Welcome to the beginning of the final installment of the Natalie Garcia series!
Hope you have read the first two stories and if you haven't, make sure to head over there and check it out. Then, of course, come back here and continue on!
I hope you had a nice little break, but I'm ready to dive back into the story and I hope you are too!
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I could summarize the last five years of my life in one paragraph. Yeah, it was that eventful. I graduated Nursing School with Seamus three years ago, where we had met another student named Nathan who I had grown to absolutely adore. My two boys…Seamus and Nathan. I lived with them too. Now that was ridiculously crazy. I felt like the mother hen more than 75% of the time.
After graduation, we moved up to New York City, where Seamus took a full time job in the Pediatric ward of the main hospital, while Nathan and I both took positions in the Emergency department. Seamus was great with kids, though how he dealt with snot and brats all day, I have no idea.
He loved it though and that's all that mattered.
I even had a boyfriend. I met him a year and a half ago at a comedy club (the act was terrible), but he charmed the pants off me. Literally, as he actually did accidently remove my pants when he tried to jinx the act on the stage.
Now I'm twenty two years old, living in the Big Apple with two of my best friends, working as a nurse and what do I have to show for my life? Ummm…nothing. Depressing, I know, but it's the truth. While all of my friends from back home are married and punching out babies, my boyfriend refuses to marry me and I'm stuck pulling heads out of hats and removing broomsticks from…well you don't want to know.
This was the attitude I woke up with that morning and it was the attitude I decided to stick with throughout the day. Frowning, I pulled a file from the front desk.
"This guy in room three?"
"Yes, Natalie," the girl at the front desk nodded, pulling away from directing a patient to answer my question. "Something about a bite? I thought it might interest you."
I couldn't help but grin at the girl. She always gave me the best cases and I always bought her firewhiskey, as she was a few months short of being able to drink. It was a win-win situation.
I made my way down the hallway, pausing in front of the door to knock, before pushing through the entrance. The first thing that hit me was the Merlin-awful smell. I managed to subdue the urge to cover my nose with the front of my scrubs. Pulling my hair back into a messy bun, I took a deep breath through my mouth and made my way over the man sitting on the cushioned bench.
"Mr. Jackson?"
The guy nodded, clutching his leg as I bent down to examine it. A green pus oozed from the wound, which was deep and quite ugly. It was very obvious where this type of bite had come from, but I decided to play coy anyways.
"What happened here, Mr. Jackson?"
The man squirmed uncomfortably. "My dog bit me."
I stared at him blankly for a moment before cocking an eyebrow and answering, "Your dog?"
The man laughed nervously. "Well yeah, my Chihuahua. He's a little shit, but I love him to pieces."
I continued to stare blankly at him. My subconscious was screaming for me to keep my mouth shut, but I just couldn't help it. I was tired of dealing with stupid people ALL. DAY. LONG. "Do you think I'm an idiot?" I burst out, catching him off guard. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? That is not a dog bite that is a dragon bite. By the looks of it, probably a dragon that hasn't quite hit adulthood yet."
He managed to pull off a rather impressive affronted look, but I saw the hesitation. "I told you, ma'am, it was my Chihuahua."
I snorted, crossing my arms over my chest. "Only if your Chihuahua has scales, fangs, breaths fire, and is the name of your pet dragon."
His expression turned from affronted to blank. "I want a new nurse."
"Well tough luck," I shrugged, "I'm the only free one. All the other nurses are dealing with real cases. So this is how it's going to work. I'm going to get the Healer and come back. You'll vehemently deny it's a dragon bite until you are blue in the face, then we pretend to agree it was a dog. He'll give me an order for a dragon bite, we'll pretend it's a dog bite, and I'll put it on. Okay?"
I spun on my heels and slammed the door behind me. Sighing deeply, I turned down the hallway toward Healer Hoskins' office. Healer Hoskins was relatively new to the medical profession, as he had just graduated a few months ago. He was a good Healer, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. Mostly because he understood my sense of humor and lack of patience.
"Dragon bite in room three, Healer," I said quickly as I wrapped my body around the door frame, so only my head was peeking into the office. "The guy says it's a dog bite."
Healer Hoskins laughed under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief. "The lengths people will go to protect their pets. I'll be right there."
I stopped at the nurses' desk to take a quick sip of my coffee. Nathan winked at me as he passed by, leading a little old lady with a parrot on her shoulder to room six. Shaking my head, I entered room three once again.
"-Keeps saying it was a dragon bite!" Mr. Jackson was telling Healer Hoskins as I walked in. Mr. Jackson glared at me from across the room. "And it was from my Chihuahua!"
Healer Hoskins nodded his head in understanding. "You're right, Mr. Jackson. Indeed a dog bite." He stripped off his gloves and headed for the door, but stopped for a second to lean into my ear. "Give him the Dragon Draught to stop the infection. Smother it in Oman's Ointment to start the healing."
I saluted him as he walked out the door. I headed over to the cupboard, pulling down a few bottles of ointments. I set aside the two I wanted, donning my own gloves as I measured out the dosage.
Mr. Jackson looked warily at the draught as I stuck it under his nose. "Is this for dragons?"
"No," I smiled sweetly, but my voice was dripping with sarcasm. "It's for dogs."
He seemed genuinely appeased as he took the draught in one gulp. I grabbed a tongue depressor to help smother on the ointment. "Next time you play with your…Chihuahua…put on some protective gear. Chihuahuas can be very dangerous."
I stripped the gloves off my hands and stepped aside, opening the door and gesturing for him to leave. He hopped off the table and left the room, but not without a quick glare toward me.
"Oh, a dragon bite!" Nathan whispered as he passed Mr. Jackson and came to stand by me. "What kind?"
I shrugged. "He claims it was a dog bite. Wanna bet?"
"You're on," Nathan said quickly, shaking my hand. "I call Welsh Green."
"Hungarian Horntail. Hey! Mr. Jackson!" I yelled after him. I quickly jogged over as he stopped mid-hallway and turned to look at me. "Does your Chihuahua have red spiky horns on the tail?"
He tipped his hat, smiling secretly as he shrugged and walked away.
"HA! I win!" I yelled down the hallway toward Nathan, earning myself a few odd looks from patients. The other Nurses and Healers that worked in the Emergency ward were already used to our weird antics.
Nathan looked genuinely put out. "You do not. That was so vague, but I'll buy you dinner anyways. Pancakes and Sausage or that really good pizza place down the street?"
"Mmm…Chinese actually. And pick it up right when you get off. I am starving!" I glanced at the clock, surprised to see that my shift was over ten minutes ago. I guess time flies when you're having fun. I headed over to the nurse's desk and grabbed my bag before turning back to Nathan. "You should be done too, right?"
He shrugged, leaning over the desk to grab his jacket. Despite it being almost August, Nathan could not live without a jacket. "Yeah, I'm done too. I wanted to see what would happen to that woman with the parrot, but I'll hand it off. I'm ready for some dinner."
I furrowed my brow as we headed toward the door, waving goodbye to our fellow coworkers. "What do you mean what would happen to that woman?"
Nathan held the door open for me and I slipped through, breathing in the smell of hot dogs, leaves, and steam that was New York City. "Permanent sticking charm on the parrot. Evidently she wanted to be a pirate."
I rolled my eyes. I shouldn't be surprised at the audacity of people anymore, but sometimes I still get caught off guard. Who permanently sticks a parrot to your shoulder? That lady, obviously.
"Do you want to head to the Chinese place with me?" Nathan asked as he started to walk backward, pointing down the busy street.
I shook my head. "No, just get me the usual. I'm going to head home. I forgot to reply to Padma's letter from this morning." I waved at him as I scooted into a narrow alley, turning quickly on my feet and apparating into our apartment.
I know, five years ago I would have never apparated to save my life. However, that thought process changed instantaneously after I needed to take the subway home at three in the morning. There are some strange characters that ride the subway at three in the morning. Seamus helped me tone up my apparition after that and I've done it ever since.
I flipped the lock, chastising myself for forgetting to lock it when I left this morning. Or was that Seamus? Either way…
I threw my bag onto the floor, stepping over it to kick my shoes off behind the couch. We had a tiny apartment- a three bedroom, one bathroom hole in the wall. The living room was roughly the size of the master bedroom (which was nothing to shake a stick at) and the dining room table took up over half the space of the kitchen. It was small, definitely cramped, but it was home.
I picked up the letter Padma had sent the night before. It was still in the envelope- I had gotten called into work right as I was about to read it. Fumbling with the thick parchment, I pulled the letter out and unfolded it.
Long lost sister,
Cannot wait to see you at the end of the week.
Just a reminder to not forget to clean the living room before we come- you know how Dean gets about Seamus' messes!
I'm bringing a box of your stuff from Vanessa, evidently it's been cluttering her house and she doesn't want it anymore.
Also bringing an invite for you to Ron and Hermione's wedding! They didn't know where to send it, so Ron gave it to Dean to give to me to give to you.
Hang it on your fridge, because I'm making you go to it even if I have to drag you while you're kicking and screaming…
…you act like I'm joking.
Love you, best friend. See you at the end of the week.
Padma
I grinned at her note, tossing it back onto the wooden table. I wasn't going to bother writing her back. I'll see her at the end of the week anyways.
A crack resounded through the living room, bringing with it the smell of freshly cooked Chinese food. I breathed in deeply, smiling as I padded out of the kitchen and into the living room, throwing myself onto the couch as I grabbed the small white pint out of Nathan's hands.
"Thanks, darling," I said with a smile as I dug into the chicken and rice with gusto. I hadn't been able to eat anything that day- the hospital was just too busy for that. Nathan collapsed next to me, opening his open pint of white rice and sweet and sour pork.
"I think we're going to give the old man that lives downstairs a heart attack," he said with a snigger as he dug into his rice. "With all this apparating going on. I'm surprised he hasn't called the cops again-"
Nathan was cut off by another sound of apparating, a crack this time coming from the inside of the kitchen.
"Seamus!" Nathan called out as he set the third pint of Chinese onto the coffee table. "Seamus, I picked you up some food!"
Heavy footsteps came around the corner and, in that instant, I knew it wasn't Seamus. I glanced up from my food, smiling at my boyfriend who had waltzed into the living room.
"Hi, Ethan. How was work?"
Ethan was a pretty good looking guy. His shaggy brown hair hung low on his forehead and he had to flip it out of the way to keep it from his eyes. He wore his shirts tight over his chest and shoulder muscles. The one thing that got me was his eyes- his piercing blue eyes.
He snorted, squeezing himself between me and Nathan. I could almost feel Nathan roll his eyes from the other side of the couch. He severely disliked Ethan and Ethan severely disliked him.
Ethan glanced down at my food, scrunching his nose as he stared at it. "Chinese again, baby? I thought you promised to cut down on the take out. That's why your scrubs are getting so tight."
I flushed slightly, lowering the takeout pint into my lap. Nathan shot him an incredulous glare. "You look fine, Natalie. Don't listen to him. Your scrubs aren't getting tight on you."
Ethan grabbed the take out from my hands, shoveling a few bites into his mouth. "I'm just looking out for you, that's all. It would be bad for my image if a picture was snapped of you and you had fat rolls."
Ethan worked as a male model for a Witches Weekly magazine, doing mostly robe and underwear ads. Sometimes he posed for love potion ads. Either way, he usually had cameras following him around- people wanting to snap pictures of him for gossip columns.
"It would be impossible for her to get fat rolls," Nathan snorted, shoveling more takeout into his mouth, "Look how skinny she is."
"Not that you are a great judge of body mass," Ethan quipped back, scanning his eyes over Nathan's body. Nathan sneered at him before jumping off the couch.
"I think I'll take this into my room, thanks. Natalie, if you want to hang out with someone that isn't a complete jerk, you can come join me."
I kept my mouth shut, afraid of what Ethan would do if I stood up for Nathan. My boyfriend looked genuinely pleased as he watched Nathan shut the door behind him.
"I just wanted to get us alone," he said softly as he nestled his lips into my neck. He set aside my pint of Chinese as he pushed me down onto the couch, running his fingers through my curly hair. "You know how much I missed you, right?"
"Ethan, I'm really hungry-" I started to say as I tried to grab the pint of Chinese off the coffee table, but he held my hand in place.
"You don't need to eat anything. You look great," Ethan muttered as he kissed behind my ear. The feeling of love that usually fluttered in my stomach only made me nauseous. "Besides, I can think of a way to take that hunger feeling right out of you." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
I giggled, pushing him off me so I could sit up. Reaching over his lap, I grabbed the carton off the coffee table. "Thanks, but no thanks. Chinese sounds better to me right now."
He huffed indignantly, crossing his arms as his eyes bore into me angrily. This is how it always was with Ethan. If he doesn't get his way, he threw a fit. If he did get his way, he rained the most loving, deserving attention down onto you. I sighed, setting the Chinese back onto the table.
"I guess I can wait until a little bit later…"
Ethan grinned as he kissed me hard on the lips, once more laying me down on the couch.
