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By the time Nick returned from the parking lot, Grace had disappeared. Nurse Pinero had extracted all the relevant information from her except her health insurance number. Dr. Morris had whisked her into one of the treatment rooms, followed by a nurse. Her name tag said N. Raymond. Dr Morris called her Nora.

Nurse Pinero took the purse from Nick and opened it. She fished out Grace’s wallet. Nick opened his mouth to protest, but the nurse allayed his fears.

“It’s okay. I have her permission. She told me where to look.”

Sure enough, she held up the insurance card. She added the relevant information to the computer file and then handed the purse to Nick.

“She’s in Room 2,”said the nurse, nodding down the hallway.

Nick found the room and hesitantly knocked on the door. It was opened by a nurse who promptly told him to go away, he wasn’t allowed back here.

“But I have to give her the purse,” protested Nick.

“Look, I’m sorry, you aren’t allowed back here.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Nora, she’s not having a baby, she has a sprained ankle. Let the young man see her.” Nurse Pinero came up behind them and gave Nurse Nora a knowing nod.

Nurse Nora nodded back and smiled. “Well, I guess it would be okay if you say so, Agnes. But she’s in a lot of pain. We’ll be taking her up to x-ray shortly.”

Nick stepped past the nurse into the room. Grace lay on the stretcher with her eyes closed. Her skirt was smoothed down over her legs, and her ankle was covered with an ice bag.

“Hey there,” said Nick, from the doorway. “How are you doing?”

Grace opened her eyes and gave him a shy smile. “Well, except for the fact that I seemed to have broken my ankle, and that I’m apparently a complete idiot, I guess I’m fine.”

“Don’t be embarrassed. Anyone could step on a grate like that.”

“That’s not why I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot because I didn’t recognize you. I’m so sorry, Nick.”

He grinned. “That’s okay. I was kind of enjoying it.”

“Now see, that’s why…” said Grace, pointing at his face. “You never smiled. If you had flashed that famous Nick Carter grin, I would have recognized you. Honest.” Grace laughed and then grimaced as pain shot up her leg.

“And what would you have done?” inquired Nick. “Fainted?”

Grace laughed again. “I guess I did that anyway.”

“Well, it’s good to know that my smile and fractured bones have the same effect on people.” Nick pulled a wheeled stool from the corner and sat down behind the stretcher. “So, Grace…”

They made small talk for awhile. As so often happens in emergency rooms, there was a lot of waiting time. Even though the hospital didn’t seem that busy, there was still a lengthy delay between each step of the procedure – diagnosis, x-ray, treatment.

Nick stayed with Grace. When they took her off to X-ray, Grace told him she was fine and he didn’t have to stay. When they wheeled her back into the room, he was gone.

Grace felt a twinge of disappointment but realized that he had already done more than enough.

“Hey, you’re back,” said Nick.

Grace looked up at him, standing in the doorway. Her heart jumped at the sight of him. He hadn’t left her. She was surprised at the feeling of relief she had.

Nick held up a cell phone. “I had to make a couple of calls – cancel a meeting. Did you know you can’t use cell phones in hospitals?”

“Yes, they screw up the equipment – heart monitors and things like that.”

It was just as well that Nick had to go out to the parking lot to make the call. Kevin’s yelling might have disturbed the entire ER. Nick knew that Kevin would be pissed. It seemed like everything Nick did lately made Kevin angry.

Yes, Nick told him, he knew the meeting was important, but something had come up.

“What’s her name?” Kevin asked derisively.

“It’s not like that,” Nick replied. “I’m at the hospital. There was an accident.”

Kevin’s whole demeanor changed immediately. “Are you okay? What happened? Are you alright? Should we come?”

“No, no, no.” Nick tried to explain. “I brought a girl to the hospital. She fell in front of my car.”

“Oh, my God! You hit someone. Don’t say anything. I’ll get a lawyer there as fast as I can.”

That was pretty much it for Nick. He’d had all the Big Brother Kevin he could take for the day.

“For heaven’s sake, listen! I didn’t hit her. She fell and hurt her ankle. I brought her to the hospital, and I’m staying with her to make sure she’s okay.”

“Doesn’t she have family? Isn’t there someone you could call?”

“Kevin, I mean this in the politest possible way…take the meeting and shove it up your ass!”

Nick punched the ‘End’ button on his cell phone. He knew he’d hear about this tomorrow. But he just didn’t freakin’ care right now. He went back into the hospital to see how Grace was doing. Nurse Pinero told him that they had just brought her back from X-ray.

Nick sat down again on the stool beside the stretcher. He could see that Grace was suffering. He tried to think of a way to distract her. He picked up her left hand. He noticed that there was a white line on her ring finger. He rubbed it idly and looked at her inquiringly.

Grace answered the unspoken question. “I was engaged.”

“Was?”

“Yeah, right up until this morning.”

Nick felt disappointed, but he didn’t know why. “Is that why you…?”

“Why I wasn’t paying attention? Yeah, I guess so.”

That wasn’t really what he was asking, but he was pleased by her answer.

“What happened? No, never mind. Sorry, that’s none of my business.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind. I have a rule that anyone who picks me up off the side of the road gets to know everything about me. I’m sorry. That’s not making any sense. I’m kinda fading a bit.” Grace leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “He cheated on me” were her last faint words before she drifted away. She came back a few moments later.

At least, she thought it was a few moments. It was actually over a full minute. Nick was just getting ready to call for a nurse or doctor when Grace’s eyelids fluttered open and she picked up the sentence where she had left it.

“He cheated on me.”

Nick didn’t know what to do or say and was relieved that he was saved from replying by the return of Dr. Morris and Nurse Nora.

“The x-rays are back. They show a fracture. I’m afraid you’re going to be in a cast for 3 – 4 weeks,” said Dr. Morris. “I hope you’re not a dancer.”

“No, I’m a website designer.”

They all looked at her, impressed.

“Cool,” said Nurse Nora.

Grace shrugged. “It’s a living.”

The nurse wheeled in a tray with bandages and a bowl of water.

“Nothing hi-tech about this,” she said, “Just plain old plaster.

“This is going to hurt,” said Dr. Morris. I have to align the bones before we set it. I’ll give you a local freezing.”

“No, don’t,” said Grace. “I hate needles. Just do it.”

Grace turned her head sideways to look at Nick. Maybe she could drown herself in those eyes and she wouldn’t feel the pain. Nick still had her hand. Grace gripped his tightly.

Nick leaned his face in close to hers and whispered. “You can do this. It will be okay. It will be okay.”

He leaned closer, and Grace turned her face toward him. Nick covered her mouth with his. He kissed her gently, and the sensation of it swept through her and took her away, so that there was only him and her. Grace moaned softly and leaned into Nick. They opened their mouths simultaneously and found whole new sources of pleasure. There was no one else in the world but them.

“Do you think I can go ahead?” Dr. Morris smiled at Nora. “She doesn’t seem to be feeling any pain.”

“I think you could probably do open-heart surgery at this point,” the nurse replied.

Dr. Morris grabbed Grace’s ankle, and as gently and swiftly as he could, he aligned the bones. No one, including Grace, would ever be able to say if the moan she gave was from the pain or the pleasure.

Nick finally withdrew his lips from hers. Grace still clasped his hand tightly. Her eyes were closed, and her chest was heaving. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

“So…” Her voice was husky. “…if that whole singing thing doesn’t work out, I think there’s a place for you in health care.”