Marion Hospital

It was morning, though Daisy wasn’t quite sure what time it was. She had been up all night trying to make herself better. She had this suborn way of thinking that if she could just push herself far enough something would click. Something magic happen in her body and then she would simply just work.

It was always frustrating living only as far and as fast as she could breath. She had the lungs of a woman who was seventy, and she was only twenty-two. Due to her last relapse about two months ago, she was nearly bedridden. Daisy was ordered only to move as far as the bathroom, and to walk without any haste. She could lounge in her bedroom, have a nurse wheel her to another room when she no only needed oxygen, but she was absolutely forbidden from walking farther than 20 feet or so.

Daisy understood the consequences of not following the doctor’s orders, but she just couldn’t help herself. Every time they said any kind of shouldn’t or cannot, she had the urge to prove them wrong. This was all part of her stubborn thinking patterns. She felt like if she could prove the doctors wrong, some kind of miracle would happen and she would be able to finish her life. These kinds of thoughts were almost obsessively in her mind. She just wanted to get better. She just wanted to win.

Her father often described her disease as a constant battle when she was a little girl. And like the father he is, he turned his little against her disease. Since then she’s always had the attitude that she was going to win. Cystic Fibrosis wasn’t going to control her entire life. Winning meant achieving her goals in life, becoming a recognized film director and a mother and wife.

And this morning was one of Daisy’s outrageous attempts to win.

In the wee hours of the morning Daisy woke up. It was still dark outside, and she could tell that most of the doctors were at home on call, rather than bopping around the hospital halls. Being such a regular patient meant that she had learned when the hospital was at its lowest point in population. That time was this time, too early for the early birds.

Daisy was wearing a white tank top, a pair of grey yoga pants and her lucky pair of dark green silk slippers. Being in Wing B meant that you were often times allowed to wear your own clothes, as long as they were accessible for the pocking and prodding of everyday life. With as much gumption as she could manage, Daisy lifted herself from her bed and slowly made her way to the door. Once at the door she looked both ways and gripped one of the rods that lined the hospital hallways.

Once the coast was clear she walked. She walked slowly, but continued to steady herself as she gain momentum. With a smile on her face she was almost walking at a normal speed. She walked past Nick’s room, then past Charlie’s. As she past about four more rooms she could feel her chest tighten, but pushed herself even farther. She just wanted to make it to the end of the hall where the on call rooms for the doctors were and back. As the pressure intensified in her chest, the more she pushed herself. Too stubborn to acknowledge that she was suffocating herself, Daisy began to cough.

She had just nearly reached the on call rooms when she could no longer control her breathing. Still in the hallway was unoccupied as her cough took over her entire body. The hacks began to dig at her throat and lungs as she cried out “God damn it!” Daisy kicked the wall before she began sinking to the floor unable to catch her cough. Her eyes began to sting with embarrassment and pain, small dips of water stained her cheeks.

At this point she wasn’t sure if anyone had woken up, and it was her job to find someone to fix her. The infection in her lungs burned as her crumpled body continued to cough, and as if on cue she began coughing up blood. A moment of dizziness pressed against her head, but she moved forward. Daisy dragged herself to the on call room, hoping that someone was at least asleep in there.

Now the front of her covered in a mixture of blood and mucus from her infection she scratched against the on call room. It was in these moments, and only in these moments that Daisy would admit that she was stupid for disobeying the doctors orders.

---

Marco was at home. For the first time in two weeks, he was asleep in his own bed. Usually he was the doctor that slept in the on call room. He was so devoted to his career and his patients that he didn’t want to go home. I suppose things would be different if he had a girlfriend or a wife or children. But he was a very single, very talented doctor that often times opted to stay at the hospital.

He was addicted to being a doctor. He loved solving the puzzle, having the time crunch, and saving lives. There was nothing quite like it. He would spend hours not only treating patients but also researching and finding that best solution to their problem. Whether it be surgery, medicine, or fluids, he knew what he was doing.

People were often surprised that he settled at Marion, he was destined to pursue great things at big name places like Harvard or Mayo. But he decided to stay here, why? No one’s quite sure yet.

Marco was naturally an early bird, and once the sun began to come up his eyes were wide open. He wasn’t scheduled to come into the hospital until later afternoon so he set a whole morning routine for himself. First he started off with a jog around the park that was just down the street from his house. After he took a long, hot shower and dressed himself in clothes that were comfortable and lazy. While at home there was no need for him to look like a doctor, and so he wore a pair of plaid pajama pants and a black tee shirt.

Though he had the itch to get back to the hospital he sat in the morning sunlight, read the latest medical journal, drank black coffee and ate a bowl of cereal.

As he sat he thought about the Medicine of Marion Gala that was coming up. It was a big fund raiser that recognized the most promising and accomplished doctors of Marion Hospital. All of the staff was expected to attend, and it was of the utmost importance. Everyone wore tuxedoes and long expensive dresses. Marco was notified that he had won some kind of award. There was nothing hard or intimating about the party beside that fact that Marco, and everyone else who worked in the hospital needed to find a date.

---

Sleep was normally boring. Sure it's essential to survive or something along those lines but Nick found that being awake was much more satisfying to the human spirit. Besides, if he's only got so much more time to live then why waste any of it on sleep? No, Nick would rather spend his time awake and active.

So as most nights, Nick found himself awake at an ungodly time, sitting on the floor at the foot of the couch in his room. He blindly reached for the near empty coffee pot on the small table at the end of the couch to fill his mug for the umpteenth time that night. He was too preoccupied in trying to figure out the little project in front of him. Nick managed to find an old laptop, which had less to do with finding and more to do with stealing. But it was in a storage room so it wasn't like any one in the hospital was using it. And if they were they probably didn't want it back at this point.

Currently he was surrounded by a plethora of parts from the laptop, hunching over so he could properly see the particular part of the hard drive that he was toying with. He tried his best to work carefully, but he couldn't seem to maintain a steady hand. Nick pulled back as his hand shook, dropping the tool to the ground and looking down to his hand. It wasn't a new occurrence, it had been happening for a few years now, after a while of working his hands would just shake and he'd have to stop whatever he was doing until the shaking stopped. A lot of his earlier doctors warned him about that, how he might not be able to control himself with such ease as the tumor grew. It scared him terribly, he just wanted to work on his little projects, but he couldn't very well do that if he couldn't hold his hand still.

As he thought about all the horrendous possibilities of his disease that all seemed to lead to him never being able to build and probably being dead in general, he found the always present dull ache in his head grow ever so slowly. Nick just had to walk away from the scattered pieces of the laptop that once was, standing and holding his head as he stepped over the pieces and walked to his bathroom. He splashed his face with cold water, hoping that waking himself up a little might help with the ache.

It really didn't but he did feel cold now. With a small sigh he walked over to the small hook where his mother often left him clothes to wear. She was constantly going on about needing him to be 'in-style' and how a nice outfit might help him feel better. And while she wasn't wrong, Nick found that he often opted for the simple t-shirts and jeans his father would bring him rather than the dressier fashions his mom picked out. He considered the more fashionable clothing for a moment, counting the days in his head since his parent's last visit, and seeing as they wouldn't come again until a few more days, thought it might be better to hold off on the clothes his mother picked out and put them on when she visited. For now he just pulled on a plain white t-shirt and some blue jeans, opting for bare feet rather than his slippers or sneakers as the cool floor made him feel a little better.

Nick jolted a little as he heard someone curse in the hallway. It was a little faint, but at this time of day a little strange to hear. He would have assumed that it was a friend or family member of a patient hearing some unfortunate news, which actually worried him more, this was the wing of soon-to-be-dead people after all. He peeked his head out into the hallway, blinking a little as he could have sworn he saw a figure, though his vision blurred out for a second. Nick rubbed his eyes a little and sure enough, there was Daisy, coughing and scratching against a door. Panic overtook Nick, and Nick wasn't good with panic.

He knew he had to act so he started to walk over, his legs moving automatically though he was a little dis-coordinated. Nick could feel a lump in his throat as he saw the blood down the front of Daisy's shirt, trying to swallow it down. When Nick was young his teachers told him he had the potential to be a doctor but instead Nick choose a career that didn't really involve much humans at all, for this very reason. Blood was something that generally had to say inside your body and he disliked seeing it outside of a body. Nick knelt down next to Daisy, calling out, "Hey! Help, Patient Down!" He pounded on the call room door with a shaky fist. As he looked back down to Daisy he attempted to give a reassuring smile but all he could muster was a grimace as he tried to avoid looking at the blood, "It'll be alright." Okay Nick already knew that his words obviously weren't of much reassurance but he wasn't trained for this situation. "Anyone coming?" He bellowed out into the hallway, trying to steady his lightly trembling hands on his legs.

It was very early morning, ridiculously early, and Dolly wasn’t sure why she had been woken up so early until she heard the scratching on the on call room door. Groaning, she sat up and swung her legs out of bed as the scratching turned into pounding.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” She grumbled, yanking the door open.

The sight that greeted her was one for sore eyes. Her grouchiness vanishing instantly, Dolly crouched down next to Nick and Daisy as the later lay on the floor, covered in blood and coughing.

“What on Earth have you been doing Daisy?” She joked, noticing Nick looked very uncomfortable in the current situation. Gently, she helped sit Daisy up in a better position, and patted her back as she waited for the coughing to calm down a little.

Once Daisy was breathing a little easier, Dolly helped her get up. “I’m going to help you back to your room, then I will call your attending physician, okay?”

They began the slow journey back to Daisy’s room, then Dolly quickly called the attending physician. She hoped he would come soon, because Daisy really wasn’t looking too good.

---

It wasn’t unusual for Charlie to struggle to get to sleep. Bad dreams and nightmares laced her mind when she finally drifted into a slumber, and sometimes it was very difficult for anything to wake her out of them.

This was the case right now. Although there were shouts from out in the hallway, Charlie wasn’t waking up. Part of her brain wanted to come to consciousness, to find out what was going on and see if she could help, but the rest of it was adamant that she should stay locked in her nightmare. She was coming out of a deep REM sleep, her body still but sweaty, small whimpers emerging from her mouth.

The shouts came again as the REM sleep finally released her, and her body was free to move around. She shifted a little in the sweat soaked sheets, still whimpering, her bad dream not quite finished.

It was when, and only when she was about to die in her dream that she woke up. Gasping, Charlie bolted upright, grabbing the wet sheets and letting out a small sob as her brain fought to catch up with the rest of her. After a few seconds of blind panic, Charlie realised it was just a dream, and settled back down, but the bed was extremely uncomfortable now that it was soaked through. The bad dreams were getting worse and more frequent as the weeks passed by, and Charlie was constantly soaking the bed with her unusual amount of sweat that was common in leukemia patients. This, coupled with the fact that the nightmares haunted her mind for a while, made it hard for her to ever go back to sleep once she had woken up.

Deciding that there was no way she could get back to sleep now, Charlie gingerly got up and shuffled towards her door, hoping to find someone that could change her sheets, or at least give her something else to lie on top of. Sticking her head out into the corridor, she saw the back of Dolly retreating into Daisy's room, and wondered what was going on. Slowly, she began to make her way down to Daisy's room, hoping that Dolly would do something about her sweat soaked bed and that there was nothing the matter with her best friend.

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.

Most everything was a blur after that. Her eyes were too foggy to really see her surroundings; her lungs ached as she struggled to regain herself, and her head pounded. Nick was the first person to find her, and even though he couldn’t do anything for her it was comforting to have him there. It wasn’t long until Dolly came out of the on call room though.

Daisy knew that even though Dolly was a nurse, she didn’t know the extensiveness of her disease. She just knew how to care for the day-to-day needs, and how to keep good bedside manner. It was nothing against Dolly, but Daisy was annoyed that she of all people was the one to find her. But that was fine, at least she was found. Despite that fact that she felt like her organs were turning inside out Daisy managed to get to her room with the help of miss Dolly. When she was laid down to catch her breath she was still coughing, though the tears that came with such intense coughing hard subsided.

It wasn’t until Cato entered her room that she was fully aware of the ruckus she had made this morning. In the doorway stood Charlie, and behind her were a collection of nurses and a couple of other patients, though she couldn’t really make them out.

In the midst of her hacking, Daisy managed to say, “Oh, here’s the man of the hour!” She smiled as he set up the nebulizer and inserted it into her nose and mouth. She grumbled at him as he stoically said the same instructions that he said every time.

She took in a deep breath and a felt instant relief. She closed her eyes for a moment and tilted her head back. There was nothing like the feeling of breathing. People really took advantage of just breathing and they didn’t understand how ultimately relaxing and wonderful is was. When she opened her eyes again she looked over at the door and waved her hand. That was enough of that; she wasn’t a fan of people watching her with those big scared-she’s-about-to-die eyes.

Daisy wasn’t going to die. She was doing the opposite of dying today. In fact, for those 30 seconds that she was strutting down the hallway she felt more alive than she had in the past couple of months.

Her eyes trailed over to Cato. She could tell that he was upset. And she knew that Dr. Reeves would be even more upset. Dr. Reeves was more like a distant father figure in her life. He had been her doctor for more than 10 years now, and it was never a pretty site when he had to be woken up to assist little ol’ escaping Daisy. Oh well, she would deal with that then.

Taking in another deep breath she looked over at Cato and said, “I’m sorry. “

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.

Cato was angry. She knew that he had been upset, but she hadn't realized that his feelings were anger. Daisy hated watching him boil up like this, especially since she was the cause of it. Most of the time she felt no regret for her wild antics and attempts to prove that she was going to live a full life. But right now, with Cato trying not to explode in front go everyone, she felt a pinch of regret. However, it wasn't regret that she had done and harmed herself, but it was regret that it had upset Cato.

He was harsh in his words to crowd outside her door, but he still maintained a professional facade as he told them to scram. She nodded her head at him as he came back to take the mask off of her face. It was her very simple way of thanking him. In fact it was common thank you from Daisy. Often times whenever she really wanted to thank someone she was too out of breath to form the words and so she gave them a nod. She obviously wasn't out of breath, but she was out of words. I wasn't before too long that she was back on her game though.

Once the crowd dissolved Cato started at her. Daisy was fully aware that this was not a full blown tirade, but this little bit was just enough to get her ticking. She stared at him with deep intent as he kept going. She heard every word he said, though not all of it sunk it. She knew that they were tired of her, she knew that. It was only a matter of time before they would hire someone to sit in with her in the night. Yes, they were tired of Daisy continually pushing herself too far, but she was tired of being controlled by a disease that prevented her from living life to the fullest.

When Cato was finished she wanted to fight back, but she knew if she were to get too excited her chest would tighten and they'd be back to the beginning. A single hand pushed her hair back out of her face. Daisy didn't believe in being selfish, but she was going to take this one moment.

"I'm dying, Cato."

She left out a huff of air before continuing, "And all I get to do about it is sit in my room and watch reruns of The Simpsons. I want to live, and I want to live well. And right now, proving that I can go farther than the doctor says feels a like living."

This was unusually sentimental of Daisy, but she felt like if maybe Cato understood why she did it some stress would be relieved. Yes, it often times seemed like Daisy was just trying to throw her life away, but there was much more to the reason behind her trouble.

Nick nodded a little at Dolly's suggestion to 'take it easy', glancing over to Cato as he ordered everyone out of the room. "Whelp, I guess that means the party's over." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes a little as he walked out of the room, stretching up a little as he walked away, deciding to bypass his room to avoid the mess of parts he'd left scattered in his room. Nick didn't really feel like finishing up the laptop at the moment.

No, he found something else that had caught his interest more than his previous project could. Dolly was only changing Charlie's sheets but for some reason she looked amazing doing it. Nick watched her from the hallway, looking into the room at an angle. He really didn't know how she seemed to draw him in all the time, not that it was her fault, no, Nick knew he was entirely to blame for his crush. It wasn't like Dolly had ever come onto him or made him believe that he even had the slightest chance, but she did manage to supply an exceptional amount of optimism and admittedly naive hope. She seemed to genuinely believed that most the patients in the wing would get better, and Nick couldn't help but find it heartwarming.

He didn't expect her to actually love him back, Nick knew very well that no one loved a dead man, but he was perfectly content with being friends with her. It wasn't that much longer before Nick realized he'd been staring at Dolly and he quickly averted his gaze. Keeping his eyes on the floor he walked over to Charlie's room, stopping at the door.

Trying his best to act casual, he leaned against the door frame, looking over to Dolly with a slight smile, "That was quite a scare huh?" he shook his head a little, "That Daisy will never learn will she?" Nick joked, chuckling lightly.

Following Nick down the hallway to where Daisy was, Scarlett felt a wave of sadness wash over her. It was times like these that made her regret the amount of time she still has left to live. Sure, it still wasn't easy living with Haemophilia, but at least she had a normal human lifespan.
It all happened rather quickly. Daisy was struggling to breathe, Dolly was trying to help and Cato was there to rescue Daisy before she would've ventured off into unconsciousness. Scarlett liked that about Cato; the fact that he was able to have a friendship with most of his patients, and willingly help them survive.
Unlike her, he was able to make a change.

When Daisy needed time alone, Charlie went with Dolly to her room. Scarlett watched as Nick followed the two of them, knowing he was planning on talking to Dolly.
Scar knew Nick long enough now to have noticed the way he is when around Dolly. She also knew that if she went with Nick to Charlies room, she would tease him even more.
"Maybe time alone right now would be nice." She thought.

It was still early in the morning when Scarlett went up onto the rooftop. A lot of the patients weren't able to make it up to the rooftop and when it was as early as it was, there wouldn't be a soul who knew of Scarletts disappearance. She smiled a faint smile and looked at her surroundings. Because the other patients were unable to climb the stairs to the rooftop, or just didn't bother, Scarlett was usually up there alone. The doctors possibly knew about it, but were never around when she was up there.
It was her stage up on the rooftop; the only place where she could let it all out.

Scarlett had danced up on the rooftop till her bones began to ache, and her joints began to stiffen. She wanted to dance before having to get blood infusions later on in the day, which meant she needed to rest in her bed for a while. Sitting down, she began to stretch out her legs. Looking up at the sky, she sighed happily. It was a nice day. She sighed once more before realizing that at this point, Scarlett had never felt so alone.

Charlie followed Dolly down the corridor to her room, seeing that Daisy needed time alone. She walked slowly, tired and a little breathless, but her room was not that far away. Once she arrived, Dolly had already started changing the sheets, so she opted to sit on a chair beside her bed as she waited for her to finish. She hated having to bother anyone at this time of night, but she more so hated having to sleep on wet sheets – or not being able to sleep at all. At one time, she might have been embarrassed about her excessive sweating during the night, but she wasn’t anymore. It was just a part of who she was, a part of her illness.

Placing a small smile on her face as Dolly glanced over at her, Charlie stretched and sighed as she grew impatient for her bed. She was so tired.

In fact, Charlie was so focused on how tired she was and how much she wanted to sleep that she didn’t realise Nick was approaching her room until he stood in the doorway. Then, finally sensing his presence, she looked up, but he kept his eyes on the floor, before looking up at Dolly.



Dolly was lost in her thoughts as she carried out her usual job, and didn’t notice that she had a visitor until he started to speak.

Smiling, she turned around to look at him as she finished tucking the new bed sheets in.

“A scare indeed,” she agreed, “but nothing too unusual. Daisy will never learn.” Humming lightly, she started on the thin duvet, which was also a little wet with sweat. She quickly slipped the soiled cover off and dropped it on the floor next to the old bed sheet, before starting the tricky job of shaking the duvet into a clean cover. Once that was completed, she placed the duvet neatly on the bed, ready for Charlie to use.

“Did you want anything, Nick?” She asked pleasantly, folding up the soiled bedding and tucking it under her arm. She didn’t like getting out of bed at silly ‘o clock in the morning, but now that she was up and about she was her usual happy, helpful self.

Nick struggled slightly to maintain a casual composure as Dolly smiled, having to resist the urge to just melt at her adorable doe-eyed face. He couldn't help it as his smile grew a little wider and he lost himself to thought for a moment or two, tuning in just in time to hear Dolly ask him if he wanted anything. 'Well, I'd very much like for you to reciprocate my feelings, that would be nice.' Nick desperately wanted to just voice his thoughts so they'd be out in the open, and maybe if it was anyone else besides Dolly he might. But she'd always been so bright and sunshiny around him, Nick felt the need to hide his bitter comments on anything.

It took him a second to think up some sort of response that wouldn't make him sound like a complete idiot in front of her, "I mean I don't need anything technically, besides you know someone to talk to, cause Daisy's out of commission at the moment and uh, oh Charlie's sleeping, huh, you think I would have noticed that." He was blabbering, 'Crap, very rough start, just wrap it up.' he thought to himself, "So, I overheard something about a gala? You gotta go to those kinds of events right?" He questioned. Nick had been itching to ask Dolly about the Gala for sometime now, he'd overheard/ eavesdropped on some nurses' conversation. They hadn't provided much information about it besides there was a formal dress code and that they needed dates. Nick figured that Dolly wouldn't ask him to be her date but a guy could dream.

Nick must have been a little too keen on listening for Dolly's response because he didn't even notice Cato until he spoke. Ah, Cato, the guy that Dolly actually liked, not that Nick would let that little detail effect their friendship. He gave his friend a wide grin, "Sure, what do you need? Got any tech questions?" Nick loved helping out when he could, especially when there was a possibility of getting to fix up a device.

Dolly sighed, nodded and chewed her lip as she fiddled with the sheets that were tucked under her arm. The Gala. It would be a great night, she was sure, but she needed both a dress and a date. The latter being hard to find.

She would love to go with Cato, of course she would. It would be her dream come true. But it was fairly obvious that she was the only one doing the lusting in their relationship. Still, he might ask her, if he found no one else to go with.

Before she got a chance to give a proper, verbal answer, the Devil himself appeared in the doorway. Argh, awkward. She had been thinking about him only a second ago. A wide smile occupied her face, despite her inner blushing, as she moved a bit closer to the door, preparing to leave while Nick and Cato spoke, and trying not to look at Cato. She looked back at Charlie one more time, who had gotten into bed without Dolly even noticing. She looked like she was asleep, so she hoped the men didn’t wake her up.

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.

Scarlett heard noise from the door behind her so she turned around and found that Marco was standing there. "Oh my god. How long have you been there for?" She asked, her face beginning to turn a rosy pink color. Scarlett always felt insecure when knowing that someone had been watching her dancing.
She looked down to see what he was holding in his hand and rolled her eyes. "I thought today would be my lucky day, I guess not."

There was nothing more she hated than to get blood samples. It didn't take overly long but it wasn't something that was easily done. The idea that her blood might not clot, causing her to bleed non-stop, sickened her. Last time, the antibodies were fighting against the medicine she was taking, so the clotting took much longer than usual. Scarlett was afraid that the medication wouldn't ever work, which could cause many issues in her joints. If her joints were to not work as well as they do, she may never be able to dance again.

She walked closer to Marco and leaned against the wall. Scarlett enjoyed Marco's company; he had this way of making her feel better. She has had a crush on him ever since he started looking after her in the hospital years ago. Scarlett sighed and stared out at the rest of the city. "It's beautiful up here. You can see people on the streets walking past, and you can hear the birds sing. This beats staying down in those hospital rooms all day long."

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."

Nick straightened up as Cato mentioned Daisy, no longer leaning casually on the door frame. The wide grin on his face faded a little. He just couldn't help but lose the will to be cheerful when his friends' names came up, especially seeing as all his friends practically lived in the same ward as he did. Nick could see how Cato struggled to even ask his favor.

Honestly, Nick felt for the guy, he'd genuinely befriended some of the patients. It probably took a lot to continue a friendship that very well might end in death relatively soon. He really admired Cato for it, lord knows if Nick was in Cato's shoes he wouldn't be able to handle it all. Hell, he could barely handle it now. Nick patted Cato on the back a little as he admitted it was stressing knowing Daisy wasn't alright, knowing very well how he felt.

Nick smirked a little as Cato pulled out his phone to show him a picture of a camera. There it was, the very thing keeping Nick sane in this world: Technology. He took the phone from Cato, zooming in on the camera so he could clearly see the make and model. Some different types of tripods flashing through his head as he listened to Cato. He looked up from the phone, really trying not to tear up as he remembered Dolly was literally right there, "Don't worry about it man, I'll get it no problem." Nick gave a wide smile, squeezing Cato's shoulder a bit. "I'm sure that she'll love it Buddy."