Chapter Four
Alex
Two days later, Liz and I were scheduled to report at seven in the morning for our first full day of our internship. I'd taken great care to make sure I'd bought the right scrubs and shoes, and I'd spent a long time the night before experimenting with hairstyles that were functional, but still moderately attractive. I'd settled on pulling my long blonde hair back into a low bun at the back of my head after reading about how patients who were in pain might grab a ponytail and pull. I'd also decided to leave all jewelry at home after I'd read a horrible story about a nurse who'd had her earrings pulled out by a patient on drugs.
I was pretty sure we weren't going to be getting near any out of control patients on our first day, but I wanted to start out on the right foot, and after the scolding from Mrs. Rikka the day before, so I wasn't taking any chances.
"Liz, what are you wearing?" I laughed as we hung up our coats and put our things in our assigned lockers down in the nurse's locker room.
"I want to maintain my individuality," Liz sniffed as she tugged at the hem of her scrubs. The bottoms were unremarkable, but the tan top was covered in incredibly realistic looking slices of Chicago style pizza. She shrugged. "When in Chicago!"
"You're crazy, you know that, don't you?" I laughed as we headed up to the conference room where we would get our assignments.
"You may be right," she said, breaking into a little Billy Joel as she danced her way to the conference room. "I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for!"
Once inside, we found our seats and waited for Mrs. Rikka to appear. Violet was ensconced in the corner with three of her best friends from the class—all girls who were not quite as rich as she was, but still passed muster with her parents. Violet was wearing blue scrubs that looked like they'd been custom made since they dipped and curved in all the right places, whereas the rest of us looked like we'd been fitted at Boxes R Us. A headband that matched her scrubs held her perfectly blow-dried hair away from her face, which was precisely contoured and powdered so that she looked like she was ready to step onto the set of Grey's Anatomy.
"Good morning, nursing candidates," Mrs. Rikka said as she entered the room holding a clipboard in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. The mug that held the coffee was so white and pristine that I wondered if she used a brand new mug every time she had a cup. She looked around the table and said, "Ladies, I'm sure I need not remind you that when you are in Chicago General, you are to wear your security badges at all times."
“Mrs. Rikka,” Violet said as she half raised her hand before speaking. “I’d like to say that it’s really a pleasure to be working with someone as accomplished and highly regarded in the administrative world as you are.”
“Miss Metzler,” Mrs. Rikka said as she looked over the top of her glasses. “Do not suck up to me. It’s unattractive and entirely unprofessional.”
Violet turned a shade of crimson that I didn’t think I’d ever seen before. Beside me, Liz chuckled softly as she watched her nemesis be brought to heel. She elbowed me, and I shot her a look as I whispered, “Behave.”
I reached down into the pocket of my scrubs, pulled out my badge, and clipped it to my front pocket before looking up. Mrs. Rikka was frowning in my direction, but before I could ask if I'd gotten it right, she spoke.
"Miss Burke, your badge should be clipped to the front pocket of your scrubs so that staff members and patients can readily see it," she instructed, then raising an eyebrow, she added, "And your scrub top should never interfere with that ability."
"I like to have a little fun with my scrubs," Liz said as she shifted her badge to the right place.
"Yes, well..." Mrs. Rikka trailed off, looking around the table and stopping at Violet and her friends, and she said, "Miss Metzler, Miss Watkins, and Miss Drake, your uniforms are impeccable."
"Thank you, Mrs. Rikka," the three girls said in unison and then giggled. A faint smile that looked more like toleration than actual joy crossed Mrs. Rikka's lips and then quickly disappeared. I couldn't tell if she liked the girls or not and made a mental note to watch more closely so I'd know.
"Ladies, today you are starting your internship here at Chicago General," Mrs. Rikka began. "We have very high expectations given the fact that you are coming out of one of the top nursing programs in the country, so before you begin, I want you to understand that all eyes are on you, and by association, on me as well. I expect you to behave in a way that reflects well on this program, and if there are any infractions, rest assured, they will be dealt with swiftly. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, Mrs. Rikka," we all replied solemnly. Liz reached under the table and pinched my thigh, causing me to jump in my seat.
"Is there a problem, Miss Pierce?" Mrs. Rikka asked. I shook my head, and she continued, "I'm going to assign you a department today. You will work there for three weeks before you rotate to a new department. By the time you finish your internship, you will have rotated through all of the major departments in the hospital and will be familiar with the protocols for each one."
She quickly began reading off the list of assignments, and I was happy to find that Liz and I had been assigned to the ER on the first rotation. Violet and her group had been assigned to the maternity ward, and were oohing and ahhing over how fun it was going to be to be around all those babies.
"Ladies, the maternity ward is more that just babysitting," Mrs. Rikka said, looking at them pointedly. "There are as many unpleasant things that happen on the ward as there are pleasant, so please be aware of the possibility that you might be assisting with some sad moments in people's lives as well as the happy ones."
"Yes, ma'am," Violet's friends said.
"And you two," she said looking at Liz and I with one eyebrow raised. "I'm sure you're familiar with the general nature of the ER."
"Yes, ma'am." I nodded.
"Sure," Liz said as she bounced a little in her seat. "It's like on television, right? Always busy and bustling with activity, and tons of interesting characters."
"You'll be observing and doing basic work down there, Miss Baker," Mrs. Rikka said. "Our ER is not a television program."
"That's a darn shame." Liz grinned up at her.
"Miss Baker, need I remind you that this is a hospital, not a game show?" Mrs. Rikka said disapprovingly. "If you can't behave appropriately, I'll have no problem removing you from the internship and telling your advisor you're not ready for this portion of your education. Do I need to do that?"
"No, ma'am," Liz said, looking down at the table sufficiently chastised. I’d long ago learned not to feel embarrassed by Liz’s outbursts or her somewhat uncouth behavior. I knew she had the best of intentions, even when people misunderstood her actions.
After she'd finished filling us in on the expectation of our internship, she sent us off to the departments we'd been assigned to. Liz and I were quickly assigned mentors and were absorbed into the flow of the ER department. The morning passed much quicker than I'd expected, and after lunch, we'd headed back down to find our mentors had clocked out and gone home. Liz and I still had a couple of hours left until we could punch out, so we busied ourselves helping stock and clean.
Around four, we heard some shouting out in the main area of the ER. Liz grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the shelf of gauze pads I was organizing and restocking and pulled me to the nurses’ station. A group of firemen were standing around a gurney yelling at the nurse to do something, and do something fast.
"He's in pain, can't you see that?" a tall guy in a Chicago FD baseball cap pleaded with the head nurse. "Can't you do something?"
"I'm waiting on the doctor," the nurse said as she typed something into the computer and then ordered the man moved to Exam 2. "She'll be right down and deal with this."
"What's going on?" I whispered to the nurse standing next to me.
"Firefighter cooking accident," she said, rolling her eyes. "We get these every so often. Good guys, but a lot of them are idiots when it comes to kitchen safety. Sometimes I feel like we ought to go into every fire station in the city and give lessons on cooking techniques as a public safety."
"What'd he do?" Liz asked.
"Took his shirt off while frying meatballs," the nurse said with another eye roll. "He's probably got some second degree grease burns."
I winced as she told us what happened, and when I turned back around, I found myself standing in front of a tall man with broad shoulders, unruly rust-colored curls, and piercing green eyes.
"You must be new around here," he said, smiling down at me. "I haven't seen you here before."
"It's...um...my first day," I said, trying to look away but completely unable to stop myself from staring. "I'm a nursing student...new...it's my first day."
"So you said." He grinned. "What's your name, newbie?"
"Me?" I asked, pointing to my chest.
"Well, yes, you," he said as he sunk his teeth into his lower lip.
"Alexandra," I said thrusting my hand forward as I tried to remember my manners. "Pierce. Alex Pierce."
"Well, Alexandra Alex Pierce," he said, taking my hand and shaking it warmly. "I'm Cameron Conner, but most people call me Cam."
"Hi, Cam," I said as I stared up at him, trying hard to control my breathing. If there was such a thing as a beautiful man, Cam Connor was it, and I had no idea how to act around him. Suddenly, I remembered why I was there in the first place and sputtered, "Do you need some help? I mean, are you hurt, too?"
"I'm not as bad as Danny over there, but I do think I got some grease on me," he said as he held on to my hand still shaking it. "Do you think you could give me a gauze pad or two to cover it up?"
"Gauze! Yes! I can do that!" I cried, remembering that I'd been stocking the supplies just before he'd come in. "I'll get some!"
"I'll just come with you, if you don't mind," he said, following me back to the back storage area in the trauma room.
Once inside the room, I became even more unsettled as he pulled his shirt up and revealed his bare torso. He had a lightly hairy chest and abdominal muscles that I would have killed for. The fire department logo was tattooed all the way around his upper bicep.
"Nice tattoo," I said as I wiped off the small area that had been hit by grease with an alcohol wipe. He winced, but said nothing. "Did that hurt?"
"A little," he said, watching me closely. "So, Alex Pierce, what made you decide to work here?"
"It's part of my nursing program internship," I said, looking up at him and noticing that in addition to being mesmerizingly green, his eyes were flecked with gold.
"I see; so, technically you probably shouldn't be treating me?" He grinned.
"Oh my God, no, I shouldn't be!" I said as I stepped away ready to go get a real nurse. "You probably need a licensed professional to look at that burn."
"Nah, it's all good, I've had worse burns that I didn't get treated." He shrugged back into his shirt and stood up. He smiled at me and said, "I just wanted a few minutes alone with a pretty girl."
"Do you use that line on every woman you meet?" I asked, suddenly aware of the fact that a man this handsome was probably used to the constant attention, and that I was most likely acting like every other woman he came in contact with. Now it was his turn to be surprised.
"No, actually I've never used that line before in my life." He laughed. "And I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea now."
"I see," I said, turning toward the door. "Well, it'll probably work if you try it again on someone else."
I walked out of the exam room and headed back to the nurses’ station where Liz stood chatting with the charge nurse as they watched the doctor examine Danny.
"Where have you been?" Liz asked.
"Stocking the exam room in the back," I said, looking away as Cam walked past the desk. "We needed more gauze and tape."
"Uh huh," Liz said as she looked at Cam and then back at me. "You'll have to tell me all about it on the way home."
"Nothing to tell." I shrugged. "Gauze and tape really aren't that interesting."
But Cam Connor was, and I knew it was going to be hard to get him out of my mind.