Hospital Blues

Summary: Following Damian's stay at the hospital, the parents of his fellow ward-mates have a lot to complain about. (Takes place during Chapter 11, "The Truth Comes Out.")

Characters: Original Characters, Jason

...

It was her first week as a nurse, and Christine was really starting to rethink her career choice. It had seemed like a great profession — she'd be able to meet new people, help people, and there were plenty of job opportunities.

None of this, however, had factored into her plans.

There was an irritate, "Excuse me!" and the sound of hurried footsteps. It could have been about anything, but somehow Christine knew it was going to be another complaint about that family.

She'd already had two other families approach her, demanding to have their children moved to another room. She'd tried to explain to them, in the most patient, sympathetic voice she could muster, that she'd do her best.

It'd help if she knew what she was doing — after only a few days on the job, Christine still had a lot to learn, and she doubted she could just move the children to another room without asking for permission first. Her colleagues were in too much of a hurry to listen to her inquiries — apparently it always got extra busy around Christmas time — and Christine could feel her composure rapidly fading.

She turned around and smiled weakly. "Can I help you?"

The man standing in front of her glared. "I want my child to be moved to a different room."

'Dammit.'

"I'll see what I can do about it," she said, hoping the strain in her voice wasn't too obvious, "but honestly, we're quite packed — "

"I refuse to let my son stay in that room!" the man barked, and Christine flinched. "It's a fucking nightmare!"

'Goddammit, why did you decide to become a nurse, why did you agree to work on CHRISTMAS of all days — '

"I'll see what I can do," she said.

"He's not staying there a second longer!"

"Sir could you please tell me what's wrong?" Because despite all the complaints she'd received, she still had no idea what the hell was going on, and she'd really like to know. She'd heard snippets of what was happening, furious comments about Santa Claus, and ruined Christmas', and bad parenting, and Bruce Wayne — but none of it really made sense and just made her more confused than she was to begin with.

"Hey! You!" Oh God, no. "Who do I talk to to get my daughter moved to a different room?!" A woman hurried over, her face red and blotchy. Christine's head throbbed.

"Just one second — "

"Hey, I've seen you!" The woman turned to the man, her eyes widening in recognition. "Our kids are in the same room, right?"

The man nodded quickly. "The one with those awful people, and that — that man in that…costume." He spat the word out like it was something awful.

"Yes!"

Christine was struck by the sudden realisation that she really didn't want to know. Her shift was almost over anyway, and she'd just find someone else to help them and be on her way.

"I'll see what I can do for you," she said, before turning to walk away.

"Do you know what they did?" the man spat, and Christine stopped abruptly. She closed her eyes and cursed her inability to simply walk away — the thought of seeming rude always made her feel nervous and uncomfortable — and turned around, fighting to keep the grimace of her face.

"That boy told everyone that Santa Claus was some sort of…rapist!"

Christine stared, because seriously — what the hell?!

"And — and all this talk about dungeons and kidnapping! And then do you know what happened?! The father went and told him, in front of all the kids — our fucking kids — that Santa Claus wasn't real!"

The woman nodded, clutching her hands to her chest. "Honestly, by that point it was almost a blessing — my poor daughter was so traumatised. I don't blame that poor boy, obviously his family has been filling his head with that filth — how does he even know about things like that?! It's disgusting, honestly — "

"Something needs to be done!"

Christine took a step backwards. "Um, I — "

"The police were there!"

"Right. Yes. I'm just going to — "

And then, as if things couldn't get any worse, a man strolled out into the corridor, and Christine suddenly knew exactly what the father had meant by 'that…costume.'

She didn't know where he had bought that thing, and she didn't know why he'd been allowed into the hospital dressed like that. They had security, didn't they? How had he even made it this far inside?

The man's eyes zeroed in on her, and Christine wondered if it'd be terribly unprofessional of her to take off running to the nearest exist.

"Oh hey, finally someone who works here. Hey Replacement, I found one before you did, take that!" She wasn't sure who he was talking to, and no one replied, but he didn't seem to bothered. He continued to stroll forward as Christine watched him wearily. "Hey, when can Demon Brat leave? He's really not that hurt — the bullet just grazed his arm. I want to get home, and apparently I'm stuck here with these assholes because Alfred chose today of all days to explore his sadistic side — hey, are you listening to me?"

"Yes!" the woman nodded hurriedly. "Yes, there's no point in him staying here longer than he needs to — "

"This is my first week!" Christine snapped. The three of them stopped and stared at her as if she was the crazy one.

She swallowed and took a step back. "I'll find someone to help you."

She then turned around and all but ran down the corridor and around the corner. Yes, she really needed to rethink her career choices.

AN:

So…I've decided to write a few mini fics based on missing scenes and extra scenes from my fic "I Saw Grayson Kissing Santa Claus." It's one of my favourite fics out of all the ones Ive written, and I thought it might be fun to do this since it's December, and Christmas is coming up soon :) This isn't going to be too long, maybe 8-10 oneshots/drabbles at most.

Hopefully you enjoy this (and hopefully you guys haven't forgotten all about "I Saw Grayson Kissing Santa Claus"…it's been quite a while since the story finished after all) and tell me what you think! :D