"Are you sure that you don't need me for any tests tonight?" It was almost midnight and besides wanting the chance to spend some more time with Lona, wanting another chance to convince her that they would be perfect together, Elmer really wasn't wanting to have to deal with driving home at that late hour.
"Not tonight." Lona said with a reluctant shake of her head.
True, Elmer's flirting could be a pain but she really did want to get more
research time with him as the guinea pig in. She shook her head once more,
pushing that desire aside, as she looked at the pile of papers before her.
"I made the mistake of walking past Dr. James's office right after the new
quality reports arrived this afternoon. I have to have them finished by
tomorrow morning."
"I thought that Otto was supposed to issue warnings about that the next time those reports arrived." Elmer said, laughing slightly as he saw the size of papers in front of Lona. "You might have a dwarf popping in here soon, you know. If he wants your first born child if you can't guess his name, it's Rumplestiltskin."
"I know the fairy tale, Elmer." Lona said as she rolled her eyes.
Had Sally Druse ever mentioned dwarves roaming through the halls of was it
just ghosts? As Lona looked on the stack of papers she was suddenly hoping
for a funny dwarf to pop up. Either that or for the hospital ghost to have
very good handwriting.
"You know, I could stay and help you with those." Elmer said eagerly. "I'm really good at filling out papers and things."
"I don't think so, Elmer. Jesse wants these legible. They have to go in to the state." Lona told him. Of course, she was not going to guarantee for Jesse that by the millionth paper she filled out that her handwriting was going to be very legible either.
"My handwriting isn't that bad. Not as bad as my dad's anyway.
come on. I did stuff like this all the time in school. Let me help you"
Elmer begged.
"Elmer, go home! I'll be fine!" Lona said firmly, reaching out behind her as she spoke trying to pull her chair forward.
"Lona, watch..." Elmer winced as her hand hit the coffee cup before he could finish his warning, sending it toppling forward, the liquid splashing the rear of Lona's skirt. He hurried forward, hoping that the coffee was the hospital's usual cold staff offering and not something actually hot. Somehow, he doubted that Lona wanted burns in that particular location.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, a bit of worry in his eyes. "Want me to help clean up?"
"NO! Go away!" Lona cried, practically shoving Elmer out of the lab and slamming the door behind him.
Elmer stood there for a moment, just staring at the door in shock.
Why in the world had Lona blown up like that due to the simple question of
if she needed him to go find Johnny or a mop to clean up the mess? He
shook his head as he headed down the hallway. Despite how stupid people
seemed to find him, he definitely knew better than to risk his neck going
back in there again. The coffee obviously had been hot after all. He just
hoped that she hadn't burned herself too badly with it. He had a feeling
that Lona would be very reluctant to seek treatment for any burns there.
Maybe he ought to find his dad and get him to go check her? He shook his
head a moment later as he recalled that his father was in surgery, though.
Well, maybe he would run into Hook or Chris and could send them down. He
didn't want Lona to end up sick or something.
"Hey!" Elmer called as he spied the man coming down the hallway
with a broom. Not Johnny. Obviously one of the string of fill in
janitors. "Listen, you need to get a mop and head down to the sleep lab.
There's a mess in there that needs cleaning up." he told the man before
heading for the elevator. He could check with Otto and see where Hook and
Chris were so he could ask them to check on Lona for him and make sure she
didn't get burnt seriously or something.