Chapter 3:
August sat at the nurse's station staring at a computer screen with her brow furrowed in concentration. It was 6:30am and she'd been at the hospital for the last 24 hours. Her regular 12 hour shift yesterday morning had been hell on earth, and it had only gotten worse when her coworker called in sick at the last minute leaving her no choice but to fill in. She rolled her shoulders backwards trying to ease some tension. She could almost swear every person in the DC area had shown up to the ER last night either sick or dying. They had six critical patients come in for various reasons; heart attack, car crash, OD, and she'd had to hold a sixteen year old girl as her body wracked with sobs after watching her best friend die. She was just wrapping up her last minute documentation and fantasizing about a hot shower when the unit secretary called her name.
"Hey Gus, can you take a few stitches out really quick before you leave?"
August gave her a pleading look and said "Debbie, please God, get someone else to do it."
"Sorry, honey, everyone else is busy. Brandi is trying to start an IV on a hard stick, and…."
"It's okay, I guess it'll only take a few minutes." August sighed and cut the older woman off. Debbie offered a weak smile.
"Triage room 4. Thanks a ton, Gus."
August gathered her items from the supply room, wondering what kind of idiot came to have their stitches removed at 6 in the morning. She tapped on the door and walked in absent mindedly.
"Hey there, my name is August and I'm gonna…..Oh. It's you!" She was taken aback. Had it been 10 days already?
"Well hello there, August. Nice to see you again." He smiled at her, baring his beautifully straight teeth and she suddenly felt lightheaded. Not this again. She'd caught herself remembering how it felt to have her hands in his curly hair and daydreaming about what his blush colored lips would feel like on hers all last week. She really didn't need any more fantasy material, but here he was, stunning her all over again. After he left that day she'd hoped that he didn't feel the heat emitting from her body as she cleaned the blood from his perfectly square jaw. Just be professional and get this over with.
"You got a haircut, Dr. Reid." She said, admiring how his bangs swept to the side with this much shorter look.
"Indeed. It kept sticking to the antibiotic ointment Dr. Cameron gave me, so I just chopped it off." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well, it looks good on you." She grinned and stepped towards him to look at the healing pink line on his forehead, trying to avoid his hazel gaze for her own sanity.
"Oh, uhh, thanks." He said nervously.
"These stitches are going to feel strange coming out, but there shouldn't be any pain." She explained and began to carefully snip the silver thread with her scissors and pull them out gently with tweezers.
"All done." She announced, stepping back and tripping over her tray of equipment sending both her and it tumbling to the floor. She fell flat on her ass and immediately wished there was a nearby hole to crawl into.
Spencer shot up and exclaimed "Oh Jesus, are you hurt? Did you land on something?" his voice was genuinely concerned.
"No, I'm fine. Just an idiot."
"Are you sure you're okay? Because you're crying. I know they say nurses are the worst patients, but if you're hurt I can go get someone."
She hadn't even realized she was crying, but sure enough, there were tears splashing on her gray scrub top. Fuck my whole life. Busting your ass in front of a hot guy; it's like high school all over again. This is so humiliating.
"I promise, I'm okay, it has just been a really long day, and that was the icing on the metaphorical cake. Thank God it's time to go home." August stood up brushing herself off and wiping tears from her face.
"I just need a cup of coffee, a hot shower, and about ten hours of uninterrupted sleep." She gave him a watery smile and began picking up her mess.
Spencer bent down to help her clean up, opening his mouth to say something and seemingly changing his mind. A few moments of silence passes when he spoke up.
"I can help you with one of those things. We could, uh, grab a cup of coffee in cafeteria and you can tell me about your crappy day? If you want to, that is." Spencer blushed and suddenly seemed unsure of himself. Is he asking me out? Nahhh, he's just being polite. I mean, you did just have a break down on him in the middle of the ER.
"It's okay. I only live two blocks from here, I'll just grab a cup at my favorite place on the corner, but thank you for being so kind, Dr. Reid."
"You mean The Grind? They have the best French Vanilla lattes in Virginia. I was going to swing by there before work at 10 anyway…" He offered, hoping she'd take the bait.
She hesitated, not wanting to seem too eager, but eager she was.
"Okay then, just let me chart a couple of things and grab my purse. Meet you at the ambulance doc in 10?"
"Sure. Oh, and call me Spencer. I'm sure you get tired of addressing people as Doctor all day." His eyes crinkled into a brief smile that didn't quite reach his lips and he walked out of the door.
August went to the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water, trying to scrub the black streaks off of it, and hoping to appear a little less dead. She grabbed her things and went outside to meet Spencer. She spotted him leaning on the side of the building and he looked so calm and collected in his black slacks and red button up. His hands were crammed into his pockets and he'd thrown a brown leather satchel over his shoulder. Her heart felt like it was beating 200 beats per minute. Good thing we're at a hospital, because I'm about to need to be defibrillated. She took a deep breath and walked toward him completely unaware that he was thinking the same thing.
