I arrive at the hospital, clocking in 5 minutes early and hurrying to the first place I'm scheduled today–the ICU. As I'm walking quickly down the hall, I see there are stretchers that need cleaning. Wonderful! Someone hasn't been doing their job. If I could, I'd make them up. I can't though–not until I get the opportunity to. I go around a corner and run into that pharmacist, Liam. He's probably going to ask me out again.

He smiles at me, "Ivy."
I smile back, briefly, "Hey Liam. How's it goin'?"
"Good, good. It's a busy day." he says, "What about you? What are you up to?"
I dryly tell him, "The ICU. That's what I'm doing."
"Oh, fun... So uh, Ivy...you doin' anything this weekend? I got tickets to..." I give him a cold stare like I just ate a piece of glass on purpose. "I have a lot do and can't think about the weekend right now. Maybe we can talk later." He stiffens a little, not expecting me to behave this way. Good! He grimaces, "See you at lunch, okay?"
I look away and say, "Yeah...sure." As I walk away, I can feel his eyes on me.

I can remember the days I enjoyed coming here, but now I can't seem to stop feeling unhappy about everything and questioning everything.

As soon as I'm in the ICU, I'm stopped by a nurse who asks me to take blood specimens to the blood lab. It's a short walk that I've made many times, but when I get there I don't remember the walk. I get a page to go to the ER where I hear about a guy that arrived at the trauma center after getting into a car accident. I take the time and go check on him.

The trauma room is full of empty beds. There's hardly anyone in here. It's quiet too. This is normal. The one I'm looking for is all the way in the back corner. I ask one of the nurses about him. They say he's in pretty good condition–now. He has a broken arm with a bad slice in it, and he's scratched up in different places. Now, as a tech, I don't normally come over here. None of us do. It's usually only nurses, doctors, environmental services, and the administration desk. Security is always outside the door that the fire dept. and ambulances use to bring people in.
I walk toward him.

When I meet his bedside, I'm stunned. I know him! It's that old man from Lounge 'n Sip that handed my keys back to me! He's amazed to see me too.

"Well well..." He says.
"What happened to you?" I quietly ask.
"Ah, well...I almost hit someone. My car swerved off the road and hit a tree. I fell unconscious after that. The fellow I almost hit saved my life by calling an ambulance. He should be here still." he looks around. "Oh wow..." I mutter. I fix his blankets and look at him again, "Are you ok?"

"I'm numb. Can't feel much'ah nothin'. I got a broken arm I think." I give him an empathetic frown, "I'm sorry you went through that... What's your name?"

"Henry." he smiles lightly at me.
"I'm Ivy."

He moves a little and says, "I'd shake your hand, but I...can't move much without a stinging pain." I nod in understanding, "Oh no Henry, it's ok. I'm glad we finally know each other's names." I smile at him, "Maybe if we're lucky, I can help ya out." He nods and then looks over past my shoulder at someone, "He's outside there talking to those security guys." I arch an eyebrow, then look back and see a man talking to the guards. Maybe I should speak with him.

I tell Henry, "I'll be back. There anything you need?"
"Some of that Lounge 'n sip coffee." he mumbles.
I laugh lightly, "Don't have that back here, sorry."
"But there's some other coffee in the café."

A male-nurse approaches us and says to him, "Sorry buddy but you can't drink anything yet; doctor's orders." That makes Henry grimace at him. I don't think he likes this guy. The nurse quietly tells me, "Sorry to cut things off for you two, but he needs to go to cat-scan again."
I nod, "Ok." I guess he's going to get double-checked; evidently somebody was being an idiot. I look at Henry again, "I'll be back later." "Alright." He's a bit annoyed. I smile at him and go out.

As soon as I get through the door, my body tenses up; the memory of last night's dream comes back to me in a flash. It's Nicolai. I'm lost at the moment, unsure if Henry was talking about him or not. I hope he wasn't!

He's wearing regular everyday clothing; fashionable gray buttoned-up coat with a black scarf, black slacks, and those black expensive-looking formal shoes.

Finally, he looks at me and then smiles, "Well hello." My stomach twists.
I utter a faint nervous hum to myself before saying, "Hello..." My voice is quiet and stunned at the same time. He then nods once at the guards and does a gesture like asking me if we can talk. I give the trauma door and the clock above it a glance, then I say, "Yeah, there's time." He blinks a glad 'okay' expression at me.

We go into a waiting room and he shuts the door. As he turns around to me, I hold my arms close. All I see right now is that same man who rescued me from those hands holding me hostage...

"What's going on? I heard from a guy in there that you rescued him." I ask. He looks around before telling me, "Yes...well it is quite a strange story to say the least..."
"I'll say!"
He half-smiles at that, then says, "That man in there almost ran over me this morning. I was on my way to the store when I saw an animal in the road, so I got out of my car and went to rescue it. It was foggy outside. He saw me at the last second and swerved off the road, hitting a tree." My eyes widen, "What? You almost got killed?" And he saved something's life! Holy crap!

He waves his hands, "Everything is fine now. I called an ambulance. He is in good hands now." I sigh in surprise, "Wow... Yeah, I talked to him. What about you? How are you doing?" I know he'll be okay. I'm more worried about you!

He lifts a shoulder, "I got out of the way in time. I'm okay." My attention drops from his face to his neck where I spot a little bit of blood around his scarf. It sends a shiver up my spine. "Nick," I almost take a quick step closer to him but then I suddenly feel uncomfortable about doing that. "What?" He tilts his head, confused. While eyeing the blood, I compare the fact he's hurt (or maybe not) with the dream I had last night even more. I was a damsel in distress and he came to my rescue. Today, here he is at the hospital, possibly needing help... Amazing!

He takes a step closer, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah..." First I shake my head but then I nod. He becomes slightly puzzled, then checks his scarf and touches the area I keep looking at. "Oh," He sees the blood on his finger, "Well I was unaware of that...I'm sorry." I watch him take a puff of sanitizer cream from the dispenser on the wall and rub his hands together. He frowns to the feel of it. Before he does anything else, I say, "Yeah, it feels disgusting, I know."

"I prefer the traditional washing of the hands under a faucet." He mutters in amusement. I move closer to him, no longer able to resist the want to see if he's cut. "Excuse me, I'm sorry," I pull his scarf down his neck a little. What the–? There's no injury here. What happened? He grabs my hand, startling me. I lift my eyes up to his. He then smirks, "It isn't my blood; it's Henry's. I just had an itch and scratched it before I washed my hands." I blink repeatedly at him. He whispers, "Why don't you have lunch with me?" I gulp slowly, making him chuckle.
How sudden of him... And that little suave laugh of his...

"But Nick, I don't know when I'll be relieved."
I hate having to say that...

His response is a warm smile. He takes a card out of his coat pocket, "Then call me. I'm taking off work for a while so I have some time on my hands." He winks at me. I take it and hesitantly look down at it. It's his business card–a finely detailed one at that.

"Okay," I start tucking it away in one of my scrub pants' pockets, "What will you do while I'm working...?" Wait, that isn't my business...

As he wipes the blood off his neck, he says, "For now, I'm going to sight-see around the hospital and perhaps play the piano in the lobby." Oh my, he plays the piano? That's lovely! He sees the light in my eyes and a wide smile graces his face. "Yes, I play the piano Ivy."
"I wish I could watch." I frown slightly. He takes my hand, "Maybe one of these days, you can." He kisses it. My cheeks flush. "Call me when you can." He says. I nod and watch him open the door for me.

We go out, he gives me a last wink and then he walks up the hall like he owns the place. Wow...

He turns around a corner and a bleach-blonde female doctor walking past him looks him up and down. He doesn't pay any attention to her though. Suddenly, my eye twitches a little. "You...know him?" A security guy asks me from behind.

I didn't even notice him standing there.
Quickly, I tuck some hair behind my ear and proceed back through the trauma center.
"Yeah–sorta."

Sorta...