Ch. 7
A/N: A big thanks to everyone reading and supporting this story. Yes Elaine was victim blaming her daughter, yes it was a dick move, yes it will be addressed more eventually. As a heads up, this chapter features situations that wouldn't actually happen in real life. But since this is fiction and I get to make up the rules, I would appreciate it if you just went with it. As always I can't wait to hear your thoughts, so don't hold back now...
Gail awoke when her fist made contact with the wall, breaking right through the plaster and sheetrock, the wall crumbling around her hand. The loud crack her knuckles made was enough to wake up the whole house. In fact it did, her roommate being the first to snap awake.
"Gail, are you okay?" Chloe's usually chirpy voice was slightly hoarse from sleep.
Gail clenched her jaw tightly as she cradled her bleeding and already swelling hand. She blinked away the tears of pain and fear from her dream as she applied pressure to her injury. She couldn't speak, but just nodded her head.
"Hey what happened?" Chloe's voice for once was calm and soothing, not it's usual bounciness and cheer. There was concern etched across her face as she took in her injured roommate's disheveled appearance and the fist-sized hole that was now in the wall next to the other girl's bed.
Before Gail even had the chance to respond, Juliet, Andy, and Traci appeared in their doorway asking what had happened too. Gail still couldn't speak, too rattled from the vivid dream and in too much pain from her battered fist, but she could also feel the embarrassment starting to sink in. The last thing she had wanted was to wake everyone up.
The rest of the girls all looked to Chloe who just shrugged, it was a little after 4 am and they had all been sleeping, so she really didn't know either. She got up and made her way over to the blonde's bed, where Gail was rocking slightly, holding her hand. She reached out to gently rub Gail's back, trying to soothe her clearly hurting friend, "It's ok, it was just a dream."
Gail shrank slightly away from the contact, "I know" she managed to get out through her clenched jaw. "But the wall was very real."
Chloe looked to the other girls, she wanted to help but if she knew her roommate at all, she figured the blonde probably hated the fact that she had woken everyone up. "You guys can go back to sleep."
The three girls exchanged looks before Juliet spoke up, "You sure?" She asked, not really wanting to leave the girls now that they were up. But both roommates nodded their heads. "You should probably ice your hand, Gail, before the swelling gets any worse. And don't worry about the wall; we'll get Sammy and Jerry to fix it up tomorrow. They love the chance to fix stuff and show off their manliness." Juliet offered comfortingly. She felt bad that her housemate had hurt herself and knew that the boys would be able to fix up the now damaged wall. Hell, they would probably be impressed that the petite blonde had managed to cause that much damage.
Awesome, more people will know, Gail thought to herself but she only nodded in response. She felt sick to her stomach and she wasn't sure if it was from the pain or the dream, but she really wanted to not be the center of attention right now.
"Gail, why don't you let me take a look at your hand? I used to box in high school, I've seen a lot of injuries," Traci offered with a small smile. She looked back at the others, "You can go back to sleep, I'll help Gail wrap up her hand and ice it."
Andy and Juliet both agreed, despite looking concerned as well, so they told Gail to feel better and headed back to their own beds. Chloe refused and instead followed Gail and Traci downstairs. She didn't like how pale Gail was, which was saying a lot considering the girl's normal complexion.
"I'm fine, you two can go to bed too." The blonde managed to say, even though her voice was still a bit strangled, as she let herself be led to the kitchen.
"We will as soon as we take care of your hand," Traci replied good-naturedly. She was exhausted, having worked that night without Gail, but she wanted to make sure her housemate's hand was okay. "Let me take a look."
The two grabbed stools at the breakfast bar, while Chloe bounced around the kitchen. She had already retrieved the first aid kit and an ice pack and was busying herself making some tea to help calm the other girl's obviously shaken nerves.
Traci poked and prodded the hand a bit while Gail hissed and reflexively pulled it back, "You know that hurts right?"
"I figured. You might want to go to the hospital and make sure you didn't break any bones." Traci suggested as she cleaned up the cuts and wrapped the swollen hand and wrist.
"I hate hospitals," The blonde grumbled as she watched the other girl apply the bandages. When she looked up and saw the looks on both Chloe and Traci's faces she rolled her eyes and sighed, "I'll go later if the swelling doesn't go down."
The two girls nodded, satisfied with the compromise. After Traci failed to muffle a yawn, Gail pleaded with the girls again to just leave her alone, "Seriously, you two need to go to sleep. It's 4 am, you probably only got to sleep an hour ago. And Nash didn't you work a double, please just go to bed, I'm fine."
"Go ahead, Trace, I'll look after Rocky here." Chloe beamed a smile and encouraged the other girl to go to bed also.
Satisfied that the redhead would look out for the other girl, she acquiesced, feeling the exhaustion overtaking her, "Alright, if you need anything you know where to find me. Good night ladies, and Peck keep the ice on it."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks mom." Traci patted Gail on the head like a good puppy and headed off to sleep.
Gail shifted the ice and winced at the pain in her hand.
"Hurts?" Chloe asked, even though it was obvious by the look on Gail's face that it did.
Gail shrugged in response, "Nah it feels great when you turn your hand into a sledgehammer."
"Well what did the wall ever do to you?" Chloe joked.
"Wrong place at the wrong time." Gail deadpanned. Then she looked away as she absent-mindedly ran her good hand through her hair. She was still trying to forget the nightmare she had woken up from.
Chloe shifted gears as she watched the troubled expression on her roommate's face, "Do you want to talk about your dream?'
Gail sighed before lying through her teeth, "Don't remember it." She did remember it but she definitely didn't want to talk about it.
"You sure?"
"Yep." She popped the "p" like usual.
Chloe accepted that whatever was bugging her friend wasn't up for discussion, "Want some tea?"
"I guess." The redhead slid a mug over. Gail played with the bag, dunking it into the water and swirling it around. She wasn't thirsty. She was tired and hurting and wanted to be sleeping, not nursing a bandaged hand, having woken up her entire house. She had been trying hard to not let anyone else know about the dreams. She didn't want to seem weak, not being able to control her own subconscious.
The two sipped silently. Chloe was studying her roommate. She wanted to ask more questions, she wanted to get the other girl to open up, or at least to feel comfortable opening up. But in the short time she had known the derisive blonde, she knew that wasn't how she operated. Gail was closed off and kept to herself, and she really didn't like people prying. So instead, Chloe just sat and waited, she didn't want her friend to be alone.
Gail shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "You don't have to stay up Princess. You can go back to bed. I'll be up soon."
"Then you won't mind me keeping you company, Grumpy." That started Chloe on a ramble about various things. She was yapping away, trying her best to distract her roommate from the pain in her swollen hand, when they heard the door open and watched a very messy looking Frankie Anderson come slinking into the house.
"What are you two doing?" She was surprised anyone in the house was still awake.
"Good night Anderson?" Gail asked with a smirk, based on the other girl's appearance she figured she must have gotten at least some action from Dr. Boob Job. "How was the show?"
Frankie's eyes drifted over to the redhead who was watching her carefully. Her normally cheery demeanor was absent and she was quietly studying the two, she hadn't even greeted Frankie, which was weird.
"I've seen better." Frankie answered honestly as she headed towards the kitchen to grab some water.
"Well Grumpy, looks like you have some new company, I'm going to sleep." Chloe directed all her attention to Gail, even as she breezed past Frankie on her way to the stairs.
The brunette's eyes followed the girl even after she was no longer in sight. When she turned her attention back to the blonde, she didn't like the knowing look on the other girl's face. "What?" She snapped.
Gail rolled her eyes, "How much did you have to drink?"
"Not enough to have to deal with you at this time of night."
Ignoring the bitchy response, "So things are going well with future Dr. Boob Job?"
"Peachy." Frankie grunted before noticing that the blonde's hand was bandaged up, "You do that at the Peck Party? Someone get too handsy?"
"Plenty of people got too handsy, but no, it wouldn't look good if the newest Peck predecessor broke someone's nose."
Frankie smirked, "It's ok, Holly would've been there to fix them up."
Gail looked over at the other girl curiously before asking, "Did you know she was going to be there?"
"Nope, but based on the texts I got from her I could've blown an important covert operation. Apparently, I should've mentioned you were Steve's little sister." Frankie shook her head thinking back to the texts she had gotten, the ones accusing her of trying to set up some elaborate prank. She had no idea Holly was going to be there that night, "I can't believe he took her as a date. Kind of makes me wish I had taken you up on your offer."
Gail nodded along before pulling out her usual brand of sass, "It was your loss Anderson. I looked damn good."
"Mmhmm" Frankie agreed, she was sure the blonde had looked stunning. There was no denying she was gorgeous, but it was clear from the first time they drunkenly kissed that they were only ever going to be friends. Their kiss, while good, had paled in comparison to another one she had had that night. "Was the Muppet babysitting you?" Frankie asked nonchalantly.
"No," Gail responded, offended that the older girl was acting like she needed someone watching over her.
"Do you need a babysitter?" Frankie asked, raising an eyebrow, she still had no idea how the girl had injured herself.
"No." She growled again.
Frankie nodded in acceptance, "Alright then I'm going to bed. Although, I'm surprised you aren't there already."
"Wasn't sure the last time you washed your sheets." It was becoming a regular joke between the two of them.
"Away games Peck, they are way more fun than at home. You should try it sometime." Anderson smirked and headed up the stairs.
With everyone finally tucked away, Gail had a moment to herself. She was exhausted but there was no way she was shutting her eyes anytime soon. After finishing the tea Chloe had made, she stretched out on the couch with her ice pack and hoped that the swelling went down before she had to get to work.
The swelling didn't subside, but Gail still worked her shift one-handed, to the best of her ability. She even managed to sit through class all day on Monday. It was when she got back from class and refused to eat anything, the pain still making her nauseous, that Chloe started her incessant hovering, which is how Gail found herself in the Emergency Department on a late Monday afternoon, exhausted from not sleeping for two days and still in copious amounts of pain. It had taken a great deal of convincing, but she had managed to get Chloe to let her go alone with the promise that she would call when she needed a ride home.
After what seemed like forever, the nurse finally came around to take Gail back. She was seated in a room where she continued to wait impatiently. When the door finally opened, Gail couldn't control her snappish tone, "It's about damn time! I could be dying here."
"If only the world was so lucky," McD responded as she entered the room and realized that the patient was the bartender from the Lucky Penny. Apparently, professionalism didn't matter when you were the only person in the room.
"Oh and the hits just keep on coming." Gail groaned as she rolled her head up towards the heavens.
"So what brings you in Blondie? Did someone finally teach you a lesson about being a smart ass?" McD glanced at the blonde's injured hand; she didn't try to contain her gratification at knowing that the other girl was in pain.
Gail scowled at the other girl, "Isn't there like anyone else that could my doctor? I think I would rather try my luck with Dr. Kevorkian."
"Technically, she's not your doctor," Holly interrupted as she breezed into the room shortly after the redhead. She gave each girl a look, the animosity between the two was hard to ignore, but she did her best. She took on a professional tone as she began the spiel that they had been drilled into her heads since the first day of med school.
"So Miss Peck, my name is Holly Stewart and I am a first year medical student. I see you've met Jess, she's a fourth year student. Would it be ok if we asked you some questions and did a physical exam before your doctor comes in?"
"Nice speech, been practicing?" Gail smirked at Holly, who smiled back crookedly. "You, yes. Her, no. I'd really rather my hand not get amputated, thanks."
McD glanced between the two girls, she didn't like how chummy the two seemed to be every time she caught them talking, "Well since I have seniority, I'll be the one you have to work with whether you like it or not."
Gail continued to glare at McD, there was no way she was letting the other girl come anywhere near her. When the girl moved closer to touch Gail's injured hand, she pulled it out of reach, "Try it McD and you'll find out firsthand the kind of damage I can do with my good hand."
The look on the other girl's face indicated that she was ready to take Gail up on that offer but Holly intervened, "Jess can I speak to you outside please? Miss Peck, we'll be right back, try to relax ok." She pulled the other girl out of the room.
"What the hell are you doing Holly?" The irritated redhead demanded the second they were in the hallway.
"I was about to ask you the same thing. She's a patient, and I don't really know what's going on between you but you're being completely unprofessional." Holly kept her voice low, she wasn't trying to cause a scene in the hospital; they would both get into trouble with the University. But she also wasn't going to stand by and watch Jessie act that way with anyone, especially not a patient, even if that patient hadn't been Gail.
"She started it." Jess responded peevishly.
"Seriously, that's how you want to play it?" Holly looked at her girlfriend incredulously before continuing the reprimand, "You're the student, and she's the patient. If you can't control yourself, then wait until Dr. Reynolds comes in."
"You know Hols, if you really wanted to get the girl alone, you didn't need to go to so much trouble. Could've just asked nicely." With that last parting dig, she turned around and walked away.
Holly glared at the redhead's retreating form. She was pissed but this wasn't the time or place to get into personal spats. So she calmed herself down, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door and entering the room again. "Sorry about that, Miss Peck, is it ok if we get started?"
"Seriously Nerd, you don't have to call me Miss Peck. It's getting old very quickly." Gail teased, she knew the girl was just trying to be professional but she didn't have to be.
"I know you know I'm not a doctor yet. And it's good practice for me." There was the sassiness Gail had come to expect from her...friend-ish person?
Gail took in what the brunette was wearing, the short white coat over a pair of scrubs and the stethoscope hanging from her neck. She certainly looked the part, "Alright Dr. Nerd, let's practice. Fire away."
Holly bit her lip, as she studied the other girl for a second. The questions she had to ask could be considered personal, so she had to warn her, "You sure you don't mind me asking these questions, if any of them are too personal, you don't have to answer ok?"
"No worries Doc, I understand my right to remain silent."
"Isn't that your line?" Holly teased one last time before schooling her features, "So how can I be of help today?"
Gail held up her bandaged hand, "You could make my hand not hurt anymore."
"I'll try my best. Can you tell me a little about what happened?"
"I hurt it, it's swollen."
"How did you hurt it?" Holly asked, maintaining eye contact with her patient, letting her know she had her undivided attention.
"My hand came into contact with a wall." That was technically the truth.
Holly nodded, keeping her face impassive. She wanted to frown, she wasn't sure if the blonde had hit the wall on purpose, but a doctor shouldn't show any kind of reaction, "Can you elaborate?"
Gail paused for a moment, she didn't want to get into how she had been having a nightmare and had accidentally punched a hole through her wall. So she decided to try to make light of it, "Hulk smashed?" Gail joked as she gave the brunette a cheeky grin.
Holly let out a little chuckle despite herself, the goofiness of the other girl was hard to ignore. She then ran through the standard OPQRST questions that she had learned in class. Along with her teasing, Gail did her best to give Holly answers that she could actually write down and present to the doctor that was supervising her that day. Holly moved on to all the other standard questions related to medications (none), allergies (tomatoes, no joke), existing medical conditions (none), family history (irrelevant), and social history. Those were the questions that earned the most jokes from Gail considering they revolved around work, education, travel, smoking, drinking, drugs, but Holly refrained from asking about the blonde's sexual history. Those questions were way too personal and pretty irrelevant to a hand injury. Plus, she wasn't sure if she would get a straight answer out of Gail anyway (no pun intended). So she simply asked when her last period was and if she could be pregnant, since that was relevant to any type of testing or medications they might prescribe.
With the interview over, Gail had been impressed by Holly's bedside manner, "You're doing a pretty good job, Dr. Nerd."
"That depends, were any of the answers you gave me true?" Holly asked, knowing that the other girl had been messing with her throughout most of her answers.
"Aw Doc, you need to learn to figure that out on your own. What kind of doctor are you going to be, if you can't figure out when a patient is telling the truth or lying?" Gail gave her a stern look.
"Don't be such a snot," Holly chastised her patient.
"Why? It works for me." Gail quipped.
Holly laughed in agreement. "Alright Miss Peck," Gail stuck out her tongue at the use of the formality, "Would you mind changing into this gown so I can perform a physical exam?"
"Nerd, my hand hurts and it's the only injury I have, do you really need me to drop trou?" It was cold in the hospital and just being there grossed Gail out enough, she didn't really want to have to change her clothes too.
"We need to get in the habit of doing full exams and it helps for us to practice, but if you don't want to change you really don't have to."
"I'll keep my clothes on, seeing as how you haven't even bought me a drink yet." Gail wisecracked.
After rolling her eyes, Holly started the exam. She checked Gail's cranial nerves and lymph nodes. She checked her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. "Ok, in order to listen to your heart and lungs, I'm going to need to go under your shirt, if that's ok."
"Have at it." Gail permitted.
She felt the brunette gently lift up her shirt to slide her hand underneath. The warmth of Holly's hand contrasted with the cool metal of her stethoscope as she glided it to all the auscultation points on Gail's back before coming around to the front. "I have to do the same on this side," she quietly explained.
The brunette was standing closely to the blonde in order to be able to hear her heart. Gail briefly wondered how loud it must have sounded, since she could feel it thundering in her chest. Holly finished up quickly, saying everything sounded good. She moved on to taking various pulses, checking her abdomen, and then her reflexes. Finally, Holly came to Gail's hand, which she carefully unwrapped. She tried her best to check the swelling and it's range of motion gently but Gail still hissed in pain and wanted to pull back reflexively. She gritted her teeth and tried to bear through it, not wanting to mess with Holly's exam. She appreciated the concern and empathy sketched on the other girl's face, knowing that she wasn't trying to hurt her.
Holly was watching Gail's face and her grimace in order to judge the severity of her injury. She finished up the exam quickly, not wanting to inflict any more pain, and grabbed a seat on a stool in the room.
"Was this your way of getting out of tomorrow? You could've just said you were busy, worked last time." Holly teased in an attempt to distract the blonde from the discomfort in her hand.
"I always keep my promises, as long as my doctor says it's ok, I'll still go tomorrow if you want." She had every intention of keeping up her end of the bet, she just hoped she wouldn't have to sign too much; luckily, she still had her right hand.
Holly appreciated that the blonde was willing to be such a trooper but she didn't want her to push herself, especially when she was obviously hurting, "We can just wait to see how you're feeling, but really there's no pressure we can always do it another time."
"Alright." The blonde agreed.
They drifted into a comfortable silence. Holly looked at Gail fondly and offered her gratitude for being such a good sport, "Thanks for letting me practice, Danger."
Gail smiled one of her genuine smiles, "You did good, Dr. Nerd." Holly blushed at the compliment.
The two smiling girls were interrupted by the arrival of Gail's real doctor and McD. McD took Holly's notes from her and what the nurse had provided to read off a summary of Gail's case, much to Gail's annoyance. The doctor asked a few questions of Gail and drilled both McD and Holly on what they knew about broken bones. He took a look at her hand and ordered an x-ray. He also ordered a prescription of painkillers to help take the edge off of the clearly uncomfortable blonde.
Except for answering the questions asked of her, Holly stood by silently, observing the other doctor and watching Gail carefully, the blue eyes kept searching her out for reassurance before answering any questions. It wasn't until Gail left for her x-ray that Holly finally went to see the next patient.
Gail had been back from getting her x-rays for a while when a nice nurse had come by to give her some of the good drugs. She was sitting in the room looking at her hand, wondering how badly she had managed to damage it without even being conscious when Holly returned.
"Ok, the nurse said the pain killers should be taking effect soon." Then Holly started in on a ramble about the science of pain and inflammation and broken bones. Gail was only half listening considering something in the room had grabbed her attention.
"Holly..." Gail started, trying to get the other girl's attention, this was more important than her injury. But the brunette continued on, completely oblivious to what the blonde was staring at.
"Holly..." she tried again but the ramble continued, so Gail tried a third time. "Holly, is that an elephant?" That got the medical student's attention. She looked over to where the blonde was pointing.
"Get it for me." Gail quietly demanded, she didn't want the elephant to hear her; it might make a run for it.
Holly tried to contain her amusement, as she crossed the room and picked up the pink elephant, bringing it back to her patient.
Gail took the toy by its arms and moved it closer and farther away from her face, "This is so little. It's like a baby you know. It's a baby elephant." She seemed spellbound by the inanimate object until her features darkened, "It's actually freaking me out a little bit." Raising her voice, "It's FREAKING me out Holly, I want you to get it away from me."
Holly stifled a laugh as she quickly snatched the elephant and tossed it aside. "Ok, gone." She held up her hands innocently.
Gail narrowed her eyes at the magical powers of the other girl, "How'd you do that?"
"How much oxycodone did they give you?" Holly wondered aloud as she got up to look over the medicines listed on Gail's chart.
"A lot. And I kind of like it." Gail smiled until she shifted her hand, "Ow!"
"Hey Gail, let me check your eyes, ok? Follow my finger. Good. Now look right here while I shine this light in your eyes. Very good." The bright blue eyes had very constricted pupils; basically, Gail was stoned.
Although if Holly had any doubt about it, it went right out the window when Gail started stroking her own ponytail, closing her eyes in appreciation, "Did you ever notice how soft your hair is? It's pretty soft. It's very soft." When she opened her eyes and looked at the dark hair cascading down Holly's shoulder, the drug-addled Gail was mesmerized by it. "I bet your hair is really soft too. Can I touch it?"
Holly laughed a little at the ridiculousness of the situation but she allowed the blonde to reach forward to feel her hair. Gail did so reverently, enjoying the feeling of the silky strands as they slipped between her fingers, "It is really soft. I thought it would be, kind of like your lips, which look like they would be really soft too." Gail's hand instinctively traveled up to gently trace Holly's face, her thumb brushing against her bottom lip, as she rambled.
Holly swallowed the lump in her throat that came from being so close to the beautiful blonde who was staring intently at her lips. She stepped slightly back, her voice soft, "Ummm how about you rest for a little bit and I'll be back in to check on you?" She had to get out of there; the situation was a little too intense, and highly inappropriate, so she bolted from the room.
Gail was kind of confused about the abrupt departure but she was too high to be concerned about much at the moment. Her attention was already being diverted elsewhere.
After checking on some of the other patients, Holly returned to see how Gail was doing. She could hear singing coming from the room before she even opened the door.
"Hello my baby. Hello my honey. Hello my ragtime gal. Send me a kiss by wire." Gail was serenading a lit light.
"Ok, so this is happening?" Holly chuckled a little at the show Gail was putting on; the girl had a really nice voice, sultry and smooth.
Hearing the entrance of the intruder, Gail turned to shine the light into Holly's eyes, who just shook her head and simply flipped the switch to turn it off.
Gail stared at the now dark light keenly, trying to determine what had happened to her microphone.
"How's my favorite patient doing?" Holly greeted the blonde good-naturedly but this time she stayed out of arm's reach as she drew the other girl's attention back to her.
"I'm your favorite?" Gail asked quietly, looking at Holly in disbelief.
"Of course." Holly responded with a smile.
Gail snorted, "Well that's a first." She wasn't anyone's favorite, she was always second choice at best.
Holly wanted to ask what the other girl meant by that but she was interrupted when Jessie appeared. "Hey Hols can you run down to radiation and grab Miss Peck's films, please, while I check on our patient before the doctor gets back." The redhead was purposefully using a professional and sugary tone.
Holly didn't want to go, she really didn't trust her girlfriend with the hurt and high blonde but technically, she had seniority and it would look bad for Holly to say no.
"Of course. Miss Peck, I'll be right back." Holly waited for Gail to nod in acknowledgment before she made her way over to the door. "Keep it professional Jess." Holly warned, but the redhead merely plastered on an overly sweet smile.
"I'm always professional baby." She responded smoothly, though Holly continued to look at her skeptically before leaving.
She waited until the brunette had turned down a different hall before zeroing in on her target. Without Holly around to protect the girl, she could finally get to the point. "I don't know what you think you're doing. But stay away from my girlfriend," she warned.
Gail tried to fight the fogginess in her brain as she narrowed her eyes at her redheaded nemesis. She didn't really know why the girl was there but she hoped Holly came back soon. She didn't want to have to talk to her, "Your girlfriend has a name because she's her own person, which means she can do whatever she wants. And luckily for me, I don't take orders from you."
"Yeah well, the last thing she wants is to be wasting her time with a lowly bartender. She may feel bad for you but she has more important things to do than to deal with you and your obvious crush on her."
Gail tilted her head, "Are you mad because I'm her favorite?"
That comment really got under the other girl's skin. She took a menacing step forward, "I'm only going to tell you this one more time, stay away from my girlfriend."
Normally Gail would've kept pushing buttons but she was tired of talking, and as hard as she might be trying, McD really didn't intimidate her. Though she was being a major downer. "You're killing my mellow man." The blonde laid back against her pillow, which was soft, but not as soft as Holly's hair. "Get out." She muttered, as she made herself comfortable.
"Excuse me?" McD looked at Gail with narrowed eyes, clearly offended at being ordered around.
"Just move it." Gail sighed as she swatted her hand around trying to shoo away the annoying pest, but when she realized the other girl hadn't budged she snapped and raised her voice, "I said beat it, clown!"
"You can't talk to me like that." The ginger huffed indignantly.
"Actually she can." Holly had returned, "She's the patient, if she asked you to leave then leave Jess. Why don't you bring the films over to Dr. Reynolds?"
After the redhead stormed out of the room with the images, Holly turned her attention back to her patient, "You ok?" She gently asked the blonde.
"Tired." Gail muttered sleepily.
"Alright sleep for a little bit and I'll be back to wake you before the doctor comes in." Holly headed out to find the doctor and to have another talk with her girlfriend. She didn't know what had gotten into her lately, but she didn't like it. When she found the doctor and explained how Gail was acting, the doctor agreed that she should sleep off the drugs for a little while before they spoke to her about her injuries and discharged her.
She was walking through the precinct like she had a hundred times. She had been coming to her parents work for as long as she could remember; she could draw a map of it from memory and could locate everything in it with her eyes closed. But this time it was weird; there wasn't a soul in sight. No one was manning the desk, no officers were walking the halls or on the phones or computers, the offices were empty. She traveled through the deserted building until she heard the familiar voices of her parents and brother; they were discussing some case. Steve gave the debrief, "Victim was a 19-year old Caucasian female, found in an alley about five miles from campus. She was reported missing by her roommate after she didn't answer her phone for an entire day and hadn't been seen since they were at a party together the night before. Victim had a laceration to the face and needle sticks in her arm. Forensics is checking for signs of sexual assault and cause of death and for any evidence on who did this to her." When Gail looked up at the murder board she felt her heart stop when she realized the victim was her.
Gail nearly fell off the cot as she jerked violently awake. Holly was beside her in a flash, the brunette had been sitting in one of the seats going over her notes on all of her patients from that day while the blonde slept, "Hey Gail, are you okay? It was only a dream. Do you know where you are?"
"Holly?" Gail's heart was pounding in her chest and she felt like she could barely breathe.
"Yeah, hey you're ok. Sometimes, painkillers can mess with your dreams, but that's all it was. You're alright, you're in the hospital because you hurt your hand. Remember?"
Gail winced a little when she moved her left hand and felt a pain shoot through her arm. The drugs must've worn off a bit while she was sleeping. She was starting to feel more lucid. "Right, has the doctor been back? Do you know when I could leave?"
"I'll go grab him and he'll talk to you about discharge."
The blonde simply nodded as the other girl left.
When the doctor, McD, and Holly returned, the doctor showed Gail her X-rays. Luckily, she hadn't broken any bones but based on the amount of swelling, the doctor figured there was a lot of soft tissue damage and it appeared she had sprained her wrist pretty badly. He told her to rest it, keeping it wrapped, iced, and elevated when she was at home. If she needed to use it then she should wear a brace. The doctor wrote Gail a prescription for some more painkillers, then asked Holly to get the brace and a nurse to discharge the patient before taking the two med students with him as he left the room, bidding the blonde good-bye.
The nurse had Gail sign off on the necessary paperwork and Holly returned with the black brace. She gently put it on the girl, "Do you need a ride home? My shift here is done, so I could take you back if you want."
"Thanks but I already promised someone that I would call when I was done."
"Alright, how about I just wait with you outside till they arrive?" The brunette offered.
"You don't have to." Gail didn't want Holly hanging out with her out of some kind of pity.
"I want to, if that's ok." Holly responded earnestly.
Gail nodded and checked to make sure she had everything she needed before she followed the brunette out to some benches in front of the hospital.
"So how does it feel?" Holly gestured to the hand that was in its brace.
"Still hurts but not as badly as before." The blonde answered somewhat truthfully. The pain meds were wearing off but she didn't intend on taking anymore that night if they were going to make her dreams even worse.
"Good." Holly shifted gears, something was bugging her and she felt the need to apologize, "Look I don't know what Jess may have said when I wasn't around but I'm sorry if she upset you, she was completely out of line today."
"Don't apologize for her. It's not your job, you didn't do anything wrong." Gail told the brunette sincerely, "You were awesome today, so thanks Doc."
Holly smiled, and it quirked a little to the side, causing Gail's stomach to flip as usual. Before they had a chance to say anything else, Chris' truck pulled up to the curb, and Chloe came bounding out of the car pulling Gail into a tight hug. "I'm glad you're ok!"
"Princess, this really isn't how I communicate."
"No, but it's how I communicate," Chloe gave the irritated blonde another squeeze before letting go. "Who's this?"
"Hi, I'm Holly," Holly stretched out a hand in greeting, which Chloe accepted amiably.
"Gail, I didn't know you were friends with a doctor."
"Medical student," Holly corrected.
"Actually she's friends with Frankie." Although hearing Holly call them friends had caused the blonde's lips to turn up into a smile that she suppressed, "Can we get out of here? I need a shower."
"Of course! If you're hungry, the boys are buying us dinner tonight." Chloe informed her roommate.
"She cheated!" Dov complained loudly from the backseat, eliciting a snicker from both Chloe and Gail.
"He's just bitter," Chris chimed in from the driver's seat.
Gail wasn't sure what game or bet Chloe had beaten them at, but she wasn't about to turn down free food after not eating for the last two days. "Works for me."
"You want to come too Doc?" Chloe offered to the girl she had just met.
"Actually I have to get home, I have a lot of studying to do, but thanks anyway." Holly politely turned down the offer. She had a pile of books waiting for her back at her apartment, and most likely a jealous girlfriend that she was going to have to deal with later that night.
Chloe waited a beat but when she noticed that the two other girls were hesitating to say good-bye, she decided to take that as her cue to leave, "Alright next time then." She offered as she took off towards the car.
"Shotgun," Gail called out before the redhead made it back to the car. Chloe just laughed and hopped into the backseat, pushing Dov aside.
Holly adjusted her glasses, "Have fun with your friends tonight."
Gail groaned, "God, don't call them that, those are just the losers I live with. You'll put ideas in their heads."
"Well they seem like pretty good ones to have if they're picking you up from the hospital and feeding you." The brunette pointed out.
Gail just shook her head, content with her denial. "We still on for tomorrow?"
"I'll text you and see how you're feeling. If you're not up to it, it's really ok, we'll just do it another time." Holly reminded the girl, really not wanting her to feel pressured to go.
Gail nodded. "Talk to you later, Nerd." She started walking backwards towards the car.
"Watch out for any more walls, Danger." Holly teased as she waved good-bye. She stayed rooted to her spot until the car took off. At least this time she got a real good-bye.
A/N: For those who are curious about what OPQRST stands for: O = Onset of the pain, P = Precipitating/Palliating factors, Q = Quality, R = Radiation, S= Severity on a scale of 1 to 10, T = Temporality/Treatments. It's one of the first things they drill into medical students' heads when learning how to interview patients...In real life Holly wouldn't be able to work with Gail as a patient since they know each other and it would be considered an invasion of privacy, but I couldn't resist putting the girls together so I hope it was worth the suspension of reality, she also probably wouldn't have been given such strong pain killers but that scene was just too good to pass up...next chapter: volunteering...