Lucy walked into the hospital, cradling her hand to her chest. JD frantically looked for a wheelchair.
"I can walk, Dr. D- it's just my hand."
"Right, but it looks more like an emergency if you-"
"Babe? Hey." Cole said, running up. "What's wrong? Your hand looks all..."
"Accident, not a big deal." Lucy assured, patting his shoulder with her good hand. "Though, I think it's broken..."
Cole frowned worriedly. "What happened?"
"That's not really important..." JD hedged. "If you look at the big picture, what's important is getting Lucy here to an x-ray... Then we can-"
Cole glared at him, lifting Lucy into his arms. Lucy looked at Cole in surprise, her good arm instinctively going around his shoulders. "I'll take her myself." he said through grit teeth, stomping off towards the x-ray machine.
Dr. Cox and Turk looked at JD.
"Well, what did'cha do, Mary-Beth?" Dr. Cox smirked.
"It was as much her fault as mine!" JD blurted.
"Yeah, I wouldn't open with that, man." Turk advised. "What happened, anyway?"
"Well, ya see, today was my day to see Hospice patients for at-home visits, so, I thought she'd like to come along..."
"Uh-huh..." Turk prodded.
'Well... it all went well, until we came back..."
Cole walked into X-Ray, where Denise was bringing a patient, and lay Lucy down.
"Lay flat and don't move, okay?" Cole advised gently.
"Oi! Energizer bunnies!" Denise snapped. "This is a hospital, not a brothel."
"She's hurt, and she's gettin' an x-ray!" Cole snapped back. "You really think I'd risk my junk fallin' off by doin' it on a bunch of radioactivity?"
"I don't know, you were gonna get a tan a week after getting a melanoma mole removed!" Denise shot back, flustered.
"Just... help me out a second, okay?" Cole asked, and wheeled the patient in the chair out. "We'll get to you in just a sec, dude."
Denise sighed, turning the machine on. After a flash of light, she looked at Cole. "It's done, I'll go reload and get this man's done, okay? Now, get her out of here and I'll come meet you at the nurse's station when they're developed."
"She should have a bed, dude."
"Beds are scarce, and she's technically staff. Go on..."
"... so, let me get this straight here, Newbie: You broke one of the students?" Dr. Cox asked him incredulously. "You're only even here to fill in while your second wife- the first being Ghandi over there- is on maternity leave!"
"Well, not on purpose, and it was just her hand..." JD said lamely.
Cole sat Lucy down on top of the counter at the nurse's station.
"Is it bad? Should I get you ice or something?" he asked, stroking her hair gently.
Lucy gave him a melty smile. "You're so sweet... but, I'm okay, I'll just wait until- ow."
"Try not to move too much, babe." Cole sighed.
Turk nudged JD hard with his elbow, and he stumbled forward. "Oh, Lucy... I'm so, so sorry..."
"So this is your fault?" Cole asked belligerently. "What the hell'd you do, anyway?" he demanded, standing in front of Lucy, who put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I... um... I was shutting the door and she dropped her lipgloss?"
Cole ran a hand over his face. "What kind of a moron-"
"Cole..." Lucy warned gently. "It's not that bad."
"You're hurt, that's bad." Cole argued.
"It was partially my fault for being clumsy..."
"Aha!" JD said, pointing at Cole, Dr. Cox and Turk. "See, half her fault too!" he said triumphantly.
Turk gave him a shake of the head. "Dude... no..." he whispered.
And, Dr. Cox smirked as Cole's cheeks tinged red.
"You're gonna blame her?"
"No..." JD said nervously. "Um... okay, let's try this again: Really, truthfully sorry?"
Lucy nodded. "I forgive you, even though it's my writing hand."
"Thank you." JD said, looking at Cole significantly.
Turk shook his head again, whispering, "Quit while you're ahead, dude..."
"Right... ahem..." JD said uncomfortably.
Unfortunately for JD, he makes ill-thought-out jokes when he's uncomfortable...
"Right..." he said, with the laugh he'd get when he was about to tell a joke that only he thought was funny, "at least this went better than our first meeting..."
Lucy facepalmed. Cole looked back and forth between them.
"What's that mean?"
"Just that I didn't see her naked today-" he blurted, but, he never got to finish, because Cole punched him in the nose so fast he didn't even see it coming. He went down fast.
Cole stood, shaking his hand out, and then looked at Lucy almost accusingly.
"Oh, don't you give me that look, Cole Aaronson- it was your fault, you know."
"Hold up- mine?"
"Who thought it was a good idea to print an 8x10 of me naked and then loose it on the quad, smartie?"
Cole winced. "Oh... yeah... Wait, you didn't tell me anyone else saw that; I thought you found it."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "No, Dr. Dorian found it. But, tons of guys couldda seen it before that..."
Off the look on his face, Lucy suddenly recanted.
"Though... I doubt it. I mean, I would've gotten way more offers to date than I have... And, what guy throws away a naked picture?"
Cole only looked slightly relieved, then eyed her.
"Besides," she continued, "We had our fight about that when it happened, and obviously we got over it."
"You got offers?"
"A few." Lucy shrugged. "Wasn't interested, told them so."
Cole's hands went around her hips. "Yeah?"
"Yeah... I've gotten spoiled..." she smiled, leaning down and kissing him softly.
Cole smiled at her. "That's good for them, 'cause I have fourteen cousins and uncles combined that are bounty hunters and can make people disappear."
Lucy laughed softly.
Meanwhile, Turk helped JD up.
"I think I have a broken nose..." JD said.
"Yeah, you're gonna have two black eyes to go with it, trust me." Turk nodded.
Denise came out. "Okay, you're gonna need a cast. Fractured in three places." she said to Lucy. "Come with me."
Lucy was lead off by Denise. Cole looked at Dr. Cox and Turk. "Am I in trouble for hitting him?"
"If you don't, everyone will think students can get away with that." Dr. Cox said slowly. "However..."
"Perry!" JD shrilled, then regretted it as he felt the sharp pain in his nose.
"One day off of classes and rounds. You take zeroes, but someone can take notes for you. Your girlfriend's gonna need someone there anyhow for the pain meds- she looks like a lightweight."
Cole smiled.
"Th-"
"No, no- no thanking me. I'm punishing you. Now... shoo!"
Cole smirked, rushing off to find Lucy.
JD looked at Dr. Cox. "You went soft on him!"
"Oh, I did not, Margaret!"
"Yes, Perry, you did! Granted, I'm a little hurt that it's when I was injured-"
"You broke his girlfriend!"
"Just her hand! She still has the other one!"
Turk rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he called Carla at home.
"Hey, baby- how's Izzy and Essie?"
Essie being short for Esperanza, Carla's mother's name, which they named their second daughter after.
"Great, what's going on?"
"Well, you're never gonna believe my day..."
_END_