Chapter Four

 

Well, here goes day five of hell. Anya straightened her back and held her chin high as she walked into the hospital building. At first, she’d been overjoyed when Kromin had called her to offer her a job. He hadn’t sound thrilled about it, but he’d been polite enough. She figured maybe her insistence that the two of them could learn from each other had finally paid off.

It only took about five minutes of working with him to realize that her own powers of persuasion had had nothing to do with it. The first thing he’d said when she’d walked into the hospital on the first day was “Daxar made me do this, and it’s the only reason I’m doing it. Try to stay out of my way, and I’ll try to stay out of yours.”

Anya had done her best not to look as crushed as she felt. She hadn’t wanted to come work under such forced circumstances, and for a moment her pride almost made her turn around and walk out. She didn’t need Daxar to fight her battles for her. But then, her pride made her stay. No matter what the reason that she was there, she had a chance to prove to Kromin that she was a good doctor. She could show him that just because she was a human and wasn’t familiar with Zocronian medicine didn’t mean that she couldn’t be useful. She would learn quickly, and he would have no choice other than to be impressed.

So far, Kromin didn’t seem impressed with her. He also had not been true to his promise to stay out of her way. He took every opportunity to cross paths with her, insulting her or trying to make her feel like something she had done had only caused bigger problems. And yet, here she was, back for another day of punishment.

To make all of this even worse, Anya couldn’t help but notice every day how freaking gorgeous Kromin was. All of the Zocronian men were something to look at, with their tall, muscular bodies, exotic blue features, and swishing tails. But Kromin was by far the best. His eyes were somehow different than the eyes of every other Zocronian she had met. They were the same fog gray color as all the others, but there was somehow more depth to them. More soul. And despite the fact that Anya couldn’t stand the man most days, she found herself captivated by his eyes.

That captivation would last until he started railing at her for some stupid mistake she had made. Most of the time, it was a minor thing that Anya didn’t think was a big deal. Zocronians were a bit different from humans, and so occasionally Anya treated them with a “human” method when a Zocronian method would have been better. But nothing had been a drastic or fatal mistake, and that’s why she was here, right? To learn?

That’s why Daxar wanted her here, but in Kromin’s mind, Anya was a nuisance who wasn’t worth having around since she didn’t already know all of the Zocronian methods of medicine.

Anya stepped into the break room to find to her dismay that Kromin was already there. She’d arrived early today in hopes of having a few moments to decompress before he got here, but apparently it was not to be. He was sitting at one of the small tables, flipping through something on his e-assistant. He barely glanced up at Anya when she entered, offering nothing more than a scowl in greeting.

“Good morning,” Anya said in a cheerful voice. She had determined not to react to him the same way he reacted to her. Without giving away her true feelings, she walked to the drink transformer and started making herself a tea. The truth was, it hurt quite a bit that Kromin was so unrelentingly mean to her. He was so nice to everyone else, always smiling and in a good mood, and always having such a positive attitude. In fact, he had been quite protective of Nova and all the other humans when they first arrived on Zocrone. But apparently that kindness only extended to non-doctors.

“We have a busy schedule for today.”

His voice startled Anya. Usually he didn’t speak to her, even about the schedule. He expected her to figure out the schedule on her own, and he only opened his mouth to berate her.

“Um, okay. That’s good. Good to stay busy.” Wow, could I sound like any more of a bumbling idiot? But Kromin didn’t seem to notice the way Anya was stumbling over her words. He seemed much more distracted than usual, like he didn’t even have time today to pause for an insulting comment to Anya. As she tried to think of something more intelligent to say, he rose from his chair and started making his way toward the break room door, never taking his eyes off of his e-assistant.

“I’ll need you to cover a few of the more routine things today. I’ve got a little boy that came in who needs emergency surgery. His appendix is threatening to burst.”

“Oh, wow. So Zocronians have that issue, too. A lot of humans have their appendixes removed.”

Kromin either didn’t notice her comment or didn’t care. He continued his slow walk toward the door, frowning down at his e-assistant the whole time. “I’ve sent an updated schedule to your e-assistant. It will list all of the patients that need routine care, like medicines or blood pressure checks or things like that. It should be pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions let me know.”

He said this in a tone of voice that said she was the dumbest person on Zocrone if she did, in fact, have any questions to ask him. A moment later, her e-assistant sounded off a new message ping at the same time that Kromin left the break room. Anya looked down to see she had a new e-memo from Kromin, which listed off the tasks she would need to do today. There were ten patients he wanted her to take care of, which surprised her. The highest number of patients that had been in the hospital at any one time since Anya started working here was five. Some sort of flu bug must be going around or something.

But after a quick glance through the symptoms of most of the patients, Anya realized that the problem had to do with lung issues for several miners. The miners often had trouble this time of year, when the storms were particularly bad. The storm would blow dust from Zocrone’s surface into the mine through the airlocks as the rovers cycled in and out. That dust could be horribly toxic if inhaled, and unless a miner wore a face mask constantly, which none of them bothered to do, a miner could end up with severe lung problems.

Anya shook her head. Men were all the same, no matter the species. All across the Seven Galaxies, men seemed to always be getting themselves in trouble with their need to be macho. These miners only needed to be strict about wearing protective masks, and they would be fine. Yet somewhere along the way, someone had decided that wearing those masks was not the manly thing to do. So no, here they all were, in the hospital suffering because of their own need to be macho.

Besides the miners, the hospital also had a patient who was sick with the flu, and a young child with the Zocronian equivalent of croup. Anya would be busy today, but all of this should be easy enough to handle. She smiled as she gulped down her tea and then slipped her e-assistant back into her coat pocket. Today was a good chance to show Kromin why he needed her. The hospital was busier than normal, and this would have been a horribly stressful day for Kromin if he had to do everything on his own. With Anya here to help, though, everything was completely manageable.

Anya couldn’t help but whistle as she walked into the first miner’s room. The man was grumpily watching the news on his e-assistant, but he perked up a bit when he looked up and saw Anya.

“Well, well. They’re finally putting you humans to work, eh?”

Anya wasn’t sure how to take that statement. The man might have been joking in a friendly manner, or he might have meant it seriously. There were still a handful of Zocronians who thought Daxar had been wrong to allow a group of humans to stay on Zocrone. Whenever Anya met one of those types at the bar, she always regretted it. They would start off with borderline rude comments and gradually progress to full-on insults. This man seemed to be nice enough, though, so Anya decided to remain cheerful and hope for the best.

“Doctor Kromin is busy with a surgery, so I’m helping out. Don’t worry. I’m a doctor as well. And Doc Kromin has been training me on how to deal with the lung problems you miners get from the Zekkardite mines. I’ll take good care of you, although I really wish you boys would just wear face masks. It would eliminate ninety-nine percent of these issues.

The miner groaned. “Ugh. Another lecture. You’re as bad as my wife.”

Anya smiled as she began to check the fluids in the man’s IV. “Well, I’m sure your wife would appreciate it if you took care of yourself and recovered quickly.”

“Only because she wants help taking care of our four kids. Not because she actually wants me around.”

“Oh come on now. You seem like a jolly enough fellow. I’m sure she enjoys your company.” Anya began preparing a steroid shot that would help boost the man’s lungs. The man snorted as he watched her.

“You must be the first person to ever call me jolly. I suppose she tolerates me okay. Speaking of company, though, I must say that you’re much better company than Doc Kromin usually is.”

Anya looked up in surprise. Doc Kromin might be an asshole to her, but he was well-known as having amazing bedside manner and making his patients feel as though he genuinely cared about them. “You’re the first person I’ve ever heard complain about Doc Kromin’s company.”

“Eh, it’s not a complaint, exactly. He’s fine, as far as doctors go. But he’s not as easy on the eyes as you are.”

The man winked and Anya felt herself blush. She looked down and tried to concentrate on the shot she was preparing, but it wasn’t easy to do that when the man in the bed was unabashedly staring at her. The Zocronian men were much more direct about it when they thought a woman looked good than human men were. The differences still caught Anya by surprise sometimes, and she nervously tried to laugh it off.

“Come on now. What would your wife say if she knew you were here at the hospital, shamelessly flirting with your doctor? And what would Doc Kromin say if he knew you were bothering his assistant like this? Tsk, tsk.”

The man roared with laughter. “My wife is used to me by now. We’ve been together fifteen years, so she’s learned to put up with my crap. As for Doc Kromin, I suppose his reaction depends on how he feels about your looks. I’m guessing he wouldn’t be happy though. Any man would have to be blind to spend all day working with you and not notice how beautiful you are.”

Anya felt her face heating up again, and she looked down at the shot she was holding. “Oh stop your nonsense and give me your arm. I can assure you that Doc Kromin takes no notice of the way I look. He’s much more interested in how well I perform my duties as a doctor.”

The man grinned and held out his arm, letting the matter drop for the moment. But Anya’s mind wouldn’t let the matter drop. Even after she left the man’s room, she couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said. Had the man just been teasing her, and giving her a hard time because that’s what flirty men like him liked to do? Or was there some level of truth to his statement? Was it possible that Kromin had noticed the way she looked?

And perhaps the more important question: if Kromin had noticed, why did Anya care? She couldn’t stand the man, right? Oh, of course she herself had noticed how good looking he was. But never in a million years would she have wanted a relationship with him. What woman would want to date someone who had treated them like they were such an idiot?

Anya tried to lose herself in her work to avoid thinking about Kromin, and she was surprised to find that her efforts were quite successful. There was a lot to do, and some of the miners were worse off than others, requiring quite a bit of attention. Anya found herself feeling somewhat smug by the end of the day when she’d taken care of everyone by herself. Kromin definitely needed help here. Perhaps on a day-to-day basis he could handle things by himself, but when shit got crazy, he needed help. He was crazy to think a hospital could be a one man show.

When five o’clock hit, Anya went to the break room to check for messages from Kromin on her e-assistant. Someone would need to stay at the hospital tonight, and Anya figured it would be better if she and Kromin took shifts. Some of the miners were in too precarious of a condition to leave them all night without a doctor nearby. To Anya’s surprise, she had no messages. She also hadn’t seen Kromin all day. Where was he? An appendectomy should not have taken all day. Had something gone wrong?

She felt her heart clenching up in fear, and she stood and started running toward the wing of the hospital where operations were performed. If something bad had happened, it was probably too late for her to help. Not that she was sure there would have been something she could have done, anyway. She hadn’t ever performed an appendectomy on a human by herself, let alone a Zocronian. Still, she had to at least check if there was something she could help with.

When she got to the waiting area outside the emergency and surgery wing, she skidded to a stop. The area was full of very upset Zocronians. It looked like an entire extended family was there, and all of the women were in tears. A few of the men, too. Anya felt her heart pounding in her chest. This was a doctor’s worst nightmare. Clearly, something bad had happened. Had Kromin lost that little boy during surgery?

Anya’s heart immediately clenched up in fear for Kromin as well. She knew the pain of losing a patient during surgery. It had happened to her once. There hadn’t been anything anyone could do. She hadn’t made any mistakes. It was just one of those things where the patient’s body hadn’t been able to handle the surgery. But still, it had torn Anya apart. She had rehashed the entire surgery in her mind a thousand times over, blaming herself and trying to find a way that she could have done things better. It had easily been the most devastating event of her life.

Was Kromin feeling like this right now? Was he crushed by the weight of knowing someone’s life had been lost while in his hands? Even though Anya wasn’t the biggest fan of Kromin’s attitude, she found herself scanning the small crowd, wondering if he was here and if there was any way she could help him feel better.

She finally caught a glimpse of him, sitting on the edge of one of the benches and holding a crying woman in his arms. The woman was older, and her small, frail frame shook with sobs. Kromin was speaking to her, no doubt trying to say something soothing even though everyone knew that words couldn’t truly help in situations like this. Anya could tell even from here that his eyes looked tired, but still he sat there, offering comfort as best he could to the bereaved family. To Anya’s surprise, her heart went out to him. She found herself wanting to go wrap him in a big hug. The way he radiated quiet strength, despite the difficult circumstances, touched a very deep part of her soul. For a few moments, she was mesmerized, as though she was under some strange sort of spell.

Then, he looked up and caught her eye, and the spell was broken. His expression hardened a little, and there was a challenge in his eyes. Anya thought perhaps he thought she had come to gloat over the fact that he’d had a bad day, which definitely wasn’t the case. Anya never would have gloated in the aftermath of anyone’s death. She tried to convey genuine concern in her expression as she walked toward him and bent quietly over to speak in a low tone. She caught the scent of his aftershave, and her heart did an unexpected little flip-flop. She was surprised he smelled like anything other than antiseptics, but perhaps she should not have been. He always seemed to have it together—to look good and smell good—no matter what his current circumstances. Even after surgery, and even in the midst of a grieving family, he managed to somehow not be a mess. Not even a little bit.

His eyes were wary, like he was daring her to say anything negative. Anya spoke softly and calmly. “Our other patients need overnight monitoring. I’ll stay and keep an eye on them. If I need to stay until morning that’s okay. Take your time with all of this.”

Kromin nodded, a grateful look passing over his face. And in that moment, for the first time since Anya had started working at the hospital, she felt like the two of them were a team instead of enemies. She walked back to the other side of the hospital with a bit of a skip in her step. When she reached the break room, she pulled out her e-assistant and logged into the hospital’s patient portal to see if there were any updates on what had happened with Kromin’s patient. To her surprise and confusion, the boy who had the appendectomy was listed in stable condition. According to the patient portal, he was resting in one of the recovery rooms. But if he was alright, then what was the scene outside of the emergency and surgery wing all about?

Anya scanned through the rest of the system, and quickly found what she was looking for. A Zocronian man, aged seventy, had come in with a heart attack. There weren’t many notes in his file yet, but Kromin had entered enough for it to be clear what had happened. Despite attempts to revive him and to conduct emergency open heart surgery, the man hadn’t made it. Anya sat back and rubbed her forehead, thinking about how awful that must have been for the family. On the one hand, she was glad to know that the little boy with the appendectomy had recovered well. There wasn’t anything worse than losing a child. But still, just because a man had lived seventy years didn’t mean that his family felt any less pain at his loss. That was seventy years of memories, reduced to nothing except memories, just like that. How does one even begin to cope?

Anya shook her head. What a day Kromin had had. He must be worn out. If she had to stay all night by herself, that was fine. She could give herself an energy stimulating shot and make it through easily enough. Kromin would need time to recover and to process the day. Anya only hoped that through all of this he would realize that he did need help. How could he possibly have hoped to make it through the day today without another doctor here? Really, they needed a much, much bigger staff of medical personnel. The whole idea of running a hospital by yourself, even a small one like this that wasn’t much more than a glorified medical clinic, was absurd.

But Anya shouldn’t have been surprised. Maisie and Nova had both told her about how stubborn and ridiculous Zocronian men could be. Pretty much every man in Zocrone was an alpha male on some level, and the need to assert themselves as such often resulted in some pretty absurd actions.

Hopefully after today, Kromin would be a bit more reasonable. Perhaps he and Anya could even become friends. Or maybe they could at least become coworkers who didn’t hate each other. Surely, Kromin would admit after today that Anya had her uses. Anya began her second shift duties with a spring in her step, thinking that everything would be better tomorrow.

She had no idea how wrong she was.