ROLEPLAY HQ - medical-mishaps

She had only started working in the St Maryland hospital for about a week now. It was actually her fifth shift and she felt like there was still so much that she needed to learn about the hospital. She had not met all the doctors yet and some of their procedures still felt very foreign. But she was settling in decently. She just wished her scrubs would come in soon. Since there had been a shortage in her size she was stuck still wearing the light green scrubs from her old employer, making her stand out against all the dark blue. It was coming to an end of her first night shift and she had to admit that she was tired. She checked her watch and realized she had two hours to go. “Time for coffee..” she sighed to herself and made her way to the break room. As soon as she came in she grabbed herself a cup and then kicked out her shoes so she could rub the bottom of her feet. It was only then that she noticed the unfamiliar face that was sitting in the break room as well. He looked fresh and fruity, probably just came in to start his shift. “Sorry, I thought I would be alone.” She said with a soft chuckle before she put her shoes back on again and grabbed her coffee to sit down. She caught the name on his coat and snapped her fingers. “Uhm.. Dr. Head! At least that is what the nurses call you. Your actual name is… pffft..” she said blowing up her cheeks. “Knok? Knox?” She said, trying to not peek at the name on his coat. No cheating, she needed to learn these names. “My name is Paige. I am the new nurse for the ER.” She offered her hand to him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton washed his hands for what felt like the fiftieth time in the men's washroom. He had only just come in but already he had been thrown up on, spit on, and had blood splattered all over his shoes. Today was actually going pretty well! Dr. Ashton Knoxx was the resident ER neuro doctor. While he did mostly ER work, he was the specialist on head trauma cases and he did his best to support the ER. He wore deep black scrubs with his white coat, but he tried not to wear the coat so often. It usually made his patients more uncomfortable. He left the washroom and went into the breakroom, making some coffee. He sat down with a sigh. Today was going to be a long shift. A full twenty four hour one. He had only just started two hours ago, but that was fine. The door opened and a beautiful blonde nurse came in. She came in and didn't even see him! Was he that unnoticeable? Perfect. "Oh, don't worry. This isn't my breakroom." He chuckled when she finally noticed him sitting there. She sat down across from him and suddenly called him- "They call me what?" He asked, his eyes widening, but a laugh popping out. "Really? Dr. Head?" She then teased him about his last name. He leaned forward and smirked. He grabbed his pager and lifted it, shaking it a little. "Looks like I had you in my pocket, Ms. Paige." He smirked. "I've seen you around the ER a bit. How are you liking it? This is your first week, right?" He asked, sipping his black coffee. He took her hand and shook it, not wanting to be rude. "My name is Ashton. You can call me that, or Ash. Or Dr. Head, apparently." He chuckled. @Nakachu

At his joke she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him in a very elaborate manner. “How original. You are actually the first doctor to ever make that joke at me. Can you believe that?” She said sarcastically, though she did at a chuckle at the end to let him know she was not mad. “Keep trying, maybe you find one that is actually original.” She joked at him as she took a sip of her coffee, sighing happily after. Coffee really was her best friend during these shifts. She did genuinely smile at him as he asked about her first week. “Of course you have.. I kind of stand out.” She said as she pulled at her light green scrubs. “Appearantly every single nurse in this hospital has my size. So they were out.” She explained to him. “But yeah.. uhm. It is different. I will admit that. I worked at West Park before this.” She said to him. It was a hospital that was nowhere near them. It was obvious that if she changed from them, she also moved places. “They just do certain things a very different way. Not in a bad way. But it is taking me some getting used to.” She admitted. “Very different type of patients as well. At West Park we got a lot of drug addicts and GSWs. A lot of gang issues in that neighborhood. Here you get lovely old ladies who forgot to take their heart medication.” She smiled at him. “That.. I do not miss.” She took a few more sips of her coffee then, already emptying her cup. “How about you? How long you been here?” She asked him and then peeked at the title on his coat. She nodded impressed. “Head of the department Neuro. Big shot title. I am impressed.” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton burst out laughing at Paige's eye roll. It was official. He loved this nurse. "Oh don't you worry, I'll find one." He smirked. He sipped his coffee, tilting his neck to the side as he cracked his neck. As a head trauma doctor, he knew that snapping your spine wasn't great, but hey, he wasn't exactly a chiropractor. Her experience wasn't shocking. He had heard about her from the other doctors. She apparently had come from a rougher hospital, West Park, that was notorious for their high crime rate patients. But, how she handled things here seemed to be going well since he hadn't heard any complaints. "Well, from what I have gathered, you haven't pissed anyone off yet, since you aren't in here sobbing." He said with a smile. "I've been here for a few years. I used to be the resident of the neurology department, but I got moved here since we tend to get a lot of head trauma cases and it was just easier for me to be here more often. Doesn't help that I started as an ER nurse when I first began my medical career." He smirked. "So don't you try to tell me that I don't know how hard it is being a nurse." He looked at her and smiled. "Then again, I highly doubt you'd be a complainer." He said. He noticed her empty cup and he reached for it. "How do you like it? Black?" He stood from his chair and went to the coffee pot to make them both some more coffee. @Nakachu

She couldn't help but laugh at him. He was easy to talk to, she liked that. An air of simplicity around him. Not like some of the other doctor that seemed to have their head stuck up their ass. As he said that she was not allowrd to complain how hard it was to be a nurse she through up her hands. "I would not daaaaare." She said to him with a smile. Of course the nurses liked to do that stuff to doctors. She knew all about it. When he reached for her cup he handed it to him without complaining. It was a nicr gesture. "Sugar..." she said with a guilty smile as he asked her how she liked it. "Bad habit.. hard to quit with the hours we work." She admitted. As he seemed to be pouring them another helping she once more got one of the shoes off and massaged the bottom of her foot. It had been bothering her lately and she was not sure why. You would think it was easy to get it checked out working in a hospital. But that was the issue. She was always working. As he came back shr happily accepted her coffee. "Thank you." @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton laughed at her blatant sarcasm. He began to pour freshly brewed coffee into their cups. He added sugar to one cup, but not the other. "Hey, people like what they like! What's the problem with that?" He shrugged, bringing the cups back over. He sat down and set the cup with sugar in front of her. He sipped his coffee. "No problem. We got to stick together. Especially in the-" He felt his pager going off. It was a code blue. "ER. Shit. Come on. We gotta go." He knew her pager would start going off, if it wasn't already. He sighed as his fresh coffee would have to go. He set his mug down and rushed out the door to the ER bay. He rushed to bed that contained a young woman who had flatlined. "Shit!" Ashton sighed. He grabbed the lever for the bed and tipped it down. "What happened?" He asked a middle aged nurse who was standing almost in shock. "I-I don't know! She was fine a second ago!" Ashton turned to Paige, "Get me the De-Fib. Now!" His tone wasn't harsh nor angry, just firm. He began to press on the woman's chest, his hands over one another in repetitive presses. @Nakachu

The moment his pager went off, hers was not far behind. “On it.” She said out and put her coffee down without hesitation, flicking on her shoe quickly and following right after him, taking a small jog down the hallway to where the patient was. Her eyes instantly went to the screen. “BP is 75 and dropping.” She shouted out before getting the defibrillator ready. “Charged to 200.” She handed them over and let him handle the shocking. She turned to the nurse. “Any wounds?” She asked. “No.. nothing.” The nurse started. “What did she come here for?” Paige quickly asked, wanting to keep the information coming. “Stomach ache. We had no time to do an exam yet. She just came in.” The nurses stated. If the first shock failed she would look up to Ashton. “1 mill of Epi?” She asked and if he agreed she would tell the other nurse to administer it while she lifted the blankets away from her, finding a puddle of blood between her legs. “Fuck..” she said. “Early miscarriage?” She asked, looking up to Ashton for his opinion. “She needs an OB/GYN.” She decided, though it was Ashton’s call to get anyone else involved. For now her heart was the first priority though so she went back to the paddles. “Charged to 300.” @LightPurpleVicodin

The nurse was standing at the bedside, her eyes wide. Ashton looked at her, his eyes narrowing. "Hello?" She jumped, gasping. "Y-Yes?" He glanced at Paige, "Didn't you hear her? Go!" He barked. The older nurse turned and scurried from the nurse, running to grab the items. Another nurse came running into the room. She had heard the last request of epi and administered it. "Move." Ashton said, pulling the woman's wires aside. He looked to Paige, "Clear! Shock!" He said, giving Paige the go ahead. He turned to the other nurse, "Page Dr. Batton and Dr. Leslie. Tell them to get an OR prepped. We're going to need it." @Nakachu

Another shock went through and the moment he lifted the paddles back up the placed her fingers at the woman’s neck. She had not even been hooked up to a heart monitor so they had to find it manually. “We have pulse!” She shouted out, making sure everyone heard. The paddles were put away. Paige worked quick to get her hooked up to a monitor while peaking at the chart that was laying on the bed. “Merissa? Merissa can you hear me?” She started to say as she still worked, hoping that the woman was getting to. Suddenly a soft moaning sound came from her and as Paige looked up she found her eyes. She quickly motioned for a nurse to take over her task and went over to her head. “Hi Merissa, do you know where you are?”she asked the girl. “The hospital..?” She managed weakly. “That is right, you are at the hospital. You gave us quite a scare, your heart stopped, but we managed to get it going again.” She informed the woman in a gentle way, yet it still seemed to have shocked her. “It is okay, we are going to take excellent care of you alright? But for now I am going to get those clothes of you and get you in a gown. I don’t want you to move so I will have to cut them off.” She explained. “Is that alright?” Merissa nodded quickly even if her eyes were darting around. Paige didn’t wast much time to start to pull the curtains closed around her and then started to cut away at the clothing that she came in with, giving Ashton the space he needed to do his job. @LightPurpleVicodin

Once Paige found out that the patient had a miscarriage, the team worked quickly to get the woman stable. Ashton leaned over Merissa, giving her a gentle smile. "Hi, Merissa. It's going to be alright. My nurse here, Paige, is going to take excellent care of you." He said, giving the patient's arm a gentle squeeze. As Paige got the patient's clothes cut away, he took his stethoscope and started feeling around Merissa's chest and belly. "How many weeks pregnant were you, Merissa?" He asked softly. Merissa swallowed. "I...I was maybe... fourteen?" Ashton nodded. "Alright. It's okay now." "Is...Is the baby okay?" Ashton frowned sadly. "Unfortunately, it seems you had a miscarriage. The OB/GYN doctor is going to be down in just a second and they will give that definitive answer." Merissa immediately burst into tears. "N-No! How? That...That doesn't..." Ashton gently patted her arm, looking at her. "I know... It's okay. Let's see what the OB says when they arrive, alright?" He reached for Merissa's chart. Suddenly, he raised a brow. "Merissa, did you come in for a headache?" "Y-Yeah... I was having a bad migraine. I figured it was due to dehydration. My last pregnancy...I was severely dehydrated. I didn't carry to term..." She cried softly. "W-Why?" Ashton kept reading and when he saw the mediations that were administered, he felt sick. However, he simply gave Merissa a calming smile. "We're going to be right back." He said softly. He looked at Paige, "Paige, can you please step outside with me?" As he got back into the main lobby, he saw the nurse who had been watching and aiding Merissa first. He caught her gaze and his face darkened. He beckoned her over, his jaw clenched tightly. "Come. Here." The nurse gulped and got up, scurrying over to Ashton. He pointed to an empty room. "In. Now." "D-Did I do something-" Ashton pointed harshly. He glanced at Paige, "Please come in."

05:28

The nurse went inside and Ashton followed. He waited until Paige was in before he shut the door. He rounded on the nurse angrily, his face tight and full of anger. "Under whose authority did you give that patient morphine?" He growled. The nurse's eyes widened. "Sh-She said she...she said she had a migraine! I do it-" Ashton gripped the bed that sat in the empty room as hard as possible. He grit his teeth angrily. "You gave her fucking morphine! She was pregnant! Didn't you ask her that?!" He snarled. The nurse looked down, shaking her head. "Why not?" "I...I didn't think it was important." She whimpered. Ashton sighed angrily. "Well it was. You just caused that patient to miscarry. This is her second miscarriage. If you read her fucking chart, you would have seen that!" He yelled. The nurse whimpered. "You're done. Get out of my sight. Now!" He barked. The nurse ran from the room, crying softly. Ashton was still angry, his breathing heavy. He sat on the bed, his head in his hands. "God fucking dammit!" He hissed. @Nakachu

Paige felt her heart break for this woman. To have a miscarriage was bad enough, but to know that she had had one before was just heartbreaking. She finally helped the woman into her gown, giving her at least her modesty back. She looked up in surprise as Ashton asked her to step out and she turned back to Merissa for just a second. “Hold tight okay? I am going to be right back with you.” She assured the woman with a smile and told one of the nurses to not leave her side till Paige herself returned. She followed Ashton and couldn’t help but look at him with a bit of a questioning look at he started barking at the nurse that had been taking care of her so far. Was he one of those? The one who yelled at the nurses at every single little thing? Yet she held quiet and followed. As she went into the room she leaned against the wall, her arms crossed together to wait and see what was going to happen. The moment the word morphine was out of Ashton’s mouth she couldn’t help her own fall open. She listened to the rest of the conversation and couldn’t believe what she was hearing. So many mistakes were made during that exchange. The nurse should never have registered medication like that without permission from one of the doctor’s. The woman should have received a blood test that would have tested her on a pregnancy as well. And her chart had not been looked at properly. She watched the nurse leave and as that door closed behind them she just stared down at the ground for a small bit, feeling that same anger that Ashton was expressing, yet she refused to let it take her over. She had seen young children die from GSWs, shot by their own parents. At some point you just learned to turn off those emotions when it matters. “Let’s not assume the worst just yet. If the fetus was 17 weeks old I would have seen it. Maybe it is not too late. Let Dr. Leslie and Dr. Batton do their magic.” She said to him before she walked over and gently put her hand on his back in an attempt to c

06:14

omfort him. “I will get everyone together for an evaluation meeting the next chance I get. This cannot happen again.” Her anger showing through for the first time. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton took a deep breath as Paige attempted to reason with him. He nodded, standing. He ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. "Sorry. Now isn't the time to lose it. Forgive me. We'll talk about my behavior after we save this woman." He said, going to Paige and giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Thank you, Ms. Pager." He teased. He needed to bring the mood up a bit. Anger would only cause them both to lose their heads. Leaving the empty room, Ashton saw Dr. Leslie and Dr. Batton. Dr. Leslie was an OB/GYN and Dr. Batton was a pediatric surgeon who also was able to work on adults. "Knoxx," Dr. Leslie called, requesting Ashton to come over. Ashton looked at Paige, "Come on." The two went over and Ashton sighed. "She was given morphine. She's bleeding heavily. I'm concerned about a miscarriage, but Paige here doesn't think so. I need an ultrasound." Dr. Batton scoffed. "Knoxx, you should probably tell your nurse here, to leave the decisions and opinions to the professionals." Ashton's face darkened and he stepped forward, standing several inches above the surgeon. "Apologize." Batton blinked. "Excuse-" "Apologize. Now. Or I'll shove your head so deep in that surgery sink you'll be breathing that soap for a year." He hissed. His fist clenched tightly, the bones in his fingers popping. Dr. Batton swallowed. He looked at Paige and with a meek voice he said, "S-Sorry." Dr. Leslie sighed, looking at Paige. "I'm sorry for him. He's stupid." She said, giving Paige a reassuring smile. "You're theory that the miscarriage didn't happen is possible. If the morphine was given in small doses, maybe it's just causing some uncontrolled bleeding, rather than a miscarriage." Dr. Leslie looked over to the other nurses. "I need an ultrasound machine in Room 3, Stat!" She called. Leslie looked over to the two male doctors. "Can we go save our patient, please?" Ashton turned, pushing Batton with his shoulder and going past Paige and into the patient's room. Leslie followed.

05:19

@Nakachu

“Thank you, Ms. Pager.” He said to her and she couldn’t help the small chuckle that he drew out of her. “You are welcome Dr. Head.” She teased him back. She then got herself pushed away from that wall and followed him outside. As he seemed to want her to come along to the two doctors who waited for them she followed suit. The next exchange that happened went by her in almost an instant. Dr Batton scoffing at her, her wanting to open her mouth, but Ashton beating her to it. The fiery exchange between the two that followed. The meet apology that was send her way. And then suddenly it was about the patient again. Her head turning to Dr Leslie to take in what she was saying. “I am not saying that it can’t be a miscarriage, but if she was seventeen weeks along I would have noticed a fetus. There was none. There might still be time to reverse the effects.” She said then. “But of course it is up to your expertise, Dr Leslie.” She offered. They were about to enter the patients room again but before they did Paige grabbed into Ashtons arm and pulled him aside to her. As he turned to her he would see a side of her that he had not seen yet. Her eyebrows slightly angled and her face more serious. “Let me make one thing clear right now Dr. Knoxx. I do not need you to defend me. I am a big girl and I am more then capable of doing that myself.” She said to him, her voice making it clear that she was pissed off about what he had done, yet trying to keep it formal between her and a superior. She then pushed past him to enter the room with the patient to hear what Dr Leslie discovered. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton huffed a bit as Paige scolded him. He didn’t do it because he didn’t think she couldn’t do it herself. Fuck it. He’d talk to her after. He entered the patients room and Dr. Leslie was setting up the ultrasound. “Merissa, is it okay if I lift your gown?” Ashton smiled a bit. “I can turn around too if it makes you more comfortable. Or I can leave the room.” Merissa shook her head. “N-No. it’s fine. I trust you all. It’s okay.” She gave a nervous smile. Once Dr. Leslie put the gel on the ultrasound wand, she lightly tugged up the woman’s gown. She began to rub the wand across Merissa’s belly. Dr. Leslie looked over at the machines screen. A grey puddle was seen and then, in the center, was an obvious outline of a fetus. Dr. Leslie smiled. “We have good news. Paige was correct.” Merissas eyes widened. “What?! What’s wrong?” “Nothing. Nothing at all. Your baby is still alive. I can see the baby, and there’s no trauma.” She flipped a switch on the machine and grabbed another wand. “This is called a Doppler and this will let us hear the heartbeat.” Dr. Leslie pressed it gently against merissas belly, and after a moment, a gentle “thump thump” was heard. “Healthy heart beat.” Dr. Leslie smiled. “I think what we were seeing is…” She put the wands away. “Heavy spotting. I think the morphine plus some of the prenatal vitamins and supplements you are taking, increased the blood flow. Your baby is still healthy. We’re going to take you to the OB/GYN wing and keep you over just, maybe even a second, just to ensure it was a one time thing.” Merissa gasped. “My baby is alive?!” Dr. Leslie smiled. “Your baby is alive.” She said happily. “Thanks to these two.” She gestured to Ashton and Paige. Dr. Batton huffed a bit. “Dr. Batton,” Dr. Leslie smirked. “Why don’t you grab some transport nurses and help them move our patient.” “But-“ “Now.” Dr. Leslie smirked. Batton grumbled, but did as he was told.

09:57

Dr. Leslie took merissas hand. “I’ll come check on you once you are set up, okay?” With that, Dr. Leslie left the room. Ashton cleared his throat. “Paige, may I see you outside for a moment?” He left the room and went back to the empty room. @Nakachu

She couldn’t help the instant relief that she felt when that outline of the fetus appeared on the ultra sound screen. She had not lost her baby.. Merissa would not have to go through that heartbreat for a second time. Her relief so strong that she even brought up a hand and rested it at her chest. She grabbed a hold of Merissa hand when Leslie told her and offered her a kind smile when she looked her way. “I told you I would take good care of you.” She said gently and Merissa returned her smile, mouthing a wordless thank you between them. She was going to be off soon and by that time Merissa should be set up in her room. She vowed to herself to at least go by her to see if she was doing okay. She got up then, feeling the relief in her in herself. No matter how often she did this, she would never get used to it. She was able to leave the matters of her patients with them and he fresh when she went into the next room, but as long as she was there she sure lived those feelings with them and she was not going to ever be sorry about that. “Paige, may I see you outside for a moment?” She looked up. “Alright.” She said and followed him outside. Was this about her scolding him earlier? @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton waited until she was in the room before he shut the door. He turned and gave her a gentle smile. “Great job with that patient. You were absolutely right. I’m glad I have you as my nurse. However,” he chuckled softly. “Don’t get up in my face about Batton. I didn’t do it because I thought you couldn’t. You do have to realize that he is a doctor, and not everyone agrees that nurses are on the same level as doctors. Personally, I think nurses should be doctors. They’re just as smart and just as capable. They just didn’t waste their time and money going through school. But, not everyone agrees. If he complains, especially since you’re new, it won’t work out well for you. I’m not saying to take it lying down, but, you need to be careful. Batton was a complete jackass, and I got pissed because I know that he was being an asshole just because you’re a nurse. I didn’t do it for you specifically. I did it for my own beliefs. And you. But, next time,” he smiled. “Say thank you, instead of biting my head off until you ask me why I did something. Don’t assume. It makes an ass of you and me.” He winked. “Let’s go, Ms. Pager. We got lives to save.” He said, smiling as he walked out of the room and into the ED lobby. @Nakachu

The moment he started she knew that it was about him telling him off. And even though he was saying that he had done it for his own beliefs and that he had been trying to help her she couldn’t help but still feel frustrated about it. She shouldn’t have to tone herself down because she was new or a doctor was a jackass. She should be able to expect respect. So even though he explained himself to her, she still did not entirely feel alright with it. “Well perhaps if you respect me that much, next time you should at least give me an opportunity to handle the situation myself.” She offered, though he voice was more calm then it had been before they had entered that room. “I can stay respectful and still handle myself.” She said before she then sighed and crossed her arms over each other before finding his eyes again. “Thank you.” She then said, managing to get it out in a way that sounded at least a small bit genuine. She would walk back with him to the ED lobby. “My shift is ending soon. I am going to do another round of meds and then I am going to clock out.” She informed him, trying to get the professional air back between the both of them. @LightPurpleVicodin

“Hold on.” He turned back to her, giving her a small smile. “I don’t want to see another amazing nurse get fired because they were considered “difficult to work with.” It’s not you I’m worried about, Paige. It’s others. This hospital has higher ups that refuse to acknowledge your position as one of respect. It’s just how it is. So, if it helps, I’m sorry I made you feel like I stomped on your toes, but you have to understand where I’m coming from.” He stuck out his hand. “Let’s try this again, okay? Truce? I won’t step on your toes, but you also need to cut me some slack if I defend you. I defend my nurses if someone is disrespecting them. You can do it too. It’s not a bad thing to help someone.” He said, smiling. “Right? You helped me too, didn’t you? Had you not helped me, I wouldn’t have even suspected that woman hadn’t miscarried. You knew. You’re smart. Way smarter than people assume. So, come on. Let’s try this again, okay?” @Nakachu

She would pause as he spoke to her. Her eyes going up to find his. Somewhere she knew he was right. She had always needed to play that game where she needed to play sweet with other in order to not be thought she was difficult. She just put her patients needs above all else and that was sometimes not appreciated. As he offered her hand out to him she would look down at it and back up at him. She sighed another time but took his hand. "Fine.. truce." She said, shaking it gently. As he complimented her she couldn't help the small smile on her face that came from it. She had always been a sucker for praise and he had just managed to use it to his advantage by accident. "I will see you around Dr. Headache." She chuckled. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton burst out laughing at her tease. “Sounds good, Ms. Pain in the butt.” He winked, turning and walking back to the ER towards the nurses stand so he could see what other patients he had. Ashton had been preoccupied but when he saw the nurse from earlier, he beckoned her to follow. He brought her to the resident at the ED. “We need to have a meeting, now.” He said quietly. @Nakachu

She got busy with the med round then. Going by all patients and checking their charts and given them medication accordingly. She spoke to them and reassured her. Getting then moved up the list if they seemed to be getting more urgent. By the time she was done she was ready to clock out. It had been a long shift and she was ready to go home. Her feet were hurting and she was tired. She stretched herself out as she walked into the breakroom, yawnin loudly. Seeing the cups of coffee still left there brought out a smile on her face. She quickly gathered them and emptied them out in the sink. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton went through the ER patients and after assisting where it was needed, he decided to go to the break room. He was going to be here for the next twenty hours, so he needed to make sure he was rested. Maybe he could sneak a quick nap in the break room... He walked back into the breakroom and saw his Big-Girl-Defending Herself Nurse standing and emptying his coffee mug into the sink. "I'll have you know several hour old coffee is an American Staple..." He laughed. "Scoot over. I need to make another triple espresso." He teased. "How're your patients? All healthy?" @Nakachu

She would look over her shoulder as she heard his voice and he didn't waste any time to push her to the side. "Well.. if I didn't know better I would believe you to be stalking me Dr. Headache." She said teasingly before stepping aside and handing him his mug. She cleaned her own out with warm water and dried it off to put it back for her next shift. "Yes, all of them are moaning and bitching. That is how you know they will be fine the coming few hours." She chuckled as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. She took her time to look him over properly this time. It was clear that he took care of his body. He was fit, more then that even. His hair a little messy even if he had only just started his shift and a stubble on his cheek. Probably so he didn't need to shave every single day. And taller then her. Which was a plus, cause she was not short. "How about you? Have you been shouting at any more doctors?" She teased him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton scoffed playfully as she teased him about stalking her. "Take it up with HR, Ms. Pager." He teased back. "I'm all over this place. I'm in the shadows. In the walls. You can never escape from Dr. Headache." He smirked. He took his mug and went to make his drink. Ashton couldn't help but sneak a few glances at Paige. She was well kept and honestly, fucking beautiful. She had been running around earlier, but not a hair was out of place, and it didn't seem to be due to any prissy notion of her not working. No, she just knew how to move without losing her mind. Ashton honestly appreciated a nurse that knew how to take care of herself. This didn't mean that anyone had to wear makeup or dress nice. But a woman that knew how to look good while working hard was his perfect woman. However, she was his nurse... But, she was taller than most of the nurses her, which he loved, and she had a fit body. Her personality though, now that was what he truly liked. Her spunkiness. Her ability to bust heads and get the job done. "Hmm? Oh, no, not since Batton." He sighed softly, thinking. "All though, I do need to go apologize to Nancy. I yelled at her because I was upset, and even though she did make a big mistake, I shouldn't have yelled. I should have just told her what she did wrong without getting angry." He shook his head, pressing the button on the coffee maker to brew some hot liquid life. "I will admit... I am not very good at controlling my anger when it comes to patient's. I try to be. But, I admit my faults. At least I think I do..." He said sheepishly. @Nakachu

“Perhaps that is why the name is so fitting.” She teased him back, after all a headache never left you either. It was everywhere and even painkillers often didn’t take care of it. And it seemed that he might be hard to get rid of as well. She brushed her hair behind her ear as she put some other stuff away, making sure she left her stuff in the places where it belonged before she left. As he started about apologizing to Nancy she couldn’t help but smile at him a little bit. “Yeah.. perhaps that wasn’t the right course of action.” She said. “You are pretty intimidating after all..” and even if she didn’t say that to be mean, it was not entirely untrue. He had a musculair body with wide shoulders, he was quite tall too. And even though he had a friendly face, his beard made him appear sharp and harsh if caught at the wrong time. Combine that with the fact that he was head of the department of Neurology and you got quite a cocktail for being an intimidating son of a bitch. “I am sure she will accept an apology. She has a lot to learn sadly.” She said. “It seems that we are going to get all the nurses together tomorrow for that evaluation meeting. At least we will learn from the mistake and make sure that it is not done again. I am also going to go over the medication protocol with everyone in the same meeting.” She explained to him. “Medical errors are a high cause of deaths, especially in the E.R. I just want to try to do my part to prevent that.” She said. Then she pushed off the wall and stretched herself out. “Anyway! I am done with my shift. I am going home and..” she paused as she needed to cover up a yawn. “And sleep.” She chuckled softly at the irony of it. “See you around, Dr Headache.” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton sighed, feeling embarrassed that he had shown that side of him. "Yeah, you're right. It wasn't the right course of action. She didn't deserve that. I'll go catch her in a few minutes so that she doesn't keep feeling like shit." He said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Paige said that she was going to go over medication protocols in the nurses meeting the following day and he smiled. "That would be perfect. I'm glad we have you on our team to help find things like this. It's good to have a patient advocate here. Especially regarding things like medication. I know that a lot of nurses expect just the doctor's to handle the medications and I know it can be a lot to deal with. I want to trust the nurses fully, and I do, for the most part." He looked up at the ceiling. "However. There is one nurse I trust completely." He smirked. He looked at Paige, giving her a friendly wink. She yawned, and God, Ashton almost melted... The way her back curved as she stretched and the way her arms moved up towards the ceiling. Fuck. Ashton had to glance away, just to make sure he gave her some form of privacy. He cleared his throat, smiling at her. "See you around, Nurse Pager." He smirked, giving her a friendly wave. "I'll see you tomorrow." Ashton made sure his stuff was cleaned up from the breakroom, and then, he headed out of the breakroom. Ashton stayed true to his word, and he went right to the nurse's station and found Nancy. He pulled her aside and apologized, giving her a full apology. She accepted after a minute, and he promised to make it up to her. Promises of free lunches for the nurses for the next week made things better, and she promised to triple check all medications from here on. Ashton smiled and the two hugged. Unfortunately... not all relationships have happy endings.

15:44

It was the following morning, and Ashton was just about to finish his shift, when, the sound of the doors opened and a young pair of EMT's ran in, an older woman on a gurney being rushed in. "Middle aged woman in her early fifties! Head on collision just down the road! Severe head trauma!! WE NEED A FUCKING HEAD SPECIALIST!" THe youngest EMT shouted. The ER jumped into action, and Ashton came running into the room. "Bay 1! Janet! I need a crash cart, five milligrams of morphine and get me several bags of-" He stopped as he saw the woman get loaded onto the bed. "Nancy..." He said. He felt as if the wind had been sucked out of him. "Dr. Knoxx?" Janet asked. Ashton shook his head quickly. "S-Sorry. Get me several bags of saline solution. I need a mobile xray, order a CT scan and an MRI now! LET'S MOVE PEOPLE!!!" He roared, but not with anger. With determination. @Nakachu

Page would leave her shift and as promised she made her way up to OB/GYN to check up on Merissa. The woman seemed to have settled in even if she was still quite shaken up, she was doing alright. She had left work in a good mood that day. She felt good about it. Something that surprised her because they had that mistake that almost caused an abortion to happen. But it hadn’t and she knew that she should concentrate on that. And just in general.. she had fun today. She went home for her bed, took foot bath to relief the ache in them and then slept hard for a couple of hours. But only till her alarm once more blared at her. “Hmm.. not enough..” she mumbled but she knew that wasn’t going to give her more time. She got up, took a shower. Dried her hair out and tugged it in a ponytail, she did her make-up and got a fresh set of scrubs from her closet. Still light green.. like a goddamn light. She had only just gotten into the ER, had not even clocked in when she heard Ashton’s shouts fill the space. She instantly threw her backpack into the nurses station and her jacket as well and ran to where the voice came from. “Tell me what you need Dr Knoxx.” She instantly said as she started to put on a pair of gloves over her hands. She turned to the patient for the first time then and couldn’t help but be taken aback by it. “Ooh my god..” but she quickly shook it off her and went to the computer. “Pulling up her records.” She said out loud and found them without much issues. She called out her current medication use, her blood typing and any other relevant information. She the turned back to the patient and started to put a central line in for the saline to be plugged into and got her hooked up to a monitor. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton was turned away looking through the bottles of medication he had in the drawers when another nurse shouted, "She's seizing!" Ashton turned quickly, flipping the lever that lowered the bed. "I need three milligrams of Diazepam! Now! Someone grab me an trach tube!" Nancy's eyes were shut and her color was turning pale. One of the nurses began to push the diazepam and her seizing stopped, but, her heart monitor let out a sharp, 'Beeeeeeeeeeeep' as her heart stopped beating. "Paige! Crash cart!" Ashton said, calling to Paige. He immediately started to pump his fist, his hand covering his other, pumping up and down on Nancy's chest. "Starting compressions!" He was sweating, he was exhausted, but God dammit he was not going to lose another patient. Not again. Not another nurse. "Paige!! Where's the crash cart?" He called, his voice loud but still some what level. @Nakachu

She aided him as best as she could. Letting another nurse take care of the Diazepam as she started to get a trach kit ready. She had just gotten it ready as she flatlined. The moment he called out for the crash cart she was on it. But of course someone had put it in the wrong place and she had to cross multiple rooms to grab it. She heard him calling out to her in frustration right as she entered back in that room. “It’s here!” She called out. She put it on charge right next to him and then climbed up on that bed as well. “Taking over compressions.” She said decidedly, hoping he would step aside. She was not allowed to shock patients if a doctor was near, she needed him to do it. “Come on Nancy..” she said softly into the air. “I know he scared you to death before, but we ain’t taking that literally now are we?” She said. Nancy had seemed to appreciate a bit of dark humor in the time that they had gotten to know each other. Every time he would call out clear she would hold the compressions only long enough to let him administer the shock. @LightPurpleVicodin

As Paige came over, and began compressions, Ashton got the crash cart ready. He called clear, and he shocked Nancy. Once more after compressions. Then again... Then.... Beep....Beep....Beep..." Nancy's heart rate started to come back. Ashton let out a shocked laugh. "Intubating!" He called, taking the intubation tube and carefully angling it down Nancy's throat. He was extremely careful, but precise and quick. Once it was placed, he grabbed a bag and began to pump. Nancy's oxygen levels began to return to normal and Ashton let out a deep sigh of relief. "She's breathing... thank fuck." He sighed. He looked at Paige, giving her a smile. "Thank you." He looked over to one of the nurses, "Schedule her for an MRI and a CT scan. She hit her head hard, I want to make sure there's no other injuries. She's stable for now." Another nurse came over to take over bagging and Ashton stepped back. His arms were shaking and he placed his head in his hand. "Jesus Christ..." @Nakachu

The relief was instant as that beep beep starting to be called. She got off her chest and looked back at the woman bare chest. She covered her up and pulled the blanket over her. She had surely bruised her ribs, if not broken one or two. But it had been to safe her life. “I am sorry Nancy..” she said softly. When Ashton thanked her she just smiled back. He told the other things he wanted done on her and she pulled away, leaving the others nurses to get her situated. She walked back to the nurses station to grab her back and jacket when she caught Ashton shaking from the corner of her eyes. She walked back to him. “Hey, you okay?” She asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, that MRI and CT scan will take at least ten minutes to get back here. Let’s get you some water.” She offered him and if he agreed she would walk with him to the break room. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton took a sharp inhale and forced a smile at Paige as she came over and asked if he was alright. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm alright." He said, running his hands through his hair. "It's...just hard when one of your patients is your coworker. Thankfully, I apologized last night but... but what if she didn't believe me? What if she thought I lied to her or... or that she was going to get fired?" He bit his lip, shaking his head. "No. No. I need to stop. This will mess with my other patients..." He touched Paige's hand on his shoulder, giving her a sad smile. "I'm going to go sit in the break room. I'll follow her to Radiology once they come down. You heading there now? If so... can I walk with you?" His voice was smaller now, and he looked ready to break at any second. This had been one of the first times he worked on a coworker, and after having yelled at Nancy yesterday, it was harder...

06:25

@Nakachu

She could understand his feelings, even she was shaking up by seeing her co-worker like that. But there had been something about him that made her push those feelings aside and decide to help him instead. “Yeah, come on.” She said to him as he wanted to go to the break room. He would stay next to him and even hold his arm. He looked extremely pale, like he could just faint on her at any moment. Once in the breakroom she sat him down and fetched him a cup of water and even grabbed some of those sugar sticks just in case. And then sat across from him. She brushed a lock of his hair from his forehead and put in back in place. “You were stern yesterday, but you were doing it to protect your patient. And you went back to apologize to her. More than half the doctors here would have never done that. I am sure she appreciated that.” She said softly as she made him drink. “And just like yesterday.. let’s not panic till we know for sure that something is horribly wrong.” She said. Truthfully it didn’t look good, but with trauma you never knew. “You are at the end of a long shift. Take it easy and don’t let anything steal your focus. Don’t start making mistakes over this.” She spoke to him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton followed Paige into the break room. He was still shaken up and thankfully, she was willing to help him through this. He took the cup of water she handed to him and sipped it, staring at the floor. He didn't look at her as she began to speak. Her words were kind, but, the whole situation was still in his mind. He hadn't been stern, he had been an asshole. He made her feel like shit. They did 'makeup' but whose to say she didn't go home and cry because of him? It wouldn't have been the first time a woman cried because of him. He gave a small smile to Paige. "Thanks... I know you're trying to help, but... I just... can't forgive myself right now." He sighed softly. "It's not panic I'm dealing with. It's shock, and... just utter disappointment with myself. I know that being angry hurts people and affects them more than we believe. Yet, I still fucking yelled at her. Now this..." He shook his head. "God dammit." @Nakachu

“Hey, listen to me. You were emotional. We all that get way. You think I never yelled at another nurse because she made a dumb mistake with my patient?” She asked him as she tried to get him to look at her. “We do this work because we are passionate about it. Nobody can make the hours that we do if they were not. And that passion comes with these kind of feelings. Just because you had one outburst against a nurse doesn’t make you an asshole, it makes you human.” She spoke to him, trying to get him to feel better even if she knew it was noting more but a small safety net that could maybe prevent him from falling even deeper. “Drink your water, maybe eat some food. Then go back out there and do your job.” She said to him, still with a smile. “I will be out there if you need me. I need to get clocked in before my boss starts to yell at me.. You are my alibi Dr Headache! If he comes bitching at me I am dragging you into it.” She chuckled at him before she started to make her way back out of that breakroom. @LightPurpleVicodin

It was like a freight train smacked into him as she spoke. No one had ever been so blunt with him, but passionate. Most people would have just called him an aggressive asshole, or reported him, but she didn't. No. Not at all... He was suddenly overcome with emotion. She made him feel this way. It was frightening and he didn't understand why he felt this way. "Wait, Paige." Ashton suddenly stood up. What the fuck was he doing? "Can...Can I take you out to dinner after your shift tonight?" @Nakachu

As he asked her to wait she would stop in her track and look back over her shoulder. But then the question came and she couldn’t help the shock on her face. “Can… Can I take you out to dinner after your shift tonight?” It came out of nowhere, so much so that she was lost on how to even respond to him. She opened her mouth once to attempt to speak, but nothing came. Then when she tried again the word did come. “Alright.” She said, agreeing to it as she still held his eyes. Was she really doing this? Was she really going to date a doctor in her new work place? This was a bad idea wasn’t it. “Pick me up at eight. I will text you the address. And sleep first.” She said to him before she quickly made her way to the clock in station. Once she was there she rested her forehead against the wall. She already knew this was a bad idea. So why did she feel kind of excited? @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton saw her shocked face and he braced himself for the rejection. He was a grown man, he could take it. He was already figuring out which bar to hit up before he went home to drink away this shitty day when she stunned him! "Alright. Pick me up at eight." Ashton blinked. "Y-Yeah! Great! I'll wait to hear from you then." He gave a quick wave as she left the room. She didn't look frightened. No, not at all! He hadn't come on too strongly, had he? No, no he just asked her to dinner. It also wasn't like he was her superior. He was no one's superior, except for Neurology, but she wasn't in Neurology, and even then, clearly they could work together. Ashton gathered his belongings, still numb from this morning's emergency with Nancy. He was still just so shocked that she said yes! He made it home and the first thing he did was strip down to his boxers, and collapse in bed. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.... *** At 7:59pm that night, Ashton walked up to her apartment door. Thankfully some very kind old lady let him sidle past her into the building. He followed the stairs and got to her floor, and when he was standing in front of her door, he felt the reality of what he was doing. Ashton had gone and purchased a small bouquet of white and pink dusted lilies. He was dressed in a dark black suit with a white button up shirt and no tie. He had the top two buttons undone, and the suit jacket was buttoned. His short hair was styled back, and he hoped to God he remembered to turn his bathroom sink off before he left. His hands felt sweaty, so he grabbed a packet of tissues and stuffed them in his back pocket. He raised his hand and lightly pounded on her door. @Nakachu

Her whole shift it had been swimming in her head. She didn’t run into Ashton the rest of the day and she just got swallowed up by work for the most part. It was the only way that she could be. Private and work had to be separated or it just didn’t work for her. Eventually six pm came around and it marked the end of her shift. She made it home and texted him the address real quick before stepping into the shower and getting the washed off her. She had been puked on twice and there was no way she was going to smell like puke. She did her make-up a bit more heavily then she would and styled her hair to frame her face in soft waves. She stood in front of her wardrobe for a long time before she decided that she was over thinking it She slapped on a jeans and a simple top and pairing with a vest against the cold. She didn’t even know what kind of dinner he was inviting her too, no need to get all fancy. She didn’t even realize how late it had gotten when she head the front door knock. She looked at her phone and rushed over to open it for him. She lived in an apartment with two bedroom, one of which she used as an office. It was decorated in a modern minimalistic way since she was not home much, but it was clean and comfortable. She opened the door and saw him standing there, her eyes instantly going over the suit that he was wearing. It was formal, even if he hadn’t chosen to wear a tie and the flowers took her by surprise. She instantly realized how underdressed she was. “Ashton! Ooh.. uhmm..” she bit down on her lip as a tabby cat started to dance around her feet. She quickly picked him up so she wouldn’t get outside. “I didn’t realize.. should I get changed?” She asked him as she invited him in so she could close the door and let the cat down again. @LightPurpleVicodin

10:22

10:30

Ashton's eyes widened as the door opened and he saw Paige out of her work clothes. God she looked beautiful. However, she immediately apologized and asked if she could change. He stepped inside and quickly shook his head. "No! I'm the one whose over dressed. I can remove the jacket. These are just basic dress pants. You look fantastic. Please don't change." He said, blushing as he realized he was rambling. "I made reservations for dinner. It has a bit of everything, that way you're not stuck with something you may not like. It's pretty casual anyway." He said, smiling at her. "Oh!" He slowly handed her the flowers. "These are for you. I hope you like them." He said, his cheeks still tinted pink. He saw the cat and he took the flowers back. "I-I didn't realize you had a cat. I'm sorry! Lilies are super deadly to cats. I...I can get you new ones." God he was such an idiot!! @Nakachu

"You sure?" He asked as she didn't want to feel underdressed. She would usher him in and close the door, letting tabby back down to the ground just in time for him to hand her the flowers. She couldn't help bur chuckle softly at how nervous he seemed. "No it is okay. You didn't know. I will put them somewhere Skittles doesn't go." She said as she took them from him. She walked into her kitchen and would grab a vase and put some water in the bottom. "They are beautiful Ashton, thank you." She said before she placed them into the study and closed the door. All the while the rabby was now dancing around Ashton's feet. Meowing for attention. Paige just shook her head watching it. "He has always loved strangers." She grabbed her purse and checked for her keys and phone as she looked up at him again. "You ready to go?" She asked him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton sighed as Paige took the flowers and went to go put them somewhere that her cat, 'Skittles', wouldn't get them. The tabby looked up at him, its beautiful eyes shining like gems. Ashton smiled and knelt down, petting the cat. "Hey there, cutie. Is it okay if I take your mom out to dinner?" "Meow!" "I'm gonna take that as a yes." He whispered before he stood, looking at Paige. He smiled as she complimented the flowers. At least she liked them! "Skittles is really sweet." He said, chuckling down at the tabby. He always liked cats, but he felt that he worked too much to have one, and he didn't want it to feel lonely. But, maybe one day. "I'm ready when you are." He grinned. He opened the door for her, being careful not to let Skittles pull an escape! When they both were outside, and Skittles was safely inside, he shut the door. "I hope it's okay that I drive you? If you prefer I can call a taxi?" He wanted her to feel like she could have an out if this date didn't work out. Or if she felt uncomfortable. "You'll have to forgive me... It's been a really long time since I went on a date." He said nervously. @Nakachu

“He is..” she said with a smile as he complimented her cat. “He keeps me sane after those long days at the hospital. Always calms me down. He is a true cuddle bug. Loves everyone.” She said, as was adement by the way that he was snaking around Ashton’s feet and trying to get his attention. She soon had put the flowers away and closed the door. She brought her hand up to put her hair behind her ear as he started to speak again. “No, yeah. That is totally fine.” She said as she suddenly brought one eyebrow up. Was he… nervous? And then he confessed to not having dated for a long time and that only spiked her confusion even more. If he wasn’t actively dating.. why had he asked her? She had kind of just assumed that he had tried it with more of the nurses. That was just your dating pool when you worked the hours that they did. “Ashton.. it’s fine. I can take a taxi back home if I want to wether you drove me or not.” She said with a smile as he carefully closed the door behind her. She would pull out her keys and lock the door before she followed him down the hallway to the parking lot. “So where are we going?” She asked him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton nodded, giving her a soft smile. "That's good. Thank you for clarifying. I just... didn't want you to feel trapped or anything." As she asked, he smiled wide. "It's a cute restaurant called Marvin's. It sells all kinds of foods, and it's casual, but the food is delicious. I know I dressed in a suit but," He removed his jacket and smiled. "I can look casual! I promise I don't own just suits and scrubs." He chuckled. As they walked down her hallway and out of the building, he made sure to open the doors for her and hold them. When they got to his car, it was a black mustang with metal grey stripes along the front. He opened her door and helped her in before he hopped into the driver's seat. "Feel free to adjust anything on your side. Temperture, seat height, whatever you'd like."

She couldn’t help but give him a bit of a suspicious side eye as he said that he didn’t only own scrubs and suits, but a smile soon joined that side eye. “Well, I guess I should be grateful that you are not in your scrubs then.” She chuckled at him. Where he removed his jacket, she pulled her vest up a bit more over her shoulders, guarding her skin against the chilly evening air. “That sounds lovely. I am not a very picky eater, but I will never say no to some nice choices.” She said. As the walked down that hallway she kind of hovered next to them. Because it was so narrow they bumped into each other a few times lightly. She would smile up at him as he would open the doors. She couldn’t help the little bit of awe in her face as they walked up to the black mustang. “So that is what doctor’s spend all their hard earned money on huh?” She teased him. As he pulled open the door she would take her seat. She looked around as he walked to the other side of the car. The interieur was luxurious, with soft leather seats and stitching in a contrasting color. There were buttons everywhere. She smiled at him again as he got in. She did adjust her seat, putting the seat up a little bit. She didn’t mess with the temperature though. “Okay! So since we are on a date I have a few rules.” She then said almost out of nowhere as he pulled the car out. “Number one. No talking about work. I am not nurse Paige, I am just Paige tonight.” She lectured him. “Two, I get to pay my half of the bill, no expection! And finally number three, no complaining if I steal a bite from your dessert.” She chuckled. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton chuckled as she commented about his car. "At least I do. I hear Dr. Mallard in pediatrics still drives an old clunker just because he refuses to spend money on cars. I can't blame him, really. I just really wanted a mustang, and when I could afford this, I jumped for it. It's not even the tricked out version." He laughed. As they took off, Paige immediately gave him rules for their date. "I'm listening." She gave him her rules, and he smiled. He reached for her hand and gently took it in his own. "Deal. I can accept those rules. Can I at least pay the whole bill and you can pay me back? Or do we have to split the entire bill on two cards?" He chuckled. "And who says I wasn't going to share my dessert willingly? What kind of monster do you take me for?" He smirked. He took her hand and placed it to his lip before lowering it and just holding her hand. "If this is too much, just say so." He said, smiling at her. "So, Just Paige, tell me what you like to do in your free time?" @Nakachu

She couldn’t help but chuckle and roll her eyes, even when he took her hand she didn’t really mind. “Fine. But don’t you dare skip out on me when it is my turn to pay. I know where you work Mister!” She warned him with a little finger waving at him to let him know she was being serious. It was only when he brought that hand up to his lips that she couldn’t contain the small blush on her cheeks, though it was accompanies by a smile as well. “Maybe a little..” she admitted with a chuckle. It had been months since she had been on a date. Once shew knew she was going to transfer she had just not bothered. And when she came here she had not expected to start this soon again either. But Ashton had been charming, in his own way and she liked that. “I like going for long walks through the forest. If I didn’t work such long hours I would have had a dog to join me.” She said. “I like baking, but it has gotten so bad that my neighbors have begged me to stop making so much because they are getting fat.” She chuckled as she admitted it. “How about you?” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton laughed as she ordered him not to skip out on her. "I pinky promise I won't! I will let you pay me through cash or Venmo. Don't you worry." He laughed. But, as she said that kissing her hand was a little too much, he set it down, but didn't release. "I'm sorry. Forgive me." He said sheepishly. He hadn't meant to overstep, but she didn't seem to pull away, so he would just slow it down a bit. "Oooh, so you like baking, huh? That sounds amazing. What's your favorite thing to bake?" He asked, grinning. He hummed as she asked what he liked to do. "I like to go walking in the woods too, and I also like to go swimming and kayaking. That's rare though, due to the long hours." He sighed. "Not going to lie... it's nice to know that someone else understands the struggle." He chuckled. He looked at her for a brief second and she was gorgeous. He looked back at the road and saw the restaurant coming up. "Here we are!" He pulled into the parking lot. He looked over at her and chuckled. "I'm opening your door for you. You are a strong and independent woman, but I want to." He said, getting out and walking over towards her side. He opened the door and took her hand. He kept their hands together, but give her enough slack that she could pull away if she wanted. He led her to the front door of the restaurant and he opened the door, holding it for her, and brought her to the host stand. The inside of the restaurant was a mix of dark reds and golds, but accented with black and silver to give it both a classy but casual feel. The host wore a black shirt with black slacks and had a wide smile and fluffy blonde hair. "Hi there! You have a reservation?" "Yes, under Knoxx." "Ah yes. Follow me, Dr. Knoxx." He smiled. He looked over at Paige, "I order take out from here almost... every night." @Nakachu

“Oooh yes.. the long hours sure are something that only farmer and doctors know about.” She chuckled at him. He was easy to talk to and she liked that. Their conversation came so easily. It didn’t feel forced like so many of her dates had felt. It was almost comfortable. “I think my favorite recipe is these delicious nut filled brownies that are perfectly moist and fudgey while the nuts stay crunchy. Ooh.. my mouth is watering just thinking about it.” She said against with a smile. “I it a miracle I am not fat..” she admitted. As they arrived she would let him open the door, especially after he joked about knowing she could do it herself. She offered him her hand he seemed to take it. She once more pulled that coat over her a bit more against the cold evening air and brushed her hair behind her ear. As the host seemed to recognize him she couldn’t help but laugh. It was relatable. She was sure her pizza delivery guy believed she had a crush on him by how often she ordered from there. “Well, must be refreshing for them to see you actually sitting down for once.” She teased him as they were led to their table. Once they got there she took off her coat and placed it over the chair as she sat down. If he wanted she would let him push her chair forward and smile at him before she looked around. The restaurant looked lovely. It had that nice casual feel, yet it was for sure not to casual for a first date. “Anything I can offer you to drink?” The host asked once they had sat down. “Uhmm.. could we have a bottle of water on the table please?” She asked and the host nodded before turning to Ashton to take his drink as well. @LightPurpleVicodin

"Oh you have no idea." He laughed as she teased him about having him sitting down now. He did indeed push her chair in once she gave him the permission. She was so adorable. He sat down and as the waiter came over, he waited for her to order first. Once she was ready and ordered, he ordered, "I'll have a whiskey on the rocks." The waiter nodded and Ashton smiled at her. "You just wanted water? Not that that's a bad thing, but they do have some really good cocktails here. Their gin and tonics are pretty awesome too. Just in case you do want one." He smiled. He kept his hands on his menu, looking at the items. "Would you like to share an appetizer or two? We don't have to share, either! Totally up to you. I'm honestly just glad to be spending time with you." He said, blushing a little. @Nakachu

As he mentioned that he wanted some whiskey on the rocks her eyes found his. Once he mentioned that she should have something to if she wanted she pressed her lips together. She hesitated for a small moment before she put up her hand and stopped the waiter from walking off. “Actually… I would also like an gin and tonic with clementine tonic, please.” She smiled at them. The waiter nodded. “Coming right up for you both.” They said before they walked off. As he left she also took the menu in her hands and as he mentioned sharing appetizers she couldn’t help but smile. This was so nice.. she had not felt this comfortable in a long time. Normally she would never drink on a first date, it felt too.. risky. But with him, it felt fine. “Hmm.. not going to decline that.” She said to him as she flicked her eyes up from the menu and back. “How do you feel about the shrimp cocktail and the stuffed mushrooms?” She suggested and then looked back up at him to see his responds. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton smiled as she ordered a gin and tonic, but with clementine! "I've never had that one before. If it's cool with you I'd love to try a taste!" She was so open, and he was glad that she wasn't someone who tried to hide who they were on a date. He didn't care if she ordered every single thing on the menu. All he wanted was for her to be her, and to be happy. "Are you reading my mind, Just Paige? Because I absolutely love shrimp cocktails and stuffed mushrooms." He chuckled. "That sounds delicious. Like, really delicious." He smiled. He glanced down the menu towards the entrees, "I think I'll get the strip steak." He then saw the desserts and he gasped, "They have cheesecake." He looked at Paige and smiled. "Favorite dessert of yours?" @Nakachu

Again she couldn’t help but chuckle at him. “Awesome!” She said as he agreed with her choices. The then moved her eyes down to the menu as she tried to find what main she would like. “Hmm…” she hummed looking over all the choices before he already started to talk about the desserts. Her eyes popped up again with a smile. “Not cheesecake.” She chuckled. “Though I will never deny a delicious cheesecake. But my absolute favorite is creme brulee.” She admitted as she looked down at the desserts menu. “Which they don’t have here. Ooh well.” She went back to the mains then and decided to just pick something. “I will take the creamy spinach lasagna.” She decided then. She liked skipping the meat some days and that just sounded delicious. The waited would come back with their drinks then, her gin and tonic server in a massive glass and a beautiful orange straw in it as well as a garnishing of an orange slice and an apple slice. “Thank you.” She said to them as they placed it down and took the straw to give it one more good stir. “Are you both ready to order?” They asked and Paige nodded. “As an entree we would like to share the shrimp cocktail and stuffed mushrooms please. And for me the creamy spinach lasagna as a main.” The told them. She let Ashton do his own order and then smiled as she went back to him. She moved the gin and tonic closer to him. “There, give a try.” She offered. @LightPurpleVicodin

"Damn! They don't? I wish I had known that was your favorite. I would have found a restaurant that has it." He sighed softly. "But, that's alright. I think they have other desserts, yeah? Cheesecake may have to suffice for now!" He chuckled. The waiter came over and took Paige's order. She ordered the starters and when it was his turn, he spoke, "I'll take the strip steak, medium rare." He said, giving the waiter his menu. As the waiter gave him his drink, he took a sip and hummed. "Delicious." He blushed a tiny bit as she pushed her glass over to him. "Thanks!" He lifted the glass and sipped it, his eyes widening. "That's absolutely delicious." He said, handing it back to her. He held his glass out. "Do you want to try mine?" @Nakachu

She couldn’t help her smile as he tried her drink and seemed to like it. “Isn’t it?” She said excitedly as she took the glass back and sipped from the other side of the rim, a small bit of lipstick being left behind. “Hmm, that is good! I love it so much. It just adds that nice tanginess to the drink.” She chuckled. She would really need to try and not drink it to fast. She quickly put it a little bit away from her to help her with that. As he offered his own drink she shook her head. “Straight whiskey is way to strong for me.” She admitted. “It burns so much.” She straightened herself a little bit in her chair and then once more wiped some stray hairs behind her ear as she smiled at him. “So.. Ashton.” She said, struggling to not call him Dr Head. “What is the most beautiful place you have kayaked?” She asked, wanting to know more about him as she played with her glass. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton chuckled as she rejected his drink. "That's totally understandable. It took a long time for me to actually get used to drinking it straight. Lot of drunken nights at medical school..." He remembered those nights. The thought of them did make his stomach churn a bit. But, he was pulled from those thoughts as Paige asked a question. "Ooh, now that's interesting. So, there's two that I really struggle to pick between." He took a sip of his drink then set them down, "I kayaked to this beautiful solo island in Maine one weekend, and I spent the entire weekend alone. It was a beautiful little island. The place had no wildlife except for birds, fish, and the occasional swimming moose. It was beautiful scenery wise, but, it was lonely." Another sip. "The second was another island, however, the reason it was so beautiful was... well, I saw a mother bear and her cubs. They were sitting in a meadow, and the baby cubs were just playing with one another, and it was so beautiful. The location was pretty plain, but, the tranquility of the animals just made me have a new appreciation for life." He said softly. "Tell me about you, a little! What was the greatest thing you baked?" @Nakachu

“Damn.. that both sounds amazing.” She said as he told her about what places he had gone kayaking. “Seeing a bear with cubs must be both terrifying and beautiful. At least you are in the water so they can’t really get you.” She commented as she swirled the drink int he oversized gin glass and took another sip of it. She knew she should be taking it easy with her drink, but she was not on call and she was off all day tomorrow. Perhaps she could take it a little bit less easy. “The greatest thing I baked.. hmm.” She said as she thought about it. “That is a hard one, I have baked so many great things.” She chuckled. “I did make a wedding cake for a fried once. It was a four tier cake, different flavors. And decorated with probably endless amounts of fondant flowers. Just making those took me a full day and my fingers hurt so much the day after. But it was absolutely beautiful and well worth the effort.” She smiled at him. “I was happy I was able to make her day a little bit more special.” As she finished off that story, a waiter came over with their starters. He announced them and looked to see who to put them in front of. “Ooh, just set them in the middle.” Paige said, the waiter giving her a confused look before he simply obeyed and put them down. “Ooooh.. they look very good.” She said excited. The steam coming off the mushroom along with a delicious garlic-like aroma and the shrimp cocktail looked good to. She took one of the shrimps with her fingers, careful not to touch any other and dipped them in the sauce before taking a bite. “Ooh, hmm.. that’s good.” @LightPurpleVicodin I totally didn’t forget about this one.. what are you talking about? >o> Im so sorry

Ashton smiled as she recounted the best thing she had baked. "Wow, that sounds amazing! I bet your friend loved the cake." He grinned. "I love cake, as you can tell with my cheesecake addiction." He chuckled. He sipped his drink, finishing it. He set his empty glass towards the edge of the table and their waiter came and swung by, snagging it. A fresh one came right as the appetizers appeared too. "Oh, wow!" He exclaimed, his eyes widening at the sight of the appetizers. The stuffed mushrooms filling was piled lovingly and full, and the shrimp cocktail had a generous portion of shrimp. It looked delicious! He reached over and took a shrimp from the glass. He dipped it in cocktail sauce and then he took a bite. "Holy shit, that is fantastic." He let out a small moan, his eyes rolling back slightly. "Dude, that is so delicious." He said with a grin. He reached over and took a mushroom. "Good call on the apps. These are phenomenal." He took a sip of his new drink, humming. "So delicious." @Nakachu

She couldn’t help the chuckle as he took his first bite of the shrimp. She completely agree with him that it was good, but he was laying it on real thick. “You do realize you are the one who orders take-out here almost daily?” She laughed at him. “How am I amazing you with the food I picked out?” Not that she minded at all. She reached forward and took one of the mushrooms with her fork and popped it in her mouth as well. It was really good, but also a big bite and she had to bring up her hand to cover her mouth so she didn’t show her chewing. She met his eyes and his chuckled softly, almost embarassed by her own behavior. But she got it down and soon was back to being able to talk. The next bite she would cut it in half before eating it. “So.. I know I said no work talk, but I am going to break that rule for a second.” She laughed at him. “How long have you been at St Maryland? Being the head of Neurology at your age is quite impressive..” she admitted. @LightPurpleVicodin

"I may order her daily, but that doesn't mean I order everything on the menu." He teased. He chuckled as she forked a large mushroom, one so large that she had to cover hand hand just to make sure she didn't show too much chewing. She didn't have to do that though! But, if it made her comfortable then he wouldn't say anything. "I started at St. Maryland around.... nine years ago as a little resident doctor. Fresh out of medical school, bright eyed and bushy tailed. I started doing at least two months in almost all the departments until I became an attending, and when I did, I begged and begged to be put in Neurology." He speared a mushroom and dipped it in the side of ranch that came with it. He took a bite and chewed as he recalled his 'golden' days as a resident. "Then, roughly four years ago, the Head of Neurology left, and I begged the director to give me a chance. Just one. I was already an attending in both the ER and Neurology, and when that position became available... well," He chuckled, shaking his head, his brown hair swishing ever so slightly. "And, as the director stated, I was rather 'vociferous' and... people noticed. So, I was given the job. I've done that ever since." He chuckled. "Thank you for your compliment. It was... a lot of sleepless nights to prove that I could do it. I stayed up for nearly forty eight hours straight once just to prove I could efficiently cover shifts as needed." He blushed a bit, "But, the director found me sleeping in one of the family rooms after I went to go find extra blankets for the nurses." He chuckled sheepishly. @Nakachu

“Well, seems like you should start ordering everything on the menu at least once the next month.” She chuckled at him as she kept eating small bites from the food in front of them, occasionally taking a sip of her drink. Yet as he started to talk about his career at St. Maryland her face took a more serious turn and she listened curiously to what he had to say. “You have been the director for four years?” She asked almost in disbelief. He was a young director even at his age now, to believe he had been at it for four years was even more impressive. “That is.. honestly impressive.” She complimented him again. “Can’t say the director was wrong though. You cover the ER with such efficiency. You are righteous, you come up for your parents not just the medicine that is behind it.” She said as she sipped her drink once more before putting it down again. “I can only imagine you worked really hard for it. Glad to see you are not taking monster shifts anymore though.” She chuckled. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton nodded, "Thank you. That... means a lot. It's been a rough four years trying to just... make a name for myself, so being praise for it still feels... odd." He blushed, looking at her, "B-But it's not like I don't dislike it! Thank you!" He chuckled nervously before finishing his drink. "I try my best to not let the title of 'Head of Neurology' affect me too much. If I did, I feel like I would... become someone that I hated." The two continued to chat until their dinners arrived. Ashton took a bite of his steak and he let out a soft groan of pleasure. "This is so delicious. Do you want a bite?" He asked, gesturing to his steak. "How's your lasagna?" He asked, tilting his head with a grin. @Nakachu

She had changed the subject back to what they liked to do in their free time. She told him about a few hikes she had done over the years and he continued to talk about his kiyaking adventures. Their dinner got served to them and she instantly could tell she was going to like it, the smell of it being deliciously garlic and creamy. She thanked the waiter and after a small paused asked for another drink, her gin and tonic already almost empty even if she had wanted it to last a while. She took a bite of her lasagna and had the same reaction as Ashton had. This place was good and knew how to prepare their food. “Ooh hmm.. this is good.” She said to him. As he offered her a bite of his she looked down at it and back up at him. “Wanna trade bites?” She said with a chuckle as she had a bite loaded up on her own fork. If he agreed she would try to feed him at the same time he fed her, something that would likely end up with them failing miserably. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton smirked and nodded. He forked a generous bite of steak. He could sense what she was trying to do, and he loved it. It was adorable and made him feel all warm inside. What was she doing to him?! He held out his fork with the steak speared at the end. "Say 'Aah~'." He teased. He also leaned forward and opened his mouth, waiting for her to place his bite of lasagna into his mouth. @Nakachu

She couldn’t contain her smile as she moved her own fork his way. She leaned forward to catch his and almost poked him beside his mouth till the managed to get it inside of his mouth, probably leaving a bit of a mess at the side of his cheek. She chuckled as she caught the piece of steak and took it off his fork before pulling her own back again as well. They seemed like teenagers, feeding each other, but she enjoyed it. “Hmmm.. that is good! Very soft.” She said. It was the perfect amount of salt and pepper and she really enjoyed that. Yet she was happy with her choice for the vegetarian lasagna and happily dug right back into it. Her gin and tonic got delivered and she gladly took another sip of it. “So.. what else do you want to know about me?” She asked him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton chewed his bite, chuckling a little as Paige nearly stabbed his mouth! He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin, cleaning things up. "Glad you like it!" He said eagerly. His steak was done to the perfect temperature and the seasoning was delicious. Her lasagna had left a delicious tomatoey and creamy taste that mingled well with his steak! It was delicious. "Hmmm," He took another bite and chewed it thoughtfully. "Well, I'd like to know why you said yes to letting me take you out to dinner." He looked up and gave her a soft smile. "Just curious as to what made you say yes, exactly." @Nakachu

She chuckled apologetic as he wiped up his own mouth, yet she couldn’t help the smile on her face. It was fun and interesting with him. He was up for a joke, he liked teasing and he was incredible at his job.. passionate even. She appreciated that more then anything. She liked being around people who knew what they wanted. As he asked his next question she paused for a second. “I honestly don’t know.. you are obviously not date material.” She said then, she tried to look serious but meeting his eyes she could not keep the teasing smile from her face. She then shrugged in all honesty. “I am new here, I just moved across the country for this job… I figured I would make a friend?” She then said. “Which perhaps was a bit naive, since this is probably more a date then a work friends type of thing.” She chuckled after it. “But yeah.. I dunno. I just said yes for some reason.” She said honestly. “How about you? Just like hitting on the new nurses?” She chuckled as she forked another bite into her mouth. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton listened to her answers, and blushed as she said he wasn't date material! Really? He thought he was quite the catch. He chuckled, watching her smile. "Well, how blunt." He teased. But, as she spoke again and revealed what she actually thought, he smiled. "It's not naïve to want friends. I think that's a really admirable goal. You knew what you wanted, and I can completely appreciate that." He smirked at her question, "Actually, you're the only nurse I've ever hit on, or asked out." He said. "I think I asked you out because... I saw how dedicated you were to your job. Watching you work with that young mother today, Merissa, and even Nancy... I just... I don't know. Something was sparked. I knew I wanted to at least take you out to dinner." He smiled at her. "But, if you prefer to just be friends, I can take that without shame. I would rather have an amazing friend, than lose a potential date, and a friend, because I was too forceful." @Nakachu

She couldn’t hide the big smile on her face as she said that he wanted to take her out because of how she was at her job. It was one of the biggest compliments she had gotten. “I care a lot about patients. Sometimes a little to much. I just.. you know if I was the one ending up in a hospital bed. Wether that was because of an accident or because I was sick. I would want someone to be there for me you know? I would want someone to tell me that I will be okay, to tell me what was going on.” She explained to him. “Especially on the ER, because so often these people don’t have anyone yet. Their partners and family are still on their way or havn’t even been contacted yet. They are alone..” As he continued to talk and say that if she preferred to be friends that was alright too she just met his eyes and hesitated. “I don’t know..” she said honestly. “I am not saying that it isn’t possible.. But we work together Ashton.” She paused to let that sink in. “And I am new.. Everyone is just gonna see me as the doctor chaser, as an ass kisser…” She chuckled nervously. “I just don’t think it is a good idea? Do you?” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton felt the disappointment creeping into his chest as she spoke. She was being honest, and while he appreciated that, it still sucked to hear that she wasn't entirely sure. "Well, doctor's and nurses date in the hospital. That's not that uncommon. I'm not your superior. I just work in the ER." He said, shrugging. "It's not really that big of a deal unless you worked under me. And, besides," He said softly, looking at her. "We don't have to announce our relationship to the hospital. It could just be us. I'm not saying to hide it, but, we don't have to be kissing in the ER to be a couple, do we?" He said, chuckling a little. "I don't think anyone would call you a doctor chaser, or an ass kisser. If they did, I know you could handle it. And I wouldn't let anyone hurt your career." He said, knowing that she may be concerned about that part as well. "So...What do you say? Want to give dating a shot?" He asked softly. @Nakachu

“But we do work together.” She said to him, obviously feeling unsure about the whole thing. She ate a little bit more of the food that was before her as she listened to what else he had to say. He was making sense and she knew it. There was no rule in the hospital against actually dating each other. And she was enjoying herself with him, a lot more then she had expected to enjoy it.. “I just don’t want to be that nurse..” she said again. “Ashton.. they call you Dr. Head..” she said, letting it sink in to him. It was not just a nickname because he was a neurosurgeon. It was a nickname that had been partially given to him because the nurses liked him and thought he was handsome. She sighed once more and looked to the side, she played with her glass of gin and tonic, looking at the small bit of liquid that was left inside of it. Maybe she was not thinking clearly, maybe she should sleep over it and let him know tomorrow. But she was enjoying her time. “Okay..” she then said, admitting it to herself. “But only outside the hospital. No kissing on the work floor, no calling me anything but Nurse Paige. And no favoratism.” She said to him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton was prepared for her to reject him entire, and honestly, he was alright with that. Sure, it would hurt and it would be devastating for a bit, but he respected her more than she ever knew. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her by getting angry at her or pressuring her to say yes to him. However, he was pleasantly surprised when she suddenly said alright! She gave a condition that it was only outside the hospital and he nodded, a wide grin on his face. "Absolutely. As long as you do the same." He said, winking at her. "And I'm only called Dr. Head because I'm head of Neuro... Right?" He asked, biting his lip. "I have never dated any of the nurses here, so I don't know why they'd call me that..." His cheeks tinted a bit pink at the other reason why they may have called him that. "A-And I've never gotten that from any of the nurses either!" @Nakachu

She couldn’t help the eyebrow that rose at him as he seemed to oblivious to the reason that they would call him Dr. Head. He soon seemed to piece together what the reason was and quickly started to defend himself. “Doesn’t matter if you did or not.. the nurses know what they want.” She said as she popped another bit of food in her mouth. Was he really that oblivious to it? Almost every nurse that she had seen around him had flirted with him in some kind of way. Wether it was staring at him from the cafeteria, or wearing their scrubs just a little bit more open around him. He was populair.. and she was surprised to hear him claim he had never dated any of the nurses. “And I want to take it slow.” She said. “My last relationship.. it burned hot and fast and ended worse. I don’t want that..” she said, thinking back to it. She then stuck her hand out to him. “Deal?” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton sighed, shaking his head. "Well that's highly in appropriate if that's why they call me that. Someone could get the wrong idea." He looked back up as she stated that she wanted to take things slow. He nodded in understanding and he shook her hand, chuckling. "I promise, I will go at your own pace. All I ask is that you communicate with me instead of biting my head off without warning. If I don't know what I did wrong, I can't fix it. If you're patient with me, I'll be patient with you." He said, smiling. "Deal?" He teased. @Nakachu

The wrong idea? she couldn't help once more look up at him. Damn, he had no idea how attractive he was, did he? With the full beard and the muscled and fit body. How did he even find time to work out? Neurosurgery surely didnt require that much power. And perhaps she should just keep her mouth shut about how perhaps the nurses wanted to be the ones getting head. She couldn't contain the tiniest chuckle to herself. She had been here for so little time and even she knew how populair he was. It was why she had expected him to be an egocentric asshole. What a nice surprise. He was still holding her hand as he stated his own terms to this agreement that they had. "Deal." She said to him before returning to the last bites of her food, finishing her plate. "And no more Gin and Tonic tonight.." she said with a chuckle as she finished her glass. Who knew where the night would end if they kept the drinking up. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton smiled and returned to his plate too. She nudged her Gin and Tonic aside and he laughed softly. "That's a good idea. I think I'll stick with water." He reached for the water glass and he began to sip from it, soothing the heat in his cheeks. The waiter returned as their plates were empty and he smiled at them. "So! Have we thought about dessert?" Ashton's eyes brightened. "Oooh, dessert sounds good. What do you think, Paige? You have room left for dessert?" He asked, grinning at her. He wasn't ready for the night to be over yet. They didn't have to do anything specific, but spending time with her like this was really nice. @Nakachu

"Hmm.. always room for dessert." She said confidently at first. But the moment she took time to think about it she did know that she had gotten quite full. "Want to share one..?" She then asked with a bit of a embarrassed chuckle on her part. The waiter handed them the menu and the moment she looked down at the menu she saw they had a trio of dessert option. A selection of their most loved dessert in smaller sizes. "How about that one?" She suggested. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton nodded as she asked if he wanted to share one, "Absolutely! What were you thinking of getting?" He leaned forward to look at the menu and as she pointed to a trio sampler, he grinned. "Sounds perfect! Let's do that then." The waiter jotted down their dessert option and left to go enter it. Ashton placed his hand out on the table, palm open in case she would like to grab it. "Tonight has been a lot of fun, Paige." He said softly. "I hope you've enjoyed it as well." He said, giving her a smile. "Do you want to do anything after dinner, or should I bring you back home...?" He didn't want to insinuate that he was bored, but he didn't want to pressure her if she was ready to head home. "Does Skittles have a curfew for you?" He chuckled, thinking of the tabby cat. @Nakachu

She smiled at him happily as he agreed to share the dessert with her. She was happy he was alright with that. But his next question had her looking up at him. Something else after dinner? She looked down at her watch. It wasn't terribly late. Yet at the same time she did have a 12 hour shift to deal with tomorrow. "Skittles does not have a curfew for me." She chuckled at him. "But I do have to do a shift tomorrow starting at 6 in the morning." She said to him. "So I can't be home terribly late." She said to him. @LightPurpleVicodin

"Ah, well, perhaps we can just go for a small walk then after dinner. I hear there's a really beautiful lake around here. I think that would be nice to walk off this dinner. Then I can take you home. Does that sound alright with you?" He didn't want to push her to stay out late, but she seemed willing to spend more time with him so that was nice! "Just a walk. I even promise not to be a serial killer." He smirked. @Nakachu

“Sounds like something a serial killer would say.” She said to him with her own chuckle. This date had perhaps been one of the most strange ones she had been on. Not because it was unpleasant, but because it was so.. casual? Sure they had ended up talking about wether on not they were calling it anything. But beside that it had been like two friends sitting down, two people who had seemed to know each other for years instead of just a few days. “I do need a walk to get this dessert down we are about to get.” She chuckled then, she was going to be so full. She had overdone it and she knew it, but it was so delicious. And right on cue the waitress walked over with the trio of desserts. There was a creme brulee, a chocolate brownie and a slice of cheesecake. Accompanied with a small bit of vanilla ice cream. Two small spoons sitting on the plate and a heart drawn on the plate in chocolate sauce. The sight of it making her blush a little bit. “Well this is.. awkward.” She said softly as she picked up her spoon. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton laughed as she teased him in response. "Fine fine fine! That's fair. But, It's an honest question!" He chuckled. The waitress arrived with their desserts not a moment later and when his eyes landed on the trio of desserts, he felt his stomach growl for them. "Oh wow! These look delicious." Paige mentioned that something was awkward and he frowned slightly. "What's awk-" He looked down and saw the small plate with the chocolate heart. "O-Oh... Well, uhm... yeah. That is a little awkward." He took one of the spoons off the plate. "Here. I have a great idea." He gently placed his finger into one side of the heart. With his finger dipped in chocolate, he added eye brows, eyes, and a little mouth, then six legs to the heart. "Now it's a little creature." He smiled. "Now it's not so awkward." He placed his finger in his mouth and sucked the chocolate off. "Mmm~ That's delicious." @Nakachu

She couldn’t help but laugh as he smudged the heart that had been made for them and made it into a strange little creature. “Much better.” She chuckled at him as she looked up. Her eyes gleaming as she was truly enjoying this dinner between them two. It was weird to imagine that soon they would be back on the hospital floor, shouting orders around to save patients. There was no space for romance in their work, there was no place for feelings and emotions. She could only hope that this would work. She would put her spoon down in the creme brulee, one of her favorite types of desserts and took a bite of it first. It was perfectly creamy and soft with the soft crunch and sweetness of the burned sugar on top. She closed her eyes for a moment as she just enjoyed it, letting a soft sound leave her lips that was dangerously close to a moan. “Hmm.. that’s good..” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton smiled and used his spoon to take some of the cheesecake while Paige took some creme brulee. She seemed thrilled with the dessert and the bite that he took of the cheesecake was delicious. It was smooth and creamy and made him hum happily. "That is really good!" He said, nodding. He reached forward and spooned some of the creme brulee. "Damn, that's wicked good!" He said, nodding. He took another bite of the third dessert and he thought, chewing quietly. Once he finished, he swallowed and pointed to the cheesecake. "I think this is my favorite." He said, smiling. "What do you like best?" @Nakachu

As he reached for her creme brulee she teasingly pulled it back first as if she was not willing to share, before she actually let him take a bite from it with a chuckle. She watched as he also enjoyed the bites. Once he moved over to take a bit of the chocolate brownie, she stoke a bite from the cheesecake. It was extremely delicious as well and she enjoyed that a lot. The last was the brownie that she had to sample. The brownie was rich, yet sweet, still sightly warm on the inside. “Hmm.. creme brulee wins for me.” She chuckled as she spooned up another bite of that one and popped it in her mouth. “Not even close.” She teased him. But she would share with him and alternate her bites so he had plenty of each. Of course she ate a bit more from the creme brulee, and he a bit more from the cheesecake, but they both gave the other plenty of chances to grab what they wanted. Once they finished she sat back and padded her stomach. “I am so full..” she said with a deep sigh. “I have not eaten that much in forever..” she admitted. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton nodded as she stated that the creme brulee was her favorite. "I can't argue with that. Honestly they are all delicious. Can't really choose at this point." He chuckled. They finished their desserts and Paige seemed to be in a food coma. He laughed softly and nodded. "It was really good. Honestly one of the best dishes they've ever done." The waiter came over and brought over the check. Ashton took it and slipped his card in after he pulled out his wallet. He winked at Paige. "You can pay me back for your bit if you want, but I did invite you out, so it's really only fair that I get to pair for this one." He said with a smile. He didn't want to tease her too badly but he had to! The waiter took the card and soon came back. Ashton signed the check and gave a good tip. Once they were all set and done, he stood and extended his hand to Paige. "Shall we?" @Nakachu

She couldn’t help the chuckle as he made it seem like she had cooked a meal for him. “If only my cooking skills were that good..” she chuckled. “I wouldn’t have to be a nurse.” She joked, even though they both knew that she loved being a nurse more then anything. When he pulled out his card she did raise an eyebrow at him. They had made an agreement and she was not about to let him go back on that. Only when he awknowledged her wanting to pay half did she settle back down a little bit. “No, I will pay you back for it, because I want to.” She said to him decisively, but there was a smile on her face. Once the bill came back and he asked if they should leave she got up from her seat and picked up her coat. As they walked back she hooked her arm into his, showing a bit more of the closeness that they had build throughout the evening together. She was still not completely ready to call them a couple, but at the same time she had enjoyed it a lot. She was still worried what it would mean for them at work.. not wanting to be favored above the others. They made it back outside and the chilly evening air greeted them and she pulled her jacket over her shoulders as they walked back to his car. “Soo.. where is this lake you were so happy about?” She chuckled. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton couldn't help the blush that danced across his cheeks as he felt Paige link her arm through his. She hadn't seemed like the one who would give affection right off, and he couldn't help but feel as if he earned this. He felt pride swell in his chest and he hummed a little, squeezing her arm in an affectionate way. He'd take whatever affection she gave in stride and not rush her. "Well, this lake is super close by and very beautiful. I've walked it a few times after a rough day. There's a walking path that just goes around the entire thing, which we don't have to do, but it's a cool place to see and just burn off a nice dinner." He smiled, taking her and bringing her across the street. The traffic had died down tremendously and now the only sound that could be heard was the gentle chirping of crickets and the occasional burping of frogs. The pathway around the lake was a dirt path but it seemed safe enough to walk on. "So, we chatted a lot at dinner, but, I want to know you a little bit more. Why did you want to become a nurse?" @Nakachu

“I could use a little bit of walking off this dinner.” She chuckled, she was still so full. That last bit of desert having done her in big time. She could still feel how tight her jeans felt against her stomach and the need to un button it was so big, but she held herself back. They were outside, that was not appropriate. At all. “Let’s go then.” She smiled at him. They made their way past the street and then down a hill before they reached the lake that he had been talking about. The city noises died down and were soon replaced by the sound of the wind and the croacking of the frogs. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as they walked, just taking it in. This was nice. These were the places she wanted to learn about during her stay here. As he asked his question she looked up at him and then down at her feet. She seemed to grab a bit more distance from him then she had before, just trying to steady herself before she told him. “Well.. I hope you are ready to learn more about me.” She chuckled nervously. She let a small quiet fall between them before she continued. “Have you ever heard of survivors guilt?” She asked him, looking up. “That is why I became a nurse.” She took another deep breath and this time she disconnected her arm with his, simply needing the space while she told her story. “When I was a teenager I went to a concert. It was nothing special or big, a local band, but for us it was a big deal. A lot of people in my city showed up for it.” She was still looking down at her feet. “I think there were probably around five hundred people?” She recalled. “Me and my friends were all up at the front, we had pushed our way through and got there. Near the end I really had to pee, so I stepped out to the toilets. I had not even reached it before I suddenly heard this extremely loud bang from behind me..” She swallowed the clump away that had formed in her throat and forced her tears back. “They later said that there was a defect in the fireworks that

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they were trying to shoot off for the finale. They exploded.. right at the front of the stage. There were bout twenty deaths, about a hundred more injured. Two of my friends got the full blast of it, they didn’t survive. I just remember.. the screaming and the smell of burning flesh.. It was horrible..” She could feel her tears threatening to pool over. She had not meant to go into such detail, but it had just happened. She quickly pushed those feelings downs, forcing them back to that spot deep inside them. “After that I just found something to concentrate on. I needed a way to make up for that guilt I felt that I was not there with them when it happened. So what better way to do that, then to help save other people that go though trauma like that? It is why I am on the ER. Because we get the most critical ones, the ones who really need our help in that moment.” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton let her take the space from him. He figured she needed it and he didn't want her to think he was going to demand she stay directly by his side. But, he did keep his hand in hers unless she dropped it. She mentioned survivor's guilt, and his stomach tightened. Listening intently, Ashton's eyes widened as she explained that she and a friend were caught in an accident that involved fireworks. The fireworks had malfunctioned and it caused numerous deaths and injuries. She seemed to think that just because she had stepped away... she should feel guilty. Ashton stopped walking. Her reasoning was so noble and powerful, but, she should never feel that way. However, he kept his mouth shut. That wasn't his place to say. She probably knew that, but who was he to demand she feel a specific way. Instead, Ashton stepped forward and he wrapped his arms around her. He let his right hand rest on her back and his left cup her head. "I'm so sorry, Paige... I have no idea what you went through, and I'm sorry for your loss. But... I bet I'm correct in thinking... that if your friends could see you now... they'd be so proud of you. I'm sure none of them resent you. These things happen, but... your feelings are valid." He swallowed the lump in his throat, his own tears threatening to spill out. He gently rubbed her hair and quietly said, "You are a really great person, Paige, and you're an amazing nurse. Our hospital... and I... are so lucky to have you." He said, gently rubbing her back. "If you ever need an ear or a shoulder... you don't have to ask, okay?" @Nakachu

He was right, she did know all that. She had been in therapy for a long time after that to learn to cope with her feelings revolving the accident. Yet there was always a part of her screaming at her that she should have been there with her friends. That she should have shared in their pain and suffering, that she should have died with them. She knew it was unreasonable, but that didn’t change her feelings. At least the nightmares had become less and it didn’t control her day to day life anymore. When he said his part about it she had to swallow away her feelings. “Yeah.. I think so as well.” She said to him, her voice sounding a bit strange as she still had that lump in the back of her throat. She took another deep breath, letting it out slowly and then quickly wiped away the small bit of tears that had formed. “I really appreciate that Ashton.” She said honestly. “Soo..” she said, wanting to move on from the subject. “How about you? Why a doctor? Your dad wanted you to?” She said as she chuckled a soft bit. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton didn't press her to continue talking about it, nor did he pressure her to accept what he said. He knew that was something she must do on her own, but he would be there to be her support system if she needed it. That was certain. Her voice seemed smaller for a moment and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It's okay to feel sad... That's nothing to be ashamed of." He said quietly, but he stayed quiet after that. "Well, I became a doctor because... well... My mother died of a brain tumor. It was... missed. The neurologist that was looking over her chart completely missed her complaint about headaches and just deemed it as 'stress from her job and age', despite the fact that she never had headaches like that before. When she went to seek a second opinion, the doctor got mad at her and told her new doctor that she was a drug addict who was just seeking pain medicine." He grit his teeth, recalling the day his mother received a call informing her that she was being kicked out of the hospital's patient registrey. "She...She died soon after, as the tumor... it caused a brain bleed, and..." He bit his lip. "So I started neurology because I never wanted that to happen again. I wanted to save everyone I could..." He took a deep breath, sighing sadly. "It's...selfish of me, but, I had to choose this path. If anything, for justice for my mother." @Nakachu

As he started to explain his reason of becoming a doctor in the field, it was her turn to let her heart weep for him. To lose his mother from something that should have been noticed by doctors.. it must be a hard thing to accept. If that one doctor had simply taken his mother a bit more serious that first time she went in, perhaps she would have survived and lived. Not to even start about the second doctor who would call a woman a pain medicine seeker without much proof. She knew how hard that was, they often got those people at the ER. They claimed to be in great pain, looking for a fix. Is was a rough thing to face. “I am really sorry Ashton..” she simply said to him as she put her head his shoulder and squeezed his had in much the same way he had done when he had listened to her story. “I guess in a way.. we are much the same.” She said the with a sad chuckle. Both of them trying to just help others because of a experience that they had. Hers out of guilt for her friends who had passed, his because he did not want someone else to go through what he had been through. She stopped them where they were walking and stepped in front of him. She took both his hands into hers and looked up at him. “I don’t think that is selfish, I thik it is noble. I am sure your mother would be very proud of the people that you help.” She said to him with a smile. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton smiled sadly as Paige apologized. He shook his head and gave her a kind smile. "Don't worry. It's something I've worked through for years, but, I appreciate you, Paige." He ran his hand down her back with his free hand. "I guess we are... And that's sad, but, that's alright" He said softly, his other hand coming around to give her a soft hug. As she stepped in front of him, he let her take his hands. He met her gaze and he smiled sadly as she spoke. "Thank you, Paige. I'm sure she would be." He said. A stray tear ran down his cheek and he chuckled, brushing it aside. "Sorry. I don't mean to cry. I'm sure your friends would be very proud of you and the people you've helped too." She was absolutely right. They both had some very difficult traumas that they needed to work through, however, they had each other who seemed to understand. It was honestly so refreshing to have someone understand what he was going through. So many times he'd try to talk to someone about his mother, and it ended up making him seem weak, or making them feel like he needed pity. But not Paige. Paige didn't pity him. Not at all. She actually respected him and cared for him. Ashton stepped a little closer and as he gazed down at Paige, the moonlight shining down on her, he raised his right hand and cupped her cheek. Then, without moving any closer, he asked, "May I kiss you?" @Nakachu

“Don’t apologize for crying..” she said to him with a sad smile back at him. The truth was that sh herself was quite close to being to tears, just about able to push it to the background. They both had been through something that had made them so passionate about their careers and she thought that was perhaps the thing that had made them so.. attracted to another somehow. She somehow couldn’t help but reach up to him and brush the tear away on the side that he had missed. Giving him a gentle smile as she did. “We are all just a little bit fucked up.” She chuckled, it was a thing her father used to say and she lived by it. When he stepped forward though that smile disappeared a little bit as she looked up into his eyes. There was a sudden intensity in his gaze that she had not seen with him before. His hand reaching forward and cupping her cheek. His skin was warm against her skin that had been cooled by the evening air an for a moment they seemed to just stare at each other. “May I kiss you?” The question came so unexpected to her.. yet should it have been? He had let er know that he liked her and they had just shared something so personal together. No.. she shouldn’t be surprised. And in a way.. had she not agreed to be his girlfriend as long as it did not affect their work? She couldn’t helpt the soft blush that decorated her cheeks as her eyes went down to his lips and back up to his eyes again at the same time that she leaned in towards him. “Yes…” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton did not move until she spoke. He was prepared to wait for eternity if she wanted him to. He didn't want to rush her. He watched her cheeks turn a darker shade of red and he smiled, her thumb running across her cheek. He suddenly felt her lean up and then she answered. "Yes..." As if her body language didn't give it away, she leand up. In response, Ashton leaned down, his right hand cupping her cheek and his left hand holding hers. He pressed his lips to hers. Her lips felt so soft and warm, and her hand was so little compared to his. The kiss was soft, but he did his best to show his emotion through it. He kept his lips on hers, giving her soft gentle kisses, his right hand slowly moving towards the back of her head. He pulled away just a mere inch. He nudged his nose against hers. "I hope... you enjoyed that as much as I did." @Nakachu

(TW: Blood, death, medical procedures, sexual content)

She had not kissed a men in a long time. At some point she had just stopped dating. Even when she still had been, she had usually just not bothered ever kissing them. They turned out boring or not worth it. But not Ashton.. Something that had started as not even a date had now turned into this. A gentle question, a subtle pull. So when he leaned into her and pressed his lips against hers, she closed her eyes and accepted it. Her hands landing on his chest, not to push him away but to feel his heartbeat beating gently underneath her palm. She could feel that gentle nature of him back in the kiss, yet it made her feel warm and fuzzy inside her stomach. A soft blush rising to her cheeks to add to that warmth that he radiated. It was different the most kisses she had had before, it felt.. better. When he pulled away she went with him a small part, preventing their kiss from breaking even if it was for not even a second more. Once their lips parted she took an almost shuddering breath and opened her eyes back up. His nose coming against her and his small comment made her chuckle in an almost shy manner. “That.. I liked that.” She admitted. Her eyes went down to where her hand was on his chest and she played with the zipper of his jacket with it. “Look Ashton.. I am really enjoying myself, I really am. But.. I think I should get home.” She said to him. She really didn’t do it to push him off, or to stop him, but she did have an early shift the next day and with her type of job you could not afford to be tired all day. “But I do want to do.. that again.” She said with a chuckle, refering to the kiss they had just shared. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton smiled as Paige confirmed that she liked it. Thank God. He honestly had no idea what he would do if she said she didn't like it! He'd probably remain calm, but die internally. Yeah, that's probably exactly what he would do. Could anyone blame him though? Thankfully, that didn't need to happen. Paige informed him that she had to get going, but she made sure to tell him that she wanted to do 'that' again. He felt his cheeks darken and he let out a small exhale. "I do too... You have no idea how much I want to do 'that' again." He said. But, he smiled and gave her hand a little squeeze. "Let's get you home. Maybe we'll have a day off together that we could do another dinner or something." He laced their fingers and he started to walk back up the path towards the restaurant and the parking lot. He got them back to the car, his thoughts occupied with the memory of him kissing Paige. He thought of how her lips felt, how his chest tightened when she put her hand on his chest. It was all so sweet and innocent but full of desire and it felt like his head was spinning. He brought her to the car and he opened her door for her. "After you." He smiled. @Nakachu

She too blushed when he said that he would also like to kiss her again sometime. She just nodded to that and when he took her hand she just leaned into him a small bit again as they walked back towards the car. What a strange night it had been so far. She would not have guessed this would have ended the way it did. Sure, she had known that he was handsome and charming before that dinner. Yet.. there was a new side of him that she had gotten to get to know and she was glad for that. As he opened the car door she thanked him and sat down in the passenger side. She pulled her phone from her pocket and just went through her messages real quick as he started up the car. “You remember my address?” If he did not she would give him it so he could drive her home. As they pulled out she stretched herself out. “Maaan.. when is my next day off..” she wondered as a small yawn escaped her. She looked down at her phone to see her schedule. “Friday.. that’s still three days away..” she half complained. @LightPurpleVicodin

"I do remember it." He chuckled, entering the address for her apartment. He pulled out of the parking lot as he headed back. Paige questioned when her next day off was and mentioned it was Friday. "I feel like someone knew we wanted to hang out because my next day off his Friday." He smirked. He kept his hands on the steering wheel but he wondered what it would be like to touch her thigh while he drove. He'd try one day. "Do you want to plan for something to do? We could do something outdoorsy, or we could go visit someplace. Maybe the aquarium? I hear that's a good place for a date." he said, thinking about what they could do. Paige was a lot of fun and he wanted to have a good time with her doing something she enjoyed. @Nakachu

"The aquarium?" She couldn't help the soft chuckle that companied her sentence. Yet when she gave it an extra thought that might actually be fun.. when was the last time she had done something fun outside of work? Well.. except for tonight. "Actually.. that would be fun." She said then as she gave him an apologetic smile. "Let's do it! But, only after 10 am. I need to seriously catch up on some sleep." She chuckled. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton was unsure if she'd even like his suggestion, so when she said that it would be fun, he nearly pumped the air with a cheer! "After 10am is perfect. I usually don't wake up til 9:30am anyway!" He chuckled. "How about we meet at 11:30am? I'll come pick you up again? Or do you prefer to meet at the aquarium?" He asked, curious to know what she wanted to do. If she wanted to be picked up he would gladly oblige! @Nakachu

“Same though..” she chuckled. “You would think that they would want the people taking are of their health to get good nights sleep, but nope! Why would it be logical.” She laughed at him. On days off you slept your day away, you slept in and you napped. That was the only way to survive their jobs and she didn’t even have to on call as much as Ashton was. “11:30 sounds great.” She said, it would give her plenty of time to sleep in, get a shower in, do her hair and make-up and be more then ready to get out the door with him. “If you don’t mind picking me up I would like that. No use for using double gas.” She just stated. It didn’t take long after that to reach her home and she would get out of the car and invite him to walk with her to her door. The moment the door opened Skittles would instantly run out the door. “Hey! Back! You know you are not allowed outside.” She picked the cat up before he could run any further and pressed him against her. He struggled for a little before settling down against her and purring into her cuddles. “Jeez.. I know I am late, but you are being dramatic..” she said. “Just come inside real quick so I can put him down.” She said to Ashton. She had not planned to invite him inside, but seemed Skittles had other plans. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton laughed as Paige confirmed how most hospital staff was essentially overworked to the point of exhaustion and therefore, they both refused to be morning people. "I'll pick you up at 11:30 then." he smiled. He was thrilled that he'd get to see her again and being able to pick her up just made him even more excited. They made it back to her home and as they got to her door, Skittles decided to run out! Ashton went to grab him but Paige thankfully caught him first. Skittles was not appreciative of being captured but Ashton reached over and pet his head. "Sorry, buddy. Maybe next time." He chuckled. Paige invited him inside so that she could put the cat down and he nodded, coming inside and shutting the door. The apartment was just as cute and comfortable as the first time he entered earlier that night. He chuckled and playfully wagged his finger at Skittle. "Naughty naughty." @Nakachu

As they got inside she couldn’t help but chuckle at the way that Ashton told him off. “Seems Skittles doesn’t agree that I spend my time off with another man.” She said jokingly. She then opened the door to the study and let him down inside and closed the door on the cat. Skittles was instantly at the closed door, meowing loudly in protest. “Don’t be so dramatic!” Paige just said after him, before ignoring him. He could come out in just a bit when Ashton had left. “Sorry.. he has a little personality.” She said with a nervous chuckle as she walked back up to Ashton. She put her hair behind her ear as she looked at him and then at the door. This night was actually coming to an end and she was unsure how to feel about that. So many things had seemed to have changed in that little time they had spend together. “I uhmm.. had a really good time tonight. Thank you.” She said to him. “I guess I will see you at work then?” It was almost awkward saying goodnight. @LightPurpleVicodin

Asher chuckled at Skittles as he tried to escape once again. Paige scolded him in a joking manner and then returned to him. "I like his personality. It's perfect for him." He looked into Paige's eyes. Oh God why did she have to look so beautiful? Why did she have to be so beautiful?! She was really making this incredibly hard to leave her so soon. "I had a great time tonight too, Paige." She mentioned work and suddenly, almost twelve hours seemed so far away. "Yeah... I'll see you at work." He said, but, he didn't move to the door. He took a small step forward. "Forgive me later." He whispered before he reached up and cupped her cheeks, careful not to be so forceful. His thumb caressed her cheek as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers once again. A goodnight kiss was alright, correct? @Nakachu

Somehow it had come unexpected. Surely it shouldn’t have felt that way. They had kissed earlier that night, this wasn’t anything strange. Yet as he leaned in an gently cupped her cheek she couldn’t help but just stand there for a small second. It was not till those lips found hers that she melted into him. She too took a step in closer and her hands would gently lay across his chest. The kiss between them was soft and sweet. Their lips pressed together with just the slightest pressure and either party seeming afraid to push forward to much. As if the smallest wrong movement would scare the other person away. Perhaps it was because it was still so new between them. Or maybe it was because Paige had sworn to herself to never date with a co-worker.. let alone a surgeon at her same workspace. But here they were. Kissing as they said goodbye to each other for the night. She could only hope that what he had said to her would be true, that once they were back on the work floor that he would act towards her like nothing between them ever happened. She had given up a lot for this job and she was not ready to let it simply fall away from her for something as silly as a love interest. Eventually that kiss broke between them and she le her eyes open again as she looked up at him. She didn’t step back, just stayed close to him with her hands on his chest. “Yeah.. I will uhh.. see you at work then.” She stated back, making that moment between them a lot more awkward the it should have to be. And if he didn’t move she would eventually step away from him and open the front door so he could leave. Not because she wanted him to go, but because it just felt like the proper thing to do in that moment. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton almost shivered as he felt Paige's hands rest on his chest. He didn't move his hands anywhere except to her lower back, as he didn't want to rush her or frighten her into thinking that he was going to try to rush her. He knew she wasn't fragile, but he respected her boundaries. She had made it clear she did not want to rush, and he refused to try to push her. Paige pulled away after a moment and he smiled down at her. She hadn't moved away from him but he slowly released his hold on her and moved towards the door. She opened it and he nodded. "See you at work tomorrow, Paige. Have a good night." He dipped his head as if bowing a little to her before he left. He walked down the hallway and out of her complex back to his car. Wow. Tonight had gone way better than he expected. He got back to his car and he got inside. He touched his lips and he smiled, his smile bright. Wow... Paige was clearly something else. ~~ The next morning Ashton woke up like normal and he got up to go take a shower and make his coffee. He had work to do! He got to the hospital bright and early and thankfully it had been a relatively quite night, or at least in the brain injury department. "Morning Joyce." He said, waving to the nurse at the desk. He had his travel mug filled with coffee and he went to sit down in his office. It wasn't necessarily 'his' office, but it was an office he could use to check emails, check his patient lists, and see what needed to be done. He set his mug down and he began to work. He did check the clock every now and then, just to see when Paige would be in... @Nakachu

That door closed behind him and she just stayed there for a moment. She leaned forward and put her forehead against that door. The meowing of Skittles ran through the room, the cat still wanting desperately to get out of her office. Yet she didn’t move for a few minutes as she just collected her thoughts. She couldn’t believe that she was doing this. She couldn’t believe that she had said yes. Not because Ashton was a bad guy, she truly did like him, but because she had told herself that she would not get into a relationship this soon, let alone a relationship with a doctor on the same spot as her. She had not even shared that part of her life with him… Had not told her about her previous relationship. That the reason she had taken this job was to get away from that city with so many strange memories for her. Did she need to tell him? Surely she was allowed to keep that to herself.. at least for now. She finally snapped herself out of it and went to let Skittles out of the office. The cat instantly ran off, swiping it’s tail back and forth in annoyance of having been locked up that night. It made Paige laugh just a small bit before she just decided to call it a night and head to bed. ————- The next morning she was up early. She used the few hours she had to herself to clean up her house and do her chores, knowing that she would not wish to do those after her twelve hour shift that day. Around 9 it was finally time to head out of the door. She stopped by one of the coffee shops and ordered two large coffee’s to go. A caramel latte for herself and a plain coffee with Ashton. She did not know how he would want his coffee, so this was her safest bet. She made her way to the hospital and was about fifteen minutes early, so she knew she had some time to find Ashton. She looked for him at the neurology department and soon a nurse was able to tell her exactly where he was. She knocked on the door of his office and came in when he gave her permission. “Hey, good

01:02

morning.” She greeted him before her eyes went towards the traveling mug on the table. “Ooh.. you already got coffee..” she said, feeling a bit foolish now with the two take out cups in her hands. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton looked up as he heard a knock on his door. He saw Paige and she held two coffees in her hands, and he smiled wide. He pushed his travel mug aside. "You went to my favorite coffee shop! Thank you so much." He said, taking the coffee from her. "I was running late and didn't have time to go. Their coffee is so much better than the stuff I buy for my house." He chuckled. He took the coffee from her hands, but he let his hand rest over hers for a moment before he took the cup and sipped it. "Mmm," He hummed, loving the taste of the roasted beans. "This was such a good way to start the morning, thank you." He said happily. "How are you? Did you sleep well?" He asked, standing close to her, but also keeping enough distance that if anyone saw them talking they couldn't assume that he was invading her personal space. @Nakachu

She happy to see that he appreciated her bringing him coffee. She would hand it over to him and watch as he took a sip. “I just saw you usually got something from them.” She said with a smile, remembering that exact coffee cup design in her hand a few shifts already. “How do you take your coffee anyway? Milk? Sugar? I didn’t remember..” she admitted. She had seen him make coffee in the break room before, but she simply had not paid that much attention to it. “I slept alright. Could have done with more.” She said with a chuckle. Wasn’t that the truth of their occupation. Always sleep deprived, never having had enough of it. She smiled up at him. The truth was that she had also kept herself up being to much in her head. “I should get back to the clock in station. My shift starts in just a bit and I need to do the layover. I just wanted to bring you that coffee real quick.” It was perhaps a bit against the rules of what they had agreed on. To not be to close during work hours. But she had not clocked in yet right? So technically this was not wok hours. @LightPurpleVicodin

"You remembered that? Wow, that's impressive. I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday." He laughed. She asked how he took his coffee and he thought for a second. "Usually just black, or with some cream. No sugar. It all depends on my mood. But I like both. I was actually hankering for this." He gestured to the drink she got him. "This is perfect." He smiled. Sleeping came pretty rarely for doctors and nurses, and whenever they did sleep, it was usually never enough. Ashton laughed again at her comment. "No kidding." He said, shaking his head. "I slept well, but I agree, it's never enough." He was glad she was spending some time here with him before she had to go. She did inform him that she should head back up but he reached for her hand suddenly. He touched her hand then realized what he did and blushed. "Oh, I...Sorry." He blushed a little, moving his hand down. "I promise to be careful around the others. I just... Kinda missed you." @Nakachu

She smiled at him as he thanked her for the coffee again. Seemed going with black was correct. He could add his own cream if he wanted to. “I am a nurse. They touch m to pay attention to details.” She chuckled at him as an explanation. As he reached forward to her hand again she looked up at im and found his eyes. He seemed to realize instantly that was perhaps not the best course of action in the hospital. “One single night and you already miss me huh?” She teased him a small bit. She took a sip of her own coffee and then finally turned around to the door. “I will see you at the next guy who fell from a ladder.” She said to him then and walked off. Was that fair to walk off like that? Perhaps not. But she had told him that she did not want to be like that at work. And she had told him that she had needed to start rounds soon. So as she ran back down to put her hair on a ponytail and meet up with her co-workers for the lay over she just tried to push it from her mind. Focus on work Paige.. And that is what she did. She focussed on her patients. The ER was calm in that moment. It was the usual kids with fevers, elders with head aches and the occasional cut and stitch from the guys who thought they could build their own sheds. But this was the ER. It only took so long before the next disaster came through those doors. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton blushed a bit as she teased him and he sipped his coffee, averting his gaze for a mere second until he looked at her, chuckling. "See you at the next concussion case." He called after her. He was glad she walked away, because it helped reel him back in. He silently cursed himself for pushing her boundaries, though she seemed alright for now. He hadn't meant to. He really didn't. But, he just felt so drawn to her. He had to be careful or else he was going to push her away by over stepping her boundaries. He let out a sigh and he headed back to his desk. He began to open his emails and write some chart notes from previous shifts. ~~ The ER was never truly 'quiet' but it did have some smaller cases. Today was a relatively 'quiet' day, but that only lasted for so long. Roughly half way through their shift, the ambulance bay doors opened as an individual came in on a stretcher, four paramedics bringing the stretcher in. Ashton rushed out along with two other nurses. "What do we got?" "Thirty four male, his name is Benjamin, fell off his roof after trying to fix his chimney. The roof was at least fifteen to twenty feet and his wife said he landed right on his head and back." Ashton nodded. He looked over at Paige, "Paige, I need a portable CT scan. Also, page radiology and tell them I need an MRI ready." He turned over to the other nurse, "Actually, you do the MRI. Paige! I need you to perform a vitals check and grab me 2 cc's of morphine, and a 4 gauge needle." He trusted Paige more than the other nurse to grab the medications and needle quickly. Paige knew exactly where everything was. Ashton took a small pocket flashlight from his jacket pocket. "Ben? Hi, my name is Ashton Knoxx. I'm going to shine some light into your eyes, okay?" He called, even though he suspected Ben couldn't hear him well. Ben didn't respond and Ashton opened Ben's eyes. "Fuck! Pupil's are blown. I need a crash cart now!" @Nakachu

Of course the day could not stay quiet forever. It didn’t take long before the call went out that there was a ladder accident on it’s way. Paige instantly sprung into action. She knew that Ashton would be paged as well and the moment he walked in those doors she was by his side. The double doors opened and the were rolled in and she was glad to see that Ashton sprung into action straight away. He shouted his order at her. “Got it!” She said as he told her to get the CT and page radiology only for him to quickly change his mind. She paused for just a second as she gave him a confused look, but soon charged into action. There was no time to argue the sudden change or even wonder why it had happened. She rushed to the other side of the bed, the nurses switching place and started to grab the supplies that he had yelled for. The quickly administered the morphine through the line that the ambulance personal had already put in his arm and then handed Ashton the needle that he asked for. She then quickly got to work on hooking him up to the machines and reading out his vitals. “Heartrate high, 112 beats a minute. Bloodpressure is stable..” she kept looking at that screen and was about to mention that his oxygen seemed low when Ashton called for the crash cart. Another nurse was closer to it and Paige left it to her while she quickly cut open the mans shirt and exposed her chest so Ashton had as much acces as he needed. She tried to wreck her brain for what this could have caused. It was a fall from a rood, he should not be crashing this hard. His bloodpressure was also steady so there was no bleeding. She knew it was not her call to say what was wrong with the guy, she was just a nurse. But it was in her nature to want to know these things. “Do you think his brain might be swelling? We need that CT, doctor.” She said looking at Ashton. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton nodded as Paige began to speculate what could have happened. She suggested brain swelling and he nodded. "Agreed. Nurse, where's that portable CT?" One of the nurses came running into the room with a large machine. "Sorry! It was in a different supply closet." She explained as she began to hook the machine up. The machine would give them an accurate reading of the patient's brain once it was scanned over. Ashton took the machine and began to wave the wand over the patient's head slowly. As the screen on the machine began to show the results, his face paled. "Fuck!" He set the machine back. He looked at the nurse who brought the CT Scan machine. "Page OR 1 and tell him I'm on my way." He then looked back at Paige. "Come with me. We're doing surgery. His brain is swelling rapidly!" He grabbed the bed and kicked the brakes, pushing them back so that they disengaged. He rushed with several other nurses and Paige to the OR room. "Move! Out of the way! Get out of the way!" He called, his tone firm but not harsh. There was no time for politeness, and he'd apologize later. He pushed his way into the OR hallway and several surgical nurses rushed in and grabbed the patient, running him into prep. Ashton turned to Paige. "Are you going to be okay being one of my nurses in the OR?" He needed her in there, and he needed her support. If she was comfortable of course... @Nakachu

Her head turned to the CT scans the moment that they appeared of the screen and even she could tell with her limited knowledge that it did not look good. “Shit..” she said under her breath before Ashton already sprung into action. As he kicked the bed off it’s breaks she would start to rapidly get everything unhooked from him and ready to come along with the bed. She pushed that bed alone with him when he started to say that he needed her in the OR with him. She wanted to protest but they were already off and it didn’t seem the time for it. They rushed down the hallway and he was soon taken over by the nurses of the OR as they started to bring him under aneasthetic and shave his head to give Ashton space to work. “Are you to be okay being one of my nurses in the OR?” The question came out of nowhere and she couldn’t help but frown at him. “I am not a scrub nurse..” she said, she didn’t have privaledges in the OR at all. She was hired for the ER. She had assisted in surgeries during her training, had even explored becoming becoming a scrub nurse for a while. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. “Okay fine..” she said then, not wanting to say no to him. “But rely on your others nurses too. Again, I am not a scrub nurse.” But with that said she would turn towards the basin and start to prep herself with a mask a cap and starting to scrub down her arms. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton nodded as she agreed. "I know you're not a scrub nurse. I won't rely on just you alone. Don't worry. Just follow my lead and you're going to be fine." He said. He began to scrub in and once he was sterile, he was dressed and he entered the operating room. The scent of alcohol and medicine filled his nose. It was a familiar scent and he loved it despite the harsh sting to his nostrils. He approached the patient, his patient prepped and ready. "Alright... We will be performing a cranial pressure release. I am going to remove a part of his skull in order to allow his brain room to swell while we wait for the inflammatory medicine to kick in." He looked over at the nurses and the anesthesiologist. All agreed. "Alright," He looked over at Paige and gave her a nod. "Let's do this." The surgery started out fine. Ashton used a scalpel to remove the scalp of the man, but once he drilled into the brain, blood shot out onto Ashton's scrubs. "Fuck! He's hemorrhaging." I need gauze and I need a-" "We're losing him!" One of the nurses interrupted. Ashton looked at the monitors as the patient began to tank. All of his vitals dropped quickly. Far too quickly. "Shit! Paige! Start bagging. Someone intubate him now!" Ashton couldn't understand what was happening! Why was he tanking?! He checked the hole in is skull and Ashton cursed. "His brain swelled so much that I nicked a vein. I need the cautery pen. Hurry!" A nurse brought a cautery pen and he tried to get the vein visible, but there was so much blood... "I need bags of O negative! Now!" A nurse rushed to the phone and her face dropped. "T-There's a shortage! They don't have any!" Ashton's face paled. "O-Okay. His blood is A negative. I need-" "None. They don't have any!" "How the fuck does a hospital not have blood?!" "Another OR used it! They are waiting on the bank to bring more." "I don't-" Suddenly, the machines all rung out with the dreaded steady beeeeeeeeeeeeeep as the patient's heart beat stopped.

15:56

"Fuck! Fuck! Defibrillator, now! Charge it to three hundred jules!" He got across from Paige and he began compressions. "Keep bagging. Do not stop bagging until I tell you." He told her, and even though his voice was firm, it was shaking. He looked down as he started to pump the patient's chest. "Come on. Come on!" He growled. However, even after fifteen minutes... the heart rate hadn't come back... Ashton stopped, his head tilted back. "Stop...Stop bagging..." He shook his head, his head spinning. He slumped down onto a stool. "Time of death..." He checked his watch. "Four fifteen pm..." @Nakachu

She would talk about it no more as she was scrubbing in. She was dressed in the same way as Ashton and would make her way inside that operating room. The small that he found comforting, had a different effect on her. She had not been in an operating room for a long time and she was still a bit unsure if she should be here. Yet Ashton was her superior, if he told her to be here, then she needed to be here. She would stand by for now, good with standing to the side. The scrub nurses would hand him the instruments he needed much faster then she could. So she just stood there with her hands in the air to say sterile and out of the way. A glorified mannequin for Ashton’s support. She could not deny it was interesting though. To watch him work and see the work that Ashton did on an almost day to day basis. That was till disaster struck. The moment she saw the blood she knew that was wrong. She came into action the moment he shouted at her. She started bagging him to make sure oxygen was still coming to his body. She took her task very seriously and the moment he was intubated she adjusted accordingly. Her eyes would go from her task for bagging, keeping the right rhythm to looking at the head of the patient where disaster was still coming forth. The moment they talked about the shortage of blood Paige already knew it was over. There ws too much on the floor already. This patient needed blood for his body to function and if it was not there in that moment then there was nothing they could do to him. Yet Ashton did not give up. Even after his vital dropped and his heart stopped working, he kept at it. Trying everything in his power to save that guy. As he told her to keep bagging she did as he asked, stepping away only when the shock went through his body. Five minutes passed.. then another five. As she looked up she could see the blood still gushing out of the poor man’s brains a the same rate that Ashton was pressing his chest. Another minute went by and she finally could not handle it anymore. “Dr. Knoxx..” she called out, but Ashton did not respond. “Dr. Knoxx, I think that is enough.” She took a moment, hoping he would respond. But he still was too busy with pumping that chest. Sweat on his forehead from the excertion he was putting himself through for nothing. “Ashton!” She finally seemed to catch his attention, getting through to him as he tilted his head back and told her to stop. She gave him a look of almost pity. She knew how hard it was to lose a patient, especially like this. He called out the time of death and Paige disconnected the bag from the mens mouth. “I’m sorry Ashton..” she said to him in a soft voice before she walked off to get undressed and scrub out. She hated this, hated deaths. But what she hated more was deaths that could have been prevented and she was not going to let that happen again. So before Ashton had even gathered herself Paige was out that perp room. It was not because she did not want to wait on him, she had somewhere else to be. She knew how to fix this.. and she was going to do that right now. It took her only fifteen minutes to get the Dean to agree to her and assemble a team of nurses to help her. They went into the waiting room of the ER, a place that was often stacked with people. Not only the sick, but their family members as well. She stepped into one of the tables. “Can I please have your attention for a moment?” She shouted out. “Hello!” She shouted once more before people started to quiet down and pay attention to her. “This hospital right now is very low on blood. This blood is vital for trauma patients. A family member of any of you could get into an accident and be in need of this exact blood.” She said. “If we can not give it to them, they will die.” She let that settle in for a moment before she continued. “We do not want that for anyone. So please, anyone who is able to give blood please stand up and come forward. My fellow nurses will make sure you are

03:45

Comfortable while we draw blood from you. Any small bit can safe a life!” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton was crushed. He hadn't been able to save this patient, and it always tore him up. However, he had to try to push past his misery so that he could go speak to the family. Oh God, he'd have to talk to anyone that was here for him. Paige didn't stay in the room and Ashton didn't say a word. He wasn't upset with her for leaving, even though he hadn't technically dismissed her. She wasn't a scrub nurse, so she wasn't chained to the rules like everyone else was. He also didn't really want her to see him like this... Ashton let everyone else leave and he stayed alone in the room with the patient. He felt horrible. This was not how he wanted this to go. With an angry yell, Ashton shoved the trays of scalpels and tweezers and hand held instruments to the ground. "FUCK!!" He roared. He felt so angry! He was beyong angry. He was... devastated. Ashton had lost patient's before, and it was always hard. He felt like such a failure when it happened. If a patient came in with a gun shot wound, or a stab wound to his head, he knew their chances were slim, so losing them wasn't as awful because he did what he could against a losing battle. But, when it was something like this, where all the person came in with was a simple brain swelling, he should have been able to fix it. Had he done something wrong? Had he not paid enough attention? Did he nick an artery? Or did the swelling cause the artery to become too close? He didn't know, and the anxiety of the uncertainty pushed and pulled at his insides. After a short while he got up and scrubbed out. He made his way to the family room. He saw Paige in the emergency room and he smiled, feeling pride swell in his chest. She was such a good nurse. He was so proud to have her on his team, and as his partner. He made a mental note to tell her how proud he was of her when he was done with this. He arrived at the family room and only three individuals sat in the room. A woman was pacing the room, and an older man sitting

16:38

on a couch holding a toddler girl who was showing him a book she was reading. Ashton hesitated for just a moment before he slowly walked in. "Hi... Are you all here for-" "Ben? How is he? Is he okay?" The woman came running over. Her eyes were frantic. She looked terrified. Ashton placed his hands over one of hers. "Ma'am, I'm Dr. Ashton Knoxx. I was Ben's surgeon and Emergency Room doctor. He suffered a massive brain swelling, and we rushed him into surgery, but, unfortunately... his brain swelled so much that an artery was nicked and..." The woman was trembling. Ashton let out a soft sigh. "I'm very sorry but, Ben didn't make it..." The woman started sobbing loudly. She wrenched her hands from Ashton's. "You killed him! You did this!! He-He was...He would have made it! You did something wrong! You did!" She screamed. Ashton went to touch her, and then, his right cheek exploded with pain. "Jessica! Stop!" The older man said firmly, approaching the hysterical woman. The toddler came over and took the woman's hand. "Mommy? Is...Is Daddy okay?" The woman sobbed and dropped to the ground. She grabbed the child tightly and refused to look at Ashton. The man sighed, brushing a tear from his cheek. "I'm sorry. My daughter-" "It's okay." Ashton said, his cheek turning dark red from the strike. "I'm really sorry. I'll send a social worker in to help you navigate the estate process... Again, I...I am so sorry. We did everything-" The man smiled sadly. "I know. She knows... It's...It's just hard." The man said softly. Ashton nodded, shook the man's hand, and then he departed. He made his way back to his office, and Ashton slumped down into his chair. He slammed his fist onto the desk, his free hand running through his hair. God...dammit. @Nakachu

The rest of that coming hour Paige spend helping to set up the line of people who were willing to donate blood. After her little motivational speech it seemed that a lot of people were willing to give. They were quickly tested for quality and blood types and then send on to get the blood taken in blood bags. They would be processed through within two hours and the first bags would be ready for patients. The line came to an end eventually thought and Paige would follow through after. “That was everyone, Paige. I must say.. I am impressed. This is going to a lot of good.” The other nurse complimented her as she started to put her things away. “Not yet Miranda, you have one more.” Paige said to her with a smile as she tapped her own arm. Miranda looked up a bit surprised but then motioned to the chair for her to sit. It didn’t take long at all to have Paige hooked up and the blood being drawn from her arm. A few minutes later the first bag was full. “There we go, about a pint.” Miranda said as she got ready to take the needle out her arm. “Not yet, take another.” Paige said decisively. “Paige, I can’t.” Miranda said moving to remove the needle anyway, but Paige still refused. “I am O positive, you need this blood. Take another pint.” If Paige was anything she was stubborn. “What shift are you working?” Miranda asked her with a side eye. “12.” The answer was quick and left little to discussion. Miranda finally sighed and replaced the bag, letting Paige sit out another. “Fine, but you are taking a lunch break after this.” Of course Paige did not take a lunch break. She quickly sipped away her juice box and even though she was lightheaded a small bit was soon back to the floor. Now that this was done and the blood was being processed she needed to find Ashton.. Where would he be? His office? She decided to give it a try and would knock on the door before going in. “Here you are.” She said with a gentle smile before seeing the red mark against his cheek. “Ooh god.

07:17

. what happened?” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton wrote down his chart notes from the surgery. As he got to the part about the damage and the miscalculation, he stopped. What had happened in there? Did he nick an artery? Did the patient just have such bad swelling that it was avoidable? Fuck. He didn't know and it was messing with him. He fired off a quick email to the Ethics Director. He had to figure out if he was at risk of losing his job... Fucking A. He didn't need this shit right now. Ashton looked up as Paige entered his office. He noticed the two bandages on her arm. She must have donated blood, but twice. She asked about the mark on his cheek and he sighed. "The patient's wife." he mumbled. He glanced at her arm again and he turned. "Do not donate twice when you're working. That's not safe, and if you faint on the floor that's going to take you out for the entire day. Please, as your colleague and someone that cares for you, do not be reckless. Wanting to help is amazing, and it's a fantastic quality, but not at the risk of your own health." He said, his tone firm, but calm and gentle. "Good idea with the blood drive. That was extremely helpful and that's going to be a huge stepping stone to getting our blood reserves back." He said. He let out a sigh as he rubbed his cheek. "Christ... she hit me hard." @Nakachu

She was about to say something back to him when she saw his eyes going towards the bandage on her arm. She quickly covered it with her hand, but it was already to late. As he spoke to her almost like a mother would to a worried child she just stared of to the side in a guilty manner. To say it wasn’t slightly annoying was an understatement. “I know what I can handle..” she just defended herself, refusing to awknowledge that he might be right. “My bloodtype is O+. Who knows who that blood saved…” the last bit said so quietly that it might just be to herself. Just like Ashton, Paige was dealing with the loss of that patient. She was just doing it in her own unique way. His compliment bout her blood drive did make her smile though. “Christ… she hit me hard.” She looked back up at him, looking over at the darkening mark. “Let me look.” And before he could complain she had already come over and sat down on his lap. Her finger gently tapped at the bruise to see how bad the swelling was and see the type of bruising that it showed. “You didn’t ice it did you?” She said in a bit of a stern voice. “Please, as your colleague and someone that cares for you, ice your cheek.” She would chuckle lightly, trying to make light of what he had said to her before. “Let me grab you some.” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton sighed as Paige tried to be stern. She turned his words back on him and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, Nurse Paige." He chuckled. He rolled over towards her as she offered to grab him ice. However, he pulled her back towards him and he kicked his office door shut. He pulled Paige over to him and he tugged her to sit down on his lap. He pressed his face against her neck and he inhaled her scent. "Sorry, I just need a quick hug. It's been a long day..." He mumbled. Ashton had lost patients before. Of course he had. No doctor alive had ever had a 'perfect' record, and any that did were fucking liars. However, losing a patient was always a tough experience. Ashton needed this comfort, and he hoped that Paige wouldn't get upset. He didn't force her to stay seated, as his arms were loose as he hugged her. "You did a great job today, Paige. I'm sorry one of your first experiences in the OR resulted in death... however, you did everything right. You did really well. I'm sorry I... couldn't do it." He said softly, his insecurities tugging at him. He bit his lip and shook his head slightly. He didn't want to say it but sometimes the demons slipped out. "Sorry. I...I didn't mean that." @Nakachu

The sudden pull on her arm came as a surprise. She was still slightly wobbly on her legs from the blood that she had offered up for the hospital and easily stumbled down into his lap like he wanted. His arms coming around her to wrap her up in his embrace. It took her as a surprise at first but as she heard that door fall closed she just let it go. They were alone.. So instead she just gave in to him and wrapped her arms back around him, just as gentle and soft as his were. Her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck in a way to comfort him. She knew that he was upset. She knew the feeling so well. Even if this time she had been able to channel it into the imprompt blood bank instead, she had spend many times in the on-call room crying her heart out after losing a patient. “Don’t beat yourself up over it Ashton. Everyone loses patients.” She comforted him, but she knew that would not be enough to convince him. “That patient was spiraling out of control the moment that he came in. It was honestly impressive we held him as long as we did. His changes of survival were low from the start and you know that.” She said again. “You did nothing wrong..” If only they would have had enough blood to support the loss that had been caused. She was sure they could have saved him. @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton felt his eyes get hot and wet and he pressed his face against Paige's shoulder. She started to comfort him and he let his shoulders drop slightly, the tension slowly fading from him. Paige would never be able to heal him entirely, but her presence did more than she could ever truly know. "I know... But, it's less about losing the patient, and more about... ruining a family. He had a daughter, a wife... and I...I couldn't save him. I couldn't stop a simple brain bleed? I'm a neurosurgeon... That's basic." Ashton knew he was talking nonsense, and it was due to the trauma of getting slapped by a grieving spouse. "I'm sorry. You don't need to hear all this." He said softly, sighing. "You're right... we did everything we could. We went in with the hopes and goal of saving him. He didn't plan on having this happen... I guess that's all I can ever hope for." He whispered. His fingers slowly circled along her back. He kept his hands above her hips so that if she wanted to pull away she could. He pressed a light kiss to her shoulder. "Thank you, Paige. I really needed this." @Nakachu

She let him talk, let him get those words out of his system so that they were out in the open instead of torturing him in his mind. It had always helped Paige to say things out loud when she had thought like this and she could only hope that it helped him to. So at no point did she stop him, or shush him or even interrupt him to say that it was alright. She just let him go, let him talk. And it seemed it had been what he needed as he came to his own conclusion about the events that had happened. To his own small piece of peace in his mind. Sure he wasn’t healed completely, but he seemed to have found a small bit back of himself and that was more important then she could tell him. “You are welcome.” She said to him in a soft whisper as she still petted at the base of his neck. That was till her paiger went off. “Ooh, sorry.” She said as she stepped back a small bit and looked at the message on it. Multiple trauma’s enroute “I need to get going.” She said to him then, knowing that she was already away from the ER for too long and if they had trauma’s incoming she needed to be there. “Are you going to be alright?” @LightPurpleVicodin

Ashton released her without complaint as she got off of him for her pager. He smiled lightly. "It's alright. Duty calls." He chuckled. He stood with her as she seemed to be needed. His own pager went off and he saw the same message. "I'll be okay. I get another break, eventually." He said, forcing a small laugh. He rubbed the bruise on his cheek before he set the ice down in the sink. He appreciated Paige's kindness and willingness to help. He didn't need advice, and with her already being in this field, she understood how hard this job could be and the coping methods that some individuals may need. He appreciated her more than she may ever know. He followed her out of the office and back into the ER. He wasn't sure what they'd be walking into, but he left his insecurity back at his office. Here, he was a full fledged doctor. A neurosurgeon, and he knew exactly how to be a good doctor. @Nakachu