Time Is All We Need

Chapter 27

"Good morning, my beautiful wife." The brunette smiled at the words. She still couldn't hear it enough.

"Good morning. How's your morning so far, you been busy?" The brunette asked, wondering why she was already getting a call, when they only parted ways this morning an hour or so ago.

"It's off to a weird start. Which is kind of why I called you. Do you know if anything is wrong with Emily?" Toby asked, his hand rubbing at the base of his neck while he peered into his bosses office. Emily was mindlessly staring at something on her desk. Her office door that was usually always, opened was shut. Sealed, like she wanted to be closed off forever.

"No, why?" Spencer set her cup of coffee down and reached for a patient's chart.

"Well it's Saturday, I mean usually we do this on Friday's since she doesn't work weekends anymore," Spencer couldn't help but smile hard at her husband, "we usually eat breakfast together though." Toby would come in with two fresh donuts, baked in the morning from Dena's Bakery that resided a block from the station. He'd always try a new flavor, or something that one of the workers had suggested, but he'd always get Emily a traditional chocolate covered donut.

They'd sit in the break room, and go over their Sunday opponent in their football league while enjoying the fresh donuts, a coffee, and an apple juice for Emily. But this morning, Emily hadn't met him like they had planned on. Instead, she headed straight to her office and stayed locked away.

"Well maybe she's just a bit upset she has to work today. I mean, isn't it her first weekend shift in a while?" When Emily went to the bathroom this morning, Toby quickly snuck in her office to set her designated donut on her desk. It still sat, completely untouched.

"Can you please just ask Ali if something is wrong?" He knew that the brunette wasn't upset that she had to work. He knew that she actually enjoyed her work.

"Yeah, I see her right now. I can ask her." Spencer had spotted the back of her blonde head. She was at the nurses station, probably checking in on a patient or two of hers. Spencer slipped the chart back into its designated slot by her patient's door. Alison had turned around, her eyes landing upon Spencer's. "Fuck." Spencer whispered.

"What?" For some reason, Toby's heart dropped. Spencer had totally forgotten he was even on the line.

She'd seen it as soon as Ali turned around. The tell-tale sign of a long night, and not the good kind. Her eyes still had a red tint to them. Like they had been varnished with a red cherry finish. Alison's eyes weren't vibrant like they normally were. No. Instead they were lost, empty. Her eyes had abandoned her, left her stranded in the middle of the humid desert to fend for herself.

The wolves were not kind to Alison last night. They had circled her for hours. The wolves made a mockery out of her. She sat, frozen, her body trembling, waiting for them to strike. But the attack never came.

"Look, I'll talk to her and I'll let you know right away. Okay? I love you, bye." Spencer hung up, leaving a baffled Toby on the other end of the now dead line.

Spencer made a beeline for the blonde. She had gripped the blonde's bicep, spinning her around so that they were face to face. Alison's eyes were more vacant up close.

"Spencer, I have a consult. I need to-"

"Nonsense." Spencer used her free hand to access her pager. It took Spencer all of one minute before her attention was back to the clearly distraught blonde. "You, are now free for a fifteen minute break." Spencer held up her pager, shaking it emphatically before it was shoved back into her white coat pocket, and she was dragging Alison into the attending lounge.