Night Shift
- Feb 1
- 20 min read
A short story by Ezra LC
This story contains: her and him, contemporary romance, lovers reunited, public place, medical, cunnilingus
The hospital was in disarray and had been for hours. Alex Baker was finishing her shift when the first ambulance arrived. Since then it had been a constant stream: burn victims, firefighters, pedestrians caught in the smoke and dust of the building’s collapse—too many and too fast for the staff to handle, but handle them they did.
Alex compartmentalized her fear and doubt in order to work. She didn’t second-guess the calls she made while triaging incoming patients, but let the shouting, sobbing, and desperate questions fall away as she did what she did best—work.
The first hours passed in a blur of overflowing hallways and lobbies. The air stank of smoke and blood and sweat.
When the stream of patients thinned, the hours passed slower, but Alex redoubled her efforts to keep fear from creeping in. The slower things got, the more her mind could wander, and her stomach clenched with worry so hard it made her nauseous. She hadn’t seen Jacob or any of the other firefighters in his unit, but that was good, right? It meant they weren’t injured badly enough to come in.
Or they had been pronounced dead on site.
When Alex had a calm moment, she went to the employee bathroom. Resting her hands on the sink, she breathed deep and splashed water on her face. She couldn’t leave until the ER was reset and back in some semblance of order. Besides, if she went home now, she’d just end up awake in bed, staring at the ceiling.
She blew out a breath and examined herself in the mirror. Ash and soot stained her navy blue scrubs, and her forehead was grimy from wiping sweat out of her eyes. She undid what was left of her bun and corralled her hair into a ponytail before wetting a paper towel and blotting herself clean. Cleaner, at least.
When she exited into the hallway, she was nearly run over by Marceline, another nurse and her best friend. “Oh shit, Alex! I’ve been looking for you.”
“Sorry, I was just cleaning up. What’s going on?”
Marceline lifted her hands. “First of all he’s fine, second, he’s here.”
The sudden release of tension was enough to bring tears to Alex’s eyes. She felt a little light-headed, though that may have been because she hadn’t eaten in the last ten hours.
Marceline pulled her into a hug. “OK, now, he’s not a hundred percent, but he’s in one piece. He’s got a nasty cut and probably could use some O2. I’m happy to take care of him if—”
“It’s fine, I can check him out.” Alex extracted herself from the hug and wiped her eyes. “Where is he?”
“320.”
Alex nodded. Now that the worry was lifted she was feeling a distinctly different emotion—annoyance.
“You, uh—you sure you don’t want me to go?”
“I’m fine. Really, I am,” she added as Marceline gave her a disbelieving look. “It’s fine, we’re not gonna get into anything. I’ll patch him up and send him on his way.”
“Right. Even so, maybe I’ll stop by in a bit to make sure you two aren’t killing each other.”
Alex rolled her eyes but managed a smile as she stepped towards the elevator. “Thanks, Marcy.”
Marceline gave her a two-fingered salute as the elevator doors closed. “Godspeed.”
Alex hung her head and rubbed the back of her neck as the elevator ascended. She hadn’t seen Jacob in a month, and it had ended the same way it always did—a fight.
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