Shore Leave

Life in full swing

July 30, 2010 - A lifetime later...

Ailis had spent a long six years in the Navy. Six years of sewing men back together. Six years of watching her friends die. Six years of grueling nights and admittedly getting a little seasick at times. Six years of never getting over the woman she met in a bar in San Diego, too, Mia's green eyes in the moonlight burned into her mind. She finally settled down in Seattle, getting to work in a pediatric section of a hospital in the area. There were a ton of regular patients who came for check-ups and she sometimes did a rotation on any of the in-patient cases. Peds was nice, it was a good change of pace for her. She could really use a change of pace. Ailis was going over the charts for her next patient, 'Saros, Mors; 6 years old; general physical for school and vaccines'. She smiled slightly, she always loved kids getting ready for school. If she was really honest, she was mostly happy that she didn't have to do another 'vaccines are safe' speech. She knocked twice on the door and waited a quick moment before walking in.

"Good morning! My name is Nurse Ailis, I'm helping out Dr. Hollis today," she introduced. There was a woman sitting in one of the plastic chairs, looking up from a clipboard as she walked in. Ailis froze, taking her in. Black hair, green eyes, wearing a black tank top, blue skinny jeans, some wedge heels, and a jacket Ailis hadn't seen in seven years. It was a black bomber jacket, old and a little faded, with gray patches on the elbows and an All-American Reject patch on it that she got from one of their first-ever concerts at an underground venue. The woman also froze for a moment.

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said softly. "This is my son, Mors and he's starting school in September," Ailis shook herself out of it, clearing her throat. She turned to the little boy with a smile.

"Is that so? That's awesome! What grade are you in?" she asked.

"I'm going to first grade!" The small child proclaimed. He had black hair, and blue eyes, and was a little lanky for a six-year-old. His ears were a little big on him still, sticking almost straight out from his head and Ailis tried not to laugh. Hers had always done the same.

"That's so cool, dude! Why don't you tell me all about it while I get some tests done," she grinned at him, patting the table. Mors came running over and hopped up on the exam table and Ailis grabbed the blood pressure cuff.

"Mom took me and got me a backpack and notebooks and pens and pencils and- and highlighters! We had a whole list!" He rambled as she took his blood pressure and his pulse.

"Yeah? You nervous at all?" She asked him.

"Nope! It's gonna be amazing and my best friend Jackson is in my class!" He said happily. Ailis smiled at him warmly while noting everything on her chart.

"That's great! I bet your parents are really excited, too," she commented, taking his temperature.

"It's just my mom! The person who helped make me, Mom always says she's unavailable," Mors said plainly. His mom looked a little panicked.

"Sorry- kids- they're little parrots," she tried to brush off. Ailis just laughed.

"It's alright, kids will really repeat everything they hear," she agreed. "Awesome, Mors! Looks like you're healthy as a horse so far! Really quick, Ms. Saros, any allergy to medications?"

"Nope," she responded.

"Any additional allergies?"

"Oh, I know this!" Mors said, raising his hand. Ailis looked over at him.

"Lemme hear it, little man!" She grinned.

"I'm allergic to celery and soy. So no tofu, soy milk, or anything that came in contact with soy in a factory," he said, very rehearsed. Ailis quickly wrote that down.