Code Blue

~ Chapter 82 ~

Chapter 82
Monday December 25th
Mallory's POV

You would think I would be used to the freezing temperatures at 4 in the morning seeing as I've lived in New York all my life, but it was still a challenge. It's a battle to toss my blanket to the side and face the chill, marking December as the worst month of my life to wake up in the mornings. The hospital is so busy this time of year, resulting in the interns getting less sleep than they did before, something Mason has complained about repeatedly. As much as I wished I could ignore the cold weather and stay in bed, I knew I was going to be late if I stuck around any longer, and that was highly frowned upon.

I yawned, stretching my body to wake myself up a bit for the long shift I will be facing today. I've never worked Christmas at Grand Meadow of course, so I was excited yet nervous to see what chaos is in my future. I know a lot of staff are at home with their families, waking up in a few hours to see what Santa left under the tree, but that wasn't for me. You don't exactly get a lot of perks when you're just an intern.

Nonetheless, the light was already on so I could see, another reason I couldn't simply roll over and go back to sleep. I groaned and swung my legs over, cementing my feet to the cold ground. The sensation on my feet had me rushing over the rug in front of the dresser, grabbing some basic attire for now.

I discarded my pajamas and changed into one of my favorite sweatshirts and some leggings, deciding I'd put my scrubs on when I arrive at the hospital. My sweatshirt negated the need to bring an extra jacket, and at this early in the morning, it was the logic I was going with. Once I was comfortable and cozy, I went to freshen up a bit more in the bathroom.

I splashed some cold water on my face to shock my system into being more full of life, and it worked. I shivered at the feeling and washed the rest of my face in a hurry, before moving on to brush my teeth and hair. I stared at my long waves in the mirror, deciding what to do with it. Unfortunately I was still a bit lazy and didn't want to mess with it much, so I left it down and kept on moving. If for some reason I get pulled into a surgery, I'll deal with it then.

Once finished, I went back to the room to grab my things so I could start heading out. I'll grab a snack from the kitchen to eat on my way, and maybe I'll grab one of those cinnamon rolls that Mason and I love so much from the cafeteria. Making sure I had my phone, wallet, hospital ID, a pair of scrubs, and anything else I would need, I completed my mental checklist. Then I started down the hallway until it opened up into the main portion of the apartment, the quiet and empty apartment.

I furrowed my eyebrows expecting to see Mason wandering about, because shockingly, he manages to wake up before me nine times out of ten. However, there was no curses under his breath as he burnt the bacon or water running as he hastily cleaned the dishes because it is his least favorite chore. Instead, it was eerily silent and it made the hairs on my arms stand up, because I didn't know where he was. It's not like I missed him still sleeping in the bed or anything, so he obviously wasn't here.

I sighed and then shrugged my shoulders, because I didn't have anything else to do. Although I wondered where he was when I walked around the island to get to the pantry, and secured a pop tart for my journey to the hospital. That should be enough for now.

I was about to leave and head down to the parking garage when I caught sight of a note on the counter. That eased my mind, the fact that he remembered to do that for me.

Got called in. Here's ride money, sorry!

That's right. He did tell me that he was going to be on call last night, I can't believe that I forgot about that. At least now I knew where he was, which I appreciated the assurance he wasn't hurt or anything like that. Rather, he was dragged back to work in the middle of the night. One of the biggest dreads of an intern is finally getting to lay your head on that pillow and it being taken from you a few hours later, so I hope he at least got a cool surgery to make up for it.