A/N First story in a long time – I'm very rusty. Constructive criticism and comments very welcome!
It was nights like this that Ava was glad that she lived within walking distance to the hospital. On a humid summer night made warmer by the crush of cars trying to make an escape from the city for the weekend, she'd just managed to get out of work, scrubs still on and maybe she'd make it back in time to catch her housemate before he left for his date.
Sometimes things don't go to plan. While the cars were jammed on the left, the trains were being held up on the right. A man in a smart black suit grumbled into his phone "Something about trespassers on the line". That had been happening more often lately. Although Shinra wouldn't confirm it, it was common knowledge that grassroots groups were stirring up trouble and using mainly harmless, but disruptive, guerrilla tactics to be an irritant to the powers that be. She didn't really blame them – it was always an unwelcome reminder that the mayor was, at worst, installed by Shinra, at best, used as a token 'common man', so that they could say they were listening to the people. Long story short, the disparity between those who lived in the slums and those who lived on the plate was numbingly vast. Working in healthcare offered a sort of redemption, at least she could say that she was trying to make a difference. Hopefully, at least.
Shaking the thought from her head and slipping between another woman on her phone and a lamppost, Ava quickened just slightly to get over the road at the traffic lights – the final stretch to home. 5 minutes and she'd be able to enjoy a tea in her pyjamas, she thought. Turning into the next street, a long, straight road with no speed bumps; the kind of road boy racers would use the road as a cut-through to avoid the traffic.
As though the Gods were reading her mind, it all happened so quickly. A motorcycle sped past her, the rider seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, like he could ride this route in his sleep. Before she had time to roll her eyes, a black cat decided to spring out from under a car and she found herself bracing on the cat's behalf. In the matter of seconds, instead of a screech, there's skidding before the sound of metal on metal. She opens her eyes, the cat already running away, leaving the biker stretched out on the tarmac, bike on its side about a metre or so away.
Running to his side, she threw her backpack down, nurse mode fully activated once more. He'd been wearing leathers and goggles at least. Still breathing – a great start. To her side, another man offers to call an ambulance – she finds herself sighing in relief - there are still good people in the world! After a bad day at work, understaffed and stretched thin, it became easy to forget that good people still existed, even if you'd just been treating two men with injuries from getting in a fight with one another. You'd think they'd stop once their respective friends dropped them at the Accident and Emergency. You'd think. Ava didn't even work in A&E, but circumstances as they were, people were drafted here there and everywhere as needed. Looks like she was heading back there with this guy.
She gently placed her hands on the biker's shoulders and shook him gently, cognizant that he could easily have a back injury with the crash he'd just had. He was lucky that his head hadn't split open. A thought passed by in her head 'No helmet – honestly!' before she tried to get a response from her patient "Hello? My name's Ava and I'm a nurse. You've just had a bit of an accident on your bike and we're getting you some help, ok?"
She looked down at him – had he not sped past earlier, she'd have noticed his features in an instant. A shock of red hair (dyed? She wasn't sure – but it was a deeper red than most redheads she knew) framed his face and two colour-matched tattoos peeked out from under his goggles. Some mumbling to her earlier introduction followed. A conscious patient, still breathing and without an obvious head injury after a crash – this guy had lucked out. He made small moves to try and get up, but Ava held him gently down: "If you just lay down for me, the ambulance will be here any minute, I'll come with you to make sure you get the best care." A blue eye cracked open behind the goggles, eyelashes framing them nicely.
"It's probly nothin' yo"
"Let's be on the safe side, though, yeah?" she flashed her best smile back at him, hands still on his shoulders. The sirens in the background started to get louder, to her relief, help was on the way. While talking, reassuring and gently holding him in place, she'd unzipped his leather jacket to make sure there weren't any hidden injuries that she didn't know about. Underneath lay a barely buttoned dress shirt, his exposed chest sporting a new nasty looking, but overall superficial graze, his right shoulder looked in a worse condition, the bruising was already showing through minutes after the event. But there were no open and actively bleeding wounds that she could see, so she had zipped him back up to preserve his decency in the street.
"Everythin' in order?" he looked up at her, eyes still looking slightly dazed. She smiled back at him, "Everything in order, we'll get you patched up in no time." As if on cue, the sirens came to a crescendo before stopping abruptly behind them, the door swinging open and none other than Aaron, a paramedic she'd seen working for at least half her shift, looked down at the pair.
"Always on the job, huh?" with an easy smile Aaron jumped out of the passenger seat and knelt beside them to assess whether Mr Graceful on the floor could be stretchered on board. Heart rate and oxygen levels checked; the paramedic looked to the biker: "How would you rate your pain right now sir?"
"Think my shoulders popped out again, yo. Stings like a bitch"
Popped out again. This guy's pain threshold was something else, considering previous shoulder dislocations she'd dealt with. He was holding normal, albeit brief, conversations at the same time.
Ava opted to keep his head still getting him onto the stretcher before popping onto the extra patient seat in the back of the ambulance.
"Ya don't hafta come with if I'm holdin' ya up"
"I'd much rather make sure you're ok, besides I probably left something at work anyway" she didn't want to tell him she'd been this close to home before he'd performed his acrobatics, he already had enough on his plate. He was chatting away about how his boss "was gonna kill him" for crashing the bike, "only got given it the other day", and his boss would "probly still be expecting him to show up for work in the morning". Ava took the bait. "Let me speak to him, you're in no state to work as you are, nurse's orders". She could see him try to turn his head towards her (the stretcher didn't allow for much movement) and flashed her a grin: "Don't think you'll be able to talk to him, but thanks for the offer yo".
That might have been a way to try and close the conversation, but she'd already broached the topic so dug a little deeper: "Honestly, if it would help, I can tell him what happened," she got her phone out of her pocket, "whereabouts do you work?" Her dark brown eyes met his blue in what became a staring contest. Had she stepped over a line? A glaze formed over his eyes, and he just said "Security" before turning his head slightly to return to staring at the ceiling as the ambulance drove through traffic back to Midgar General. Then it clicked – security – he was probably used to physical injury - the shoulder had "popped out again". The high pain threshold, the laissez faire attitude to the fact he could have come out a lot worse than he currently was.
"Got you" was all she said before the doors at the back of the ambulance swung open again so she and her new friend could return to work. It was a good job she liked nursing.