AN: Aghh I'm sorry this took so long to UD- I had such issues with ff! Also for some reason I kept re-writing parts because apparently I can't write Lucas. Please forgive any medical or military flaws- I do do my research but sometimes it's impossible to get it 100% right!
The first thing Lucas learnt about being a medic with the army was that war was nothing like the movies. They always say that in the movies as well but seriously, you can't even begin to imagine it. It's not just the smell of surgery you can't wash off your clothes because well, have you noticed any Laundromats hanging around in the desert? And it's not just the endless waiting around between bursts of horrific violence; it's the feeling of absolute panic and desperation when you realise you don't have the right supplies to hand to fix the soldier in front of you. It swells up to the front of your brain so that you can't think about what you're supposed to be doing, all you can see is what you need, what you don't have, what you can't do. When you're in training they don't warn you about that feeling. Sure they tell you it's gonna be hard, they mention that there's gonna be a whole lot of pain and panic and noise and violence but there's no post script note anywhere saying, by the way, most of the time there's going to be nothing you can do.
Lucas was jerked awake by the plane breaking on the runway and he rubbed his eyes, sitting up and looking around, it had been the quietest flight he'd taken in about five years. No-one yelling over the engine of a chopper, no stopping and starting or even jumping in and out of the plane, no last minute superstitions and rituals being done seconds before entry; just the passengers around him wearing jeans and sweaters, gathering up crossword puzzles and magazines. He rolled up his own paperback, Slaughterhouse Five- a friend had recommended it- and pushed into his canvas bag. Travelling light was a habit from years of living in tiny, completely un-private living quarters and he wasn't about to break it now; just because he was a civilian. He scowled at the idea once again and made his way off the plane, nodding at the hot hostess, "thank you ma'am, it was a wonderful flight."
"Any time soldier," she said with a wink. He smirked to himself; it was always nice to be appreciated.
He arrived at the hospital twenty minutes early and parked the rental car in the nearest available space. He stared up at the huge white building with its glossy windows and sliding doors. There were manicured hedges shaped like swans or some shit outside and not a piece of trash in sight. It looked like something from a movie set; not somewhere people came to bleed, to die or to get lucky and go home fixed. It wasn't what he was used to and he wasn't sure he liked the change. He was better getting down in the dirt and dust, fighting for the space to see and to stitch. Thinking on his feet was the thing Lucas was best at, he was relied on in the field to move fast and work with what he had. Here there were going to be thirty different instruments for the same damn procedure and he was so gonna ask for the wrong implement at some point and end up removing a root canal instead of a clot.
He shook himself and adjusted his tie before walking assuredly across the car park. Hell he could do this; he'd faced a whole lot worse in his time.
As he approached the entrance an ambulance pulled up behind him and a doctor with bright blue eyes and hair sticking up at all angles came flying out to meet them, "this from the pile up?"
"Damn idiots trying to run from the cops," a nurse muttered from behind as she helped pull the first stretcher out.
"Tell me about it," the EMT agreed, "alright we got a five year old, contusions to the face and chest and complaining of severe pain in her right side- pulse is tacky, BP's one hundred over fifty-"
"Excuse me," the doctor was suddenly looking right at Lucas, "you need assistance?"
"I was gonna ask you the same thing," he said grinning, "Scott, Lucas, new attending, I'm early."
"You're never early in this place, you're always missing something," the doctor nodded at him, "Chris Keller, attending, you wanna give us a hand then Scott?"
"Sure," he moved towards the gurney and began to help push. He bent down to talk to the patient, "hey there sweetheart, how you feeling?"
"My side hurts," the little girl looked up at him, her eyes wet with tears, "where's my mom?"
Lucas glanced up to the EMT quickly, "her mom in the rig behind?"
The EMT shook her head shortly, "flat lined at the scene."
He winced and then looked back at the girl, "you know, your mom's not here right now but I promise I'm gonna keep you company right the way through this ok?" The girl nodded, "alright, what's your name?"
"Kayla."
"That's a pretty name," his eyes took in the corridor as they moved along, two of the trauma rooms were busy and they moved into the third, there were three more further down and a large ER waiting room to the right when he glanced over his shoulder. This place was freaking huge.
He grabbed gloves from the box on the nearest counter and a dark haired nurse pulled a gown over his shirt, "on my count, gently now, one-two-three." They lifted her up and over to the table and he began to assess, "02 on a hundred percent."
"Ouch!"
"Tenderness to the right lower side, she's gonna need an ultrasound."
Chris nodded and swung one over, Lucas did a double take, "nice, you got portables and everything!"
"Yup, welcome to Oz my friend, you got this?"
"Uh huh-"
"Great, hollar if she starts brading down," Chris moved towards the door and waved a hand back towards the team, "your nurses today are the delightful Jorja and Marg, ladies wave to Scott." Both nurses raised their eyebrows as they moved around the table attaching saline drips and taking Kayla's pulse, basically ignoring him. Chris rolled his eyes, "always nice to be shown some respect around here."
Lucas chuckled and sent him a mock salute, "thanks man."
"No problem, Sawyer'll be down in a minute- if you're still alive after that we'll take you out for drinks at the end of your shift- see if the newbie's got any secrets."
"That sounds ominous," he muttered before pushing the ultrasound over Kayla's side once Jorja had applied gel, "alright Kayla just try and relax."
"I want my mom!"
"I know kiddo but I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."
There was a blast of wind and the door of the trauma room swung open as a mass of blonde hair flew in, disappearing rapidly into a knot being tied by the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. "Talk to me," she said sharply.
"From the car accident, possible internal bleeding," he began, putting the ultrasound to one side and wiping away the gel.
She turned to look at him, green eyes briefly flicking up and down, "you are?"
"Lucas Scott." He returned the favour, surveying her quickly and damn she made green scrubs his new favourite thing.
"And?"
"And I start here today, I'm the new-"
"I know who you are," she said suddenly, "what I want to know is why you're in a trauma with my patient when you're not officially signed in as a doctor for this hospital. This girl is my responsibility."
"Yes but I came in with her and gave her the first assessment; I'll be scrubbing in if that's what's necessary."
"I'll be deciding what's necessary Doctor Scott, thank you," she began to push the gurney out into the hall, barking at one of the timid looking interns behind her, "Crawford I want a blood gas and x-rays before we go in."
Lucas followed her up the corridor crossly, "look with all due respect-"
"You can say whatever you want with all the respect you got but that won't change anything here doctor; you are not officially a member of this hospital and that makes you liable."
"I don't give a damn about being liable! I told that little girl I'd stay with her."
"You can see her afterwards," she snapped, disappearing into the elevator.
Well shit. This place was... different.
He took the stairs to the Chief's office, taking in the nurse's desk, several wards and the floor with the operating theatres on through the glass panels on the doors as he jogged up them two at a time.
"Doctor Scott!" Jack greeted him with a wide smile, holding out a hand to shake Lucas's own, "how was your flight?"
"Great thank you sir," he said quietly, blue eyes once again assessing the new room; light, airy, lots of files and books on one wall, a wide desk with masses of papers and one large photo frame with what had to be his family, hot wife, cute kid.
"I hear you've already been getting involved downstairs?"
"Yes I uh- apologise for that, I was just helping out, I had no idea there would be lawsuits immediately looming."
Jack shook his head and gave him a quick smile; one that told Lucas he was stressed, but not pissed. "Look you're new, there are gonna be some learning curves you're gonna have to adjust to but I have faith in you Lucas- my dad always speaks very highly of you."
"Thank you sir, is the General well?"
"He's good yeah thanks." Jack pulled a drawer open and dropped a thick wad of paper on the desk, "your contract- you just need to sign the bottom page, date, etc. Just give me one second-" he moved and swung the door open, "Bevin?"
A tiny blonde bounced into the room clutching a clipboard, "hey boss, you need me to stamp the contract?"
"We were just signing it, Doctor Scott this is my trusted assistant, the woman who basically runs the place, Bevin Mirskey, Bevin this is our newest attending Doctor Lucas Scott."
"Hi there," she said cheerily and he was about to reply when she turned back to Jack, "Chief you have a nine thirty appointment and I don't want to rush you but you know Anspaugh hates it when anyone keeps him waiting."
Jack exhaled, rolling his eyes before looking at Lucas, "Lucas I apologise, our board are meeting this morning to discuss the new AHA guidelines and how it's going to affect patient care- you happy to stick around for the rest of the day, get a feel for the place, or do you need to crash?"
"No I'm great to stay, thank you, I slept on the plane." He bent down and signed the contract, ignoring the many feelings swarming to the surface as he watched the ink dry on the page. He sincerely hoped this was the right thing to be doing.
"That's great- I hope you feel right at home here Lucas, and personally, I'm glad to have you aboard." Jack was pulling on a suit jacket and straightening his own tie and his smile was wider as he headed to shake Lucas's hand again, "I'm sure I'll see you on the floor at some point this evening. Bevin, would you mind setting Doctor Scott up?"
"Of course Chief, now go!"
Jack held up his hands and disappeared out of the door chuckling. Bevin turned to look at Lucas appraisingly, "you have anything you need me to sort for you, allergies to latex gloves, parking spots?"
"Er no I don't think so."
"Great," she smiled brightly at him, "that makes you my easiest task of the day. So, here's your ID badge, your coat- unless you have your own?" He shook his head and she continued, "your combination codes for the copiers, entry to records, labs, the attending's lounge- oh and don't lose that code! I swear I have to replace Doctor Keller's like every week and it is not fun! Your schedule will be posted on the board just like everybody else's, rounds are at eight, your first shift will end on Thursday at twelve hundred hours sharp. Is there anything else you need to know?"
Oh god they talked fast in this place.
"I think I'm good thanks, but uh," he raised an eyebrow at her, smiling faintly, "maybe I could use some sort of private tour?"
"You'll learn faster if you find your own way around," she said sweetly before dancing back out of the door.
He resisted checking his face in the mirror for stray blood stains because what had just happened?
This place was crazy. It had crazy chicks who yelled at him and ignored his obvious flirting. It was stupid. He didn't fit here.
He wandered down to the main surgical floor, thinking about the kind of massive decision he'd just made. It wasn't that he wasn't glad to be home because in a way, he was. Hell any kind of excuse to drive Nate crazy (and just being in the same city as his brother seemed to make Nathan break out in hives so, win there) and it was kind of nice being in an elevator that played music and didn't smell of dog piss but... His life with the army had been the only one he'd had for more than a decade. Home was the corner of a van with JB and Watson yelling at each other about who was in charge of the crappy radio and barely any room to stretch his legs. The reason he'd gone a little bit (ok a lot) out of control every time he'd been Stateside was because he literally didn't know what else to do with himself. And now he had to acclimatise, fast, and- oh- hot brunette making her way over.
"Hey there."
She dimpled at him, holding out her hand, "you the new attending?"
"Yes I am, Lucas Scott, nice to meet you, and you are?"
"Brooke, wash your hands if you touch him!" He scowled and looked up at the ceiling, come on, he could have at least had an hour before Satan herself appeared. Brooke darted a look over his shoulder, pulled an apologetic face and then skirted away towards the nurse's desk.
Lucas rounded on the red head marching towards him, "hello darling sister in law, always a pleasure."
Rachel held up both her hands as she approached, "don't touch me, I just showered."
"Bitch."
"Many words back to you that I can't be bothered to waste my breath on," she glanced at his badge, "that's a beautiful shot of you."
"It's old," he said crossly, covering it with his hand, "and aren't you supposed to be rolling out the welcome wagon with banners saying we missed you and welcome home? Not quick, run, the bitch is coming, save yourselves!"
Rachel rolled her eyes, "they sold out of those on my last birthday."
"When you turned how old?"
She turned away, "always a pleasure Lucas."
He laughed and caught her arm, "now come on Rachel, aren't you a little glad to see me?"
"I am... glad you're alive. Whether you will still feel that way by the end of the week remains to be seen." She began to walk, gesturing for him to follow, "unfortunately for the both of us, Nathan has a case this morning which means that I seem to have been lumbered with directing you around this place. The rules you need to know; number one don't sleep with anyone that can get you fired because seriously, Jack will fire you and although he works the going grey look he really doesn't need more stress lines around his eyes and Bevin will hunt you down; number two if you get paged to the ER you go, you do not pause to finish your coffee, you do not stop to use the bathroom, you just go; number three-"
"Hey Rach?"
"I prefer that we not use nicknames Lucas, it makes us sound like we're friends."
"Right, and that would be totally terrible?"
"Bathroom Lucas, you destroyed my brand. new. bathroom- do you have any idea the kind of planning that goes into creating something that beautiful?"
"Can't you hire someone to do it all for you?"
"Yes, but the funny thing is that they require your time to ask for your opinions and as you will quickly learn, no-one who works here has any time at all. It took months for me to have enough meetings to decide on a colour scheme. Months."
He winced, "sorry about that then."
"I'm over it."
"Then-"
"Attending's lounge," she interrupted, pushing her own code in before using her foot to open the door, "ladies and gentlemen our new attending Lucas Scott!"
He'd caught about half of all that. Should he have written the bit about bathroom colour schemes down? Why was Rachel even more crazy at work than she was at home?
He took in a handful of faces quickly and then paused on the girl in the corner, hunched up over a tome of a textbook with her iPod in and blonde hair falling all over the place. Damn she really was just beautiful. She looked massively different from the all powerful, but still smoking hot, surgeon that had flown into the trauma room this morning.
She looked vulnerable.
"You aren't allowed to be rude or to hit on my best friend Lucas and I swear to god if you do I will personally castrate you and Nathan can argue it was just on the stand-" before he had the chance to protest Rachel was yelling across the room, "Sawyer!"
The girl in the corner looked up and her eyes met his with something he couldn't quite read in them. Damn. That threw him completely; the one thing he was good at besides stitching was getting a feel for what people were thinking, what they were about to say or do and dude, this girl was just impossible to figure out. She made her way over easily and he watched her walk; she looked even better in a black pencil skirt and a dark green satin blouse, a loose matching tie around her neck.
He was going kill Nathan for not introducing them sooner.
"Peyton this is my brother-in-law, don't shake his hand you don't know where he's been, Lucas this is the only person I give a damn about in the world bar your brother, be nice."
"We've already met," Peyton said, a flash of amusement in her eyes.
"We have," he agreed, "how's the girl you took up, she live?"
"Yes, Kayla's in recovery," she said quietly, "so you're official now?"
"Yep, got a badge and everything." They stood silently for a second, staring at one another and he reached up to scratch the back of his neck, "hey look, I didn't mean to tread on your toes this morning or anything-"
"It's fine," she cut in, "you didn't know."
"Well, no, but I mean, I've been in traumas before- a hell of a lot of them actually."
She looked awkward suddenly, and then annoyed, like she didn't like feeling awkward, "I know that, I mean, Nathan's told me about your career."
"I'm sure Rachel has given you a very colourful version."
"No, of course not! They don't really talk about you- it- at all." She winced suddenly, like she wished she hadn't said that but she couldn't control the brain to mouth filter and then scowled, "I'm sure you've very competent."
"I am," he said smirking- normally this was where he got a hand on his arm or a suggestive comment; instead he was met with two sets of stony gazes and he swallowed, "uh-"
"Newbie!" Chris appeared throwing an arm over his shoulder, "you need a pair of thermals over here? Ice Queen one and two making you feel right at home?"
"Shut up Chris," both girls said simultaneously.
Chris beamed, "always a total joy to see you both. So kid, how was your morning?"
"Well, first I got my ass handed to me by Doctor Sawyer here- because I was involved in a trauma without having signed my contract but apart from that-"
"I didn't hand you your ass," she interrupted suddenly, "I mean, it had nothing to do with your ass! I was looking out for my patient!"
"I promised her I wouldn't leave- her mom died at the scene," he retorted quickly, somehow unable to let the whole thing go. She kind of looked hot riled up anyway. Behind him Rachel was making abort signals and running a finger across her neck. He ignored her.
"I didn't know that!"
"You didn't give me a chance to tell you."
"Trauma's are fast paced Doctor Scott," she said cooly, "I thought you knew that."
"You should have let me stay with the girl."
She seemed to straighten up suddenly, her eyes narrowing; he would have ducked in other circumstances, she looked fierce. "I shouldn't have to do anything, I'm not your subordinate and with a paeds case I'm actually your superior so in future, don't tell me how to run my traumas Doctor," she snapped before stalking away and out of the room.
He watched her go, confused as to what the hell had just happened when Rachel snapped her fingers in his face, "oh you are dead."
Behind her Keller was shaking his head consolingly.
"What did I do?"
"You know."
He sighed; he really wanted to go home.