4. White Coats & Uninvited Guests.

Stethoscope in hand? Check

Oxford Handbook of Cardiology? Check

Notebook? Check

Brain? Check…Maybe?

The automatic doors flung open and she walked in; ward B10 was a cardiology ward, naturally the patients who inhabited it had various problems related to the heart. Cardiology had been one of Piper's favourite specialities and she hoped to pursue the discipline in her future career. But right now, her big plans had to be put on hold and instead make do with finding where rounds where actually taking place.

It was 2.00 PM. She had come half hour earlier than what was expected of her, just so she could familiarise herself with the dynamics of the ward as well as greet herself to the patients. She strolled past the nurses' station, politely nodded to a few medical students who were eagerly gathered around a patient, no doubt word had spread about a rare sign that the patient exhibited, and judging from the noticeably worn-out expression across the patient's face, Piper half suspected she was right.

After fifteen minutes or so she decided to wait in the doctor's room for the remainder of the time.

She pushed open the door and was about to sit down, when someone shouted, "Hey!"

Piper looked up and noticed a woman about her age sat on one of the tables in the room, wearing a white coat, possessing what Piper could only describe as bird's nest hair. The thick brown tresses appeared to govern their own style, which was no particular style at all. The woman's face was partially hidden from view.

Hello! Infection control, anyone?

Piper looked over her shoulder, thinking the woman was talking to someone behind her, but there was no one there.

"Yes you blondie, I'm talking to you!" the wild-haired woman said whilst pointing a finger at Piper. She nudged a dark-haired man who was sat next to her, as if to say, what was wrong with this girl?

"Oh sorry, hello."

"Are you lost?" the woman asked.

"Lost?" Piper was confused. "No, I'm here for the 2.30 PM rounds with Dr Vause…"

"Oh you're not a patient?"

"No uh"

"Where's this piece of kit then?" The woman asked, whilst pulling the fabric of her white coat.

Shit

Double shit

Triple shit

White coat? Not Check

"You the newbie?"

"Yeah." Piper nodded, still worked up about forgetting her white coat. What kind of doctor leaves their white coat behind? It's akin to a police-man forgetting his uniform and instead turning up in slacks and loafers.

Yes, those things did not happen, but Piper had come to accept she was forever blighted with problems that other people were not privy to.

The wild-haired woman jumped off the desk and approached Piper, "I'm Nicky." She pointed over her shoulder at the dark-haired man who had not uttered a single word since Piper had come in, "and this is Larry."

"Piper Chapman. You guys going on rounds too?" Piper asked, finding a seat and sitting down. The room was horrendously small, the only furniture was the desk on which Nicky and Larry sat on and a few chairs scattered haphazardly around the small window-less space.

"Yeah." Larry replied.

Piper's heart sank. Dismayed, she had naively thought it would have been just Alex and her. She had been day-dreaming all day along. Her daydreams had exclusively featured a certain dark-haired individual. She had been re-playing their lunch "date"; as she called it, in her head over and over. The small flirtatious remarks dropped ever so subtly during the course of their conversation. The palpable tension. The voracious…-

Except that wasn't exactly true? Piper thought.

She'd was always the romanticist.

When she was younger her mother had once jokingly told Piper; only she could romanticise an encounter between a drunkard and their one-night-stand. At the time she did not understand the subtext but growing up she had realised how true that sentiment was, although it was questionable how appropriate it was to tell a then seven-year old Piper this kind of information.

Oh mother, you were always the eccentric

She suddenly felt jittery and ever-so-slightly off kilter, she fidgeted nervously with her blouse buttons.

She politely tried to make small talk; "How is Alex on rounds then?"

"Alex?" Nicky said surprised. She looked at Larry who appeared equally surprised.

"Isn't that her name?"

"No, these are; Vause. Dr Vause. Evil-dragon-lady. Stuck-up-her-own-ass-Vause. Sexy-glasses Vause. You get the sentiment. But not Alex."

"Oh" Piper thought back to when Alex insisted on calling her by her first name. Had she missed something here?

"That means only one of two things," Nicky continued, "you're either sleeping with her or you're sleeping with her."

"That's not true!" Piper retorted a little too fast and too defensively.

Nicky shrugged her shoulders, "I'm only saying what I see." Her hands moved up in a placating gesture.

"Yeah well, it's not true."

Her protests fell on deaf ears. She secretly smiled to herself.

There were worser things she could be accused of.

"Here you go!"

Suddenly a white piece of clothing landed squarely in Piper's lap, she picked it up and realised it was a white coat.

"They always have some lying around in here," Larry said, "You're lucky."

Piper turned the coat over and glanced at the name stitched on the left breast-pocket:

Dr Hugh Soderbergh

"I can't wear this!" Piper blurted out incensed, "Plus it's like a million sizes too big for me."

"If I was you, I'd put it on," Nicky said in a low whisper. "The 'SS' is known to unleash a torrent of wrath on her juniors, sometimes for no reason at all. Don't give her a reason, is all I gotta say, blondie"

"Oh I didn't mention that one?" Nicky smirked, "She's the Nazi and we are all her underlings."

Her eyes widened in surprise, she could not for the life of her, imagine Alex in such a position. Nevertheless, she did not want to test it out today, and reluctantly put the white coat on.

Larry sniggered. Nicky snorted with laughter.

"I'm so sorry." Nicky spluttered barely able to contain her amusement. "Unless you can find one in your size down at the mortuary?'

"Ergh, no thanks."

All you need now is a pointy white mask and you could blend right into a Ku Klux Klan march. No one would bat an eyelid" She quipped.

"Thanks for pointing out that disturbing comparison." Piper muttered miserably. She was grateful that there were no mirrors nearby or anything that had the capacity to bear a reflection, for that matter. At least she was spared the embarrassment of seeing her no doubt tragic reflection.

"She looks like a ghost." Larry said, still laughing.

"Shut up, Larry, that was so funny, I forgot to laugh." Nicky sarcastically countered. The young man was about to say something, but thought against it and instead resigned to reading over his notes.

Piper stuffed her stethoscope, notebook and handbook in the coat's over-sized pockets and sat down and wondered about how the ward round would go. She hoped it wasn't one of those that lasted well into the evening, her feet had already begun aching and she couldn't wait to change into her pyjamas and snuggle into the sofa, a glass of red, in hand. Before she could entertain that thought any further, she was pulled out of her reverie by a voice resonating from the doorway.

"Let's roll, kids!"

Before she even had time to swivel around, the raven-haired doctor had all but disappeared, Nicky and Larry quickly jumped off the desk and followed Alex out. Piper jumped out of her seat and hurriedly walked behind them.

Alex glanced at her phone; she received a message from her colleague, Tom Feldman.

"Mitral valve replacement procedure, delayed until further notice."

She swore under her breath, sometimes she thought she was single-handedly running this hospital. The amount of bureaucratic bullshit that she had to deal with in order to get a job such as a simple routine operative procedure done, was staggering. No doubt it was delayed because some dumb fuck had forgotten to stock up on the anaesthesia or forgot to keep the patient nil by mouth. She was determined not to let the text ruin her mood.

She approached the first patient on her rounds;

"Mrs Baker! How are you doing on this fine afternoon?"

She waited for her residents to step into the room and closed the door behind them.

"My favourite doctor!" Mrs Baker exclaimed happily.

"Oh now don't make me blush." Alex playfully remarked.

Alex turned around to face her residents, "This is Mrs Baker who came in with a collapse due to atrial fibrillation, but she was given medication and it is now under control."

"Can anyone tell me what atrial fibrillation is?"

Larry looked down, unable to make eye contact, Nicky pretended to tie her shoelaces, which left Piper who had the grace to look Alex in the eye.

Alex instantly noticed the choice of white coat, the blonde doctor was wearing, it practically engulfed Piper's petite frame. Alex looked away and supressed a laugh. She looked ridiculously cute. She squinted her eyes and read the embroidered name on the breast-pocket, her eyes momentarily lingering on Piper's exposed neck before looking up to her face.

"Dr Soderbergh, could you tell us?" Alex asked, winking at Piper.

Piper took a deep breath and in a heartbeat (pun intended) reeled of her answer

"It's an irregular beating of the heart, which can cause symptoms such as collapse, palpitations and light-headedness. It is caused a by a range of conditions, most commonly old age and ischaemic heart disease"

Alex was lost for words, she didn't think the young doctor would actually be able to answer the question let alone give causes. She was very impressed.

"That… was… excellent."

1, 2, 3, There.

And just on cue, the blonde's cheeks reddened.

The rest of rounds continued, towards the end, Alex asked everyone to go review a patient and present the findings back to her.

That should keep them busy for the next half hour or so

She cast a sideways glance and watched Piper walk to her assigned patient, still looking, even as she turned the corner. The sides of Alex's lips rose into an almost imperceptible grin. She absentmindedly grabbed a nearby patient chart and skimmed over the details, still smiling to herself.

…"So Miss Madison, you've told me how you got here in hospital and we've gone over your medical history, would you mind, if I had a quick listen to your heart, now?"

Twenty-three year old Sarah Madison, nodded her head. Piper gently pushed down Sarah's hospital issue gown to place her stethoscope on the woman's chest.

She was about to push the ear pieces into her ear, when the door was slammed open, smashing heavily against the adjoining wall.

Piper froze. Her heart skipped a beat.

"What the hell are you doing?" an irate male voice roared.

With lightening speed a heavily built man launched himself at Piper, colliding with her with such brute force, she was thrown backwards, landing against the foot of the bed. Before she could comprehend what was happening, a tattooed, muscular arm was wrapped tightly around her neck.

Piper could feel the man's warm breath on her neck. Piper could feel his body pressed against her, as though it were an iron wall at her back.

"Listen you good-for-nothing bitch-"he sneered before being cut off.

"Dad!" Piper's patient Sarah pleaded.

"Shut up, Sarah!"

Piper tried to lunge towards the door, she flailed around for something to grab onto. But tattoo man was too strong, his iron grip a vice around Piper's throat. He threw Piper off-balance.

"No please!" Piper screamed pointlessly. Her pleads went unheard.

"Dad, please stop it!"

"It's okay, honey. She just needs to be t-taught a lesson. Once and for all!"

Where the hell was security!?

She felt the blood pooling in her skull, fighting to get out through the veins this deranged man had squeezed shut.

"I…c-c-can't b-breathe" Piper whimpered through agonising breaths, trying to suck what little oxygen she could get.

"Why did you have do it?" he said in a regretful tone.

Piper realised in her oxygen deprived state that this man was probably off his head on drugs and had for whatever reason decided to ruin Piper's day.

She felt herself beginning to weaken as his powerful grip became relentlessly tighter. Her vision blurred, black spots danced around her periphery, her muscles slackened. The only thing holding Piper upright was the crazed man's stronghold on her. A incessant ringing noise shrouded her senses, noises began to drown out, the overhead lamps blended into one brilliant spectre of light. She felt herself floating weightlessly as she welcomed the calm, tranquil darkness...

AN: I can only thank everyone so much, before it starts sounding like a broken record haha. But regardless, thanks for the all the follows and reviews. It genuinely makes me super happy. It's currently nearly 3AM where I am, but I felt like I wanted to squeeze another chapter out to put my mind at rest. I marginally, apologise for the cliff-hanger ( muhaha). As always any comments about the direction of the story or anything else for that matter, are much appreciated.! Happy weekend, folks! x