As soon as Penny opened the door to the Clinic, she was hit with a wall of noise. She heard beeps and tones from medical equipment. She heard Dr. Harvey calling a string of medical jargon and numbers across the room. She heard an unfamiliar man calling right back. She heard a kid crying and a woman comforting them.

She waited at the counter. She was glad she was at least a couple minutes early for her appointment; she wasn't sure she'd make it due to the snow. If she would have known it was so busy, and if she would have known the weather would be so miserable, she would have called to reschedule.

She took off her coat. The noise continued. She examined one of Dr. Harvey's business cards, then tossed it back in the stack. She picked up one of the clinic's pens, taped to a tongue depressor, and tried to twirl it around over her fingers. It fell to the counter. She put it back. It was two minutes past her appointment time. Harvey usually got her back to the exam room early, but today was a busy day.

"Penny?" Maru stepped up to the counter.

"Maru! I'm surprised to see you here!"

"I'm surprised to see me here, too! It's my day off!" She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, though, are you here for urgent care?"

"No, thank goodness! I just have an appointment for my yearly exam."

"Okay. Things are a little crazy here, I'll let the doctor know you're here, just have a seat-"

The door swung open, letting in a gust of wind, a flurry of snow, and a very angry Clint who was holding his arm and cussing up a pollution.

"Is it an emergency?" Maru grabbed a clipboard full of registration paperwork and set it on the counter.

"Yes!" Clint lifted his arm and pulled back his sleeve just enough to give Maru and Penny a glimpse of a badly burned hand.

"Oh! Come on back to the treatment room." She turned to Penny and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, your appointment will probably be at least 15 minutes late."

"That's fine, you're busy!" Penny picked up the clipboard. "Clint, you need help filling this out, right?"

Maru held the double doors to the treatment room. As they walked in, she gave Penny a warm smile. "Thanks. You only need to do the first page, we have the rest of his stuff on file."

"Sounds good. Poor guy!" Penny and Clint hurried to a procedure room.

Maru hurried around the room, grabbing medical supplies and paging the doctor. She pulled up the sleeve on Clint's good arm and tied a tourniquet to start an IV.

"Clint, for the paperwork, how did this happen?" Penny sat attentively, ready to capture his answers with a tongue depressor pen.

Clint answered. The only words that Penny was willing to write down were "furnace" and "burn."

Maru grabbed a needle. "Clint, you'll feel a small pinch." She wasn't entirely sure he heard her; then again, she wasn't entirely sure he'd actually feel the pinch, either, because his pain was so severe.

Penny tapped her pen on the paper. "On a scale of zero to ten, where zero is no pain and ten is the worst pain ever-"

"TEN!" Clint bellowed. He let out a few more swear words.

Maru secured the IV, untied the tourniquet, and flushed the line. "I'll be right back with the doctor."

Penny continued with her questions. "What medications are you on?"

"Pravolox," he said, exhaling sharply. "Brozac, Panax. That's it."

"Any herbs or supplements?"

As Clint was letting out another barrage of cuss words, Maru and Harvey walked in.

"You need pain medication!" Harvey was wearing bright blue gloves and carrying a syringe. He hooked it up to Clint's IV line and pushed the liquid in. "This should at least take the edge off."

Penny handed the clipboard to Maru. "I got as much information as I could, but we didn't get through the whole thing. Sorry…"

"No, this is good!" Maru looked over the paper. "We know he's on Pravoloxinone so we can make sure the hospital gives it to him tomorrow morning."

"Wait, I'm going to the hospital?"

"Oh, a full sentence with no swearing!" Maru smiled at Clint and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Yes, you are," Harvey said. "You have a full-thickness burn on your hand. We've called Zuzu General, they're expecting you, and all we're waiting for is transport." He sat down next to Clint. "With this pain medicine on board, what is your pain level?"

"Nine."

"Okay. I'm going to give you more pain medicine, do a quick exam, and by then, transport should be here." He turned to Maru. "Will you please set Penny up in Exam 2?"

"Yes, sir."

Maru led Penny to an exam room in the back of the clinic. "Have a seat."

Penny sat down and giggled nervously.

Maru hit a few keys on the exam room computer. "It looks like the last time you were here wasn't too long ago, Fall 18 for the flu, right?"

"Yes, that was awful."

"Has your medical history changed at all?"

"No."

"Well, then, all I need to do is take your vitals."

"Okay."

"I can't promise that Dr. Harvey will be in right away," Maru said. She sounded exhausted. "Today has just been so busy with emergencies! I got called in at 7:00 this morning."

"Oh no!"

"Yeah, there was an emergency house call and Harvey needed my help with it. We've been running non-stop ever since."

"Wow! I hope things slow down for you soon."

"Me too." Maru rolled a blood pressure machine over to Penny. "Thanks again for helping Clint with his paperwork." She gave Penny another warm smile. "You're always so willing to help, that's one of the things that I love about you."

Penny could feel her cheeks getting hot. She looked down toward the floor and smiled.

"Now let's get those vitals!" Maru put the blood pressure cuff on Penny's arm and pressed a button. While the machine did its thing, Maru grabbed a temporal thermometer and slid it across Penny's forehead.

"Your temperature is normal, blood pressure is good, and...your pulse is a little fast."

"Well, you know…" Penny's voice trailed off. She could feel her face getting even hotter.

"I don't think it's a problem," Maru said, "today has been stressful. I'll have Harvey take your pulse again when he gets in."

With that, Maru left the room.

"Did she just say…" Penny whispered, to nobody in particular, "ONE of the things she loves about me?" She giggled and leaned back in her chair.