Several hours later, I looked up and caught a glimpse of a man I thought was Cam but turned out to be from another station, and I felt the disappointment envelop me. I hadn't realized how much I wanted to see Cam Connor until I realized I wasn't going to get to see him. I sighed loudly and attracted the attention of the charge nurse.
"You okay, Alex?" she asked. "It's overwhelming, I know. But this is the reality of the job. All or nothing."
"No, that's fine, ma'am," I said as I looked around the ER and counted how many patients we'd seen. "It's just..."
"It's just that the cute fireman you had you eye on hasn't rotated in?" She smiled with a twinkle in her eye. I blushed so red that I could feel my face burning without reaching up to touch it. She dropped her voice and said, "It's okay, Alex. We've all been there. And if someone says they haven't been, then they're lying."
"Yes, ma'am." I nodded, swallowing hard to cover my embarrassment.
"And you can call me Leslie," she said. "This ma'am stuff is making me feel old as hell."
I smiled gratefully as I nodded again and looked around for Liz. I hadn't seen her all afternoon, and I had no idea where she'd disappeared.
"Have you seen Liz lately?" I asked Leslie.
"Last time I saw her she was with the team in Trauma One," Leslie said without looking up from the chart she was updating. I thanked her and walked down the hall to the room. I peeked in and found Liz sitting on the counter next to the sink talking to one of the residents who'd joined the ER the same day we had.
"Alex!" Liz cried. "Come see what this crazy mofo can do in the sink!"
"Liz? Are you okay?" I asked, slowly walking across the room. I could see that Liz's eyes were dilated and she was talking a mile a minute as she watched the resident washing things in the sink.
"Yeah, I'm great! Look at all this shiny stuff!" she said, waving her arm out across the sink full of silver instruments. "Aren't they pretty?"
"Liz, we need to get back out on the floor," I s
aid, looking at the resident who appeared to be moving in slow motion. "C'mon, let's go."
Liz hopped off of the counter, walked over and grabbed my hand before dragging me out the door and skipping down the hallway. I eyed her suspiciously knowing that this was not normal behavior. Not even for Liz.
"Don't be a worry wart, Alex," she said as she patted my head. "I'm fine, I'm just a little tired and kind of loopy after the all-night studying session and then this shift."
"If you're sure..." I said trailing off unconvinced as Leslie came around the corner and announced that our shift was over.
Liz and I headed to the locker room to gather our things before we stepped outside and found that it had snowed all day. The city was covered in a fresh blanket of pure, white snow, making it look clean and new. Liz scooped up a handful and threw it at me laughing as she ran away. I dropped my backpack on the sidewalk, scooped up a handful of snow and dashed after her laughing as I ran. We threw snowballs at each other in the yard until we were exhausted from laughing while ducking from the flying snow.
"Truce!" Liz called as she walked over and stuffed a handful of snow down the back of my coat. I screamed in protest as she laughed before dropping to the ground and proceeding to make a snow angel. Once she’d finished and was satisfied with the results, we headed back to where we'd dropped our things only to find our backpacks were gone.
"Oh no!" I moaned as I looked around. I was cursing myself for being so careless when I heard a familiar voice.
"Did you ladies leave your things unattended?" a male voice asked. I turned and found myself face to face with Cam Connor.
Chapter Nine
Cam
"Hello, Alex Pierce." I smiled as I handed her one of the two backpacks I was holding.
"Nice try." She laughed and reached for the other one before asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, that's a nice way to greet a guy who rescued your belongings from certain theft," I said, still smiling at her. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered, with her hair covered in snow and eyes shining.
"Sorry," she quickly replied as she turned and handed the second backpack to the friend who had been pelting her with snowballs moments before. "This is Liz Baker. Liz, this is Cam Connor. You remember him, don't you?"
"Nope, not at all." The other girl grinned as she stuck out a hand. "But it's nice to meet you just the same, Cam Connor."
"It's nice to meet you, Liz Baker," I said as I shook her hand and let her give me the once-over. I could tell she was suspicious, and I didn't blame her a bit. If the situation had been reversed and it had been Leo, I would have done the exact same thing.
"What are you doing here, Cam?" Alex asked again.