It Was Never About the Coffee by Meowser_Clancy
A/N: I don't typically watch hospital shows so if I get details wrong...I really don't care lol. They aren't the point of the story tbh so this is just a disclaimer that I'll more than likely make a goof about hospital procedures because I refuse to fact check for a fanfic :) I write this for fun and I'm not going to turn it into a school paper.
AU: Chimney meets the new ER nurse at St. Elizabeth Hospital in LA.
~Meowser
CHAPTER ONE
Maddie had fifteen minutes left on her break, which was just enough time to finish this chapter. She couldn't believe Amanda had actually talked her into reading Game of Thrones, but here she was, lugging around the first book her whole shift today.
She tensed as her phone buzzed, praying that it wasn't Doug. Not today. She couldn't deal with him today. She checked it, and breathed out nervously, seeing that it was just an email. It was fine. She was all good.
She had separated from her husband just over a month ago, and she was planning on serving him this week. She was terrified of what his reaction would be, since she knew that only the watchful eyes of his visiting parents had kept him from pursuing her this past month. She had timed it correctly, setting up the new apartment in secret for months, and moving out just as his parents came into town for their 40th wedding anniversary. They had gone out with just their son and Doug's sister, Brenda, and Maddie had used that time to move out. She'd had it in the works for months, and she'd been silently taking boxes over of books and little things that Doug wouldn't miss for months.
She'd finally been able to breathe, that first night in her new place. In between flinching at every sound, she had been able to breathe.
She didn't tell Buck that she'd separated from Doug until just yesterday, and she'd downplayed it. "It's just a trial separation," she'd lied, knowing that the divorce papers were sitting in her car at that very moment. She was just so nervous, irrationally terrified that Buck would somehow let it slip to Doug that Maddie planned to actually divorce him. Maybe Maddie just watched too many bad sitcoms, but she refused to let anyone know this information until it was official. Until there was no going back.
She wasn't going back.
The timer went off on her phone, and she flinched, realizing that she'd wasted her break thinking about Doug, again. Maybe he was the reason she couldn't finish a book lately, not her own inattention. She couldn't focus with the thought of him hanging over her head, and she was so utterly thankful that he hadn't come by her new workplace yet.
She hadn't told him that she was transferring to St. Elizabeth's, and she'd given everyone at Mercy who was in the know very explicitly instructions not to tell him. She hadn't told anyone else from Mercy where she was going, so even if Doug went by there, it would be a dead end. Maddie wasn't exactly afraid of her husband, but she was tired of letting him rule her life.
She wanted out, and she was going to get it.
She stood up, putting the book back in her cubby, and leaning against the wall for a minute. This job was so exhausting, never a slow moment to just breathe, and while it had once been her whole life, now she'd begun to just be tired. She just wanted some rest.
This job was his whole life now that Tatiana had left him, Chimney reflected grimly. He was still frustrated over meeting her earlier. He couldn't believe that she, of all people, was pregnant.
So she had wanted children, just not his.
Hen kept glancing over at him, and Chimney knew she was thinking about the same thing. When he'd told her earlier, she kept shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Chim," she said at the end. "But you know you're better off without her, right?"
The ambulance slowed to a halt, and he and Hen jumped out, ready to go. Carly was on the stretcher, and usually there were orderlies waiting to escort the patient inside, but it must be a busy day, since there was no one outside.
He and Hen pushed Carly into the ER, where a swarm came to grab her, apologizing that they weren't ready.
It was then he saw her.
Chimney had a pretty good feel of all the nurses and doctors at the various hospitals they went to. It wasn't that big a radius, and he was there often enough to get to know faces, if not names.
She was new.
It wasn't exactly her beauty that caught his eye, although she was defintely beautiful. It was more how she stayed calm in the midst of everything. It was like the ER was crashing around her, and she just kept walking, calm and steady, through a room of frenzied people.
Her brown hair was braided, and Chimney had never seen someone look so good with a braid. Not even Tatiana.
"Chim," Hen said, in a way that made it sound like this wasn't the first time she'd called his name. "Where you at?"
"Sorry," he said. Hen tried to follow his line of vision, but the nurse had already disappeared around a corner.
"What?" She asked. "You see a ghost?"
"No, no," he protested. "Hey, can we grab a cup of coffee from the machine? I just need some caffeine before we go back."
She looked at him incredulously but ultimately shrugged. "I don't think I've ever seen someone in the mood for hospital coffee, but you do you," she said. "I'll be waiting, don't keep me there long."
He nodded, heading around the corner, hoping against all realistic hope that she'd be there.
She wasn't.
Disappointed, he headed for the vending machines, pulling out his phone to tap against the reader and made his selection, E5.
The cup dispensed and filled, and Chimney lifted it to his lips, sighing a little. It really wasn't good coffee.
He had reached the ER again, could see the bay doors and Hen waiting impatiently outside, and then there she was.
"Hey, new girl," the receptionist, who Chimney did know, gestured to her. "I can't remember your name for the life of me."
"Maddie," she replied, and Chimney mouthed the name, repeating it to himself as he headed to the ambulance.
Maddie.