Bughead Oneshots

Tell me no Lies

Betty breathed deeply when she stepped into the hospital, biting her lip. It was huge, much bigger than the one she had worked in before. There were more people, more patients, more space. Everything was more.

She smoothed her hand over her shirt, walking up to the nurses desk. "Hello, how can I help you?" the woman asked and Betty inhaled deeply, pressing her lips into a thin line.

"Um," she started, scoffing. "What floor is pediatrics?"

"4th floor," the woman answered with a small smile. "If you take the elevator, you're going to take a right and walk through the pediatric clinic. There will be two double doors and if you walk through there, that's the pediatric floor of the hospital. But if you only need the clinic, this elevator drops you right off in it."

"Okay, thank you," Betty said with a smile, fixing her top as she approached the elevators.

She pressed the button with the arrow that pointed up. She watched the light turn a bright green. The color didn't suit the hospital.

She folded her hands in front of her when she stepped back and began to chew her lip as she watched the floor in front of her.

She heard footsteps approach her and the smell of tobacco wafted over to her. She could feel the heat from the body as they stepped beside her to press the up button. Her stomach did a flip when she took a questioning glance up.

Her lips parted and she wanted to say something. Say his name. Say hello. Say how she felt all those months ago and honestly, how she still felt now. But she couldn't. Her voice was failing her.

He cleared his throat as he tucked his phone in his pocket, glancing at her quickly but looking away. He did a double take and his face fell. He clenched his jaw and nodded, stepping away.

"I'm going to take the stairs," he muttered and she tried to speak again, though nothing came out. He laughed coldly, shaking his head as he walked away.

She sighed heavily, the elevator doors opening.

~

Betty adjusted her stethoscope around her neck, adjusting her tag for what must have been the hundredth time. She had been standing around too long but had no idea what to do.

A nurse walked around the desk and Betty inhaled sharply, swallowing when she walked away. She stopped in her tracks, turning. "You have been standing there for at least 10 minutes," she stated and Betty winced silently. "New?"

"Yeah," Betty whispered and the woman nodded.

She set the chart she had down, holding out her hand. "Toni," she started and Betty shook her hand with a smile. "You are...?"

"Oh," Betty breathed, shaking her head. "Bet-Betty. Sorry, I'm... sorry."

"Don't apologize," Toni chuckled, picking the chart up again. "Come with me. I'll introduce you to Lizzie Mullins. See, you gotta understand this before I tell you about her. She's very strong and she gets mad when people feel bad for her. A part of her stomach was removed, though it ended up doing more harm than good. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer a year ago and... we're controlling it the best we can. She's 8, she's young, but she's not scared. She's a smart girl, she knows what's going on inside of her."

Betty nodded, letting out a deep breath. "Okay," she breathed, clearing her throat. "I'm sorry. I worked at a really, really small hospital before this one. I just moved here, I didn't realize that it would be this big, or... I'm sorry."

"You're okay," Toni assured, squeezing her upper arm. "I'm sure your pediatric floor was much different."

"We didn't even have a floor for it," she revealed and Toni's eyes widened. "They were just put on one of the three floors. I just... I specialized in pediatrics and they pushed me to be a physician but I didn't want to. So I stayed a nurse and... I worked on children whenever they came in. Other than that, it was just adults. And if kids came in like her, we had to send them somewhere more equipped to deal with their condition."