Coffee

Part Sixty: When Horror Strikes!

"Sarah?!"

Akash Panthaki.

As he walks passed me- not even registering my presence- he walks over and draws the curtain back and Sophie immediately bunkers down next to Sarah- who smiles softly- but her eyes tel a different story.

"Akash...what are you doing here?" She meekly asks as I observe this exchange.

"Marta at your work told me that you called in sick. Said you were headed to the hospital. What's going on?" He seems concerned- but he would, wouldn't he.

Dr. Charisma.

Going over to him, he seems surprised to see me here and now he notices the dogs.

"Sharpe, what's going on?" Informal, much?

"Sarah's anemia seems to be acting up terribly." I state- keeping an even neutral tone about me.

"Anemia? Sarah, since when do you have anemia?" He asks. His hand on hers, tightens ever so slightly.

"Since now." I jump in to help her avoid whatever cruel thing he could possibly do to her. "I just diagnosed it, but I want to run all the tests I can to differentiate if it's sickle cell or just iron deficiency. Or possibly something else."

My eyes peer into his and today, he seems totally different. Not his cool talking, charming looks kind of Panthaki, but stone hard, ready to boil over Panthaki.

"I'm sure it's not iron. We eat a lot of liver and other iron based foods."

"As a doctor, you'll also know that it's quite possible she has too much iron in her." I state and his jaw clenched. Casey comes over and parks a wheel chair.

"Ride's here." He happily states and I help Sarah off the bed and I tot he chair. I hook up both dogs and walk with them close to me as I push the wheelchair down the hallway to the elevator. The dogs have their hair raised slightly and Bentley keeps his head down and his tail stiff as he watches Akash carefully. We get in the elevator and I press three. As it rises, I notice Panthaki texting on his phone viciously and as we head out, I take her to her room and he blindly follows us. When we get there, I lock the chair and help her out. Unhooking the dogs, Sophie jumps back up on the bed and settles protectively on Sarah's lap.

"Sharpe," His voice is very sharp today. Not as sweet or considerate as it would be when he addresses me. Shows you how much of a real arsehole he is. "What's with these dogs?"

"They're therapy dogs. My emotional support animals. They help keep the patients calm and me safe." I look deep into his eyes and I see that small fire in them blaze brighter.

"You never had them before."

"Yes, well I've been through a lot and have PTSD from it. So they help me out immensely." I say and he rolls his eyes.

"Well can you remove them? What could you possibly need them here for, at work?" He snaps slightly and I notice Sarah ever so subtle flinch.

"For hostility...mostly." I state clearly as I defend my grounds. Turning from him, I hook Sarah up to the heart monitor and head back to the counter to check in her chart. Bentley lowly grumbles in his throat as Akash gets closer to Sarah. He's positioned behind me, ears tucked back a pit and teeth barred.

"You're dog seems to be the hostile one." Akash states.

"He's just being protective." Nonchalantly saying, I turn back to him and Bent rises to all fours.

"Protecting you from what?" He sneers.

"Oh, not me. Sarah." I state. His brows knit tightly together and he cocks his head slightly to his right side.