On the table

Her head hurt. And she was pretty sure the world wasn't supposed to spin like that, unless it was the result of a nice party with plenty of drinks. She felt cheated. She´d only got the headache, not the fun leading up to it.

She had been trying to stop a gang fight between the read and the blue teams. And in some way she had succeeded. They had stopped fighting each other and instead joined forces…beating her up.

Now she was on her way to the hospital. She had promised Patch to come around after patrols to check up on the security there. And she was pretty sure he´d might be overprotective about the whole thing, especially after their little "talk" the other day. Dee smiled as she thought of it. And secretly she´d didn't mind way too much ending on his table.

Flashback….

"Be careful… you don't want to end up on my operating table." Patch said with a smile and a nervous side-glance. Dee was sitting so close to him. He could smell her hair. It smelled like a mixture of raspberries and flowers. He could easily get addicted to that sent.

"Why not? I trust you", Dee answered in a straight-out voice without even thinking. She did trust him. This was a rare thing for her to do. It puzzled her why she´d trust Patch so much. And why her skin burned so much when her thigh accidently brushed against Patch´s. Dee noticed how Patch suddenly became very flustered and how he´d turned a slight tone of crimson at her words. He managed to come up with a reply, his face one big smile.

"T-thanks b-but I…"

End flashback…

Too bad Patch never had a chance to complete that sentence. In that moment Siva had come by, and interrupted them. She´d called Patch "handsome". Dee wondered why she´d become a bit jealous about that.

Dee shook her head. It was probably just her head not feeling well that caused those weird thoughts. In that moment Dee chose to ignore the fact that she´d been having… well friendly thoughts about Patch for a while.

For now she just hoped Patch wasn't going to be too overprotective, she had a job to take care of. But what was the odds against? After all, that was Patch in a nut-shell. Always considering other peoples needs and always taking care of others. He was their doc, even though he´d never admit it himself.

"No, you can´t get out of bed. You still need rest!" Patch tried to explain an irritated girl from the read team. "You are not going anywhere", he tried in a more stern voice.

"I have to. My team needs me to hunt down the blue team! You don´t understand – you don't even support a color. I´m getting out of here" the girl said, determinately pulling herself up from the bed

In that moment Dee stepped into the hospital room. She had made her way towards the raised voices, recognizing Patch´s voice at once. Sighing she stood in the doorway for a couple of seconds, taking in Patch´s vain attempt to talk some sense into his patient. He was gesticulating animatedly, while he was trying to convince his patient. Eventually Dee joined the conversation, saving Patch for any more trouble.

"You heard the doctor! YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWERE. Believe me, it would be easier not helping you, but we set this hospital up so we could help all. Including you. So please shut it and let the doc help you." Dee said interrupting the two.

Both Patch and the girl looked up with great surprise spread across their faces. The girl mumbled something indistinctly, and got herself back under the covers. Patch collected himself, and checked up on his patient one more time before he turned his attention to Dee.

"Hi, uhm… thanks for the help." He said nervously as he scratched the back of his head absent-mindedly.

"That's no problem Patch." Dee smiled at him. After a couple of seconds she continued "So how are things here, besides from eager players who won´t rest?"

"Fine. Actually it´s a pretty quiet day. I would have expected more trouble than this." Nodding in the girls direction, Patch continued "She told me, that she had just been in a fight that she´d expected to continue for some time. That´s why she wanted to get out of here so fast, I guess. Somehow I was expecting more people to show up here as a result of that fight"

"Hmm, did she say where? I should check that out."

"Yeah, she said the fight was just 2 blocks from the Mall." Noticing the change in Dee´s expression he immediately asked with concern in his voice "What – do you know anything about that?"

Dee sighed, and sat down on a nearby bed. "Yeah, I just came back from there. I stopped the fight."

"You did? Are you okay?" Patch asked, now even more concerned.

"Relax Patch, I´m fine. I made them stop fight each other, but then they kind of took it out on me a little bit. But I´m fine." She said with a voice she hoped was reassuring. But the second she spoke those words, she regretted it. Patch´s face was contorted with concern. This was unnecessary. She really was just fine.

In that moment Patch´s "Doctor-mode" kicked in. A quick look at her general appearance revealed a rather disshelved looking Dee with a couple of bruises and cuts. The objective doctor voice inside Patch knew this was nothing really serious. But the Patch with the huge crush on Dee was horrified by the thought of her getting in danger and getting these bruises.

In the end the Patch with the crush voiced his opinion louder than the objective doctor Patch.

"You need to lie down Dee. You might have got a concussion, or broken something or…"

Dee interrupted Patch in his nervous ramblings. "Look, I´ve seen you send patients who looked worse than me home from this hospital. I´m fine Patch!"

But Patch wasn't paying attention to Dee´s reassurances anymore. He was scrambling around the room, trying to locate some pain killers and bandage.

"Look Dee." Patch said, in a quiet but somewhat stern voice. "You just told that girl off, because she wouldn't let me help her. Now, who should I get to tell you off?"

Realizing Patch was right Dee let him take a closer look at her scratches. As he wrapped some bandage around her wrist, she jumped in her seat

Immediately Patch looked at her with concern spread across his face, quickly removing his hand as if he´d got shocked. "Are you okay, did I hurt you?", he asked with concern in his voice.

"N-No Patch… It´s nothing. I´m fine", Dee tried to convince Patch as she rubbed her wrist. Her skin was still burning from where he´d touched her.

"I´m a terrible doctor, aren´t I?" Patch said disheartened as he sat down next to Dee on the bed.

Dee sighed, feeling terrible about herself. "No, you´re not. We couldn't manage it without you." she said, smiling at him as she tried to offer him some comfort.

Patch looked down at his hands. He had no idea how to pick up the conversation from there.

"I told you that you didn't want to end up on my operating table" Patch eventually said, still looking down at his hands."

Dee laughed at this, and after a couple of seconds, Patch joined in. Eventually Dee stopped, as it hurt her ribcage, laughing so much.

"I might need those painkillers after all, Patch." Dee said with a smile, as she held a hand at her side.

At once, Patch looked at her with concern again. "Yeah, here take these."

"Thanks Patch", Dee said as she got up from the bed. "I´ll see you back home."

"Yeah, take care. Don´t get into anymore fights, go straight into bed." Patch said with his most stern doctor voice he could muster.

"Okay, I will. Bye" Dee said over her shoulder, as she made her way out of the hospital.

As Dee was leaving, Patch wondered if there would ever be a good enough moment to tell her how he felt. Sighing he stored those thoughts away, now wondering why Dee had been so reluctant to let him help her.

"She likes you, you know", a voice came from behind him. Realizing that he´d been staring in mid-air after Dee left he turned around to face the voice.

The girl from the red team was sitting up in her bed, looking at Patch with an interested glance.

"You don´t know? Aw… how cute"

Finally collecting himself, Patch asked, "What do you mean?"

"That girl, Dee", the girl from the red team said, pointing at the door "That girl is in love with you"

Patch laughed nervously, as he spoke up "N-No, You're mistaken."

"Nope" the girl said "Well now you know till next time she´s on your table." the girl said with a slight smirk

Patch was utterly perplexed. He´d no idea how to grasp this wonderful new piece of information. Or if he dared to in the first place.

But he knew that it wouldn't be all bad if Dee ended up on his table again.