Scarlett Peretz's Story

Waking up to noise coming from the corridor wasn't rare. When you spend time in a hospital you learn that if it was silent, something wasn't quite right. Scarlett sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes whilst opening her mouth to yawn. She stretched out her arms and waited a moment, trying to acknowledge whether the noises she was hearing were real or from a dream. Staring down at her arms, she noticed the new bruises that showed up on her skin. Last night she had to receive an emergency blood infusion, due to the lack of blood in her body.

Scarlett slid out of the hospital bed slowly and once her feet touched the cold floor she hopped back up onto her bed and mumbled. Looking over at the bag her mother's assistant brought over and placed on the chair, she moved closer towards it and wondered whether she should see what was inside. Scarlett hated when her mothers assistant brought in items of clothing or other items she desperately needed, because it wasn't her mother. Scavenging through the bag, Scarlett found fluffy slippers and decided that was her best option for the time being. Placing the slippers onto her cold, sore feet, she instantly felt much better and this time leaped off her bed.

Raising her arms up, Scarlett began to twirl around her room, giggling at herself. Sure, she wasn't meant to dance but that definitely wouldn't stop her, especially early in the morning. She twirled towards the bathroom in the corner of her room and smiled at her reflection in the mirror before twirling off again to the other side of her room. Once Scarlett's bones began to ache and her breath was scarce, she sat down on the ground and laughed to herself, attempting to retrieve her breath.

Every day was a new day for Scarlett, something that held more excitement than the last day. Being in the hospital had its disadvantages, but Scar saw more advantages than disadvantages. She tip toed towards the door and slowly moved her head just outside the door to see where the noise was coming from, because it hadn't yet stopped. Looking right, she saw Nick standing and a look of shock covered his face. She looked left and noticed Daisy being helped to her room by Dolly, and there was a trail of blood. "Uh oh," she thought, "Daisy must have tried proving the doctors wrong again."

Scarlett rushed over to her wardrobe and took her favourite pink, fluffy robe and wrapped it around herself. Making sure not to move her muscles in a way that they'd start to hurt, she walked over to where Nick was standing.
Nick was like an older brother to Scarlett, a sibling that she never had. They got along overly well and Scarlett always did her best to cheer him up if Nick wasn't feeling well.
'Hey Nick," she said lovingly, "Are you okay? Is Daisy okay?"

Nick's head snapped up as the door to the call room opened, instantly relieved as he saw Dolly. Thank god she showed up because Nick was on the verge of a panic attack. "Sh-she was just out here when I came out, I don't know what she was thinking." He was slightly breathless as he spoke, on one hand still terribly concerned for his friend's well-being and on the other hand horribly embarrassed to be so useless in the situation, especially in front of his crush. Thankfully Dolly didn't pay him any mind, instead helping Daisy to her room.

He quickly stood, though didn't want to crowd Daisy so he opted to trail behind them, though not very close. Nick watched as Charlie and Cato both went to check up on Daisy, from the angle he was at he could just barely see a Daisy on her bed. Having a feeling that he might not be able to handle looking at a blood-covered Daisy again, Nick didn't join his friends in Daisy's room.

His attention was pulled from the entrance to Daisy's room to Scarlett as she walked towards him. He gave a weary smile at her concern, "I'm fine Scar, and I'm not sure about Daisy, last I saw her she had blood all over..." He crossed his arms over his chest, swallowing thickly as he looked off towards the room, "She'll be fine, too stubborn to die just yet." Nick gave a forced laugh, looking back to Scarlett, "We should check out the situation close up." He put on a brave face, slowly making his way to the room.

Nick scanned the room as he went to stand behind Charlie, eyes skipping over Daisy just to spare himself, "Hey," he called for the attention of the two nurses in the room, "Is Daisy going to be okay?" He questioned, frowning a little as his eyes blurred out for a moment. Nick cursed under his breath as he looked down, rubbing his eyes a little and shaking his head as if to shake it off. When he looked up again his blurry vision slowly cleared. "Sorry, I just blurred out for a second." He muttered, hoping that neither nurse read too much into it.

Charlie stood in Daisy’s doorway, then moved to the side to let the various people in that wanted to or needed to come in. Although Daisy looked like she was in a life threatening situation, Charlie knew that it wasn’t the case, Daisy was too stubborn to die easy. She loitered in the doorway a little longer, unsure if she should go in the room or not. On one hand, she was worried about Daisy, on the other, she knew that Daisy didn’t want an audience. Plus, if she went in, she would no doubt get in the way of the doctors.

It was then that she heard her name being mentioned, and stepped a bit further into the room. Cato was asking Dolly if she could attend to her, and Nick and Scarlett were coming in. They stood behind her, and Charlie turned to face them a little as Nick began speaking, but didn’t really get to hear what he was asking before Dolly reached her side.

---

Following Cato’s orders, Dolly turned away from Daisy, satisfied that Cato had everything under control, and headed over to Charlie.

“Hey Charlie,” she said softly, and opened her mouth to ask her if she would like her sheets changing again, as usual in the middle of the night, but was distracted by Nick instead. “I’m sure Daisy will be fine,” she replied, frowning a little. “Take it easy,” she added once his eyes had had their blurry moment.

“Right Charlie,” she said, looking back over at the patient she was supposed to be helping right now. “I suppose you want your sheets changing again. You can wait here and see that Daisy’s all right, or you can come with me, whatever you choose.” Then Dolly walked out and down the corridor to Charlie’s room and began sorting out the sweat soaked sheets.

Thankfully Daisy felt like she had at least brought Cato down from his climbing anger. Though it could have been entirely likely that he just didn’t want to argue with her. She listened to him as he went through the typical medical warnings. Though she did appreciate that he didn’t just report to her like she was any other patient. If there was something that got on her nerves at this hospital, it was that nurses and doctors who had known her for years still tiptoed around situations and acted very stoic and professional whenever informing her about the progression of her disease.

One thing after another and Cato before Daisy had time to say what was on her mind Cato was gone. She watched him leave her room in his confident way, and then she leaned back into her bed and stared at the ceiling. She could feel the tired stiffness in her eyes, and her body still had a low ache in its core. She wanted to desperately to do something more with her life, but especially right now, she could feel with the toll that her disease was taking on her body.

Perhaps her little show wasn’t such a good idea.

A couple of soft stumbling coughs came out of her as she closed her eyes. While blind she dragged the bundle of blankets from home on top of her and smiled thinking about Cato.

---

Marco was getting antsy now. Sure, he was a generally laidback guy who enjoyed the outdoors and sports, but he believed that before any of that he was a doctor first. And his responsible self was itching to get to the hospital. On the chief’s orders he was supposed to go home and take some time for himself, but Marco couldn’t rest while thinking about his patients and their needs.

He at least allowed himself to finish his coffee and his medical journal before getting ready for the job. Feeling like he was rested enough he dressed, hopped in his car and made in to the hospital in record time.

Before he knew it he was in his white jacket and walking down the hallway of Wing B. First he stopped at the nurse’s station to pick up his rounds. Generally, this early in the morning he would just do some research, maybe collect a couple of lab samples and visit anyone who was awake. After reading whom he needed to get blood samples from, he saw that most everyone was awake and running. A bit surprised he popped his head into the crowded room. He figured that Scarlett would be around somewhere but she was nowhere in sight. Frowning he left and went toward her room. Again, nothing.

Wondering where she was he went to the pharmacy to pick up her antifibrinolytic medicines and steroids. They had been pumping her with these drugs a lot more than usual because they needed another blood sample, which would be hard to control. Today was the day that they needed the blood sample, which would mean, even though it was just a prick of a needle, she would loose a quite a lot of blood if she didn’t have the right dosage of medicine to help with the clotting.

Though this wasn’t life threatening, it was a bit risky and ultimately annoying. But seeing as Scarlett’s last couple of replacement therapy sessions were not completed because her own antibodies were beginning to fight against the medicine and destroy it. With that being said, Marco needed to create a different solution so that her antibodies wouldn’t destroy the medicine. This all needed to happen very quickly though, without the regular replacement therapy there were many issues that could arise with her joints. And Marco knew how important dancing was to her.

While thinking about all this it hit him. Scarlett was dancing. Though it was cute how she thought she was so discreet, Marco had known for several months that she would sneak away to dance on the roof. And though it was against his orders, he chose to ignore it most of the time. Patients needed their sanity, and Marco was willing to risk a little bit of medical trouble for Scarlett’s happiness.

Marco shut Scarlett’s chart and headed toward the roof. Carefully and quietly he had made his way to the top. Seeing her there he stopped for a moment, one hand with her chart and a small cup of half a dozen pills. His other hand was in his pants pocket and without thinking much about it he just leaned against the doorway and watched her float.

At Scarlett's dismay, Marco just simply shrugged his shoulders while saying, "I've been here long enough." When most people said this, that meant that they had been there a collection of minutes. In reality, Marco had been there maybe a minute. He hadn't intended to embarrass her, but I suppose anyone who's being watched without their knowing is embarrassed on one level or another. With a slight smile he watched her cheeks turn, and her face flush. "Oh no. Don't be embarrassed. It's nice." Marco said, trying to reassure her that what she was doing, though it was totally against any kind of medical advice, was alright.

Scarlett changed the subject, and he didn't blame her. This wasn't exactly his most professional moment in the hospital. Though he tried to remain just a doctor while in the walls of the hospital, it was hard when it came to Scarlett. Not only had they had contact outside of Wing B, but he had actually enjoyed his time with her. And yes, that too was something a little too unprofessional. It wasn't exactly okay to hang out with your patients outside of work, especially one of the opposite sex. But nonetheless, they had spent some time outside of this medical box, and gotten to know each other fairly well.

Marco made a face before saying, "I'm sorry, Scar. Today is probably going to suck..." He took a moment to watch slender body come toward him and lean oh so gracefully against the wall. In that moment he was nothing more than a man admiring a beautiful woman. He cleared his throat as his head buzzed with warnings and objections. Then, even with trying to be the most professional doctor he could be, his mind wandered for a second as he gather his next sentence.

"But once we get this blood sample I'll be able to look at your levels and your antibodies and figure out the best replacement treatment." And as if she hadn't heard him at all, she spoke about the radiance of the rooftop and how lovely it was above the city. Dr. Griffin nodded his head in agreement, he would have to remember to come up here to catch some fresh air during a busy day. Instead of looking out at the city like she was, Marco watched her. His head saws fully of distractions and disagreements. On one hand, he had to admit that she was remarkably beautiful, and thoughtful, and they got along swimmingly. But on the other hand, she was his patients, and she was young, too young for him.

The Gala popped into his head as they stood there. Asking her to go with him seemed like the right thing. But it also felt a little strange. The doctors here were supposed to have bright, shiny lives with brilliantly beautiful significant others who were just normal people or other doctors. Though having a patient as a date wasn't unheard of, it wasn't exactly what the board would expect from those doctors who were winning awards. Marco let out a soft sigh. He would probably just ask Dolly. It would safe that way.

"Come on." He said, "We should get you prepped, and start early."