Contingency {M.Scofield}

7 ~ Dreaming

Sienna

"So you're coming for visitation today? Definitely?" I asked through one of the phones in the yard.

"Yes, but do you really think that whatever it is you remembered will be enough to get you another trial?" Veronica said gently in response. Last night as I slept, my dreams took me back to that night.

~(Dream)

I sat at the tiny booth by myself as a waitress approached my table with a plate of pasta. I twirled my fork around the plate, rushing to eat my food because I had to be back at the hospital in less than half an hour. The emergency room was really busy tonight and I didn't have very long before I had to go back on shift, because of the amount of patients tonight I had to work a double shift so right now I was running on no energy. 

"Do you mind if I share this booth with you?" I looked up to see a tall, broad man stood in front of me. Looks-wise he wasn't ugly, but he wasn't exactly my type either.

"No, go ahead, I'm leaving soon anyway," I answered, gesturing to the bench on the other side of the booth and he smiled gratefully before sliding into the booth. 

We sat in an awkward silence as I tried to eat my pasta as quickly but also as quietly as possible, just so that I didn't embarrass myself with noisy slurping sounds whilst eating. I saw him pull out a newspaper and lay it across the table, his eyes skimming over it slightly but I could tell his full attention wasn't on the black and white print in front of him. A waitress came over a moment later with a steaming mug of what smelt like coffee. The strong scent of the roasted brew made me realise just how much I needed a boost of caffeine to get me through the rest of the night. 

"Excuse me, can I get a cup of coffee too - with quite a lot of milk please?," I asked the waitress and she sent me a small smile and nodded before walking away, but I saw something hidden in her eyes... Guilt? Why did she look guilty?

I went back to finishing my pasta and briefly looked at my watch and noticed that I only had 20 minutes left before I had to be back. Luckily this little cafe was only 2 blocks away from the hospital so it would only take me about 5 minutes to get there. 

"My name's Lance, by the way." The man across from me said, as he now looked up for his paper and took a sip from his coffee.

"Sienna," I replied simply, not really interested in striking up much of a conversation with him. He smiled and began to speak again,

"So you're a doctor?" He said pointing towards my white jacket. I nodded again, it would't take much to work that out, genius. "That's great, you know I really admire those who work in medical care. You do so much for people." 

"Thank you, we try our best." I said, glancing up at him quickly before looking back at my food. I shook my head slightly as the quick movement had made my eyesight blur slightly, I'm probably just exhausted. I've been working for eight hours and am about to do another four.

"Are you okay?" He asked me and I felt him place his hand over mine. I quickly pulled away and glared at him slightly, ignoring the fuzziness in my head.

"I'm sorry," he laughed nervously, "My boyfriend often tells me I get quite touchy-feely with people sometimes, you know overstep my boundaries." Oh, I let out a sigh of relief when I learnt he swung for the other team and wasn't trying to hit on me.

"No it's fine, and I'm fine. Just a bit tired," I laughed lightly, feeling a bit more open with Lance.

"Well, here comes your coffee," he said, nodding towards the waitress who was coming over with my cup of coffee. I smiled at her when she placed it down to the table and glanced at her name tag, 'Lucy'.