“If you try to get up again I’m going to have you restrained to the bed. Is that clear!” Dr. Raymond bellowed loud enough to wake the infants in the nursery. “Now. Sit. Still! One more time and you’re out of here!”

“Certainly not before she’s had her full workup,” Sway said calmly, pulling the curtain closed behind him. He didn’t have a gang of students trailing him, he was just a fill-in tonight. It was kind of liberating and should’ve made his night easier, but nothing was ever easy in the ER.

Sway walked over to the bed and carefully stepped around the arrogant doctor, glaring at him as he did. “You can let go of her hands.”

The doctor scowled at Sway then dropped the homeless woman’s hands as if the dirt caked on them offended him. “Nurse Hamilton. I paged you twenty minutes ago. We’re wasting a bed here.”

“I was already assisting in triage two.” Sway ignored the ‘wasting a bed’ comment and went about washing his hands. He felt the light green daggers the doctor was shooting at him from behind. Sway had forgotten the other downside of the graveyard shift. Dr. Raymond. Graduated first of his class at Stanford—he made it a point that everyone knew this—and was the oldest son of one of the hospital board members. So basically, an egotistical, entitled, world class jerk.

“When you’re called on… you answer. I’m the attending physician, Nurse Hamilton.”

Sway barely kept himself from laughing. He noticed the other nurse in the room was busy setting up the tray to clean the nasty head wound the patient had or either trying to appear busy to avoid the awkward tension in the room.

“Dr. Raymond. I can take care of this. I’m sure you have much more important things to do than care for a patient.” Sway said it so sugary sweet, the doctor had to know that Sway was being insincere.

“It’s not like she’s gonna pay for her care tonight. I’ll just do it and get her—”

“Touch me and I’ll bite you! Right on your one-eyed snake!” The patient yelled at Dr. Raymond, tossing at him one of her many items she had tucked into the multiple layers of clothes she wore. Sway thought it might’ve been a foam stress ball.

“I think that answers that.” Sway kept in his laughter and instead snapped on a pair of purple nylon gloves then swiveled around to face the irritated patient. “Hey Mabel. I thought you had a hot date tonight. I was supposed to hear all about it in the courtyard at breakfast, remember?”

She swiped her hand in the air and rolled her red-rimmed eyes. “I sat there waiting at the Mission for three hours, Sway. Would you know he didn’t even show?”

“Don’t blame him.” An indignant snort followed the insulting murmur that came from the corner of the room. Sway peeked up to see Dr. Raymond was still standing with the patient’s file in his hand, as if he was reading it. He had a nasty sneer of satisfaction on his face and Sway wanted him out of there before he said something that got him his first reprimand.

“I’m really sorry that happened, sweetheart,” Sway apologized for Mabel’s trifling date and for Dr. Raymond’s unprofessional conduct.

Luckily, Mabel either didn’t hear it or chose to ignore it because she kept talking. “I need higher standards. I mean, he pan-handles downtown off eighty-five, for heaven’s sake.” She scrunched up her nose. “So tacky, right? I should’ve known better to trust him anyway. Men are creeps. All of them. Just like my ex. Stole all my money and took off with that big-booby whore.”

Sway eased her head to the side and began to gently clean the wound as she ranted about men. The strong stench of alcohol permeated her pores and saturated the room. He figured she’d gotten depressed when her “date” didn’t show, got drunk and fell again. Anytime Mabel got down on herself, liquor was her go-to. She was in the early stages of dementia, so a fall typically resulted after she indulged. And, it was always a man who somehow assisted in her accidents. Usually, Sway would play along and agree with all her male-bashing rhetoric. But tonight, he thought of a big, beautiful hunter and he just couldn’t.

“Gonna have to put in a couple stitches, Mabel,” Sway said softly, patting her weather-worn cheek. He put a temporary bandage on it and motioned for the nurse to get the suture kit.

“Oh no. No, not those again.” She cried.

Sway sat on the edge of the bed, put both hands on either side of her bony shoulders and leaned closer to her. He spoke to her in the same tone he used when he had a frightened kid to treat. “Hey. Why all the crying? I’m not gonna hurt you, you know that.” Sway reached out and asked the nurse for a warm blanket. When she handed it to him, he put it around Mabel’s slight form and bundled her up good. When she was all toasty he leaned down close to her ear. “I’m going to request a forty-eight-hour observation for you, love. Your head injury should be closely monitored. I’m going to get you in a room upstairs.” Sway looked at Mabel’s eyes, at the way they twinkled from her good fortune. She’d have hot meals, a shower and a warm bed for two days.

Screw Dr. Raymond and this fucked up health system.

He got another physician to sign off on the morphine to make Mabel comfortable while he put in her stitches and to approve her forty-eight-hour observation. If he’d gone to Dr. Raymond, he wouldn’t’ve approved any of that. Especially morphine for a drunk, homeless patient. Besides, her blood alcohol was only .08, wasn’t like she was on the verge of poisoning. It was easy for Dr. Raymond to turn his nose up at someone like Mabel when he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Had never known suffering or trials a day in his life. He didn’t know what this woman battled with every day out on those cold streets and what she had to do to get a moment of relief. People with food in their bellies and a bed to sleep in every night were so quick to judge why homeless people drank and used dope. Not realizing that for many of them, those devices were simply coping mechanisms. An escape from their harsh reality.

Sway finished her sutures just as a thickly-muscled orderly came down to take her upstairs. He double-checked the orders before he released her. “Okay, lovely. Your dinner should already be waiting. Oh, and you got one of the rooms with the bathtub. Those are really nice.” Sway helped the orderly maneuver Mabel onto the other bed. “You be sure to take you a nice, long, hot one when you get up there.”

“That tub will be as black as a crow’s feathers by the time I get finished in it.” She laughed for the first time since she’d been brought in five hours ago.

“Don’t you worry about that. We’ll get it clean again.” Sway winked. She stared at him fondly for a moment—the way his mom looked at him when he massaged a cramp out of her hand. She reached up with two thin hands, gripped Sway’s face and pulled him down to give him a long, damp kiss on his cheek. “You’re so sweet. Thank you for making tonight better.”

Sway smiled, clutching her hands in his, he kissed her dirty knuckles and whispered to her. “It was his loss.”

“It sure was.” She sighed as the orderly pushed her down the long hallway to the bank of elevators.

“Hey, we’re still on for breakfast, missy.” Sway told her.

“Same time, different venue!” She called back.

Sway laughed as he walked away, enjoying that warm fuzzy feeling he got from doing his job. Could he have gone on to medical school? Sure. More than likely. But, he’d have lost the part of medical care that he loved most. Taking care of patients.

Sway still had a few hours to go and his eyes were feeling heavy. He really needed to stop doing this to himself. Working long hours and then staying in the house every weekend. Why was he letting life pass him by? He sounded like his mom.

Sway pushed the break room door open, not surprised to find it empty at two-thirty in the morning. He didn’t even bother turning on the television, instead he made a beeline for the coffee makers and started a fresh pot.

“I thought you’d forgot about me.”

“Jesus!” Sway gasped, jumping so high the coffee grounds he’d been about to dump in the maker went all over the counter. He clutched his chest, spinning around to see Dr. Dominick standing very close with a half-eaten cup of Greek yogurt in his hand and a seductive smile. Where the hell did he come from?

Dr. Dominick helped him to clean up the scattered grounds. “I apologize, again.” His voice was so deep and full of something, Sway paused mid-wipe and stared up at the handsome doctor to make sure he wasn’t imagining anything. Maybe he was, because Dr. Dominick finished helping him clean the mess and simply threw away the napkins. Sway was the only one staring.

“I was hoping you’d come down and join me. I really wanted to talk to you about something.” Dr. Dominick washed his hands and went to sit back in front of his dinner and sudoku puzzle on his tablet. He had on a pair of dark slacks and an off-white shawl collar sweater under his lab coat. He always appeared so well put together, no matter the hour.

“Something?” Sway questioned, popping some money into one of the many vending machines in the lounge. He took his meatball sub to the microwave station and heated it up before joining the doctor. “What do you mean?”

“First, I have to say that I was really impressed with the glowing recommendation you got from Cayson. Dr. Chauncey doesn’t really go on like that too often. We’re doing so much in our department that we can hardly keep up with the demand. We need strong individuals on our team.”

Sway nodded, but he felt the doc was beating around the bush.

“Now this is top secret information, but I feel like I can trust you.” Dr. Dominick leaned even closer, putting his chest against Sways shoulder while he whispered. There was no one in sight to overhear. “Our department has been selected to participate in a clinical trial.”

Sway jerked back. A clinical trial was huge! Its innovative medicine and conclusions would be documented in medical journals all over the world. “Wow. Right here at our hospital.”

Dr. Dominick seemed pleased to have gotten the response he’d wanted. “Yes. A joint venture with the University of California and Vanderbilt. A study on the first blood-pressure functioning artificial kidney for acute intrinsic kidney failure.”

Sway wanted to slam his hands over his mouth, but he knew how extra that would look. The trial sounded amazing. Some ground-breaking, futuristic medicine being done right where he worked. He was just so proud of Dr. Chauncey. He’d really done some amazing things in his department, including the national recognition they’d received for him performing the first anonymous, live-donor, kidney donation at Emory. And now this.

“The organ is being engineered by scientists at Vanderbilt, funded by The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Quantum Program. Our participation in the trial is candidate selection. Meaning lots of files and screening patients. They’ll undergo a series of tests to be considered for the trial that will be administered by my team. It’s an integral part of the trial. The wrong candidates selected could destroy any credible data.”

“Of course.” Sway hadn’t eaten one bite of his sandwich he was so enthralled.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Dr. Dominick smiled his winning smile. “One of the many criteria to qualify will be having an acute kidney injury and one full-functioning kidney.”

“Patients that have most likely experienced a trauma or accident to cause AI kidney failure.”

Dr. Dominick touched Sway’s shoulder. “Exactly. These are patients that need compassion, empathy.”

“Absolutely,” Sway agreed readily.

“That’s why Cason and I want you to manage the nursing staff. Including one charge nurse—that’d be you—we’ve selected twelve registered nurses and five LPNs to assist. All of them have ten plus years in their field.” Dr. Dominick kept talking while Sway sat there stunned stupid. “Dr. Chauncey and I are the lead physicians. There will be four other nephrologists, two of them coming from other hospitals, and a urologist who will also need competent nurses to aid her.”

Sway stuttered. “I-I don’t know what to… I don’t have ten years, either.”

“You do, including your master’s. I know it seems overwhelming. But the way I see it, we just need you to do what you always do. Perform your duties with competence and above standards. Take care of the patients. Make them comfortable, put them at ease. This trial is heavily centered around blood pressure, there’ll be so many factors to consider, but we don’t want the staff to be one of those factors. We need good nurses. And from what I hear, you’re the best.”

Sway knew the tips of his ears were crimson and so was his neck. He could receive a compliment just fine, but this was by far not just a compliment. Dr. Dominick was giving Sway a chance to not only change his career but advance it to astronomical levels. A nurse’s job and participation in a clinical trial was just as important as the doctors’.

Dr. Dominick must’ve taken Sway’s silence as him considering the proposal and drove in the final nail. “It’d mean a significant pay increase. More regulated hours. More individualized patient care. All the things that I hear are big deals to you nurses.”

Sway narrowed his eyes, but Dr. Dominick winked to show his humor. Sway’s stomach clenched. He cleared his throat. “How soon will the trial be starting?”

Dr. Dominick sat up a little straighter and crumpled his trash, tucking it back into his insulated lunch tote. “Again, the trial is still a secret until everyone arrives later this week, then the hospital will be doing a press conference in the Smith Garden on Tuesday.” Dr. Dominick’s hip buzzed nosily. He read his pager and stood abruptly, moving towards the door. “I have to get back upstairs, Sway. Our first meeting with the department heads of our new team will be next week. I hope to see my charge nurse there.”

With that final statement he was gone.