"Don't forget. Gavin, you have football practice after school, and Olivia you're going to cheerleading tryouts."
"We know, Mom," my kids said at the same time.
"Are you nervous, Liv?" I asked, looking in the rear view mirror at my beautiful 15-year-old daughter.
"Not really," she shrugged. "I've been practicing with Maddy and Nicole."
"Good, you don't need to be nervous. I know you'll make the squad," my daughter smiled at me in the rear view mirror, and I smiled back.
"I hope I'm quarterback again," Gavin said.
"I know you will be," I said, pulling into the school parking lot. "You were the quarterback last year." Olivia and Gavin opened their doors, and Olivia poked her head in as Gavin said goodbye and left to go catch up with his friends.
"Don't forget," Olivia said. "Tennis practice after cheer tryouts."
"What time will it be over?" I asked.
"Probably 5."
"Alright," I smiled, kissing her forehead. "Have a good day, honey."
"You too, Mom." Olivia shut the door, and ran over to her friends Maddy and Nicole.
I pulled out of the parking lot and turned down Ferguson Blvd. and headed towards work. Traffic was terrible today, and apparently on Monday everyone forgets how to drive.
"Move over!" I honked my horn at the person in front of me as I slammed on my brakes, because they were driving like an imbecile. They had their blinker on, but wouldn't turn. I honked again, and they finally scooted over. I sped up and zoomed past them, looking into the driver-side window as I drove past. It was an old lady. Now I feel bad for yelling at her, even though she couldn't hear me.
I finally arrived at Boston Medical and pulled into the parking garage, looking for a spot to park. I found one on the third level in between a red Subaru and a white Porsche. I put my car in park as I turned it off and grabbed my purse and coffee, opening the door and stepping out. I took the elevator down to ground-level and walked across the street to the hospital. I walked past the front desk, smiled at Ashley, the receptionist, and rounded the corner, only to see the elevator doors closing.
"Hold the door open, please!" I shouted. The tall, lanky brunette in the elevator pressed a button and the doors opened. I walked into the elevator, and the girl looked at me. Her eyes darted down to my hips, and stayed there for a few seconds before they darted back up to my face.
I blinked.
Her chocolate eyes raked over my face, studying my every feature.
I grunted, and the girl nervously looked up at me. I raised an eyebrow at her, and could tell by the expression on her face that she knew she'd been caught. A cherry red blush accompanied her strong cheek bones, and she extended her arm out to me.
"I—I'm Jane Rizzoli, and you must be Maura Isles. I'm your new assistant." She was stuttering. She's a little weird. But her nervousness is cute.
"Yes, I'm Dr. Isles," I said, shaking her hand. "You're my new nurse, correct?"
"Yes," she nodded her head.
"Hm. Nice to meet you." I realized the elevator hadn't moved, and glanced at her before pressing the button for the third floor.
"Oh, right, sorry," she said.
"It's alright," I smiled. "You better be good with your hands, or I can promise you'll be fired soon. If I don't feel that you satisfy me, you'll be gone." I looked at Jane, and her eyes widened.
"Dr. Isles, I—I thought that—I don't—don't you think that's inappropriate?" I chuckled, and she raised an eyebrow at me.
"You're a strange one, Jane," I said. "I mean as far as helping me. You need to be good with your hands and quick on your feet to work with me. You have to be careful and thorough, too. I mean, this is the ER. Our patients' life depends on you and I and our performance."
"I—I know," she nodded her head. Why does she keep stuttering?
"Have you ever worked for a hospital before?"
"Yes," Jane said. "Well, sort of. I used to be a paramedic."
"Hm," I nodded my head as I looked down her body. She would look sexy in a EMT uniform.
No, stop, Maura.
I cleared my throat and thanked whatever unseeable force made the elevator doors open at that moment.
I stepped out of the elevator and Jane followed.
"I'll be in my office if you need me," I said, sauntering off. "Just hang around and see what you can do to help."
"Alright," the brunette said. I walked into my office, and closed the door behind me. Although I was the Head of Surgery, I was also a surgeon. My day usually consisted of fixing broken bones, amputating infected limbs, and an occasional drunken bar fight. I often spent late nights at the ER, either doing paperwork or healing patients.
I set my coffee on my desk and my purse beside it, sitting down in my seat. I turned on my computer and logged in, just as there was a knock on my door.
"Come in," I said. The door opened, and I looked up only to see Jane standing there.
"Yes, Jane?" I asked, looking up at Jane.
"Ashley at the front desk said the paramedics called, we've got one coming in." I shot up from my chair and Jane and I took the elevator down to the first floor. On the way to the ER entrance, I gathered a few of my doctors and we all waited for the ambulance. When I heard the sirens, I ran to the front door and met the truck out front. The paramedics and I wheeled the patient in, and behind one of the curtains we had set up.
"What have we got?" I asked. A beautiful brunette in a white cocktail dress ran beside the stretcher, tears in her eyes. She had a small cut on her forehead.
"Male, 34, him and his fiancé were in a car crash."
"Okay, I got it." I wheeled the stretcher away from the paramedics, and me and my team wheeled him into a room and moved him from the stretcher and onto a bed.
"Doctor Goran, you got this?" I asked the young surgeon.
"Yes, Doctor Isles." I nodded as I left the room, and looked for the fiancé. I saw her sitting in a chair against the wall, and started walking towards her. A tall brunette stepped in front of her, squatting down and grabbing her hands.
"Miss Reid?" the brunette asked. I recognized the low timbre of her voice.
"Charlie will be alright," Jane said. "I promise, we will do the best that we can. He's in good hands."
"Thank you," the victim's fiancé cried.
"We'll let you know something as soon as we know, alright?" Jane stood up and patted her shoulder affectionately. "Just hang in there, alright? Let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you," she sniffled, looking up at Jane. Jane smiled in return, and walked away.
"Oh," she said when she saw me, stopping once she reached me. "Dr. Isles, hi. I didn't know you were right there." I smiled at Jane.
"You're really good at consoling the patients," I said.
"Yeah, I guess. I'm not really sentimental or anything, but I know what it's like to lose someone you love." Jane had a distant look in her eyes, and I was about to ask if she was alright when she cleared her throat.
"Anyways, uh... I'm going to go scrub up and see if I can assist Doctor Goran."
"That would be a good idea," I nodded. Jane left, and I went and got a cup of coffee before I walked over to the victim's fiancé.
"Hey," I said, handing her the coffee. She graciously took the warm styrofoam cup and nodded at me appreciatively. "I'm Doctor Isles," I said as I bent down.
"Alex Reid... Is Charlie going to be alright?" she asked.
"I'm sure he will. I can assure you, we're doing everything we can." Alex nodded, and I took her hands in my own. "I hate to ask you this, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened." Alex nodded.
"Well, all I remember is... We were in a taxi on our way to our wedding. We were sitting in the backseat, laughing and kissing, and all I remember is flying forwards and hitting my head on the window... Charlie seemed fine. He's a surgeon, and all he cared about was seeing if the person in the other car was okay.
"We got out and went over to her, and he started checking her pulse and doing all sorts of things. He asked for a pen, and I handed him one, and I turned away because he told me to. When I turns back around, the woman was awake and he was standing there with a smile on his face, calling over the paramedics.
"Next thing I know, he looks dizzy and he's blinking rapidly. I start calling his name," her voice cracked, "and then he just collapsed in my arms." I nodded my head, and stood up.
"Okay. Alex, I have one of my best doctors working on him right now, trying to figure out what's wrong."
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Why don't we go and get that cut of yours cleaned up?" Alex raised her hand up to her forehead and brought her fingers back down, and they were coated with blood.
"Oh, this?" she asked. "I'm fine. All I care about is Charlie."
"Honey, you won't be able to see him if you don't get that cleaned up and it gets infected. I promise, if Charlie wakes up, you can go see him. But we need to get your cut cleaned." Alex hesitantly nodded, and stood up. I took her behind one of the curtains and grabbed the First Aid kit off of the table beside the bed, which she then sat down on. I opened it and grabbed a cotton ball, gauze, and some rubbing alcohol. I squeezed some of the alcohol onto the cotton ball, and scooted closer to Alex.
"This may hurt a little," I said. I brushed the hair out of her face, and gently dabbed the cotton ball on her cut. She hissed, and I pulled away, before continuing to clean her wound.
"That's a pretty big gash you've got there," I said.
"How big?" she asked.
"Nothing a little antibiotics can't fix," I smiled as I rubbed some onto the gauze and wrapped it around her forehead.
"All done!" I chirped.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"You're welcome. It's my job," I smiled back. "You can go sit in the waiting room, and I'll let you know if Charlie wakes up."
"Thank you," she said. I walked into Charlie's room, and found Doctor Goran putting his stethoscope around his neck.
"How's it looking?" I asked.
"He has a concussion," Joel said. "But he should be waking up soon."
"Alright, I'll go let the fiancé know." I walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me.
"Alex," I said as I neared her. She looked up at me hopefully, and I nodded.
"He will be okay. He has a concussion, but he should be waking up soon. You can go in and see him."
"Thank you," she smiled as she stood up and hugged me. I smiled as she ran towards Charlie's room. I was about to go back to my office when I heard a "ow! Shit!" I ran ok the waiting room and saw Jane a few feet away from a stretcher, holding her nose.
"Take him away," she said, her voice muffled.
"Doctor Rizzoli?" I asked as I walked over to her. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jane said. "Paramedics brought in a new patient, and the bastard decided to kick me in the nose!"
"Let me see," I said. She didn't take her hand off of her nose, and I pulled it away.
"Oh my god," I gasped. "Jane, your nose is most likely broken."
"It's fine, really."
"No," I said. "Come with me." I grabbed her hand and took her into my office. "Sit on my desk." She sat down, and I got extremely close to her, standing in between her legs. Jane gasped as I brought my hands up to her jawline, tilting her head from side to side.
"Yep," I stated. "It's definitely broken."
"And?" Jane asked. "Can you fix it?"
"Of course I can," I said matter-of-factly. "Get ready. This may hurt a little." I brought my hands up to the bridge of Jane's nose, and in one fluid motion, I quickly grabbed it and pushed it to the side. A loud crack! filled the air, and Jane screamed.
"Ow! Fuck!" She brought her hands up to her nose, and glared at me. "A little!?"
"Language, Jane."
"Sorry."
"Take your hands away."
"No," she said.
"Jane, now." She finally complied, hesitantly returning her hands to her sides.
"It looks better," I said. "It'll be sore for a few days, so you'll want to ice it as often as possible." I looked away from Jane's nose and into her eyes and realized she'd been staring at me. I only then became alarmed and realized that her hands were on my hips.
"Dr. Isles," I heard a voice as my door opened. I jumped away from Jane, and turned around. "Charlie is awake," Joel Goran said.
"Alright," I smiled. "I'll be there in a minute." Joel nodded and closed my door, but not before sending a suggestive glance towards Jane.
"He's cute," Jane said. "Are you two, like... Y'know, a thing?"
"Oh, no," I said. "I'm married."
"Oh," Jane said, sounding a little disappointed. Our eyes met, and we started at each other for a long while before I spoke up.
"Well, I better go check on Charlie."
"Yeah," Jane said, getting off my desk. "I should probably go with you."
"Yeah," I said, walking out of my office.
Jane was strange. But it was a cute kind of strange.
It will be interesting working with her. Maybe we will become friends. Or even best friends. I've never had one of those. Maybe Jane will be my first.
Okay, guys. I want to say thanks for all of the follows/favorites already! Also, I wanted to say... the chapters won't revolve around the patients as much as it has during this chapter. Charlie and Alex are different because they will be making an appearance later on in the story.
Also, before I forget... About Maura's kids... I imagine Olivia as Olivia Holt, and Gavin as Gavin McIntosh (look them up on Google).
Anyways, I hope you are enjoying this!