Grumpy Doctor

I plunged into the room, thoughts disappearing. I lived for this moment, the second right before you step into chaos, when so many possibilities hung in the air.

“Mr. Slate,” Tammie said as she wrestled with an older patient, a big guy in his sixties with dark hair and a thick black goatee. “You need to calm down, please.”

She was a small woman, blonde and thin, maybe in her thirties or early forties. The patient thrashed and shouted something unintelligible as he tried to throw Tammie off him.

I had no clue what the hell was happening, but I jumped on the guy before he could hurt her.

“Sir,” I said. “Calm down.”

Tammie looked at me with shock, but her pause only lasted a heartbeat. She dove at the medicine drawer nearby and started rifling through it as the patient pushed against me, thrashing like a crazy person. I was worried he’d tear out his IV line and injure himself, so I did my best to pin him down, but the guy was relentless.

He growled and shouted, and I couldn’t understand a word he said. Another nurse came sprinting into the room and jumped on the guy, grabbed his other arm, and held it down. Tammie returned with a syringe and injected it directly into his line, and moment later the thrashing calmed and slowed, as the sedative took effect.

I stepped back from the man and took a few deep breaths. “What the fuck was that?”

“Thank you, Dr. Hood,” Tammie said. “Mr. Slate’s been having some mental issues lately, I don’t know what’s going on. We’re working on it.”

The other nurse got to work checking his vitals as I headed into the hall. Tammie followed me, wringing her hands. She looked nervous, and I had no clue why.

“You’re lucky I showed up, Tammie,” I said. “That guy was going to break you in half.”

She frowned a little. “You know my name?”

I laughed. “Of course I do. We worked together, what, last week?”

“Well, yeah, but, uh, I mean—”

I held up a hand to cut her off. “My reputation’s that bad, huh?”

“No, it’s not that.”

I ran a hand through my hair and laughed. “It’s fine, honestly. I get it. Everyone thinks I’m a bastard.”

“Less of a bastard, and more of an asshole.” She grinned at me.

I laughed again and walked with her back to the nurses’ station. “Fair enough. I’ve been a little tough to work with in the past.”

“That’s not always true, honesty,” she said. “I mean, you’re short, you don’t have great manners with the nurses, but there’s no bullshit, you know what I mean? No games, no power trips.”

“So I’m not universally despised?”

“I’ll say you’re not at the bottom of the list.”

I leaned up against the station and considered her for a second. I’d never heard a nurse talk like this before, but I was willing to bet they had these conversations with each other all the time. Nurse sentiment was important—they more or less ran the hospital, as much as the doctors liked to think they were the ones in charge. Tammie was opening up to me in a way a nurse never had before, and I wondered if I could do something with it.

But no, it wasn’t about that. Helping her was the right thing to do, and I would’ve stepped in whether I was trying to be less of an asshole or not.

“I appreciate that.”

“Thanks again for your help in there. I think Mr. Slate will be better. Dr. Atwood is trying a new medication that I think will help a lot.”

“Good luck, I guess. If the guy starts freaking out and trying to throw you out the window, call for me. I’ll take him down.”

“I bet you will.” She laughed, and I waved, walking off. I kept my head down, puzzling through that encounter, trying to square it up with what I knew about my situation. Nurses didn’t hate me—that was a good thing, for sure. But I didn’t know how it could help.

And it wasn’t like they actively liked me.

I headed to a lounge nearby and stepped inside. I wanted to get something cold to drink, and the room was mercifully empty—until Lori stepped in behind me.

“I thought that was you,” she said.

I turned, surprised. “What are you doing here? I gave you the morning off.”

“I know,” she said. “I got bored at home.”

“And now you’re stalking me.”

“Actually, I heard all that commotion, went to check it out, and found you saving the day.” She tilted her head and walked with me to the vending machine. “Good job back there.”

“You watched that, huh? Didn’t think to help?”

“It was over by the time I showed up, but winning good will with the nurses is a very smart move.”

“Didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Maybe you should.” She leaned against the machine as I bought a bottled water. This thing kept the drinks nearly frozen, which I loved.