When You Least Expect It - 9-1-1 - Evan "Buck" Buckley

Chapter 1

It had been a long shift at the hospital. So much seemed to be happening and we were already short staffed as it was. I had recently been moved from my position on the oncology floor to head charge nurse of the emergency department.

Working the midnight shift at the ER was enough to wear anyone out but add having to work twelve hour shifts on top of that and you've got a recipe for one exhausted lady. After my morning herbal tea to soothe me and hopefully get me relaxed enough to sleep without disruption, I got myself ready for bed.

Just as I got settled in, my body starting to melt into my mattress that's when I heard it. Music started playing loudly in the near distance along with voices yelling. I covered my head with my pillow and attempted to ignore the chaos outside.

The music stopped after a short amount of time but the voices were almost louder than the music. I clenched my pillow tighter around my ears in hopes to drown out a little more of the sound. I was in desperate need of sleep before my shift that night, I was done with it.

I angrily pulled myself out of bed slipped on my slippers and stomped to my door. Swinging it open I tried as hard as possible to raise my voice.

"Do you mind?" I almost whined.

I got amused faces from a small group of attractive men...that took me by surprise. I was suddenly very aware I was in my pajamas.

"Mind what?" One of them asked with a smirk.

"Not being super loud...some people are trying to sleep" I tried to keep my edge but I was failing.

"It's almost noon" one of them said with a chuckle.

"Yeah well...still some people are trying to sleep" I crossed my arms.

"Good to know...neighbor" a smirk played on his lips while the other men watched him.

"You live here?" I asked unimpressed.

"I do now" he seemed to be liking this whole thing way too much.

"Wonderful" I said with a roll of my eyes.

"You know most people say welcome to the neighborhood with, I don't know, a muffin basket or something. You know something more polite than an eye roll" he laughed.

"And some people move into a neighborhood with more grace than to be obnoxious and annoy everyone" I snapped back turning to go back inside and shut the door.

"I like blueberry" I heard his laugh as the door was shutting.

My shift was going to be so rough. Thankfully, the men outside stayed more quiet for the remainder of the day which allowed me to actually get some sleep before my shift.

When I woke up I gathered my things threw on some clothes and made my way to my car. I never wore my scrubs to work, I always changed once I got to work. There wasn't really a solid reason to it, just something I've always done. It made me feel better if everyone I came in contact with didn't know I was a nurse.

I opened the back seat of my car and threw my bag in. As I closed the door a voice caught my attention.

"Well well if it isn't my lovely neighbor" I fought the instinctive urge to roll my eyes again. "I'll be very quiet tonight" he almost taunted.

"Oh please, don't do it for me. I won't be here" I snapped back with a fake tone of politeness as my eyes finally met his.

I must have been so tired this morning not to notice just how attractive he was, almost made me forget how much of a jerk he was. Still, I couldn't stop myself from noticing how the light hit his eyes just right and his shirt hugged every single muscle perfectly.

"No wonder you were still asleep at noon, you party all night" he smirked.

"You have no idea" I muttered shoving myself in the drivers seat not allowing him any time to respond.

My shift had been going better than expected considering my sleep had been so broken.

"You look tired" Annabel noted flipping through a chart.

"I guess I am a little, not exhausted but I could have used a little more sleep" I explained scrolling through things on the computer.

"Why didn't you sleep?" She asked closing her file and turning to me, an amused look on her face.

"I have this new neighbor and him and some guys kept me awake and once I was able to fall asleep it was broken sleep. I kept waking up because I was expecting to be woken up." I explained not looking up at her.

"Ok wait, what? How did they keep you awake?" She leaned against the counter.

"They were being loud and obnoxious and I couldn't sleep" I shrugged.

"Well maybe they were just excited" she pushed herself off the counter. "Is he at least attractive? How old is he?" She questioned raising an eyebrow. I looked at her finally and raised an eyebrow back.

"He's about our age I would say and he's gorgeous, but that's not the point Bel. The point is, he's a jerk and he's so annoying" I grabbed my papers and got up from my seat.

"Hey, I like gorgeous. Hook a girl up" she laughed following me away from the nurses station.

By the time my shift had come to an end I crossed the line from a little tired over into completely exhausted. I couldn't be more thankful that I had had that night off, I was going to sleep until my body had had enough.

I pulled myself from my car and as much as I didn't want to move the quicker I got myself inside the quicker I could get to sleep.

"Morning" I could practically hear the smirk on his face. I gritted my teeth knowing that wasn't a friendly gesture, it was to get under my skin.

I turned to find him standing on the balcony, coffee in hand. He looked good even in the mornings.

"What?" I snapped, half from the exhaustion half from my patience wearing thin looking at that stupid smirk on his face.

"My, are we friendly in the mornings" he laughed. "You look exhausted too, by the way"

"Well thanks to someone, I didn't really sleep all that well" I explained bluntly as I pulled my bag from the back seat.

"Maybe, and this is just a thought, if you don't party all night you wouldn't need to sleep at noon and yell at perfectly nice people for helping a buddy move into a new place" he shrugged.

"Wouldn't exactly call it partying" I turned to leave.

"Still waiting for my muffins" he joked as I walked away.

"Get used to that feeling, buddy, 'cause you ain't getting them" I yelled over my shoulder as I continued to enter the building.

The minute I was inside I changed into my pajamas and before I even knew it, I was asleep.

I woke up and it was dark out. I reached for my phone in a hurry to see what time it was. 9 p.m. I had slept through the whole day almost 14 hours. I lay back in my bed and tried to relax.

I decided to get up, grab something to eat and clean up a bit. Around midnight I tried to get some more sleep but it was no use, I was wide awake and ready to do anything and everything. There was no way I was going back to sleep.

Then a thought suddenly hit me. I knew exactly what I needed to do.