Last Time For Everything

Chapter Six

AJ's POV

When I agreed to go out with Patrick tonight, I thought it was a good idea.  When I was in Wisconsin to see Ricky, he told me to just go for it, and tell Patrick about Cody, just rip off the band-aid.  Telling him about Cody is good a time as any to tell him about Adrian too, so tonight, I'm just going to bite the bullet, and get it over with.  I left my ring at home, I figured it's best not to wear it when I tell him.  I don't need to give him anything else he can possibly be pissed about.  I stare blankly at my lunch, trying to prepare some sort of speech I will have to give in a few hours.

"It isn't like you not to eat", Lauren says with a mouthful of sandwich.

"Bitch", I mumble as I take a bite of my pasta salad.

"If you don't want to go on this date then just back out", she shrugs.  "You say that because you don't know who it's with", I sigh at her.  I never exactly told her everything that has been going on, with everything that has been going on with Ricky, and the fact that after the disastrous night Patrick and I had at the bar, I haven't really gathered the energy to tell her that I'm going on a date with a guy she fangirls over.

"It's Patrick", I say as I glare at her.  She doesn't blink at me as she slowly chews her food, and I just stare back at her, waiting for her to start flipping shit.

"Forget what I said, you're going", she remarks.  If only she knew how badly things went the first time.  

"Hey, do you want to go see my new patients?", I ask her with a smile, changing the subject.

"Oh my gosh, yes", she gasps with wide eyes, "I've been busy all morning I'm dying to see."

"Come on", I say as I stand up off of the floor.  Lauren and I don't really like to eat in the cafeteria, so we usually just eat anywhere we can find that's quiet.  She gets up behind me, and follows me to the elevator, finishing off her sandwich along the way.  We step onto the elevator, and go up to the NICU.  When we get off, we both throw away our trash, and head to the doors of the NICU.

We use a bit of hand sanitizer, and put on a gown and gloves.  I bring her over to the large incubator where my patients are, and she stares at them in awe.

"I've never seen conjoined twins in person before", she says in disbelief.  Newborn conjoined twins came to the hospital yesterday for surgery to be separated.  Both twins have two arms and two legs, but they were conjoined at the abdomen.  It was an especially cool case, because the twins are sharing a liver, stomach, two kidneys between the two of them, small and large intestine.  Still through the development in the womb, one twin had ended up being a boy, and the other a girl.  They each have all of their proper sex organs, and the only organs they're sharing are common organs between both males and females.  It's pretty amazing that though they're conjoined, they are two different genders with all of their proper organs.

"This is Kaitlin and Kyle", I tell Lauren, "The surgical team wants me in the OR during the surgery", I tell her excitedly.  

"I would kill to be in on this", she says as she still observes the twins in fascination.

"Talk to Dr. Wells", I shrug, "She's the ortho surgeon on the case".

"Well then there's no chance I'm getting in on this, she hates me", Lauren huffs.

"Well then in that case I'll be sure to take some extra good pictures.  I can even throw in a couple selfies", I say sarcastically.  The doors to the NICU slide open, and Dr. Conley walks in, making his way to an incubator on the other side of the room.  When he looks up and sees Lauren, I can tell that he isn't too happy she's in here.