Chapter 2 – Soul Meets Body
"Keep it wrapped and stay off work a couple days. I want you to alternate between ice and heat at ten minute intervals if the pain becomes too intense." The ED doc who was giving me the once over turned around to write something in my chart. Bored, I watched as he scribbled for a minute before turning back to face me as he reached in the front pocket of his lab coat and pulled out his prescription pad. "Any allergies?"
I shook my head, "Not a one."
He went back to scribbling and ripped off two sheets and handed them to me. I looked at the illegible writing on both prescriptions, trying to figure out what they were for. "First one is for the pain. Second one is an anti-inflammatory." He put his pad back in his pocket and clipped his pen to his shirt. "You'll be okay in a couple days but take it easy. No heavy lifting. No work." He handed me two more papers. "The top one is a review of what I've told you and the bottom is a release about when you can go back to work. Come back if the swelling doesn't go down, you've got tingling in your extremities or if you have problems breathing or have any loss of consciousness from the medications."
Wanting to ask how I would know if I became unconscious from the medication, I shook his hand as he led me out into the hallway and a nurse took me up front to the waiting room to sign me out. I signed another form and she handed me a copy as I opened the door into the waiting room. I looked for Catherine and saw both her and Warrick waiting on me in the waiting room.
"So what's the prognosis? Gonna live?" Catherine saw me come out and stood up. She looked pleased about something and I was fairly confident it had something to do with Anna. My mind began to play out the scenarios in my head and I was bouncing back and forth between her calling Anna for me or doing something on my behalf without my knowledge, "Tahoe's outside. Warrick brought it. You can go see Anna now."
"Yeah, Cath said for me to bring it so you could go see her when you get done up here seeing as how she's just up the road a bit. Got yours from the scene and brought it up here and then Greg took me back to the station to get one from the motor pool and I came up here to make sure you were okay. On the Anna note, way to go, man! You finally got an actual breathing, living woman who wasn't a victim of a crime to speak to you. Knew it was going to happen eventually. Law of averages."
Warrick tossed me my keys to the Tahoe. I caught them easily and put them in my jacket pocket along with the prescriptions and the forms the doctor gave me. "You told him, huh? Thanks a lot for the support system here. Both of you." I shook my head and stared at the ground. I was embarrassed enough with how Anna and I met and now I was having to endure the ribbing from not only Catherine but Warrick as well. At least Catherine was subtle.
"Actually, Catherine didn't tell me about her. I saw you talking to her at the crime scene. I did ask about her afterwards and she said she gave you her number, or gave it to Cath really. Anna's a cute gal. Let me know if things don't work out between the two of you. Course, I may have to fight Sanders off also if things don't work out. He's interested your gal as well but apparently she only had eyes for you." Warrick turned to lead Catherine and me out into the ED parking lot so we could leave. He got in his Tahoe and started it up and rolled the window down, "So need me to go say hi or something with you? Introduce myself? Tag along for moral support? Cath said she's right across the street. I could go if you want me to."
"Not just no, but hell no on all counts. I think I can handle things on my own but thanks for bringing my truck back up here." Last thing I needed was someone else interfering in my personal life more so than they already were. "I'm gonna call her as soon as I can." Warrick seemed satisfied and drove off, leaving me in the parking lot with Catherine. I reached in my pocket for the keys to the truck and turned to face her, "Thank you."
Catherine was far from placated with my response, "Call her, Nicky."
I rolled my eyes, "I am. I will. I promise. I'm going to drop these prescriptions off at the pharmacy, and then I'll call her."
She said nothing as she reached for my vest pocket and pulled out my cell phone. Before I could stop her, she reached into the pocket on the other side of my vest and got Anna's number. Catherine turned around quickly and walked a few steps in front of me and dialed Anna's number and tossed me the phone. "Now talk to her."
I caught my phone and held it to my ear as it started to ring. By now, I couldn't hang up and Catherine stuck the piece of paper back in my vest and smiled, pleased with herself. "You do know that I can make it look like an accident, right? Remember that for later."
It rang twice more before Anna picked up. "Hello?"
I took a deep breath, "Anna?"
"You got her. Who's this?"
I shot Catherine a look once more before I answered, "Nick. Nick Stokes. You know from…"
She cut me off, "Ah, the flower pot murderer. I was hoping you'd call as I didn't get your number from Catherine. Happy you did call."
"I'm never gonna live that one down am I?"
She said no and laughed, "Not any time soon at least. So how's the arm?"
"Fine. Sprained shoulder and sprained wrist. Got a prescription for some drugs and I'm on my way to the all night pharmacy now, but thought I'd call you so you'd have my number."
Catherine started waving her arms, trying to get my attention. I turned away from her, doing my best to ignore her. When I turned around, that didn't stop her from moving in front of me. "Tell her you're across the street, Nicky!"
I turned around to shush Catherine but it was too late. Anna heard her, "You're still at the hospital? Come by and come say hi to me. We made dinner earlier, or I did really. We've been so busy this afternoon that we're just now getting to eat. Thank God for microwaves. There's plenty left over for you if you're hungry. I promise not to scare you off but I can't say the same for my partner."
Even though I was trying to think of a way to get out of it, I could tell Anna wanted me to come over and I did want to go see her but I was also nervous as hell. I also knew Catherine wouldn't let me out of this no matter how hard I tried and I didn't even want to think about what she'd do if I didn't go. About the only excuse I think of to pacify Catherine was if I needed emergent care for a dismembered limb or if I suddenly needed to be on life support because I got ran over by a city bus. Just my luck that I didn't see a chainsaw anywhere nearby and no busses came through the back part of the parking lot where we were.
I glanced to my left towards Tropicana Boulevard when a thought hit me. Maybe if I took off running to the street…
I shook my head to rid it of the though. Even then, I'm sure Catherine would find a way to embarrass me with Anna and with me being nearby, she'd be the one to come scrape me off the side of the road. Against my better judgment and trying to calm my nerves, I took the plunge, "I'll be over in just a minute. Let me drop these prescriptions off at the store and I'll be over." Glancing over at Catherine, she folded her arms across her chest and gave me a nod of approval, "That is if it's okay."
"Of course it is. Park around the left side of the building next to our cars and come up the sidewalk to get in. Just knock on the door and one of us will let you in. We're all still up so see you in a bit."
We said goodbye and I turned to face Catherine as I unlocked my truck. "Happy now? She invited me to the station for dinner." Sirens started up in the background and I turned around and noticed a fire truck pull out of the station where Anna was. I felt an instant of relief as I watched the fire truck exit the building and make a right turn, heading away from where we were.
I thought that an excuse for me not to go was pulling out of the station now and Catherine apparently read my mind, "No. Nicky, no." I threw my jacket in the Tahoe, relieved to not have to go see Anna.
Catherine moved around me and got my jacket back out and dug the prescriptions out of the pocket. "That wasn't her, Nick. She's in the ambulance and that's still in the station. You go see her and I'll drop these off for you. I'm not giving you any excuse to avoid going to see her. Anna likes you, and obviously by how you're acting, you like her or this wouldn't be this hard for you. I know you're trying to come up with a reason not to go and I'm not going to give you one so don't even think about running out in the street and getting hit by a bus. I'd still make you go, so go!"
I was busted. "I am not." I kept my eyes on Catherine as she got in her Tahoe and pulled out of the parking lot. I followed her out and as she drove by the station, I could tell she was watching me in her rearview mirror to make sure I pulled into the fire department lot, rather than chicken out as I so desperately wanted to. Vowing to hurt Catherine by any means necessary to inflict excruciating pain if this ended badly, I sighed once more and pulled into an empty parking spot and shut the truck off before I started to make my way up the sidewalk by the building to the door where Anna told me to come in.
I was about to knock when the door opened. As it did, a rush of air blew past Anna and once more, I got to smell the vanilla scent she wore so well. "Glad you could make it. Come on in. We're by ourselves. Engine company just had a call, so it's me, you and my partner. He's just sitting down to eat." She let the door shut behind her as she accidentally bumped into me before turning to face me as she gently put her hand on my chest to keep me from moving right away, "I need to apologize in advance for him. You'll see why. I think he was dropped on his head a few times or ate the lead based paint on his crib railing as an infant." Dropping her hand, she looked up at me and smiled before turning around to lead me to the kitchen. For the second time in less than five minutes, just the touch from Anna on my body gave me goose bumps.
Shaking that feeling off, I followed her into the kitchen, curious to see what was going on with this partner of hers. The few minutes earlier in the night didn't lead me to believe he was anything but normal, but I also didn't know him as well as Anna did. Curious to find out more, I followed her and that sweet vanilla fragrance she wore into the kitchen. "Nick, Bryan. Bryan, Nick."
"The flower pot murderer from earlier? Bryan Brooks. Welcome to our humble abode." He stood up to shake my hand. "Aggie hasn't shut up about you since she treated you earlier. She threatened me under penalty of death if I didn't let her treat you. Did you see that look she gave me earlier when we were at the scene? She meant it too. Rest assured, it made her day. Hell, probably made her year."
I turned to face Anna and as I did, she hurled a wooden spoon at Bryan. It missed the side of his head by inches and hit the wall before it bounced to the floor. "You. Out!" She pointed towards the hallway we just came in. "Now!" She picked up another wooden spoon and held it, poised to throw it in his direction again if he didn't leave.
"Fine. Fine. I'll leave the two of you alone before I sustain trauma from you throwing kitchen utensils at me. I'd hate to know what you'd start hurling at me when we're out of spoons." Bryan picked up his plate, "Doubt if that'd be workers comp worthy to have to explain why my work wife threw a blender at my head." He picked up his drink and walked out, turning the opposite way from the direction we came in. I heard him quietly laugh to himself at the situation before he turned the TV on in the common area.
"Sorry about that. He's obnoxious as anything, but I love him to death. He's my best friend, but if he stays in here, you'll probably run away screaming. I promise you. I'm normal." Anna turned to face the table where the food was. "Lasagna okay? I make really good homemade lasagna. Station favorite." She handed me a plate and a fork. "Help yourself."
"Work wife?" I hadn't heard the term before, "I thought you weren't married?"
"Oh, I'm not." Anna groaned, "Term of endearment. Bryan and I spend so much time together up here that he jokes with his wife that he has two wives. He has his real wife and his work wife, which is me. Lucky for me, Cathy, his real wife, and I are as good of friends as Bryan and I are. She thinks it's funny." She dug out a slice for herself and put it on her plate and opened the refrigerator. "Whatcha want to drink? We have tea, Coke, Sprite, water, something that looks like it was once pink lemonade in a past life and Mountain Dew." She brought a can of Mountain Dew out for herself and turned to me.
"Same. Dew fan too?"
"Oh, God yes. When you work the hours we work and get your sleep interrupted most nights, it helps me stay awake." Anna got a second can out for me and brought both cans over to the table where Bryan was sitting before she chased him out of the room with the wooden spoon. She brought her plate over and sat it where Bryan was sitting and I sat across from her. She set my can next to me and sat down in her chair after picking up the spoon and tossing it in the sink on the opposite side of the room. "Hope you like it. I've been told it's good."
I took a bite of the lasagna and as I tasted it, I realized that this was the best thing I'd eaten in quite some time. "You weren't kidding when you said you made good lasagna." I took another bite. "This is great."
"My mother's recipe. So, how's the arm?"
I gave her a run down on what the doctor told me in more detail than I did on the phone earlier. "So I'm going to be off the next couple days. Doc didn't want me going back to work too soon and injuring it even more." I swallowed a drink of Mountain Dew, "Why'd he call you Aggie?"
"Nickname. My last name is so hard to pronounce and as a result, people here at work started calling me AG and it eventually morphed into Aggie. Bryan sometimes calls me Aggs. It's kind of a work thing. Everyone else outside of the fire department calls me Anna."
"Thought it might have been a Texas thing, you know, Texas A&M Aggies. Longhorn fan myself."
"Uh oh." Anna set her fork down on her plate and looked at me. "That may be a problem."
"What will be?"
She gave me the same deadpan serious expression look again she gave me earlier when she was treating me. It was the same look she gave me before joking with me about my arm, so I knew whatever she was about to say was to be taken lightly. Anna shook her head and sighed. "You're a Texas fan?" I said I was and she continued. "I'm an Arkansas Razorbacks fan. We're sworn mortal enemies during football season. I expect the bloodshed to be horrific this fall. Lucky for you, I'm a paramedic. But wait a minute." She trailed off as she thought of something, "Didn't Arkansas beat Texas last year?"
I thought back to the game and the final score where my Horns got beaten by almost forty points. "Yeah. As I remember, it wasn't pretty. At all. Did Texas even show up?"
"Don't think they did at least not from what I saw. Bryan and I were there." She pushed up the sleeve of her shirt and held out her arm towards me bringing with it the soft scent of the vanilla fragrance as she smiled at me, "See?" She showed me her watch. It was a silver watch with a red Razorback in the middle of it. "I graduated from University of Arkansas. I moved out here about eight years ago." Anna sighed as she continued to give me the serious but joking expression, "I knew there had to be a flaw with you somehow. Just didn't expect it to be this serious. What to do?"
"After the beating Texas took, I need to denounce myself anyway. I can be a Razorbacks fan if need be. How'd you wind up out here?"
"Followed an ex-boyfriend out to San Francisco. He got a job there and I followed him out there with Bryan in tow. Bryan and I had already talked about moving from Arkansas. We've been best friends since we were born since we grew up next door to each other. I've always been closer to him than my own sister." Anna took another bite of her dinner, "Anyway, I wasn't happy in Arkansas after we graduated from the U of A and neither was he. My then boyfriend at the time had taken a job in San Fran and was getting ready to move. Bryan has a cousin who works for the SFPD and the cousin told us about some openings at the SFFD, so we interviewed and they hired us on the spot. When the relationship I was in fell apart, I knew I didn't want to go back home to Arkansas, so I decided to stay out in that area. Bryan had already met who would be his future wife while we were working in San Fran. Then shortly after they met, they got married and moved here to Vegas after she got a job at Desert Palms as one of the charge nurses on the ICU floors. After they left, I stayed at the SFFD for another four months or so, but didn't like it much without my partner in crime, so Bryan tells me the LVFD was hiring. I came here for an interview and here I am." She polished off the rest of the lasagna on her plate and took both my plate and hers and put them in the sink and sat down next to me, rather than across the table from me. "What about you?"
"Graduated at Texas and got a job with the Dallas PD. I stayed there, but my father is a judge and I got tired of being known as 'Judge Stokes's kid.' I didn't ever get a break at work and people were going out of their way to kiss my butt. It got really old, so I moved out here after taking the job at the LVPD and I love it. Heat can be a bit much, but the group I work with is fantastic. Almost like my family away from home."
She stood up and I followed her, "TV? I think Bryan's probably already asleep by now, so it's safe to go out and if he's not, I'll throw the TV at him or something to get him to leave. I was lucky. I got a nap earlier in the day in between calls, but Bryan's been going since yesterday when we started shift."
I stared at Anna a minute before I responded, "I can see you doing that too."
"Figure of speech mostly. The guys would kill me if I broke the TV. In any event, we've got a DVD player and tons of movies and an Xbox. We play Doom against the other stations." She took my hand and interlaced her fingers with mine and grabbed her drink with her free hand and took me into the common area of the station.
I could see through a huge picture window on the opposite side of the wall from where we were standing was a direct view into the bay area of the station. The ambulance she was in earlier as well as another fire department vehicle was parked in there next to a row of lockers and some benches. The room we were in was on the small side, but two recliners and a couch were against one wall opposite from the TV and entertainment center which was next to the windows that led out into the front yard of the station. Anna put her drink on the end table next to the couch and sat down. I sat next to her as she reached across me to the table to get the remote to the TV, again filling my senses with the intoxicating scent of the vanilla fragrance she wore. "Any requests?" She dangled the remote between two fingers as she looked at me.
I started to say something, but my phone buzzed in my pocket. I got it out and looked at the front display and saw that I had a text message. "Sorry about that. It may be work." I opened it up and saw Catherine's name in the message. "Catherine. Probably making sure I didn't chicken out." I hit the button to read the message and laughed as I read it. "Just making sure you didn't leave the station after you got out of my line of sight. Have fun. Tell Anna hi for me. C" I handed my phone to Anna so she could read it. "Catherine was scared I wouldn't call you. She actually grabbed the phone away from me and dialed your number before I could stop her."
I watched as she read the message and smiled, "Tell her you didn't chicken out. You put on your big boy underoos all by yourself."
She handed me back my phone just as one of the bay doors at the back of the station opened and the fire truck that left earlier pulled into the open spot. Anna got up to open the door as the four men got out and came in through the side door she was holding open. They barely paid me any attention as they went to the kitchen to fix dinner. One of them did stop to look at me, but yawned and started towards the kitchen, "Dinner ready, Aggie?"
"Yeah." The guys started to walk off, but Anna stopped the one that stared at me, "Thunder, tell Zeus and Mongo not to eat it all this time. Relief shift is still pissed over the last time." I turned my attention back to Anna who sat down after she shut the door. "My co-workers you'd think never eat unless they're up here and I cook."
"Your co-workers names are Zeus and Thunder? Did their parents not like them as children?"
"No." Anna laughed, "Nicknames. We all have one around here. You know mine. Bryan's is Bullfrog. Thunder is Brandon and Zeus is Dany. The other one who didn't speak is Mongo AKA David. We all have our station nicknames and our given names are rarely if ever used anymore up here unless we're being yelled at by the department lieutenant who is in charge of making sure we stay in line and his nickname changes from day to day depending on his mood." She started to absentmindedly flip through channels and she finally stopped on a hockey game. "Watch hockey any?"
I shook my head, "Not really. Co-worker of mine is into it but I never did watch much, but this is fine. Explain it to me?"
I listened as Anna gave me a crash course in Hockey 101 and told me the ins and outs of how the game was played. I still didn't understand much of what she said, but I liked listening to her talk. She reached across me again and once again, the scent she wore drifted across me as she got a swallow of her drink and set it down. She noticed me staring at her, "What? I didn't want you to sit on this side of me because of your arm, but the only table's over there. I'm sorry."
"No, no. Nothing like that, it's just…" I faded off. "You smell good. What is that? Vanilla and sandalwood?"
Anna looked surprised that I recognized the scent she wore. "Very good. One of my favorite scents from one of the bath stores in the mall. You like it I take it?"
"Very much so. Every time I see you, I get a trace of that and it smells good. It suits you." I looked over her shoulder, "Did your team just score?"
Anna turned her attention back to the game and leaned back into me. "Yep." We stayed like that until the game was over with. One of the firemen from earlier joined us in the room for a little bit. Anna and the guy she called Zeus were cheering on their team together as she was leaning into me. I had brought my arm around her middle and was resting it on her stomach.
She yawned at me as I noticed the clock above the TV. "I better let you get to bed. I need to stop by the store and pick up my meds and head home myself." Anna stretched and straightened up as she stood up and held out her hand. I took it in mine as she yawned again. "What time do you get off?"
"At seven tomorrow morning. I'm off the next four days. We work 48 hours, then off four days, then work two days, then off four days. Love my schedule. How long are you off work?"
"My regular days off are Sunday and Monday anyway but we've been so busy I'm usually working but as it stands, I'll go back to work Tuesday. ED doc wanted me off four days, so that'll be tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday and Monday." I took one of her hands in mine as I heard my heart pounding in my chest from nerves, "Can I call you tomorrow? We can go out or something."
Anna looked up at me, "You better." She walked with me to the same door we came in earlier and stepped out into the cool night air as we walked out to my truck. "I've been here in Vegas almost eight years and it still amazes me it can be so hot during the day, but the temperature change can be so drastic at night."
I hit the button on the remote entry on my truck and watched the lights flashed and heard it unlock. I turned to face Anna again and brought her into me in a hug, breathing in the vanilla scent once again. "Go back in and go to bed. I'll call you tomorrow. What time do you get up?"
Even though I had pulled her into an embrace and couldn't see her face, I heard her yawn again. "It doesn't matter." She pulled away from me just enough so I could look at her face. "Just whenever. I don't have any plans."
I put my right hand under her chin and gently lifted it up so I was looking into her brown eyes. "I will tomorrow morning. I promise." I looked at her a moment longer, hesitating on what to do next. Her eyes were locked with mine as I slowly bent down to softly kiss her lips, meeting once, then twice before finally meeting them for good the third time. I felt her arms tighten around my waist as I pulled away from her ever so slightly after we were done.
She pulled me back in closer to her and reached up again to kiss me once more and yawned again when she finished. "Sorry. I really am wiped. Busy night."
I kissed her once more and told her to go back in. She stood back from my truck as I got in and started it up. I shut the door and rolled the window down. I turned in the seat to touch her cheek with my right hand. I pulled her in again to kiss her. "See you tomorrow." I was whispering so low, it was barely audible, but she heard me as she was still close to me.
"It can't come fast enough. I look forward to it."
She stepped back from the truck so I could back out and waved as I drove off. I looked back in my rearview mirror as I was leaving the station lot and watched her walk inside as I drove towards the direction of the pharmacy Catherine had dropped my prescriptions off at. My only thoughts were how much I was looking forward to seeing her again tomorrow and how I was eternally grateful that Catherine had dialed Anna's number earlier in the night. I got to the intersection where I turned to pull into the all night pharmacy. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and wrote Catherine back a reply to her earlier text. "Thank you. For everything. I'll explain later." I sent the message and shut the phone and put it in the cup holder and got out to walk inside to get my meds and go home to bed.
Fire trucks are red. Smurfs are blue. Be sweet to me and leave me a review or you know what Nick will be forced to do!
