When he turned his attention back to them, he found it was Jalen. She was holding the bottom of her scrubs top away from her body. Rohan suspected it was to keep the hot coffee off her skin.
He began trying to clean it off as he continuously apologized to her. Once he had most of the liquid dried up, and only the stain was left, Rohan threw the paper towels away.
“Are you okay?” he questioned.
Jalen nodded at him. “I’m fine. It’s just a little hot coffee. It didn’t touch bare skin, so no actual harm was done.”
Rohan nodded. “I’ll pay for the dry cleaning,” he told her, taking his wallet out of his back pocket and removing a business card. “Just send me the bill,” he said, handing the card to her.
“That’s unnecessary,” Jalen responded, attempting to push the card back at him.
“I insist,” Rohan told her, pressing the card into her hand.
She nodded, placing the card in her pocket. “I was coming to find you because the doctor is about to head into Alynn’s room to bring her discharge papers and give you instructions on her medication.”
“Thank you, Jalen,” Rohan responded, grabbing the cup of coffee and throwing it into the trash can. He then followed her back down the hall to his niece’s room.
????????????
Jalen had just seen Alynn off and headed towards the staff room. Once there, she went to her locker and pulled out her bag. Unzipping it, she pulled out another pair of scrubs. All the nurses brought extra scrubs. However, Jalen brought at least two pairs. Working in the pediatric wing, you never knew when a child was going to have an accident or throw up on you.
After changing into new scrubs, she packed the other ones away and returned to the nurse’s station. She took a seat and pulled up her patients’ charts. With the discharge of Alynn, she had only four left in her care. She wasn’t due to check on anyone for the next thirty minutes. So, she had time to relax a bit, unless a child needed something.
She would get off at eight, so she only had a few hours left. Kodi had told her she would make something for dinner before Maria picked her up to babysit. The rest of her siblings wouldonly be on their own for about half an hour before she got home. However, she wasn’t worried. Landon would be there, and the fourteen-year-old was more than capable of watching the other three for a bit.
The phone rang a few minutes later, and Jalen picked it up.
“Nurses’ station.”
“Hi, can I get some orange juice?”
Jalen smiled to herself at the little voice. “Sure thing, Johnny. I’ll bring it to you.”
“Thank you!” the five-year-old exclaimed before hanging up the phone.
Jalen went to the snack room, as they had dubbed it for the kids, and grabbed two small cartons of orange juice. She then went to Johnny’s room.
“Peeka,” Jalen called after knocking.
“Boo!” the little boy exclaimed excitedly.
Jalen walked in to see him sitting on his knees, eyes transfixed on the television screen, even though he had answered her. Johnny was originally admitted because his asthma was acting up, and he developed a bronchial infection. However, she was sure the doctor would release him tomorrow, as he had been doing much better over the past two days.
“What are you watching?”
“Paw Patrol!” he exclaimed.
Jalen set his orange juice down and checked his monitor while she was in there. “Where’s your mom?” Jalen questioned, turning back to the little boy.
“She went to the cafeteria to get a sandwich.”
“Okay,” Jalen responded, ruffling the little boy’s brown curls. “You want me to stay with you until she gets back?”
“No, I’m a big boy,” he told her.
“Of course. How could I have forgotten that? I’ll see you later,” she told him before exiting the room.
She returned to the nurse’s station and grabbed her patient charts, deciding to do her rounds and wait for time to tick by.
