A/N: I am grateful to all the readers for their support and encouragement.

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or any of its characters, they all belong to Capcom.

Chapter 31

(Kate's POV)

I wrote down the prescription for a patient while giving them general instruction about their illness. I was put on clinical duty today, with the onset of winters many people were falling sick and doctors were really no exception. The hospital was already low on staff but due to a couple of doctors calling in sick today, the Dean put me and couple of others in the hospital clinic today. So after checking on my regular patients and I came here to attend the patients at the clinic. Although it was still early in the morning but there were a number of patients in the waiting area and there were all sorts of people coming for medical consultation at the clinic. The ones with flu, burns, cuts, food poisoning, unexpected pregnancies, immature accidents, the ones who were too much cautious and were here as a precaution; the ones who were ignorant about their health and the worse kind: the ones who waited till their situation got out of their hands to come speak to the professional. But luckily I didn't have any of such cases as of today and so far had only dealt with cold, headache and flu but it still was too early to say anything because it was just 9:00AM in the morning.

"Collect these meds from the hospital infirmary and take them as prescribed, your headache will be gone", I told the patient smiling.
"Are you sure Miss?", the middle aged business woman said in disbelief.
"Yes, I am sure. If it persists then you have to come back and we'll run a couple of tests to know why it's like that", I told her the hospital procedures.
"Oh I see", she said standing, "Thanks for your time."
"It's my job ma'am", I said smiling and she exited the clinic room. I reached for the phone receiver and made an in-office call to the nurse in the waiting room, "Send the next one."
"Yes, I'll send them right away", she said to me and I heard her tell someone to go in as I put the receiver back.

The door opened shortly after and I turned my head in the direction. The patient almost froze at the doorway surprised to see me and my reaction was no different to see him, "I'll ask them to get you another doctor", I said knowing he probably didn't want me to help him.
"Its fine, I really don't have much time on my hands right now", Leon said stepping in my clinic as I reached for the phone receiver.
"Then take a seat and tell me what the problem is", I told him trying to be professional with him, at least that's what he wanted.
"The wound in my arm haven't stopped bleeding yet", he told me pointing to the said arm.
"Let me have a look", I said moving next to him and he removed his jacket. All I could make out were bloody bandages which made me grab my head, "Go there on the bed", I pointed to the bed in the clinic room and moved to get some supplies. Leon sat on the bed and I sat next to him. I cut his old bandages and dabbed the blood with cotton, "The wound's not closed up probably and blood's not clotting as well. Are you getting enough sleep? It's the time when body heals…", I tried to explain it to him.
"No", he replied monotonously, "I work late."

"Well I have to re-do the stitches. I can see two different sets of stitches one's almost ripped and the other's not been done properly", I told him and looked up at him, he wasn't looking in my direction as he muttered something that sounded like 'female doctors', under his breath, "It wouldn't have been like this if you had let me take look at it then", I almost scolded him and again he didn't reply. I started cutting and pulling out the stitches as gently as I could and at one such difficult stitch he flinched in pain, "I am sorry!", I apologized.
"Its fine", he replied in a monotone. I once again dabbed the blood with cotton and cleaned it getting rid of the foreign bodies, "Okay I am starting to sew this up and it would hurt", I told him taking a deep breath.
"I have had worse", Leon said airily and I looked at him just before I put the medical suture through his flesh.

(Leon's POV)

"How do I look?", Kate said and I looked at her, a little taken aback.
"What?!", I asked her in surprise; her question really caught me off guard.
"I've a lunch date and I won't be getting any time to pamper myself up, so how do I look", she asked me again sounding pretty much serious.
"Why are you asking me of all the people", I asked her surprised while she was busy doing her work.
"Well you're the only guy friend I have here", she said to me, "I want to know a guy's perspective of how attractive I am", she looked up at me briefly.
"You're kind of making it awkward", I said to her feeling uncomfortable with the conversation.
"I couldn't ask you this without making it awkward", she said to me, shaking her head a bit, "So tell me how do I look, would I be able to impress the guy etc. etc.?"
"Are you seriously asking me that?", I couldn't help but ask in confirmation.
"Yes, I am", she looked up at me nodding.

"Well I don't know", I shrugged and felt a slight pain in my arm.
"Tell me whatever you think and don't move so much", she said to me.
"Well in my opinion you're really beautiful", I told her the truth.
"Just beautiful?!", she questioned again.
"You're beautiful, charming, understanding, caring, loving and a lot of stuff, I don't even have enough words to describe you. Sure you are crazy sometimes but actually it's very much fun to be around you. You've everything a guy could ask for and only an idiot wouldn't fall for you", I more or less spoke my heart out and then looked at her, and she was looking at me.
"So that makes you an idiot", she said with a weak smile and cut the surgical thread.
"Kate, it's not…", I began my explanation.
"Don't worry Leon I won't make this more awkward for you and me, now that I am done with patching you up", she said turning the other way to get the bandages. She was probably distracting me and wasn't expecting to hear something like this herself, "Be a little more careful next time", she added with a sigh once she was done with wrapping bandages around my wound. She got up and took a syringe and a vial.

"Hey I have to work", I said to her before she could knock me out like the last time.
"I know", Kate said understandably filling up her syringe, "This just Vitamin-K, so that your blood clots", she showed me the vial and it did say Vitamin-K and I didn't think she'd mess up with labels to keep me here. So I agreed to the shot, after all my blood really was taking more time than usual to clot, "And here these are some antibiotics and painkillers", she handed me some tablets and water.
"Thanks!", I said and gulped them down with water.
"You're welcome!" She said with a smile, "But you should really take off and get some rest, not much maybe just a day."
"My work doesn't permit me and you know that", I said moving to grab my jacket.

"Umm… do you want me to prescribe you some pain killers?", Kate asked me, "You know for later, if you are in pain during work?"
I thought about it a bit and yeah sometimes I could use some painkillers, "yeah that will be good", I said trying to pull my jacket on but my injured arm was making it a bit painful, so I thought I'd do it sometime later when the painkillers start acting.
"Okay wait a while", she said moving to her desk, "oh no where did I put that prescription pad", she muttered audibly and I watched her move things here and there, open and close the two drawers trying to search for her prescription pad for a couple of minutes.
"Leave it, I am getting late", I said starting to move.
"Oh I found it here!", she showed me the pad, "just a minute", she scribbled the med's name and tore it off the pad, "take it only when you're in pain", she held it for me to grab it but I felt a little dizzy, "Leon, are you okay?"
"I feel a bit dizzy", I told her as my vision blurred a bit and I felt her grab me.
"Ah thank god!", I heard her say, her voice seemed distant, "I was afraid meds won't act up on time. Imagine them acting up when you might be driving."

(Kate's POV)

"You…", Leon tried to say something as I steered him towards the bed.
"I am sorry but you need to rest Leon", I told him and he lost consciousness under the effects of the strong sleeping pills that I disguised as antibiotics and painkillers.

I moved him to the bed and made him lie down. Thank god he had covered most of the distance to the bed otherwise it would have been really hard for me to move him, he was pretty heavy. I removed his shoes and covered him in blanket and adjusted his position a bit so that both, him and his arm, were comfortable. I pulled the curtains and he was nicely hidden behind it and won't be disturbed much, as I see other patients. I moved back and picked up his jacket off the floor that he had dropped when his head felt heavy. I retrieved his cell phone from his inner pocket, fortunately he didn't have a password set on it and just as I was about to call Hunnigan, she called his phone.

"Kennedy, how long are you going to take to finish your business", Hunnigan almost yelled furiously as I received the call.
"Ms. Hunnigan, this is Leon's doctor speaking", I informed her looking back at Leon.
"Doctor?!", she repeated puzzled.
"Yeah, actually I was about to call you about Leon", I told her sitting on my chair.
"Me?!", she said surprised, "Well how can I help you doctor?"
"Yeah, well you might not know me but I know you through Leon", I told her, "And I was wondering if you can give Leon an off today? And even if you can't; there's nothing much that can be done right now, since I already knocked him out and he's sleeping peacefully in my office."
"What?!", Hunnigan yelled in surprise at the other end.
"I am really sorry about it but he was hurt and needed some rest, and as his concerned doctor I saw it fit that he takes off of work", I told her looking back where Leon was sleeping soundly, "And I take full responsibility of it, Leon wanted to work and that led me to take this extreme action."

"If you are risking your medical license, I figure it must be serious", Hunnigan said to me, "It's surely on short notice but I guess I can work out something."
"Please do and its okay if you blame me for it", I said to her, "And thanks for understanding."
"Its fine", she said in a more relaxed tone now, possibly because she was in a checkmate situation, "But from next time, please inform me before you knock him out."
"I'll try to", I told her smiling.
"And please tell Kennedy to call me whenever he wakes up", Hunnigan requested of me.
"Yeah sure!", I said and couldn't help but thank her again for her cooperation.

I kept the phone and Leon's jacket away safely. I sighed, for a moment I thought Hunnigan wouldn't cooperate but it all turned out alright. Now Leon could have the rest he deserves and I do not have to worry about endangering his job, though my practicing license was still at stake but I could do without it. And I wouldn't really regret it as much as Leon would regret losing his job. I laughed a bit at my thoughts and called in the next patient and continued with my work as the doctor.

(Kate's POV)

I relaxed during the lunch time. I had really consulted a lot of patients today. Clinic duty though was a bit exhausting; at the same it was good exercise for brain too. I moved to bed where Leon was still sleeping and like I hoped nobody had a clue that he was behind the curtain. I pulled the curtains aside and checked his vitals out of formality and it all seemed normal, so I pulled the curtains back. I decided to get my lunch here, although Leon won't be up for another couple of hours but I didn't want to take any risks. And as I was about to pull open the door to head out, it opened and I almost bumped into Mike.

"Hey babe!", he greeted me smiling and leaned in for a kiss.
"Not at work", I said stopping him.
"I thought since we have shifts together, which is pretty rare, we should have lunch together", he told me showing me the food trays from cafeteria.
"That's so nice of you", I couldn't help but say and we both moved towards the desk and I cleared stuff and we sat down to have lunch together, "So how's work going today?", I asked Mike casually.
"I am put in ER today with a couple of interns", Mike said rolling his eyes, "They are terrible I tell you."
"Come on give them some leash, we were interns once too you know", I said letting out a laugh.
"Well I am not good at such stuff", he said to me taking a bite of his food, "Patience is not my virtue."
"Yeah I know", I said rolling my eyes. We talked about a lot of trivial stuff like usual till the lunch time was over.

"It was nice having lunch together, I wish I could always have lunches with you", Mike tried flirting as I dumped the food trays in trash.
"Well our shifts, don't allow it", I said in matter-of-fact tone.
"Yeah", he said disappointed and then he moved past me, "I didn't notice this", he said picking up Leon's jacket, "Did you get it for me?"
"That's… ", I tried to tell him.
"Kate, this is sweet! I love it!", He said as he began to try it.

"Mike, its Leon's", I told him and he froze there for a moment.
"You got it for him?", he sounded shocked and offended.
"No!", I said emphasizing, "It's his, I mean he bought, he wears it, it's his."
"What's it doing here then?", he asked me in an accusing tone.
"Well he was…", I began and moved to the bed where Leon was, "actually is here since morning", I pulled the curtain sideways and explained the situation to Mike and he calmed down.

"You did what?!", he said exclaimed as I finished my tale.
"Relax its not the first time", I said trying to calm him down, he seemed to be a bit panicky.
"What if he puts a formal complaint against you?", Mike reasoned with me.
"He would not, like I said I have done something like this before with him", I told him casually shrugging; "In extreme cases he might get a little mad at me."

Mike shook his head in disbelief saying, "I don't believe this. What if he gets violent or something?"
"He won't, you're thinking too much", I said laughing a bit at Mike's imagination, "He's the calmest and most rational person you'll meet in your entire life."
"Should I send in some attendants and they could transfer him, in a ward?", Mike asked me standing up.
"No, it's fine. Besides it would disturb the work here", I said looking at my watch, "since lunch time is almost over."
"Yeah but call me when he wakes up", Mike said concerned.
"Yeah I'll and don't worry about it", I assured him with a smile.
"Okay I'd leave now", he said sighing and exited through the door.

I let out a sigh of relief on barely dodging the bullet of Mike's suspicion. I moved to pull the curtains back and as I was doing that Leon grabbed my hand, making me let out a gasp of surprise. I looked at him for a bit, it didn't look like the sedatives' effects had worn out yet, so it just meant that he was acting out of reflex. I released myself from his grip with a bit of effort and returned back to my clinical duties after hiding him behind the curtains once again.

A/N: Thanks for taking out time to read and I hope you liked the chapter. I apologize for any mistakes and typos that caused inconvenience to understand the context. See you all next week!