This story takes place during the summer between seasons 2 and 3 in a reality in which Chris Traeger never came to Pawnee, and April didn't take off to South America.
I love being a nurse. Every night dozens of people walk into the ER hurting and scared, and as a nurse I get the chance to fix that-to become part of their stories, to become a healing force in their lives. And, if I'm lucky, I get to see them walk away a little less broken then they were when they came in. That's why I do what I do. Patient care is my passion in life like benches, and swing sets, and hot dog carts is Leslie's.
There is a story behind every Emergency Room visit, and those stories are often tragic. I've seen the effects from any tragedy you could imagine over the years car wrecks to fires to gun shot wounds. And yet, I've never been as horrified by anything in my career, and probably my life, as I was by what happened last week. I never knew that another person's circumstances could cause me to hurt quite so deeply, and I wish I still didn't. I wish none of this ever happened. But it did, and I'll never be the same again. Neither will April.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
My shift went normal: paperwork, drawing blood, gathering patient information, taking blood pressure, more paperwork... The usual. It was the 4th of July so it was a pretty busy night, just like every holiday that causes people to get drunk and act like idiots (which is all of them). I was just about done for the night. All I had to do was finish the release paper work for Herb, a man who cracked his scull open attempting to jump into his pool from his roof. But, as I was looking over my work I overheard Carla and Jeanne talking about the "patient in room 2." I didn't think much about it at first, Jeanne is a huge gossip, and Carla, who's new here, seems to think every case we get is some kind of medical marvel. But, as I continued to overhear bits and pieces of what they were saying it seemed more and more serious.
"I could hear her screeching, and carrying on all the way down the hall" Jeanne said. "She was hysterical."
Carla shook her head. "I saw her when she came in. The poor thing looked scared out of her mind, like a deer in the headlights."
"I heard she threatened Lisa when she was taking her vitals."
"Maybe she needs a psych evaluation."
"Maybe. Poor thing. She's so young too. How old do you think, Carla like eighteen or nineteen? Barely out of high school. I just hate it when girls so young like that come in all battered.
"Someone smacked the hell out of her, that's for sure."
"They told her she could leave twenty minutes ago, but I think she's still in there. Should we tell someone?"
"No, leave her be. She'll get up when she's ready."
"Think it was her boyfriend who smacked her around?"
"I don't know, but I hope that little girl never has to see the bastard who did it again unless he's in shackles."
"You think it'll get that far?" Jeanne asked, failing to mask her excitement. "You think it'll be a big dramatic case? Make national news?"
"Why would it?" Carla shrugged. "That little girl ain't no one. What Lisa say her name is? Ludgate? I've never heard that name before."
"I'm sorry, did you just say Ludgate?" I said. The words spilled out of my mouth before I really had a chance to think. "Her first name isn't April, is it?"
"Yes" Jeanne said. "Why do you know her?"
"You said room 2?" I asked. "Yes" Carla said. "Are you going to see her?"
I walked away before she even finished the question. I had goose bumps everywhere, and I swear my heart was beating a mile a minute. April wasn't my patient. From a medical standpoint I couldn't justify barging right into her room, but something in me had to see her.
At that point she wasn't anything more to me than the girl Andy had a crush on. The girl who hated me for kissing him. The obnoxious teenager who liked to torture me. But for some reason I still had to know that she was okay. I needed it more than I had needed anything in a long time. I don't know what I was expecting when I opened that door, but it wasn't what I found.
She looked so much younger than I ever remembered her looking before. So much more vulnerable, curled in a ball on the bed, staring into the distance. She had no response to the door opening. She looked completely dead inside. Like if the world exploded around her, it wouldn't even register.
"April?" I asked softly.
Her breathing changed, like she was trying not to cry. I can't speak for her, but I imagine April doesn't like crying in front of people. It would show that she's human, and I don't think that's the way April wants the world to see her.
"It's alright" I said. "It's all over now. You can go home."
"No I can't" she said in a shaky whisper.
"Why can't you?" I asked inching closer, like someone approaching a wounded animal. I wanted to comfort her without scaring her, and I knew too much too fast would scare her.
"I don't want my parents to see me like this."
"Well, won't they wonder where you are if you don't come home?"
"Probably not. They never have before."
She sat up then, and I saw her face for the first time. She was a mess of Mascara, blood, and bruises. I was sort of angry at the other nurse for not cleaning her up better, but then again I don't know if April would have let them if they tried.
"You have nowhere to go?" I asked.
She shook her head, looking at the floor, at the wall, anywhere but my face. I wish she had looked there, she would have found compassion, and I think she needed that. "I don't even have clothes to change into" she shrugged. "They kept mine for like evidence or something. I guess. I don't know."
"I have an extra shirt and pair of jeans in my locker" I offered. "And you could crash at my place. If you wanted to I mean..."
I thought she'd say no. I really did. I thought getting April Ludgate to accept help from me would be a hell of a lot harder than simply offering it. I guess she really was desperate.
"You don't mind?" she asked.
"No. Not at all. My shift is over, I just have to clock out."
"I don't want to talk about what happened" she said.
"Then we won't."
"Okay" she said. "Thanks."
Please Review!
