things just to please everyone else, you do things when you are both good and ready,” she told him and he looked across the Adie again knowing that no matter how hard he tried he would never be ready. And in his heart of hearts he knew that she was.
Two hours later and they had finally made it home. He had been trying to make small talk for the entire journey home in the car but she hadn’t been interested and he couldn’t tell whether it was because she was pissed off at him or because she was tired, all he knew was that something was not right with her. He was starting to wonder whether Denise was right, but there was no way in hell he was going to bring it up. He did not want to risk her telling him that she had changed her mind, he could not go through his reasons why again.
“Are you okay?” He asked as they walked into the stuffy house.
“Fine,” she mumbled as she walked through to the kitchen and pored herself a glass of water.
“You sure?” He asked again as he followed her through dumping the suit case on the floor.
“Yeah I’m sure,” she snapped before sighing, turning round so she could look at him. “Sorry I guess I’m just tired it’s been a busy weekend,” she said as she put her glass down so she could wrap her arms around him.
“You sure that’s all it is?” He asked wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.
“Yeah,” she whispered breathing him in. “I think I’m gona take a bath and head to bed.”
“Okay I’ll be up in a bit,” he said kissing her head before he let her go. He watched he retreat towards the stairs before he made his way to the fridge to retrieve a beer. He let the cool beverage slide down his throat all the while knowing what Denise had been saying was true.
***
She watched him as he slept, he looked so peaceful, his mouth open slightly, one arm underneath his pillow the other haphazardly resting across her stomach. It was the same every night, he had to be touching her somehow, he wasn’t really the cuddly type in bed then again neither was she, it just got too hot, she liked her own space as she slept but she also liked the feeling of him, even if it was just an arm resting across her, it made her feel safe, she never slept well when they were separated.
The alarm startled her suddenly, even though she knew that it was imminent and she reached over and quickly shut it off before it woke Nick but she needn’t of worried because he didn’t even stir. In the end there hadn’t really been the need for it as she hadn’t slept much, her mind was just overfilled with thoughts, thoughts that were not just going to go away. She pulled back the covers and expertly replaced her body with her pillow knowing that if she didn’t Nick would wake looking for her and then she made her way towards the bathroom, shivering when the cold air hit her naked skin as she stripped off. She quickly hopped under the spray savouring the warmth of the water against her body but it did nothing to aid the pounding in her head. She knew it had been a mistake to not request today off work, she was still exhausted from the weekend but there was nothing she could do about it now. She tried to think of what her day might have in store, of what gruesome sights or sad stories she might hear but eventually she drifted back to the thoughts that had plagued her restless night.
Was she a hypocrite? She had gone into this relationship knowing full well that he did not have a very positive view about marriage, he had been open about that right from the beginning and she knew that he would not change his mind. She had told him that she was okay with that, that she didn’t need to be married to him. So why the change of heart? She knew how much he loved her, so why did she need the silly bit of paper to prove that? Then again it was only a silly bit of paper so what was he so afraid off? It’s not like a relationship was doomed to fail because of some vows, a piece of paper and a ring, the problems either had to be there before that or after, that marriage didn’t cause the break up, surely he could see that?
She rinsed the remainders of the soap suds of her body before shutting off the shower and stepping out so she could wrap herself into the towel and make her way to the sink to brush her teeth and apply a light coating of makeup. Once she resembled what she thought classed as at least half human looking for the time in the morning she combed the knots from her long dark hair and proceeded to put her wet hair into a ponytail ready for work. She walked back into their bedroom, noticing how he hadn’t even moved from when she had left and threw on a pair of track pants and a t-shirt before she went to leave the room.
“Don’t I rate a kiss anymore?” He hoarsely asked making her jump out of her skin in fright.
“Jesus Christ!” She exclaimed the hand that had jumped to her heart feeling it race beneath her chest. He just chuckled at her as he moved so he could rest his head on his hand and wipe the sleep away with the other. “Go back to sleep,” she told him as she made her way to him.
“Time is it?” He yawned.
“Just after six,” she said leaning towards him so she could give him a quick peck.
“No wonder I’m still tired and that so did not rate as a proper kiss,” he said as he pulled her back towards him, sliding his hand under her ponytail so he could hold the back of her neck as he bought her mouth to his so he could kiss her properly.
“Your breath is gross,” she told him when he finally let her go.
“Yours is minty fresh,” he countered making her smile. “Are you on all day?” he asked as he snuggled back into his pillow.
“Yeah I should be home by seven,” she said stroking her hand down his face before she leant in again to peck his cheek.
“Have a good day,” he said as he closed his eyes, “Try not to kill anyone,” he added wincing when she punched him in the arm playfully.
“See you tonight.”
“Love ya,” he called after her as she reached the door.
“Love you too,” she said blowing him a kiss, rolling her eyes and laughing slightly when he lifted his hand to catch it without even opening his eyes. She made her way down the stairs, flicked on the coffee machine and threw together a quick sandwich that she could eat for lunch (if she wasn’t too busy at the point in the day!) Once the smell of the freshly ground beans filled her nostrils she felt a bit more awake and she sighed in pleasure as she took the first sip before applying the lid to her travel mug as she headed out of the door.
It never took very long to get to work at this time in the morning, and for that she was grateful if there was anything she couldn’t stand it was traffic, it had to be her biggest pet peeve, that and drunken revellers who filtered in continually from midnight on the weekend grave yard shift. She pulled into the parking lot and walked the quick five minutes to the ER entrance, shouting out a few heys and hi’s to the tired shift who were due to come home as soon as she was changed.
“Hey girlie how was Florida?” Marissa her colleague and long term friend asked as she made her way into the changing room.
“Good thanks,” she replied as she pulled off her top so she could put on a pair of the unflattering blue scrubs. They were big and baggy and she knew she would spend half the shift pulling the pants up but like always she would just deal.
“You got pictures with you?” Marisa asked as she shut her locker and threw the stethoscope around her neck.
“Yeah, I’ll get them out later. Oh damn it,” she sighed when she rummaged through her bag.
“Forgotten something?”
“Yeah I think I left my brain back in Florida,” she joked, “I changed my bag over and forgotten my stethoscope, pen torch you name it, oh man I and I forgot to put my lunch in,” she sighed as she threw her useless bag into the locker before slamming the door shut in frustration making Marissa laugh at her.
“Sounds like someone is still in vacation mode,” Marissa chuckled as she held the door open so they could walk through it and out to start what was likely to be a busy day.
“Maybe this is a sign that today is going to suck ass,” Adrianna mumbled as she walked through it and sighed when she heard the familiar sounds of a disgruntled patient who was being made to wait. “Yeah today is definately going to be shit,” She thought to herself.
***
He woke up when he heard the familiar sounds of Layla scratching at the door.
“Layla, stop it,” he called without even opening his eyes. He tried snuggling back into his pillow to try and drift back off to sleep but she was relentless and he knew that if he didn’t get up soon she would end up either whining or peeing all over the carpet. So with a groan he pushed the comforter off his body and sat up. He sat on the edge of bed for a moment, yawning and trying to rub the sleep from his eyes before he got up and found the pair of sweats that were lying haphazardly on the floor. He slowly made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, opening the backdoor so the pooch with the overstretched bladder could relive herself before he headed towards the coffee machine.
He flicked the switch on and let the machine boil as he added a fresh filter full of ground beans and then headed towards the cupboard to retrieve a bowl for the cereal he was going to have. That was when he noticed the sandwich, banana and yoghurt lined up on the counter and shook his head at his forgetful girlfriend. He added the cereal to the bowl, poured his coffee and then the milk and took a seat at the breakfast bar munching on the sweet goodness of lucky charms.
When he was finished he put the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher and headed upstairs for a shower and to change and twenty minutes later he was heading out of the door with her lunch in a bag, plus the stethoscope he found hanging on the back of the chair of her vanity.
He made it to the hospital by ten but it took him nearly twenty minutes to park and he knew from past experience that it could only mean she was having a busy day. His thoughts had been spot on when he entered the chaotic environment in which she worked, once again wondering how she did it. He headed towards the triage desk, carefully avoiding the bleeding person slouched against the wall, and even managing to dodge the person who’s vomit almost directly at him as he grimaced at the smell.
“Fill out this paper work and I’ll be with you in a minute,” Jess told him, not even looking up as she held out the clipboard.
“Glad to see your bedside manner has improved.”
Her head snapped up at his voice and he swore he saw a hint of a blush, “Sorry Nick, it’s been one of those days,” she said pulling the clipboard away from him. “You here for Adie?” She asked buzzing the door and letting him.
“Yeah where is she?” He asked sitting next to her on the desk once he had made it through the security doors. The mere fact that they were there was a constant reminder of what danger she could potentially be in everyday and he wished that she had chosen to work somewhere a little more safer, where she didn’t run the risk of being threatened or hurt but they had already argued about that and she was adamant that the ER was the only place she wanted to be.
“Last time I saw her she was trying to pry a deodorant can out of a guys ass,” she told him as if it were an everyday occurrence.
“She was what?” He asked slightly scandalised.
“You heard me, fill out your information and hand this back,” she told the patient on the other side of the counter.
“She’s a paediatric nurse, she should be working with kids.”
“She’s a paediatric nurse in a busy ER, we currently don’t have any children for her to see so she has to help us out on the dark side,” She joked and he laughed with her. “Marcus you seen Adrie?” She asked the doctor as he walked past.
“Trauma one, nasty car accident,” he said as he walked past.
“Might be a while,” She told him.
“Is it okay if I wait around?” He asked popping some candy in his mouth before she slapped his hand.
“They are for people who work here,” she told him but then smiled warmly, “And yes you can stay.”
He occupied his time by people watching, noticing how frail and ill people looked. “Well duh they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t need help!” He mentally berated himself as he snuck another candy from the pile when Jess he thought Jess wasn’t looking.
“Saw that,” she said without looking up from the notes she was writing but he just smirked and looked towards where the trauma rooms, spotting her immediately when she walked out throwing her blood stained gown into the trash angrily, storming away from the Attending as he called her name. She had had the exact same look of anger and distaste on her face the first time he had met her in this very ER he remembered.
August 2005
“What the fuck is your problem?!” He hissed angrily when he felt Kevin glaring at him again. He saw the older man twitch and knew that he was about to try and make a break for it but Keith managed to stop him.
“Stop antagonizing him,” Brian sternly warned Nick.
“Of course your going to side with him he’s your cousin,” Nick whined rubbing his tender hand.
“Nick stop acting like a spoilt child, it’s your fault we’re in this mess, you had to piss him off didn’t you?” Brian bit back.
“Yeah cause I live to piss him off, he was the one that started this argument in case you forgot.”
“And who put him in the bad mood to begin with? You’ve known him for how many years? You know that when he is pissed off and says enough is enough you leave him to chill out, you don’t keep annoying him. You Nick would be one of the kids at the zoo who would poke a sleeping alligator until it woke up and ate you whole,” Brian said in utter seriousness shaking his head at Nick.
The image was just too much, Nick absolutely loved it when he came out with classic stuff like this and he found himself cracking up at the image of an alligator chowing down on him.
“You think this is funny punk ass?!” Kevin called from across the hospital waiting room, Keith having to hold on to his friends arm to keep him from coming at Nick, “You’ve fucking broken my nose,” He yelled again.
“I’d do it again too,” Nick yelled back frustrated. More insults were hurled back and forth making the environment tense and uncomfortable for the other waiting patients and that was when she had stepped in.
“EXCUSE ME THIS IS A HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM,” She yelled above their shouts grabbing their attention quickly. God she was so pissed Nick noticed. Her face looked stern as she frowned at the pair of them, her eyes narrowed on in him and her piercing gaze was just too much and he had to look away. He noticed her hands fall from her hips as she looked at the clipboard and called out Kevin’s name, ushering him inside the doors of the main emergency unit so he could have someone look at his nose.
Ten minutes later she arrived back and called out his name coming over to him when he raised his good hand. “Can I trust the pair of you back there together?” She asked him in a tone he expected she would use on a child who was not going to cooperate.
“Yes,” He meekly answered as he followed her back through the double doors, Brian hot on his heels.
“Okay Mr Carter take a seat up there for me,” she said pointing to the gurney as she pulled the curtain around for a bit of privacy. “I’m gona take a wild stab in the dark here and say that this sore hand is the cause of Mr Richardson’s sore nose,” she said and he blushed, god why was he blushing? Okay she was hot and he had made himself look like a bit of a dick in the waiting room in the slanging match that he had gotten into so maybe that way why. He could only imagine what her first impression of him was, and anything that Kevin had probably told her would not have painted him in a nice picture.
“Yeah,” he mumbled wincing slightly when she took his cold hand in her warm ones.
“It’s very bruised already isn’t it?” She asked and he nodded, “Where is it tender?” She asked as she felt her way around the bones making him hiss in pain when she pressed on a sore point. “Sorry,” she apologised taking his hand and placing it on his opposite shoulder. “Just hold it up there for me,” she instructed as she placed his whole arm in a sling. “I think your going to need an x-ray, you probably have what’s none as a boxer’s break,” she informed as she filled out something on his chart.
“How long will that take?” He asked.
“You probably going to be here for a couple of hours, we’re a bit backed up sorry,” she apologised as she got up again.
“No problem,” he said. A Few hours here? He could definitely show her the good side to Nick Carter in that time he smirked watching her ass as she walked away from him.
“Jesus help me,” Brian grumbled.
“What?” Nick questioned.
“You were not just checking her out?” he asked.
“She’s hot,” he shrugged.
***
Usually sitting on a gurney in an emergency department would not have been his idea of fun but she had easily captured and held his attention. She was dark haired which was surprising as he usually went for blondes, her hair was up in a messy bun, her pen stuck through the centre of it, he found it quite amusing how she would search her pockets for it and then after a few minutes realise where it was. Her figure was hidden by a pair of dark blue scrubs which she was continually pulling up, and her ID badge was tagged to the pocket of her top, he still hadn’t quite caught her name but on more then one occasion he had heard “Drie” mentioned. It sounded quite exotic, then again it matched her exotic look, maybe she was half Hispanic or Mexican or something he thought as he watched her work.
He had just come back from having x-rays taken and she was currently sat looking at a monitor, intently studying it occasionally moving closer towards it and slanting her head to the left. She sighed and blew her hair from out of her face as she began to twist from side to side on the computer chair and glanced up to quickly for him to avert his gaze. She smiled over to him and stood from the chair then walked in his direction.
“From what I can see you have a small fracture, so you’re going to need a cast for a few weeks,” she said as she went about gathering the required tools she would need. “From looking at your x-ray it looks like you have some old healed fractures in your hand,” she added as she washed her hands and sat across from him, motioning for him to place his, now confirmed fractured hand, on the small trolley between them.
“I’ve been in my fair share of fights,” he admitted.
“Ever thought about anger management? Or counting to ten?” She asked as she firstly wrapped his hand in cotton wool.
“I tend to think after,” he said and she laughed slightly.
“I know that feeling,” she replied and he raised his eyebrows to her, “What? You don’t think a girl can fight? I have an elder sister and trust me we used to fight.”
“I just didn’t expect a doctor to get into fights, thought you would be too busy with your head stuck in a book.”
“Well actually I’m not a doctor,” she told him as she laughed at the look of confusion on his face, “Don’t worry I not an escaped psych patient I am qualified to do this,” she said as she added the wet bandage to his hand.
“So if your not a doctor then what do you do?” He asked curiously.
“I’m an emergency nurse practitioner. I can basically see and treat people with minor ailments like yours and when I’m not doing that I work in the peads area,” she told him as she was finishing up. “Okay so you need to keep the cast clean and dry, keep wiggling your fingers, if they start feeling numb or tingling or the cast cracks then come back and we can take another look,” she told him as she discarded her gloves in the bin and washed her hands again. “Any questions?” She asked.
“What’s your name?” He asked.
“Why do you need to know my name?” She asked as she jotted a few things down on his chart.
“Well I need to know who to address my thank you card to,” he added coolly.
“I was just doing my job, you don’t have to send me a thank you card,” she said looking up to him.
“Well if you won’t tell me your name then I will just have to address it to the nurse with the beautiful eyes the wont I?” He said as he stood up.
“Okay that was the worst line I have ever heard in my life, if you want to ask me out just ask me but I should let you know that I don’t mix work and pleasure,” she said handing him his after care instructions.
“I’m sure I can make you change your mind,” he said.
“Pharmacy is just down that way if you want to get your pain meds,” she said ignoring his last comment.
***
“EARTH TO NICK!” She almost yelled to him clicking her fingers in front of his face bringing him back from his memory.
“Huh?” He asked confused.
“You feeling okay?” She asked as she put her hand to his forehead. “You fall and hit your head or something?”
“I’m fine,” he said removing her hand but he kept it clasped in his. “You forgot your lunch and I figured you need this,” he said holding up her stethoscope and she smiled brightly at him.
“Thanks sweetie,” she said leaning in to give him a quick kiss.
“You okay? You looked kinda pissed earlier,” He said when they broke apart.
“I think you jinxed me with your comment this morning,” she said.
“Bad day huh?” He asked and she nodded, looking even more stressed then before. “Can you escape for lunch now?”
“Not really, we’re swamped. I’m probably just going to eat as I go,” she said through a sigh.
“Well I’m not going until I see you take at least a mouthful,” he said as he opened the foil her sandwich was wrapped in ignoring her when she rolled her eyes at him. She took the sandwich from him and took a quickly mouthful before thrusting the sandwich down on the counter when the EMT’s burst through the door.
“Got a drowning, pulse less and apnoeic on arrival at scene-” one guy reeled off and she was by the gurney is a heartbeat looking back at him apologetically.
“I’ll see you tonight baby,” she said as she took off down the hall.
“See ya,” he said waving as she rounded the corner and out of his sight.
“Hey Jess?” Nick asked.
“What’s up Nick?” She asked looking towards him.
“What’s the one thing you crave after a long shift where nothing seems to go right?” He asked and she smirked at him before motioning for him to sit down.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Adie thinks about Nick and Her's realtionship whilst struggling with getting back to work
Chapter End Notes:
Yippie I just figured out HTML!! I know I know you're all thinking jeez it aint that difficult but look at my pretty italic writing!!! HEHE! LOL I'm such a loser sometimes! Let me know what you think.
I know it's a bit slow at the moment but bear with me there is lots more juicey stuff to come I promise!
I know it's a bit slow at the moment but bear with me there is lots more juicey stuff to come I promise!
