La Façade des Plumes

Chapter XII - Estranged

8:43 am

Sweat trickled down his face as he tirelessly fanned himself. The smell of the magazine's papers made up for the bleach smell of the waiting room. Once again, he looked down at his watch, "8:44 am" Sighing, he closed his eyes, resting the back of his head against the window before the tantrum scream of one child echoed from the gift shop. "Aw hell," he angrily grunted under his breath, "...If she doesn't show up I'm gonna pop a blood vessel." Suddenly, he paused, reminiscing at the reviving scent of coffee. Turning around, he met with her tired eyes.

"Wow, I love you too, Richard," Isley mumbled, sipping her coffee. He shook his head, "Where the hell were you? You're late!"

"I'm not late! And besides, I had an unexpected issue I had to resolve..." she trailed off, taking another sip of her coffee.

"Issue? I-..." Richard paused, looking down at her hand with dread.

"What the hell is that? Did you punch someone again?" Richard questioned, grabbing her gloved hand. "He grabbed me first!" she snapped back, swiping her hand away. "One day, Lin is not gonna believe your little arthritis story."

"Oh, please, we both know she already doesn't believe it. You think I'd still have a job here if she thought it was real," she smiled, walking past him. "Come on, Swann, It makes patients nervous thinking their surgeon has arthritis in her hand."

"That, my friend, is the beauty of being ambidextrous, I can just switch hands," she replied, chugging the last of her coffee before tossing it in a nearby trashcan.

"Isley, would you slow down?" Richard huffed, trying to keep up with her.

"Listen, as you said, I'm running late and I have to do rounds-..."

"Garrison's taken care of rounds for you!"

Isley paused, furrowing her brows, "Why? Rounds don't start in another 15 minutes?"

"Lin scheduled a meeting with you," he stated, giving her a look of pity.

"Oh, my God, what did I do to upset her highness this time?" she whined, staring at the ceiling with dread. "Nothing, actually..." he trailed off, giving her a look of sorrow. Isley looked back at him, giving him a look of suspicion, "Montana went to prison, didn't he?" she smiled mischievously. Richard rolled his lips, resting his palm over his eyes. "You owe 20 bucks!" Isley chuckled. "No, the bet is off!" Richard sternly stated. "What the hell? Why?"

"Montana killed himself."

Gasping, her keys fell from her hand, loudly echoing in the room. Frantically putting the keys back in her hand, Richard began escorting her down the hall. "I-I don't understand what the hell this has to do with me? What could she need from me? I'm still a resident. I'm not eligible to become the new head of cardio, Rich."

"Listen, I don't know. All she said, was to come find you and send you straight to her."

"Oh, what are you? My handler?" she scoffed.

"If I was, you wouldn't use people as punching bags."

9:10 am

She stared at the clock, listening to its loud ticks echo in her office. "I'm sorry to hear about Mr. Montana, Dr. Lin," he spoke softly. She shifted her gaze to his kind, green eyes, shaking her head, "Don't be, you've done a miraculous job. I, sincerely, can't thank you enough. I don't know how you were able to get us out of such a mess!" she giggled solemnly.

"I would say 'anytime', however, it would be wildly unfortunate for there to be a next time," he replied.

"Yeah, let's -...uh...-hope that doesn't happen."