Lincoln Hospital (Trauma #1) (14 page)

“Fuck it,” he said out loud to no one.  He might not let himself touch, but there was no fucking rule of his that said he couldn’t watch.

Several jack and cokes later, Athena and Sabine were well on their way to being trashed at Teddy’s, a local bar not far from the hospital.  So far they’d turned away numerous advances and free drinks.  Sabine said it was like picking apples, you never just went for the first one; you inspected the crop and then chose the one that would taste the sweetest.

Athena was glad they were taking some time away from the hospital to really sit down and talk, although they saw each other almost twenty-four hours a day, they never had much of a chance to really spend quality time together. She missed her friend.

“So the surgery with Mills, it went well?” Athena asked, referring to one of the pediatric attendings. 

“Yeah, it really did.  I finally got my first cut and I think I’m really starting to like Peds.  It might be where I end up as my specialty,” Sabine revealed.

The two had been friends since college, and then moved on to the same medical school.  Each not having much family, they’d relied on scholarships and grants to get through the programs.  Sabine had been an orphan since the age of fourteen, bumped around through the system and it was a miracle she turned out as well as she did.  Athena’s mother had died at a young age, she didn’t have many memories of her at all, and the ones she did have were fuzzy. Her father had passed away a few years earlier from cancer; a loss that hit her hard.  She missed him terribly and wished every day that he was still alive to see her accomplishments.

“I think Clarence has a little sparkle in his eye for you.  Don’t let Cian catch wind of that,” Sabine teased, knocking back another drink.

“What?  Clarence?  Don’t be ridiculous.  We’re friends.”

“Oh, you’re friends; but he wants to be the type of friend that you don’t wear your panties around.”

“What is your obsession with my panties!”

“What?  You’re hot, Thene.  If I was into girls, I’d do ya in a heartbeat.”

“You’ve lost your damn mind,” Athena laughed and then stood to make her way to the ladies’ room.   The drinks had hit her a bit harder than she thought and she wobbled on her feet as she weaved her way through the crowd of people. After taking care of her business, she came out of the stall and peered at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands. Her olive eyes had a bit of glazed look to them and her head full of curls, courtesy of Sabine, was tousled.  She looked carefree and relaxed, two things she hadn’t felt in a long time.  Getting out was a perfect idea, Sabine as usual, was right. Not that she’d ever admit it, of course.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she collided hard with a body and immediately apologized as she put a hand out to steady herself.  Strong arms came around her and she looked up into the face of a very handsome man with warm brown eyes and a soft smile.

“The fault is mine, gorgeous.  Although I can’t be angry with myself for bumping into someone as beautiful as you.” His voice was smooth and his lines even smoother and Athena found herself considering if this man could be the one that got possession of her panties that night.
Ugh, Sabine is starting to rub off on me.

Before she could reply, her pager went off her in small black clutch.  In the distance, she thought she heard another one and realized it must be Sabine’s.  Taking it out, she saw it was an emergency page to the ER. 
Great, I’m drunk and there’s a trauma coming in
.

“I’m sorry,” she told the stranger. “I’d love to stay and chat more but I have to go.  Raincheck?” She didn’t wait for an answer, just slipped out of his arms and tottered her way back to Sabine who was already flagging down the bartender to pay their tab.

“We—”

“I know we have to go, trauma coming in,” Sabine interrupted her before she could explain.  They quickly settled the bill and then hurried outside to try and hail a cab.  The line of people waiting for one was enormous and neither of them would get very far on their high heels after the amount of drinks they’d had if they tried to walk back to hospital.

“Excuse me,” Athena called to the bouncer.  “We’re doctors over at Lincoln Hospital and we need to get there right away.  Is there any chance you could help us out with a cab?  It’s an emergency.”

The large dark-skinned bouncer looked them over from head to toe and laughed in their face.  “Sure, you’re doctors’.  And I’m Ryan Seacrest.” He turned his back on them and continued checking ID’s.

“No, you don’t understand—”

“I’ll take you.” Athena froze at the sound of that voice.  The voice she would know anywhere.  Spinning, sure enough, there was Cian standing a few feet away, hands in the pockets of his black dress pants, white shirt unbuttoned a bit at the collar.  He looked casual and sexy and her traitorous mouth watered at the sight of him.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, her tone coming out harsher than intended.  The shock of seeing him again outside the hospital had butterflies dancing in her stomach and her skin tingling with anticipation.  She wanted to order him to explain himself right that second, she wanted to leap into his arms and kiss him senseless like that day in the on-call room, she wanted to turn and run in the opposite direction as fast as her stilettos would carry her.  The damn man was slowly driving her insane.

“Well seeing as it’s a bar, I was here having a drink,” he answered dryly.  She flushed and looked down at her feet.  Of course, he wasn’t following her. She was the dumbest person alive for even considering such a thing.

“Oh.  Right, of course,” she mumbled, looking to Sabine for help.  It wasn’t necessary though as Cian just continued on.

“Look, if you’re coming, we need to go now. The pile-up on the highway was bad, multiple casualties and injuries from what I can gather.  You two lushes will have to get an IV until you’re sober, but you can observe until then.” The girls nodded and followed Cian down the street to where his Jag was parked.

“Wait!  You really are doctors?” the bouncer called after them.

“Don’t quit your day job there, Ryan!  They sure are lucky to have you,” Sabine yelled back, flipping him the bird.

They laughed and even Cian cracked a rare smile at her joke. The ride to the hospital was short and when they got there, Cian disappeared ordering them to report to Webster for instructions.

“Jesus, look at you two,” Webster sighed when they wandered over to where she was handing out assignments to Oscar, Bianca, Dick and Clarence.  “Of course its two of mine that are the messes.”

They hung their head sheepishly and muttered out, “I’m sorry’s.”

“Well, never mind.  I don’t have time to deal with you two right now.  Clarence, go with them and get them on IV’s.  Then get your ass back here, we’re going to need all hands on deck now that we’re two interns short.  You two, I don’t want to see you again until that alcohol is out of your system. Understood?”

“Understood.” They answered in unison and followed Clarence.  After changing into their scrubs, he sat them both down in a free bay and got started on their IV’s.

“Where the hell did you two go?  And where the hell was my invite?” he asked, looking put out.

“Sorry, Clarence.  This was girl’s night out.  We just needed to blow off a little steam.” Athena told him, feeling guilty for leaving him out.

“Well next time, I’m coming with you.  You’re not the only one that could use a break from this place once in a while.” He looked Athena right in the eye when making his admission. She shared a look with Sabine who mouthed “I told you so,” earning her a glare to shut up from Athena.

“Sure.  We’ll pick a night after work and go grab a couple drinks all of us together,” Athena told him with a smile.  She was starting to get a pounding headache, an after affect that she always suffered from when drinking, and was about to ask Clarence to get her some aspirin when she spotted Seth Holloway headed their way.

“Seth?” she looked at him, surprised to see him back at the ER so soon.  He’d been making a habit of dropping in occasionally to check on her which she thought was so kind of him, but he’d only been there a few days earlier so to see him back again was a surprise.

“Hey, Athena.  What happened? Are you alright?” he rushed forward the last few steps after seeing the IV in her arm and placed a hand on her head.

“Oh, I’m fine.  Just had a few too many at the bar and trying to get sober so that we can be of some help in the ER,” she was embarrassed to admit the reason she was bagged, but didn’t want him to worry it was something serious.

“Well, that’s a relief.  You had me worried for a second there, gorgeous.” Athena blushed and wanted the floor to open up and swallow her when Clarence and Sabine just stared at the both of them, wide-eyed.

“I need to get some statements from a few of the victims that were brought here.  This crash on the highway is one hell of a fucking mess,” he explained, dropping his hand from her hair and stepping back. “I’d love to talk more with you though.  I’ll find you before I leave, okay?”

“Okay, sure.  That sounds great,” she told him and gave him a warm smile.  Seth left and Clarence followed, banging his utensils in his basin and pushing the curtain aside roughly out of his way.

“You. Little. Whore. Three! Three men all obsessed with you!  Jesus fuck, Athena.  It’s like a goddamn three ring circus around here.  I can’t get enough,” Sabine burst out as soon as they were alone.

“What?  Shut up.  No one is obsessed!  Seth is just concerned about me after the attack is all and Clarence is our friend—you know that.  And Cian, well Cian is in an entirely different league.  I have no idea what his deal is.”

“Sure.  Keep telling yourself that. God, this just keeps getting better and better.” Sabine was all but bouncing with excitement.

Finished with getting their IV’s, they wheeled themselves to an unoccupied corner of the department and watched as the ER came to life as patients were rushed in and out and doctors worked to repair damage and save lives.  Looking around, Athena spotted Clarence eyeing her with a look of sadness as he worked to clean debris from a woman’s arm; Seth shooting her a cocky smile as he raised an eyebrow and then winked at her; and Cian consulting on a major trauma just brought in but watching her with a burning intensity that just about set her skin on fire.

It was going to be a long night.

“G
OD, WASN’T THAT amazing?” Bianca exclaimed as she and Athena exited the OR. They had scrubbed in together on a neurosurgery that had blown both their minds.  The surgeon, Dr. Gamble was attempting to remove a tumor in the patients’ brain without affecting any of their motor skills.  The size of the tumor is what made it a complicated procedure, but Gamble was known to be one of the best in the field and she’d knocked it out of the park.  Now they just had to wait and see if the patient still had the use of all of her speech and motor skills when she awoke.

“It was.  What a rush, I’ve never seen an exposed brain before,” she admitted.  Over the past few days, Bianca had been making more of an effort to connect with her, Sabine and the other interns. She’d been opening up about herself and sharing her dreams of what she wanted for her career as a surgeon.  She was the first in her family to graduate high school, let alone becoming a doctor.  Shyly, she’d shared how proud she was of herself for not only finishing school, but being accepted into the surgical intern program at Lincoln Hospital.  No one in her family had ever done anything remotely close to that before and she hoped to set an example of what they could do if they just applied themselves and put in the hard work.

“She let me dissect some of the tumor even!  Can you believe that?” Bianca still wasn’t over that shock.  Usually Athena got chosen for all the awesome opportunities in surgery but this time, it was her and she was on cloud nine about it.

“You earned it, you studied and knew that procedure inside out.  It was amazing to see you shine in there, Bianca.” Athena told her sincerely.  While she would have loved the experience for herself, she recognized that she was given a lot of breaks and special privileges from the residents and attendings’. It felt good to see it happening for someone else.

They joined the other interns in the locker room, still talking excitedly about the surgery.  Dick was changing into his street clothes, Sabine was engrossed in sending a text message, Oscar was his usual quiet self and Clarence grinned at them as they came through the door.

“Oh, look, if it isn’t the Wonder Twins,” Dick snarled at them, in a particularly nasty mood.  The rumor of the day was that he’d received a tongue lashing from the trauma attending for his poor bedside manner and being unprepared.  He wasn’t progressing in the program as quickly as the other interns and his lack of skill was showing with each passing day.  There’d been a few weeks there where he’d actually showed promise of being a decent guy, but lately he’d reverted to the same asshole they’d met on the first day.

“Wonder Twins?” Athena repeated, not sure what he was getting at.