What Happens Now?
"Mitchell!" Nina cried down the halls of the hospital. He didn't look back. "Mitchell!" she yelled again.
He kept sweeping, head down, somewhere far away in his mind. She finally caught up with him and grabbed his arm. He swiveled around, shocked. He hadn't heard her calling him, nor had he heard her approach. The growl died off in his throat, realizing that she was no threat to him. After what happened with Herrick and the others a week ago, he was constantly on edge.
"What is it?" he asked her, his face softening.
"I need to talk to you," she took the broom out of his hands and led him by the arm into the nearest broom closet.
"What's goin' on?" he asked, creating as much space between them as was possible in the cramped closet. "You're George's girlfriend and—"
"I'm not interested in you, you idiot," she snapped. "I need your help."
"How?"
She sighed, not knowing how to put this. At a loss for words, she simply rolled up the sleeve of her scrubs and held out her arm. Even though it had been a week, the slashes were just as red and open as they were then. They wouldn't—or couldn't— heal, and a bit of blood was even seeping out of the bandage she had secured around the cuts.
"What happens now?" she asked him, looking more like a scared little girl than a strong nurse who didn't even feel squeamish at the sight of seeping organs.
"Have you told George yet?" he asked her.
She looked at him like he was an idiot. "How can I? He'd go mental."
"Well…what do you want me to do?"
"Can you…help me?" she asked hesitantly. "What will it be like? I mean, you've been around George long enough to know, haven't you?"
He pressed a hand to his forehead, thinking. Finally he said, "Um…yeah, I think I can help. I mean, after Tully left—another werewolf George knew—George and I went over some stuff that Tully had told him. Y'know, where to transform, what to bring. Basically a change of clothes, some food, and a pound for the telly in the mornin'. And George does this weird thing with a chicken on a string; He—"
Nina cut him off by throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. "Thank you so much Mitchell. I don't know what I'm going to do."
He hesitated and then wrapped his arms around her waste awkwardly, trying to comfort her. He wasn't really the comforting type. He was more the yelling-and-threatening-and-trying-to-get-that-damned-girl-off-of-the-blood-because-she-would-only-just-keep-on-killing-type.
He sighed. Without even realizing it, his thoughts had strayed to Lauren. He found that was happening more and more lately, a lot more than when she had been alive. After what happened in the alleyway, he couldn't stop thinking about her, and he didn't know why.
Suddenly, the door to the closet opened, throwing them into the light.
"Oh, sorry," George muttered, embarrassed. At first all he saw was Mitchell embracing some girl. And then he noticed the girl's hair, and her scrubs, and, as she turned her head to see who it was, her face…
"Nina?" George asked, stunned. Immediately, they broke apart and Nina blushed and started stammering out an explanation.
"What the bloody hell is going on here? You were my friend!" George cried and shut the door. He started to walk away when both Mitchell and Nina started after him.
"George, it's not what it looks like," Mitchell insisted as he followed after George's brisk pace.
"George!" Nina cried.
"Save it," the wolf insisted. "I don't want to hear it. I knew I shouldn't have gotten involved with anyone."
"George!" Nina yelled after him again. When he didn't respond, she began to run after him. She got in front of him and shoved her bare arm in his face. He could clearly see the scratches through the bandages.
"Oh my God." He sighed, bringing a hand to his face. He sat down against the wall and put his face in his hands, tears welling in his eyes. Nina sat beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He flinched and she removed her hand.
"This is why I said I should stay away from you," he said through his shudders. "You should have listened when I said I was no good for you."
"But…I love you, George," she told him, resting her head on his shoulder. "We'll make it through this."
"So what happens now?" he asked.
She shrugged, not sure.