Amy had been tossing and turning all night, knowing perfectly well that there was no way she was getting out of the DNA test at Dade County this afternoon. She couldn't even recall what time she had eventually fallen asleep, but she was grateful that the sound of her alarm clock woke her up from the nightmare she had been having. It was a dream that she in no way wanted to relive again. Regardless of her anxiety and her fears, she dragged herself out of bed two hours earlier than she would usually get up. She was a night owl and that was the way it had always been, since she finished high school anyway.
After searching through her dresser for something decent to wear, she decided on some black pants, and a sheer pink off-the-shoulders, long sleeved blouse with a keyhole center tie. She wore a matching black camisole beneath the transparent garment. If this outfit qualified as "dressing-up," she certainly wasn't trying to impress anyone but herself. Why would she get dolled up for a man who could careless about her? Once she brushed through her hair, she grabbed her purse and headed out of her room. She made up a white lie that she was going to Courtney's house when her mother questioned her, and was out the door in a flash. Slipping inside her car, she pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the hospital.
Her heart was pounding the whole ten minutes it took to get there, and by the time she pulled into the parking lot in front of the emergency room, a huge feeling of nausea hit her. She swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes fixed themselves on the man just outside the entrance.
Christian Troy--or should she say, her "potential father"-- leaned against the rail that laid on either sides of the narrow walkway adjacent to the Emergency Room doors. He stood there in what appeared to be an expensive black suit, wearing a red shirt beneath. A couple of the buttons were undone at the top revealing the stunted dark brown hairs on his chest. A pair of red tinted sunglasses hid his eyes from view. Even if she could not see his eyes from the few yards she had parked, she could tell that his patience was wearing thin. It was three minutes to noon when she arrived, but the way in which he kept glancing at his watch made it obvious he was ready to leave.
At least he hadn't seen what car she had been driving the day before. This gave her the opportunity to remain inconspicuous until she exited the vehicle. Taking a deep breath to calm her still pounding heart, she put on a confident face, grabbed her purse and slid out of the car. The early afternoon sunlight cast a radiant glow upon her features. A few loose strands of hair blew into face, tickling the skin around her jaw. She chewed on her bottom lip as she trudged across the parking lot. Her pace quickened when she saw him check his watch again, and almost stopped in her tracks when he turned his head and cast his gaze upon her.
Oh, just get it over with already. Put an end to this misery. She exhaled sharply at the smug smile that crossed his face.
"I'm surprised you showed up. I was beginning to think you decided to cop-out."
She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Let's just get this over with, ok?"
He seemed to hesitate at those words but showed no sign that they effected him. "Fine by me," he smirked. Pushing his strong upper body away from the railing, he lead her through the automatic emergency room doors.
Amy crossed her arms over her chest as her eyes roamed her surroundings. Her stomach knotted up the moment she inhaled the strong disinfectant that filled the spacious room. Numerous patients ranging from eight years old to eighty-two years old, both male and female filled the many rows of plastic chairs that sat on either sides of the unit. Some of them moaned in pain while others remained quiet. An eight year old girl with long blonde hair and wide blue eyes screamed in anguish. She was seated on her mother's lap. The woman tried mercifully to calm her down as she proceeded to sob uncontrollably in her arms. A feeble elderly woman to her right coughed harshly into a kleenex in her shaky and boney right hand.
She cringed at the sights and sounds around her, swallowing the lump in her throat. Wrapping her arms around herself, she moved closer to Christian. She wasn't looking for reassurance. She was only searching for some sort of shelter away from the scene surrounding her. Her eyes traveled up to the man beside her, noticing that he was noticing her. She blinked back her annoyance. "What?"
He shook his head with a forced smile. "Nothing." He leaned towards her, lowering his voice to a tone that only she would hear. "Not too fond of hospitals, are you?"
She took a step back when he leaned towards her. Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. There was no way she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. "Why do you care?"
He hesitated at the question. She wasn't sure but she could have sworn she saw a glint of tenderness in his eyes. Maybe it was just her. He slipped his sunglasses off of his eyes, tucking them away in one of the pockets on his jacket. "Well, we want to get this over with, don't we? We can't have you running out of here before the DNA test has even started. Just being practical."
Her brows furrowed in thought at the reassuring smile that followed his words. Was this man actually softening up or was she daydreaming? Exhaling sharply, she leaned her hip against the front desk. A petite and trim hispanic woman in lavender hospital scrubs and a matching stethoscope, appeared in the open doorway a few feet away from the desk.
"May I help you, sir?" The woman inquired, fixing her large brown eyes on Christian.
He flashed the woman a charming smile. "Christian Troy and..." He stole a glance at the restless girl beside him, "Amy Gellar. We have an appointment at noon, for a paternity test."
The woman's eyes left his to roam her surroundings. She leaned down and assessed a clipboard with a list of names. "Ah-ha. Yes, I have you both right here. I'm going to need you to fill out these forms first, and please sign in." She set two boards down on the desk before them, handing a pen to Christian with a friendly smile.
Christian took the pen and filled out the forms necessary. It took him no more than two minutes before he signed himself in. When he finished, he turned and handed the pen to Amy. She hesitated before taking the pen from him and filling out a seperate set of forms. Once that was done, she signed herself in on the line beneath his name. It might not have been relevant at the time, but she couldn't help notice that this man had very nice handwriting. The signature on the birth certificate had been sloppy, appearing as if a child had signed it. Right now, it seemed much more legible and somewhat fancy. Once she was done, she handed the pen back to the woman.
"Right this way," she told them, disappearing through the doorway. A split second later, the door beside the front desk opened up and she stepped outside. She held the door open for them to walk in before her.
Amy exchanged a look with Christian, that nausea returning stronger than ever. She couldn't bring herself to move away from her place near the wall. Her feet simply wouldn't budge. She crossed her arms over her stomach, praying that she would not throw up. Meeting the man's gaze, she noticed the inquisitive but concerned look his face. For a moment, she almost thought that he was going to hug her, but she knew there was no way that he'd do that. He barely knew her.
"You all right?"
She gently nodded her head, forcing a small smile. "Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just do this already." Inhaling deeply, she shuffled towards the open door, taken by complete surprise when Christian allowed her to walk in before him. He had done the same back at his office, but maybe she was wrong about this man. Maybe he was a true gentlemen.
A shiver danced down her spine as the three of them headed down a narrow corridor towards a care facility. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to get warm. Why did hospitals always have to be so cold? Why did they have to have the sickening and pungent aroma that made your stomach turn? If her "father" was a plastic surgeon, she didn't know how he could get use to all of this without feeling sick everyday.
"I hope you're not thinking of backing out now."
She turned her head to see Christian had fallen in step beside her. A woeful sigh escaped her, shaking her head. "As much as I wish I could, I know that would probably piss you off if I did." She narrowed her eyes at him, "actually, no, you wouldn't be that pissed off. That's what you expect me to do, right? Cop-out and prove to you that this is all just some scam that I made up for kicks? You'd love that, wouldn't you?"
A smug smile crept across his face, his brows arching in surprise. "Are you always this bitter or is today a special occasion because I'm in attendance?"
She rolled her eyes at his words, "you didn't answer my question. You can't answer a question with a question."
He titled his head to one side, tugging at his suit jacket. "What can I say? I'm an inquisitive person...among other things."
She scoffed, dropping her eyes to the white linolieum floor. "I bet," she mumbled.
The hispanic woman lead them into a curtained out area where a line of gurnies sat against the left wall. Doctors and nurses alike were tending to the sick and injured in different curtains. Others were standing at a huge half-circle desk near the right wall. The desk had multiple stations with flat screen computers, phones, and chart racks among other things. Some were reviewing labs, others were writing in charts while receptionists typed swiftly on the computers. Phones were ringing off-the-hook. None of this particularly bothered Amy, except of course for the sounds behind the curtains. Ventilators, suction machines, EKG monitors with beeps and alarms, and the fast-paced and excited voices of the doctors tending to their patient's immediate needs. In Amy's mind, all of it made for a nightmare come to life.
A curtain was pulled back to reveal an empty gurney. The woman stole a glance at the clipboard in her hand. "All right, if you two wait right here, the nurse will be around to administer the test. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes. If you're willing to wait, the results might even be back in under two hours."
Amy chewed on her bottom lip as she wrapped her arms around her body a little tighter. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she averted her eyes to her feet, wanting to look at anything else but the things around her.
Christian sent the woman a gratuitous smile as he took a seat down on the gurney. "Thanks."
The woman turned on her heels and headed off in the opposite direction, leaving Amy alone with the man. She thought it best not to say another word to Christian until this was all over with. If she attempted to make conversation with him, she had a feeling it would only lead to a verbal disagreement. She had to give this man credit, he could seem smug, charming, and intimidating all at the same time. How did he make a living that way? Had someone actually given him a taste of his own medicine in the past? She had so much to learn about him, but as far as she was concerned...she didn't know if she particularly wanted to find out. Suddenly getting the feeling that someone was watching her, she raised her eyes from the floor and noticed that yet again, Christian was watching her. For a split second, she saw a bit of sorrow in his eyes, but it instantly disappeared. A smug expression crossed his face.
Amy sighed irritably, placing her hands firmly on her hips. "What?"
"I was just thinking. You seem to take an instant dislike to hospitals and yet, you were so willing to undergo plastic surgery yesterday in my office. Frankly, I'm surprised." He crossed his arms comfortably over his chest, a brow arching expectantly as if waiting for an explaination.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, rolling her eyes. "Well, if that's what it took to remove the memory of you from my face...I'd do it." She knew perfectly well that that was a lie, but again, she was not going to let him have the satisfaction of being right.
His smug expression vanished as he dropped his eyes to the floor.
Cocking her head to see his face, her eyes widened in astonishment when she noticed the emotion he seemed to be struggling to hold back. Her heart constricted in her chest, hoping upon hope that somehow, he had brought down the wall that he had built around himself to conceal these emotions. It was wishful thinking, but deep down inside, she wanted more than anything for him to hold her...the way only a father could.
Clearing his throat, he brought his eyes back up to meet hers. His eyes narrowed, studying her facial features. "My guess is you haven't been hospitalized since you were a child. Am I right?"
A bewildered expression crossed her face. Was he actually making an attempt to have a decent conversation with her? She tried to find the spitefulness in his voice or even a tad bit of arrogance, but there was no hidden vexation whatsoever. It was a casual question. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to answer it in the same manner. She sighed softly, "actually, never. Well...not since I was born anyway."
This time it was his turn to be bewildered. "Never? You're kidding me."
She shook her head. "No, it's true. I guess the closest I've ever been to being hospitalized is coming in to the Emergency Room. Other times, I just went to the urgent care centers." She watched him absorb this new found information, wishing she knew what was going on in his head right now. Did he think she was a freak? Did he sympathize with her? The expression on his face registered only thought.
"So I guess I'm more of a freak than you thought, huh?" She cocked a brow his way in question. If she wasn't going to get any reaction out of him, she'd simply slip back into the bitter tone she had started out with.
He blinked at the sound of her voice, meeting her gaze. "I never said you were a freak. It just comes as a surprise to me, that's all." The smug smile returned to his face, "look at that. I'm learning more about you by the minute. I think it's obvious where I stand. Hospitals don't bother me at all."
She sighed wearily, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Well duh. You're a plastic surgeon. You could have been a regular doctor. What made you decide to be a plastic surgeon?"
"What better way to make a living than to spend your life making people feel better about themselves? Besides the fact that it's a gold mine? Therapy sure as hell isn't going to make a woman go from an A cup to a D in one day. Lucky for me, boob jobs are eighty percent of our clientele. I suppose you could say...it was destiny." He smirked.
Amy nodded her head in understanding, crossing her arms firmly over her chest. "Ok, and how exactly do you explain the whole 'sleeping-with-your-patients' scenario?"
The smirk instinctively disappeared from his face. "What makes you think I do?"
She exhaled sharply, her eyes lifting to the ceiling as she pretended to ponder the thought. "Hmm, I don't know. Maybe because I overheard you talking about it." Her gaze came back to rest on his, continuing when she saw the puzzled look on his face. "Yesterday when I came into the building. You were talking to some lady with curly brown hair. Well, actually, it was more like arguing."
He leaned a little closer to her, lowering his tone of voice. His gaze grew cold with his next words, "not that what I do outside of work is any of your business, but I stopped sleeping with patients a long time ago."
She wasn't intimidated by this man in the least bit. Especially after the slightly emotional reaction she had gotten out of him moments ago. She pursed her lips, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Okay, if you say so."
He turned his head away and scoffed. "I don't need your approval or anyone else's for that matter. So, why don't the two of us stop our yapping and wait quietly until the nurse comes by?"
Amy didn't have a chance to debate with him because a second later, a nurse appeared from around the curtain. She was a short, Caucasian and full-figured woman with shoulder length light brown hair, piercing brown eyes and thin lips. Just as all the other nurses, she wore lavender colored scrubs along with a black stethoscope. The moment Amy saw the contents on the tray the nurse held in her hands, she began inching back on her heels until her back slammed against the wall. Christian's eyes shifted from the nurse to Amy, his brows furrowing inquisitively at her perturbed behavior. The nurse seemed to be just as baffled as he was.
"Are you ok hon?" The nurse asked her.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, looking from the woman to Christian, then back at the woman. "Um...yeah. I just..." She couldn't even begin to explain exactly how frightened she was at that moment.
Christian's eyes darted back to the nurse. "I think what she means to say is she's scared," he gestured to the tray the woman set down on a metal stand, "of needles apparently." He sighed softly, his gaze roaming back to Amy.
Her forehead wrinkled in thought, noticing a look in his eyes she had not seen before. There was a genuine touch of empathy within them. Even the sound of his voice spoke volumes. The smug tone he had used only a moment before the nurse arrived...had vanished. What was this man up to? Did he truly care about her and what she was feeling? Had she not seen what she had earlier, she would have dismissed this altogether but this was different. New. Reassuring. Heartfelt. Her astonishment only grew with what he did next.
He sent her a small smile before turning his attention to the nurse. "No use in forcing her to go first." Shrugging off his suit jacket, he proceeded to roll up his sleeve for the woman. "I'm ready when you are."
The woman smiled softly and wrapped a rubber band tightly around his left arm. She pulled on a pair of latex gloves and began searching for a vein on his arm. Once she found one, she went about preparing the syringe.
Amy stood there motionless, watching as the nurse took a couple pints of his blood. The man took it like a trooper, not even flinching. As paranoid as she was about being next, she couldn't fight the heartwarming feeling that overtook her. She had expected him to make some snide remark about her terror-striken behavior but he hadn't. The thought occured to her that he might have only been doing it to be smug. Either that or a simple momentary act of kindness, such as the gratuitous act of holding a door open for someone. Either way, she appreciated it more than he could imagine.
The nurse finished with him a moment later, taping a cotton ball to his arm with a piece of surgical tape. Both his gaze and the woman's went to an anxious Amy. "All right hon, you're next."
Her stomach knotted up, but she could not bring herself to move over to the gurney. She pushed a huge lump down in her throat, watching as Christian slipped his suit jacket back on. The man scooted down the gurney towards her.
He gave the spot next to him a pat as the nurse waited patiently for her to sit down, "you heard the woman, you're next sweetheart. Come on. If I can do it, you can do it." He smiled smugly.
She brought a shaky hand up to brush a few loose strands of hair out of her face. Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "I don't know if I can. Call me a scaredy-cat or a whoose, I don't care. I just..." She sighed softly, looking him in the eyes. "I hate needles. I'm...I'm terrified, ok? Go ahead, laugh at me." Her gaze fell down to her feet.
"Oh hon, there's nothing to-"
Christian held a hand up to silence the nurse, "excuse me, I think I can handle this." He turned his attention back to Amy, "am I laughing? Come on, one little needle is not going to kill you. As spunky as you appear to be, it comes as a surprise to me that you don't have enough courage to get through this. All it takes is two minutes. How old are you now? Seventeen? A twelve year old has more courage than you."
Her eyes narrowed on him, appalled that he'd think she was younger. "I'm nineteen, for your information. I also forgot to mention the fact that I can't even remember the last time I had a shot. Probably not since I was a kid, and even then...I don't remember it."
He sighed in frustration, his patience wearing thin. "So you're nineteen years old, and you've never had one shot in your life. My God, no wonder you're so high-strung around this stuff. Look, you wanted to get this over with, didn't you?" She was hesitant but nodded. He leaned in a little closer to her, lowering his voice to a tone that only she would hear, "do you want me to hold your hand, sweetheart?"
For a moment, she didn't know if he was being serious or only joking with her. Either way, she was tempted to take that offer. With a roll of her eyes, she said not another word and began inching towards the vacant spot at the end of the gurney. She sighed irritably, pausing when she came to the foot of the cot until finally pushing herself up on it. The nurse exchanged a questioning look with Christian before she lifted the sleeve of Amy's shirt and wrapped a rubber band tightly around her left arm.
"Ow! Fuck! Are you trying to kill me?"
The woman flushed in mortification before apologizing. Christian's brows arched in astonishment at Amy's sudden outburst, "that's quite a mouth you got on you, sweetheart." A smile played at the corners of his lips, watching her intently.
She rolled her eyes at his choice of words. "So I've been told." She tugged at the band around her arm, cringing as it cut off her circulation. Why the hell did they always have to make these things so tight? This seemed to be just as bad as the shot was going to be. Her heart pounded in her chest when she saw the nurse preparing the syringe. She wanted to move away. She wanted to do more than move away, she wanted to run out of there, far far away.
The woman turned towards her with the syringe in her hand, ready to stick her. Her body trembled with fright, only anticipating the worst. She turned her head away to put her focus on something else. Then, just when she thought the needle would go in her arm, the man beside her took her hand in his. Her brows furrowed inquisitively, turning her head to meet his intent and tender gaze. She couldn't understand the meaning of his action, but it gave her the bravery she needed at the time. A soft smile crept across her face. She kept her focus on him while the nurse extracted the blood from her arm. Before she knew it, she was finished.
Christian released her hand and smirked. "See, that wasn't so hard after all."
She watched the nurse tape up her arm and nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess not."
The woman disposed of her rubber gloves and turned to the expectant pair on the gurney. "I'm going to send these up to the lab. These results usually take at least a day to get back, but since Dr. Troy here has requested them as soon as possible, it shouldn't take more than two hours. You two are free to wait out in the lobby or you could come back in a few hours if you prefer."
Amy exchanged a look with Christian. Was it possible that he had pulled some strings to get them to the front of the line? He crossed his arms over his chest comfortably, "what? You think I don't have connections?"
She cocked a brow his way, a smirk crossing her face. "I'm not surprised that you do." The nurse picked up the tray with the vials of blood and strode off in the opposite direction, leaving the two of them alone. Amy's legs swung back and forth over the side of the gurney, dropping her gaze to the two-inch heeled, ankle-length, black leather boots that covered her feet. "Um, I know this might not matter to you, but it matters to me," she sighed softly before bringing her eyes back up to meet with his, "thank you...for what you did, holding my hand like that. I really needed it."
He forced a small smile, tilting his head to one side. "Don't mention it."
A weary sigh escaped her as she pulled the sleeve of her blouse down, and hopped off of the gurney. She turned to look at him just as he had rose to his feet. "So...what do we do now? If you want to leave or...you want me to leave, it's fine. I don't care." Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.
He swallowed the lump in his throat, a hint of sadness reflecting in his eyes. He shook his head. "I'm not forcing you to stay. The deed has been done. You could leave or you could stay. It's solely up to you, sweetheart. As for me," he cleared his throat and tugged at his suit jacket, "I'm not leaving until those results are back, and I get some answers...once and for all."
Her heart constricted in her chest, noticing the tersely way in which he spoke his last words. Even though she wanted to turn and walk out of there before he could aggravate her even more, her heart wasn't in it. It discouraged her that this man could go from showing a tiny amount of tenderness to being a total prick a split second later. Who was he kidding? Himself? She crossed her arms firmly over her chest, "I don't have anywhere to be, but I'm not planning on going straight home. As...bored as I might be here, I could wait around too. Besides...I want some answers too."
He sighed irksomely. "Fine, stay." Without another word, he sauntered past her, heading out of the expansive area.
Amy followed behind him, noticing the grin on his face. He was giving the younger and more daintier nurses around him a quick once over as he passed by. If she thought he was a playboy before, she knew it was the truth now. A scoff escaped her as she saw the exchange between him and the nurses. They were like putty in his hands. It was almost as if he had some demonic power that baited a woman and drew her towards him, much in the same way a fish to a hook. As irrelevant as it might be for her to know, she wondered, how many of the women in South Beach had he actually slept with?
Christian stole a glance over his shoulder, apparently having heard her scoff. "Is there a problem sweetheart?"
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "No. No problem at all."
This time, it was his turn to scoff. He slowed his pace until he fell in step with her. "Oh don't play dumb with me. What was that scoff and the eye rolling about? Do you have some sort of problem with me admiring a beautiful woman? You aren't the only young lady around here. Lucky for you, you're with me." He cleared his throat somewhat uncomfortably, as if realizing what he had said was a mistake. "For now at least."
She snickered with yet another roll of her eyes. "Should I be flattered by that or just annoyed?"
He stopped in his tracks when they were a few feet away from the exit of the emergency care facility, turning towards her. She had stopped at almost the same time as he did, her brows furrowing inquisitively, wondering what he was up to now. A shiver danced down her spine as the man leaned in and spoke softly in her ear, "I'll let you know...as soon as we get those DNA results back."
Before she even had time to react, he was already on his way out the door. She stood there dumbfounded, not knowing exactly what to make of his last words. They sounded as if they had a double meaning. It made her feel somewhat uneasy the same way she had felt yesterday when she'd first stepped into his office. She couldn't figure this man out. One minute he was curt and arrogant, the next minute he was being what could be considered "curteous," and now he was making advances on her as if she were one of his many conquests she'd suspected he'd had. There were just too many sides to Christian Troy. What would happen in the event that this DNA test came back positive? What side would she see then? Part of her shuddered to think. While another part of her wanted to stick around to find out.