Will makes his way through the sliding glass doors with "Emergency" stamped across them in red. The smell of sterile air and disinfectant overcomes him, people scurrying around, frantically tapping away on their tablets, floating from treatment room to treatment room. It's like a scene from a movie- all the hustle and bustle of a busy emergency department surrounding him.
He is greeted by the "boss" AKA Sharon Goodwin who is chief of patient services at Gaffney, alongside her a beautiful woman whose name tag reads "Maggie"
"Hello- you must be Dr. Halstead"
"Yes- Please, call me Will"
"Nice to meet you- Will. I'm Maggie- the charge nurse here in the ED, I will direct you where to go"
Maggie takes the next few minutes showing Will around the ED- she takes him through the treatment rooms, nurses stations, storage and supply areas and lastly the doctors lounge to situate him into a locker. He notices a few other doctors getting ready to begin their shifts
"Hey- I'm Ethan- nice to meet you. If you need anything just holler- oh and don't let Maggie scare you off- she's a tough one"
"Haha- Thanks for the heads up, I'm Will" - Ethan and will exchange nods and Ethan floats onto the ED floor ready to jump into the next trauma patient that's brought in
Dr Halstead meets 4th year medical student Sarah Reese, Dr. Charles and a gorgeous nurse April Sexton before heading back out into the ED to see his first patient at Chicago Med
Maggie- "Dr. Halstead treatment 2, Dr. Manning will be in as well"
His first patient is brought in by a clearly distraught woman- presumably the child's mother- "Hey buddy I'm Dr. Halstead- what's going on here?" The boys mother chimes in and explains how the 7 year old was riding around on his new hover board and lost his balance- his arm clearly displaced and a nasty wound on his forehead- the young boy had a look of pain and terror on his face- just as Will begins to do a full examination in walks a beautiful brunette
"Hello I'm Dr. Manning- mind if I take a look?"
"No not at all- I was just about to X-ray the arm and order a CT" replies Will
"Hey big guy- what's your name?"
"Ethan..."
"Yea- you must have been doing some awesome tricks to end up with battle wounds like this huh?"
*child smiles* "yea I was going really really fast and doing lots of spins and then I fell"
"Well sweetie- we are going to get you all fixed up- how does that sound?"
"Good- I can't wait to ride my hover board again"
"We will have you outta here in no time big guy- just be brave while we take this picture of your arm and head ok?"
"I can be brave- then I can go home and ride my hover board again!" The child exclaims as the mother looks at the doctors with a sign of relief
Dr. Halstead tells the boys mother that a resident would be down shortly to take the boy for his CT and Xray.
"Thank you both" the boys mother exclaims as he and Dr. Manning exit the room
Will can't help but smile at how sweet and comforting the young doctor was with the little boy.
"By the way I'm Dr. Halstead,"
"Natalie- today your first day at med?"
"Ha is it that obvious?"
"No not at all- just didn't think I'd seen you here before"
"Yea well I just moved back to Chicago, I've been in Mew York for a while...you were really great with that kid back there"
"Oh thank you- I'm actually a pediatrics doctor I'm just doing my fellowship in the ED- kids are kind of my specialty, anyways it was nice to meet you but I have some other patients to check up on- I'll see you around"
As Natalie walked away Will had a huge smile on his face. He was drawn to Dr. Manning but he couldn't help but notice she looked so sad and empty when they exited the room, yet had been so cheerful, warm and sweet to the young patient they had just attended to. He felt like he had to say something...
"Hey... Natalie- are you okay?"
"huh?—-I'm fine really...just been a long couple of weeks"
"well if you need anything or want to talk...I'm a pretty good listener-plus I could use some friends around this place"
"Thank you- I might actually take you up on that sometime"
"I'm free for lunch if you don't have any plans—"
"Sounds good I'll be done making my rounds in about an hour- meet in the lounge?"
"I'll be there"
Nat smiles and Nods as she walks away
Natalie desperately wanted someone to talk to who didn't know Jeff, didn't know their life, had no idea that he was killed just 2 weeks ago, an outsider that could offer nothing but comfort to her during this incredibly difficult time. She knew it would be a lot to dump on the new doctor- but at the time it's exactly what she might need. A new friend.
There was an air about Will- something calming in his voice, the way he had just met her but could sense that she was not ok, the way he cared enough to check on her, even though they had just met 10 minutes prior- most men would have just let her go without giving it a second thought, but not him.
