Need Someone | [Complete]

Chapter 1: Fresh Air

It was exactly what I needed.

It was the start of my second at my new job and I was still getting lost. It was brand new, huge, and looked expensive. It felt more like a hotel than a hospital in some parts, but that was to be expected in this part of California.

The sprawling curved shape of the building had three main segments; diagnostics and women's health in one, oncology in another, and plastics in the largest, because once again, this was California. It was filled with private rooms and had the newest, technologically advanced surgical suites. It would have been a country club of hospitals if not for the clinic on the first floor.

It was pretentious, but the pay was high and so was the patient satisfaction. As little as I seemed to fit in, I was convinced I had snagged my dream job. I was just waiting for it to feel that way.

They had me shadow Theresa, a fifty-year-old Charge Nurse with more wisdom than she realized. The nurses and doctors in our department called her Mother Theresa, and for good reason, and I was loving every minute of it. She trusted me to know what I was doing and never made me second-guess myself when it came to patient care. She had been showing me the ropes, and more often than not, was keeping me from getting lost.

"The people here are the most wonderful and the most annoying," Theresa explained to me. "Most are well established, come from money, or both, which means they will look at you like you're their servant rather than their nurse. And it goes for the doctors as well."

"I can take it," I told her. "Most people don't realize how much they need us until they really need us. They all get there eventually."

She nodded her head. "I didn't peg you for an optimist, but we'll see how long that lasts." She raised an eyebrow at me, making me chuckle as I followed her down the hall.

We were on our way to receive our newest patient. This one was young with ambiguous symptoms. The doctors from the clinic had been talking him up as a medical mystery. Every diagnostic doctor's pipe dream was to meet a medical mystery and solve it, but that never really happened. I never understood why they wanted that. Sometimes, it seems doctors forget that patients are people.

"Where is he?" I asked her.

"They put him in a bed already." She pointed down the hall. "He's a fall risk."

We walked closer to him and I almost tripped when he looked at me. He sat lounging in his hospital gown, one arm covered in tattoos to the wrist, the other to his fingers. His hair was cut short on the sides and back, leaving a long patch in the middle that he combed absentmindedly with his fingers. It was bleached blonde, growing in much darker at the roots. He watched us with piercing, hazel eyes, and a pretentious, cocky gaze. The man was hot. That much was undeniable.

"Mr. Ziegler," Theresa greeted him.

"Hi there," he said with a stunning smile.

"I'm Nurse Diaz and this is Nurse Brennan," she introduced us. "We'll be taking you up for your MRI."

"It's nice to meet you." He shook her hand and then turned to me. "And especially you," he said with a flirtatious, growling tone while holding his hand out to me.

I shook it but was distracted by his bracelets. I grabbed the thin braids with my fingers, feeling them for wires. "These don't have metal in them, right?" I asked.

"No ma'am," he growled. Everything that came from his mouth sounded suggestive. He pulled his arm away slowly.

"Do you have any other jewelry or piercings, Mr. Ziegler?" I asked.

"No, but you can take a look if you don't believe me, Nurse Brennan."

He playfully tugged down his gown. His tattooed sleeves were an eclectic mix of classic flowers, waves, and koi fish, and stopped at the top of his shoulders. His chest was toned and hairless and clearly contained no piercings. He was really trying. I looked back to Theresa with a laughing smirk.