The West Wing

Ryan’s POV

Today was an average day at Boulder City’s Saint E’s Hospital. Slow Even after 2 years I was still not used to this slow paced life. It was slow and small in comparison to Las Vegas General Hospital where I had previously worked.

I sighed contently as I signed my name on the discharge form for an elderly patient. She had fallen and slipped on a wet floor and sprained her wrist. It was sad to say but that would likely be the highlight of my day, if not my week.

I made a beeline for the staff area otherwise known as the West Wing. I was in desperate need of my caffeine fix. The staff room, lockers, on call room and offices were situated. I spent my first week here confused as to why it was called the West wing but I soon found out the reason behind the name.

Years ago there had been an asylum where this hospital stood. It was built here isolated from the bright lights of the city. It was burnt down in a fire and the hospital was built from its remains. The only part that was left standing was the West Wing of the hospital which the new hospital was built from. The west wing was where the worst of the worst mentally ill patient were sectioned.

I had nearly made it to the safe confines of the staff room when one of the nurses stepped in front of me. His name was Spencer Smith. His face was slightly flushed possibly from running across the hospital to find me.

“Dr. Ross! We need you in room 119. It’s an emergency. The new guy isn’t fairing too well and neither is the kid. It’s getting kinda messy”

I was about to correct him for calling me by my surname. It was a formality I could do without especially in such hospital where all the staff were friends with each other. I decided that now would definitely not be the time to do so. I quickly scanned through the file that he has placed in my hand.

Young male. 9 years old. Foreign object in nose.

This was fairly simple stuff to deal with. How the hell had the new guy messed up?

I’d heard people talk about the new guy but I had yet to meet him and right now I really didn’t want to meet him. He was most probably a new guy fresh out of Med school, sent to a small town hospital to ease him into his medical career.

I walked towards room 119 stopping once only to get the attention of the Paed nurse. I found him leaning against the reception talking to the receptionist Vicky. He was a cheerful character and he always wore a huge smile on his face. He was perfectly suited to his job. Kids loved him and his presence helped calm a kid which made the doctors job a hell of a lot easier.

“Brendon. You are needed in room 119. We have a slight problem. The new guy messed up.”

He turned to me and his smile was as always present. He was cute. I’ll admit that but I wasn’t ready for any sort of relationship just yet. My last one had ended so badly that even 2 years later I was unwilling to get involved with anybody.

“Sure Ryan,” He replied coming to my side “Lead the way.”

As I approached the room I could hear a commotion. I walked through the swinging door, determined to get the situation under control.

“What seems to be the problem here?” I asked announcing my presence to those in the room. I looked up from the file I had in my hand. I froze mid sentence in shock. Not from the bloody scene that was played out right in front of my eyes but the person crouched in the corner blocking blows from a ladies designer handbag.

There he was. I hadn’t seen him in 2 years and if I had my way I wouldn’t see him for another 20. He was the reason I’d left Vegas. He was the reason I needed to escape. Nothing had been the same since we broke up. We were engaged to be married but I came home one evening to find him in bed with one of the female nurses.

I realised everyone was looking at me expectantly. I cleared my throat as the lady stood up and straightened her outfit.

“Finally a real doctor!” She said with a sigh. “It’s about time. That fool nearly killed my son”

Although my mind was telling me to run I tried to force my sense back to control.

“I’m Dr. Ross. Rest assured that your son is in capable hands. Spencer can you take Ms Deane to the family room to wait while I treat her son. Brendon will stay here with me. Dr. Wentz go to your office or do something productive that doesn’t involve patients. I’ll speak to you regarding this situation later.”

Pete looked hurt as he passed me on his way out of the room. His eyes were always so readable and they were always the key to knowing how he felt. Right now he was feeling a mixture of regret. Hurt and shock. When you spend 5 years with someone you learn these little things.

I felt a hand on my arm and I realised I had blanked out again.

“Ryan? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine Brendon. Thank you for asking. Now let’s get this mess sorted.”

Less than an hour later we had finished and the boy was allowed home with his mother. We had successfully removed the diamond earring which had been lodged in his nose. He had informed us that he was trying to use it as a nose ring and then when his mom entered the room he got a fright and it went too far up.

I was dreading returning to my office as I knew that once I did it would mean talking to Pete. I was not looking forward to that task but nonetheless it still had to be done. That didn’t stop me from trying to find anything to keep me occupied. There were no more patients left to see and all the paper work was up to date.

He was waiting in my office when I returned.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked not caring for formalities.

He looked clueless as he replied.

“Well I figured that we needed to talk so I came and waited here”

He glanced around my office.

“This is a nice office you’ve got. It’s bigger than mine”

“Don’t even try that crap with me Pete. It doesn’t work and you know that. What the hell are you doing here? I left Vegas to get away from you not for you to turn up at the same place I worked in”

“How was I to know you worked here? I was just sent here. It’s not my fault and about the other thing. We really need to talk about that”

I felt the anger rise inside me as I leaned against my desk for support.

“The only thing we will talk about is the mess you made of that case this afternoon. We don’t need to talk about anything else”