"Okay, I'll need you to sign this, initial this, and then sign down here," I said, handing a clipboard to the waiting woman.
"Eliza! We need you in room two!" A nurse called, rushing a patient down the hallway.
"Excuse me," I murmured to the woman as I rushed to the room to see what the problem was.
I pushed open the door to see a man lying on the exam table, blood flowing out of wounds on his legs and stomach.
"What happened?" I said, pulling out my light and shining it into his eyes, which were clouded over.
"Stab victim," a nurse stated, grabbing something to try and stop the bleeding.
"He's loosing too much blood, we need to stich him up and get him a transfusion."
I ran over to the cabinet and grabbed the necessary materials for stitching up the man. I threaded the needle and began to stitch up the wounds, asking the nurse to hold the man down as he thrashed around. Suddenly, the man thrashed violently and the monitors went wild.
"He's going into cardiac arrest! Get the paddles!" I shouted, ripping open the man's shirt.
The nurse passed me the paddles and I slapped them onto his chest, "Clear!"
The man jerked and laid still, "Clear!"
The monitors began to beep again, signaling that his heart rate was moving towards a normal rate. I sighed in relief as I removed the paddles and placed them on the table.
"Take him to the second floor," I said, pushing some hair that had fallen out of my ponytail behind my ears.
The nurse nodded and wheeled the man out of the room. I leaned against the counter and took a deep breath; another close call. I groaned when I saw the blood splattered over my scrubs, signifying that I'd have to change.
I knew there were patients that needed help, so with a push, I heaved myself off the counter and out of the room towards the lockers. Once I was inside, I grabbed a new pair of scrubs and began to change.
"Eliza Holland?" A voice shouted as I jumped, instantly covering my torso with my shirt.
A man with a serious limp hobbled into the locker room and straight in front of me.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I snapped, my face reddening at the fact I was only in my bra.
"What did you study in med school?" He asked, sitting down on the bench.
"What?" I asked, clearly not hearing him correctly.
"What. Did. You. Study? Jesus it's not that difficult."
"Oncology, why?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
"I need you upstairs in my office."
"Why?" I questioned.
"Wow you're annoying," he replied. "10 minutes, I'll race you there."
He stood up suddenly and limped out of the room, leaving me confused. Who the hell was that?
I pulled my shirt over my head and shut my locker with a groan. Now I had to go find the office of a man I had never seen.
"Did you see a man walk out of here a few minutes ago?" I asked a nurse after I had left the room.
"The one with a limp? Yeah, that's House," she replied.
"House? Where's his office?"
"Third floor, end of the hall. Why are you going up there anyways?" She asked.
"He requested my presence," I said with a shrug.
I waved and walked towards the elevator, going up to the third floor. I never really ventured to the third floor; I was mainly in the ER. I stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hallway. I walked past a glass office, but backtracked when I saw House talking to a group of people.
I tucked my hair behind my ears before taking a deep breath and entering the room. I was met with four pairs of eyes staring at me, one pair narrowing as I walked toward the table.
"Well look who decided to show up," House seethed, "Took you long enough."
I narrowed my eyes and moved to stand in front of him. "I'm here, what do you want?"
"You treated my patient three days ago and I need to know what symptoms he came in with," House asked.
"I treat a lot of patients everyday. What was his name?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
"Martin Rochester, mid-forties, tall with black hair," a woman spoke up from the table.
"He came in with chest pain and tingling in his legs," I replied, pushing off against the counter. "Can I go now?"
"Not yet. He's dying."
"Dying?" I asked in disbelief, "He was completely fine when he left."
"Well apparently you were wrong to let him go," he snapped. "Now leave, I'm done with you."
I gave him a questioning look, but left the room to return to the ER downstairs. I could hear House barking orders as I walked down the hallway. God it would be terrible to have him as a boss.
"He's not always so bad," a man with a thick Australian accent suddenly said next to me.
"Jesus," I gasped, putting my hand to my chest, "You scared me."
"Sorry about that," he said slowly, his mouth dropping into a frown.
I glanced at the man standing next to me; he had piercing blue eyes, shaggy blond hair, and he was much taller than my height of 5' 4".
"He's not always so bad? Working with him seems like hell," I stated once I regained my breath and averted my eyes back to the floor.
"He has his moments…" He trailed off, lost in thought. "So what do you do?" He asked, suddenly changing the subject.
I pressed the down button on the elevator and turned to face him, "At the moment? Residency. I'm on ER duty for awhile."
"Residency? What are you specializing in?" He piqued.
"Oncology."
"Wow that is very specific," he said with a hint of amusement. "So how many more years have you got to go?"
"Hopefully not too many, but we'll see what happens," I said before stepping into the newly arrived elevator. "It was nice talking to you Doctor…"
"Chase, Robert Chase."
"Doctor Chase, I'm Eliza," I said with a smile before the doors closed.
Wow.
"So how was it today?" Emily asked once I shrugged my jacket off and threw my keys on the counter.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and plopped down on the couch with a groan. "Exhausting. Two stab victims, four broken arms, one heart attack, and one ruptured spleen. Just a regular day at the ER," I joked.
She moved from her desk to the couch, a glass of wine in her hand, "Today was pretty average for me."
"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing goes on at the OBGYN," she chuckled, taking a sip of her wine.
Emily was a med student, like myself. We graduated from the University of Michigan together, and struggled through med school at UC San Francisco, and now we were working through our residencies. Emily was planning to go into immunology, but her mind was always changing, which is why I was so surprised when she told me she wanted to be a doctor.
"Sometimes, I wish my job was more boring," I sighed. "I did meet someone interesting though, a Doctor House."
"You met House?" She sputtered, her eyes widening. "How was it? Was he a complete ass?"
I turned to face her, tucking my legs underneath me, "You know House?"
"I know of him," she clarified, "You know how those nurses love to gossip."
I nodded and rested my head on my knees, my eyes flickering to the muted TV in front of us. This week had been incredibly long with my odd ER hours and various seminars I had to attend. Tomorrow was Friday and a couple of nurses and I were going out for drinks after our shift was over. It was the first time in awhile I was going out and I was excited.
My eyelids began to droop as I leaned back into the couch. My mind drifted to the events of today, starting with House and ending with… Chase.