Though the Monsters

Chapter 11

No Rest for the Weary

            There was one thing that every doctor, nurse, or any medical professional alike absolutely hated, and that was getting, what most had deemed, "the call." Now, generally a phone call from work wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary but "the call" always held weight. It happened when said medical professional was a) not on call or on shift, b) completely unexpectedly, and finally c) in the middle of the night, not in the evening, or early in the morning, but the middle of the night. Maggie had only received one or two of these calls and none had required more effort than giving a nurse some careful instructions that would get them through the rest of the night or at least until Maggie could get there at a more reasonable time. She knew that "the call" would eventually come. It wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when.

Harrison and Maggie had finally crawled into bed around 1:30 in the morning. Both were incredibly grateful for having the following day off and neither intended to emerge before noon at the earliest. After leaving the hospital around 11:30, they had gotten food and had arrived back at Harrison's apartment at 12:30 to find Hadlee mid-seizure on the living room floor. Thankfully it had only been a couple of minutes and as soon as she came 'round Harrison was able to lead her into her bedroom and she was out cold again (after a thorough neuro exam from Maggie of course). So, suffice to say the couple had had enough of Monday, and Tuesday if they were being really particular.

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When the sound of a phone ringing filled Harrison's room he thought he was dreaming. He had no idea what time it was but he knew for damn sure that it was way too early to be awake. He blindly slapped around on his nightstand until his hand finally found his phone and he looked at it blearily only to find that it wasn't his phone. He groaned and rolled over to shake Maggie awake.

"Mags." He mumbled.

Maggie grunted in reply.

"Mags, your phone is ringing." Harrison said.

Maggie groaned again but only snuggled deeper into the bed.

"If it's important than they'll leave a message." She grumbled.

Her phone stopped ringing after a few more seconds and again the room was immersed in blissful silence. Until about a minute later.

"I guess it's important." Harrison breathed and Maggie groaned.

Since they had begun spending the night together Harrison had learned that Maggie only communicated with grunts and groans until she had at least one cup of coffee running through her system. He watched as his girlfriend sat up and picked up her phone. Harrison glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 3:30. They had gone to bed less than two hours ago.

"Fuck, it's the hospital," She said quickly pressing accept and clearing her throat. "Dr. Archer."

Harrison sat up and rubbed some of the sleep from his eyes. He could practically see Maggie trying to jumpstart her brain. After an eighteen-hour shift and only having slept for two hours, he hoped to God that she didn't need to go in.

"No, do not do that. Iken, you touch my patient and I will end you," Maggie growled. "I know that he has a heart murmur, he was born with it. He's scheduled for a repair next month. Well, I don't know about you but I'm more worried about the tumor that I removed yesterday morning. We don't know if it's malignant yet. Iken, if you fucking touch him you will have hell to pay."

Harrison nodded to himself and ran his hands through his hair.

"Fucking Iken." Harrison muttered.