Return a Stranger
Chapter 2: School Daze
Summery: Mykalla Quince returns to Chicago to start the next stage of her life.
Disclaimer: Mykalla is my own creation. All ER characters are property of Warner Brothers and Michael Crichton. And I make no money off of them. Although sometimes I wish I did.
Mykalla rolled over to the incessant buzzing of her alarm clock. She reached over to the night stand and slammed her hand down onto the offending noise. 7:00 am is way too early to be awake. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep, then realizing there was no room for stalling today. She had to get herself awake and then Ella ready for both of them to start their first day of school. Luckily for her, class didn't start till 9 am that morning, so she could take Ella to her first day of kindergarten.
Mike was about to get out of bed when a small bundle of red curls jumped onto her chest. "Anka, Anka," screamed Ella. (She had taken a habit of calling her Anka when she was younger and not able to say Aunt Mykalla) "Today is school!" She squealed bouncing slightly on Mykalla's lap. "I all dressed already." Ella had dressed herself in a purple jumper, but somehow missed two buttons in the middle so it was significantly lopsided.
"Yes you did," replied Mike, looking at her outfit. "But let me give you a hand and fix that." She undid the buttons and realigned them so that Ella's jumper lined up properly. "Now let's go get some breakfast so you can go to school, okay?"
"Okay," squealed Ella in return and bounded off the bed and out into the kitchen. Mykalla struggled out of bed and wandered out to follow the bouncing five year old. Ella had already found her box of cereal and dragged it out of the kitchen pantry. "Anka, I want cereal."
Mykalla grabbed the milk out of the fridge and helped Ella pour some into her bowl of cereal. "You going to be okay to eat breakfast out here love?" she asked. Ella nodded with a tooth milky grin. "I'm going to take a shower. You eat your breakfast and put the bowl in the sink."
Forty five minutes later, Ella was standing at the door to the apartment with her Pooh Bear backpack on waiting for Mykalla. "Come on, Anka, I'm going to be late." Mykalla finally comes out, grabs her keys off the table next to the door and shuffles Ella down the stairs. They walked the four blocks to Ella's school, and the once bouncing child has now become shy and withdrawn, attaching herself to Mike's leg.
The closer they get to the school the slower Ella walks, trying to fall behind but failing since she is attached to Mike. Finally Mike stopped walking and knelt down in front of her. "Ella, honey, what's a matter?" she asked the now, obviously frightened child, wiping the few random tears off her face. "I'm scared," she replied between sniffles. "I want Mommy!"
"Ooh, honey," she said pulling the child into a hug. "Mommy's not here anymore you know that, but she's watching you, okay. You don't have to worry about everything. You're going to have so much fun at school. And mommy will see you."
"Pwomise?" she asked.
"I promise kiddo, now where's that smile I saw this morning? You get to go to school." Although two tears rolling down her cheeks, Ella flashes a gap filled grin. They walked into the school building, Ella once again bouncing along ahead.
"Rotations won't start until spring semester. Most of you will be placed in County General, although due to the size of the class this year a few of you will have to be place at Mercy," droned on Professor Johansson at the front of the lecture hall. "You are suggested to do some observation work before we start the actual in hospital time. We will meet here every Monday morning at 8 am for your entire span of the program to discuss situations that arise in both observation and rotation."
Mykalla stared aimlessly at the professor talking at the front of the classroom. It was only the first day of class and she was already mental organizing and freaking out about how she was going to have the time to do everything that was required for the classes and keep everything functioning normally around home. It was only the first day, and she already was relying on Abby to pick up Ella after school and watch her until she got of class for the day.
"So I expect all of you to come into this lecture on Monday with at least one experience to discuss involving something you observed over the past week. You are free to leave."
Mykalla gathered her things and tossed them all in her backpack before exiting the classroom. She had over two hours to kill before her next class, and figured maybe she should get a jump on this observation time that she needed to fulfill. She hoped the EL over to County to begin her observation. The first person she ran into when she came into the ER was Sam behind the admit desk. "Hey kid, what are you doing around here?"
"Observation hours. Figured I might as well get started on them while I have some spare time."
"So you get credit for hanging out here like you normally do," replied Sam laughing. "I should have gone to med school. I could do that for awhile."
"Yeah, well, I also have classes, homework, studying, and a five year old," she smirked back. "So I might be relying on your monster to play babysitter every now and again."
"Which one? Alex or Luka?"
"Probably Alex. But I should get to observing. I have to be back for class by one," she said dropping her backpack behind the desk and leaving the admit area. She wandered down the hall to find something to 'observe.'
"Raymond! Where is yous?" screamed Ella wandering through the apartment. "It's no fair you can't hide this well. It's not allowed." Ella stopped her search when she heard the front door open. She ran to the front door and grabbed hold of Mykalla's leg as she walked in. "ANKA!"
"Hey, sweetheart," she replied putting her backpack down and picking up the child. "So why are wandering around here all by yourself."
"Cause Ray is hiding, I have to find him," Ella replied matter of factly. She squirmed out of Mike's arms and took off through the living room. "Help me find him so I win." Mykalla opened the door to the hall closet to drop her backpack in, and there was Ray sitting on the floor hidden behind a long coat. "So this is where you choose to lock yourself up," Mykalla asked, dropping her bag in. "And here I was going to yell at you for leaving her alone."
"Now do you think I would ever do that?" asked Ray sporting a fake hurt pout. "I only look irresponsible."
"I wouldn't go that far," she replied laughing. "You can come out of there if you like, ya know."
"And let Izzy win, never."
"Izzy, huh?" smirked Mike. "I can believe she lets you call her that. The only people she ever let call her that are Mark, and Charles…. Well I wouldn't want to ruin your competitive edge over a five year old." She closed the door to the closet before Ray could respond. "OH, Ella!"
To Be Continued
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