“What do we have?” Michael asked as they approached the nurses’ station.
The nurse looked up at Michael and smiled briefly before her gaze lingered on the white gold wedding band around his finger. “She’s over there.”
Chris made an obvious point of looking from Michael to Alyssa before he looked in the direction the nurse indicated. Down the hall seated at a table in the dining area was an elderly woman. She wore a plain black dress that fell to the center of her bronze shins. Chris and Alyssa made eye contact with each other as both James and Michael turned toward the nurse.
“Unconscious?” Michael asked.
“Yeah,” the nurse answered deliberately, as if speaking to a child. “She won’t take her medicine and is being belligerent to the staff.”
At this point Chris snapped his head in the direction of the nurse. He briefly glanced at Michael, whose face was reddening in anger, and couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“You mean uncooperative?” Chris asked.
The nurse’s eyes widened briefly before she covered her mouth and laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. Uncooperative.”
“Oh, my god,” Michael muttered as he rubbed his temples before directing his next question to Chris. “Do you want us to stick around for vitals?”
“Nope. But, instead of dinner, you can buy breakfast after our shift. I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those nights.”
Ordinarily, the situation would have pissed Chris right off, but while annoyed, he was too busy trying not to actively laugh at Michael’s reaction when he realized there was no need foradvanced life support, whatsoever. He was already making his way over to the patient when he’d requested breakfast.
“Fine. Meet you at the diner at a little after seven,” Michael said before grabbing their bags from the stretcher and leading Alyssa to the elevator.
Chris and James walked the rest of the way over to their patient. Her legs were crossed, and she smiled pleasantly at them. She took her time looking each of them up and down before her smile spread wider.
“Hi ma’am. What’s going on?” Chris asked.
“I was out of control,” she said simply, using the palm of her hand to smooth her hair back.
“You were? Tell us what happened, mama,” James encouraged, seamlessly using an over-familiar pet name, and getting away with it as usual.
“Well,” the woman began before letting out a heavy sigh. “I told that bitch I wasn’t ready to get into my night clothes just yet. She started talking to me crazy, so I told her I was gonna whoop her ass.”
Chris felt his jaw drop. He was not expecting that response to come out of the old woman. She had to have been at least in her eighties. He decided at that moment she was his favorite patient. She sat with her arms folded as she waited for their response.
“Well, why don’t you come with us?” Chris suggested. “That way you can get out of here and everyone will be happy by the time you get back here.”
The woman nodded and moved to stand. Chris put his hand out and stopped her. He’d noticed her walker sitting near the table and didn’t want to risk her falling. After moving the bags, AED, and suction unit off the stretcher, he helped her up. She crossed one foot across the other, clasped her hands, and appeared to be perfectly content.
Once they got to the truck, and away from her stressful situation, he took a set of vital signs. As expected, she was completely stable. She sat quietly while Chris copied the information from the printout the staff passed along into the chart. They were nearly at the hospital when she finally spoke.
“Are you married?” she asked.
Chris hesitated for a moment before deciding she was harmless and answering her question. “No, Mrs. Horne, I’m not married. Why?”
“Well, I caught my special friend looking at that bitch of a nurse, so I think I might be in the market.”
Chris looked back down and laughed while he finished up the chart. He could feel her watching him, so he looked up once he finished entering everything into his tablet.
“Something funny?” she asked.
“Nope,” he answered quickly. “Nothing is funny, but I think you might be my favorite patient ever. Don’t tell anyone, though.”
“I think they’ll figure it out at our wedding.”
This time, Chris couldn’t hold back his laughter. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he stood and opened the back doors as soon as they were parked in the ambulance bay. He really hoped that was a sign of how the rest of their night would go.
Chapter 2
