A/N: I wish I could hug every single one ofg you who are taking the time to read this and actually seem to be enjoying the ride so far. I love you guys so much and you don't know how much it means to me that you're willing to indulge my canon-deviant fuckery. Your reviews have me so happy right now I can't really put it into words.
I got a question from one of my guest reviewers so I actually thought I'd take the time to answer it here, I hope that's alright with everyone. I was asked if Jenny's half sisters were both dead (as they are on All My Children's canon timeline) or whether one or the other is alive. The answer to that should make you happy, sweetie because in my take on the universe? Babe Carey-Chandler is very much alive and well. After the second? Third? Split with Adam, she took Little A and moved to San Francisco where they currently reside. I'm saying this here and now because I happen to love Babe and I'm honestly intending to maybe have her make a cameo in Port Charles at some point.
And to my other guest reviewer, you are... Totally ten thousand percent not alone with the dislike of Carly. I don't mind if you rant about her, no worries. It's all good! I'm so happy you're enjoying this so far! It means the world to me. I wish I could hug you because your review really made me convinced that maybe I should keep this going and see where it takes me. I thank you so much for that! Also, a heads up... I plan on having Elizabeth sort of be the nurse who's taking Jenny under her wing at work, just for us, because something has to balance out the fact that due to Carly being Morgan's mother, I have to put her into this quite often. :) So.. there's that to look forward to.
THREE
"Right on it, Elizabeth." I answered when Elizabeth, the nurse who I happen to be shadowing, asked me to go down to the room where all the medicine is kept and grab an IV set up for a patient being admitted to a private room. Elizabeth smiled, thanking me and I stood up, pushing my desk chair beneath the desk and turning to her to ask her if she'd keep an eye on my cell phone, because I was currently in a bidding war on Ebay over a rare Beyblade that I intended to get and ship to my sister out in California for my nephew's birthday.
"Sure. Waiting on anybody special to text?" she teased gently.
"Nah, I'm just trying to outbid some jackass on Ebay over a Beyblade? It's for my sister's kid, Little A. His birthday's coming up soon and I know Babe's kinda struggling with money lately, so I wanted to surprise them. If the jackass counters my offer, just go up fifty bucks." I shrugged, tousling my hair. After checking with Elizabeth again to make sure that the only things our floor needed was an IV set up for a new patient, I started to make my way down the hall to the room in which everything was stored.
I caught sight of someone lingering near the door. A woman in a short black wig. Right away, I got the sense that this woman was not where she was supposed to be, so that made me curious. As a result, I stayed hidden from view. Just leaning against the wall after having grabbed a scalpel from a tray of spare surgical supplies that sat near me in the hallway. As soon as she glanced up from trying to work around the complicated entry system to the room, I cleared my throat and stepped into view. The scalpel was hidden out of sight, just below the sleeve of my favorite red long sleeve thermal.
"I'm gonna need you to fuck outta here, ma'am."
The woman turned and the second I realized that it was just Ava Jerome in a wig, I scowled. "Why am I not fucking surprised."
She had a piece of paper in her hand. I stepped closer. Reaching for it. She held her hand out of my reach and I grabbed hold of her other one, twisting it behind her back as I shoved her against the wall. Muttering against her ear calmly, "We can do this the easy way, Ava, or we can make this all kinds of complicated and get security down here. It's your choice, hon... Be advised that only one of these options ends in you just forgetting whatever dumb shit thing it is that you're up to and fucking off and away and the other? Well.. The last time I checked? People who are caught trying to steal drugs from a hospital at least wind up getting a trial and a slap on the wrist."
Ava scoffed, apparently she missed the part where I give not one flying fuck in space what happens to her either way. My primary concerns are the patients in this hospital. And the fact that she's trying to break into the room where I know some pretty high end uppers and downers are stored, well... She can't possibly have had noble intentions.
My mama always told me to go with my gut and this time my gut was telling me that Ava Jerome was absolutely up to no good.
Ava was trying to squirm free from the way I was holding her against the wall. I grabbed hold of her arm tighter. "I'll snap it, Ava, I swear to God. I don't give a fuck. What you're not gonna do is whatever it is I caught you about to try and do."
"Let me go. You won't like what happens when you're on my bad side, little girl. Do you know what I can have done to nosy little girls like you, hm?" she threatened as she continued to squirm. Trying to push back against me in the hopes that I'd let go or stumble. When I only dug my nails into her skin to keep a firm hold on her while leaning into her even harder from behind to put even more strain on the wrist I currently had a death grip on, she started to get desperate.
"Fifty thousand dollars. If you let me go and you get me in that room, there's fifty thousand dollars in it for you."
I raised a brow. Pretending to think it over. Answering calmly, "Nah. I mean yeah.. It could pay off my student loans... But I'd rather die in a fire than help the likes of you, Ava Jerome."
I finally managed to get the damn paper from her and realized that she was breaking in to look for a particular bottle of medicine. I shoved the paper into the pocket of my favorite black scrubs and just for shits and giggles, I actually pressed her against the wall even harder before finally letting her go.
She stood there, trying to catch her breath and glaring at me in anger. Stepping close to me. I stepped closer. Her eyes caught on the scalpel and she gave a taunting soft laugh. "Did you really think you were going to stab me with that?"
I shrugged. "Thought crossed my mind, yeah. I wasn't kidding about what I told you earlier, Ava. You've got three seconds to get the entire fuck off this floor. Or I'll press that little call button to the left of the door there and I'll have security up here so goddamn fast your head will swim."
She laughed. I shoved past her, muttering as I went, "Okay, apparently today is the day I wake up and choose violence." as I started to reach for the button. She lunged, knocking me down and the two of us were rolling on the floor, throwing wild punches and swearing up a storm when one of the doctors happened to show up just in time to pry us apart.
Ava snarled at me as she got pulled away to tell her side of the story, that this wasn't the end of it, not by a long shot. Threatening me as if she thought it'd scare me. I laughed and called out from over the shoulder of the doctor who'd found us and was currently keeping us apart, "Bring it, bitch. Do you really think you fuckin scare me?"
After security got Ava off the premises, I dug around in my pocket, holding out the slip of paper I'd gotten off Ava during our little tussle and I pressed it into the man's hand. "Dunno what she was gonna do if she got hold of that, Doc. But I thought you might want that. Just in case you need to keep an eye on the stock."
"Thank you, Ms. Martin. It would appear I'm going to have to change the codes and make the on shift supervisor of this floor aware. Was there anything you needed out of this room while I'm in there?"
"Just an IV set up for Nurse Webber." I answered, leaning against the wall. Glancing at the watch on my wrist. The growling of my stomach echoed loudly in the hallway and I cursed myself for pressing snooze just one extra time so that the racy dream I'd been indulging myself in starring none other than Morgan Corinthos could properly conclude. Because in my rush to get to the hospital, I hadn't even given a second thought to my usual pancakes and bacon. Or preparing myself a lunch for the day. I dug around in my pockets. Letting out a breath of relief when I realized that I hadn't managed to lose the twenty bucks I'd shoved into my pockets before I left my apartment this morning during my little brawl with Ava.
And I found myself smirking as I replayed it in my head. The look in her eyes after I landed a solid right hook and blood started to pour out of her nose. Laughing as I mused to myself, "Ah, she'll fly to fuckin Switzerland and get it fixed in a few hours, their kind usually does." and put it all aside.
The doctor emerged with the IV for me and the medicine that he'd gone into the room after and I took the IV, pushing it down the hall towards the nurses station. Almost the second Elizabeth set eyes on me, she raised a brow. "What the hell happened, Jenny?"
"You will never guess. Not in a million years."
"Do I wanna know?"
"Depends. How well do you like the idea of Ava Jerome's nose being busted?" I teased, shuffling my sneakers against the linoleum. Still slightly on a burst of adrenaline.
"Wait.. How?"
"I caught Ava trying to sneak into the room. Apparently, she was going in after medicine?"
"So you tried to stop her?" Elizabeth questioned, filling in the blanks. Barely hiding an amused smile. Grumbling about how entitled the criminals in this town seem to think they are and how Ava will get away with the attempt because she always does.
"I hope she tries again and I'm there. Because I went easy on her this time. Next time, she's going to fuck around and find out." I mused as I dropped down into my chair, leaning my head back as I winced. "The bitch could've done anything but pull my damn hair though."
"I have some Tylenol in my purse." Elizabeth went to her purse, digging around until she produced two Aleve, holding them out to me. I took them, swallowing them and chasing them with what remained of the Propel I'd gotten at the vending machine before my shift started earlier.
Elizabeth handed me my phone back and smiled. "I think your nephew's gonna be a happy little boy. The bidding closed. You wound up going 250, but you got it."
"Sweet. That's awesome. I can't wait to see his face when it gets there! I hope they ship it immediately, that way it'll get to Cali before next Thursday."
"I'm off to go and get the room ready for that patient. Hey." Elizabeth dug around in her purse again, pulling out her wallet and digging out twenty five dollars, holding it out to me. "You're going on lunch, right?"
"Kind of have to. Thanks to a supreme case of horny as hell earlier, I slept through like.. Five freakin alarms? So I didn't get breakfast nor did I get to make myself lunch for today. I was gonna go to Mikes. What'd you want?"
"Tomato soup and grilled cheese?"
I smiled, nodding. "Ah, yeah. Hard same. That's precisely why I was going. Do you want bacon with yours, too?"
She laughed and shook her head. "No, just the tomato and grilled cheese. Wait.. why do you get bacon with yours?"
"Duh, you crush it up in the soup and it tastes like heaven, oh my god girl." I groaned, my mouth watering at the thought of food. Reminding me that I hadn't actually eaten anything today, because the granola bar I had from the vending machine on break wasn't enough to sustain me.
I stood again, grabbing my keys and shrugging on my leather jacket. Stopping in the doorway to ask if any of the other nurses wanted anything while I was out. After taking money and writing down the other two orders I'd gotten, I took off for the elevator. Stepping off into the lobby and finding myself body to body with Morgan Corinthos.
I bit my lip. Tilting my head slightly to look up at him. Nodding to the fact that he was kind of blocking my exit to the elevator. After he got out of whatever daze he was in, he chuckled and moved out of the way, letting me off. I was about to walk off but he reached out, grabbing hold of my wrist.
"About the other night. I'm sorry if I did or said anything bad." he gave me this charming and sheepish smile and I shrugged. Trying not to give too much leeway to the thought that immediately came rushing into my head, ... Oh, you have nothing at all to be sorry for, Tiger.. you only made it ten million times harder not to think about you. It's fine. I'm fiiiine."
Thankfully, I managed not to blurt it out to the guy. Instead, I shrugged again. Reassuring him that he didn't do or say anything out of line, adding with a laugh, "Trust me, tiger. If you had, I'd have put you on your ass in the snow."
He chuckled. His lips playing upwards in an amused smile as his gaze broke from mine and his eyes wandered over me slowly. From down the hallway, I heard Carly calling his name and I gave a soft laugh, nodding to her. "You might want to get over there, tiger."
"Morgan! Where are you? You're going to this therapy session if I have to drag you, son." Carly caught up to where we stood and she glanced from Morgan to me. Her gaze lingering on me. That same formal and tight smile as she said hello. Quick to turn her attention off me, almost like I was dirt beneath her somehow. I rolled my eyes, listening to the two arguing back and forth. Unsure why I was even still standing there.
Morgan reassured her that he hadn't been about to duck out on his session and then he reminded her, "I told you when I saw her again I was going to apologize for potentially being a jackass last week, Mom. Calm down." before turning his attention back to me. Gazing at me in concern, because he suddenly seemed to notice that my hair was all a mess. "Rough day?" he asked.
"You could say that, yeah." I shrugged, not going into detail.
"Again... If I did or said anything that night, I'm sorry."
"Morgan... You didn't. You were a good boy." I wanted to kick myself when the statement came with the slightest hint of a teasing tone on my end. Morgan chuckled, gazing down at me with this smouldering look in his eye for a few seconds. Going quiet. His mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something and impatiently, Carly cleared her throat, nodding to the elevator we stood closest to.
Finally acknowledging me to say, "I didn't realize you worked here."
"I'm just starting, actually. I'm a nurse. Well, technically, right now I'm an intern. And if you two will excuse me, I've gotta make a soup run. I'm beyond fucking starving." I gave Carly the same dismissive and tight smile she gave me and I went to walk away from them. Morgan caught up to me, grabbing hold of my wrist again gently. I turned to look at him, promptly getting lost in the baby blue of his eyes. "Yeah?"
"Don't let them work you too hard, okay?" Morgan muttered. Somehow, I got the distinct feeling that was not what he'd come after me to say. But it was safer.
For both of us.
And before I realized what I was doing, I'd lightly placed the palm of my hand against the front of his shirt. Staring up at him with my head tilted slightly. Lost again in his eyes. Wanting to slap myself upside the head because of it.
"Morgan!"
"Coming, mother. Jesus Christ. Give me a minute. I'm literally right here, where you can see me." Morgan grumbled. I drew my hand back and away from the enticing firmness of his chest, holding it against me a second or two, god only knows why. With a soft and yet again, almost teasing laugh, I cleared my throat. "You should get upstairs to therapy, tiger. I hope it goes well. Just like... Take whatever the therapist tells you that resonates. That's what I'm doing with my sessions and it's helping a bit..." I made myself step away from him and I took off across the lobby as fast as my feet would carry me.
Lingering any longer would have not been a good idea. Because being around him? That leads to wanting him. And wanting him leads to me, ending up with a broken heart because every single time I'm dumb enough to fall, there's never anyone willing or waiting to catch me.
And I'll die before I let that happen again.
I nearly slipped two or three times in my hurry to get across the lot and into my car, but once I was inside my car with the engine running and Billy Idol playing full blast, I was able to take four very long and very deep breaths. Pull myself together, but only barely. I laughed at myself and the silliness of it all and I started to pull out of the parking lot and into traffic. Between the downright erotic dreams I'm having about the damn guy that I stupidly allow myself to have and the two of us running into each other every single time I turn around?
I'm starting to wonder just how much fight I've got in me. Because every single time I'm near him for even a few seconds, it gets so much harder to keep him at arms length.
But damn it, I have to keep trying.
I can't go through what I went through with Joey, all over again. Nope, uh-uh and no way, not going to happen.
But damn it, I want him.
