Jamie was waiting in line behind a gathering of white lab coats and various colored scrubs in the hospital's café. It was near the precinct and cheaper than any Starbucks he'd been to.
A phone rings ahead of him and a relatively short, blonde-haired doctor in pink scrubs picks it up. "Dr. Janko."
Oh! Jamie remembered her. She'd persuaded him to volunteer with some of the sicker kids who couldn't leave their rooms. Jamie loved children and sometimes Nicky came with him.
After the caller speaks, she sighs and says, "I'll be up there in a second. Start her on mag sulfate, that should hold us over until later." Pleasantries are exchanged and she hangs up, typing furiously on her own phone afterwards.
Now the line's gotten shorter. "Black coffee." Dr. Janko says, still half-distracted. She slaps a five dollar bill on the counter and moves to the other side of the small café as I place my own order.
I find the C elevator, tucked away in a small hallway most people don't think to go down. To my surprise, standing there is Dr. Janko. She's on the phone again, muttering something about pre-eclampsia. There was a reason he'd never been a medical malpractice lawyer. He'd have to understand all that.
We get on the elevator and she pushes five and I push nine. Quite honestly, she looked like the epitome of the stereotypical doctor in that moment. Papers spilling out of her lab coat, pens and little cheat sheets tucked in wherever they could fit, a few surgical instruments in her pant leg and currently furiously scribbling in a beat up green memo book. Finally, she's put on hold, places the phone on speaker and let's the hold music play softly from her pocket. She takes a moment to sip her coffee and makes a funny face at the taste.
"You know, I see you practically every day with a coffee and you look tortured." Jamie initiates the conversation.
She sighs again, "I've tried decaf, tea, those energy drinks which almost gave me a legitimate heart attack and cold turkey. Plus, my days have more than twenty-four hours in them…I need my caffeine, Jamie!"
"Cold turkey has caffeine in it Dr. Janko? I had no clue." Jamie smirks,
"Oh, boy. You are something else." The elevator dings and she steps onto the Labor and Delivery floor. Just before it closes, she sticks her foot in the door, "Actually, you know what? Here. Have a good day." Eddie hands Jamie her cup with a fancy, embossed, quite official-looking business card tucked in the coffee sleeve. Hers. And for some God-forsaken reason, Alex, his partner's voice ran through his head, "Wow Jamie! You got a girl's number with practically no help from me!"
The door shuts and she's back to ordering people around.