Burned (Transformers Prime)

Chapter Four | Searching

"Searching, for that something that I'll never find,
In another place another time"

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"Dana, Leroy Hastings in room 2036 just got out of surgery, and Kim called in sick. Could you check on his vitals every hour?"

The girl nodded, pulling the patient file and glancing at it. "Appendectomy?"

"Yes." Nurse Darby confirmed. "Dr. Stevens has plenty of staff in his ward, so he's letting me pull you for a moment."

The young nurse laughed. "It's fine by me. Just as long as I'm getting my hours in." She tucked the file under her arm. "How's ER?"

"Quiet, so far. But it's only 11:00." June sighed. "Rush hour won't hit until later."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck." Dana smiled softly before walking off, arm wrapped around the folder.

Leroy Hastings, age 35, recently admitted for appendicitis and just got out of surgery, prognosis good. Stepping into his room, Dana was greeted with a clean-shaven man, wisps of grey already tainting his black hair. His grey eyes followed her every move, and his pale cheeks had a bit of color to them. He was still recovering.

"Hello, Mr. Hastings." She smiled. "Everything okay?"

He looked at her for several moments, finally speaking.

"Ich spreche Deutsch." He barked in the German language, his tone rather rough. "Ich verstehe kein Englisch."

Dana blinked for several seconds, recognizing the words only vaguely, holding the folder a little tightly as she tried to roughly translate and figure out what to do. She gazed at the man for a long time.

Suddenly, he broke out into a grin, and laughed. "Ah, I vas just messing vith you! I speak Englisch."

"Oh." She laughed with relief. "You had me all sorts of confused for a second. So, I see you're in a good mood."

"Yes." He smiled. "I veel much bettzer after ze surgery."

"Good, good." She opened his file, still smiling, as she began to copy what she saw on the monitors. "How is the pain?"

He shrugged. "Not nearly az much az it vas bevore ze surgery." Leroy paused for a moment as he contemplated what he was truly thinking. "It iz a manageable pain, az long az I don't move."

"I can get you something stronger, if you'd like." The nurse offered.

"I zink it vill be all'vight." Her patient very gently tapped the incision point. "Zey vill give me something before I go."

Dana only nodded. "If you insist." She checked his file one last time to make sure she didn't miss anything. "Now, I'm going to be back every hour for the next, oh, I'd say twelve hours, if not a little less or a little more, just to see how you are doing. If you need anything and can't wait until I get there, then go ahead and press the call button, okay?"

He flashed her a smile, his teeth straight and a beautiful white. "Ov course. I vill look forvard to seeing you."

Simply smiling, she bid him goodbye before leaving him be for the moment. As attractive as he was, and an accent to boot, he was thirty-five years old, seventeen her senior. And a patient.