Jake finds Charlotte in the kitchen, going over a chart and eating a cup of black cherry yogurt.
"Hey there," he greets, and she looks up and smiles. "How's my favorite patient?"
Her smile fades, and she rolls her eyes. "Congested," she tells him, and he can hear it in her voice. "It's like allergy season on steroids."
"Yeah, that can happen," he says, sympathetically, grabbing a banana off the countertop and beginning to peel it. "Do I have to tell you to take more vitamin C?"
"If I take any more C, I'll turn into a damned orange," she mutters, and then she sniffles slightly, and huffs a sigh, reaching across the countertop and grabbing a napkin. She mutters, "This is ridiculous," and then blows her nose. She's not careful, though, and it's a pretty forceful blow. It may clear her nasal passages, but when she wipes her nose a final time and pitches the napkin into the trash, there's a faint smear of red under her nose, and a nearly immediate slow trickle of blood. "I mean, I get the point of it - I get that it's my body tryin' to keep me healthy while it's vulnerable, but it's annoyin' as hell."
"You may want to grab another napkin," he advises before biting into his banana. Charlotte lifts a hand to her nose, makes a frustrated face and pulls it away. There's blood on her hand.
"Oh, for God's sake," she grumbles, reaching for another napkin and pressing it to her nose to absorb the blood.
"Lean forward and-"
"I know," she insists, already in the process of easing her weight forward slightly, and shifting her grip on the tissue until she's pinching just below the bridge of her nose. "I know basic first aid, Jake." She sounds irritated, her plugged nose making her nasally and stunting her vowels.
"Just trying to help," he reminds, and she sighs, nods slightly.
"Yeah. Sorry." She turns her attention back to the chart in front of her. "Been meaning to talk to you, actually. I need to move our next appointment. I have a couple who're impossible to schedule, and - surprise, surprise - that's the only time they're both available in the next month."
"Okay, no problem." He takes another bite, chews. She keeps up her charting. When he's swallowed, he asks, "Are you guys going to want to know the sex?"
"Definitely," she murmurs, scribbling a few more lines, then shutting the folder and setting her pen on top of it. "I don't like surprises."
He smirks. That sounds about right for Charlotte. "Well, hopefully the baby will be accommodating, then."
"Our kid?" Charlotte asks with a quirk of her brow. "Doubtful."
He chuckles at that. "Are you implying that you're stubborn and don't like making things easier on other people?"
Charlotte looks up at him. "I do everything you tell me to, don't I?"
"You do," he agrees. "I wasn't accusing, I was asking."
It's hard to see her smirk around the hand in front of her face, but he can tell from her eyes.
"And I wasn't just talking about you."
That smirk becomes a grin - easier to see, that - and she chuckles. "Oh, well in that case..." she says jokingly, before she eases the napkin from her nose gingerly, folds it, presses a clean side against her nose gently and checks it. It comes away clean.
"All better?"
"Looks like," she confirms, wiping again softly and then tossing the napkin in the trash to join its earlier companion. "Now let's just hope that's the only one today."
"Are the nosebleeds happening often?"
"Often enough to be annoying," she says, swirling her spoon through her yogurt, and then scooping up a bite. Before taking it, she adds, "But not often enough to worry about."
"Alright." He glances at his watch and before taking another big bite of his banana, he says, "I have to go prep for my next appointment, but we'll work out a new time for yours."
"Sounds good," she tells him, and then he's heading out of the kitchen, giving her shoulder an affectionate squeeze as he passes.
