Chapter 1.
Alex's chin slipped off her hand and onto the lab results she had been trying to read for what must have been the tenth time in the last hour. Jerking back up in her seat, Alex took in the still-empty ER. The double doors hadn't slid open since the last patient had been cleared to go home at 11:30. It was now 2:30am and Alex was slowly losing the will to live. Some music would definitely help keep her awake but she knew it would be just her luck that the attending on duty would show up as soon as she put it on, even if said attending was , who always shirked their ER time when they were on the graveyard shift with Alex. Hahn knew full well she would have everything under control, even for a second year resident who had only transferred to the program three weeks ago.
But as Alex surveyed the room again, doing a mental checklist and seeing that everything was completed, she knew that her choice was to either put on some music or risk falling asleep at the desk, and she knew which one she would rather get in trouble for. She unlocked her phone and put on her gym playlist, decidedly avoiding any music that might push her closer to sleep. Alex began pacing up and down the ER as she read over more and more charts. The music and stretching her legs a bit had been a good idea, she was definitely feeling more alert.
It was then that she heard a distant noise. She turned her music down a bit walked over to the exit to the ambulance bay. As the doors slid open she was greeted by the ever growing wail of sirens. Lots of sirens. Alex dashed back to the desk and discarded her charts. She picked up the phone and rang up to the nurses' station. Once the call was picked up Alex didn't wait for a greeting. "We've got numerous incoming casualties to the ER, page all available Doctors and nurses to the pit and free up as many OR's as possible!" She dropped the call and ran back out to the ambulance bay, picking up cover-alls as she went, her fingers seamlessly tying them into place.
The first ambulance pulled up just as she was done. The doors swung open and the first paramedic jumped out.
"How many incoming?" Alex barked over the intensifying sirens.
"At least six more," the medic called over their shoulder as the first gurney was removed.
"Why wasn't this called in?"
"Look it was a bloodbath out there, a lot of hysteria," the medic explained as they swiftly moved inside.
"You know that's not protocol. We are supposed to be contacted if at all possible so that we can be ready when you get here. It saves lives!" Alex argued.
"What will save lives right now is if you stop shouting at me about protocol and start looking after patients!"
Alex grimaced but nodded, she could have this battle later. As they transferred the patient to the first bed Alex was relieved to see that the cavalry had arrived. Meredith immediately caught her eye and indicated for her to come over. She looked back to her patient first who she still didn't know anything about. It was a white male, probably mid-thirties, who had what appeared to be a GSW to the chest which was enough for Alex to know they were going to have to go straight to the OR. Alex grabbed a passing attending who made the same swift assessment she had and took over from her from there.
Alex headed over to Meredith.
"What do we know?" Meredith asked calmly, her grey eyes analysing the scene unfolding before her.
"Not a lot yet. Nothing was called in but apparently we have six more ambulances incoming and that patient had a GSW," Alex hastily explained.
"Crap. Ok, nice work having the place ready. What I need from you is to keep the beds circulating. Any serious patients get them to an O.R as quickly as possible, any minor injuries, get them cleaned up and moved on. Anyone that doesn't need to be here? I'm talking family members, cops, move them along. I do not want them getting in the way. Do that and I promise I'll get you in on a good case with me."
"You got it."
"Thanks, Alex."
…
Alex received the next two ambulances, delegating what patients needed to be brought where. She prided herself on her abilities of risk assessment and being able to make a snap decision. She trusted her judgement and so did her superiors.
Alex waited as the fourth ambulance pulled up. She could hear raised voices coming from inside before the doors had even been opened. Alex had to admit she was intrigued. The door opened from inside and Alex could see three paramedics struggling with what appeared to be only one patient.
"Poke one more thing in me and I swear to God you will find it shoved so far down your own throat in two seconds flat," the patient threatened. Alex couldn't help but smirk at the sassy voice behind what she assumed was a very serious threat.
The first medic hopped out and rolled his eyes at Alex.
"Looks like we've got a live one," Alex joked.
"Oh no, not we, she's all yours now."
The gurney was removed from the ambulance with the smallest Latina woman ever aboard it, loosely wearing an NCPD windbreaker, looking for any means of escape. Her eyes latched onto Alex.
"Hey, Doc? Would you kindly tell these medics not to stick one more thing in me?" She begged cheekily, tilting her head to the side and sending Alex a glorious smile. The patient looked at Alex with a raised brow as if to say well?
Alex rolled her eyes and nodded in acquiescence.
"I'll take it from here guys." The medics looked beyond relieved, handed Alex the chart and clambered back into the rig.
Alex looked down at the clipboard and saw that it was nearly entirely blank, it was clear the patient hadn't been exactly forthcoming with information. Alex heard rustling from the gurney and she looked up to see the patient hopping down from it.
"Oh no you don't," Alex stated, planting herself in front of the woman, who she now learned was tiny.
Unsurprisingly, she squared up to Alex puffing out her chest, hands on hips, eyebrow quirked. "What are you gonna do, Doc? Lift me back onto the gurney?"
Alex crossed her arms defiantly.
"While I want you to know that there is no doubt that I could, I'd rather keeps things more civil than that and tell you the facts. are not getting through those doors to see your squad unless you are on a gurney. 2. If you enter without the gurney, I will not provide you with regular updates on your guys and 3. You arrived in an ambulance, but you failed to give any info to the medics they could work with so, by law, until I have a proper assessment of your injuries I can't have you walking around, so why don't you do us both a favour and get back on the gurney?"
The patient looked her up and down with a smirk, her eyes pausing for a moment on her nametag.
"Damn Danvers, I like a woman that can put her foot down." And just like that she almost happily hopped back onto the gurney. Alex laughed under her breath and moved to the back of the gurney.
The dark haired woman rapped twice on the guardrail and looked over her shoulder at Alex with a grin, "Chop chop, Doc, we don't got all day!"
…
It still seemed to be pretty manic inside as Alex wheeled her over to the nearest empty bed. The patient transferred herself to the new bed, eyes alert for any signs of her team. Alex knew her role was to pass the patient off and head back outside so she called Dr Robbins to her side.
"Dr Robbins, can I leave this patient with you? I've been told to keep on top of incomings, but I don't have this patient's name or details," Alex explained, showing her the empty chart. Dr Robbins looked at it with an amused smile but made no move to take it from her.
"Who? Maggie here? Oh Maggie's a regular. You're here almost every second week, aren't you Mags?" Dr Robbins said with a genuine smile. Alex narrowed her eyes looking between them suspiciously, not liking the familiarity.
Maggie reclined smugly on the bed. "It's definitely not my first rodeo, you'd know that for sure wouldn't you Ari- Dr Robbins? But it is my first time meeting Dr Danvers here." Maggie and Dr Robbins both looked at her with funny looks that Alex couldn't understand.
"Eh…well…I better get back outside."
"There's no need," Dr Robbins informed her. "There's no more incoming units, it's much smaller scale than originally thought."
"But the medic said -," Alex started.
"Those medics don't know shit," Maggie burst out, earning her a hard look from Dr Robbins.
"Danvers, I'm about to have a waiting room filled with very antsy cops and I'm sure they're going to want to know that their detective here is in good hands so why don't you look after Maggie, while I go try calm them down?"
"Right, ok," Alex agreed, slightly pleased with her assignment.
"And Maggie? Answer her questions," Dr Robbins ordered before smiling and departing.
As soon as Dr Robbins walked away Maggie was sitting up trying to get a look into other beds. Alex guided the curtain around the cubicle for some privacy. Alex sat down and rolled the stool over.
"So, Maggie what?"
"Smith," she deadpanned while examining her nails.
"I'm sure," Alex scoffed.
"That's right and don't forget my title, Dame Maggie Smith." Maggie fixed her hair demurely as Alex looked at her befuddled. "Don't be shocked by my appearance dear, it's amazing what the plastic surgeons can do these days."
Alex dropped the chart sharply into her lap, startling Maggie into looking at her.
"Look, if this is how you wanna play it I can get Dr Robbins back, she seems to know how to keep you in check."
"Oh, I don't think she's the only one," Maggie said with an impressed nod as she settled down. "I'll play nice, Danvers, promise."
"Good," Alex sighed with relief, picking the chart back up.
"Sawyer," she offered, "Maggie Sawyer."
"Thank you," Alex replied genuinely.
"No problem…?" Maggie lingered.
Alex looked up at the hint of a question and pretended to be confused.
"What so only you get to ask the questions? I don't get to know your name?"
"That's generally how this works, yes and I think it would be if we remained on a last name basis," Alex said with a smirk.
"But you already know my name!" Maggie protested.
"Perks of the job I guess," Alex shrugs, shooting Maggie a smug little side smile.
Maggie's eyes narrow but her lip quirks in a smile. "Now whose not playing fair?"
Alex shook her head and laughed, it seemed everything was going to be a game with this woman.
…
The finally filled chart sat in the holder attached to the end of the bed. It had taken three times longer than it should have but Alex can't actually admit to being bothered by that fact. Every time she managed to actually get Maggie to take things seriously, Alex found herself unable to resist the opportunity of being able to tease or annoy her back. Maggie's eyes lit up whenever Alex would laugh or bite her lip when she was trying not to laugh. A few strands of hair had fallen from Alex's ponytail and Maggie's eyes couldn't help but follow them and she was surprised at how desperately she wanted to tuck them behind the sweet doctor's ears.
But with the chart completed, Alex was back to business and Maggie could feel the atmosphere change around them.
"I'm going to need you to take the windbreaker off," Alex ordered. Maggie had a dozen little quips ready to shoot back but decided against all of them and simply did as she was told. Maggie had revealed during her questioning that she was pretty sure she had been grazed by a bullet on her right arm so Alex had to get to cleaning it up.
Alex pulled up right beside Maggie, latex gloves in place, and immediately felt around the area. Alex knew it was only a superficial wound, it was clearly shallow and if it were any worse, Maggie's own behaviour would have reflected that fact but Alex could feel their time together drawing to a close and she didn't want to say goodbye to the detective just yet.
Alex applied some antiseptic to the wound and began to clear away the dried blood to find the exact perimeters of the graze.
"So what really happened out there?" Alex asked to distract Maggie from the stinging.
Maggie didn't so much as wince at the antiseptic and looked over at Alex to watch her at work. Maggie admired her unnecessary attentiveness and felt a warmth bloom inside at how delicately Alex touched her skin and held her arm in place.
"Eh…it was a drug bust that went south. I can't reveal any major details or I'd have to kill you," Maggie teased. Alex smirked but diligently kept working, expecting Maggie to continue. "Something was definitely leaked, they were waiting for us. The higher ups will see it as a failure because most of them we couldn't capture alive but for me, as long as more of their guys are in hospital than mine then that's a win."
Dr Robbins had come back while they had been filling in the chart and informed Maggie that there were no casualties on her squad and there were no injuries sustained that a few weeks off couldn't fix. Maggie had been so relieved, closing her eyes and going quiet for two full minutes. Alex had wanted to reach out and take her hand, to tell her it was ok but knew that she couldn't. Dr Robbins had stepped up and squeezed Maggie's good shoulder and Maggie had looked at her in a way that spoke of deep understanding and gratitude and then Alex too had been grateful that Dr Robbins had been present to provide Maggie with the comfort that she couldn't.
Alex finished cleaning the graze and applied a clean bandage, feeling Maggie's biceps flexing beneath her fingertips. Alex's eyebrows raised and she coughed to hide a small gasp that had managed to escape her. Unable to come up with an excuse to stay so close to her, Alex rolled back and stood up.
"We're all done here," Alex said trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. For once the constantly hyperactive Maggie wasn't so eager to get down off the gurney. She swung her legs around and let them dangle off the side as she put her windbreaker back on. She looked around aimlessly and for a second it seemed like she had something she wanted to say but bit it back as she stood up.
"I know it's nothing major but it's super late and a shock to the system like that can leave you pretty wired even though you're actually exhausted so Doctor's orders are bed rest ok?" Alex asked, somehow knowing Maggie would disobey her.
"Not a chance," Maggie said, perking up again.
"What? You could hardly have a hot date at 4:30 in the morning?" Alex teased.
"Not a date per se but I do have a lady waiting. I'm just gonna go see the squad first and then I'll be heading out." Maggie nodded in the direction of the exit and Alex pulled the curtain back. She couldn't believe this gorgeous woman was just going to whirlwind in and out of her life in the same day.
Alex walked Maggie over to the doors to the waiting room. She folded her arms across her chest and shuffled from one foot to the other.
"So um, I hope everyone on your squad is ok and I guess I'll see you again," Alex's eyes widened when she realised what she had said. "I don't mean that like I want you to get hurt again, I just mean you were a fun patient and I-."
"Don't worry about it Danvers." Maggie jumped in, saving Alex from embarrassing herself further. "I'll be back, even if it is just to learn your name."
Alex let out a shaky breath at the radiant smile Maggie gave her before disappearing through the waiting room doors.
