The two young blonde doctors are checking the x-ray of a patient in trauma 2. Today their shift is in the ER and again, they have another case of car accident in their hands.
"People need to be more careful when they drive. Never heard of seatbelt?" Kristoff blurts out while he's watching at the grand mass of blood in this man's chest. A fragment of the broken ribs perforated the left lung and the heartbeat isn't helping the situation since the organ is so close to that piece of bone. Just a slight move of the patient could engender a tragedy.
"We need to act quickly if we want to save him." Elsa says taking the x-ray.
"What a way to start the morning, uh?" her intern walks towards the door. They're heading to their patient to take him to the OR. When this man arrived with the ambulance it wasn't in such a bad state, the internal bleeding and fractures couldn't be seen from the outside, the only signs they had were some cuts, bruises and a broken leg and arm. The nurses take the patient to the OR and wait for the surgeons to come.
Kristoff is leading the operation and according to Elsa he's doing a good job.
"The fragment is gone, but.. There's blood everywhere.. I don't know from where it's coming!" The young man is frustrated. He want to find the other source of the bleeding, even if he managed to stop up the little holes caused by that piece of rib.
"Kristoff, keep calm. Take a deep breath and try to focus. You'll find a way." She tells him in a resolute tone, but at the same time she manages to send him some tranquility. He does as told and for a brief moment he stops his movements but soon enough he finds the other hole from where the blood is coming and fixes it. Taking advantage of the mask, the young woman's lips curve up in a smile. She's glad he managed to deal with the situation, even if she is always ready to step in, she wants her intern to be ready and capable of fix problems during a surgery. She won't be there forever.
"Good, finish everything and later I'll offer you a coffee." He nods in agreement at her statement.
Once they exit from the room, both doctors go and inform the family how the operation went. It's praxis and it's both the best and worst part of a post-surgery. Usually the family members wait in a couch or chairs or on their feet for the surgeons to tell them anything, the anxiety they feel is indescribable. That's the reason why when it's a long surgery someone of the equip go out and give them some information about their beloved one. And when everything go fine, it's common to receive an hug and a lot of 'thanks', and it's good for the soul. But when the results aren't great, when there's some kind of complication, that's when everything suck. The family is broken, they don't know how to react, they cry or stay still speechless only to find a way to deal with what will happening after. It isn't easy for the surgeons to tell that their relative is dead or in a coma.
Luckily, now there are only good news for this specific case. Elsa knows that they'll receive an hug so she takes some steps backward, that action makes Kristoff the subject of the relief of the family's patient.
The two blondes check one more time the man and after leaving the nurses with some directions they go to the room where there's a coffee maker, which was given as a gift to the doctors by an old patient. This room doesn't have a real name, but Kristoff calls it 'Relax room' because there are some couches, chairs and even a TV. You come here when you don't want to go to the cafeteria, for example. Elsa is at the machine and it's preparing some coffee for her intern. She puts some coffee and water and waits for it to be ready. Since she doesn't like that drink, she lets some water to boil. She'll have a cup of tea.
"Thanks for what you did there." He's the first to speak. His boss is facing the coffee maker, so he can't see the expression she's having.
"You don't need to thank me, when you're in that room, you need to be focus and calm. You can't let your emotion to overwhelm you." She takes the mugs from the wall cabinet and starts to pour the dark liquid. "I just want you to be ready and independent during your solo operations. Here." She handles him the drink and prepares her mug with black tea.
He mouths a 'thank you' as he grabs his coffee which he really needs.
"So.." he says after taking a sip from the mug. "Did you enjoy yourself yesterday?"
"Yes and thanks again. It's nice having a different evening now and then."
"Next time I'll have my revenge." She raises her gaze and arches her eyebrow.
"Are you sure?" then her lips touch the tip of the mug.
"Yep. Totally!" He smirks at himself. He wants to beat his boss, even if he knows that she plays very well since she said she owns a PS3.
Elsa shakes her head at his certainty. He can be a good doctor but she has the felling that she spends more time than the younger man playing videogames. She doesn't have a great social life since her life is divided into work and home. Besides for working reasons, she goes out when she needs to buy some groceries, when she goes to the gym or when she pays a visit to Marshall or her relatives. It's rare for her to spend the evenings at pubs or at cinemas or whatever, that's why she spends a lot of time for her hobbies, such as reading, play the piano and videogames. Sometimes she enjoys drawing too.
'But now I have some sort of friends.. I could.. or should exit more than before.' She tells to herself while she's rubbing the tip of the mug.
While the two surgeons are taking a break, Anna is with her mother at home, finishing the cookies.
"So, I think we have done everything right. They're almost ready." Anna says watching the oven. Her mother is washing her hands and with the corner of her eyes she catches Anna trying to put herself in her knees in order to look closer at the cookies.
"Anna, what are you doing? Stop right there. In some minutes they'll ready. Why are you such in a rush? I mean.. I know you aren't the most patient person in this planet but.. today you're awfully impatient." Gerda arches her eyebrows seeming clearly curious and confused by her daughter's attitude, even if she has an idea of its reason.
"Well.. I like cookies, Kristoff too.. I want to bring these to them soon! Plus the smell is killing me. Come on, how can you stand there still? I'm starving." The redhead puffs out.
"Just wait for a little longer, plus you can't eat them all, if you do so, what will those two eat?" Her mother tries to put some sense in her head.
"Right.." She says a bit embarrassed. She takes her crutches and starts to go to her room. "I think I'll change my clothes.." she lowers her head in order to emphasize her situation: she has some flour and mixture on her pants and t-shirt. She's always been a clumsy girl and when she cooks or bakes something the kitchen ends to seem like a battlefield. Her mother has no idea how that is possible and she lost her hope for her to be cleaner and more organized.
"Go, if you need anything call me out." Anna nods and walks away.
Once she's in her room she stands in front of her wardrobe. Finally she doesn't have a lot of trouble in dressing herself. She isn't sure on what to wear, it's not like she's going out for a date, but she has that same nervousness that she should have in that situation. Finally after some minutes looking at all of her clothes she takes some jeans and a shirt. 'Let's go with casual.' She starts to undress, she begins with the top, when it's time to remove her pants she can't help but stop for a second. She gently touch the elastic waistband of the item, the movement reminds her of the day when she was discharged and Elsa had to help her to dress. The redhead remembers how it felt the blonde's fingers on her skin, even if they were oddly cold, she liked the sparks they sent all over her body. It was like wherever she was touched was in fire. She isn't able to explain to herself why she felt in that way even if she knows she starts to have some kind of feeling towards the blonde and maybe it's exactly this the reason.
She removes her pants and massages a little her injured leg. There's a little scar on it which reminds her of the surgery and of her doctor. 'That fall was in a way a bless.. I met a wonderful person.' Her fingers stop as soon as they reach the scar which doesn't hurt. She blanks out for a moment and then she realizes that her mother is yelling at her that the cookies are ready. She blinks her eyes and finishes dressing.
She returns to the kitchen and looks at those delicious sweets.
"Oh.. they seems so tasty.." Gerda can't help but let out a laugh at her daughter face.
"Eat one already!" She exclaims but then she notices how Anna tries to take more and she stops her. "Just one." Anna puffs but does as told.
"Yep, they'll like them!" the young woman says happily.
"Okay, then let's go, shall we?" They puts the cookies in a plastic box.
Back at the hospital Elsa and Kristoff finish to the check all of their patient and now the woman is heading to her office, while her intern goes to a different way: to Mandy.
Once she's inside her personal space, she closes her door and takes out her phone.
"Elsie! So, we are coming the next Wednesday morning, I know you're working, we'll stay until Saturday. Flynn has some working stuff to do. The flight arrives at 9am at the gate 3. Right, I was thinking to pay a visit to Marshall too, since we're in town. We could go together! Flynn says hi. Go and save the world! Can't wait to see you. Kisses." Elsa press the reply button and starts typing the message.
"Hi Punzy, thanks for the info. I'll try to be free for the time you'll arrive, so that I can pick you up. I'll let you know. I suppose to hear from Marshall in these days, I'll tell him about you two coming here. I try to keep the world a bit healthier. I can't wait to see you again, too. I miss you." She sends the text and takes away her phone. After that she goes to her desk and looks for the hundredth time at some papers. It's from her eye doctor. She is having some little problems with her sight and it's better if she wear glasses when she reads and when she's in front of a computer in order to not stress her eyes and avoid the headaches, but besides that, everything is fine. She's a bit tired and decides to take a nap on the couch in the office, but after only 5 minutes her phone buzzes.
"Elsa, would you come to the Relax room for a moment? Thanks!" it's from Kristoff. They exchanged their telephone numbers after that talk at the bar. She snorts for a second but in the end she chooses to stands up and goes to him. She doesn't know why he wants her to go there, but whatever, she'll go anyway.
She reaches the door of the room and opens it.
"Kristoff, why did you ask me to.." she stops for a really brief moment when her gaze meet familiar turquoise eyes. "..come here.." she continues in something like a whisper.
"Ehy Elsa!" Anna says without hiding her happiness in seeing the other woman. She can't help but go to the blonde and hug her.
"Hi Anna." After the initial shock she manages to speak up. Suddenly she starts to worry. "Are you okay?" earning a sound of disagreement the blonde ends the hug and looks at the younger woman in front of her.
"I'm totally fine! Actually, I'm doing great. I wanted to surprise you and I succeed in!" she smiles.
"So, if you two have finished, I'd like to try these.." Kristoff finally speaks. He doesn't want to kill the mood of the girls, but he is dying to eat the cookies Anna baked.
"Right, I came here to bring you two these. As a sign of gratitude for yesterday." Anna points at the sweets on the table.
"Oh.. you shouldn't-"
"It was a pleasure." The redhead stops her and grabs her arm to move her next the table. Elsa takes a cookie in her hand and bite it. She can't help but let out a pleasant sound.
"Wow, they're amazing!" She exclaims and eats another one. Usually she doesn't eat a lot of sweets, but these are delicious. They are normal homemade cookies, there's nothing special with them. No. There's something. Anna baked them.
"I'm glad you like them." Anna keeps smiling at the woman, she's totally ignoring her cousin, but he doesn't mind, he's too busy stealing more cookies possible.
"Seriously Anna, you're great. What else can you cook?" the older woman takes another piece of art of the redhead and looks at it before put it in her mouth.
"Oh well, various things. Pasta, pizza, some kind of cakes, meat. I try to avoid cooking fish, unless we're talking about tuna and salmon, because I only like those."
"She's this great only because I can't cook. We lived for a while together and I was lucky enough that she was able to not fire up the house." Kristoff steps in only for a moment and then returns to his cookies.
"Yeah.. we had ups and downs when we lived together, but I can't deny that his lack of ability in culinary was a bless for me." She chuckles.
"So, now that he's alone in that house?" The blonde asks curiously.
"Easy: home delivery." Anna replies. "What about you?"
"Me? Well, I always cook for myself." She says after eating her last cookie.
"You know what? We could do something like Masterchef. I'd like to try some of your dishes."
At that Kristoff steps in again.
"Oh, I'll be the judge! I'm impartial, plus I can't turn down an offer like that: free food? Yeah!" He exclaims. His cousin rolls her eyes.
"I have some doubts about your impartiality.." Elsa can't help herself from saying that.
"What!?"
"Well, I'm your boss and she's your cousin. I don't want to sound rude or anything bad, but you could be tempt to let me 'win' since you know I could make your working life an hell." Now she's afraid she crossed a line, she doesn't know how these friendship's things work, but she's relieved when she hears chuckles from the two cousins. 'I think I could start to understand..'
Author's note: Hi everyone! I'm feeling awful for not having had time to update sooner.. but I hope you'll enjoy the chapter. Thanks everyone for the feedback you're giving me about this story.
Have a nice day you all.
Christy