The morning in Sunny Grove hospital began just like any other. The birds sang their songs of spring, basking in the sun, like many of the patients. Light shined through all of the windows, making the hall floor that morning wasn't like any other. John Smith, the head attending, was late. His alarm clock picked the worst day of the week-of the month, really- to not go off. By the time he woke up he was already an hour late to work, leaving no time to investigate his blasted alarm. He threw on his clothes and rushed the rest of his morning routine, forgoing his usual cup of tea (he'd decided to just get coffee at the hospital).
He knew he would be pestered when he arrived. If there was one thing that John Smith was not, it was late. He spent most of the car ride trying to remember the last time he had been late. If he remembered correctly, he hadn't been tardy since secondary school. His ongoing streak was broken, and he wasn't happy about it.
_
John had made most of his rounds by 11 am. Not only were his coworkers giving him a hard time for missing the meeting, but so were his regular patients. He had to assure Mrs Peters that he was, in fact, fine, and that he wasn't out late partying like other boys his age. Jonathon (who was old enough to be John's grandfather) gave him a high five, as he was always trying to corrupt John's "pure heart", as he put it. Out of all of his interactions that morning, Jonathon was his favorite, and the only one that made him truly smile.
He had no idea why the man was so determined to get him to "loosen up". Every once in a while, Jonathon would begin to tell stories of who he used to be, and uptight man who had varied experiences. Fantastic tales, but just when the story was close to the end, he would stop and say "maybe that's for another time".
Jonathon loved giving John bad advice. ("try speeding on your way to work." "Throw your rubbish out the window, John." "Steal someone's lunch and bring it to me.") He was overjoyed when he heard why John wasn't as punctual as usual. He wouldn't let John leave the room until he gave him a high five.
As the day was winding down, he came to his last patient on his list. A car crash victim, brought in the day before. Her leg was broken pretty bad, but the attending over the weekend had already set it and put a cast on her. He estimated it would take around 3 months to heal, it was a simple fracture, so that was in her favor.
He walked into the room, eyes still on the new patients chart. "Amelia Pond?" he asked.
"Amy," the girl replied. "And you are?"
When John looked up from her chart, he had to stop walking.
John had to admit she was beautiful. Red hair that he knew he would dream about that night, along with the rest of her. He felt like he could spend hours looking at her face.
It took a bit for John to realize that he was staring at her for entirely too long, so he looked away and coughed.
"John Smith... Dr John Smith. Dr smith. I'm your... doctor." He tilted his head down towards the chart in his hands to hide the flush on his cheeks. He cursed himself for acting foolish, and summed it up to his hectic morning.
"Well, Doctor, what happened to the other doctor?" With the look of confusion on his face, she began again. "You know? Lady doctor? Bushy brown hair? Enough foundation to drown in?"
"She's weekends. I'm week days."
Amy pond nodded in agreement. She had noticed the Doctor's too-long stare, and couldn't say she minded it. He looked normal enough, but she sensed there was something different about him. The only thing she could think of was that he didn't button up his lab coat. He was the only doctor she'd seen here that didn't. But that wasn't that too weird. He just seemed odd, but in a good way. She decided she would have to investigate.
