COOPPOV
I pulled up into the All Saints parking lot, my dark blue eyes trying to find the employee parking spots. I was having a difficult time finding my way around already. It was a good thing I had showed up early on my first night shift, a quarter to 10. When I finally found a vacant spot for my beamer I pulled in and turned the ignition off. I was feeling a little nervous as I stepped out of my car. So nervous, in fact, that I had picked up smoking again. I always kept a spare pack in the glove for times like these. I probably shouldn't have, but I got anxious pretty often. I needed a safety net and refused to take medication for it. It hadn't really been that bad anyway.
I stepped out of my car with my Starbucks coffee and paperwork in one hand and a half lit cigarette in the other. My lab coat was draped neatly over my arm. I closed my BMWs door behind me and looked at the other employee's cars. There weren't many, so I could only guess most of them took the bus. It made sense, traffic could get crazy driving through the city and not a lot of folks really enjoyed sitting through it. I was pretty carefree though, I could deal as long as I knew I wasn't going to be late. I stopped behind a white jeep wrangler and furrowed my eyebrows, taking the final drag of my cigarette. I stared at it strangely. It was dirty and completely covered in mud. I couldn't picture a doctor or nurse not keeping decent care of their things. Especially since this jeep looked brand new underneath all that dirt. If my car was remotely dirty I tended to throw a mental fit and take it to the car wash right away. Then again, I had OCD. I shrugged the thoughts off and continued walking towards the entrance.
When I stepped inside I walked past the ER station. I could feel the staff's eyes on me. I mean, how could they not stare at me? I was a pretty decent looking guy, right? I was wearing Gucci and Versace for men. My shoes were expensive Doc Martins. I was clean shaven and my hair was styled almost flawlessly, bangs whisking along my forehead. I ran my hand through it just to be sure I looked perfect and then smiled to the staff. I took in a deep breath and finally greeted them.
"Hello everyone." All I got in return was a few mumbles and softly spoken hi's. Wow, tough crowd. The people around here needed to loosen up.
I headed to Gloria Akalitus's office to get my name tag and doctors identification card. When I reached her door I knocked twice and waited for her to answer. I remembered her from the interview the morning before. She seemed like a complete bitch, but what boss wasn't? She had to keep the hospital running smoothly, people's lives were on the line here. Every single day. It was why I became a doctor. I wanted to help people and I'd like to think was pretty good with them too.
"Come in."
I opened the door and stepped inside.
"Hello Gloria!" I said with a large, wolf-like grin.
"Excuse me?" She replied to me. Okay, bad start obviously.
"I am so sorry, would you rather I call you Akalitus?"
I could feel my nerves begin to spike and I moved towards her desk placing the folder on top of it.
"Yes, Doctor Cooper, as a matter of fact I would." She shot me a fake smile. Disgusting, all I could do was continue to grin back in her direction. "Now, please, sit." She motioned her arm towards the chair in front of her desk and I did exactly what she asked. No need to make her dislike me anymore on my first day.
"It's Coop," I shook my head and waved my right hand in the air, "Call me Coop."
Akalitus shook her head at me. I had a gut feeling she wouldn't be calling me that anytime soon.
"Do you have that paperwork from Columbia University, Dr. Cooper? I just wanted to double check a few things, before I go ahead and release you to the wolves."
Yep, she definitely wasn't going to call me Coop, not ever. I slowly nodded to her and handed over the file with all of my info. I had graduated top ten of my class in New York's best school for doctors and done two years of internship after that in a smaller hospital. My parents insisted I go there and had paid my tuition all six years. That squared away having to pay off any bills. I could start saving up any money I made now. Hopefully I would start making bank. Maybe I'd buy a new set of water skis or something. I realized my mind's attention was slowly moving away from the task at hand and I snapped back into reality. Water Skis could wait.
"Dr. Cooper?"
By the time I looked at the desk she had slid my ID tag on the desk in front of me. I really needed to learn to pay more attention.
"Thanks." I grinned at her retardedly and grabbed the name tag. I stood up from the seat and pulled on my lab coat, pinning the new ID onto it. I leaned forward over the desk, still grinning. "I have a name tag now." I pointed to it and nodded slowly. She looked at me like I was crazy and this was obviously my cue to walk away.
"Wait a minute!" She said sternly. I turned around and she pulled a beeper out of her desk and turned it on. "Make sure you have this on at all times, and respond to any call you get. Otherwise, you could kiss that ID card of yours goodbye, Dr. Cooper."
I stepped over to her desk again and took the beeper.
"I won't disappoint you." I assured.
"Good, now go start on your cases. The nurse's station will have your files waiting for you at the help desk"
I put the beeper in my pocket and walked out of her office. I could feel the weight on my shoulders lift off. That hadn't been so bad. She was probably the only person I really had to worry about. I began to think my smiles and rather coy charm may have already won her on my side. I started to walk down the hall with my coffee and I decided I would go socialize and grab my first set of patient files from the nurse's station like Akalitus suggested. I was so full of excitement and I couldn't get the damn grin to wipe off my face. When I got there I stepped up to a man, who's name tag read Thor.
"I'm here to get my paperwork? Coop's the name."
He looked at me like I had two heads and then reached for the files on the desk. It seemed he already knew who I was and had everything ready for me to grab. He was organized and quick. I liked that. I didn't want to have to deal with slow, lazy slackers.
"I have files for a Dr. Cooper, here. Not a Coop." He said like a smartass. What did I ever do to him?
I half expected this, though. I just wanted to establish that everyone could call me Coop. They didn't have to call me by a formal doctor's name. We were going to be working together for the long haul. We were going to be a team of sorts. I wasn't going to accept anything less.
"Whoaaa, call me Coop." I assured.
"Okaaay, Coop, here are your files, then!" He handed them to me and I placed my coffee down on the counter to open them up. I realized, he actually called me Coop. Ten points for me.
"Thanks," I paused, unsure of his name.
"I'm Thor." He introduced himself. What a relief. "And this is Zoey," He pointed to the girl on his left who quietly waved. She smiled and turned a bright shade of red. I had that effect on girls. I smiled back to her, waved and before I could say hi, he started listing off more people. "That's Jackie over there and the doctor she's talking to is Doctor O'Hara." I looked over at them and they were busy in conversation at Jackie's desk. They shot me a nasty glance and then continued their gossips.
"They look, personable." I murmured sarcastically. They looked like total bitches. I made mental note to stay out of their way as long as they stayed out of mine.
Thor broke my thoughts and laughed along with Zoey. She had covered her mouth in amuysement. I looked back to them and another nurse in scrubs, who was also male walked up behind Thor. He looked distraught. I nodded to him respectively and he nodded back looking down at Thor.
"This is Sam." Thor looked up to him. Suddenly the thought had hit me. Was Thor gay? I laughed a little to myself and then wondered if Sam was too, but as Sam began to talk I realized he probably wasn't.
"Hey, Sam! High five!" I put my hand up to give Sam a high five, and though he was reluctant, he returned it. He gave me a weird look and then turned his attention back to Thor.
"Man, Dr. Cullen is like, impossible." Sam complained to Thor.
I decided to just stand and listen in on the conversation, taking inventory on everyone. I like to know what was going on and I liked being involved. I always found myself getting in the middle of gossip which probably wasn't a good thing. Sometimes, it got me into trouble I didn't really want to get into.
"You actually gave her those files?" Thor laughed. "You didn't have to, I would have done it. What happened?"
"Nothing really, she's just having one of those days, I guess." Sam scratched the back of his neck, he looked like he couldn't really have the heart to say anything bad about her. "She was listening to something while she was signing papers and I asked if she was alright. She lost that patient so I figured she was depressed."
Thor was still laughing and he rolled his eyes. "Oh, brave. Some things should just be left unasked, Sam. You know her." The two of them nodded in unison.
I looked up to see another doctor coming our way down the hall.
"Is that her?" I asked , curious. I couldn't see her too well because she was still kind of far. The hallways here stretched for what seemed like miles.
"Yep, Doctor Isabella Cullen." Thor nodded. "You might want to stay away from her, for now anyway. I found it's best if you let her come to you."
"How would I introduce myself, then? What if she never talks to me?" I questioned with a confused look on my face. Thor laughed at me again.
"Uh, then she probably doesn't like you." The quiet girl said as she looked at me. Wow, she actually spoke. "Sheee likes meee." Zoey smiled. She looked as if she was feeling accomplished. Her words exaggerated it enough, that was for sure.
"Me too, she's really nice, actually.. but first impressions are everything with her I think. She hated Sam, here when she first met him and she still doesn't like him." Thor added.
"Thanks for reminding me Thor." Sam rolled his eyes. "I think I'm going to go find something to do. Good luck, uhhh." Sam read my name tag and smiled. "Dr. Cooper."
"It's Coop." I corrected.
"Coop it is, then." Sam nodded with a smirk and then walked away.
I looked down the hall and she was quickly approaching us. I looked down at the files I had on the counter in front of me and pulled out a pen from behind Thor's desk. I was going to try and look busy and take Thor's advice. My eyes however, were having really a hard time keeping focus on the words I was reading. They continuously drifted to the side to look at her. When she got closer, it got worse.
"Uh, Coop? Don't bother." I heard Thor's voice in the background.
I didn't know what he was talking about until I found myself staring at her like a sixteen year old with some kind of pathetic crush. I admitted to myself then and there that she was breathtakingly beautiful. I could appreciate a good looking woman, however it was difficult for me to compliment them. Sometimes I had this holy-er-than-thou attitude and unless I found a girl worthy, I wouldn't bother. She, though, she had a radiance about her and it was almost like she was too beautiful to look at. It didn't seem like she was aware of it though. She walked with slightly slumped shoulders, like she was hiding from everyone and trying to stay under the radar. I started to really think about it and I couldn't blame her. She probably got a lot of attention from guys. She looked young, but I knew she couldn't have been because she was a doctor and she couldn't have graduated until she was at least 23 like I was. The way her long dark hair draped over her shoulders and contrasted with her snow white skin made her look almost like some kind of goddess.
"I'm not." I said quietly and tried to look at my papers again.
My eyes wondered back, and this time she was staring back at me. I didn't know whether to smile at her or look away. I chose to look away at first. I could feel an invisible magnetic force pulling my chin in her direction again. I was hooked. I was determined to at least get a 'hello' out of her by the end of the night. However, I knew I had to get out of there now, and fast so that she didn't think I was some sort of creep. We had made eye contact and I could chills ripple up along my spine. It made me feel partially uncomfortable, but at the same time I wanted to walk in her direction. I closed up the files and walked away from the station, heading down the hall towards my own office. I knew it wasn't going to be hard to find because my name would be on it. I hoped, anyway. I didn't want to look like a complete idiot. When I got to my office door I entered inside and locked it behind me. My eyes glanced around the room for the nearest seat, which was conveniently a couch, and I dropped down into it.
I was suddenly exhausted.
BELLAPOV.
When I was halfway down the hall I could start to hear the conversation between the three male nurses. I smiled at Zoey's comment and shook my head. I hadn't even noticed the new staff member there. Not his physical presence anyways. I could hear his voice here and there while he talked to Sam and Thor.
Closer toward the nurses' station the feeling grew worse with each step I took. I could feel my body begin to tense up. If I could still sweat, I'd be drenched in it. If I still had body heat, it would be rising. My heart beat would be climbing drastically. Instead, I felt the venom begin to boil under my skin. I clutched Anna's file in my hand tightly and was probably crinkling it up. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I looked to my right at one of the windows to catch my reflection. My eyes weren't red, but they had become a dark shade of what was almost onyx. Had they been like this already, or was this color change just recently? I wanted to panic and phone Carlisle, but I decided it would probably pass and that I was just hungry. I looked back down the hallway and tried focusing on getting to the nurses' station as quickly as possible.
As I swallowed I could taste small traces of toxic poison dripping down my throat. I was getting nervous. I worried my bottom lip with my teeth, clenching painfully. I breathed in deeply through my nostrils out of habit, like I would when I was human, and caught a whiff of something out of the ordinary. I did it again to let the scent fill my throat and nose. Whatever it was smelled extremely potent, like vanilla with a tinge of almonds. It directed my onyx eyes to exactly what the source of my problem was. Standing at the nurses' station as I got closer was an unfamiliar face, one I had never seen before. Without thinking about the consequences I decided to inspect further to make sure he was in fact where the smell was coming from. Something was taking over.
I was closing in like a tigress prowling for its prey. The scent was growing overwhelmingly strong. I passed him from behind while he was reading his files and caught sight of Jackie and O'hara across the way. I clutched the folder in my hand. It was destroyed by now, it had to be. The girls had acknowledged my presence and I simply ignored them. My eyes were still dangerously pinned on the new doctor. Instinct was taking over. They started to talk about him once they noticed I was staring at him. Jackie said I looked like I wanted to eat him, but still I ignored her. She wasn't far off from the truth. My chest was rising and falling rather quickly. He was staring right back at me now. I pulled my lower lip into my mouth, biding down once again. I let my eyes connect with his threateningly. I watched him get ready to leave the station. He was lucky he had. As he walked away the scent started to drift away with him.
My body was slowly regaining composure. Even though his scent was gone for the most part it was still there. It was lingering like the plague. I was hoping I would be disgusted by it, but it irked this strange sensation inside of me. I snorted a couple of times to try and get rid of it, but it was still there. Stepping away from the girls I walked over to help desk to talk to Thor. I had questions I wanted to ask him. The first was for a tissue. Anything to get the smell out of my system. This had never happened to me before and I didn't know exactly what to do. When the hunger was almost gone all I could feel was my anxiety. I was starting to think I should play sick and leave work, but a stronger part of me thought I could stick it out.
"Tissue, please?" I continued sniffling helplessly as I looked at Thor. He grabbed me a box of tissues and placed them in front of me. "Thanks m'dear." I plucked one out of the box and started to blow my nose. Naturally, nothing was coming out . I must have looked ridiculous blowing air. I until it was completely raw and threw the tissue away afterward.
"Are you alright, Bella?" He asked me kindly.
I liked Thor a lot. He was very sweet and he was gay so I didn't have to worry about him swooping in on me. I let him call me Bella like the rest of the girls. I nodded to him silently. I didn't know what to say or ask him without sounding like I was interested in the new doctor. Not that I was interested in him. I just wondered why he had given me this overwhelming feeling of wanting to drain every drop of blood he had pumping through his veins. I decided I would start off questioning Thor with something basic.
"Who was that?"
"That would be.." Thor look at the list of people on duty and read his name out loud. "Doctor Fitch Cooper."
I almost gagged at his first name. Fitch? What was a Fitch? What kind of name was that? I let out a laugh and then covered my mouth. Thor smiled at me. That was special.
"So, I ask Akalitis for a year straight for a new doctor, and she finally gets one."
I had complained to Gloria numerous times about the lack of staff we had around here. I always got the same answer. It was always 'We don't have enough money!' and then she would continue with 'If you would like to make a donation..' and that was generally when I walked out the door. I could very well make a donation to the hospital since the Cullens had given me a hefty lump of cash before we had separated, but that would just be feeding into her bull. I knew the hospital was capable of hiring more people. They had rich people donating money to them all the time.
"Yep, don't like him already?" He asked me. I shook my head slowly and mouthed the word no.
"Yeah, I don't care for him either." Thor and I laughed and I handed him Anna's file, which was in rather poor condition now. I knew he wouldn't question it. He never did.
COOPPOV.
I laid out on the couch in my office and instead of reading the files all I could think about was Dr. Isabella Cullen.
"Isabella, such a pretty name," I said out loud to myself, shamefully. I sighed and got up. I walked over to my desk and I set the manila folder down.
I had been through girls in the past here and there and none had ever occupied this much space in my mind before. As nice as it would have been to wonder about her all night, I knew I couldn't. Instead, I got busy. I took a seat in my leather chair, pulling out the first case packet. I was going to try and read all of tonight's case files before I set off to start working. This way, I knew exactly what I had to deal with for the rest of my shift. My eyes tried focusing on the words and I got a quarter of the way down the page without thinking about her. The thoughts returned. It was like I was suddenly obsessed, like.. like she had put some kind of spell on me when we made eye contact earlier. I didn't know if I liked that much.
No, I totally didn't.
I also didn't know if she had felt the same kind of attraction when she looked at me. Did she think I was handsome? Cute at least? What does she like? Would she like me? What will she do if she finds out I have sexual tourettes or OCD? I was always really insecure and self-conscious about myself so these were questions I asked myself when I had interest in women. I told myself that I was an attractive looking guy and that I was a good catch. Whether I actually believed myself or not was an entirely different story. I had been alone all through college with passing hook ups and nothing had ever stuck. It seemed I was just a pretty face, something that looked good on some girls arm and none of it involved any kind of substance. To be honest I don't think any of the girls I dated even remotely took the time to really get to know me. They probably couldn't remember something simple like my favorite food or my favorite movies. They rarely listened to me and I'm pretty sure they only dated me because I was a med student.
I sighed and started to read again. The patients I had gotten were complete crap. They had started me with easy things, mostly tasks nurses could have done. I could only hope that they would call me into the emergency room for something fun. Gunshot wounds were my favorite and I was really good at stitches. Stabbings, gunshots, car accidents, anything would be more interesting than administering medicine or running test results would have been fantastic.
I liked challenges and I had a feeling Isabella Cullen was going to be a challenge.
