The tightened hand in her palm stung like a thousand snakes' teeth into her veins. She felt as if she was a tiger in a cage, unable to move, unable to be free. Her skin was in covered in a thin veil of perspiration, clammy and sickly to the touch, something she never liked to have.

It was almost too hot. The fiery burn under her skin tingled and itched. She peeked open an eye, just to see what she could make out. It smelled sterile and just a little too safe, yet the air was filled with panic that made her skin crawl with concern. The blinding flicker of lights, one after another that seemed to move in such slow motion she felt distant and uncut from her body.

There were people running by her cloud of pain, rushing on their tennis shoes and their silly looking scrubs. One, who was tightening her hand, someone who was clearly very under experienced, with bright hazel eyes and a bouncing head of bright, beautiful, thick auburn hair that traveled behind her like wings.

At least she could pride herself with an angel to look at who clenched her hand and cried for her as she slipped deeper into her stupor. She was positive it'd all go away eventually.

. 0 .

Antonia never expected for her guy friends to suddenly convince her to drive them home, purely for the fact that she was a woman, and that she did all the work; drunk bastards. She couldn't do gardening or laundry to save her life. She never expected that dangerous looking truck coming from the right side of her Toyota Camry and plowing her into ongoing traffic.

Nevertheless, she was deeply regretting ever going out to have a 'friends night out' with those snot-nosed pricks, for now she was laying down in a hard framed bed with an IV stuck in her arm. Emergency room, ICU, Operation, she didn't want to think about it. Thinking hurt more than it usually did, right now.

Lovina walked briskly with her head held high, her charts tucked under her arm. No, she had not just had a breakdown in the supply closet because of her lack of sleep from her studies and the workload tonight. She was a medical professional and she could do her job!

She cleared her throat loudly beside the bed of the woman who hadn't been conscious earlier and flicked through her charts in a highly affected manner.

"Miss Fernandez Carriedo?"

Her eyes opened with a sharp gasp. Good Lord, she nearly pissed herself. Everything was all fluorescent and bright again and just… why would anyone want a room this bright?

"...yeah?" She asked, sitting up a little. Oh, god, her head, her arms, her legs— had someone cut off her legs? She couldn't feel them.

Looking down as fast as she could, she was relieved to see they were still there, under the starchy smelling sheets of the hospital bed, all ten of her happy little toes. She didn't know what she'd do without them.

Lovina nodded and took the seat beside the bed, taking a quick, deep breath in while her patient checked herself over. "You've suffered some injuries to the head; I have to ask you some questions. Is that alright?"

"Were you crying?" The drunken patient nearly sprang on the nurse, placing a scratched up hand on her. "Why were you crying? What's your name?" Her head really was pounding, but the cement-like bed staring at her with those papery like pillows wasn't looking like the best option for her, now.

"No!" She snapped, scowling at her over her papers and pulling a pen from the pocket of her wine colored medical scrubs. "My name is Lovina," she pressed, because it wouldn't do to shout at a patient with a head injury. "But you need to tell me about you. Can you tell me your full name, and your age?"

She whistled and slid back, admiring how nice her hair looked in these too-bright lights. "...umm... Antonia Fernandez Carriedo," She replied, trying not to make eye contact with her IV by shoving it under her blankets. She had seen too many horror movies concerning these clear-tube killers, already. "I'm seventeen? I was in the hospital when I was seventeen, when I was younger too."

"Be careful with that," Lovina sighed exasperatedly, taking her patient's hand and putting it on top of the sheets again, so the IV didn't move when she pushed her arm underneath. "Just try to ignore it. Are you sure you're seventeen?"

"What? Aw, honey, you're really sweet do I look like I'm seventeen?" She laughed, stroking her face with the free hand. "I should keep using that new make-up, I guess Francis wasn't lying when he said it was really working for me!"

Obviously, this woman hadn't seen what the crash had done to her face. She looked worse then most, but she didn't seem to mind anything other than the IV. It must have been from all the narcotics.

Lovina frowned at her and pulled back, writing quickly on her charts. "Do you remember why you're here?" she asked firmly, giving her a no-nonsense glare.

Antonia hesitated, unable to get the words from her head onto the tip of her tongue and outwards. "Um... did my family member die? Or did Francis and Gilbert get admitted?" She shuffled out of her spot in the bed, leaning over to look at Lovina's clipboard. "Vaahragas?" The nurse pulled her board back and gave her a gentle shove back onto the bed.

"No, you were in an accident..." Lovina crouched to look her in the eye, since she kept zoning out and blinking. "Who are Francis and Gilbert?" she asked, aware that they were down the hall somewhere being seen to. "Can you tell me about them?"

"Aah, sexist bastards..." She hissed, shaking her head. "They had me drive the car because I was the woman and that's what I did. Because I'm supposed to be nice and…" She trailed off, rolling her eyes and trying to get comfortable with her gross, itchy paper gown with a breeze in the back and a pattern of blissful little cows hopping over crescent moons.

"Antonia," she snapped her fingers, tutting, drawing her attention back. "Did they force you? Can you remember?" Her patient made a face, a whining sound and slid a piece of her curled, matted hair back.

"No! They didn't force me, they just convinced me because I'm the best driver, and besides, it was my car!"

Well, Antonia wasn't the best driver. She had a safe car for her horrible driving. However, she was a hell of a lot better than Gilbert, who just swerved around for fun.

"Are they in here or not?" Antonia tried making a little bird call signal, unaware of the fact that they had no signal and she was probably looking like a fool, perhaps calling the birds back to their nest in her hair.

"Okay, okay! They're being seen to, calm down..." she huffed, putting a hand on her shoulder and persuading her to sit back. She could barely tell if she was concussed or just drunk. Nightmare. "Are you in pain?"

Antonia pulled yet another face and finally decided to just sit back and relax while the cute intern in her wine colored scrubs that made her remember all the horrible choices she had made that night asked her questions. "Um, the IV is— why do I even have this?" She hated these things. They were so scary.

"You have to keep that in, it's injecting saline to make up for the drop in your blood pressure," Lovina recited from her textbook, proud of herself.

"Isn't that the stuff you use in your eyes?" She asked, rubbing her forehead. "What if there's an air bubble—"

"There won't be, trust me. We know what we're doing." Lovina told her, again, filled with pride at being able to say something like that.

However, she had to remain professional and in control. Lovina remained outwardly ratty and shook her head disapprovingly at Antonia.

"Don't you know it's against the law to drink and drive?"

"Those two men peer-pressured me into driving them home!" She argued, striking her thigh in frustration. "Here, can I go see them? I need to give them a piece of my mind… making people strip me down and give me this to wear; don't they know its mid-winter?"

"No, no!" she scolded, standing up and holding her back. "You have some damaged tendons in your leg; don't try to stand up until I say its fine." Lovina put on her best serious doctor face for the extremely serious topic at hand. "What did they do, Antonia? Did they harass you?"

She snorted; more amused for the fact that this cute intern woman thought she was in charge. "Well, no and yes, hey're just douche bags, don't worry about them, honey."

She scoffed and frowned at her. "You are my patient and you're in my care, and furthermore, whether I worry about them or not is my concern, not yours," Lovina said haughtily, crossing her arms and tucking her charts away. "Did anyone hurt you? It's important that we know what happened in the crash and what happened before it."

She made a mental note that was cascaded into a drunken abyss to check the charts to see what she wrote. "Well, Lovani Vaargases, I'm sure I can't help you in that department. All I know is that I was driving down a street when my friends said I should just make a run for the red light… Don't you know all this? Why are you asking me?"

"Lovina Vargas." She corrected her, and then tutted and shook her head. She was being professional. "And I'm asking you because I need to see how much you remember. You could have done yourself some very serious damage, you're almost lucky to be talking to me."

"Right, right, Lemon Vargashes," She answered, nodding. "But, I don't really remember most of anything. I had a lot to drink last night... or this night. What day is it?"

"It's Sunday," Lovina answered, sighing. So much for reporting back with answers. She was going to look like a total idiot who had no idea how to talk to her patients. "I just need to take a blood sample and you can rest up again."

Antonia nearly slammed back into her bed, the IV clattering beside her.

She. Hated. Blood.

"H-How, honey? Are you going to stick a needle in my arm or my thigh or my neck or are you just going to take a drop or-"

"Hey!" She scolded, righting everything before she scooted off to the nearest cupboard and pulled out a syringe. "It's just a little needle..." she started, sitting down by the bed again, breaking open the plastic packet, holding the syringe up to the light and giving the glass a tap with her fingernail.

Why not just- I don't know, break it with your little cute fingers you witch; what are you going to even test me for? AIDs? Influenza?

Antonia's inner monologue was cut short as she made a whining noise to show her immense displeasure, but really, how worse could it be compared to the IV?

"Fast or slow?" she asked, taking Antonia's hand and holding her arm out.

"What do you mean?" She demanded, yanking it away. "Would I want the terrifying process of watching my blood go into a syringe go slowly or quickly just so I can get a Blue's Clues Band-AID?"

"I mean, do you want me to put the needle in slowly or quickly?" Lovina huffed. "Look, this is going to happen whether you like it or not, so just give me your arm and get it over with."

"Do you stab me or just slowly shove the thing in? I don't know, Leviouso, whatever floats your boat!" She gave her the arm, clenched her teeth and looked away. God, this always sucked.

"If you're nervous...," The nurse hissed through gritted teeth, "... I'll do it slowly. You ready?" This woman was getting ridiculous.

She made a terrible moaning sound, just ready to get it over with. God, had this woman ever learned to get started on anything? She needed to sneak off to find her friends.

"Three..." Lovina took the syringe and placed it just above the skin, watching Antonia squeezing her eyes shut and turning away. "Two—" She stuck in the needle and drew it back, filling the tube and taking it out of her arm, pressing a cotton ball to the tiny wound. "There."

Aah, she was the bravest thing. In addition, Lovina, or whatever her name was, she'd remember later, was a witness to it. Plus, she'd tell her friends all about it. "So what did you write on the charts?"

She sorted her syringe and placed the sample on a tray beside her bed. "That you're still inebriated and it's too difficult to get any answers from you," she replied, dabbing Antonia's arm.

"Then, ask me to solve a math problem. I'm really good at those." She settled back in her bed, disappointed that she didn't get a ridiculous band-aid she could show the two down the hall. "Wait, where's my phone...?"

Lovina nodded at the cupboard beside her bed, but immediately scolded her for trying to move. "What do you need it for?"

"I need it to do something until I get knocked out from whatever meds you slipped in my bloodstream while I was still asleep." She snorted, picking it out from the drawer.

"To do what?" she demanded, watching her. "I should confiscate it; it can mess with our equipment!"

"I don't know. It's an iPhone, what else could I do with it?" Antonia shoved her phone under her back, smirking. Loveenia would never look back there.

"If you're thinking about texting your pig friends, the French one's out for the count and the other bastard's has his taken off of him," She snapped, getting sick of being constantly disregarded. "I suggest you just try to rest."

She pouted, unaware of what 'out for the count' meant. Well, there was always Google, right?

She slipped it from her back and punched it in. "I'll pass out soon, hon, don't worry," She smiled at her, surveying the room for anything she could make her escape on. "Also, um, where did I get hurt?"

"You banged your head pretty badly," Lovina began, flipping through the chart to find out exactly what the problem was. "Ah. Suspected mild concussion, damaged tendons in right leg, broken thumb and index finger in left hand, cracked rib, bruising on the chest and abdomen and cuts on your arms, shoulders, and face from the glass," She finished, looking up at her. "It's not so bad on your face."

But a definite need for some stitching on her forehead,

"Good, what else am I going to charm the nurses with? Aha," She spotted a pair of crutches in the far corner of the room; maybe she could get a straw or something to tip them over to her. "Thank you, Lovina! I'll be sure to get lots of rest now!" Smile. Just smile.

"Lovina," She nodded. "That's it." Recalling previously made points in conversation, showing signs of comprehension. These were decent answers to give. "I'm going to get you some water and leave it beside your bed. I want you to drink as much as you can and sober up for me. Understood?"

"No problem, nurse!"

Get out.

"I'll just be sitting here,"

Bull shit.

"In a few minutes I'll be out like a light, I really don't even need the water!"

Just go away...

"You need to keep hydrated," Lovina replied, clipping the charts to the bed and picking up her sample, walking to the door. "I won't be happy if I get back here and you're trying to move around," She warned, giving her a final glare. "I'm telling you to rest."

She had to admit. Even if every sense in her little devil on her right shoulder was telling her no, just fuck off, she sunk back down into the bed with her phone and tried to distract herself.

Lovina went back to the desk, writing off Antonia's paperwork with big important doctor-y words that made her feel big and important, and put her blood sample on the tray to be sent to analysis. Satisfied, she made her way to the water cooler, frowning as she passed Francis' room. She would have to try to figure out what Antonia had meant about them and her clothes.

Antonia just settled for some shitty WI-FI, pulling up what she had meant for 'out for the count', finding that Francis was in a deep coma of some sort and slamming her phone back to its position by her pillow. Good thing she had a password she could remember. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, sies. In Spanish. No one in this 'bloody' country could even speak Spanish well enough for her phone to pick it up.

There were a few jugs kept beside the cooler, so Lovina took one and half-filled it, deciding to be particularly kind and stop off at the ice machine, too. Although it was freezing outside, she was feeling the heat in the hospital, and Antonia always ran the risk of a fever. She was such a selfless nurse. And, so humble, too.

Antonia couldn't bear to keep this IV on any longer. It was tugging at her arm and she was afraid that if she didn't keep it where Lovina told her to, she'd die from the air-bubble incident always shown in TV. She didn't want to take it out either, because hell, it seemed taped in there. She just wanted to sleep so she could wake up, see her friends, and give them a piece of her mind...

Lovina carried the jug back with a glass in her other hand, and stood by the door for a second to listen for Antonia trying to get out of bed, so she could spring on her. She heard her huff and move around in her sheets instead.

Oh.

"Here we are," She said, walking in and setting the glass down, pouring her patient a drink and handing it to her.

"Do me a favor, please? Take this fucking thing out," She complained in a small voice, thanking her for the water and taking small sips of it. It was noticeably better than Francis's collection of tastes and Gilberts liking to the strongest drinks ever— and almost soothing to her raw throat.

"Language!" Lovina scolded, flipping her bangs out of her face and groaning. She untied her hair and scraped it back again, exasperated. "I told you we can't, you need it! We can see how things are when your blood comes back."

She set the cup down after slipping an ice cube into her mouth, crunching on it's smooth, cool surface for a bit. "This is stupid." She grumbled, pointing to the IV. "Just have me take tablets. Alternatively, even worse, liquids. Anything that's easier to sleep with than this thing." Antonia settled down, whimpering when she couldn't get the IV to trickle down right.

Lovina pulled out her serious face again. "It's the quickest way to get everything into your system. You were critical for a few moments last night."

Antonia seemed to tense at that, a rustling mess, as she tried to get a comfortable position. "Was I in the ICU?" She asked, biting her fingernail.

"We took you up but your heart rate regulated and we managed to control your blood loss," She explained, in the solemn bad-news tone she'd been practicing. It came out much too nervous.

"So what's my blood type?" She quizzed her, finally just deciding she'd rip the damn thing out to buy some alone time with Ms. Varhotgas. She didn't seem that bad. Just too into her work. "I've been dying to know— actually, just forget it, I don't care. Night!" Cue the shooing little motions with her hand, finally noticing; hey, she had a finger clamp thing on that's showing her pulse. Neat-o. Lovina huffed at her and walked back over to the door.

"There's a button on the bed remote if you need me, then..." She muttered, leaving. She was so rude after she had personally wiped the blood off the ungrateful bitch's face only hours ago…

She waited awhile, reaching over to get a box of cotton and a few strips of tape from the tabled beside her, just in case she started bleeding from the damn thing. She saw them do this all the time in movies, so it had to work, right?

She took a deep breath and promptly ripped it out. She nearly screamed- good lord, get that thing away! She slapped on the cotton, afraid of her own blood and the leftover saline dripping over her skin, and then taped it over.

Hopefully, they weren't tracking her heart-rate at the nurses' station. Ow.

Lovina had barely made it to the end of the corridor when there was a beep in her pocket, and without even bothering to check her pager, she headed to the nurse's station, reading over the screen quickly. Yes, room 324, Carriedo, being a nuisa—

Her heart rate was spiked and fell almost erratically. Panicking, Lovina gathered her papers and started towards the room again.

Act natural, act natural, you did not just bleed all over the sheets. Covering it up with the back of her elbow and turning over so you couldn't see her handiwork, she slammed her eyes shut and waited for something, hopefully those meds, to knock her out. All this for a fucking IV-

She banged the door open, rushing to the bed and gripping her patient by the shoulder, her own heart racing at the sight of the red stain on the white sheets.

"Antonia? Antonia, can you hear me?" Her voice broke, she couldn't let someone die, even if it had been Antonia's fault, the IV dripping onto the floor at this point, Lovina would get the blame, and she couldn't handle that again—

"Dr. Honey, I'm trying to sleep!" She moaned, turning back over to face her. "You just can't seem to leave me, can ya? Well, can't blame you, no lady can."

Lovina backed off and stared at her, open-mouthed, looking from her bleeding arm to the IV, going red for panicking and stammering. "I... What was the last thing I told you?" She hissed, grabbing a roll of linen and yanking Antonia's arm over to wrap up her new wound.

"Can't remember. Just let me sleep." Antonia sighed as her arm was jerked around, around, and around- "Don't eat yellow snow? Don't eat the hospital food? Something about eating,"

"That you need this!" She shrieked, holding up the IV again. "Because you could have died, or maybe that doesn't mean anything to you!" She wiped her face indignantly and threw the soiled IV into the container for used needles. "Maybe you don't give a shit, but I do! I'm trying my best!"

Antonia sat there, half-drunk and half caring for this stressed out woman with the sideways ponytail. She looked down and felt like her age had decreased by about seventeen years. "I'm sorry," She mumbled, truly guilty for actually trying to give this obviously new nurse hell. "I'll be good— "

"I don't care!" She interrupted, shrugging and sniffing and trying to look professional at the same time, which wasn't working out for her. "I don't care if you're nice to me or you care about my opinion at all but just...!" She threw her hands up, exasperated. "Have a little respect for someone who's trying to help you!" She shook her head and stormed out of the room to find a clean IV.

She sighed, dragging her phone back out. Facebook update.

In the hospital ;((((( my nurse is rlly cute but has diz betchy attitude! Sleepin with IV is hrd... txt it!

Ah, her old friend the supply closet. Lovina grit her teeth and found a new IV for her ungrateful, ignorant, pig-headed patient. What kind of bitch pissed off people who'd helped save their life? Determined not to let it get to her, she took a deep breath and made her way back to the room. No more sniveling or panicking. She would lay down the law.

She just managed to make a new status saying 'Like~ dis status if u h8 needles! ;(((' before the red-faced nurse, intern, doctor, whatever she was, walked back in, looking pissed as her mother when she showed up late. She put down her phone and turned to face her, trying to look as apologetic as possible.

"Give me your phone," she demanded, holding out a hand, her tone steady and even.

Almost as if like a weeping puppy, she handed it to her, not even asking her to not look through it. She felt like she was back in high school, still getting in trouble with Gilbert and Francis.

Lovina put it down out of her reach, and slotted the IV into the bag beside the bed. "Give me your arm."

"I'm sorry," She whimpered out, handing it over to her. All the cuts and scratches down her arms reminded her where she stood in all this.

She let her eyes flicker to her face. Not so cocky, with her head wound bandaged, her face scratched, looking exhausted, and she seemed much more fragile than before. "Fast or slow?" sighed Lovina, taking her arm.

She shrugged, closing her eyes with her free hand and awaiting the mindless plucking of 'ooh sorry, I didn't get it in, fifteenth time's the charm, right? Aha!'

She slid the needle into her vein slowly and gently, and placed a piece of surgical tape over the free end to stop it from moving around. She stood up and checked the bag, before turning begrudgingly back to her patient. "Anything else I can do?"

"Give me a hug, please?" She mumbled, opening her arms as far as the IV and her muscles could allow her. This nurse was the closest thing to a mom she had, right now.

"Why should I?" She replied coldly, gathering up the plastic packaging and throwing it in the bin.

"Because I haven't had someone take care of me so much like this... ever." Antonia said, reaching for her water and taking a few sips, just to calm her nerves. "If I was sick when I was little... I had to fend for myself."

She watched her silently, not sure of what to say. She didn't want to back down, of course, because she was starting to hate this woman, but at the same time, she felt a rush of sympathy for her, cut up and bloodied and scared and... Well, alone, apparently. Lovina waited for her to continue.

She saw her nurse watching her so she took a gulp of the water and set it back down, rubbing her head. "My mom didn't really care for me, y'know, she was a single mother. Once I was born, my father left her and ran off, so I had to grow up by myself, since the only use she had was to yell at me for not getting good grades..." She chuckled, closing her eyes.

"Where is she?" asked Lovina more quietly, taking a seat beside the bed. "In Spain?"

"Spain, dead, jail... Hell if I care." Antonia snorted, resting her head on the papery pillow.

She breathed slowly and watched her setting her head down, feeling uncomfortable and inexperienced. "So what are you doing here?"

"Moved into a flat by myself, working by on a part-time modeling job, other than that I work retail," She smirked. "Honey, never work retail,"

"You're a model?" She asked, impressed. "Must feel fucking stupid for cutting up your face," She gave a little yawn and sat back in her chair. "I'd never do anything else, anyway," She sighed, looking at her scrubs and then up to the blinding white walls. "I've worked too hard already."

"No, no, I'm not." She laughed. "Barely… Foot models don't count, do they?" Antonia yawned, finally finding the best position in the world that kept her face supported and her IV still going. Nothing. Could. Ruin. This. Moment. "You should be checking on your other patients, shouldn't you?"

"Probably," The intern sighed, glancing to catch a glimpse of the elusive beautiful feet. Damn. Covered. She stood up and shrugged awkwardly, hugging her arms around herself. "Sorry for earlier," Lovina muttered, looking at her feet. "I was stressed."

"Wouldn't blame you, I'm not used to being babied like this." She laughed, and since she was taking so many looks at all sorts of feet, she slipped her foot out of the sheets, as if it were hot under the paper-thin covers. "Night," She hummed.

"There's the call button on y-" Bam. A sleek tanned ankle, smooth skin and perfectly kept toes. Lovina went quiet and opened her mouth a few times. "... Call button on your remote," She managed. "Night," She gave the foot a glance - oh, God, that was good - and turned away.


Editted from a roleplay with my dear friend Kate, or pilkopants on tumblr. c: