You're a little late...

Everything's Fine

Turns out Angel did have a hairline fracture in her leg. Luckily, she didn't need a too invasive surgery. The cut was deep, but it only scratched an intestine. A few sutures later she was ready to go.

Unfortunately, I'm now tasked with giving the super attractive guy an update. He's still in the lobby. When I walk out, he was sitting down with his head in hands. I head over and gently touch his shoulder. He jerks away. "Sorry, sorry." I apologize and back up a bit, averting my eyes.

He stands up and looks down at me completely terrified, "Is she... did she?"

I look at a poster directly behind him and say, "No, no. She's fine. I swear. No massive internal damage or anything. She's all patched up. We're just going to keep her over the next 48 hours to make sure she's fine."

I brave a look at his face and he seems completely relieved. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how stressed out I was."

"I get it, but she's fine. She also has a fractured leg. We put her in a cast just to help the healing process move faster than a regular splint. When you pick her up on Friday, Tasha will schedule you for a check up in the next 4-6 weeks to remove the cast." My voice only wavered once. Go me.

"That's incredible. Thank you so much." He smiles down at me. He sticks out his hand and says, "I don't think we were ever introduced. I'm Alex."

My mouth falls open. Alex.

No. I don't recognize that smile. Nope. No way. This is not happening.

He raises an eyebrow and smiles gently at me. "And you are?"

Oh crap. I'm gawking. I close my trap and pull my hand from his; realizing I was still holding his hand. I try to ignore the tingling sensation from his touch.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm Britni. I mean, Nicole. Nikki. My friends call me Nikki." I finish quickly after stumbling like a idiot. Oh, look at the wonderful new moldings we got for the doors.

"Britni, Nicole, Nikki. Which one is your actually name?" He's laughing. Great, he probably thinks I'm challenged.

"They're all my actual names. My first name is Britni, but I haven't gone by that since high school. I go by my middle name, but most everyone just calls me Nikki." I feel like my face is on fire.

"Why did you change it? Brittany is a pretty name." He asks with a smirk.

"Partly because no one could spell it right. And partly for other reasons." I say the last part quieter and look at the floor.

"How do you spell it?" He asks. He either ignores the last half to be polite or he didn't hear me. Either way I'm grateful.

"B-r-i-t-n-i." I say slowly.

"I like it. Spelt just like it sounds." His eyes sparkle as he smiles down at me.

"Thanks. Anyway, I, um, should go finish up some...paperwork." I say planning my escape.

"Oh, uh. Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you Friday." He sounds a little off when he says that.

"Hey, I promise she'll be fine." I give him my best smile which is actually more of a nervous smile unfortunately.

He rewards me with one of his dazzling smiles. Damn, he's attractive. "See ya soon."

For my sake, I hope not.

*******************************************
The next morning before the day kick starts, I go visit Angel in the recovery kennel. I lay on my stomach on the ground in front of her cage and open it. "Hey, pretty girl. How you feeling?"

I let her sniff my hand before I begin petting her. She has such pretty blue gray eyes. "Want to know a secret?" I whisper. "You're the most gorgeous dog I have ever seen. You know, you could make all these other girls jealous. Whatcha think, Angel?"

She stretches out her neck and licks me on cheek. I laugh and scratch her behind the ears, "I thought so."

"Nikki!"

I jump almost ten feet in the air. I turn to see T standing in the doorway. She's wearing red scrubs that hug her curves and set off her chocolate skin. Her black hair is pulled up into a high ponytail. She has small gold hoop earrings on to match her gold colored watch.

"Why do you do that? It's every day with you. One of these days it's gonna get old." I snap glaring at her.

Tasha laughs and joins me with Angel. "I doubt it. You make it so easy to sneak up on you. I just can't resist. It doesn't help that you do the same thing every morning."

"I don't," I start to protest before she cuts in.

"Oh, girl. You so do. You come in here like twenty minutes before we open and you visit your favorite patient. Like clockwork." She rubs Angel's head and gives me her famous 'Don't play dumb' look.

"Okay, okay. I cave. You hear that, Angel? You're my favorite." I whisper to her conspicuously. I laugh as she sneezes on Tasha.

"Gross! Thanks, Angel! Just what I needed to get my day started." She says with a laughs, wiping her arm on her scrub bottoms.

"Oh, but look how precious she is." I grin at her.

"Yeah, well not as precious as her man. Did you see him? He was delicious. I'll take two please!" She squeals.

I blush instantly. Thanks for the reminder, T.

"What did you think of him? Yummy, right?" She asks nudging my shoulder.

"Um, sure. Yeah. Cute." I start fidgeting and Angel just watches me with sad eyes.

"Cute? Girl, are you blind? He was smokin! I'm surprised he didn't set off our fire alarms." She says fanning herself.

"I mean, I guess. If you're into the whole overly gorgeous kinda thing." I watch Angel drift off to sleep. She's so beautiful.

"Nic, that's every woman's dream!" She gives me another playful shove.

"Yeah, every woman's dream." I sit up and close Angel's cage. She looks up at me when I stand and whines a bit. "I'm gonna go wash up. I'll see ya later, T."