Chapter 1

If someone would have told him a few hours earlier that his terrible day would be forgotten in an instant, he would have cursed them for sure!
Yet it happened. He was woken up by the screams of his phone and later by his attending's, for being late for his rounds at the hospital. One hour later he lost two patients, gave bad news to five people who came at the emergency room, because that had been his punishment, to cover the emergency room and it was a nightmare so far!

Six hours had passed from his 24 hour shift and he felt like he could yell at the interns who kept deleting charts from the computer system, because someone had been smart enough to let interns close to the patient's charts. But they were new, they had barely been a week at the hospital. He understood they needed time, to learn to save lives, because mistakes were not allowed. After recovering the charts, because back-up systems had been invented, he left for an early lunch, at the nearby restaurant. Once he got there, he placed his order and asked for coffee.

"Skye will bring your order in a moment, I'm at the bar today – said his favorite waitress"
"Who is Skye? Is she new?"
"Oh, I'm sorry doctor Campbell, I forgot to mention. She started yesterday morning. Poor girl looks like one of those rich kids that were kicked out by mommy and daddy, but she seems like a nice girl."
"As long as my food does not end up on the floor or the coffee on my clothes, it should be okay. I'll be at the usual table."

He found his table at the back of the restaurant, hidden behind a wall that allowed him a bit of privacy. The first time he came here he did not knew about what was behind the wall. As a student, it was the perfect place to eat lunch and have some quiet time to study for exams. Looking back, the place had not changed at all. The walls were the same cream color, the paintings on the walls were the same, the menus had not changed either. The only thing that changed was Camilla, the other waitress retiring and this girl taking her place.

As the new waitress brought his order the plates slipped from her hands and fell on the ground, shattering. The girl looked tired, like she had not slept in a while and he felt sorry for her, knowing Kara and Jiaying.

"I'm so sorry, sir!" – she said picking up pieces of broken plates
"It's okay, be careful! Just leave them there."

He wanted to tell her to be careful to not injure herself, but it was too late, there was blood on the ground. His training kicked in immediately and he kneeled on the floor next to her, taking her injured hand in his hand, to examine it. When he touched her hand, he could swear he felt like something had shocked him, static energy travelling through his hand, all over his body, making him feel warm inside. He brushed it off, deciding to forget about it and to focus on her injury, analyzing the cut on her hand.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I'm stupid, I'm stupid, and oh God, Jiaying is going to fire me on my first day" – she said repeating the phrase
"Hey, look at me. What matters now, is that you are hurt and need a doctor. Must be your lucky day, because I am a doctor and it seems it's just a superficial cut, you won't be needing stitches."

Smiling, he lifted his gaze to assure her he was not mad at her, that it was going to be okay. She looked like she was trying to say something when they heard an angry voice. It was Kara, his regular waitress and she looked very angry.

"What did you do?"
"I didn't mean to, my hand slipped and..."

But poor Daisy never got to finish her sentence, Kara seemed to not want to hear her explanation.

"I don't care! You were already given that one more chance and look what you do! You spilled food on the carpet, broke the plates AND got blood stains on the carpet. Since Jiaying gave me enough power to manage this place, you are fired! Now get out, I don't want to see your face again!"

As Kara left, Skye looked like she was trying not to cry. Not only was she injured, but she was heartbroken and his heart broke too, just by seeing her suffer. After all, she was a human being and Kara had treated her like an object.

"What am I going to do? I needed this job."
"There's surely more jobs in town, you could get a better paid one."
"I tried hard, you know? This wasn't my first option. In the end it was this or being a stripper." – she told him sighing
"We'll get you another job. You are not from around here, are you?"
He could swear that for a moment, she stopped breathing. The poor girl looked scared, like he had found out her biggest secret and she had to run away as fast as she could.
"It's okay, I'm not from around here either, he said, I'm just wondering if you got a place to stay, or someone to help you because it's hard to move to a place and not know anyone."
"I… I just moved… a week ago. I'll go gather my stuff, thank you for being kind and understanding. " – she said lowering her gaze

He helped her get up from the floor, wrapped her hand in clean napkins, watched her as she went to take her stuff from the changing room and led her out of the door, offering to take her to her apartment, but she refused. Lincoln knew what being new somewhere felt, having nowhere to go to, no one to help you, so he gave her his phone number and told her to call if she ever needed help or a friend.
After watching her walk down the crowded streets, he ran back at the hospital to work, but not before making sure she had disappeared from his sight.