Dr. Bashir Hamed is working in the E.R. with Dr. Mags Leblanc, Dr. Theo Hunter, and Dr. Jed Bishop. A young girl, perhaps 7 years old, is wheeled in on a gurney with her frantic mother running next to it. Dr. Hunter intercepts the mother before she can enter the medical room.
"Emily! My baby! Is she going to be ok?!" Emily's mother demands. She tries to shove Dr. Hunter aside, but he stands firm and stops her from moving forward.
"Ma'am, we're going to do our best to take care of Emily. What's your name? What happened?" he inquired as he leads the slowly calming woman to the waiting room.
"My daughter is Emily, I'm Tina. Tina Bailey. She fell off the swings at her school's playground! She was really high up and then she lost her grip and flew off!" Tina Bailey exclaims, shakily sitting down in a plastic chair.
Dr. Hunter lays a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I'll go and see what's going on. Sit tight, Ms. Bailey, we're going to take care of your daughter." He stands and makes his way down the hall to the medical room, giving a smile and nod of his head to Tina's tearful thank you.
In the medical room, Emily is changed into a hospital gown and moved to a hospital bed. Bandages are being applied to her forehead and arms. Mags brushes the girl's hair from her face as she finishes bandaging her forehead. "She's going to be ok, Theo. Just a few scratches and a broken arm. We're going to cast it now and Emily can choose the colour when she wakes. We're watching her closely for a concussion."
As if she heard her name, Emily's eyelids flutter before she opens her eyes slightly with a wince of pain. She looks over herself before she realizes where she is, and her heart rate begins to climb.
"Where's Mommy? My arm hurts!" she cries out. She wiggles around on the bed, looking for her mother and meets Theo's gaze.
"Hi Emily. My name is Dr. Hunter. Your Mommy is out in the waiting room, would you like me to bring her in? How are you feeling?" He pulls out a small flashlight and peers into her eyes, gently holding her chin when she tries to escape the beam of light.
"Sorry sweetie, I have to check and make sure your eyes are working ok. Dr. Leblanc, could you get Ms. Bailey please?" Mags nods and quietly exits the room. Theo, satisfied with what he sees, places the flashlight back in his pocket and moves to check Emily's vitals on the monitor.
As Emily is wheeled out of the room and into her own, Ms. Bailey walks in with Mags. "Oh, sweet girl, how are you?" Tina presses a kiss to Emily's face, mindful of the bandages. Emily giggles and hugs her mom.
"I'm doing ok," she says bravely, "but my arm hurts a lot."
"About your arm, Emily," Dr. Hunter speaks up, "We need an X-ray to see where it's broken so we can fix it properly. Then we're going to put a cast on it. What's your favourite colour? You can have that on your cast!"
"Blue! And pink!" she chirps. "May I have both?"
"I don't see why not." Dr. Hunter smiles at her and helps her in a wheelchair. "Let's get that taken care of, okay sweetie?" With that, the two leave the room for the X-rays.
Hours later, Emily is sitting in her bed, bored to death. She glances down at her cast, blue and pink, with a few names scribbled on in black Sharpie. Impatiently moving her hair out of her face, she stands and pads to the window, watching tiny people walk around on the sidewalk. Upon hearing a quiet knock, she turns to the door to see an unfamiliar doctor with dark hair and skin and a kind smile.
"Hi Emily, I'm Dr. Hamed," he says in a low, soothing voice. "Bored?" He quirks an eyebrow at her messy hair and equally messy bedsheets.
"So bored!" She replies, rolling her eyes. "Mommy went home to pick up my brother. And I can't even tie my hair back!" She gestures to her long brown hair, mussed from her constantly playing with it.
"May I?" Dr. Hamed asks, pulling a new packet of hair elastics from his pocket. "I can help you make your bed, too. The sheets are too messy to be comfy." At Emily's nod, he enters the room and begins to straighten out her sheets. He gets her to sit at the edge of her bed while he attempts to braid her hair.
It doesn't go well. Emily ends up with the messiest braid ever; even her brother can do better! She voices this to Dr. Hamed. He theoretically grabs his heart and gasps.
"My sister isn't a good teacher, I guess," he responds to her demands of who taught you how to braid this badly? Although she will regret this later, Emily leaves the braid in because at least it's not in my face anymore!
Settling in her bed once again, she curiously watched Dr. Hamed pull 2 hair elastics off the package before interlocking them and – what? How did they connect? He chuckles at her wide eyes and open mouth before disconnecting them and placing them on her lap. "I guess my sister is a good teacher after all," he smirks, moving to the door.
"Wait! Aren't you going to teach me how to do this?!" Emily yells after him frantically.
"No, I had to learn this myself! It took me hours." He calls over his shoulder.
"Meanie!" She cries at his soft laughter drifting away.
Well… at least I won't be bored anymore, she muses. Muttering under her breath, Emily picks up the elastics and gets to work.
When leaving the hospital, she grins at his horrified face as she returns the hair elastics. They're completely knotted up and it will be impossible to untie them. "Maybe next time you'll teach me," she says, giggling as Dr. Hamed buries his head in his hands and pretends to weep.
"Or maybe not," the kind/evil doctor retorts, handing her two more hair elastics as she passes.
I'll figure this out, she swears, already imagining what to type into YouTube's search bar.
A week later, Bashir has to explain to Dr. Bishop why a little girl and her mom dropped off 448 hair elastics, all neatly connected. That is the first (but not the last) time Dr. Bishop threatens to fire him.