Next to Me

Chapter Three: Unexpected Patient

“So how was your day off?” Layla Gomez asked Charlotte as the blonde prepared for her shift at the hospital; the pair had been best friends since medical school and used to be room-mates until Lydia moved out to live with her boyfriend.

“Nothing special,” Cassidy lied not wanting to tell her friend what had happened; she knew that Layla would freak out if she were to tell her what had happened the day before.

Layla nodded her head before she started to talk about her day off and what she did with her boyfriend of six years; Charlotte nodded along pretending to listen, it got a little boring after a while of listening to her best friend talk about her perfect boyfriend.

“Okay, so I was thinking and I know the perfect guy for you,” Layla said with a smile on her face as the two started out of the locker room so that they could check on their patients; Charlotte rolled her blue eyes knowing what her friend was trying to do.

“I’m not interested in dating right now,” Charlotte said stopping Layla from saying anymore; she truly wasn’t interested in having another boyfriend anytime soon, especially with how work was at that moment in time.

Layla huffed annoyed as Charlotte walked over to the nurses’ station so that she could collect her files; she didn’t know why the blonde was so reluctant to date after her relationship with Chase Owens had ended last year.

“You haven’t dated anyone since Chase and that finished nine months ago,” Layla said as she pouted at Charlotte; she wanted her friend to be as happy as she was and she knew that wouldn’t happen if the blonde didn’t start dating again.

Charlotte ignored her as she checked over the charts, she knew that her friend was right but she truly didn’t want to start dating again until she was ready.

“Come on Charlie… just one date,” Layla begged as she pouted at her best friend, she didn’t know why the blonde was being so stubborn in this; she wanted Charlotte to be happy and she doubted that it would happen anytime soon.

“No,” the blonde said as she looked at her friend, she wasn’t going to allow her to bully her into doing something that she didn’t want to do; Layla was her best friend but she didn’t know when to stop.

Layla frowned annoyed as their superior approached, she knew that Charlotte was too stubborn for her own good and she knew that this wasn’t over.

“Doctor Perez a word por favor,” the doctor said making Charlotte smile at him and nod her head, she glanced at Layla knowing that this wasn’t over no matter how much she wished that it was.

***

“Doctor Perez, we have assigned you a new patient… now he’s in a coma but I’m sure you’ll be able to handle this,” her superior said as he led Charlotte into the private room where her new patient was; the blonde nodded her head knowing that this was probably going to be easy, however she felt ill as her eyes lay on the man in the bed.

“Now he is a John Doe so we don’t know much about him,” the superior said making Charlotte nod her head as she masked her face, she didn’t need the other doctor to see that she shocked; she swallowed wondering how he had gotten there.

“I’ll leave you too it,” the superior said as he patted Charlotte on her back before he left her alone with the man that had tried to attack her the other night; the last time Charlotte had seen him since Sergio had shot him.

The blonde stood staring at him surprised before she shook her head and nibbled on her lip, she knew that he was in a coma but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried about his sudden presence at her work place; she knew that there was something going on even if Sergio wasn’t going to tell her what it was.

“Come on Perez… it’s a coma patient, he’s not going to wake up and kill you,” Charlotte muttered to herself before she ran a hand through her hair and picked up the chart and started to check it over; she didn’t want to lose her nerve without having proper reason to plus she doubted that she could tell anyone about what had happened two days ago without more questions being raised.

“Okay… gunshot wound to the shoulder, loss of blood and other minor injuries,” Charlotte said as she looked up at the man confused, even with his injuries there was only a small chance that he would stay in a coma; she swallowed wondering what would happen when he woke up.

***

“How was work?” Sergio asked as Charlotte returned from her shift, he was lounging around her living room as she moved passed him and into her kitchen; the blonde glanced at him knowing that she needed answer.

“It was fine except for my new patient… do you remember the Spaniard that you shot before you passed out?” Charlotte asked innocently as she opened her fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, she opened it as Sergio looked at her confused; he didn’t know where she was going with this but he didn’t like it.

“Well he’s my new patient… he’s in a coma,” Charlotte said as she returned to the living room, her blue eyes watching Sergio’s face before he violent cursed and pulled out his phone.

The blonde watched confused as he ran a hand through his hair, she hadn’t expected him to react like that to her news; she thought he’d play it off or something.

“I thought you said that he was dead…” Sergio snarled furiously down the phone making Charlotte sigh as she pushed herself to her feet before she headed for her bedroom so that she could get changed; she knew that she still wasn’t going to get the answers that she wanted about what was going on.

Changing out of her hospital scrubs, Charlotte dressed herself into something comfortable; she looked at herself in her mirror before shaking her head as she headed back into the living room to find Sergio off the phone and had his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry… when my men disposed of him they didn’t ensure that he was dead,” Sergio said bitterly making Charlotte look at him, she swallowed at the tone in his voice; she didn’t know what to say to his words.

Sergio looked at Charlotte, he knew that she was in danger if the man woke up and recognised her then he was likely to lash out; he didn’t trust this happening and knew that there was something going on.

“I need you to be careful,” Sergio said as he looked at the blonde, he didn’t want anything happening to her after all that she had done for him; he knew that she was making herself a target by allowing him to stay with her.

“Okay,” Charlotte said as she moved to sit down on her couch, her thoughts about making dinner going out of the window as she wondered why he didn’t seem happy about this.

Sergio took a deep breath as he organised his thoughts, he licked his lips knowing that he needed to ensure that she was protected in some way; she didn’t deserve getting hurt over this.

“I know you don’t understand but it’s better if you don’t know… you’re innocent in all of this,” Sergio said as he thought about having her blood on his hands if things went wrong; he wasn’t sure if he would be able to live with himself if something happened to her.