AN: Hey this update was just to clear something up that a reviewer pointed out. So just to be clear Kathryn Midas is head nurse and David Nolan is a surgical resident. Thanks and Happy reading!
Chapter 1:
The pediatrics wing is filled with the sound of giggling children and the hustle and bustle of nurses. The familiarity puts a smile on Regina's face. She walks over to the nurse's station to pick up the files she'll be needed for her rounds.
"Good morning Dr. Mills." The kind faced nurse greets her with a smile and grabs a stack of files labeled with a sticky that has Mills scrawled across it.
"Morning Kathryn," Regina takes the files and quickly skims through the pages. "Any updates that I need to know about?" she inquires. Kathryn Midas had been head nurse for as long as Regina could remember and the Doctor trusted nobody else with the role.
"Not much. Kristen, the broken radius, is to be released at 9." the blonde nurse takes a moment to think of anything else to inform the doctor of. "And I'm sure you know that Jake's surgery went well."
Regina hadn't known that. Maleficent was the cardiothoracic surgeon on his case. But she had come home late last night and left early that morning, there hadn't been much time for her to relay this information. Still it hurt Regina that her girlfriend hadn't wanted to share the happy news with her.
"Yes of course." Regina responds in a neutral tone. She tries to push the thought of her relationship issues to the back of her mind and focuses her attention on Jake's file.
"I believe Dr. Page is in there with him now." The nurse adds as she turns her attention another doctor who just arrived at the nurse's station. Dr. Mills mutters a quick thank you and heads over to the room where her girlfriend and a post op heart patient await her arrival.
When she wakes in the room Maleficent is standing by the cardiac monitor. Jake is sitting up in his bed and bouncing with excitement. He's happy and eager to learn as most of the kids Regina deals with are. Maleficent on the other hand looks tense.
"Whoa you're name's really Maleficent?" Asks an excited Jake.
Maleficent gives a bored nods in response. She notices the other doctor enter the room and with a sigh she gives her a curt nod. Then turns back to check Jake's chart.
"Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney movie." Jake continues unfazed by the uneasy tension in the room.
"My parents too." Maleficent doesn't make eye contact with Regina as she hands her the kids chart. Jake's mother is sitting in the hospital chair beside her son. She and Regina exchange a silent hello and smile at one another.
"So you're actually named after the dragon lady in it?"
Maleficent nods impatiently.
"Really? It was out before you were born?" Jake asks, his face is distorted in confusion.
"I'm not that old." Dr. Page's nostrils began to flare and she finally turns towards her patient, "For your information that film came out in 1959, well before my birth. Furthermore you should never comment on a person's age, you ungrateful-"
"Dr. Page," Regina chimes in before Maleficent's rage gets the best of her. She places her hand on Maleficent's shoulder to reassures her, "Maybe we should leave Jake to his recovery. Don't you have another patient to consult with?"
The tight smile Regina receives brings back the earlier relationship qualms she'd tried to push away. And the response she gets doesn't do anything to stop her worrying.
"Quite right Dr. Mills," and with that Dr. Page leaves the room to continue her cardiac rounds.
Once Maleficent has left the room Regina turns to Jake's mother, "I apologize for her outburst, Dr. Page's name is a sensitive topic," Regina lets out a small nervous laugh, "How are you today Mrs. Evans?"
"I'm doing better knowing that Jakey's all fixed up," she says as she rubs her son's arm endearingly.
"Well everything looks to be in tip top shape and will probably be release later this afternoon assuming his charts stay the way they are, which we have to reason to assume they won't."
Regina smiles at the young boy in front of her. He's beaming up at her and she feels a pain in her heart. This is what she wants. This is why she and Maleficent are fighting. She wants a family and she has a girlfriend who hates kids.
After leaving Jake's room Regina continues her rounds, checking in on all her adorable patients and handling their worried parents. It was just another regular day for everyone at Metropolitan Hospital Center. She had two surgeries scheduled for later so for now her schedule was open for consults. That was her favorite part of the job. Being head of pediatric surgery was all Regina had ever wanted to be and that thrill never left her for a day.
The way she had left things with Maleficent that morning left Regina with an uneasy feeling. She didn't like the way things had been going between the two of them. It was mostly Regina's fault, she'd been the unfaithful one, but she wanted things to work out between them. Maleficent didn't seem to have the same feelings, she'd been avoiding Regina for a week now. This would be the last day, Regina decided when she saw her girlfriend sitting alone in the surgeon lounge for lunch. Maleficent was angrily stabbing her lettuce when Regina entered the room. She was too engrossed in the chart she was reading to notice the brunette leaning over the seat in front of her.
"Mind if I join you?" asks a tentative Regina. She knows she's walking on eggshells right and doesn't want to overstep a boundary.
Maleficent snaps back without even looking up from her chart, "You sure you wouldn't prefer eating with Locksley?"
Regina cringes at the anger in Maleficent's voice. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, she thinks to herself and decides she'll go do a shift in the clinic instead of staying here with the obviously still angry woman. As she turns around Maleficent softens and invites her to sit down.
"I guess that was a tad rude." she says, finally looking up from the report. There's a moment's pause before she continues, "I just don't know what else to say to you Regina."
Maleficent looks defeated. Her eyes are so filled with sadness that it breaks Regina's heart to know she's the cause of all that pain. She doesn't know how to answer. There's nothing she can say to fix her mistake. She screwed up. Now her happiness was going to disappear and once again she's to blame.
The silence is finally broken when Maleficent closes up her salad container, picks up her files, and says, "I'll see you at home." With that she gets up and leaves the lounge. Regina is left staring at the door after her. She put her head in her hands and rubbed her temples. The heartache was starting her give her a heartache that matched. She had no idea how to make it up to Maleficent. Relationships had never been a strong suit of hers.
The thought of the clinic pops back into her head. She figures she's more useful there than sitting in the surgeon lounge thinking about her issues. So Regina heads to the clinic. There she signs in and looks around for her next patient.
There's a young brown haired boy sitting in a hospital gurney. Beside him is a nervous woman in a sweater vest. The pediatric resident, Dr. Nolan, is with the pair. Regina decides that this little boy is going to be her next patient. When Dr. Nolan sees Regina heading towards them he starts announcing the symptoms.
"Eight year old male. Vomiting, light-headedness, confusion, and minor hand tremor."
"He almost passed out in the middle of a story he was telling and then threw up all over-" the nervous woman speaks quickly at a pitch much too high for Regina's liking.
"Are you family?" questions the doctor.
"Well, no, I-"
The woman is cut off by Regina closing of the curtain surrounding the boy's bed in the woman's face. She lets out a small squeal and the resident behind her stifles a laugh.
"Don't take it personally, technically only family is allowed, and Dr. Mills takes her job very seriously." The kind words of Dr. Nolan don't seem to do anything to calm the fear stricken brunette. "Don't worry he's in good hands." The woman nods and lets out a deep breath. "Is there anything I can get for you Miss...?"
"Mary Margaret. That's my first name." She begins nervously picking at her nails. The resident smiles back at her.
"Sorry force of habit, we use a lot of last names here." Nolan is about to continue when Regina reemerges from behind the curtain.
"Would you stop flirting and test his pH levels; run a urinalysis and metabolic panel." Mills hands the charts over to Nolan, who reads it eagerly. The veteran doctor turns to her patient, smiles, and says, "We're just going to take a blood test and urine sample, and if I'm right, which I usually am," she adds with a fun wink for the confused little boy, "we'll give you a couple pills to take and you're going to be just fine." The small boy beams up at the all knowledgeable doctor, who turns to the woman who brought him in, "Have you contacted his family? When will they be getting here?" Regina stops her questioning when she notices a woman rushing into the clinic.
The younger blonde woman is wearing an atrocious red leather jacket. Her hair is a messy ponytail and her face can only be described as distraught. Regina doesn't fail to notice the sheriff badge around her belt loop. Upon seeing her son the blonde runs to his side. "Henry! Are you alright? What happened? Mary Margaret?" Her questions come too fast for Mary Margaret and Henry to answer. Regina, however, is experienced with frantic mothers.
She answers in a calm voice, "You must be Henry's mother," she smiles and waits for the agreeing nod. When she gets it she continues, "Everything is alright dear. We're running a few tests now, Henry's a strong kid he should be alright. I'll go check on the tests ... I'll leave you with you two a moment, then I have some questions for you Miss..." Regina looks down to check the chart for the blonde's last name.
"Swan." Regina finishes. At the same moment the blonde says, "Emma."
They both look at one another slightly flustered. And then Emma continues, "You can call me Emma."
"Alright. I'll be back soon with the test results." With that Regina leaves the boy's bedside. She makes her way back to the nurse's station where David Nolan is looking over some files.
"She's kinda cute don't you think." David points his chin to Henry's gurney. The nurses are in the process of adjusting the young boy for transportation to move him into an actual room for the time being.
"That's hardly the something one should discuss with their superior." David gives Regina a look that says common you know it's true. And Regina half laughs as she responds, "I would have to agree, but maybe I just have a thing for blondes."
"You never pulled the moves on me." David feigns hurt.
"Count yourself lucky, I seem to hurt everyone around me." she speaks just above a whisper, but David isn't even paying attention. He's staring at the brunette whose standing to Henry's left.
"I was actually referring to the brunette... before. You don't think they're... like... a them? Do you?" he asks nervously, looking up at his boss.
"Are you asking me if they're lesbians?" She raises her eyebrows mildly annoyed by his beating around the bush.
He blushes, "Yeah."
Regina takes this moment to examine the pair of them more closely. The brunette, may have a pixie cut, but she is most definitely straight. The blonde however gets points for the leather jacket and the tank top she's wearing underneath, and Regina definitely noticed how her eyes fell to the straining top button on her blouse. She waits an extra moment just to torment the doctor awaiting her answer.
"I think you're safe, mousey's straight as a ruler."
David's muscles relax. He seems to gain some confidence, "Do you think I should ask her out?"
"I think, as you're attending, I would advise you to hold off from making any advances until we are finished treating the patient."
"Of course boss, that was what I meant." He shrugs it off and heads to go help another patient who's just entered the clinic.
Henry is being rolled into his room now. The blonde woman smiles at her as she passes by and Regina returns the gesture. David may not have a chance with Emma, but with that smile Regina knew that she did. She knows this is not the way she should be thinking. But if Maleficent only knew what went through Regina's mind on a daily basis they'd have split up ages ago. Luckily she couldn't do that, but it doesn't change the fact that Regina is most definitely the worst girlfriend ever.