Dr. Daddy's Virgin

"What did you say, Alex?" Liz asked. "Are you talking to me?"

"Nothing," I mumbled. "Just thinking out loud."

"About the firefighter?" Liz grinned. "Damn, girl, he was a big, strong, Irish lad! Don't you want to be his lassie?"

"Liz, where on earth do you come up with this stuff?" I laughed as I rolled the cart around and scanned the supply room one last time to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything.

"Look, I like the boys, and I'm not ashamed of it," Liz declared, her voice echoing in the cement room. She twirled around on her toes as she grabbed supplies from the shelves and then approximated being en point as she placed the items in the cart. Only Liz could pull off fake ballet moves in a basement supply room. "I think you should own it, Alex. He's a hot guy and you're a gorgeous, young nursing student. I mean, you can't make this stuff up!"

"You are impossible, Elizabeth Baker," I said, rolling my eyes while secretly hoping she was right. Cam Connor was a handsome man, and I was definitely attracted to him. I just didn't want to be another notch on his bedpost. Or did I?

"That I won't deny." Liz smiled. "But I'm also right much of the time. Mark my words, that boy will be back to see you."

"What are you, psychic now?" I laughed as we pushed the cart into the elevator and headed back up to the ER.

"Psychic or psycho." Liz shrugged. "Same diff, different day!"

Back up in the ER, we found organized chaos as the staff prepped for the incoming injured patients. Liz and I quickly stocked each exam area with as much gauze as it could hold and then went back to the back room to grab IV bags. The charge nurse warned us that burn injuries were pretty gruesome, and that if we felt sick or dizzy, we were to immediately step away from whatever treatment area we were observing.

"We can't afford to have to deal with you or your concussion, too." She smiled. I nodded and turned to ask Liz if she was going to be okay only to find she had disappeared. I frowned but figured she'd found an intern to latch onto for the duration of our shift, so I followed the charge nurse to the outside ambulance bay and waited with her for the first ambulance to arrive.

Our first patient arrived a few minutes later, followed in rapid succession by several more ambulances with the most severe cases while the police brought some of the lesser burns in their squad cars. For the first few minutes, my stomach felt queasy and my head felt light, but soon I was put to work retrieving cooling blankets and medications from the pharmacy and was able to switch my brain from observer to helper.

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 said, 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.